The council meeting was held in the student room on the second floor. Jungkook still didn’t know why that room in particular had been chosen for the function, since it was way too spacious for the number of council members - it could hold at least 50 people at once, and the student council never had more than 10 members. At this time there were 9, but Jungkook doubted they would all attend.

He took a deep breath as he paused in front of the door. He could hear muffled voices coming from the other side, and he nervously tucked his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. A flutter of wings against his skin reminded him why that was a bad idea, and he hastily removed his hand. For some reason he kept forgetting Taehyung was hiding in his left pocket. He waited for his heartbeat to slow down, before he let out a sigh and pushed against the door.

Four heads immediately turned towards him - Areum, Seokjin, Yoongi and Namjoon. They all shut up when he entered, which made him think they had been either discussing something private or they were talking about him. Perhaps it should bother him more, but he knew Yoongi would tell him if it was anything important.

“Eunjae.” greeted Areum, giving him a small wave. Seokjin nodded, Namjoon following his example a second later with a wary look in his eyes. Unsurprisingly, the only thing he got from Yoongi was an unconcerned glance. Jungkook nodded back and sat down on his usual spot next to Areum.

She immediately turned towards him, her lips forming a small smile. "Are you coming to the Christmas dance?" she asked.

"I'm not sure." said Jungkook. Previously, he'd had no intentions of going, but now, with Kangmin on the loose, things had changed. The attendance at the dance was usually quite high, and Jungkook had no reason to believe this year would be any different. With most students at the event, the rest of the academy would be mostly empty; or in other words, there was a tiny possibility Kangmin might use the dance as a distraction to get to Jungkook. That was why it was probably safer to attend, no matter how much he really didn't want to. "Probably." he added after a few moments of silence.

Areum smile turned a bit sinister as she bumped their shoulders together. "Oh, did you find someone to go with?" she asked. Jungkook had a sudden feeling he had just walked into a trap.

"No?" he said, hating how unsure it sounded. Areum's smile deepened, and she looked like she was about to make another comment. Thankfully, she was interrupted by Namjoon who chose that moment to step in front of the room, clearing his throat. For that alone, Jungkook almost began liking him. Almost.

"Now that we'll all here..." started Namjoon. A cursory glance over his shoulder told Jungkook that they had indeed been joined by the remaining members. "...let's review the daily plan. First, we’ll finish the plans for the Christmas dance. As I'm sure you remember, we already made significant progress last time, but there is still a lot of work left to be done. After that, we have to finish the discussion on the Summoner we started during our previous meeting.”

Jungkook only managed to keep his lips from pressing into a straight line because he had expected Namjoon to bring up the Summoner. Considering the president had ambushed him after he'd missed the last meeting, Jungkook already knew they had been talking about the Summoner. He suspected it was a conversation topic that wouldn’t be left alone until the Summoner was caught.

“We’re sharing our observations.” whispered Areum. She elaborated after she saw Jungkook wasn’t entirely sure what she meant; “Namjoon told us to think about the traits of the Summoner and the people who might have them, and share what we come up with.”

Jungkook nodded, wishing he could slam his head against the desk instead. No wonder Namjoon wanted him here – he had probably been planning on studying his expression while describing in detail why he thought Jungkook was the Summoner.

During the next half an hour, Jungkook did his best to give the impression he was closely following the ideas that were thrown around, even speaking up once or twice. In reality, he barely knew what was being discussed, his mind preoccupied with trying to figure out how he should react to whatever Namjoon would throw at him. He was distracted enough that he once again forgot about the demon and tucked his hands in his pockets, freezing when he was reminded why that was a bad idea by the soft wings brushing against his skin.

Of course, Namjoon looked at him right in that moment, so he couldn’t immediately pull his hands out of his pockets. He returned Namjoon’s gaze with as little emotion showing on his face as possible, before he used his left hand to fix his hair, trying to make the move look casual. He wasn’t entirely sure he pulled it off, but Namjoon gave no signs of noticing anything was off. Yoongi, on the other hand, gave him an unimpressed look from the other side of the room. Jungkook pretended he didn’t see it.

After the discussion about the Christmas dance was finished and tasks assigned, Namjoon changed the topic to what Jungkook had dreaded for the whole meeting - the Summoner. “We have to do our duty as the student council and help NS find the one responsible.” Namjoon said, his eyes never leaving Jungkook, who had to put a whole lot of effort into keeping his expression calm and muscles relaxed. He wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to glare at Namjoon or run out of the room, his emotions an equal mix of anger and dread.

Namjoon might have had no proof, but there was no doubt that whatever he was going to say would make people pay attention to Jungkook. If his theory was supported by good arguments – which it was, let’s be honest; this was Namjoon after all – it was not out of the question that the NS would get involved as well, which was the last thing he needed while he was practically surrounded by higher demons. There was one three seats down and another one hiding in his pocket, for God’s sake.

