Chapter 71

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"Are you sure she is okay? She looks terrified. What if they hurt her?" Taehyung asked, worriedly eying the cat carrier and checking up on Tuna, who was nervously moving around inside.

"Taehyung, my parents did not hurt Tuna. She is just nervous because she does not like the carrier." Jungkook sighed, letting go of his suitcase to grab his keys and unlock the door. "Don't you remember the way she was when..." He stopped in the middle of the sentence. The door wasn't locked. Jungkook remembered triple checking whether he had locked it before they had left for Seoul, and yet when he pushed down the handle it opened on its own. No key needed.

Taehyung seemed to notice his worry right away, also getting a little more tense as Jungkook opened the door all the way. The apartment looked normal. There was nothing out of the ordinary at the first glance. Everything was where it was supposed to be.

Maybe he really had forgotten to lock the door after all. It seemed unlikely, but maybe Jungkook had just mixed up some memories.

"Someone was here." For some reason Taehyung voicing his concern out loud made it way more scary than it had been just seconds ago when it had just been his own doubts.

"What..." Jungkook cleared his throat. "What makes you say that?" His heart was racing in his throat.

Taehyung moved past him into the apartment, his eyes focused. He gestured at Jungkook to stay in place. After a few seconds his body language seemed to relax a little though.

"They aren't here anymore... it..." He turned around to Jungkook. "...smells different. More than one person was here. Let's get our stuff inside and open the windows."

Jungkook's stomach was heavy as he listened to Taehyung, grabbing all their stuff and moving inside before closing the door behind himself. Tuna meowed loudly in the carrier and Jungkook let her out, trusting that whoever had been here was for sure gone now.

He watched as Taehyung opened all the windows to get the old air out.

"Do you have any idea who could have been here? Maybe a friend of yours?" Taehyung asked once he was done with his job. Jungkook still felt a little weird when he shook his head. He had to go check on some of his stuff as soon as he got out of his shoes.

"No one but me, you and my parents have keys to this apartment. And my parents would never come here without asking for my permission first." Jungkook slipped out of his shoes. Someone had probably broken into his apartment hoping for some expensive things, but Jungkook barely had anything worth much lying around aside from his television and, like, kitchen appliances. But he doubted the thief would have wanted to take those with him.

He walked over to the living room, checking the little box with some spare change he had at home in case he ever needed some cash. Why did he feel almost relieved when he found it gone just like he had expected? Maybe because it showed him that whoever had broken in was an ordinary thief. Not someone that was likely to come back.

He continued going over his stuff, realizing a smartwatch he hadn't ever worn was missing, as well as some headphones that did hurt a little, but he could just buy himself new ones. When Taehyung stepped through the door to the bedroom Jungkook already felt a lot more relaxed.

"Someone broke in and took some stuff. Probably saw us leaving with suitcases and thought it was a good chance. But it should be all good. They didn't find a lot of stuff that is actually worth anything and luckily they also didn't care to ruin the apartment."

Taehyung still looked a little uncomfortable, clearly not happy that someone had intruded his space just as they did Jungkook's. The thieves were probably lucky they hadn't come here while they'd been home. If they did Jungkook wouldn't have dared to make a bet on their chances of survival.

"Does something like this happen often? I thought this was a movie thing... not something that usually happens."

"No, it does happen sometimes... although rarely and kind of never in this area. But I'm guessing the fact that some slightly wealthier people live here makes it more appealing to thieves too. Honestly I'm just glad nothing important got stolen."

Jungkook's phone, which had somehow survived the previous night, vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out to read the message on screen.

"Hey, Eunji is asking when we're coming back from Seoul because she finally wants to meet you... how about you? Feel like you're up to the job of meeting my best friend?" Jungkook was more than glad for the distraction. It wasn't like he could do anything about the fact that someone had broken in aside from reporting it to the police. Which he intended to do, but first he wanted to settle back into his apartment and gather some energy.

"Doesn't she think we're together?" Taehyung still seemed a little on edge, his eyes checking every corner of the room, even though none of that was reaching his voice.

"Would that still be wrong though?" Jungkook asked, chuckling, and carefully placed their suitcase down on the floor before opening it up.

"Fair." Taehyung laughed softly, seemingly also finally relaxing now that he had checked every room once more for safety.

