Finals week was seriously kicking his , the presence of the demons turning it into an even worse experience than it already was. For some reason, Yoongi had started to spend time in his room as well - Jungkook had tried asking him why, but gave up after the only response he received was a disinterested look. At least he was studying for exams as well, which was a welcome sight after having to watch Taehyung and Hoseok lazing around. Or at least Hoseok was – Taehyung was finishing Jungkook’s economic assignment. Leaving it to him went against Jungkook’s common sense, but he barely had the time to breathe, so there was absolutely no way he could complete the assignment on time without the demon’s help.

It took a while but they eventually found a routine that worked for them. Yoongi appeared in the mornings, immediately taking the bed. He always studied lying down, his textbooks and notes scattered around him. Hoseok usually sat on the chair, either observing them or reading a book he borrowed from Jungkook’s shelves. He seemed to gravitate towards law books, which Jungkook found a tiny bit surprising.

He and Taehyung would occupy the floor, Taehyung working on the assignment and Jungkook trying to cram as much information in his brain as possible. In the early afternoons, Hoseok shape-shifted into Yoongi and brought coffee and snacks from the cafeteria. The first time it had happened, Jungkook had been half convinced he was suffering from a mental breakdown. It was only Taehyung's amused chuckle that made him snap out of it and take the coffee and a croissant, politely thanking Hoseok for getting them.

 At around 3pm Taehyung would stop typing and get up, always making sure to stand directly in between Jungkook and the light, casting his shadow on whichever textbook Jungkook was studying from at the time. He stayed in place for however long it took for Jungkook to get irritated and look up to glare at him, at which point the demon told him it was time for lunch. Any kind of protest was completely useless, so Jungkook hadn’t bothered after the first day, when he had pointed out he wasn’t hungry and Taehyung told him that was completely irrelevant since ‘humans needed sustenance to live'.

Yoongi usually went with him, although he never ate much, and they were often joined by either Seokjin or Hana and Violet – or all three at once. According to Taehyung, Hana still flirted with him, but Jungkook wasn’t entirely sure he believed him.

After lunch they normally returned to his room where Jungkook continued to study until 11 or 12pm – it depended on when Taehyung deemed it time for sleep. Just like with lunch, protests got him nowhere. He had tried to ignore the demon the first time, but it resulted in Taehyung piling all of his textbooks on the desk and standing guard in front of them. After that, Jungkook decided it was easier to go along with the demon’s wishes.

Despite not getting his usual amount of study time due to Taehyung’s annoying ministrations, Jungkook still thought he did quite well on his exams. He probably wouldn’t score 100% in all subjects, but he was sure his grades would stay high enough to be able to remain a resident of the A dorms.

The assignment that had to be turned in by the end of the week was written well enough that he expected to get a high grade. It was mostly thanks to the demon, which was something Jungkook had to admit to himself – albeit begrudgingly - while he was reading through it to make sure Taehyung hadn’t tried to sabotage him. He didn’t find a single mistake, and what was more; the arguments were very well presented and creative. “Well?” asked the demon, who had been – of course – carefully observing him, his eyebrow slightly raised. The amused glint in his eyes made it clear that he knew exactly what Jungkook was thinking.

“It’s fine.” he admitted.

The demon’s lips quirked. “Just fine?” he asked, at which point Jungkook decided the best course of action was to ignore him.

He sat his last exam on the morning two days before the Christmas dance, and would have probably spent the rest of the day sleeping if the demon hadn’t had woken him up for lunch. “I wouldn’t know…” Taehyung started after he had thrown a pillow at him, the amusement in his voice clear “but this says humans require proper nutrition.” He raised up the latest book he was reading; it was one of Jungkook’s medical books.

Jungkook was way too tired and sleepy to do much other than glare at him. “I’m not your pet.” he murmured, because he couldn’t help thinking that Taehyung sounded a lot like he was talking about a pet rabbit or maybe a dog. Knowing him, he most likely did it on purpose – the theory was further supported by a wink the demon sent in his direction.

Jungkook tiredly rubbed his eyes, searching for the motivation to get up. He had almost mustered the energy to push himself into a sitting position, when the demon threw another pillow at him. Or, more accurately, let it fall on his face, since he was still standing directly above him. It only now hit him, seeing Taehyung towering above him, that he had somehow fallen asleep on the wrong side of the bed. Despite there being absolutely no reason for embarrassment, his cheeks still heated up, and he hastily pushed himself up and stumbled off the bed.

