When Jungkook woke up the next morning, he felt as if he hadn’t slept at all. Rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn, he slowly forced himself up into a sitting position. His body didn’t want to cooperate, his limbs heavy and sore, and there was an annoying pounding at the back of his head. At least there was no nausea, which he certainly had to appreciate after hours of feeling little else.

He wasn’t entirely sure how many times Taehyung had cast the illusion, losing count after seven, but he suspected it had to be more than ten times at least. Despite putting in an incredible amount of effort, Jungkook still hadn’t felt anything different while using the sight. He’d been sure he almost had it a few times, but every time he came close the nausea became too strong and the feeling slipped through his fingers. Taehyung had told him not to worry, that something like this would take time, but even so, Jungkook couldn’t stop stressing about it. What if there really was no way for a human to turn off the sight after all?

He shook his head, wincing at the pain the action brought. He closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for the feeling to pass before opening his eyes again and taking a quick look around the room, careful not to move his head around unnecessarily this time. Taehyung wasn’t far, lounging in the armchair with Jungkook’s laptop. For whatever reason Yoongi was there as well, sitting in the other armchair, a pile of books lying on the floor next to his feet. He looked up from his book when he heard Jungkook move, his eyes unreadable as usual.

Jungkook hesitated for a moment before he laid back down, burrowing himself under the covers. Considering how ty he was feeling, more sleep was probably the only way to salvage the day, so that was what he was going to do.

Next time he woke, the clock on the wall opposite to the bed informed him it was already past noon. He groggily rubbed his eyes, rolling onto his back and yawning while absentmindedly blinking at the ceiling. He was still somewhat exhausted, though considerably less than he had been in the morning.

“Do you need me to call for breakfast?” asked Taehyung from the armchair. “Or lunch?” A hint of amusement crept into his voice, and Jungkook carefully turned his head so that he could glare at him. The sharp pain in his head had turned into a dull ache by the extra hours of sleep, but it was still annoying and it slightly worsened every time he moved. The corners of Taehyung’s lips twitched up when he caught Jungkook’s gaze, and Jungkook responded by glaring harder.

Yoongi loudly shut the novel he had been reading, half-heartedly throwing it on the top of the book pile next to his armchair. The unexpected sound was caused Jungkook to flinch and he automatically looked towards Yoongi, not at all surprised to find the expression on his face as calm and unreadable as usual. He was staring at Jungkook without blinking for so long that Jungkook started to feel slightly uncomfortable. “You know…” he started hesitantly. “If you don’t want to be here you can always leave.”

He wasn’t sure what had been up with Yoongi lately, but there was no doubt that something had been bothering him ever since they'd arrived at the mansion, possibly even longer. Jungkook couldn’t tell what it was, but it looked like it had something to do with either him or Taehyung. Or both.

Yoongi let out a sigh and chose another book off the pile, promptly hiding his face behind it. Jungkook took that as ‘I’m annoyed but not enough to leave', which… okay - Yoongi could do whatever he wanted.

Taehyung glanced at the other demon with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It was pretty obvious that he knew what Yoongi's problem was - which of course didn’t benefit Jungkook in any way. Getting information out of Taehyung was even harder than getting it out of Yoongi and even that was practically impossible.

“What do you want for breakfast?” asked Taehyung, leaning forward and nonchalantly pulling Yoongi’s phone from the pocket of Yoongi's jacket. Yoongi gave him one of his usual indecipherable looks, but didn’t protest. 

Jungkook didn’t really have an appetite, the nausea too fresh in his memory, but he knew he had to give an answer anyway. For some incomprehensible reason, the demon was really pushy about him eating, and he could already tell that refusing to have breakfast wouldn’t result in anything pleasant for him. Taehyung usually managed to find a way to make him do things he absolutely didn’t want to, so it was definitely easier to just go with his ‘requests', especially while he was this exhausted. “Waffles.” he muttered. “And coffee.” The demon looked at him, the amused glint in his eyes implying he knew at least an extent of what Jungkook was thinking about.

