“I’m hungry…”

 

“I told you to eat her.”

 

Yoongi pouted, and though he was sitting behind the boy on the horse he knew the boy knew because he laughed, “I couldn't…” Instead they had buried her, under the last of the flowers.

 

“It’s alright, it might have made you numb and I didn't want to carry you anyway.”

 

“I’m done being carried, I want to walk on my own from now on…”

 

The boy laughed, “Oh, should we eat the horse then?”

 

“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”

 

“Good cause, we could do that, but we would have a few days of travel left, your mother cleared out the closest few villages.”

 

“She killed villages worth of people?”

 

“A good number. The rest just ran.”

 

“Oh, that makes sense.”

 

After a moment of silence Yoongi spoke up again, “Are we going to have food today?”

 

“Yes, little bird,” he chuckled.

 

“I’m older than you,” Yoongi pointed out.

 

“Only because this body is frozen. That boy was older, it is just that while he died you kept growing. And I am older, as a monster.”

 

“As a monster, are you still frozen?”

 

“Yes, I think forever.”

 

“I won't ever change?”

 

“No.”

 

“I’ll be this frail forever…?”

 

“Do you feel frail?”

 

“I look frail…”

 

“And yet you snapped a person’s neck like it was nothing.”

 

“I remember when I snapped like I was nothing.”

 

“Like it was yesterday?” The boy asked with a teasing grin, then reached down and grabbed the arm around his waist at his forearm.

 

“Well… it was yesterday,” he pointed out, his breath bated curiously as the fingers tightened. Suddenly the boy’s hand jerked and a muted pain cracked through his arm as it snapped in the boy’s hand.

 

“I didn't expect you to break so easy…”

 

Yoongi stiffened slightly, “That hurts,” he whispered.

 

The boy's hand stayed gentle on his forearm, “Don't worry, it will heal.”

 

“H-how long?”

 

“Minutes maybe… an hour at most, since you’re hungry.”

 

Yoongi was quiet, because that was how he had learned to deal with pain in the past, chewing on the insides of his lips until something hurt worse. It didn't take long though before his lip hurt worse than his arm, so he stopped, evaluated. He flexed his fingers curiously, surprised when it didn't seem to hurt at all.

 

“Is it better?” The boy asked softly.

 

“Yes, I think so.”

 

The boy brought Yoongi’s arm slowly up to his mouth, pressing a kiss into his skin.

 

It was as much an apology as he’d ever received and Yoongi sighed out, “What’s your name?”

 

“Jimin.”

 

“Was that the boy’s name? Did you steal it?”

 

The boy was quiet for a moment before he shook his head, “No, it is my own.”

 

“I don't suppose you’d tell me his name?”

 

“I’ve forgotten it,” Jimin shrugged, “Why do you want to know?”

 

“I feel I owe him quite a bit of gratitude, even if he is not around any longer.  He is someone I should remember.”

 

“I saved you, not him.”

 

“But without him there would be no you.”

 

Jimin nodded after another moment, “I suppose.”

 

Yoongi squeezed tighter around Jimin’s waist, “Thank you though… I appreciate you too.”

 

-

 

When they finally reached the small hut in the middle of the woods that Jimin had pointed out as ‘home’ Yoongi was ravenous. There was crying from inside and Yoongi was slow in sliding down from the horse, “What is that?”

 

“I told you, it’s home.”

 

“No the noise.”

 

“Oh,” Jimin smiled, “That’s dinner.”

 

“Dinner…”

 

“I remember I was starving when I woke up, and you didn’t eat, I had a feeling you wouldn’t, so I got us dinner before I left.”

 

Yoongi paused inside the door, looking at the two lumps shackled to the floor.  He wondered why the blood around their ankles and wrists was so much more appealing than the horror of killing them, or the joy that he could see them- mostly.  “Who were they?”

 

Jimin’s eyes lit up at the use of past tense and he leaned in to whisper, his lips brushing Yoongi’s cheek in his excitement, “They tried to kill me…  I put a bounty out for my own head, makes me feel better about eating them when they’re trying to attack me.”

 

“So you’re lying to them… then killing them when they believe it?”
 

Jimin laughed softly, “It’s not a complete lie.  If they kill me I always make sure I carry the bounty money on me.”

