Jungkook followed the demon through the main door and into the spacious foyer. The mansion’s interior was predictably luxurious and over the top, heavy embellished furniture pushed against the walls adorned with old-fashioned wallpaper. A huge crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and there were vases in the hallway, resting on top of tables and window shells. Jungkook didn’t have to take more than one glance at them to know they probably cost a fortune. The paintings on the walls were a bit less obvious, but they wouldn’t have been there if they hadn’t been priceless originals.

He momentarily closed his eyes. All the excess was worsening his headache, every expensive piece of furniture and every crystal chandelier a live reminder of his life at Court. It was not a good place to remember, and it almost made him start to regret agreeing to come here.

Taehyung was walking a little in front of him. Although Jungkook couldn’t see his eyes, he could still tell he was carefully observing their surroundings, his head turning every time they passed a room. Mrs. Kim kept at a polite distance behind them, her steps so light and quiet Jungkook barely knew she was there. He glanced back when they rounded the corner, noting her politely bowed head and straightened back. Swallowing, he averted his gaze - the servants at the Court had behaved in the same way.

Yoongi was waiting under the grand staircase, leaning against the wall and staring at his phone. He looked up when he heard them coming, stepping away from the wall while calmly pushing the phone in his pocket. His eyes were as unreadable as always.

“I'm assuming the bedrooms are upstairs?” wondered Taehyung after they joined Yoongi, his eyebrows slightly raised. He was looking at Mrs. Kim, who had paused at the room’s entrance, her hands clasped behind her back and eyes fixed on the floor.

At the demon's question she bowed at an almost ninety degree angle, her eyes still downcast. “Yes.” she said. “I can give you a tour if you wish.”

Taehyung looked at Jungkook, giving him a quick once over. His gaze was indecipherable, but there was no doubt he noticed both Jungkook’s slouched shoulders and his probably-not-as-stealthy attempts to lean against the nearest decorative table. “Perhaps later,” he said.

Mrs. Kim slowly straightened her back and – surprisingly – raised her head, her eyes directed at Jungkook. It took a few moments for him to realize she was waiting for his confirmation, and he nodded, trying to move his head as little as possible. It was true he felt much better than a few hours ago, but the splitting headache was still present, and it worsened with movement. Taehyung noticed his discomfort, reacting to his nod with a glance of disapproval.

Mrs. Kim bowed again, just as deeply as the last time, and Jungkook awkwardly shifted his weight from one leg to the other. He had been away from the Court for so long that he was no longer used to the etiquette, and as a result the whole situation felt both comical and uncomfortable. He wasn’t entirely sure how to behave. “As you wish.” she said. “The bedrooms have all been thoroughly cleaned before your arrival. I am assuming you will be taking three?”

“Yes.” said Jungkook, voice a bit hoarse. He would be happy to let Taehyung answer, but Mrs. Kim had made it pretty clear she would only listen to him, and he didn’t want to waste any more time. He desperately needed some painkillers and sleep.

Mrs. Kim responded with a third bow. Jungkook absentmindedly wondered if it hurt her back at all, and determined that she was probably used to it. “I will be in the kitchen.” she said, pulling a pencil and a piece of paper out of her purse and scribbling something on it. She offered it to Jungkook once she was done, and he hesitantly reached for it - it was a phone number. “Please call me if you need anything.” she said. “The lunch is done if you would like to eat" her eyes darted towards Yoongi and Taehyung, and then back to him “but I am not sure there is enough for everyone. We have not been informed of…” her voice cut off, and it was quite apparent that she thought she had said too much, her lips pressed into a thin line.

Jungkook blinked. Did she think Yoongi and Taehyung were humans? He fought back the urge to massage his temples – he thought it might be inappropriate - and began playing with the silver ring on his finger instead. He determined that yes, she was probably under the impression the demons were human, and that was entirely his fault. The combination of his years long absence from the Court and his injury preventing him from thinking clearly, made him forget about the proper way to treat one's demon guards while they were in their human form - they were supposed to keep quiet and stoic, walking behind him at all times.

He made sure to narrow his eyes at Yoongi, who undoubtedly remembered that but decided not to warn him, the other calmly gazing back. Figures. Letting out a quiet sigh, he said; “Thank you, but we will eat later.” There was nothing he could do at this point – not letting her know they were demons still posed a lesser danger of this getting to the king rather than telling her after he had already behaved inappropriately.