Jungkook slowly averted his gaze, blinking at the ceiling as he listened to Taehyung talking with Mrs. Kim. He ordered Jungkook’s breakfast with the addition of tea and a muffin for himself, just as he had done almost every morning since they'd arrived at the mansion. As far as Jungkook knew that and coffee were the only human foods/drinks he’d ever tried, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking; “Are you ever going to try anything else?”

The demon didn’t reply, but - knowing him - he probably responded in some other way, most likely by smirking at him. Jungkook didn’t bother looking in his direction to make sure.

He lazily patted the bed next to him, searching for his phone. Thankfully, it was still exactly where he had left it, lying next to his pillow. Grabbing it, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and pressed his back against the wall. He turned it on and looked for Jimin’s name in the contacts list, hesitating for a moment before letting out a soft sigh and pressing call. He had to talk to his brother about the magicians’ registry - the sooner the better - and he figured he might as well do it now, while waiting for breakfast.

Jimin picked up on the fifth ring, and the first thing he asked was predictably; “Is everything okay?” Jungkook guessed that was what he got for mostly contacting him when there was an emergency. He should probably start calling him every week.

“Everything’s fine.” he said quickly, pausing to take a nervous breath before posing his request; “Can you give me access to the magicians’ registry?” He didn’t think there was any point in beating around the bush, so he didn't bother. Jimin would either say yes or no, and no amount of small talk would change his answer.

Jimin was silent for a few moments, his surprise almost palatable. He recovered pretty quickly though, letting out a low chuckle. “Hello to you too, little brother.” he said, and for some reason the demon seemed to find that amusing, quietly snorting. Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him, and Taehyung responded with an exaggeratedly innocent smile.

Jungkook averted his gaze, grumbling a ‘hi’ into the phone, although he was tempted to point out that Jimin didn’t say hello either. 

“Why do you need access to the magicians’ registry?” Jimin asked after a moment, the curiosity in his voice unmistakable. Jungkook had to admit that it was a pretty unusual request, so it wasn’t at all surprising that his brother would want to know why he was making it. Still, he couldn’t have helped holding onto hope that he wouldn’t have, since he had no explanations to give, and he couldn’t exactly tell him the truth. Not when Jimin was likely to react by dragging him directly home. 

He let out a quiet sigh. He still felt guilty for all the lies he’d told in the past, and he wasn’t planning to do it again if he could avoid it. “I can’t really tell you right now.” he admitted.

Jimin was quiet for a few seconds. “Does it have anything to do with Kangmin?” he finally asked, and Jungkook barely suppressed a wince. Bringing Kangmin into the conversation had definitely not been his plan. He was sick of having to think about him, and he was slightly worried that reminding Jimin of his existence would reopen the old conversation about the benefits of Jungkook coming back home. He should have probably known Kangmin's name would resurface sooner or later though – it really seemed that he couldn't have a single conversation with Jimin without that murderous bastard coming up.

He let out another sigh, before admitting; “Yes.”

“Alright.” said Jimin. Jungkook wasn’t sure what exactly he was saying alright to, and already opened his mouth to ask for clarification, when Jimin added; “It might take a while.”

Jungkook blinked, a second or two passing before he registered that Jimin had just agreed to grant him access. It was… surprisingly easy. While he had been sure he could convince Jimin to allow him access, he had expected that it would take a lot more effort. It was a top-secret registry, after all. “Thank you.” he said, a hint of doubt creeping into his voice.

“Sure. You might be able to figure out something we missed. Just…” Jimin paused for a second before finishing the sentence; “…be careful.”

“I’m always careful.” said Jungkook.

To which Jimin, the hypocrite, retorted with; “I disagree.”

“Me too.” said the demon, clearly unable to mind his own business. Jungkook glared at him, receiving another one of his innocent smiles in reply.

“Someone there with you?” asked Jimin, and Jungkook sent another glare in Taehyung’s direction. It was one thing to interrupt his phone conversation, and another altogether to do it loudly enough to be heard. 

