“Is that a good idea?” asked Taehyung, the hint of doubt in his voice making it clear that he thought it wasn’t. He was standing behind the armchair Jungkook was sitting on, heavily leaning against the backrest, his face uncomfortably close to Jungkook’s head as he stared at the screen over his shoulder. Jungkook could feel Taehyung’s breath on his ear when he spoke, and he did his best not to shiver in response, goosebumps erupting down his arms.

“It’s a better idea than going on a commercial flight.” he said.

“Hm…” Taehyung hummed, leaning even closer and practically whispering in Jungkook’s ear; “I’m not sure I agree.”

Jungkook flinched, biting his tongue as heat traveled up his neck. The demon was clearly doing this on purpose. He knew just what to do to get a reaction out of him, and despite not being able to see his face Jungkook was sure he was smirking, very much enjoying his embarrassment. “Of course you don’t.” he forced himself to say, turning off his phone and slipping it in his pocket. “You don’t care what happens to other people.”

“You shouldn’t either.” said the demon. “They’re not important.”

“I have empathy.” muttered Jungkook. Unlike Kangmin, he actually cared what happened to people who accidentally got caught in the middle of their conflict. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he got someone killed, and unfortunately Kangmin was aware of that. And he was almost certainly planning to use it to his own advantage. A commercial plane was a firm no-go in this situation.

“And I don't?” wondered the demon, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice.

“Is that a rhetorical question?” grumbled Jungkook. He wouldn’t exactly say the demon had no empathy, but… it seemed to be limited to the few people he knew and cared about. He certainly wouldn’t be bothered by a whole flight of people losing their lives because of him, and despite his best efforts not to mind it, Jungkook felt a chill traveling down his spine at the thought. He shivered, wrapping his arms around his midsection. He found himself forgetting about those aspects of Taehyung’s personality more and more now that he knew the other wouldn’t hurt him. But… he was the exception to the rule when it came to the demon’s apathy and sadism (though not in all cases, unfortunately) and it was important to keep that in mind.

It was a bit surprising he had problems with that at all, considering it had been beaten in his head again and again that demons were dangerous and were going to hurt him if they got the chance. It didn’t seem to always be true - Jungkook couldn’t imagine Hoseok wanting to hurt anyone, and he couldn’t imagine Yoongi caring enough to bother with it. Taehyung though… it seemed to be true for Taehyung. He enjoyed playing a game of cat and mouse with his masters, which Jungkook had the privilege of experiencing first hand.

The demon leaned even closer, putting his arms around Jungkook and pressing the side of his head against his. Jungkook automatically tensed, his breath hitching in his throat as his heartbeat sped up. “It bothers you.” said the demon quietly.

“I…” started Jungkook. “I wouldn’t say that it bothers me, exactly… It’s just…” He swallowed, letting his voice trail off. He suspected the demon knew what he wanted to say anyway.

Taehyung was downright sadistic towards those he perceived as his enemies and somewhat apathetic towards everyone else, but Jungkook didn’t think he had the right to hold that against him. If he’d been forced to be at a beck and call of generation after generation of rulers, who all treated him more like a thing (and a dangerous one at that) than an actual person, he wouldn’t have been particularly sympathetic to their plight either.

The demon’s hold on him slightly tightened, and Jungkook held his breath without meaning to, his shoulders tensing. “You have nothing to be afraid of.” said Taehyung quietly before gently patting his head and stepping back. “Now let’s do something relaxing with our day. This is supposed to be a vacation.”

Something relaxing turned out to be exploring the mansion. Jungkook had been to most if not all parts of it by now, since he’d been forced to follow Taehyung around when he’d searched it for curses, and he wasn’t particularly interested in doing it again. Granted, he hadn’t really paid attention to anything back then, too busy panicking, but he’d lived at the royal palace for most of his life, and it was a lot more impressive than this mansion. His time there was also full of unpleasant experiences, and all the excessive riches around him now kept reminding him of everything he had to go through while living there. It wasn’t a nice feeling, and he'd prefer to stay cooped up in his room to avoid it as much as he could.

