title, y o u  w e r e  g e n t l e  b l u e  a n d  i  w a s  f i e r y  r e d  (t o g e t h e r  w e  w e r e  p r e t t y  p u r p l e)

vmin | side!kookiemon | side!brother!jikook / fluff / no cap / tw: abuse mentioned | cussing | fLUFF / 17w / a.n: i cried when i finished this no lie, i've been working on this for like a week lmao and i'm sUPER proud of it ;;; v ;;; so i really really hope you guys enjoy <333 (some things loosely based on avatar) also please sit back and relax, get a drink and some snacks bc u read right, that says 17w meaning 17k which means 17000, this beast is 17,423 words long and i apologize, and since it's so long i apologize for any mistakes and words with / on either sideof it ;v; (it'show i mark words to later put in italics)

he moves gently, legs moving around large roots and broken branches, fingers brushing against fluffy patches of leaves and moss, palms moving willow tree branches and patches of hanging vines. others would assume he's a lost boy looking for civilization, or maybe he's a little insane as he moves deeper and deeper into the forest, but he knows where he's going as he's walked this path many times. a smile plays on his lips as the trees hum in approval to his appearance and the grass giggles, everything getting just a bit more lively, colourful and lush the deeper he gets.

"have you guys missed me?" jimin whispers, giggling as little glowing orbs circle around him and their wings masked by their glows flutter quicker in response, pressing against his cheeks before circle around. "is he in the usual?"

the blue one taps against his nose making him giggle again. "what are we going to do with him, mm?"

jimin shakes his head, smile widening as the grass and moss below his feet glow a mint green whenever he steps down, sparkling tree branches of pink willow trees brushing against his shoulders and jimin lets them curl around his fingers gently. everyone is so nice, jimin thinks, everyone is so nice and and selfless and pretty here.

he tilts his head back as he walks. the sun is setting in the distance that he can't see from all the towering, thick trees of various colours and styles. he giggles as woodland creatures hop, crawl, slither, fly and walk around in the distance to follow him quietly. everyone loves jimin here, everyone loves jimin being around, unlike everyone outside the forest, his world full of pollution, bullies, destruction and decay. they give him cute nicknames, the most famous one being haeba which means bright child, and they take care of him.

jimin smiles at the blue four-armed monkeys that swing around in the treetops, tilting his head back down to watch where he's going. he's getting closer, he can tell by the gentle pink and spacings between the trees in the distance. he can't help but quicken his pace a bit, running his hands along white, pink, and blue willow tree-like branches and blue-green vines with loud giggles and before he knows it, he's entered one of the, personally, most breathtaking and natural-looking spots.

it's bordered by the rest of the forest, green-brown trees speckled white standing tall and proud, branches thick as they sprout towards the sky before thinning to drape down towards the ground, pink cherry blossom-like flowers blooming all around the branches in bunches. the ground is a mixture of brown mud, dark green and dark green-blue grass patches (some blades longer than others), thick green bushes and pink petals strewn about. there's a shallow lake in the middle of it all, water crystal clear to see the mud at the bottom. there's fish swimming around, fins long and thin, and of various patterns and colours (some black and white, some purple, some even gold, silver and sparkly), and pink petals resting on the surface of the water.

the scene brings a warm smile to jimin's face, eyes sweeping until they land on a figure resting in one of the trees. jimin giggles, walking up to the tree and craning his head back to look up at the figure. it's a beautiful boy, skin dark teal-green like the middle-depth of the ocean, hair slick and pure white, head resting back on a thick branch he's braced his back on. his eyes are closed, full lips only a shade lighter than the rest of his skin pressed together. jimin takes in the slope of his nose and watches how his lips part to let his lavender tongue wet them before pressing together again for what seems like the millionth time. it's almost like he gets more and more gorgeous every time jimin sees him (but he'd never say that out loud; too cheesy, too embarrassing).

"azleious taehyung, what are you doing skipping lessons again?" jimin questions firmly, popping a hip out and placing his hands on his waist.

taehyung makes a humming noise, lifting his head and opening one eye to look down at jimin before dropping his head back onto the tree. "skipping lessons again."

jimin rolls his eyes, reaching forward to grab at protruding pieces of bark and climbing his way up to taehyung. "that's not very prince-like, tae."