"I should probably also break the news to her that you aren't my cousin, although I'm pretty sure she guessed that right from the beginning based on her reaction. I think she knew that was just an excuse to cover something up." Jungkook pulled the bag for dirty clothes out of the suitcase and carried it over to the bathroom. They were going to wash that later, for now he just wanted to get all their stuff back to where it belonged.

"She also thinks I'm an asshole." Taehyung stated matter of factly.

"Hey, when I first talked to her about you you were a huge asshole to me. Drowning someone isn't exactly friendly and approachable." Jungkook grinned cheekily at him. "But this is a good start for you to learn to be nicer to people that are not me. I know you have been getting better at that lately, but you also need to be able to hold up a conversation with someone that's not me for more than five minutes... without looking at them like you'd rather die than continue talking. If you want to stay around longer you'll also need to learn to completely pass as a human."

Taehyung sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Within seconds Tuna joined him, brushing against his legs. Taehyung picked her up before patting her. Jungkook wondered wether Tuna or Taehyung got more out of that. "I guess."

"Come on. Don't make such a long face. I love Eunji..." Jungkook giggled when Taehyung raised an eyebrow at him. "As a friend of course. And I'm sure you will like her too. She is very likeable in general... you trust my taste in people, right?"

"Is this the right time to point out that you picked a girlfriend who broke up with you because she chose a university over you? Are you sure you're a good judge of character?"

Jungkook gasped dramatically, throwing a dirty sock at Taehyung and missing him by a whole meter. "How dare you! Can I point out that YOU are so picky with people that you ended up spending, like, five hundred years alone just because you were TOO GOOD for everyone?"

Taehyung was quiet for a second. "Touche."

"So let's have you meet another human you might like!"

"Jungkook!" Eunji smiled. "Good to see you... and thank you that you didn't run off the second I mentioned needing your help with the move."

"You helped me when I moved, and even put your noodle arms to action. I think the least I can do is return the favor." He chuckled, moving a little to the side to also let Taehyung into the room. Unlike him Taehyung seemed a little hesitant as he stepped through the door of Eunji's apartment. Jungkook had already warned him that Eunji could be a little intense so he was probably already wary of her. Not that that was anything new with people Taehyung didn't know.

"Taehyung. That's Eunji, my best friend." Jungkook introduced the two of them. "And Eunji. This is Taehyung, my now three day boyfriend."

"Hey." Eunji smiled at Taehyung, waving her hand a little. "You probably heard a few things about me from Jungkook. I'm the friend that knows way too many embarrassing secrets of his, more than even I wish I knew... and the one he calls when he needs someone to pick him up as he does his walk of shame at three am after a hookup. Well, at least that I won't have to do anymore."

Taehyung smiled a little awkwardly, before glancing at Jungkook with unreadable eyes. He was clearly not at all used to that kind of joking smalltalk outside of talking to Jungkook.

Jungkook decided to talk for him. "Taehyung can get a little awkward sometimes when he meets new people... just gotta wait till he warms up a little and starts bullying you too."

When Taehyung poked Jungkook he just grinned at the siren. Looking back at Eunji he found her staring at Taehyung the same way he had seen many other people stare at Taehyung. So even Eunji wasn't excluded from that weird power of his.

"So what do you need help with?"

"And the distant cousin thing was bullshit?" Eunji snickered amusedly as Jungkook pulled one of the chairs out of the moving truck. Next to him Taehyung picked another one of the chairs up with way too much ease for it to look normal.

"You knew the whole time didn't you?" Jungkook subtly elbowed Taehyung's side before whispering. "Act like it's heavy. You don't look human right now." Then he focused back on Eunji.

"Yeah, I kind of assumed you were bullshitting once you first told me you were crushing a little." Obviously Taehyung perked up a little at that. At least this time he acted like he was struggling as he lifted the little couch table off the truck.

"I didn't say I was crushing... I just told you he was hot and I was a little split on what to think of him."

"Sure sure." Eunji chuckled. "So how did you two actually meet? Why is Taehyung staying at your place?"

"Was a bit of a dumb spontaneous decision really. Taehyung didn't really have a place to stay and I have a huge apartment and was struggling because of Minji... just decided to offer him to stay at my place even though we barely knew each other at that point." He was still lying through his teeth, but he really couldn't tell Eunji what Taehyung actually was or how he had actually ended up at Jungkook's place. At least this sounded dumb enough to actually be him.

"Why did I already expect something like this... what do your parents think of you letting someone just live with you?"

"I haven't really told them about Taehyung. Haven't visited them that much recently." He wiped some sweat that was gathering on his forehead. Next to him Taehyung was not even close to breaking a sweat.