When he expressed his disinterest to the demon however, his response was; “You shouldn’t stay in the room for the whole day. And it’s too dangerous to go outside, since it seems your dear brother knows where we are.”

“Yes, but…”

“Let’s take a short walk and then you can spend the rest of the day in bed if you want.” said Taehyung. It was obvious he wasn’t going to let it go, and Jungkook sighed in defeat, pushing himself to his feet. He wondered if getting him to take a walk was really the only reason the demon insisted on this so strongly or if there was something else behind it. It was impossible to know when it came to Taehyung, unfortunately, and Jungkook didn’t bother trying to figure it out for long.

Though… even if he had bothered, he probably wouldn’t have been able to focus, considering the demon chose that precise moment to close the distance between them, not shying away from stepping directly into Jungkook’s personal space. Before Jungkook could react, Taehyung already grasped his hand, slowly intertwining their fingers together, his skin warm. Jungkook startled, pathetically overwhelmed just by that simple gesture, his heart hammering in his chest. Taehyung didn’t seem to think just holding hands was enough though, carefully raising Jungkook’s hand to his mouth and kissing the insides of his wrist. A moment later Jungkook felt the demon’s lips curling upwards against his skin, a clearly amused response to Jungkook almost choking on his breath.

“Could you…" started Jungkook, swallowing “…not do that?”

The demon let their hands fall, slightly tilting his head. “You like it.” he said, the amusement in his gaze unmistakable.

“I…” started Jungkook, cutting himself off when he realized he was about to lie, his cheeks flushing. Lying to the demon would be even more mortifying than just staying quiet, since Taehyung could read him so well that it would be practically the same as admitting the truth. “Let’s just go.” he muttered, looking at the floor.

Taehyung stared at him in silence for a moment or two, a small, barely visible smile playing on his lips, before he nodded. Jungkook could breathe a little easier once they headed down the hallway and Taehyung’s back was turned to him, although he was still a bit too flustered for comfort. Shouldn’t he be at least somewhat used to the demon being touchy by now? It was getting more and more frustrating that he wasn’t…

Taehyung pulled him around the corner and towards the stairs leading to the second floor. Despite what he'd said, it seemed that he had a clear destination in mind, and Jungkook began to suspect they hadn’t left their room just for the change of scenery. He narrowed his eyes at the back of the demon’s head, trying to figure out what the other was planning. But… this was the demon, completely and utterly unpredictable 9 times out of 10, and Jungkook turned up blank no matter how hard he pondered about his possible motives. He just hoped they weren’t about to do anything too unpleasant.

They ended up in one of the offices on the second floor, a small room with shelves upon shelves of books against the walls and a giant desk in the middle. Taehyung paused at the doorway, his eyes travelling over the furniture, searching for something. He seemed to find it almost immediately, walking to the nearest bookcase and letting his fingers trail over the book spines. After a moment or two he pulled one out, not as much as glancing at it. Jungkook was just about to ask if there was a specific reason they were here, when the bookcase suddenly swung back, revealing a dark passage behind it.

Jungkook flinched in surprise, and Taehyung responded by gently squeezing his hand. Jungkook glanced at him before fixing his gaze on the dark corridor in front of them. He could see nothing but darkness, and just looking at it was enough for a claustrophobic feeling to raise in his chest. Pressing his lips together, he took a deep breath, trying to ignore it.

“What is it?” he asked. He'd heard about old royal houses having hidden rooms or passages from Jimin, but he hadn’t really seen any first hand before.

The demon shrugged his shoulders. “It used to be a panic room.” he said.

Jungkook frowned. “On the second floor?”

“As far as I know” started Taehyung “royal buildings used to have one on every floor.” He motioned at the dark hallway. “Yoongi says this one was remodeled into a library.”

“Did Yoongi memorize the entire layout?” asked Jungkook dryly, recalling Yoongi had also been the one to reveal where the summoning room was.

The demon quietly laughed, and Jungkook glanced at him before averting his gaze again. He doubted he'd ever heard the demon laugh at anything other than him, and he couldn’t help thinking his laugh was a lot more pleasant when it wasn’t at his account. “Knowing him" said Taehyung “he was probably searching for a spot where he could hear us the least.”