"i don't care," taehyung mumbles and shifts until he's taking up all the space and jimin has no choice but to sit on his lap, "lessons are boring. i already know all that stuff anyways."

jimin moves a bit on taehyung's lap, hands resting on taehyung's abdomen and he stares down at him with a pout. "you know how to keep humans out? you know how to keep this forest thriving and lively? you know how to take care of the le'vitians? you know how t—"

"i already know everything." taehyung interrupts, shaking his head and opening his eyes (they're silver with flecks of dark grey, like the moon), resting his hands on jimin's hips, thumbs going under jimin's shirt to rub circles on his skin. "mom used to give me lessons when i was a kid before she died."

jimin's eyes soften at the mention of taehyung's mother and taehyung simply waves it off. "plus," he grins, "dad's not doin' so hot with keeping humans out if you're here."

jimin rolls his eyes, leaning down until he's laying on top of taehyung if not for his arms keeping him a bit above. "i'm only here because i ran away and stumbled here, then out and woke up in your village."

taehyung's grin softens, staring at jimin lovingly. it makes jimin shift a bit awkwardly, eyes darting to the side. taehyung moves his hands to jimin's lower back. "jimin.. why don't you live here?"

jimin's eyes widen, darting back to taehyung's and he can tell taehyung's being serious with how loving they are. "wh-what?"

"why don't you live here?" taehyung repeats, hand dipping under jimin's shirt to rub his back up and down. "everyone likes you here. the woodland creatures, the fairies, my people, even a'awae, the forest herself! we'd except you, no one would push you away. you can be happy, jimin."

jimin stares at taehyung before smiling softly. "i'd love to, tae, really, but.. i need to take care of jeongguk. he's my little brother, i can't just abandon him. not like dad did."

"he can come too," taehyung says cheerfully, "jeongguk can live here with us too. i'm sure he'll be accepted."

"tae," jimin interrupts with a sad smile, "we both know jeongguk can't be here. not right now. but.. maybe later. maybe later we can move here. but give us some more time. i'll.. talk to jeongguk about it soon."

taehyung slumps but nods and bringing jimin closer to drop his head onto jimin's shoulder. "please think about it, seriously think about it. i.. don't like you coming back with new scars, cuts, and bruises... it hurts."

jimin sighs quietly, moving a hand to taehyung's cheek and raising his head to lock eyes with him. "i promise. i'll think about it."

taehyung stares up at jimin before leaning up to kiss jimin lightly. jimin smiles, tilting his head to deepen the kiss a bit more. taehyung gently bites jimin's bottom lip, one hand jimin's lower back. jimin moans, back arching until his chest is pressed against taehyung's. taehyung's tongue moves into jimin's mouth and prods the other's. jimin's tongue curls around taehyung's, hand still on taehyung's chest the cloth of his shirt. one of taehyung's hands slides under jimin's shirt again and moves up jimin's built chest to brush his fingers across jimin's .

jimin gasps, body shuddering and pulling away from the kiss, hand going from taehyung's cheek to his hand in his shirt. "t-tae, we can't. not in a tree, not on sacred land. a'awae would kill me."

taehyung giggles, shaking his head. "a'awae loves you. i've never seen the forest light up so brightly for a singular person."

jimin rolls his eyes, smacking taehyung's hands out of his shirt and moving around until he's laying comfortably on taehyung's chest, one arm laying on the tree and pressed against taehyung's side, other laying bent at the elbow on taehyung's chest beside him. taehyung wraps one arm around jimin's back and lets the other hang off the tree. jimin stares blankly at nothing before trailing a hand down to gently grab one of taehyung's three long tails, fingers gliding down the limb until his fingers are circling the end where it turns to long strands of white hair. taehyung swallows, shivering slightly when jimin runs his fingers over the hairs before resting his fingers underneath of it, palm up, so the hairs can wrap and curl around his fingers.

taehyung's pupils dilate, shrink to thin lines, then go back to normal and shivers again with a moan deep in his throat. jimin gasps, eyelids fluttering before sighing deeply. he stares at his hand with the hairs clinging to his digits and bites his bottom lip. "i wish.. we could mate properly, like there was a way for me to get a le'vitian tail, or something.. i hate that i can't please your traditions and you had to learn how to have in order for us to, quote, properly mate.."

