The next morning, after Soo Jin had left for her shift at the cafe, Yoongi made his way to his friend Namjoon's house. His house was located on the outskirts of the city, not far out enough to be inconvenient, but far enough out that Namjoon got the quiet that he enjoyed. The house was a very old building that had passed through Namjoon's family for generations, but despite its age, it was a strong and pretty looking building with lots of flowers and various plants surrounding it.

Yoongi grinned at the overzealous dog that ran out to meet him as he parked his car in the driveway. “Hey, mutt.” He said as he scratched the excited pup behind the ears before making his way up to Namjoon's house, the excited dog following him, barking playfully from his feet.

He opened the door without knocking, knowing that Namjoon didn’t require locks on his doors. At least not of the physical kind. Namjoon kept heavy wards on his home to keep out any unwelcomed guests. Yoongi had some similar wards around his apartment and bar, but not to the level of Namjoon's home. Namjoon's entire home looked like a mix between a library and a pawn shop. There were books and strange artefacts covering every available surface, and half the floor as well. Most of the artefacts and books were worth a decent amount of money, enough that selling less than half of them would give Namjoon more than enough money to never have to work again, but Namjoon had no interest in selling them. He loved to research and even with the advancements made in technology, he preferred to do it the old fashioned way.

Yoongi cursed as he tripped over a large stack of books. “I swear to god…” he muttered as he made his way up to the second floor, knowing that the older demon would most likely be in his study, he rarely spent time in the other rooms in the house. He pushed open the heavy wooden door to the study, revealing his blond haired friend who was looking through a book that was so old, it looked like it was ready to disintegrate into dust at any second. “Hey, hyung.” He said in greeting as he plopped down into the overstuffed chair opposite his oldest friend, his legs swinging up to rest over the arm of the chair. Namjoon looked up from his book, his glasses slipping dangerously close to the edge of his nose.

“Ah, you're here.” Namjoon said as he pushed his glasses back up his nose before carefully closing the book in front of him with a smile. “How have you been?” Yoongi asked as he looked at all of the books that were piled up on Namjoon's desk, most of them looking older than both the demons combined. “Good. I’ve been busy lately, that’s why I haven’t been by the bar lately.” he said apologetically, knowing that he was likely just about to get scolded for holing himself up alone for so long. “You should come by soon, Seokjin has been getting worried about you.” Yoongi said warmly, already used to Namjoon's behaviour. When there was something that caught his interest, he would forget about almost everything else until his curiosity was satisfied.

Namjoon chuckled, used to his friends almost mothering nature. “I’ll swing by tonight or tomorrow.” He promised as he leant back in his chair. “So, you said you’ve got a favour mark?” he asked curiously. Yoongi nodded. “Tell me the full story.” Namjoon said as he clasped his hands in front of him, his full attention on the black and green haired demon in front of him. Yoongi swung his legs down from the chair, making sure not to kick Namjoon's dog who had settled by his chair. “Well, I was a little tipsy and I was heading home from the bar. For whatever reason I had decided to walk. I stepped out onto the road and some idiot ran a red light and this girl, Soo Jin, pulled me back. We… exchanged words.” he said, not wanting to admit that he had yelled at her. Namjoon gave him a knowing smile, but didn’t comment.

“Then when she went to walk away, we both got this burning sensation in our wrists and we got the marks.” He said as he held up his arm, pulling his sleeve back to reveal his mark. Namjoon reached out and pulled his arm a little closer, adjusting his glasses as he examined the mark. “The weird thing is, I've done lots of favours for her, nothing overly dramatic, but the mark hasn’t even faded. Plus, our marks aren’t exactly the same.” He said as Namjoon released his arm. He could see the curiosity building inside his friend. “What does her mark look like?” he asked as he found a scrap of paper and a pen and pushed it towards Yoongi who quickly drew Soo Jin’s mark before sliding the piece of paper back over the table.

Namjoon picked up the paper and examined the drawing for a minute before grabbing his pen and drawing Yoongi’s mark next to it. Yoongi impatiently waited as Namjoon examined the two marks. “Well? What do you think?” he asked. Namjoon frowned, “I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete. I want to do a bit more research first.” Yoongi sighed and flopped back in his chair. “Ok, fine.” He agreed, knowing that Namjoon would definitely find out what was going on with their marks. He had hoped for an answer straight away, but he knew that Namjoon would get to the bottom of it.