 

“A game…”

 

Suddenly Jimin’s soft eyes turned hard and he leaned in close, “Are you going to be a monster with me or are you going to die? Did I waste my time? I wanted…” Jimin’s voice grew quiet, “I don’t know what I wanted.”

 

“You wanted blind devotion,” Yoongi nodded, “I’d wager my eyesight is still worse than yours, so… we’ll see if I’m what you want or not.”

 

Jimin’s fingers came up to his cheeks, soft and scared as they cupped his jaw, “Don’t die… I’m quite lonely… Aren’t you hungry?”

 

“Starving,” Yoongi admitted, leaning in to press another brief kiss to Jimin’s lips.

 

“Are you telling me that you willingly ingested poison day in and day out, but you won’t take a well intentioned meal from the one who saved you?”

 

Yoongi thought about that for a moment before a laugh bubbled up out of him, a wheeze really, “No, I’ll eat.”

 

Jimin smiled and leaned in to a clean stripe over Yoongi’s jaw, “They won't give you much trouble…”

 

“Have you starved them?” Yoongi asked, stepping close so that he could see the details of the women, the chains and the blood more than just blurs of color.

 

“Not purposefully, but it was a side effect of my coming to get you,” Jimin nodded.

 

“You stayed with me?”

 

“I was afraid she would kill you before I could.”

 

Yoongi grinned and caressed a hand over Jimin's jaw, “You got me first.”

 

Jimin grinned back at him and pushed him forward gently towards the two women. One was crying, but the other didn't seem to notice them at all and he settled down in front of the one crying curiously, “Are they related?”

 

“Not sure, I captured them and left. I don't make a habit of asking my food’s life stories.”

 

Yoongi nodded and after a moment he settled closer, “How do I…?”

 

Jimin stepped over and swept the woman’s hair back from her neck, wrenching her head back and to the side to display her neck for Yoongi.  He trailed his fingers over her neck as she cried harder, pleading as she tried to separate Jimin’s hands from her hair. “Do you see how her pulse quickens? If you bite through that it will gush out faster than you can drink, you want to nick it. You’ll learn on your own how best to do it.”

 

“Can you drink without killing?” Yoongi asked curiously.

 

“No.”

 

“You…? Or anyone?”

 

“I’ve… never been able to,” Jimin admitted then his eyes were sharp on Yoongi once more, “Now you’re complaining about how I eat?”

 

Yoongi watched the pulse of blood under the woman’s skin, “No, I’ve never looked forward to a meal more than this.”

 

A slow grin traveled over Jimin’s lips, “Then fill yourself.”

 

Yoongi leaned forward and bit into her flesh, hesitant at first, but when her skin didn't break he snapped his teeth together, taking a chunk of away on accident. The warm spray of blood over his face instantly reminded him of Jimin’s mother but then his hunger overtook that and he was spitting the flesh from his mouth and drinking her down.

 

When Yoongi came back to himself he was cradling the woman’s body in his arms, a low moan sliding from his parted lips.

 

“How was that for a first meal?” Jimin asked, soft fingers trailing down Yoongi’s throat.

 

Yoongi simply moaned again, his whole body feeling the warmth of her life in his veins, he had never felt alive like this while he was alive, and the irony had him laughing.

 

“You’re so messy…” Jimin tutted softly, leaning around him to slowly his cheeks clean.

 

Yoongi let the body roll from his hands, his laughter turning to tears in an instant as he pulled Jimin into a coppery kiss, refusing to let go until Jimin got a hand in his hair to yank his head backward.

 

Jimin stared for a moment at the look of desperate raw emotion on Yoongi’s face and chuckled softly, “I’ll teach you… you’re mine, there isn't any reason to be sad. Lay your soul to rest, you are dead after all.”

 

“I’ve never felt this way before,” Yoongi admitted, reaching up to dry his eyes, “I only… I’ve always been sad. I don't know who I am without it…”

 

“You aren't who you were anyway, you can choose a new you,” Jimin pointed out, leaning in and another clean line through the blood on Yoongi’s jaw.

 

“I killed someone…”

 

“Two for two,” Jimin grinned, “Are you still hungry…? You could make it three for three.”

 

“Aren't you hungry?”

 

Jimin shook his head, “I had you.”

 

Yoongi’s cheeks heated and it took a moment of touching over the slippery skin to realize he was blushing, “I don't know if I’m hungry.”

 

“She’ll last another day, come get cleaned up, I want to see you without all that blood,” Jimin took a hold of Yoongi’s wrist, pulling him up to his feet.