"hey, hey, hey." taehyung whispers, voice softer and almost like he's just shy of breathless, eyes halflidded. "don't say that, jiminie. it's okay you can't mate our way, and i didn't mind learning your way. plus, it was kinda fun," he grins a bit and chuckles at the blush that forms on jimin's cheeks, "and much more flexible than ours. it's just tail bonding hairs linking together, your way can be adjusted in so many ways."

jimin rolls his eyes, wiggling his fingers slightly and smiling when taehyung's breath quietly gets caught in his throat.

"a-and," taehyung swallows, "this is close enough. using your hand is close enough."

jimin smile widens a bit, tilting his head back. "i still feel a little bad."

"don't." taehyung says firmly, moving his arm that's hanging off the tree to cup jimin's cheek with his hand. "don't feel bad. it's okay, jiminie. really."

jimin smiles at taehyung, turning his head to kiss taehyung's clothed chest. taehyung giggles, moving his hand up and through jimin's hair, the strands gently. "jiminie?"

"mm?" jimin hums, eyes fluttering closed for a second before opening to watch the hairs wave on his digits, shifting around to stick to non-glossed skin, then curling snuggly around his fingers and hand again.

"are you gonna.. force me to go to my lessons...?" taehyung mumbles, chewing his bottom lip.

jimin's eyes widen before he smirks, lifting his head to look up at taehyung. "yup."

he gently moves his hand away from taehyung's bonding hairs, both of them shivering, before sitting up on taehyung's waist. he swings a leg over taehyung to fit it onto a piece of bark before climbing down. "c'mon, tae," jimin smiles, jumping up to slap taehyung's hand.

taehyung sighs, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side before jumping down beside jimin. he gives jimin a pleading look to which jimin only responds by grabbing taehyung's hand and dragging him in the direction of the village. the fairies from earlier shoot up upon seeing them moving about, flying around the two in circles. jimin smiles widely at their little, almost inaudible, giggles and raises his free hand to let the blue and pink one land on his palm. their wings bend down and brush against jimin's skin making him giggle. "hey, that tickles!"

taehyung stares at jimin as the brunette smiles widely, giggling and his fingers twitching. the yellow fairy dives in and bumps against the blue and pink ones as if telling them to stop tickling jimin and it makes the brunette click his tongue. "yenette, be nice."

yenette shifts down as if embarrassed for being scolded, but brushes against jimin's cheek in apology. jimin only laughs softly, turning his head to let yenette bump his lips in which he only giggles more.

the blue fairy flies up into jimin's face. jimin grins. "aww, sapphire, do you want attention?"

it's beautiful, taehyung thinks, watching jimin interact with his world. watching jimin interact with things that should normally scare him because he's from the grey lands, he's from a world completely different from taehyung's, but he adjusted so quickly and everyone fell in love with him. it's beautiful, taehyung thinks, watching his people—his family—interact with jimin like he's one of their own.

it's the beginnings of night fall now, where the sky isn't quite pitch black yet, still a little blue and stars are only ocean-coloured glitters, but all the glows of the grass and moss, and some plants are still much brighter than earlier. they leave soft, blurred outlines on jimin and taehyung, everywhere not glowing from the plantlife darkened by the night. jimin looks majestic like this—at least to taehyung—tan skin darkened, and glowing around the edges from the lighted plants, hair streaked with multiple colours and some strands dancing when the wind picks up slightly, face contoured with happiness and plump lips stretched into a smile as he plays around with the fairies and occasional woodland creature.

"aai, you guys are so pretty," jimin gushes as he bounces the fairies gently on his hands, giggling gleefully almost like a child. the fairies' wings flutter in both embarrassment and joy.

jimin jerks his hands up to signal they need to start flying around again, looking up as they pass under the entrance to the village (a few thin, pure white barked trees curved unaturally in the shape of an archway) and all le'vitians look up, smiling brightly upon seeing jimin and bowing upon seeing taehyung.

"aowa? aowa, i brought taehyung." jimin calls out, looking around for the clan's leader (aowa means father in their language, by the way) and blinks a few time.

