As expected, there were no other curses in the mansion. Taehyung had done a thorough sweep, dragging Jungkook after him, but he hadn’t found anything suspicious. Since the building was humongous the whole thing took almost 2 hours and once it was finally over Jungkook was completely and utterly exhausted. It wasn’t even close to when he usually went to sleep, but he was still tempted to go directly to bed. This day had been a disaster from the start, and he believed it was going to be a disaster to the finish so he might as well just sleep the rest of it off.

The servants were waiting in the living room, like Jungkook had told them to, standing up from various couches and armchairs when Taehyung and Jungkook entered, all bowing at an almost 90 degree angle. Namjoon did as well, though he looked very displeased about it, clenching his hands so tightly his knuckles turned white. Apparently, even Taehyung’s threat didn’t successfully quench his anger. Another wave of anxiety washed over Jungkook at the sight of him and he averted his gaze.

The conversation he'd had with Namjoon was more or less the only thing he’d been thinking about for the past 2 hours, and he wanted to stop. The anxiety and dread he felt every time the thought that he might have been the same as Kangmin and his father crossed his mind was draining and upsetting, and he wished he could erase everything Namjoon had accused him of from his memory.

Taehyung – of course – knew what was bothering him. Jungkook could see it in the glances he kept throwing at him, although the look in his eyes was always indecipherable. He didn’t say anything, and Jungkook was grateful for it. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t think there was anything more to tell. The demon had already tried to reassure him, and while it helped a little bit, it didn’t put him at ease.

He briefly summarized what had happened to the Kims, leaving out that he suspected whoever had made the curse had made it inside the mansion with the King’s envoy. The servants listened to him with pale faces and wide eyes, no one saying anything until he was done. Then Mrs Kim bowed as deeply as she could while still remaining on her feet, her voice quiet and a little shaky. “There’s a protocol we should follow…” she said, staring at the floor.

Jungkook shook his head. “Not yet.” he said, biting his tongue. Following the protocol was exactly what Kangmin or his father wanted and the consequences for him would be disastrous, so he had to make sure it didn’t happen. He didn’t know how to convince the servants to cooperate though, especially since he couldn’t exactly tell them the truth (not the whole of it anyway). He sighed. He didn’t want to lie to them, but if that was what it took, then he was going to do it. “We don’t know what they were trying to achieve, so…”

“Weren’t you the target?” Namjoon, of course. He was staring at Jungkook with an almost disgusted expression on his face, and Jungkook's stomach lurched as their eyes met. ‘I know a manipulator when I see one’. He swallowed.

Mrs. Kim’s eyes widened, and she sent her son a panicked look. “Namjoon.” Namjoon glanced at her, an apology in his eyes, but he clearly wasn’t planning to back down, crossing his arms over his chest while staring at Jungkook with clear defiance.

“Do you think I was the target?” asked Jungkook.

“You’re the only one here who could be the target.” replied Namjoon. Jungkook wanted to point out that the servants were the ones preparing the food and would therefore come into contact with the curse first, but Namjoon - of course – knew that already, and had his own theory on why it didn’t matter. “Whoever is behind this probably just forgot servants prepare the food.” he said, his voice filled with contempt.

“Namjoon…” Mrs. Kim’s voice was quiet, slightly shaking, her eyes darting from Jungkook back to Namjoon. Namjoon ignored her.

“I doubt that.” said Jungkook.

Namjoon narrowed his eyes, staring at him without blinking for a few seconds, before saying; “My niece needs a doctor.”

Now Jungkook’s eyes narrowed as well. Was that what he had been doing? Trying to annoy him so he would give in to his demands? It could have gone very wrong for him, but Jungkook supposed he didn’t exactly have many other options. What Jungkook decided went, and things wouldn’t end that well for anyone going behind his back.

“The curse was made by a higher demon.” said Jungkook. “A doctor can’t do anything.” Namjoon looked like he was about to protest, and Jungkook raised his hand to stop him. “Your best chance is another higher demon.” he pointed out. “Do you think the King will offer one of his?”

