"I'm already beginning to regret this."
You threw your head back and tried to stifle a laugh at Namjoon's disgruntled expression through your phone screen as your brother's storm-dark eyes tracked Taehyung's large palm dragging you closer to him on his seat next to you, occasionally offering you a bit of the slice of strawberry cake you'd packed for him last night. As much as you tried to roll your eyes and feign annoyance, the contact with him pulled up flush against you was enough to have your heart shuddering— and not in a bad way either.
You'd have thought that with Namjoon watching, the idiot son of Ares would have settled down a little bit. But, well, after the talk they'd had after that dinner you'd attended with the crackheaded demigods of doom, they seemed to be on more reasonable terms and refraining from glaring bloody murder at each other.
Which was always a good sign. Wouldn't want two demigods trying to rip each other to shreds, now would we?
The headphone that wasn't tucked into your ear, covered by your hair, dangled from Taehyung's, wrapped around it multiple times painstakingly carefully by you to ensure it didn't fall out, because your son of Ares just couldn't seem to grasp through his curiosity how it worked.
The two of you were tucked in a quiet corner of the library on campus, you not having any classes in the morning today, which was good, as you were still tired as heck (thanks to have stayed up late last night with those idiot demigods refusing to let you and Taehyung get any sleep) and feeling the need to catch up before you missed anything else of significance. You'd missed Aurem and Hana again, which made you kind of upset because frankly, you hadn't seen your best friends in a good couple of days thanks to your brother and his band of crackheaded demigods, and you wanted to spend time with them.
Really, you couldn't help but feel that clenching of unease and guilt on you as you realized that you had indeed been growing a little distant from your best friends. You wanted to tell them the truth, you really did, but you weren't classified as insane just yet. You were getting there (no thanks to a certain red-haired menace beside you) but you hadn't quite crossed that line.
Namjoon on the other side of your phone rolled his eyes at the way Taehyung teasingly smirked into the camera, looking positively heartbreaking in the reflection as he drew close to you, too close for comfort for far too long. But, you reasoned with yourself, it's only because of the call. There's no reason to lose your cool, Y/N, stay calm.
Your pounding heart (which you prayed to whatever god was up there that Taehyung could not feel), although trying its best, clearly did not get the memo.
Your rolled your eyes at Namjoon's protectiveness before you peered at your phone, taking a closer look at the activities going on in the background on your screen. "Kim Namjoon, I thought that you were only going to my apartment for a second, what the f*ck is going on back there?"
To be honest, having one demigod alone, unattended in your apartment was enough to make you nervous. Having six, one of which was your incredibly clumsy 'I-break-doors-by-opening-them' brother, was sending your anxiety through the roof. Namjoon had reasoned that if you really needed to study for a bit, he still needed to measure some of the curse levels from the sword, and the residue was strongest in your apartment (whatever that meant), but that still didn't mean you were going to be happy about it.
Also, it looked like a certain Jeon Jungkook was trying to balance your coffee maker on his head, which was making you slightly worried because you didn't need another broken appliance in your life.
"Nothing, and stop trying to change the topic!" Namjoon huffed, flicking his hand dismissably before he zoned in on Taehyung again, "Tae—"
"Namjoon, let the boy live," Hoseok laughed, slugging your silver-haired brother in the shoulder at his skeptical expression. Jimin quickly jumped in with his two cents, never one to miss out on an argument, and suddenly the person holding the screen panned to show all of the demigods wandering around in your apartment.
"Besides, we won't even be gone for that long," Jimin leaned back on his perch on your worn sofa, shooting you a small grin, "but of course, that's never stopped Taehyung before..."
"Jimin, you problematic child, shut up before I stuff Zeus's lightning bolts down your throat," Seokjin hissed under his breath.
"YaH I'M the only one that can say that!" Jungkook whined, jostling Hoseok as he smacked the older son of Aphrodite.
"Jungkook watch it Y/N will murder your a*s if you drop your coffee—"
"..."
"Whoops?"
"Okay, what are you, Namjoon?!"
With a loud sigh, you let your face fall into your hands in sheer exasperation at the guilty looks the demigods lounging in your living room were giving you.
...god, you were going to go insane after this.
There was a bout of unintelligible yelling and the phone screen began to shake around for a minute before Namjoon's face once again popped up, accompanied by a harried Seokjin this time.