They chatted for a while longer before Yoongi finally stood up to leave. “Remember and stop by the club soon. Otherwise I think Seokjin is gonna drive out here and drag you out.” He teased. Namjoon laughed, knowing that the oldest of the three of them wouldn’t even hesitate to do that. “Ok, I’ll swing by tonight. You know what I’m like when I have a project.” He said. Yoongi nodded and made his way to the door. He twisted the handle before turning back around to his friend. “There's one other thing.” He said a little hesitantly.

Namjoon gave him a curious look, not used to hearing his usually confident friend sound so hesitant. “Yeah? What is it?” he asked. “Sometimes the mark feels… weird.” He admitted. He had never mentioned to Soo Jin about the throbbing sensation that he often felt from his mark. He figured that if she had ever had it that she would have questioned him about it. “What do you mean by weird?” Namjoon asked, his brows furrowing. “Sometimes it feels like its throbbing. When it’s like that I feel jittery. Like I can’t sit still. Something just feels weird when it’s like that.”

Namjoon frowned, his mind racing. “Okay.” he said. “Leave it with me. I’ll see you and Seokjin at the club tonight. I can’t promise you answers by then, but it shouldn’t take me too long to figure it out.”

A week had passed since Yoongi had gone to Namjoon's house for advice and he was growing more and more impatient. He didn’t want to rush him, knowing that the second he worked out what was going on, that he would call him. But that didn’t stop him from being impatient.

In that week, Soo Jin’s grandmother had been released from hospital and Soo Jin had cut back on her hours at the café, which Yoongi was more than grateful for. He wasn’t sure how she had managed to keep up those crazy hours for so long. She had taken on almost every shift she could at the café and she still had her contract with him. He had offered her on several occasions to take the night off, or to only do half the night, but she had declined each time, always telling him that she was fine with a smile on her face, even though he could tell that she was near exhaustion.

On her first day off since she had visited her hometown, she had slept for almost twelve hours straight. Yoongi had needed to bite back a laugh when she stumbled out of her room just before noon, squinting at the bright light that shone through the windows. His mark had throbbed more than usual that morning, once again igniting his desire to call Namjoon and ask him if he had found any clues about what was happening with their marks, but he had barely resisted.

He hadn’t mentioned to her about his visit to Namjoon, not wanting her to get worried about the mark. He was sure that she hadn’t felt anything weird from the mark since she had gotten it. He had gently questioned her about it, but she had told him that most of the time she forgot it was there. To her, it had become just like a tattoo. Painful at first but then it was just a part of your skin. He couldn’t work out why his mark often made him feel weird, and not knowing made him annoyed.  

The two of them were chilling out during the day. It was a Friday and they would both be going to the club together at night. She often went to the club with him and spent a lot of time talking with Jungkook, the two of them becoming fast friends. Yoongi was glad that they got along well, but sometimes seeing them together made him angry for a reason that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Whenever Jungkook got a little too close to Soo Jin, or she laughed a little too loudly at his jokes, he could feel his anger bubbling up inside. It was at these times that the playful demon would often just grin in his direction, as if purposely trying to make him lose his cool. He had grumbled to Seokjin that he wanted to fire the young demon, but they both knew he wouldn’t. Despite his irritation at the youngest member of staff, he had a soft spot for him. Something which Jungkook was all too aware of and took full advantage of.

Soo Jin looked at the time on her phone and groaned. “I really need to go take a shower.” She grumbled. Yoongi glanced at the time and nodded. “Yeah, you really should.” He said, a grin on his face. Soo Jin threw him a dirty look and an obscene gesture before standing up and grabbing the collection of junk food wrappers that littered the table between them. “Like you’re any better.” she grumbled as she made her way into the kitchen to dispose of their rubbish. Yoongi scoffed, “Yeah, but at least it doesn’t take me half the day to get ready!” he shouted through to her, laughing when she cursed back at him.

His phone started ringing as Soo Jin made her way to the bathroom to shower, Namjoon's face flashing up on his screen. He quickly sat up, hoping that this was the phone call he had been waiting for. “Hey, hyung.” He greeted, forcing himself to stay polite. “Hey.” Namjoon said back, his voice tired. “I know what’s going on with your mark.” He said, cutting to the chase. Yoongi edged forward on his seat, “Well?” he asked.

Namjoon sighed from the other side of the phone. “I don’t really know how to say this, so I'm just gonna be blunt. I had my suspicions when you first told me about the marks, especially how they are similar but not the same, and how yours made you feel weird. I didn’t say anything then because I wanted to be one hundred percent sure. It’s unusual, but not unheard of for this to happen with a human…”

Yoongi sighed impatiently, “This is you being blunt?” he asked. He heard Namjoon chuckle. “It’s not a favour mark. It’s the mark of mates. Soo Jin is your mate.”