Namjoon gritted his teeth. “So what?” he asked. “You're just going to leave her to die?”

Jungkook blinked, momentarily confused, until he remembered that Namjoon most likely didn’t know Yoongi was a higher demon. He probably gathered he was a demon from their conversation on the staircase, but nothing more than that. While he knew more about summoning than an ordinary citizen given his circumstances, that still wasn’t exactly enough. He might have lived in a place where it seemed information would be readily available, but that wasn’t the case at all. All books and textbooks on summoning were locked away in summoning rooms, and those were completely out of bounds for anyone who wasn’t a magician or an apprentice. Servants weren’t allowed to enter, and all the cleaning was usually done by magicians themselves, their apprentices or demons.

Jungkook sighed. “Yoongi is a higher demon.” he said.

Namjoon frowned. “What?”

“A higher demon who used to be the Demon Queen’s personal physician.” added Taehyung, flashing Namjoon one of his truly unpleasant smiles. The color immediately drained from Namjoon’s face, and he visibly swallowed.

Demon Queen’s physician? Jungkook hadn’t known about that, but in hindsight, he wasn’t all that surprised. Yoongi had been the one to check him for injuries after Violet’s attack, and Taehyung seemed to have taken him as an authority on the topic. Besides, they’d clearly known each other for ages, and given how Taehyung treated him, Jungkook suspected Yoongi was more powerful than he appeared at first glance.

 “You really couldn’t get anyone better for the job” continued Taehyung “so how about you stop complaining?” The sentence might have been phrased as a question, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was in fact a threat.

Jungkook didn’t think it was possible, but Namjoon’s face turned even whiter and he swallowed again. For a second or two, the room was silent, and then Namjoon took a deep breath. Jungkook couldn’t help wondering where his courage was coming from - if the positions had been reversed, he would have probably been covering in the corner right now, not even entertaining the thought of opening his mouth.

“Why do you have a higher demon?” asked Namjoon. Taehyung's words had enough effect on him that he at least tried to sound polite. “I thought only the King could summon…” his voice trailed off.

“He did.” said Jungkook, crossing his arms over his chest.

After the servants trickled out of the living room, Jungkook made straight for the liquor cabinet. He’d been eying it for the entirety of the meeting with the servants, trying to decide whether to go for it or not. Usually, he avoided alcohol, and when he couldn’t, he made sure not to drink more than a glass. The only exception was that cursed Christmas dance, when he really couldn’t have stopped himself from drinking a bit more - but that had been entirely the demon’s fault, since he decided to crush the dance as Seokjin’s partner.

Alcohol could be dangerous for people like him; he had too many secrets he couldn’t afford to accidentally reveal, and it was hard to find a place where he could drink without fearing he was going to drunkenly start complaining about his father, the King, at any moment. Academy was a no go, since he was constantly surrounded with people who wanted to see him fall, and he hadn’t exactly been anywhere else for years.

Right now though, right now he felt safe enough to drink, and he really needed something to take off the edge. Was it a healthy coping mechanism? No, but a few drinks weren’t going to kill him. And Taehyung would stop him if he was about to do something truly stupid, like calling his father to tell him to go himself or begging Namjoon to take back what he’d said about him.

He opened the cabinet, trailing his fingers over the bottles, trying to choose one. He wasn’t an expert on liquor by any means, so he ended up picking one out at random. Whiskey. Good enough. He grabbed a glass next, and was just about to close the cabinet when Taehyung said; “Take two.”

Jungkook turned his head, finding the demon leaning against a coffee table, his arms crossed over his chest. “If you’re drinking I’m joining you.” he added when their eyes met. It was pretty apparent that he knew Jungkook wasn’t browsing the liquor cabinet just to have a little taste, but to get – maybe not exactly drunk drunk – but at least buzzed. It didn’t seem like he was planning to stop him though, which was a relief. Jungkook remembered how he'd stolen his drink out of his hand at the Christmas dance and had been worried that he might.