“How many people work here?” asked Taehyung before Mrs. Kim could bow for the fourth time and excuse herself. She glanced at Jungkook, and he forced his lips up to avoid having to nod again, the pounding in his head having heightened in intensity. He was aware it was necessary to know how many people were supposed to be in the mansion in order to protect him, but he still wished Taehyung would hurry it up. The demon undoubtedly knew that as well, glancing at Jungkook with a ghost of a smile on his lips. It was neither amused nor mocking, and because Jungkook had no idea what to make of it, he decided to deal with it by averting his gaze.

“There are me, my husband, sister and mother, and my daughter with her husband and two children. My son usually helps only during the vacations.” Mrs. Kim explained.

Taehyung slightly tilted his head, clearly listening for something. After a few seconds he nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“Will that be all?” asked Mrs. Kim.

“Yes. Thank you.” said Jungkook.

The bedrooms were on the first floor and – at least in Jungkook’s humble opinion – there were too many of them, the hallway that led to them long and with at least ten doors on each side. They were all open, and it soon became apparent that not a single room was identical to another, although they were decorated in the same style, their interior with its heavy dark furniture and colorful wallpapers making him feel as if he had been transported straight to 18th century Europe.

Taehyung carefully investigated every bedroom they walked past, before pulling him into one with a green color scheme. It was bigger than it looked from the outside, boasting two huge wardrobes, a dresser and a queen sized bed with a canopy. There was also a fireplace, two armchairs, and a desk, hiding in the part of the room that wasn’t visible from the hallway. Jungkook didn’t waste much time evaluating it, going straight for the bed and collapsing onto it face first, inhaling the flowery scent of the freshly washed sheets. He wasn’t sure why Taehyung chose this bedroom, and although he usually wouldn’t be able to rest until he knew, he couldn’t bring himself to care at this point. All thinking done while he was in this state worsened his headache.

He could hear Taehyung’s footsteps somewhere behind him, followed by an additional weight on the bed and something cold hitting his cheek. He flinched half in surprise and half due to the uncomfortable sensation, forcing himself to open his eyes while trying to ignore the annoying pounding in his head. Taehyung was sitting on the edge of the bed, no longer looking like Hoseok, a corner of his lips curled slightly up. His hands were outstretched, holding a glass of water and what looked like a couple of painkillers he probably got from the medical cabinet in the bathroom. Jungkook slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, hesitating for a moment before taking the pills from the demon’s palm, his fingertips accidentally brushing against his skin.

Once his hands were empty, Taehyung got up and moved to the other side of the bed, pushing back the covers and getting rid of the extra pillows. Jungkook swallowed the painkillers and drank the water, wiping his hands in his trousers to get rid of the uncomfortable tingling in his fingers caused by the demon’s touch. After that was done, he kicked off his shoes and slipped off his coat, throwing it towards the nearest armchair and missing by almost a meter. He couldn’t bring himself to care about it, and besides, the demon picked it up a second later with a mildly amused expression on his face. The room was a bit chilly without it, but he planned to burrow himself under the covers, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

He fell asleep almost immediately after his head touched the pillow.

The first thought on his - still groggy - mind after waking up was that he was pleasantly warm. The second was that his head was killing him, and the third that he couldn’t move. He half heartedly tried to roll over, still half asleep and barely aware of what he was doing, and jolted fully awake the moment he realized he couldn’t. Opening his eyes in alarm, he didn’t need long to figure out what the problem was, especially since the first thing he saw was a mess of black hair. Taehyung was closer than he had ever been before, one of his arms thrown over Jungkook’s waist, their foreheads almost touching.

Jungkook put a bit more effort into trying to move back, towards the middle of the bed, but it soon became apparent that his attempts were hopeless. Taehyung didn’t just passively lay his arm over him - he was actually holding him in place, and there was no way a human could get out of a demon’s grasp. He started to properly panic now, his heart racing and his breaths shallow and too fast. Heat rose up his neck, and he buried his face into a pillow to hide it, from whom, he wasn’t sure.

“Taehyung.” he hissed after he managed to somewhat calm down, the name sounding foreign on his tongue. He knew he’d said it before, but this was the first time he used it to call the demon - or at least tried to, since Taehyung didn’t stir. Jungkook wouldn’t be surprised if he was pretending to be asleep just to mess with him. “Taehyung.” he tried again. Still nothing. “Tae.”

Of course that was when the demon finally woke up, opening his eyes and blinking at him. It didn’t take more than a second for him to get rid of the last remnants of sleep, and his lips immediately curled up, eyes glinting in amusement. “Tae?” he repeated, prompting Jungkook’s face to turn even redder than it already was.

