Chapter 23

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When Jungkook woke up he had a bad headache. He could still sense the dry taste the alcohol had left on his tongue. The feeling of not being completely and utterly sober yet especially clear when he opened his eyes and slowly sat up.

It wasn't that he was dizzy. He just felt a little... fuzzy. Like his brain needed an extra second to work through all the information it was gathering. He could feel the familiar sickness, like he had to throw up any second now, in his stomach, but at least he wasn't at any place he didn't know. Not another drunk one-night stand he had woken up to remembering absolutely nothing.

He was in his room, the familiar gray fabric of his curtains and bedsheets greeting him when he looked down. He'd spent the day before, at Eunji's place, they had gotten drunk, he'd gone back to his place and drunk some more and then... he could feel his blood run cold at the memory of how he had talked to Taehyung.

He didn't know all the things he had said anymore, but he remembered just letting his frustration out, cursing at Taehyung and complaining about his situation. He was fucking lucky he was still alive if all he could remember saying was true.

And then he noticed the body lying by the bottom of his bed. Even though Jungkook couldn't see his face because his puffed-up blanket blocked his view he recognized the pale skin on the boy's arms and the fluffy gray hair... and Jungkook had his second mini heart attack because Taehyung was in his bed. Not on his usual spot on the floor...

Hesitantly he pulled his legs in, out of Taehyung's reach, who... actually seemed to be sleeping there. How had that happened? Jungkook had no memory of going to sleep at all. Maybe they had continued talking in here? But why would Taehyung sleep there then?

It looked like maybe he had been sitting there and then just... fallen asleep if his legs hanging over the edge of the bed were anything to go by.

Slowly, to make sure he wouldn't wake Taehyung up, Jungkook tried pulling his blanket off. For some reason, this felt off. Like something he wasn't allowed to acknowledge had happened. Who knew, maybe Tae would kill him for sleeping in the same bed as him.

He really could never know with the siren.

His hope of not waking Taehyung up was short-lived though. Pretty much the second his feet touched the floor the siren's eyes snapped open and Jungkook startled at their color once again. He should have been used to Taehyung not caring as much about his appearance around Jungkook, but he wasn't. He doubted he'd ever get used to how unsettling Taehyung's natural form was.

Slowly Taehyung sat up, his eyes still fixed on Jungkook, and for a second he grew more anxious again. Taehyung hadn't punished him for his behavior yet. After all Jungkook seemed to be just fine after everything he had said the day before... maybe it had all been postponed to now that Taehyung would punish him for all his wrongdoings.

For disrespecting him like he had.

But Taehyung didn't. He didn't even seem angry as he stretched his limbs, yawning, showing off very scary teeth in addition to his hands that were clawed and darkened instead of smooth and pale like Jungkook's. Maybe it was because he had slept? Taehyung was clearly struggling with his human form, so it made sense for him to go into his more natural form when he wasn't focused. Jungkook just hadn't seen it happen that much because Taehyung slept in his bathtub virtually every night.

"I'm..." Jungkook hesitated. Should he apologize for what he had said the day before? He certainly didn't want to because he had meant every word of it. Also, Taehyung hadn't beheaded him yet, so why should he?

"I'm gonna go brush my teeth." He declared instead, moving off the bed before Taehyung could say anything... or rather not say, and moved to the bathroom. He could feel Taehyung's lingering gaze on his back, but he didn't turn around. He didn't want to.

Taehyung could think whatever he wanted about him. As long as Jungkook was going to stay alive and somehow got out of this... then everything would be fine.

He groaned as he stared into his bathroom mirror. His reflection looked about as horrendous as he felt. His hair was a mess, he had dark circles under his eyes, his lips were chapped and to tell the truth... his expression wasn't the best either. He looked about ready to slam his head onto the sink and honestly... he was.

He splashed his face with some water, sighing when he felt it dripping down.

How long would this keep going? How long would Taehyung stay around? Was Jungkook supposed to act like everything was all fine now and play happy family, because he was fucking done with all this bullshit. He didn't want this anymore.

Fuck politeness. If Taehyung wasn't going to start trying neither would he anymore. He'd still do what Taehyung asked him to do because... that was what he needed to do to stay alive, but he wasn't willing to convince his brain of the fact that Taehyung was actually kinda nice anymore.

It was fucking with his head. More so than it was supposed to.

At least it was Saturday. If he had needed to go to uni today he honestly would have yeeted himself of a cliff. No help from Taehyung needed. He was about to do that all on his own.

"Jungkook?"

Jungkook almost got a tiny heart attack when Taehyung suddenly appeared in the door out of nowhere. He quickly put a poker face back on, splashing his face with some more water. "What is it?"

"Beach?"

Jungkook felt like throwing up. Not the beach again. After everything that had happened the day before yesterday, he really didn't want to go anywhere near water with Taehyung anymore. It just felt too unsafe. If he was being realistic... Taehyung could just pull him in no issue.

No matter how careful he was going to be. A little bit of Taehyung's witchy singing or a bit of waterbending and Jungkook was going for a swim whether he wanted or not. And that was not a thought he was comfortable with.

"I'd prefer it if you went alone." He stated flatly, splashing some more water on his face. Maybe it would make the bags under his eyes disappear. Of course, it didn't. Now the reflection looking right back at him in the mirror had furrowed eyebrows, an annoyed expression on his face.

Wow, he looked surprisingly scary when he was angry. It was quite funny actually. Also really weird to look at his own face and read his own emotions when he usually only saw it in its neutral state.

He had to physically stop himself from flinching away when Taehyung stepped closer. At least his hands and teeth were back to normal, even when his eyes remained in their unnatural coloration.

His whole body tensed up when Taehyung reached out, grabbing the sleeve of his t-shirt and looking at him with an expression Jungkook hadn't seen on him before. Not the usual cold, neither happy nor neutral expression.

Actually it seemed almost hopeful.

"Please?"

A/N

For everyone worried I was going to take the "And then taehyung was gone the next day and suddenly jk missed him" route... I'll tell you how it really would have gone.

Tae would have dissappeared. Jk would have said "Thank god" and moved on with his life. That's it. That's the story skafsdfs