"jjijuewae is busy currently." one of the le'vitians states with a warm smile.

jimin blinks before smiling, nodding. "thank you, kasowon."

kasowon simply bows in respect, turning to move towards his family. jimin looks up at the large tree, swallowing. it surprisingly doesn't take long for taehyung's father to emerge from the large tree. he looks intimidating, to say the least. almost seven feet tall, teal-green skin a lot rougher than taehyung's and littered with large scars, white hair long (almost mid-thigh) and pulled back into a braid, broad and long shoulders, wide chest, and he walks with his head held high. confidence practically oozes off of him, even as he's wearing a large smile on his face as he walks towards jimin with his arms extended slightly. "ah, haeba! so glad to see you here, my son."

jimin flushes a bit (he's still not used to being called 'my son' by the clan leader) and smiles sheepishly. "th-thank you, aowa. it's nice to see you too."

the clan leader, kriez, walks up to jimin and places his hands on jimin's shoulders. he looks over at taehyung then looks back at jimin. "thank you for returning taehyung, haeba."

jimin nods, smile widening slightly. kriez releases jimin and moves to face taehyung. "and you, taehyung, are in trouble. you musn't skip lessons, at least not so many. if you're going to be the next jjijuewae, you need to be present for almost every class."

"but, dad, i know everything." taehyung mumbles quietly and kriez gives taehyung a look making the male sigh. "sorry.. aowa, i know everything."

"you cannot know everything, my child, it is impossible for your mother to have taught you everything and it is impossible for you to remember half of the things she taught you." kriez states, shaking his head and switching between their native tongue and korean for jimin to understand some of the conversation.

"aowa.." taehyung pouts, looking up at his father with pleading eyes.

kriez shakes his head, back straightening. "no, taehyung. today will be the last day you skip a lesson."

taehyung makes a noise of frustration, rolling his eyes and baring his fangs. jimin raises an eyebrow before moving to taehyung's side and bumping his shoulder gently. kriez clears his throat, glancing down at jimin's slightly glossy and faintly red hand, not able to hide his grin. "so you mated today?"

jimin's face goes bright red and taehyung smiles proudly. jimin looks at taehyung and pouts, moving to hide half of his body behind taehyung's. the white haired male giggles, nodding. "yes, aowa. before jiminie brought me back."

kriez nods in understanding, trying to bite back his grin, but failing and it only makes jimin's blush darken. "have you two.. talked about forming a.. zehalu? wait, wait, what do grey land walkers call it?" kriez looks up in thought, ignoring jimin's impossibly more flushed expression and taehyung's almost smug one, "ah, yes. marriage. have you two talked about getting married?"

"yes, aowa," taehyung responds with a gentle smile and one tail curling around jimin's leg, "but it won't happen yet. we've decided that we'll only form a zehalu when jiminie and his brother have moved here, if that happens."

"if it doesn't?" kriez raises an eyebrow.

"then jimin will be the first jjijukao to both live outside the village, and only be here a few times every week." taehyung says, smile turning a bit sad, but not really enough for kriez to notice. jimin, however, did and it makes him frown a bit. he subtly moves a hand to run his thumb along the first knuckles on taehyung's hand.

kriez nods in understanding. "well, just tell me when you boys want it to happen. now off with the two of you," he waves a hand and grins, "i have things to do."

taehyung nods, smiling sweetly and turning to look at jimin. the brunette smiles weakly and it makes taehyung frown. taehyung grabs jimin's hand and drags him outside of the village. he turns and gently pins jimin to a tree, only to keep jimin from ducking away and maybe even getting lost. "jimin, what's wrong?"

"i just," jimin sighs, gaze dropping to the floor and raising a hand to grab one of taehyung's arms, looking back up into taehyung's piercing eyes, "i feel so bad. everyone wants us to get married soon, especially your dad, i can see it in his eyes. he wants to stop being the leader, but he wants the comfort of knowing someone is protecting the people, the ones he loves so dearly. and the people haven't had a spiritual leader and someone they can go to for emotional things, a jjijukao, in so long. they look at me with this hidden pleading that's drowned with immense love. having everyone go to him to fill in the gap of the late jjijukao is weighing on namjoon, i can see it and i-i—"