“That… sounds like him.” muttered Jungkook, successfully reminded of how annoyed Yoongi was with them every time they were in the same room. He still wasn’t entirely sure what his problem was – was he irritated at Jungkook being overly oblivious and inexperienced or at Taehyung being touchy? Maybe both? It definitely had something to do with them interacting though. Having to live in the room next to them had to be a hellish experience for him.

The demon snorted. “It does.”

“So… why are we here?” asked Jungkook tentatively, studying the unappealing dark passage in front of him. He wasn’t enthusiastic about having to go in there, but he was pretty sure Taehyung wasn’t going to leave him much choice in the matter. He just hoped that the corridor was short and the library had actual windows.

The demon could have brought him here to get more reading material, but something about the situation made Jungkook doubt that was it - or at least that it was all there was to it. There was another library in the mansion, one that expanded over almost the entire floor and probably had more books than this one. Wouldn’t it be more logical to go there? And… if that was really all, why wouldn’t Taehyung mention they were going to the library?

Taehyung glanced at him, his lips twitching up. “A date.” he said calmly, watching with amusement as Jungkook almost choked on air for the second time today.

“Wait… what?” he asked, hoping his face wasn’t as red as he suspected it was. If the demon hadn’t been looking at him with such an obviously entertained look in his eyes, he would have thought he heard him wrong. He probably shouldn’t be surprised though - springing things like this on him without a prior warning was exactly the demon’s style. He loved torturing him a little too much.

The demon winked at him. “You heard me.”

“Wha…?”

Jungkook took a deep breath. So… a date? What exactly did that mean? He'd read a lot of books and watch a lot of movies, but he didn’t think any of them had successfully prepared him for this. Fiction was one thing and reality another, and besides… this was the demon. He couldn’t expect a demon to follow human trends, could he? So… what exactly was Taehyung planning? Jungkook forced his suddenly too tense muscles to relax, sternly telling himself not to be so anxious. Needless to say, it didn’t work. Going into things blind would always be a nerve-wracking experience for him.

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders. “We can’t leave the mansion and the greenhouse is too cold for you, so I had to improvise.” he said before stepping forward, gently pulling Jungkook after him. “Come on.”

Jungkook took a deep breath before he followed him into the passage, the bookcase quietly sliding back into place behind them. He stretched his free hand in front of him, trying to fight both the feeling of claustrophobia and the fear that he was going to walk into something. It was so dark that he couldn’t see a single thing in front of him, not even vague shadows, so the only thing he could do was trust the demon to make sure he didn’t bump into anything.

Thankfully, they reached the end of the hallway in no time, Taehyung pushing open the door on the other side of it. It swung back with a creak, and Jungkook blinked when light attacked his eyes, squinting as he took a quick look around the so-called library. Thankfully, there were big, almost wall length windows on one side of the room, overlooking the forest behind the mansion. If this had truly been a panic room at one point like the demon had said, they’d renovated it quite thoroughly.

Jungkook understood why Taehyung brought him here for his purpose (his heart gave a nervous flatter when he just thought about it) and not to the main library - the main library looked almost clinical in comparison to the one they were presently in. The atmosphere here was relaxing and homey, almost all of the bookcases pushed against the walls, leaving space for couches and armchairs in the middle. There were soft carpets on the floor and decorative plants on almost every surface.

“Looks like Yoongi knew what he was talking about.” remarked the demon, pushing Jungkook towards one of the couches. Jungkook swallowed a lump in his throat when he saw it, dragging his feet behind him a little, suddenly reluctant. What exactly were Taehyung’s plans for this… date? They probably weren’t what he imagined, but Jungkook couldn’t stop his thoughts from going in mildly inappropriate directions. He swallowed. He needed to get a grip and stop being so nervous.

“What do people even do on dates?” he muttered, an obvious attempt to figure out what Taehyung had in mind.