Taehyung elegantly moved out of the away, a small - and amused - smile playing on his lips the only thing indicating that he knew exactly what had catapulted Jungkook off the bed. Jungkook turned his head away, trying to distract himself by attempting to get his hair under control - emphasis on attempting. It usually wouldn’t be as bad after an hour of sleep, but it was getting long and he had been too busy with exams to remember to brush it regularly. He sighed when he caught his reflection in the mirror - practically every strand was pointing in its own direction.

Taehyung huffed, suddenly looking even more amused than a second before. This time, Jungkook expected him to reach out, but he still didn’t move away. It was a conscious decision, though he only realized that after the demon’s fingers were already in his hair, trying to untangle it. Something at the back of his mind told him it was probably better for his sanity if he didn’t try to analyze his own behavior too deeply, and he swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. He told himself there was a perfectly logical explanation for his lack of action - the more times the demon touched him, the more used to it he would be, and once he finally stopped overreacting Taehyung would most likely leave him alone. He pointedly ignored the part of mind telling him that wasn’t entirely it.

The demon was taking his sweet time carding through his hair, and Jungkook was pretty sure he was doing it on purpose. Taehyung was probably enjoying the knowledge of how uncomfortable he was making him feel, while Jungkook was on the verge of moving away and putting some desperately needed distance in between them. He still didn’t though, instead focusing on regulating his breathing, hoping that would help to slow down the rapid beating of his heart. 

After what felt like ages, the demon finally removed his hand and slightly tilted his head. “Good enough.” he said after a second or so of careful evaluation. Catching Jungkook’s eyes, he gave him a mischievous wink.

Jungkook looked away.

As far as seating arrangements went, the current one was definitely not his favorite. He had somehow ended up sitting between Namjoon and Seokjin, with Violet, Hana and Areum on the other side of the table. The atmosphere was – as expected – tense, and the only ones seemingly not affected by it were Hana and Areum, who were happily chatting about their plans for the holidays.

“I'm taking my sister to Europe. Not sure where we'll go yet, but I was thinking somewhere up north, like Finland or Sweden.” said Areum in between bites. She had absolutely no qualms about speaking with full, so her next sentence was barely intelligible. “Are your parents hosting one of their famous parties again?”

“Yeah.” answered Hana, her tone not particularly enthusiastic. “You can drop by if it isn’t too much flying for you.”

When she spoke Jungkook automatically looked up, which turned out to be a mistake since he accidentally caught her gaze. She gave him a small smile, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear before her eyes traveled back to Areum. Jungkook wasn’t sure whether the tips of her ears were actually red or he was just imagining it.

“Cool. We might come.” said Areum, carrying another bite of rice to . “Those parties are always so fun, even though they seriously lack people under forty.” She gave Hana a big grin, before she turned her head towards him, Namjoon and Seokjin. “What about you three?” she pointed at them with her chopsticks. “What are you doing during holidays?”

Jungkook barely suppressed a sigh. He had been hoping he wouldn’t be asked about his plans, although he certainly began to expect it once Areum and Hana started talking about their holidays. He should have tried to come up with something while he still had time – right now, his mind turned out completely empty no matter how hard he thought about it. The only thing he knew was what he couldn’t say. The truth was definitely out of the question - ‘I’m going out of the country to escape my psychopathic older brother’ just didn’t roll off the tongue. He couldn’t claim he was going to visit his family either - he had already told Violet and Hana he didn’t get along with them, and changing his story now would only invite a bunch of unpleasant questions.

Thankfully, Seokjin spoke up before Areum could single anyone out, and thus bought him a bit more time. “Dubai.” he said, slightly shrugging his shoulders.

Areum raised her eyebrow. “Why are you going to Dubai?” she asked.

“That’s private.” answered Seokjin, his tone somehow both pleasant and filled with a warning that this was the only thing Areum was getting out of him. Because hopeless pursuits weren’t in her style, she really didn’t try to ask anything more, instead looking at Jungkook and Namjoon, her eyebrows raised. Jungkook really needed to ask Seokjin for some tips on how to keep others from prying in his personal business. Namjoon looked like he wanted to know Seokjin's secret as well, frowning at his plate and then – when Jungkook stayed quiet - at him.

“Home.” said Namjoon after a few seconds of silence, earning a huff from Areum.

“Why are you so boring?” she asked in exasperation. “I get the same answer from you every year.” She paused for a moment, before she pointed her chopsticks at Jungkook. “Same goes for you.” she said. “I’m assuming you’re staying here again?”