“Can demons get drunk?” asked Jungkook, grabbing a second glass without waiting for an answer.

“Not really.” replied Taehyung, shrugging his shoulders. “You can believe me I wouldn’t be drinking otherwise. I'm pretty sure leaving you without supervision is bound to lead to disastrous results.”

Well… Jungkook couldn’t not agree with that. He didn’t have much experience with alcohol, and considering the amount of secrets he kept… Still, Taehyung didn’t have to say it like that. “I can handle myself fine.” he muttered, but honestly, one didn’t even have to be an ancient demon with an incredibly developed ability to sense lies to know he was primarily trying to convince himself.

Taehyung’s eyebrow raised higher, his eyes glinting with amusement. “You know what” he said “I’m going to record you on your phone and we'll see tomorrow.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know how to do that.” said Jungkook despite not being sure at all. Taehyung had been horrendous with technology when he'd first summoned him, sure, but it had been months from then. He could have learned.

Taehyung’s smile widening further lowered his confidence in the correctness of his statement. “Guess we’ll see tomorrow.” said the demon, pushing himself away from the table and straightening his back.

Jungkook averted his gaze, swallowing. On a second thought, was it really such a good idea to drink around the demon? He was bound to do something embarrassing, and there was no doubt in his mind that Taehyung would never let him leave it down (especially not if he was going to record it). He carefully weighed his options while they were walking back to his room, and ended up deciding that he'd take mortification over the type of anxiety he was feeling right now every day.

They ended up on the floor, Jungkook leaning against the bed and Taehyung sitting opposite to him. There was only about a meter of space in between them, which was – of course – entirely the demon’s fault. Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him, and Taehyung gave him an innocent smile, which made Jungkook a bit nervous. Was he planning to do something? ‘Do you want me to take charge?’. Jungkook swallowed at the memory, averting his gaze. Probably not. Probably he was just trying to unnerve him.

“You’re thinking too much.” said Taehyung, pulling the bottle out of his hand - of course he couldn’t do it normally, but had to grab Jungkook’s fingers with one hand and take the bottle with the other. Jungkook tried to suppress the shivers running down his spine, his skin tingling. The twitch of Taehyung’s lips told him that he noticed his reaction, and Jungkook felt his face heat up in response.

The demon opened the bottle with no problems whatsoever, pouring the drink for both of them, Jungkook’s glass significantly emptier than Taehyung’s. Jungkook glared at him. “You shouldn’t over do it.” was the only explanation he received, and Jungkook did his best to not glare even harder. While the other clearly wasn’t going to stop him from drinking, it sure looked like he was planning to stop him from actually feeling the effects.

“What?” asked Taehyung innocently. “I’d be a pretty bad boyfriend if I let you get alcohol poisoning.”

Jungkook was glad he wasn’t drinking anything at the moment, because he was sure he would have choked on it. His breath caught in his throat and blood rushed to his cheeks, his heart hammering in his chest. Was that what they were? They hadn’t actually talked about it, but he had agreed for the demon to take charge, and… Then again, the demon might be just messing with him.

“Is that not the right expression?” wondered the demon. His voice was innocent, but the amused glint in his eyes was a clear sign that he knew exactly what he was doing to Jungkook. And he was doing it on purpose too. “It’s hard to know with how quickly human society changes.” the demon added, nonchalantly inspecting his nails.

Jungkook had absolutely no idea how to respond to that, so he decided he might as well wait to solve the dilemma for after he got some alcohol in his system. Grabbing his glass, he raised it to his mouth. He didn’t get very far though, Taehyung gently pushing the glass back down. He leaned forward to do it as well, bringing their faces uncomfortably close. Jungkook stared at him like a deer caught in headlines for a few seconds, and the demon clearly found his reaction amusing, his lips curling upwards.