“Demons.” he muttered into the phone. Taehyung was lucky that he didn’t have to lie to explain away his interference. He still felt guilty for not telling Jimin about Taehyung, and had to regularly remind himself that he would have put Jimin in a pretty unfavorable position if he had told him. Taehyung nonchalantly revealing his existence did nothing to help ease his conscience.

“Good.” said Jimin. He was quiet for a little while, and then he took a deep breath. “There’s something else...”

He was silent for longer now, and Jungkook uttered a quiet; ‘Yes?’ to speed up the process. There was no doubt in his mind that Jimin had bad news for him - he almost definitely wouldn’t have had that much trouble getting it out otherwise. He regularly shut down when he had to disappoint someone. Jungkook just hoped that agreeing to grant him access to the registry so easily wasn’t his way of softening the blow, since that would most likely mean that the news was very very bad. He massaged his temples as he waited for Jimin to find his words, suddenly feeling a lot more exhausted than before.

Jimin let out a soft sigh. “Dad’s coming to see you.” he said, his voice quiet. He continued before Jungkook could respond; “I didn’t tell him where you are, he figured it out on his own.”

Once Jimin’s words registered, Jungkook almost let go of the phone, catching it just before it fell on the bed and staring at it in a daze for a few seconds before raising it back to his ear. He probably should have seen this coming. His father had been all apologetic after he’d realized that he had falsely accused him of murdering Iseol, and had tried to reach out to him many times after that. Jungkook had of course ignored his calls, and had tried to leave the academy grounds as sparsely as possible, knowing that was the one place where his father couldn’t reach him that easily. He was the king and everyone knew what he looked like, so he couldn’t just casually walk into the academy - not without getting immediately recognized. Of course, he could have come anyway, revealing Jungkook’s identity to at least the academy’s heads in the process, but thankfully he hadn't gone that far yet. Right now, Jungkook was out of the academy and inside one of the royal residences though, so the king could reach him without a problem.

While he didn’t doubt his father was trying to salvage their relationship, he didn’t believe for a second that he was doing it out of genuine remorse. He wasn’t sure what his reasons were, but he assumed they either had something to do with politics or with Jimin.

Jungkook gritted his teeth, holding the phone strongly enough for his knuckles to turn white. “I know, I don’t blame you.” he said, trying to keep his voice calm. He really didn’t blame him. There was no doubt that the king had known he was here from the very beginning, and that wasn’t really something Jimin could have hidden from him.

“What does he want?” he asked. His assumption was that he was just going to try apologizing again, but there was a distinct possibility his visit might have something to do with Kangmin as well.

Jimin was quiet for a few moments. “Talk to him.” he said finally. “Properly this time. I know you don’t believe me, but he’s really worried about you.”

“You’re right, I don’t believe you.” said Jungkook, ending the call. He knew Jimin had good intentions, but even so, his efforts to make him and his father reconcile left a bad taste in Jungkook’s mouth. No matter how unreasonable, it made him feel as if Jimin was on the king’s side and not on his.

He threw the phone to the other side of the bed - he’d been in a pretty bad mood already, and Jimin’s news successfully worsened it. After a second or two of sitting still, he sighed and retrieved the phone, sending Jimin a quick message.

When is he coming?

Jimin wrote back almost immediately.

Tomorrow.

He told me half an hour ago, so I couldn’t warn you earlier.

Jungkook let go of the phone, burying his head in his hands with a sigh. The news was bad enough that he seriously contemplated reserving the next free flight to Korea and returning to the academy right away. The only reason he didn’t was because of a strong suspicion he had that the demons wouldn’t let him - there was no doubt he was safer here than at the academy, and that was what mattered to them.

Someone knocked on the door, and Jungkook flinched, raising his head. It was Mrs. Kim’s daughter (Jungkook thought her name was Yihwa, or something along those lines, but he wasn't sure) with the breakfast, bowing the moment Taehyung - looking like Hoseok again - opened the door. Their arrangement worked like this; every time someone was around, Taehyung pretended to be Hoseok and Hoseok pretended he didn’t exist.