Jungkook sighed – here it was. “No.” he said, absent-mindedly moving a piece of broccoli across his plate, while desperately trying to decide what to say. “I’m visiting a friend.” He barely stopped himself from wincing when he realized what came out of his mouth - it was the only thing he could think off, and it wasn’t believable at all. He shouldn’t have left his room today at all. Actually, he should probably barricade himself in his room every time his brain wasn’t functioning at more than 80%.

“You have friends?” asked Namjoon, his voice so full of surprise Jungkook couldn't help being a little offended despite Namjoon’s question being completely on point.

He didn’t bother answering, instead trying to channel his inner Yoongi and sending as unimpressed as possible look in Namjoon’s direction, while praying everyone else at the table would drop the topic. After a few seconds of tense silence, Namjoon awkwardly cleared his throat and turned away. “Anyway…” he said, adjusting his collar as he clearly searched for something to say. He finally settled on; “Is everyone going to the dance?”. Jungkook barely suppressed a sigh of relief.

There were a few affirmative hums before Areum said; “It’s going to be great. Even Eunjae is coming this year, although I'm not sure who with…” Her sentence was a poorly hidden question, and Jungkook suspected she was going to dig until she learned what she wanted to know. She had seemed really invested when they talked about it a few council meetings ago, although he had absolutely no idea why. At least this was something he could answer truthfully.

“I don’t have anyone to go with.” he said.

In hindsight, his answer might have been worded a bit poorly, since it gave Violet an opportunity to clap her hands and say, with no little amount of enthusiasm; “That’s great!” She nudged Hana in her ribs. “Hana doesn’t have a partner yet either – you should go together!”

Jungkook blinked, not expecting that at all, before he glanced at Hana who looked like she wished the ground would open up and swallow her. Before he could make any kind of response, the pocket of his hoodie slightly moved, and Jungkook quickly covered it with his hand. The demon was having some sort of a fit, violently flapping his wings. It took almost a second before Jungkook realized he was laughing.

It was a good thing Hana used this moment to speak, because he was really close to using his chopsticks to stab Taehyung. “Yeeun!” hissed Hana, giving Violet what was the perfect mix between a pleading look and a glare. Jungkook didn’t make the effort to remember Violet's real name - he had been addressing her as Violet in his thoughts for far too long.

“But yeah, we could… we could go together… if you want?” said Hana, her eyes directed at something behind Jungkook and her ears tinged with red.

Jungkook suppressed a sigh, absentmindedly stabbing a piece of broccoli on the chopstick. The atmosphere that had already been pretty awkward  quickly became even more unbearable, and Jungkook swallowed, his mouth dry. It was a bad idea to make enemies at Lerantham academy, but he didn’t know how to turn Hana down nicely. He might have considered saying yes if the Christmas dance was a different event. While he absolutely didn’t want to have awkward conversations for the whole evening, he could probably deal with them - he didn’t think he could deal with both having awkward conversations and awkward dancing. Since the academy was highly traditional, it was only logical its events would be such as well - when someone said Christmas dance, they meant traditional dance. In pairs.

“Uh…” murmured Jungkook, trying to come up with some sort of an excuse. Nothing came to mind, so he had no choice but to settle on the truth; “I was going to go alone…” It wasn’t the nicest way to turn someone down, and Jungkook would know that even if Hana hadn’t looked like she had just been slapped.

“Oh.” she said softly. “That’s okay.” Jungkook noticed the redness moved from her ears to her cheeks.

For a few seconds no one said anything, and then Areum swiftly changed the topic, clearly trying to dispel the awkwardness. It didn’t work particularly well.

Needless to say, Jungkook grabbed the first opportunity to hightail it out of the cafeteria.

When the demon turned back to his original form, he was laughing. Jungkook almost asked him what was so funny, but realized – in the last moment – that he didn’t really want to know. Taehyung would probably see his question as an opportunity to mock him anyway.

The demon wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye, before loudly exhaling. “Well, that was hilarious.” he said.

“Maybe for someone with your sense of humor.” murmured Jungkook dryly as he kicked off his shoes and signaled to Yoongi to at least make some space if he wasn’t getting off the bed. Yoongi gave him a displeased look, but he still moved to the edge of the bed.

“At least I have a sense of humor.” said Taehyung. Jungkook had no doubts  it was meant for him, until he looked up and noticed the demon was looking at Yoongi. Yoongi glanced up, before fixing his gaze back on to the textbook and pointedly turning the page. Unlike Jungkook, he still had one exam left, and had for some reason decided to study for it in Jungkook’s room.