"May the gods help us," Seokjin sighed tiredly, "Tae, you've turned everyone nuts."
That sounded worrying, but Taehyung beside you had on that goofy, box-shaped grin you couldn't help but swoon at, that genuine one that made your chest ache. "Sorry, hyung," he laughed, but he didn't sound sorry at all, "they're probably just excited. As I am. I missed them awfully."
Taehyung then shot you a glance from the side of his eye, and his lips turned up as he began to tug and play with your hair, long, firm fingers dragging sensually though the strands and making everything in your freeze, lock up... basically your body's version of confused screaming. "But at least I got to meet Y/N-ah through it," he purred gently, teasing the thought of brushing your jaw with his annoyingly sexy fingers before drawing back into your hair, tugging at the necklace matching to his when he wandered too low, "that, I believe, makes up for a lot."
Namjoon, oddly, didn't say anything, although you half-expected him to go into panicking-brother mode instantaneously.
"Stop flirting in front of my gods-damned salad!" a highly irritated, disgruntled growl hit your ears from behind Namjoon, Yoongi shoving your brother to the side to glare at the camera, "Seriously, Tae, I'm beginning to regret finding you at this point."
"You and me both," you muttered.
"Hyung, disliking the notion of me defiling your sister?" Taehyung purred easily, smirking wider as you huffed irritably and elbowed him in the side. And yet you noticed the way he allowed his hands to wander all over your shoulders, collarbones, even dangling in your hair gently, caressing every inch of clothed skin he could find— likely just to get a reaction out of Joon, but it made sparks dance down your rigid spine nonetheless. The softer, gentler Taehyung of only a few moments ago was gone, and here was the one you were used to— the one of fiery blazes and confrontational stares.
"Taehyung I swear on Hera's holy peacock, you'd better start running—"
Ah, there he was. Your overprotective brother had once again reared his head.
Sighing, you rubbed at your tired eyes and swatted Taehyung's hand away, although the movement was delayed and softer than you'd intended it to be. "Stop teasing Joon," you huffed sternly, making Taehyung widen his molten chocolate eyes innocently. The duality of this man was on another level, god. Turning to your brother, you twisted your lips into a half-smile and rubbed his shoulder soothingly. "Yah, Joon-ah, I promise I'll be fine. If anything, I should be the one worried about you— you're the one going on this crazy quest, not me."
There was a moment of silence.
"Okay, fine," Namjoon mumbled, sticking his tongue out at you in the familiar motion you had come accustomed to over the years, "fine. But Taehyung had better keep his hands to himself. And take care, alright? We don't know what Phobos and Demios will do once they figure out that we've discovered their part in this."
"I will," you hummed, then leveled your brother with a stern look as you rested your head in your hand, the position pulling you impossibly closer to Taehyung's warmth, "and behave, okay?"
When he nodded, you turned you gaze to the demigods still lounging in your living room. "And you— don't let accident-prone over here destroy something, I've got quite enough broken pairs of sunglasses already."
Namjoon whined, motioning as if to smack you through the screen, but Seokjin's squeaky laughter was already underway. "Noona!"
"Don't worry," Jimin chuckled cheerfully, head popping into the screen for a moment, lavender hair askew, grinning at his embarrassed hyung, "if we have another incident with the 'god of destruction', I swear I'll fight him or something."
"What are you going to fight?" Jungkook snorted sarcastically, throwing his head back sassily as he pushed Jimin out of the camera, patting his head at the edge of it, "His kneecaps?"
There was a moment of stunned silence.
"OHHHH—" Taehyung finally howled, hands on his knees as he wheezed in laughter, setting everyone else off.
"LISTEN HERE, YOU B*TCH—"
You stifled a laugh as Jimin all but lunged at Jungkook, tackling him to the floor as he made a snide pass at his height. Taehyung whooped loudly next to you, making you shush him as this was still a library. Wincing at the state of your poor floor and the banging that was sure of follow, you knew you were going to get a noise complain filed against you soon enough.
Chaotic-a*s bastards.
"Yah! Behave yourselves!" Seokjin finally spluttered off-camera, but you could tell it was him by the oddly motherly tone of his voice and also the fact that he was seeming to be the only one taking note of your slightly alarmed and concerned expression as the fight began to escalate (no, Jungkook, do NOT grab that lamp—), "Jungkook, don't forget, we might have to send you back. Remember what happened last time you lost your cool?"