“Thank you.” said Taehyung, carrying the tray towards the bed and unceremoniously pushing it into Jungkook’s hands. Then he plopped down next to him, pressing his shoulder against Jungkook's. As with every other time the demon touched him lately, Jungkook's heart immediately sped up and blood rushed to his cheeks. Both demons undoubtedly noticed, with Yoongi throwing the textbook he had been reading on top of the book pile forcefully enough that it toppled, while Taehyung curled his lips upwards. Taehyung’s reaction was expected, Yoongi’s… not so much. Jungkook blinked at him, but the other didn’t acknowledge him, too busy slowly stacking the books back on top of each other.

Jungkook couldn't worry about Yoongi for long with Taehyung distracting him by grabbing a waffle off the tray, taking a bite with his head slightly tilted. “I’m trying something new.” he said when he caught Jungkook’s gaze. Jungkook just shook his head. Taehyung stealing his food meant there was less left for him, and considering his lack of appetite, he couldn't complain. Taehyung stealing his coffee on the other hand…

“I thought you said coffee is disgusting.” he muttered as he watched the demon grab the cup and take a small sip.

“It is,” said Taehyung, grimacing before putting the coffee back on the tray and flashing Jungkook an amused smile. 

Jungkook was really tempted to ask him why he drank it if he knew he didn’t like it, but - knowing the demon - that was probably just another way of messing with him, so he smartly refrained. Averting his gaze, he took a small bite of a waffle, washing it down with coffee. The food didn’t really taste like anything, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t the cook’s fault, but rather the combination of his horrible mood and the previous night’s exercise. Still, he was probably going to have to force himself to eat at least half of it if he didn’t want to get into an argument with Taehyung.

“We’re going out after you finish your breakfast.” said the demon, picking his muffin off the tray. Jungkook looked at him, already opening his mouth to protest, but Taehyung raised his finger before he could utter a single word. “Non-negotiable.” he said, a small - unpleasant - smile tugging at the corners of his lips. There was absolutely no doubt that he was going to find a way to get him out even if Jungkook tried to refuse, so he decided not to bother.

He had no idea where the demon wanted to drag him to, but considering they were walking directly towards the main gate, they probably weren’t going just for a stroll around the property. “Where are we going?” he asked, pushing his already freezing hands in his pockets. He was wearing gloves, his warmest coat and a scarf, but he was still cold, and they hadn’t even been outside that long. On top of that he was still pretty exhausted, although the fresh - and freezing - air did make him a bit more alert.

He really hoped they weren’t going far.

Taehyung glanced back at him, something indecipherable in his eyes, and stopped. He did it so abruptly that Jungkook narrowly avoided bumping directly into him, barely taking a step to the side in time. They were already standing pretty close, but - for some reason - the demon wrapped his fingers around Jungkook’s wrist and pulled him even closer, their shoulders pressing together. Jungkook’s heartbeat immediately sped up, and he had to force himself to slowly exhale. Since he was so busy overreacting, it took him a second or two to notice that he was no longer as cold as before, and not only due to the strong reaction to the demon’s touch. Taehyung’s body radiated heat, and standing so close to him had the same effect as standing near a fire. Jungkook reflexively stepped even closer, leaning some of his weight against the demon.

“Sorungs save me.” muttered Yoongi a few meters behind them, his voice dry.

“They’re dead.” said Taehyung, glancing over his shoulder at Yoongi, lips curled into an amused smile. Jungkook wondered whether he should ask for a total of two seconds before deciding he’d rather not know.

“And we’re going to the town.” the demon finally answered Jungkook’s question. There was a trace of a smile on his lips as he pulled Jungkook after him, still holding his wrist and showing no signs of planning to let go. Yoongi followed them at a distance, his footsteps heavier and louder than usual.