“I know you are all already aware of my suspicions.” said Namjoon, pointedly looking at Jungkook. The other members followed his gaze, and Jungkook had to try his absolute best to not shrink into himself under all the watchful eyes. “I believe Eunjae is the Summoner.” continued Namjoon, finally breaking the eye contact. Jungkook liked that, but he liked the reason he did it a whole lot less; his classmate had looked down in order to consult his notes. A whole binder of notes if Jungkook's eyes weren’t deceiving him. He suppressed a groan at the sight, wondering why he was even surprised.

The next 15 minutes was spent listening to Namjoon list every possible argument on why Jungkook was the Summoner. He started by pointing out how the demon broke into the office a day after Jungkook did bad on a test, and continued by analyzing Jungkook's skills, mentioning both his grades and the knowledge he’d shown during classes.

“Last…” said Namjoon, taking a deep breath, the expression on his face focused. It looked like whatever he was planning to share next wasn’t something he found easy to say. That on its own told Jungkook that he probably wasn’t going to like it, and he certainly turned out to be right. “I took his laptop to confirm my theory, only to meet him a few hours later on the hallway in front of my room. He was holding his laptop. My room was locked and there were no signs of a break in.”

He tapped his fingers on the table as he glanced towards Seokjin. The two shared a look, before Namjoon’s eyes once again landed on Jungkook. The dread present from the moment the meeting had begun, suddenly became a lot stronger and Jungkook barely managed to keep the expression on his face impassive. “I purposely took the laptop in circumstances that implicated two other people as the perpetrators. One of them was Seokjin, who told me that someone had knocked on his door and asked him to show him to the D dorms on the same day. We compared the timelines and it turns out, it had happened only a little before I met Eunjae in front of my room. The  reason I’m telling you this is because Eunjae was accompanied by someone. Someone who certainly fit the description of the stranger Seokjin gave me.”

What followed after that was silence, thick enough to hear a needle drop. Every eye in the room was on Jungkook and the only sound was the rapid beating of his own heart, which he really hoped only he and the demons could hear. He fought the urge to wipe his clammy hands in his jeans as he calmly returned Namjoon’s stare. “Okay.” he said, after almost a minute of silence. “I’m going to take that as my cue to leave.”

It might not have been the smartest idea, since it could make him look even more guilty, but he had no other choice. He could feel the panic clawing at his chest, taking away his breath and making the room spin around him. There was no way he could stay calm for much longer, and in hindsight, running away was still much better than having a full blown panic attack in front of the whole student council.

Namjoon looked like he wanted to say something, but Jungkook was way too out of it to pay him any attention. He got up and walked out of the room as calmly as possible. He didn’t get far before he realized there was no way he would make it back to his bedroom, so he slipped into the nearest toilets, which were – thankfully - empty. He shut the stall's door behind him and collapsed on to the toilet, burying his head in his hands.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe, lungs burning with every inhale, and the dizziness was bad enough that he had to lean on the wall for balance.

“Calm down.”

He had completely forgotten about the demon, so his voice almost made him fall off the toilet. He slowly raised his head and looked up – the demon was leaning against the door, staring at him with a serious expression on his face and uncomfortable intensity in his eyes. Considering how small the stall was, their feet were almost touching. Jungkook absentmindedly wondered if that should make him uncomfortable. It didn’t, but probably only because he had more pressing issues to deal with, such as trying not to choke to death.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed until the worst was over. The panic in his chest slowly receded, leaving him winded and exhausted. The room was still spinning around him, although not as fast, and his whole body shook. He could feel it, but he wasn’t sure the tremors were actually noticeable.

He blearily remembered the demon told him to calm down, and automatically responded; “I am calm.” He only registered what he had said after the words had already left his mouth, and was unable to suppress a wince at the realization that he had just lied to the demon.

Taehyung eyebrows disappeared under the hair on his forehead. “Oh yeah.” he said, voice coated in a particularly thick layer of sarcasm. “You’re calm. Pardon me for not noticing.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” murmured Jungkook, barely intelligibly considering he still found it hard to breathe, his lungs feeling like they  were on fire. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was bothering with this conversation at all.

“You need directions for the simplest of things.” said the demon, the only thing betraying his amusement a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I’m helping.”

“Yes, you’re a saint.” said Jungkook dryly.

The demon’s smile deepened. “I’m so glad you finally recognized that.” he said.

For a moment or two, they just looked at each other. Jungkook would probably pay a lot more attention to how annoying looking up at the demon was, if he wasn’t preoccupied with trying to decipher the strange emotion that suddenly appeared in Taehyung’s eyes. He had to admit defeat pretty quickly. It didn’t seem malevolent, and he told himself that was good enough for him, although it still made him avert his gaze, something about it making him uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat. “We should leave.” he said, suddenly unable to spend another second in the small stall with Taehyung only centimeters away from him. The closeness was suffocating.

He didn’t wait for the demon to agree before he pushed himself up. It turned out to be a mistake – he was still feeling pretty faint and dizzy, and moving too quickly certainly failed to improve the situation. Small black dots invaded his vision and he stumbled, searching for something to grab on. Unfortunately for him, the fist thing his hand found was Taehyung. He automatically grasped at his shoulder, and the demon in turn took a hold of his elbow. His fingers dug into his skin and Jungkook winced, partly from pain and partly from shock. His heartbeat immediately picked up, breath catching in his throat. The demon didn’t remove his hand, but he did slightly loosen his grip.