The youngest demigod froze, chestnut hair mussed and ruffled as he scrambled off Jimin. You furrowed your eyebrows, exchanging a look with Taehyung.
"JK here is grounded," Jimin said snidely, shooting his younger a vexed look as he fixed his purple strands of silky hair, "the doorways to Olympus still might be closed for him. Zeus got pissed at this fool for frying one of his lady friends."
"She was rude! Probably not even a good f*ck!" Jungkook defended at your wide-eyed expression, "And I didn't try to hurt her, I just summoned a bit of lightning and—"
"Set her house on fire," Yoongi said flatly from behind the phone, giving you the impression that he was the one behind the dramatic pan-ins on your screen, "in case you hadn't noticed, kid, lightning tends do that."
Oh lord.
You did not want your living quarters set on fire.
"Keep your lightning nonsense out of my apartment," you said faintly, "actually you know what, keep your general nonsense out of my apartment. Please."
"I do believe she's kicking you guys out," Taehyung laughed mischievously from beside you, catching on to your words before anyone else and still grinning at a disgruntled Jungkook.
You narrowed your eyes, seeing how he sounded all too smug for your liking. "Keep it up and I'll throw you out too!"
"You wouldn't!" Taehyung gasped dramatically, heavily leaning into your side before shooting you a brazen wink, "because you'd miss my irresistible charm too much."
Your expression was flat as you watched him, even though he was kind of, sort of, maybe onto something. You'd miss him. A little. But he certainly didn't need to know that. "Try me, b*tch," you said flatly, earning a delighted snort from Yoongi.
Namjoon sighed and shouldered his bag and reaching out to reclaim his phone from Yoongi, which somehow seemed to have sent a telepathic signal to the rest of the demigods in your apartment, as they instantly began to gather their things. He leveled Taehyung with a stern look. "Don't bother her, alright?" he sighed firmly, now clearly addressing Taehyung as his face turned to be the only on in the screen, stare piercing, "Don't make her uncomfortable. Don't you dare let her get hurt."
"I'm right here," you said dryly.
Taehyung glanced at you and sent you a small grin before turning his attention back to your brother, expression turning surprisingly solemn. "I won't," he rumbled in his low baritone, deep voice making your stomach clench, "she's safe with me."
The way Taehyung looked at you as he said those words was enough to send you over the edge.
Swallowing down the dryness that had suddenly begun to creep across your throat, you coughed and turned to Namjoon in your phone screen. "I'll see you later, Rain Man," you teased, miming tugging at his silver hair and using the nickname you'd given to him when you were kids. With a dramatic eyeroll, Namjoon smiled and once again stuck his tongue out at you.
"Take care, noona," he hummed before his storm-dark eyes flickered to Taehyung, who was now endearingly struggling with a wire tangle near his end of the earbud, making you involuntarily smile because CUTE, "and don't hesitate to call me if he even dares to get his dick near you—"
You groaned, having had quite enough of the overprotectiveness. "Keep talking and I will sit on his dick right now just to shut you up, I swear I will."
Taehyung behind you froze, choking and hacking coughs up for a good minute before he recovered and began staring at you with comically wide eyes. You really could have laughed until you realized what you'd said— it was a joke, obviously, a teasing threat for Namjoon to hear, but clearly Taehyung must have caught wind of it. You winced as half of the demigods on the other side of the screen choked (Namjoon included) and the other half began howling their heads off in laughter.
You and your big mouth.
You really shouldn't have said that.
"Hyung," Taehyung said slowly after he'd recovered, dark, widened eyes never leaving your face as the shock dissipated and a small smirk began to crawl up his lips, voice lowering to a purr, "please keep talking."
Oh god.
Taehyung's gaze literally sparkled when you flushed.
"You perpetually horny bastard, do you want Joon to kill you?" Seokjin spluttered through the screen, making Taehyung lean back and shake in laughter. You huffed in irritation and slapped him.
"Word of advice, Y/N-ah," Seokjin rubbed his forehead tiredly through the screen, taking over for a still-in-shock Namjoon. "Try to avoid saying stuff like that in front of this idiot."
You flushed, cursing yourself for saying anything at all. Surface level, Taehyung was attractive. More than that— he was a sexy motherf*cker and he damn well knew it, from his strong, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted build to his stunningly perfect facial features all the way down to his deep-a*s voice that sent you over the edge more often than not, he was the literal definition of a perfect man, at least physically.