Taehyung carefully took the glass out of his hands, moving it out of the way. Jungkook wanted to ask what he was doing, but he didn’t really trust himself to speak at the moment, so he settled on staring daggers at him. Or at least he hoped that was what he was doing - the clear amusement in Taehyung’s eyes when he caught his gaze made him suspect his attempt at a glare was pretty unsuccessful.

“You should save this for later.” advised Taehyung, motioning towards the glass. Jungkook frowned, but didn’t have time to question it, the demon already reaching towards him, and… resting his hand on Jungkook’s cheek. His skin was warmer than Jungkook would expect, and his touch so gentle he barely felt the press of his fingers. It still made him shiver, and he had to focus on keeping his breathing even, his heart trying to escape out of his chest.

He had no idea what the demon was trying to do, not until after he slowly leaned forward, only stopping once their faces were at best a few centimeters apart. It was hard to look at him while he was so close, but there was nowhere else to look, not really, Taehyung taking up his entire field of vision. Jungkook saw him glance at his lips, very briefly, before looking up again, and… oh.

Taehyung was going to kiss him. He’d paused before doing it, probably to give him the opportunity to refuse his advances. Jungkook wished he hadn’t. It gave him too much time to think, and when you were him, that usually wasn’t such a good thing. Normally, all it did was lead to panic. He'd never done this before. It was embarrassing for someone his age, but as things were, he’d never done this before and… he was probably going to at it, and the demon wasn’t going to let him live it down, and…

“You’re thinking too much again.” said Taehyung quietly, somehow managing to sound both amused and exasperated at once. He was close enough for Jungkook to feel his breath on his face. “Do you want this?” Taehyung’s voice was even quieter this time, barely above a whisper.

Did he? Yes. That wasn’t really that difficult to figure out. The answer was yes, and it was what he decided to focus on, trying to push the overbearing nervousness and the embarrassment he was feeling to the side. He had to stop panicking about things he didn’t need to panic about… Swallowing, he nodded, pressing his eyes closed as he leaned his head against the bed, taking a deep breath through his nose.

Waiting was the worst part, but thankfully Taehyung didn’t try to draw this out, closing the distance between them and pressing his lips against Jungkook’s almost right away. And… Jungkook expected it, yes, but a small noise of surprise still found it’s way out of his mouth, and he could feel Taehyung’s lips curling upwards in response.

The demon’s lips were soft and warm, gently pressing against his. It was softer than he expected it to be, but it still made his skin tingle, and his heartbeat sped up even more. While it wasn’t exactly earth shattering like it was so often described in the romance novels, it was pleasant and Jungkook wouldn’t mind doing it more often. He relaxed his shoulders, only now realizing how tense he was.

It only registered that this was most likely what Taehyung was waiting for when he felt a scrap of teeth against his bottom lip. It was the surprise of it that prompted him to part his lips, just a little, and the demon immediately took advantage of it, pushing his tongue inside Jungkook’s mouth. Jungkook definitely wasn’t proud of the sound he made in response, small and helpless, but he thankfully didn’t have the opportunity to think about it for too long, successfully distracted by their tongues brushing against each other.

He felt his fingers twitch, wanting to touch, but he didn’t dare, barely forcing his hands to stay where they were. Taehyung had no such hold ups, one of his hands on his cheek, gently caressing his skin, while the other was on his shoulder, pushing him firmly against the bed.

And… just as quickly as it started, Taehyung was moving away and sitting back, creating proper distance between them. He seemed completely put together, not a single sign of what had just happened anywhere on him, and while Jungkook wished the same went for him, he knew it didn’t. He probably looked like a mess, still a bit dazed, his eyes wide and cheeks red.

Taehyung smirked at him, amusement clear in his eyes as he raised his glass of whiskey to his lips, nonchalantly taking a sip. Jungkook hastily looked away, suddenly understanding why Taehyung told him to wait before he started drinking. Quickly scanning his surroundings, he located his own glass and proceeded to down it in a few big gulps, ignoring the burn in his throat.