Before Jungkook registered what was happening, he was already being pushed back on to the toilet. Taehyung let go of his elbow and when Jungkook finally mustered the courage to look up at him, the demon was once again leaning against the door. The weird emotion was still in his eyes, now even more pronounced, and Jungkook promptly decided he preferred looking at the floor.

“You know…” said the demon in a conversational tone. “I'm really surprised you’re still alive.”

Jungkook looked up for just long enough to send a glare in his direction. “Who's repeating himself now?” he murmured. Taehyung didn’t say anything to that, which told Jungkook he was probably responding with one of his annoying grins. The thought even further motivated him to not avert his gaze from the floor.

“Anyway…” said the demon after a few moments of silence. “I thought we were past this.”

Jungkook frowned, trying to decipher what exactly the demon meant. “Past th…” he started, cutting himself off the moment he realized ‘this’ was referring to his completely reasonable worries about Namjoon’s obsession with revealing him as the summoner. Pressing his lips together, he finally looked at the demon. “Did you listen to a word he said?” he asked. It was clear the demon was making fun of his reaction, which made him feel both irritated and embarrassed. It was bad enough that he broke down in front of him - the demon mocking him for it made him feel infinitely worse, no matter how many times he told himself he didn’t care at all what Taehyung thought about him.

Taehyung looked back at him with an unreadable expression on his face. “I listened to the whole speech.” he said. “Probably a lot more closely than you, considering you were busy having a panic attack.”

Jungkook chewed on his lip and looked back at the floor. It looked like the demon was not finished yet, and probably wouldn’t be as long as Jungkook kept responding to his words. He forwent chewing on his lips in favor of biting at his tongue hard enough to taste blood, trying to focus on the pain instead of the emotions threatening to trigger another panic attack.

He heard the demon let out a sigh, before he saw his feet move with a corner of his eye. A moment later Taehyung was kneeling in front of him, forcing Jungkook to look at him by grabbing his chin. Jungkook flinched at the touch, and tried to move his head back. Unfortunately the demon’s grip was too firm, although - thankfully - not bruising. The last thing he needed was having to explain how he had ended with bruises on his face. His heartbeat sped up even more, and he swallowed, doing his best to keep his breathing even.

Taehyung completely ignored his struggle. “He has no proof.” he said, his eyes full of now already familiar intensity.

Jungkook swallowed, trying to think. It was almost impossible in the current situation, since he was still out it and the demon invading his personal space made his already horrible concentration worse. “Yes, but he has enough to make NS…” he started, unable to finish the sentence, because Taehyung promptly cut him off.

“I have a feeling your brother is going to stop them before they find anything.” he said calmly. “If they’re even capable of finding anything, which I doubt.”

Jungkook blinked. He didn’t understand the turn this conversation had taken at all. Hadn’t the demon just been mocking him? Why did it suddenly seem like he was trying to calm him down? Did he plan to lull him into a false sense of security so he was more likely to make mistakes (which Namjoon would undoubtedly find)? Jungkook concluded that the answer was almost definitely no. Taehyung knew that wouldn’t work on him, not to mention Jungkook clearly didn’t need his help to make idiotic mistakes. What was the demon doing then?

He did have a point though. Jimin would undoubtedly stop NS from investigating him if they’d tried. Not just Jimin – his father probably would as well. The danger of finding Yoongi was too great. And therein lay the problem. Taehyung had definitely been caught on camera when he had been walking around with him during the Founders day. If Jimin had seen the video, he probably wouldn’t have recognized him. If his father had seen it on the other hand…

Jungkook would have buried his head in his hands if the demon hadn’t been still holding his chin. “Now stop worrying about it, and let’s go back to the room.” said Taehyung, finally moving out of his space. “Make sure to get up slowly this time.”

The only response Jungkook could muster was another glare.

The days leading up to the end of the term passed in a blink of an eye, and before Jungkook knew it, the finals week was right around the corner.

 Namjoon hadn’t tried to speak to him outside of the council meetings, where the topic of the Summoner luckily hadn’t resurfaced. Even so, it was quite clear Namjoon was far from giving up. He even managed to get Seokjin and Areum on his side, and they had been following Jungkook almost non stop. Jungkook couldn’t help thinking that their future employment definitely didn’t lie with the secret services, since they at being stealthy. They had been obvious enough that Jungkook would notice even if it hadn’t been brought to his attention by all three of the demons. Areum suddenly sat with him in all of the classes they shared, and Seokjin often ended up at the same table as him during lunch, which was all that more suspicious since it had never happened before.

Clearly, the three of them had made some sort of a deal. As annoying as it was, Jungkook didn’t really mind the turn of events that much. It was the best case scenario, because it meant they'd obviously decided to collect evidence on their own, instead of turning him to the NS. It made things easier.