“We should make this a bit more interesting.” said the demon after Jungkook put down the empty glass. His throat burned, but the effects of alcohol didn’t kick in yet, and he briefly wondered whether they would at all. His glass had been more empty than full (thanks to the demon), and he didn’t drink often enough to know his limits. Still… it was whiskey, so he suspected he was going to feel it.

He would send Taehyung a suspicious look if he dared to, but he didn’t, so he had to settle for narrowing his eyes at the carpet. He still hadn’t forgotten the demon had threatened to record him. ‘Making things more interesting’ – whatever that meant – could be his way of making sure Jungkook did something embarrassing, so he could about it later. “That’s not the point.” he said.

The demon snorted. “No, the point is for you to drown your problems in alcohol.”

“I need a break.” said Jungkook a bit defensively. He did need a break from everything, and it was clear his anxiety wasn’t going to let him have one as long as he was sober - which was why he was trying to make sure he wasn’t.

“I know, that’s why I’m not stopping you.” replied Taehyung, slowly turning the bottle of whiskey in his hand.

Jungkook sighed. Why did he have a feeling that, if he refused now, the demon would just ask again once he was inebriated and thus more likely to agree? Probably because it sounds like something he would do, thought Jungkook bitterly. He risked a quick glance in the demon’s direction, having to hastily look away again once their eyes met, awkwardly clearing his throat. The memory of the kiss was still too alive in his mind, and he barely refrained from bringing his fingers to his lips, his cheeks burning.

“Okay how?” he asked, staring at the carpet. He didn’t want to agree to this, but he might as well find out what exactly the demon had in mind.

Taehyung hummed. “How about a game?” he proposed.

“Like…?”

“Hm…” Taehyung reached forward, grabbing Jungkook’s phone off the nightstand. What followed was a few minutes of silence, while he was – at least Jungkook assumed – Googling something. Maybe he should get Taehyung his own phone? It wasn’t practical that he always had to borrow Jungkook’s… “Two truths and a lie?” the demon proposed.

“How does that work?”

“One of us has to give two true statements and a lie, and the other has to guess which is which. If you guess wrong, you drink.”

Jungkook pressed his lips together. Taehyung’s voice might be perfectly casual, but there was no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing. Jungkook wasn’t drunk enough to fall for it, not yet. “Funny.” he muttered, glaring at the carpet since he still couldn’t bring himself to actually look at Taehyung. Playing this kind of a game with a demon who could sense lies more reliably than a lie detector really wouldn’t end well for him, and Taehyung was fully aware of it.

The demon let out a slightly amused chuckle. “Alright.” he said. “How about this; you guess right, I drink, you guess wrong, you drink.”

Jungkook bit his lips as he considered his words, searching for any more potential traps. He didn’t think there were any, though he could never be entirely sure with the demon. “Better.” he said, pausing for a moment before muttering; “It’s still unbalanced – it’s not like you can actually get drunk.” He was going to be progressively less sober, while the demon wasn’t going to feel the effects of alcohol at all, and was therefore going to be free to mess with him in any way he wanted. Really, Jungkook could only be the loser in this situation.

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders. “That can’t be helped.” he said.

Which was unfortunately true. He would have to depend on Taehyung’s (possibly nonexistent) mercy regardless of whether he played the game or not. At least with the game there were rules. “Fair enough.” murmured Jungkook.

“Okay, let’s start with something easy.” said Taehyung as he carefully poured more whiskey in their empty glasses. Jungkook’s was – once again – considerably more empty than Taehyung’s. Jungkook narrowed his eyes at it, but didn’t try to complain, knowing it wasn’t going to change anything.

“I like swimming, I once burned down an entire city, and I find your current refusal to meet my eyes both exasperating and adorable.”

Jungkook felt his blood rush to his cheeks the moment the words registered, realizing with sudden clarity, that he managed to get himself caught into a trap anyway. It just wasn’t one he had expected, although – in hindsight – he probably should have had. He'd even acknowledged that the demon was planning to make him do something embarrassing, so why hadn’t he considered he might use the game not only for that but to embarrass him directly with his words as well?

“I changed my mind.” he muttered, even though he knew that wasn’t going to work. Taehyung definitely wouldn’t let him out now.

“You can’t.” said the demon, his voice filled with amusement.

Jungkook took a deep breath. “I don’t think you like swimming.” he said. The demon had kept far away from the pool yesterday, so he supposed that was his safest bet, although it could still be a trap. Burning a city down sounded exactly like something Taehyung would do, and his last statement… well, Jungkook didn’t really want to think about it, at least not while Taehyung was still watching him.

Taehyung wrapped his fingers around his glass, raising it towards Jungkook before taking a sip. Jungkook watched him put it back down with raised eyebrows. “Is that all?” he asked.

“One sip.” said Taehyung.

Jungkook narrowed his eyes. “That wasn’t in the rules.” he said. He could see what the demon was trying to do – ensure that the game lasted for a while. Jungkook would have enough pretty soon if he had to empty the whole glass every time he lost. The had even gone as far as to trick him into thinking a glass was the measurement he had in mind and not a sip by pouring a significantly smaller amount of whisky in his glass than in his own.