Eunji seemed to pick up on the fact that it was hot outside plus that they were carrying heavy shit around. "Wait, lemme go grab you guys some water." With that, she disappeared inside the house.

"How many people did you hook up with before?" Jungkook almost got a heart attack. Taehyung must have been sitting on that question ever since Eunji had made that comment when they'd entered the apartment. Straight to the point as usual with Taehyung.

Jungkook felt a little awkward as he thought of what to say. He knew that this whole thing was different for sirens. That, to Taehyung, basically any number he could say was a lot.

"Is it that important?" He ended up settling with, sitting down on the edge of the truck, deciding to take a small break. So did Taehyung, his hand almost naturally slipping into Jungkook's.

"Not really... I'm just curious."

Jungkook sighed. He still felt really awkward talking about his body count to a one partner in a lifetime siren. "I'm not exactly sure but certainly... a few."

"You're not sure?" At least Taehyung looked amused when he raised his eyebrow, not turned off or weirded out.

"I never really cared for intentionally keeping track since it felt weird to do... but if you want I can think..." He started mentally counting, using his fingers to keep track. When he reached ten Taehyung put his hand on his to stop him.

"You can stop. It's really not that important... just a little weird to think about." Taehyung admitted.

" I can imagine. I can't picture it the other way around to be honest. To just believe in your own intuition and completely trust that this one person is the right one... how can you ever be sure?" Jungkook asked. He could imagine that he and Taehyung would work out. They had worked surprisingly well over the last year and he knew they had good chemistry with each other. But trusting that enough to put his own life on the line for it... Taehyung was taking a huge risk.

"You just... know. I guess. It's hard to describe. It's not like I have met many other people, but I've never felt this comfortable and safe with anyone else... aside from maybe Jimin but even that is different."

Jungkook wanted to say something but at that exact moment Eunji left the house again, two glasses of water in her hand. "I see. The second I leave you two unattended you chit chat instead of doing your work." She clicked her tongue in fake disapproval before handing both of them their glasses.

"So Taehyung. Where are you from?"

Jungkook watched Taehyung sit back a little, intentionally trying to relax a bit. It was nice to see that he was actually trying to give Eunji more of a chance than he did with most humans.

"Daegu. I was living with my brother and his boyfriend before." He took a sip from his glass of water before looking back up at Eunji. It was so interesting to see him not posturing around other people.

"Ahhh I've been to Daegu before. A couple of years back... I still remember that one place I ate at back then... the food was way too good to be in a different city than my own... still miss it." Eunji whined dramatically, apparently mourning the lack of good food in her life. "So your brother let you live with him, not your parents? How old is he?"

"A few years younger than me." Taehyung didn't get into details and Jungkook knew exactly why. How was he supposed to tell Eunji that his brother was a hundred or more years younger than him?

"And he already has an apartment of his own?" Eunji sounded impressed. It made sense. Taehyung didn't look older than maybe twenty four years, and the fact that his brother was years younger than him made for quite the young age.

"His boyfriend is a music producer. He's the one paying for their apartment." Taehyung explained and Jungkook was glad that at this point Taehyung was capable of talking for himself. A very comforting change.

"Oh? What's his name? Maybe I have heard of him before. I mean, the producer boyfriend."

"Min Y..." Jungkook quickly covered Taehyung's mouth. Oh shit. Right, Yoongi and Jimin had their own things going on. Eunji knew Yoongi, and if she had followed any news on him she knew that he was dead. At least that's what he was supposed to be.

"He's just a small underground producer. You have probably never heard of him before. He doesn't even use his real name."

Eunji eyed him with suspicion but apparently decided to let it pass for now. She totally knew he was lying again. "Alright... drink up, guys. We have to get this whole truckload inside and then I want to hear how you two actually met, without the whole cousin pretense."

A/N

Hehe I actually managed to write again... things are looking good🥺💜

How did ya'll like the chapter?

Also I mentioned the fact that I'm contemplating whether I should actually go through with the idea of Taehyung having two dicks in his siren form skdbwks

How do you guys feel about that?

Also yes its consistent with the story. Taehyung is a shape shifter so while he copies the body of a human he also only has one dick. In his siren form the dicks are hidden within the tail... I mean I dont think you guys have seen fish dick before either sskdhekdnbsndn

But yeah is anyone rlly uncomfortable with the thought and of course also would someone actually look forward to that?