The terrible thing was that you'd been noticing it more and more often as time went on, noticed the way his back flexed as he walked and that his legs were so long you had difficulty keeping up when he was in a rush and that his body in general was so taut and corded with lean, tightly-packed muscle that you felt dizzy even thinking about what he could do to you, should you let him try.
Not that you were going to.
Not at all.
No way.
Nasty thoughts, begone.
But that was normal, right? Was it a crime to be attracted to someone?
"I'm beginning to learn that he'll jump on anything at this point," you groaned, "is it too late to decide to bring him with you?"
Taehyung scrunched his nose up playfully at you. "Sorry, sweetheart, you're stuck with me."
"Y/N, oh gods, please don't encourage him," Namjoon choked, finally having found his words after that fiasco, "I swear, Taehyung—"
"Oh, would you look at that!" you gasped dramatically, having had quite enough of Namjoon's protectiveness for one day, even if it wasn't as much as you thought it would be, "you're breaking up! Sorry, I think I'm going to need to hang up!"
Namjoon laughed and rolled his eyes at your antics, but before you could press the red 'end-call' button, Jungkook tackled your brother to the floor, hurriedly snatching the phone from him and intently staring at Taehyung through it. "Tae!" he yelped, "don't forget to use the present!"
But before you could stop your finger and ask what the idiot meant, the call was already going black.
You blinked, raising an eyebrow at the demigod still pressed into you. Taehyung met your gaze with a little smirk and pulled you to your feet, grabbing your things and slinging your bag over his back before you could protest.
"Enough of this, love," Taehyung hummed, "let's go home, alright? I swear I'll bring you back later, okay?"
You sighed, annoyed at being dragged back and forth, but finally relented.
It was still really early when you finally made it home, and Taehyung laughed as you groaned and let your head thump back into the door, tiredness finally beginning to catch up with you. It was 8 AM, after all, and you'd already gone to school and back and had to return again.
You heard a thump beside you, and you opened your eyes to see Taehyung in a position matching yours, dark eyes playful as he tilted his head to look at you. You couldn't help it— you let out a little laugh at the sight of Taehyung mimicking you. "There's that smile," Taehyung cooed with a goofy grin, reaching out with a hand to brush a strand of hair that had weaseled its way from your messy updo behind your ear, "it goes away when you focus too hard on those books of yours, you know that?"
You couldn't help the soft little grin that pushed your cheeks up and made your tired eyes crinkle as you pushed off the door, unexplainably feeling your heart skip a beat. Damn, maybe you had arrhythmia.
Or maybe, the unbidden part of your mind mocked, you just have a crush on him. A crush that won't be going away any time soon, because ohhhh he's right there, and he's beautiful, and he's—
Had it gotten so bad that you were making fun of your own self? Jeez. You did NOT have a crush on him. That didn't even make sense.
"So..." Taehyung drawled from behind you as you rubbed at your eyes, all but flopping onto the couch to get rid of your intrusive thoughts, that addicting scent of smoke and spice hitting you like a truck, "what do you suggest we do, now that your brother won't be bothering us?"
The suggestive lilt of his voice didn't go unnoticed to you when he sat down next to you, broad shoulders brushing against yours. "What would you do, hm?" you humored him, feeling a surprising amount of nonchalance in you when Taehyung's grin widened, flash of white teeth almost predatory and wicked.
"Still want to sit on my dick, sweetheart?"
"YAH you f*cker—!"
"Oh gods— I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was kidding! Don't hit me, ouch!"
"Okay, Taehyung, I mean it— this is the last day I'm going to skip class because of you. Never again. Do you understand?"
Kim Taehyung did nothing but shoot you a wide, boxy smile, the innocence displayed so brazenly with that rectangular grin totally hiding the devil that worked beneath the surface.
You were supposed to have gone to school— you'd woken up early, thanks to your chaotic-a*s sadist of a brother who liked to leave on magical quests at the crack of dawn, apparently. You'd gotten ready. You'd been totally prepared to get to uni and catch up on work, because education was important.
Sadly, there had been one thing in your way.
And that thing was Kim Taehyung.