"jimin." taehyung interrupts. he doesn't like it when jimin starts to break down like this. "jimin, you need to calm down. it's fine, everything is okay," he moves a hand to jimin's cheek and presses his forehead against jimin's, "i won't lie to you, minie, so yes. yes, aowa wants to stop being the leader, he's been the leader for almost fifty years and sheishay was only here for ten of those years. yes, aowa wants the comfort of knowing the people are being protected, so, yes, he wants us to get married to speed up the time when i become the new jjijuwae, even if that doesn't happen until after i'm twenty one. yes, the people want us to get married and, yes, the people want you to be their new jjijukao as soon as possible."

jimin squeezes his eyes shut and lets his head hang, but taehyung will have none of it and raises jimin's head with his hand. "look at me. look at me, jimin."

jimin hesitates, but opens his eyes and stares into taehyung's silver orbs. taehyung moves his other hand to jimin's cheek, thumbs caressing jimin's skin gently. "jimin, it's completely fine. all of it is true, but they will not rush you. le'vitians are some of the most gentle, caring people. they know your situation—well, not the, um.. abusive mother part," taehyung's voice quiets a bit, "but they know that you have a brother you need to take care of out there. they know you're juggling three part-time jobs to put food onto the table for jeongguk. they know it'll take time for you to talk to jeongguk about it and smooth it over with him. and they're okay with it. they don't mind waiting a bit longer, minie."

jimin stares up at taehyung and the white haired male leans down to kiss jimin softly. jimin sighs into the kiss, hands going to taehyung's biceps. "tae," jimin whimpers against taehyung's lips.

"yes, minie?" taehyung whispers, smiling gently and staring into jimin's eyes. the brunette's lips part slightly and he inhales deeply through his mouth, eyes searching taehyung's face for anything that will let him know that taehyung is lying, but he never sees it. "is it really okay? for me to deny these sweet, sweet people a jjijukao for god knows how long?"

"yes." taehyung says, smile widening and caressing jimin's cheeks gently. "yes, jimin, yes. it's fine, they don't mind waiting a bit longer. they've lasted years and years and years without a jjijukao, with a jjijuwae that doesn't have a lover, they can hold out a bit longer. until you're ready, jimin."

jimin stares up at taehyung before smiling slightly, a ghost at the corners barely even noticeable. "okay.."

"good," taehyung grins and taps jimin's nose with the pad of his index finger.

jimin rolls his eyes, giggling quietly and shoving taehyung off of him gently. he slips his hand into taehyung's and tugs him as he starts walking. taehyung's grin widens and he walks forward until he's right beside jimin, lacing their fingers together. jimin giggles again, glancing up at taehyung before looking forward. taehyung gives jimin's hand a squeeze and bumps shoulders. "you're such a child," jimin giggles, rolling his eyes again.

taehyung simply shrugs, chuckling quietly to himself. he looks up at the sky, eyes drawing constellations between the stars and giving a few ridiculous names when he wants. "want to go to the ancestor trees?"

jimin blinks in surprise, looking over at taehyung. "t-tae, i've only been there once.."

"well, do you want to go a second time?" taehyung smiles widely, eyes curved into crescents, which is almost ironic to jimin because of their colour.

jimin stares at taehyung quietly before smiling slightly. "sure.."

taehyung's smile widens impossibly, rectangular in shape and beautiful, giving jimin's hand a gentle squeeze and tugging him towards the ancestor trees.

this was always one of the more beautiful spots to jimin (even to most of the le'vitians, but mostly because of it's history and because each of these trees are an ancestor, the firsts of the le'vitians, that's merged with a'awae). the trees stand tall and proud, their bark the colour of caramel, branches extending off in random directions towards the sky before thinning to barely an inch in width and hanging down onto the ground, colour turning white half-way through the curve down and glowing brightly. the branches become smooth once white and glowing, like rubber, and indents are curved into them every inch or two down along the branch.

jimin swallows, a bit nervous about being in such an important area, and looks around. taehyung looks over his shoulder at jimin and smiles. "it's fine, babe."

jimin glances at taehyung, not quite used to taehyung's occasional calling him babe, before looking back around at the beautiful trees again. once they're standing in the middle of the trees, completely covered from all sides (including above) from the branches, taehyung turns to face jimin with a gentle smile. he un-laces his fingers with jimin's and moves the brunette's hand to some of the branches. jimin swallows again, gently holding one of them and he gasps, eyelids fluttering for a second.