“No" said Taehyung “but if you wanted something different you should have specified.”

“You’re an .” muttered Jungkook.

Taehyung didn’t directly address the comment, but it was clear he heard it by the amusement in his voice when he said; “It’s your turn.”

“Is there even a point to that?” asked Jungkook. The drinking was only included when it was Taehyung’s turn to give the statements. He already suspected what the answer might be though – of course there was a point, this was the only way to get him to say something really embarrassing.

“Do you even need to ask?” asked Taehyung, sounding even more amused than before.

Jungkook pressed his lips together as he tried to come up with something to say. Preferably something that wasn’t too obvious, but honestly, the demon could read him as an open book – he would definitely know which statement was a lie and which the truth, no matter what he said.

At the end, he settled on; “I can speak more than two languages, I like hiking, and we met when I was six.”

That was still too obvious according to the demon. “Come on Kookie” he said. “At least try. You look like you’re going to die every time you have to climb a flight of stairs – you obviously don’t like hiking.”

“It’s not that bad.” muttered Jungkook, feeling like he needed to defend himself, even though the demon definitely had a point. He really needed to start going to the gym.

“It is, but don’t mind that.” said Taehyung, waving his hand in dismissal. “We met when you were six?”

“You don’t remember?” asked Jungkook a bit reluctantly. He had been pretty convinced Taehyung had figured it out when he’d learned Jungkook was a prince… but apparently not?

“When you're as old as I am” said the demon “memories tend to blend together.”

“Oh.” muttered Jungkook. There was no way to know if the demon was telling the truth, but his explanation made sense. Besides… there was no reason for him to lie about this - at least none Jungkook could find.

“So?” asked the demon. “Now that you mentioned that, you better give me some details.”

Jungkook almost made a mistake of asking ‘or what’?, but thankfully, he caught himself at the last moment. The last thing he needed was to accidentally offer the demon another opportunity to mess with him on a silver platter. Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t really remember much.” he said. His memories from that age had a dream like quality to them, all blurred and unfocused. “I think there was an emergency of some kind, and the King left me with you.”

“Can’t imagine that went well.” said Taehyung, slowly turning the glass in his hands. “I’m not that good with children.”

Jungkook blinked, a bit at a loss as to how to respond to that. It wasn’t every day that Taehyung admitted he wasn’t good at something. In the end, he settled on; “You weren’t horrible.” He didn’t remember much, but what little he did, wasn’t exactly bad. He was pretty sure the demon had entertained him by telling him stories, although he definitely couldn’t remember what they had been about.

“Well, that’s a high praise coming from you.” said Taehyung, a hint of amusement in his voice. There was a beat or two of silence, and then he said; “Guess it’s my turn again. Let’s see…”

Jungkook couldn’t help frowning at the floor. He’d expected to be grilled for at least a little bit longer, and the demon giving up so soon… It was a bit uncharacteristic of him, wasn’t it? It made Jungkook wonder whether he remembered something after all.

In any case, he didn’t really have time to ponder about it, the demon already preparing to speak. Jungkook braced himself, his shoulders tensing, quite sure Taehyung was going to hit him with something embarrassing again. Needless to say, he was right. “Snake is my favorite animal to turn into, I always disliked Hoseok, and I think your eyes are beautiful.”

Jungkook bit his lip, his cheeks burning. He was really trying not to react to the demon’s words, knowing the other would no longer find it quite as fun if he didn’t get what he wanted out of it, but it was impossible. “Could you stop that?” he asked, gritting his teeth together.

Predictably, the demon replied with an innocent; “Stop what?”

Jungkook took a deep breath, raising his head and narrowing his eyes at the demon. It was hard to look at him, especially with that mischievous glint in his eyes, and he barely managed to force himself to maintain their eye contact. “You know what.” he said. The demon’s lips twitched up, and Jungkook was about to avert his gaze again, incapable of looking at him for even a second longer, when Taehyung suddenly reached towards him. He grabbed his chin, successfully keeping his head in place. Jungkook’s breath caught in his throat, his heart wildly beating against his ribcage. The demon’s fingers were unusually warm, digging into his skin with just enough force to make it uncomfortable, and Jungkook tried not to squirm.

Taehyung slowly leaned forward, stopping when their faces were only a few centimeters apart. “It got you to look at me, didn’t it?” he asked quietly, his lips curling up, before he let go of Jungkook’s chin, moving out of his personal space.

Jungkook could do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes for a few seconds, before he realized what he was doing and quickly looked away, awkwardly wiping his clammy hands in his trousers. This evening definitely wasn’t going the way he imagined it to.

Taehyung didn’t give him any time to collect himself. “Guess.” he said, clattering his glass against Jungkook’s. The amusement in his voice made it clear that he knew exactly what he was doing to him.