And, so, well, here you were, Taehyung with his arm hooked around your waist almost possessively and tugging you close as you pulled out your frying pan from the pantry, easily flicking the knob on your stove and watching with faint amusement as Taehyung yelped at the initial burst of flame that erupted from the nearest burner, stumbling back.
The argument Taehyung had given you to convince you to stay home with him had been simple, short, effective. "Y/N, listen," he'd wheedled as you poured beans into your coffee maker (which, thankfully, wasn't broken after Jungkook's handling) and sat down on the barstool, flipping through your notes to see what you needed to catch up on, seeing as Namjoon had just left for his magic quest sh*t and you'd needed to get ready to leave (to uni, nothing as dramatic as your brother) in about 15 minutes, "you cannot just leave me at home by myself, now can you? You have gone through with it before, but what if something happens, hm? I've been staying with you for a while, and I still hardly know anything about how you live."
You'd paused for a moment, pencil stilling as you glanced up at him. Where was he going with this? The arrangement you'd been dealing with so far had been going fine, with Taehyung never once braving going through with something you hadn't explained to him in fear of another microwave incident or worse.
But now, here he was, with imploring eyes and pouty lips, so drastically different from the f*ckboi vibes he'd been positively exuding just moments before. You sighed when he leaned closer, heart pounding in your chest as you tried to keep a neutral expression.
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" you'd involuntarily leaned back, trying to keep your eyes from falling on Taehyung's lips because he was close enough that you were pretty damn well thinking about them.
Red hair hanging into his eyes, Taehyung bored into you with his dark, dangerously alluring irises.
"Teach me."
Which is how you ended up here, with Taehyung flinching behind you every time the oil in the pan so much as sizzled. There was beef out, kimchi and rice and green onions in another corner of the counter— look, if you were going to stay in to teach Taehyung how the kitchen worked, you were going to at least make something to satiate your hunger. That was how it worked.
And also, maybe you'd take some fried rice to Aurem and Hana as an apology for once again worrying them sick. No doubt they were both losing their last marbles trying to figure out which mafia member had abducted you as to make you not show up for class two days in a row.
"Oh gosh, Taehyung, it's really not that bad!" you laughed, ensuring that the oil coated every surface of the pan so nothing would stick before cracking your eggs in the pan. As he watched with wide eyes as the translucent eggs slowly turned opaque, you tugged at his sleeve to catch his attention before you flipped them.
"So these are eggs?" he asked, with such childish astonishment you had to fight down a snicker.
"Yep. They're actually pretty easy to make."
Taehyung continued to watch you check the bottom of the eggs for that golden-brown and tilted his head when you quickly flipped one over.
"You wanna try?" you hummed, handing the spatula to him. He hesitated for a moment before he slowly wrapped his fingers around the handle. He didn't get far, though— the minute a stray splash of oil hit his hand, he yelped and jerked back, clutching his fingers dramatically.
Lord, he was such a baby sometimes.
"Ouch! What is this vile substance?" Taehyung gave such an affronted look at the oil as he leaned back on his hands from his seat on the floor that you couldn't help but snort. "Yah, don't laugh! I really don't know!"
"It's just oil, Tae. It sometimes splashes, but I don't think it burnt you," you chuckled gently, kneeling for a moment to check the splash on his wrist and determining that it was fine. You reached out to brush it with your fingers before Taehyung quickly caught your wrist with his other hand.
You glanced up, breath hitching as you realized the position you'd gotten into— you between Taehyung's long legs as he sat on the floor, his hand on your lap, his head hanging over yours and broad frame all but shadowing you as he pressed your wrist down, controlling your movements. Everything about this man was dominating, commanding— a natural leader, general, almost.
"Curse," Taehyung whispered, the sudden husk of his voice making heat and goosebumps race up your skin, all at once. The word so familiar to what you'd usually been reprimanding him for, time and time again.
"Right," you said back, although you couldn't bring yourself to move, to shove yourself off him. In times like this, it was so easy to forget the reality of your situation. It took a good three seconds (ones that felt like eternity and back) or staring at Taehyung, frozen, waiting as he slowly tilted his head, eyes trapping you in their depths for almost a moment too long.
You pulled your hand from Taehyung's at the last second, jerking back in a motion that could only be described as smoothly panicked, a last-minute flake. "You're fine, Tae," you laughed, impressing your own damn self with the way your voice barely trembled, barely shook as you pulled yourself off the floor.