 

Yoongi stood and gasped again, “Jimin… I’ve never felt like this, I feel… strong…”

 

Jimin pulled Yoongi in by the chin, “You can be whatever you want… as long as you’re always weak for me.”

 

Yoongi paused, looking into Jimin’s eyes, “Is… is that part of it… these feelings aren't real?”

 

Jimin looked surprised by the question and leaned in, “No I meant that in a… I mean no, I don't control you like that…”

 

Yoongi relaxed and leaned in to kiss Jimin softly once more, “Good.”

 

-

 

Yoongi had never really taken the time to look at himself, not since he was younger, when he would simply crawl onto the counter in his bedroom to make himself tall enough to see the mirror. After that he would have had to crawl onto the counter to get close enough to see himself at all, and it hadn't seemed worth it.

 

He knew enough from people's reactions when they saw him in the hallways that his appearance was unsettling, in a way that meant on top of his lack of health he was likely highly displeasing to the eyes, otherwise they would have gotten used to how sick he looked, wouldn't they?

 

Jimin however… Jimin slowly stripped him of his clothing, some of which was dried to his body with blood and then turned him around with an appreciative hum.

 

Yoongi didn't mind the babying, it was what he was used to, he had simply moved from being his Mother’s to being Jimin’s. So he didn't fight when Jimin guided him into the bath, didn't flinch when the water was too hot, didn't struggle when Jimin’s hands touched over his whole body to gently rub the blood and dirt from his skin. His mother would scrub him until he was raw, but Jimin massaged, Jimin’s fingers were careful in his hair and on his skin, like he was still delicate.

 

He had always felt like if his mother would just scrub a little harder he would disappear entirely, see through at least, so he could move without disturbing anyone. He always felt paper thin, like he was seconds from cracking open and spilling out, but at the same time disgustingly soft, like crackers that puffed up from the humidity, still vaguely in a human shape but distorting when touched.  Jimin’s hands were firm but kind, and when he stood him up to dry his hair Yoongi didn’t feel like his skin might just slough off behind him in the water. He still felt together. He still felt alive.

 

“Are you sad?” Jimin asked softly, leaning in to kiss his cheek and the trail his tears had made down it.

 

“I’m happy, I think,” Yoongi nodded, quickly wiping his other cheek again.

 

“I’m sorry…”

 

“Please don’t be.”

 

“Tell me everything you need,” Jimin mumbled softly, his hands brushing down Yoongi’s bone to dry him.

 

“Why did you pick me?” Yoongi asked, raising his arms to help.

 

“Because…” he was quiet for a moment, just drying him off then he leaned in to press a kiss to Yoongi’s chest, “Because you were all I thought about… for a long time… I was going to come back and kill you. When I finally got back I… you were so beautiful…  You had grown, it wasn’t just your sorrow or your pain that was beautiful anymore, you were too.”

 

Yoongi looked down at him curiously, “What?”

 

“You were so beautiful, I’ve told you that haven't I?”

 

“Yes, but I thought you meant… that my dying was beautiful… not… me.”

 

Jimin smiled and leaned down to drag the towel slowly over Yoongi’s legs, “No, the act was tragic, but you… you bloomed with death so close.  You were meant for this life. This body of mine… he was built for sunshine and life. But you were built for the moon and death sweet on your skin.”

 

Yoongi stared down at him and picked his hands up to look at them, the blood still under his fingernails.  He brought his finger up and on it curiously, to see if he could tell whose blood it had been, then curled his other hand around Jimin’s jaw, “If it had been the other way…  If I had gone first, would you have come with me?”
 

“I suppose I wouldn’t have had a grudge against you then, so maybe I would have… you fascinated the boy I used to be.”

 

“I thought you might be my first friend.”

 

Jimin laughed softly, “And here we are.”

 

“You said I’ve been alone… but I wasn't after I met that boy. He was always on my mind. At first I just wondered if he was alive, but then I just wondered… how it would be to talk to him.  That’s all I had wanted… So I’ll be yours as long as you keep me, I’m yours as long as you talk to me, as long as you listen to me I’ll be by your side.”

 

Jimin’s hands trailed back up Yoongi’s legs, almost sensually as he stood to stand in front of Yoongi with a smile, “Forever then?”

 

“Forever,” Yoongi agreed.