It took two cups of tea, three cups of coffee and a whole lot of chatting about people Jimin didn’t know at all for Jin and Namjoon to settle down to business. The little delicacies on the tray hadn’t lasted the first round, especially not when Jin cooed over the sweets and little sandwiches. There wasn’t even a clear conversational divide, only Jin sliding a little sideways on his pillow and grimacing as he put the cup down to rub at his fingers.

 

“Are they sore?” Namjoon asked quietly, reaching over the small table in between to take Jin’s left hand into his.

 

“A little. You know how they are when the weather changes,” Jin murmured.

 

Once again Jimin was sure he was missing an entire conversation, but he watched quietly as the haetae started to massage Jin’s finger joints, straightening the oddly formed phalanges out and frowning down at them.

 

“You’ve been overdoing it,” Namjoon castigated gently. “Hold still, I’ll see what I can do.” One hand's fingers snapped and he murmured something underneath his breath, causing an actinic spark to flick into being. The sparked lost much of its sharpness as it twisted, stretched out and settled along the fingers in translucent lines, supporting the joints naturally before they sank into the skin. Even though Jin sighed with relief, the haetae continued rubbing at the slightly-too-large joints before he switched hands to repeat the procedure.

 

Jimin felt like an intruder at that moment, watching Jin blush and sigh with relief as Namjoon eased the pain in his hands. It was such a delicate interlude, and the way their heads bent close as it happened made him think they were very close indeed, old friends or even a little more. Clearing his throat to relieve some of the pressure, he drank the tea he had ‘spoiled’ with too much milk and sugar, and tried again not to think that he was drinking something that came from a panda’s backside. “Erm… what happened to them, hyung? If I might ask?”

 

“Ah, hyung was young and stupid once upon a time,” Jin said quietly, clearing his throat and sitting up straight. “I tried to take on more than I should, and I tripped into the way of a curse from a vengeful spirit. It’s not bothersome, not really.”

 

“Like hell,” Namjoon said, though a growl lined his throat. “A curse like that is not easy to live with, hyung, don’t make it less than it is, especially as powerful as it was.” His gaze shifted to Jimin. “Jin-hyung purposefully took a curse meant for a mother that could not protect herself at the time. He’s very strong, but the bone-breaker curse was stronger, and some of its effects linger no matter how much we try to get rid of the last remnants.”

 

Jimin’s eyes rounded. “Daebak, hyung, that’s… you’re a hero, right?”

 

Jin spluttered a denial.

 

“He is,” Namjoon insisted. “And that’s why he’s one of her gatekeepers now.”

 

“It was for the lady here?” Jimin muttered. “The, um, gumiho that rules here? I thought she was… you know, so very powerful?”

 

“She is powerful indeed,” Namjoon explained. “But she was pregnant at the time, and without powers in the last stretch of the pregnancy, and the curse came from someone she had trusted. It was a power struggle, and I was not near enough to protect her.”

 

“Nonsense,” Jin said with some asperity. “You were holding back an invasion at the time. And I’m not here to go over old coincidental history, Namjoon-ah, Jimin-ah really needs your help due to his circumstances.”

 

Namjoon straightened. “Oh? What circumstances?” he asked curiously.

 

“I’m… not from this world,” Jimin explained weakly. “But I don’t remember precisely why I’m here either. I don’t know anything about anything, and I have powers I didn’t before.”

 

“Powers?” Namjoon encouraged.

 

Jimin tried not to fidget. “Well, there are the spirits, and the barriers, and … and…”

 

“He can interact with unmanifested spirits. I don’t think he even knows that something isn’t there to mundanes in real life, and I’ve never seen someone as sensitive to auras of power in both objects and people,” Jin said, taking up his cup again. “I don't sense the same kind of power in him that my line has, but he could easily be a baksu, you know how varied we are.”

 

“I can’t heal,” Jimin hastened to try and explain. “Not like Jin-hyung. I swear I really don’t have any idea. I used to get visions…” He broke off. “I saw things in my dreams? And I was at a temple, but it was quiet. Nothing like here.”

 

“I wonder if you don’t come from one of the Dark Worlds,” Namjoon muttered, turning to reach towards a thick tome halfway across the room. It floated easily to his palm, and the spine creaked a little as he opened it.

 

“Worlds without magic,” Jin replied as Jimin looked towards him for explanation. “It’s an energy just like electricity. Remember you told me you breathe easier here, that you can feel something in the air?”

 

“Uh… yes? Electricity is… is that the stuff that makes the lights work again?”

 

Namjoon’s head slowly lifted and he stared at Jimin with fascination, brown eyes bleeding slowly to amber. “You don’t know what electricity is? Did they not have that where you came from?”

 

“Namjoon-ah,” Jin said very delicately. “He can’t even read. I tried to explain about our world’s history, but as far as I could figure out, they’ve had something like three Black Plagues, one of which decimated all of China, and no industrial revolution, nor the technological ones that followed on that.”

 

Jimin cringed with shame at the feeling of being lesser, being the uneducated peasant he was, eyes stinging with tears. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I know I’m a huge amount of trouble… I mean, that tengu just smeared me off on Jin-hyung and all he’s done is spend money and time on me, and I can’t do anything…”

 

“No!” the haetae called out, voice climbing oddly. “You’re not trouble at all! Education should be a universal right, no matter whether you’re from here or some backwater world or…”

 

“Namjoon-ah,” Jin interceded gently. “You’re making it sound worse.” He put his empty cup down with deliberation and shuffled sideways to wrap his arms around Jimin. “I thought he could join your classes with Taehyung-ah…”

 

Namjoon cringed. “You just had to go and say his name, didn’t you? I was having such a nice morning too…”

---

1. A small bit of a discussion of what Jimin is, what Jin is, and some exposition on their powers, what they actually do, and how they fit in with the supernatural scene in Seoul. A bit more of a back story about Jin and Namjoon, and a hint of romance?
2. Though I read and listen mainly on the BTS side of things, I do like EXO too. Power, however, is not one of my favourite songs of theirs.
3. By now Jin's fingers are probably famous throughout the fandom, and though I've heard several theories as to why they're like that, the below is my interpretation on why they are like that in this story. I adore Jin's hands way too much not to include them, slightly skewed fingers or not doesn't make a difference.
4. Although Namjoon is vastly older than Jin in this story, he still treats Jin as older than him, not only because of past history, but it's easier for me to keep track of.