“It’s the last one?” asked Jungkook, hating how dazed he sounded. He was too out of it to actually think about the answer, and the demon was more than aware of it. Cheater. He awkwardly cleared his throat, looking down at his hands. Why was he so pathetic? Taehyung barely even touched him – this definitely shouldn’t have affected him this much.

“Mhm, no.” said the demon, and then – to add insult to injury - gently grasped Jungkook’s hand, pressing the glass into it. “Time to drink.” he said, slowly pulling back. Jungkook’s skin tingled where he touched him, and he barely refrained from wiping his hand in his trousers. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he felt uncomfortably hot. He tried to ignore all of it as he carefully raised the glass to his mouth, taking the biggest sip he could possibly manage, grimacing at the burn in his throat.

“Which one is it then?” he asked when he put the glass back down.

The demon nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. “I used to be friends with Hoseok.” he said calmly, as if that was a perfectly normal and understandable thing to say. It wasn’t.

Jungkook actually forgot all about his reasons not to look directly at Taehyung, and he gaped at him, eyes wide. “What?” He really wasn’t sure he bought that – it seemed way too far fetched, considering how the two acted around each other. The demon might have been messing with him. But then again… he knew almost nothing about his past…

Taehyung lips curled into a small smile. “Yes, right?” he said, looking at the ceiling, shaking his head in mocked disappointment. “My judgement was horrendous when I was younger. So great those days are over.”

Jungkook slightly narrowed his eyes. “What happened?” he asked.

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders, but he seemed a bit tenser than before. “He ed us all over.” he said slowly.

Jungkook tilted his head, waiting for a bit to see if he would elaborate. When he didn’t, he asked; “How?”

The demon looked at him for a second or two, his eyes indecipherable, before letting out a small sigh. “Let’s leave that for another time, Kookie.” he said. “This is supposed to be fun.” The mischievous glint returned to his eyes and the amusement to his voice, and Jungkook was immediately reminded why he had such trouble meeting his gaze before. He quickly looked away again, heat rising up his neck.

“For you, maybe.” he muttered. He definitely wasn’t having much fun right now.

“And if we get into this now, it won’t be fun for anyone.” calmly replied the demon, taping his fingers against the glass. “It’s your turn.”

The night continued much in the same way. The demon made sure to say something over the top and mushy each time it was his turn, and Jungkook kept reacting to it, no matter how hard he tried not to. To make everything worse, the demon touched him at least once every couple of minutes, brushing their fingers together or resting his hand on top of Jungkook’s. It usually seemed accidental, but Jungkook wasn’t an idiot – the demon was doing it on purpose. With all the cards clearly stacked against him, it was no wonder he was losing.

As the night progressed, he was getting more and more inebriated. He wasn’t fully aware of it though, he just knew that he felt warm and safe, and that he was actually happy, which was such a rare occurrence in his life that it needed to be celebrated. He didn’t think anything had the ability to get him down at this moment.

“I have a scar on my arm from when Kangmin burned me with a cigarette lighter.” he told the demon at one point. Usually, he tried to think about Kangmin and everything he'd done to him as little as possible, but right now he didn’t really care. The memories seemed distant and not entirely real, like they belonged to someone else and he was just borrowing them.

Taehyung had been looking at him with that weird intensity in his eyes for most of the evening, his lips curled upwards, forming an amused smile. Now, the intensity persisted, but the smile slowly faded. “Oh?” he said. “What else did he do to you?”

Jungkook tilted his head, blinking at the demon in slight confusion. He had no idea why he wanted to know, but he didn’t try questioning it. He didn’t question why Taehyung sounded almost angry when he asked either, although he was a bit unsettled by it. They were having a good time, weren’t they? There was nothing to be angry about. “Held my head under water, pushed me down the stairs, locked me in a closet, used me as target practice…” he started to count off, but before he could finish, the demon suddenly jumped to his feet.

He offered him a hand, the expression on his face indecipherable. “Okay, I think it’s time for you to go to bed.” he said, giving him a small smile that didn’t really reach his eyes.

Jungkook blinked up at him. “No, no, I’m not tired yet.” he murmured. He wasn’t. He could keep going. He wanted to keep going. This was probably the best he’d felt in a while, and he didn’t want it to ever end.

The demon’s smile widened. “You don’t have a choice, Kookie.” he said. “You can either go to bed on your own or I’m going to carry you.”

Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him, trying to figure out if he was serious. Knowing him, he probably was. “You’re evil.” he told him, but he started to get up anyway, pointedly ignoring the demon's outstretched hand. That turned out to be a mistake. He hadn’t even realized how dizzy he was until he tried to stand and the room violently spun around him. He wobbled a little, Taehyung immediately grabbing his elbow and pushing him towards the bed. Jungkook collapsed onto it with a groan.

“I’m aware.” Taehyung said from somewhere on his left. Jungkook blinked, but before he could ask what he was doing, there was a glass of something transparent in his hands. Water. “Drink this.” the demon said. Jungkook grimaced, but he did what he was told anyway, draining the glass.