“I mean…” started Jungkook, his voice trailing off once he realized he had no idea what he was trying to say. The combination of the still present headache and the mortification certainly didn’t do good things for his communication skills. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him.

The demon - typically - found his reaction incredibly amusing. “You can call me Tae.” he said, his smile deepening. It was amused, but it didn’t seem mocking, which - for some reason - made him even more uneasy.

“Thank you, I won’t.” murmured Jungkook dryly, only now realizing that the demon had managed to distract him enough that he momentarily forgot why he had tried to wake him in the first place. He was going for ‘let go’, but what ended up coming out of his mouth was; “Why…?” He winced, blaming his disobedient tongue on his headache. There was no need for him to ask why - the demon had probably wanted some entertainment and had decided to do something that was sure to make Jungkook uncomfortable.

What Taehyung said however, was; “You were shaking.”

“Oh…” murmured Jungkook. That was actually…not unlikely. He distinctly remembered being cold before falling asleep, and considering he was currently pleasantly warm with Taehyung half wrapped around him… Not to mention he could hear crackling from somewhere behind him, implying Taehyung had lit the fire in the fireplace. Jungkook swallowed to get rid of the unpleasant feeling of something being stuck in his throat. “Can you let me go?” he finally asked.

Taehyung didn’t protest, removing his arm and moving his head back. They were still uncomfortably close, but Jungkook didn’t attempt to create more space between them, why even he didn’t properly understand. Because his brain was still filled with fog and a small voice in the back of his head told him he didn’t really want to know, he didn’t try to analyze the reasons, curling into himself and wrapping the covers tighter around his body instead.

“Do you need more blankets?” asked Taehyung, prompting Jungkook to look at him. His smile was gone and there was a crease on his brow, the way he was staring at him oddly intense. Jungkook tried to ignore the heat on his cheeks, pulling the covers over his head. Taehyung took his reaction as a yes. “I’ll go get some.” he said, already pushing himself up.

Jungkook didn’t think his next action through, automatically reaching forward and catching him by the sleeve. Taehyung turned his head towards him, quirking an eyebrow. “Don’t leave.” said Jungkook quietly, looking at everything but Taehyung, his face burning. He wanted the demon to stay badly enough that he was prepared to endure some mocking. Logically, he knew the possibility of Kangmin finding him here wasn’t that great, but he could say the same had been true for the academy and he’d still been attacked. He couldn’t deny that he was absolutely terrified, even more so because his brain was his only weapon and it was barely functioning at the moment.

Something flashed in Taehyung’s eyes, but it was gone before Jungkook could even attempt to decipher it. “Okay. I won’t leave.” said the demon, though he still climbed off the bed. Jungkook wanted to ask him what he was doing, but before he could actually say anything, the demon knocked on the wall left to the door. “Hoseok.” he said, slightly raising his voice “be useful and find some blankets.” He winked when he caught Jungkook’s gaze, a small smile tugging at his lips.

It took a few days for the pain in his head to dull to a manageable level, and until it did, Jungkook barely did anything other than eat and sleep. He occasionally watched a movie or an anime - both with lowered brightness - and went on a walk in the garden once a day, though only because Taehyung insisted that ‘fresh air was good for him' and he didn’t have the energy to argue.

The demon was… helpful, which - as Jungkook realized after the fog in his mind somewhat cleared - wasn’t actually such a recent development. Taehyung had been like that even before Violet had thrown him into a wall, it had just been less obvious because he’d never done anything nice without mocking him at the same time. He didn’t do it this time - his amusement was not gone, far from it, but Jungkook nevertheless never got the impression Taehyung was making fun of him. The whole thing was odd and mildly unsettling, and he alternated between suspecting the demon was planning something, and thinking that he didn’t want to hurt him after all and was just doing his job as a demon guard.

Because the demon was no longer messing with him every second of the day, their dynamic was... different. Jungkook suddenly caught himself having actual not-antagonistic conversations with Taehyung, which was even weirder and more unsettling than the other changes. Of course, they’d had conversations that would have seemed friendly to a random observant before, but Jungkook had always felt the demon was using them to quietly mock him. It didn’t feel like that now.

Hoseok came to visit him at least twice a day, usually bringing tea and muffins from the kitchen before spending the next few minutes apologizing for letting Violet hurt him. Jungkook told him it wasn’t his fault five times a day at average, and Taehyung vehemently disagreed with him every time. Yoongi on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen, his room always closed. Jungkook knocked on his door once, and received no answer. He was sure Yoongi said something though, just not loudly enough for him to hear, because Taehyung looked incredibly amused. Jungkook contemplated asking for a second or two, but decided he didn’t really want to know in the end.