Jungkook collapsed on to the bed as far from Yoongi as possible and momentarily closed his eyes. He was mentally exhausted, even more now after being forced to socialize for almost half an hour. He felt lightheaded and faint, and the only thing he wanted was to go back to sleep. Sadly, it looked like Taehyung had absolutely no intentions to let him.

“Anyway.” said the demon, completely unbothered by Yoongi’s lack of reaction. “You should call Hana and tell her you've changed your mind.” The demon leaned against the bookcase, his arms crossed over his chest and eyes filled with amusement. He looked like he was having a good time - which he probably was considering Jungkook was suffering.

Jungkook slowly narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly Taehyung’s plan was. His first thought was that he was trying to find someone who would keep a close enough eye on Jungkook to notice there was a butterfly in his pocket (which would be highly suspicious considering the current atmosphere at the academy). The demon could make his presence known easily enough – just have a similar fit to today at lunch. Then he remembered it was Hoseok’s turn to accompany him to the dance, not to mention there was no need to involve Hana since Namjoon had the whole ‘keeping a close eye on him' thing more than covered. Which meant he had absolutely no ide what the demon was trying to achieve, and if something really made him anxious that was it.

“Why?” he asked, purely on the off chance the demon’s answer to this question would provide an insight into his motivation.

The demon shrugged his shoulders, a slight quirk of his lips implying he wasn’t nearly as nonchalant as he seemed. “Why not?” he asked. Jungkook’s already narrowed eyes narrowed even more, and the demon sighed before he said; “You need some human company. Being surrounded by a bunch of higher demons can’t be good for you.”

“So that’s why you haven’t told Yoongi to leave yet.” commented Jungkook dryly, not buying a word that came out of Taehyung’s mouth. Yoongi loudly turned the page, clearly signaling he would prefer to be left out of the conversation. Taehyung glanced at him before looking back at Jungkook, his eyes unreadable, although there was a clearly amused grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. Jungkook could tell he knew his explanation hadn’t been believed.

“I'm assuming this is a traditional event?” Taehyung asked after a few moments of silence. Jungkook needed a second to realize he was asking about the dance, and he pressed his lips into a thin line before he could stop himself. For some reason he didn’t like where the conversation was going, although he couldn’t tell why. Perhaps it was something in the demon's voice.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.” decided the demon once he saw Jungkook wasn’t going to say anything. “Did you turn her down because you don’t know how to dance?” The amusement in his tone was more than obvious, and Jungkook couldn’t help thinking how typical of the demon it was to grab every possible opportunity to mock him.

“I know how to dance.” he said. He wasn’t a good dancer by any means, but at least he had the basics down. His instructor even mentioned he could be great at it if he’d apply himself more. Jungkook wasn’t entirely sure he believed him; he found dancing in pairs incredibly awkward and it showed.

Taehyung could tell he was speaking the truth, and Jungkook hoped that meant he would finally stop with the mockery and let him sleep. But, of course, things were never that simple with the demon. “Prove it.” Taehyung said, curling his lips into a smile Jungkook couldn’t describe as anything else but dangerous. He realized the reason behind it when the demon leaned forward and offered him his hand.

A few tense moments passed before Jungkook realized what Taehyung wanted. The demon didn’t need him to ‘prove it’ - he knew he was telling the truth. He also knew dancing with him had got its place on the list of Jungkook’s worst nightmares the moment Jungkook realized it was a possibility, and – as usual – couldn’t pass an opportunity to torture him.

“No.” said Jungkook, crossing his arms over his chest. There was absolutely no way he was going to dance with the demon. None. He pointedly ignored the part of his mind helpfully reminding him the demon knew that as well, and either a) wanted to see his reaction, or b) had some sort of a way to convince him to give in to his request.

It became obvious which one it was fairly quickly. “Not even in exchange for an answer to one of your questions?” the demon asked, raising an eyebrow. The amusement practically radiated off him, which told Jungkook exactly which answer he expected.

The fact he had already analyzed all possible consequences of this exchange the last time Taehyung had offered him an answer, didn’t prevent him from doing it again. Needles to say, he had come to the exact same conclusion; there was very little danger in it for him. The only thing he needed to figure out was whether it was worth it, which wasn’t difficult at all. He didn’t have to think for long to realize he was more than prepared to suffer for a few minutes to get some information. Besides, this had a potential to help him get used to Taehyung’s touches, so he could hopefully stop overreacting to them.

“Fine.” he said, praying he hadn’t made the wrong decision.