Taehyung gave him a knowing look. “Spend time together and get to know each other?” he proposed, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice. “Don’t you read a ton of romance novels?” he asked. He let go of Jungkook’s hand as he sat down on the couch, and while Jungkook didn’t want to admit it, he immediately missed the warmth of his skin. He hesitated for a moment before following the demon’s lead and settling down next to him, leaving a few centimeters of space in between them.

Taehyung gave it a pointed look, but didn’t try to close the distance, instead leaning his elbow on the armrest and resting his chin on his hand. This action could actually be classified as moving away, which was a very non-demon thing to do. Jungkook swallowed, trying to ignore the sudden unsettling feeling that he was missing something again.

“Well yes, but…” he started, his face uncomfortably hot. He wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence. Yes, but romance novels aren’t exactly realistic? He bit his lips. “What did you do on your previous dates?” he asked.

Taehyung lifted his eyebrow. “Are you really asking me – a demon - this?” he asked.

Jungkook frowned. “Did demons not go on dates?” he asked. Maybe they hadn’t. They were an entirely different species, so their habits might be vastly different from human ones.

“I think our dating habits are a bit different than yours.” said Taehyung, tapping his fingers on the couch, his gaze fixed on the bookcase in the corner. “You do know we didn’t always look like humans?” he wondered, his brow raised, and Jungkook nodded. Yoongi had told him as much at the Christmas dance. “We used to have wings.”

Jungkook nodded again, cataloguing this information to the back of his head. He was pretty curious about how higher demons used to look like now, but he didn’t think it was the right time to ask. He could always do it later anyway.

“We didn’t just sit around on our dates like humans so often do.” said Taehyung, looking at Jungkook with a hint of amusement in his gaze. Jungkook slightly narrowed his eyes at him. Why did he have a feeling the demon said that purely to criticize his sedentary lifestyle?

While they were still pretty close to each other while sitting like this, they weren’t quite as close as usual, and that made it a bit easier to look the demon directly in the eye. A bit. It was still awkward, especially when Taehyung stared back at him like he knew exactly what was on Jungkook’s mind. Knowing him, he probably did. “We usually flew together or explored nature by foot.” said Taehyung. He paused for a moment before adding, a small smile on his lips; “Not that I went on that many dates.”

There was an odd suggestiveness to his voice, and before Jungkook could fully think it over, he asked; “But you did other stuff?” He only realized what he said after it was already too late, his cheeks immediately heating up. In his defense - he didn’t mean it in the way it came out. It was funny (in a sad way) that while he couldn’t properly handle the demon’s touchiness, he apparently had no problems whatsoever at relaxing when it came to speaking. Clearly, he was becoming a bit too relaxed.

The demon looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment or two, before his lips quirked and he laughed, eyes glinting with amusement. “Yes Kookie, I did other stuff.” he said, and Jungkook suddenly wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

“Stop laughing at me.” he muttered, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground.

“I’m not laughing at you.” said the demon while still laughing.

“You’re literally laughing.” accused Jungkook. The demon slowly strengthened his back before reaching for Jungkook’s hand, gently pulling it into his. His touch was warm and comforting, and Jungkook tried not to shiver when Taehyung began to play with his fingers.

“I think it’s a good thing.” said the demon after a few seconds of silence, slowly turning Jungkook’s hand around.

“What is?” asked Jungkook carefully, his gaze still stubbornly glued on the floor.

“That you're not thinking about what you say as much as you used to.”

Jungkook shook his head. “No, that’s a bad thing.” he said. “I should think it through a bit more.”

Now it was Taehyung's turn to shake his head. “I disagree.” he said.

“Of course you do.” muttered Jungkook. “You get to see me embarrass myself.” Which seemed to be a pretty big source of entertainment for the demon, honestly.

“Nothing embarrassing about that question.” said Taehyung, tugging his lips upwards, and Jungkook braced himself for whatever he was about to say next, suspecting it wasn’t going to be anything good. He knew that smirk too well. “I can even tell you the details if you want.”

Jungkook’s cheeks heated up even more, and he buried his face in his free hand. “Please don’t.” he muttered, doing his best to ignore the demon chuckling in response.