Taehyung pursed his lips, watching you dust your hands off, but let out a laugh nonetheless, one that relayed nothing of an odd sort had been happening just moments before. "That's good to hear, love, I'd hate to be mortally injured on my first lesson."
The genuine, box-shaped smile Taehyung shot you then was enough to dissipate any tension in the air.
It was oddly domestic, how the two of you worked around each other, shot each other remarks and lightening up the mood with laughter and the occasional tumbling into each other, Taehyung catching you every time and swinging you around in an oddly innocent way, playfully.
Making you laugh, returning the way his did from his perfect, grinning lips.
You were beyond screwed at this point. Was this the chase, to Taehyung? This laughing, this clear shot of hopefulness and anticipation, not a push or pull from him in sight; just being Taehyung and Y/N.
Sh*t. You didn't stand a chance.
"Is this how really how you mortals prepare your food?" Taehyung finally gasped as the two of you took a break after you'd sliced up the beef and set it for frying and now set on the vegetables, most of the time-consuming stuff almost done.
"Yes, you spoiled brat," you rolled your eyes at him, but your tone was teasing, almost playful, "what, did you not have to work for anything up in Olympus?"
"Not really..." Taehyung chuckled awkwardly, meeting your eyes with a quiet intensity that made something within you burn, your chest tightening, "It's incredible how I never... ha. Gods, I didn't even care, then."
Your heart fluttered in an odd sort of way— was he saying he cared now? Nah, you were probably just reading too much into it.
The marble was cool under your feet as you continued to slice, tearing your gaze from Taehyung while the sounds of oil crackling filled the silence. You were acutely aware of Taehyung gaze on you as he leaned effortlessly against the counter, long legs crossed and thumb teasing his lip in thought as he watched you work.
When you felt a tap on your shoulder, you yelped, stumbling back into Taehyung and whirling around, knife still in your hand. Taehyung's eyes widened for a moment as you reflexively pointed the knife at him, then burst into laughter as you flushed, letting it hang at your side.
"You f*cker!" you huffed defensively, involuntarily pouting as Taehyung's chest shook with chuckles, "Stop laughing, you almost gave me a heart attack!"
"I know I'm so attractive you want to kill me sometimes, but it would be a very bad idea to attack a fully-trained son of a war god, love," Taehyung teased once he finally got over his laughter, stepping closer to you and peering behind your form at the knife you'd now placed on the counter.
"Shut up!" you groaned, embarrassment flooding through the link between you and Taehyung as you buried your face in your hands, "I was surprised, okay! Oh god, I already regret this. Joon's been gone for an hour and I already want to call him back."
"I just wanted to ask if I could help in any way," Taehyung chuckled, soothingly rubbing at your back and shoulders as he nuzzled his face into your hair, making your heart leap furiously in your chest, beating as frantically as a bird trying with all its might to slam out of its cage.
I do NOT have a crush. I do NOT.
"W-e-l-l," you coughed, drawing away from him and trying to conceal the frantic beating of your heart before Taehyung picked up on it, "go ahead and finish chopping up this, then." You pushed the knife and the carrots towards the son of Ares, who let his mouth curl into a little smirk.
"Hmm, yeah, let me handle the knives, don't want you stabbing anyone here," Taehyung purred teasingly, chuckling when you swatted him. You huffed and finished up the next batch of eggs and began to handle the steamed rice for frying when he spoke again. "But really, when you're around me, maybe stay away from sharp things? The sight of blood..."
Taehyung trailed off just as you let the rice begin to fry. You turned to face him with a half-smile, remembering that first day you'd spent together, how he'd freaked out at your tiny cut, how he'd warned you about how dangerous he was, how you should have known better. But after all the time you'd spent with him... it was difficult for you to see the childish, goofy person in front of you as dangerous.
"What happens, really?" you asked, turning for a moment to adjust the steamer, "I mean, with the blood thing?"
Real articulate.
But hey, you were curious! Like, Taehyung, for a son of Ares, was awfully goofy. Childish. Playful and wild. Reckless, sure. Confrontational, sure. But angry? Lusting after blood?
...not really.
Taehyung sighed, lips quirking up into a half-smile as he gazed at you. "Ah, well, as a son of Ares, I don't have the flashiest power amongst demigods. It's not visible, really— I can handle any weapon incredibly well. I have heightened senses, as if my body is constantly being pumped with adrenaline. I have increased speed, strength, and agility."