His first plan of action for after he felt better was to inspect the hairpin. It absolutely refused to get out of his head, sometimes even creeping into his dreams, often turning them into nightmares. Considering it’d come from Kangmin, it couldn’t mean anything good and had to have at least the potential to seriously mess with his mind. Usually, his first thought would be that it was a camera or a bug, but Kangmin was too smart for that - he definitely knew the demons would have caught it, since technology was as Yoongi had once so wonderfully described it: ‘loud’. It was almost certainly something else, but Jungkook couldn’t tell what, not even after almost an hour of staring daggers at it.

“You know” said demon from one of the armchairs “there are better ways to destroy an object than glaring at it. You can just give it here, and I’ll burn it.” Jungkook tiredly rubbed his eyes, before pushing himself on his elbows and turning his head towards Taehyung. He was reading something, although it was hard to see what from his position, and didn’t as much as glance up when Jungkook looked at him.

“I’m not trying to destroy it.” he said unnecessarily, because Taehyung already knew that. “I’m trying to figure out what it means.” He fixed his eyes back on the hairpin in his hands, turning it around and squinting at it. It still seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t tell why no matter how hard he tried. Perhaps that was exactly the problem, and he should take a break.

“There are initials on the back of it.” said Taehyung.

Jungkook frowned and turned it to the back again, but there was nothing to see, just as he knew there wouldn’t be - he’d already looked over every inch of it, and hadn’t found a single clue. Definitely no initials. Taehyung must have noticed his frustration as he let out a small, mildly exasperated sigh - and then appeared directly in front of him, so quietly and unexpectedly that Jungkook almost jumped out of his skin, the pin falling out of his hands and hitting the floor with a clink. “Could you maybe not do that?” he murmured once he caught his breath, willing his heartbeat to slow down.

“Not do what?” asked Taehyung innocently as he picked up the pin and offered it to Jungkook. Jungkook glared at him as he pulled it out of his hands, now entirely convinced he had done it on purpose. .

The demon leaned closer to get a better look at the pin, and Jungkook barely coaxed his muscles into not tensing up in response. “Here.” said Taehyung pointing at a small spot on the back of the hairpin. Jungkook raised it closer to his eyes and squinted. There were a few scratches, but nothing that could resemble initials. Either Taehyung was messing around or they were too small to see with bare eyes.

He sighed. “Do you think someone here has a magnifying glass?” he asked.

“If they don’t, they’ll surely go buy it for you.” said Taehyung, before turning towards the wall their room shared with Hoseok’s. “Hey Hoseok.” he called, slightly tilting his head as he - at least so Jungkook assumed - listened to the other’s response. “Go find a magnifying glass.” He stared at the wall for a few more moments before looking at Jungkook and nodding, a small smile playing on his lips. Ordering Hoseok around was his version of doing errands lately, and Jungkook couldn’t exactly blame him - he was the one who had told him not to leave, after all. His cheeks burned if he just thought about it, so he tried not to.

Hoseok delivered the magnifying glass surprisingly soon, hovering next to the door after Taehyung took it out of his hands. A quick glance over his shoulders told Jungkook that Taehyung wasn’t particularly happy with his presence, and was trying to get him to leave by glaring at him. He couldn’t help being mildly impressed that Hoseok stayed where he was and didn’t immediately remove himself from the situation, although he certainly looked like he wanted to, his face pale and back unusually stiff as he was obviously avoiding Taehyung’s eyes.

Jungkook tried to ignore both the demons and the tension between them as he raised the magnifying glass closer to his eyes. Taehyung had been right - there were indeed initials on the back of the hairpin. A tiny and even J, followed by an I. It wasn’t hard to figure out who they stood for - Jeon Iseol. The hairpin almost slipped out of his grasp for the second time in the last hour when the truth registered, but he managed to catch it before it could fall. In hindsight, he really really should have seen this coming.

He turned the pin around, noticing the slight tremor in his fingers. It shouldn’t have affected him this much, but he couldn’t help it. Despite knowing Kangmin hated him with passion, his mouth was still dry and he felt like something was stuck in his throat. The message was clear: Look what I did to my best friend - I don’t regret it and I’m going to do the same to you. The worst thing about the situation was that this was the hairpin Iseol had been buried with. Jungkook pressed his fingers against his temples. He really hoped the pin he had was a forgery and that Kangmin hadn’t actually desecrated her grave, though knowing him that was probably exactly what he had done.