"Yes, continue praising yourself, that's totally what I asked you," you said dryly, making Taehyung bark out a wry laugh.
"I only tell you because it's true! And that because blood is so linked to my father, because I'm essentially designed as a weapon to kill, to shed it... it sort of makes my godly side take over. Do you know what I mean? I can't fight it anymore," you sobered up at the blank expression that fell over Taehyung's face, the flicker of sadness that shot through it before he met your eyes and let his lips fall back into that lopsided grin once more. "But well, I fight it when I can. I don't know if you noticed, but... even back then. I didn't like killing things. People. Ares did not like that, and constantly called me up to carry out orders, commands. And I always did."
Something in your heart twisted at the way he grinned at you, face completely and utterly hiding the clear flash of something deeper that surged beneath his skin. Those secrets, those dazzling truths that made him shine ever the more to you, because he was so much more complex than you'd thought.
You suddenly felt the need to give Taehyung a hug.
You knew you had misjudged him in the beginning. You knew that you'd been so annoyed by his presence that you didn't even bother to hear his side of the story. You realized, then, that this was what he'd meant, every time he told you a story about those heroes and those gods and how he'd been too kind in each of them, killed those monsters just so the people could live in peace, protected those his companions meant to kill.
Were you supposed to feel this guilty? Just as you'd had to deal with Taehyung's constant flirting and pushing your defenses up, again and again, and Taehyung... he'd had to deal with your coldness, your constant snipping and judgmental attitude.
To be fair, none of it would have happened if he hadn't acted like such a f*ckboy douche, but still.
"Yah," Taehyung called, making you blink away from your thoughts to look up at him. He turned to face you again, handing you the entirety of the chopped carrots and stepping close to you, fingers dancing over your waist. "You know I can feel what you are feeling, right?"
You huffed, looking away, and he laughed gently. "None of this, pretty one. None of this. At least you know now, you curious warchild. It doesn't matter that you didn't before."
"I should have tried to figure it out," you muttered, rubbing the back of your neck, "I didn't think, did I."
Before Taehyung could say anything else, and before you could feel that spike of defiance, of 'f*ck it' back down, you reached up to grip his shoulders, the phantom brush of your fingers against his jaw clearly shocking him into silence. You were close enough to touch him, close enough to pull him in, close enough to give him that kiss he'd constantly been asking for.
Instead, you sucked in an unsteady breath.
"You're more than I thought you were, Tae," you said quietly, the stillness around you making everything else fade into white space, white noise, "I wish I'd known before."
There was a heartbeat of silence. "But you're still annoying, don't forget that," you added on, laughing as you pushed him away from you, his shocked gaze slowly morphing into a wide smile, beaming, shining as if he polished it daily or some sh*t.
"With you reminding me hourly, I could never," Taehyung chuckled wryly, but there was a sort of genuinity flickering there, a genuine happiness that made your chest feel too warm. And tight. And yep, you were definitely sick at this point, you needed to consider going to the doctor because why was it suddenly so hard to breathe, why was your chest aching with such a delicious burn, why was your heart stuttering sporadically and your stomach clenching again and again.
Through all this, there were two things that you noticed, two things that had crossed your mind and yet been shoved to the side.
The first was that you could have sworn that in your reach for dancing around Taehyung's face with your fingers, you'd accidentally touched him. It was small, the brush of skin, but there was no mistaking that furious warmth, that blazing heat that had died the minute you pulled away. It had been there.
A fluke, maybe? A weird mind trick?
It was small, so it was soon forgotten.
The second thought you'd had came to cross you again and again, many times to come, because it was far less small.
He always obeyed, didn't he? you'd thought for just a second, eyes wavering from Taehyung's form as he continued to chop more vegetables you'd sent his way, fingers trailing to the necklace draped over your collarbones, He said he didn't like it, but he always obeyed his father, the gods. And yet... he was thrown in that sword.
Because once, he didn't.
A/N: IM SO FLIPPING SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING UM ACTUALLY I NEED TO GO NOW BUT LIKE IM REALLY SORRY FOR DISSAPEARING BUT FINALS WEEK IS OVER! IM ON BREAK NOW SO HOPEFULLY ILL UPDATE MORE! AND HAPPY BELATED JIN DAY LMAO KDSJKLDFJ LOVE YALL—