taehyung's smile widens, grabbing a small group of them and gently grabbing one of his tails, moving it up to the group of branches and lets his bonding hairs wrap around them. the sensation makes taehyung gasp, though just faintly, and look up where the branches turn into the hairs of the ancestors (what they prefer to call the white parts of the branch).

they whisper to the boys, praises and stories, and it makes them smile. jimin's a bit surprised they accepted him so quickly, but he doesn't mind. he moves down until he's sitting on his calves on the ground and taehyung follows (though he has to unlatch his tail from the hairs of the ancestors before moving). jimin stares at the branch he's holding and tears form in his eyes, a small smile on his lips and nostrils flaring from holding in his cries.

"jimin?" taehyung asks, worried, and moves a bit closer to jimin. "are you okay?"

"mhmm," jimin nods, looking over at taehyung and fingers twitching around the branch, "th-they're telling me... stories a-about your mom."

taehyung's eyes widen before he clears his throat and looks down. he shifts a bit and stares at the bundle of branches his hairs are wrapped around and he ends up blocking out his ancestors' whispers. jimin swallows, blinking as a tear rolls down his cheek. "they're.. te-telling me h-how much.. she loved you... how s-she cared for you—"

"jimin," taehyung whispers and his fingers curling into fists on his lap, "please. stop."

jimin jumps in surprise, biting his bottom lip and looking forward at the branch. he sniffs, body slouching a bit. they whisper that it's okay, taehyung's just a bit sensitive when it comes to his mother, but jimin still feels a little bad. jimin keeps his sobs in and to himself, but he knows taehyung can hear them and he kind of feels bad for it. taehyung's eyebrows set in a way that's almost like he's angry, or in deep thought, and he starts to zone out. they tell him to tell jimin it's okay, that he's not mad because he really isn't, his mother is just a sensitive topic, but they're just muffled nothings to him.

but jimin continues crying to himself and taehyung can hear his struggle of keeping them in, and it makes him sigh. "jimin," taehyung turns to face jimin.

jimin jumps, looking up at taehyung and the white haired male frowns at the tears filling jimin's /beautiful/ eyes and streaming down his cheeks. taehyung unlinks his tail from the group of branches and moves until he's facing jimin properly. jimin swallows, eyes wide. he looks scared and sorry, and it makes taehyung feel bad because he knows it's his fault jimin is like this. taehyung moves forward, gently grabbing jimin's hands and pulling them away from the branch he's holding, pushing jimin down onto his back.

"i'm sorry," taehyung whispers, lacing his fingers with jimin's and pinning them both to the ground beside jimin's head. "i'm sorry. i didn't mean to make you feel bad. you did nothing wrong, jimin."

jimin bites his bottom lip and his body slightly jerks with a choked hiccup. taehyung smiles sadly, taking his hands away from jimin's and using one to brush away jimin's tears, the other grabbing one of jimin's hands and placing it on one of his tails. jimin gets the hint, shakily dragging his hand down to the end of taehyung's tail and placing his hand palm up underneath the group of hairs at the end. the hairs immediately weave between his fingers and curl around them, some tickling the underside of his wrist.

jimin inhales deeply and whimpers quietly. taehyung's pupils dilate, shrink, then go back to normal, but he keeps his smile the entire time. jimin stares up at taehyung and he can tell taehyung was being serious when he said it's okay. jimin breathes deeply, eyelids fluttering when taehyung leans down to gently kiss him. taehyung tilts his head and balaces himself above jimin with his forearms, lips parting and tongue sliding out to jimin's lips. jimin whimpers quietly, mouth opening and a choked moan getting stuck in his throat when taehyung's tongue moves into his mouth, running along the roof of his mouth.

jimin shivers, free hand around taehyung's shoulders and trying not to move his hand that's connected to taehyung's bonding hairs. taehyung puts his weight onto one arm, moving his other to push his hand under jimin's shirt. jimin gasps, back arching and pulling away from the kiss. "t-tae.. here? now..?"

taehyung smiles, nudging his nose against jimin's. "we won't be disgracing anyone, and this is the most covered area i know of so nobody will walk up to us. we only use this place if we're in a time of crisis, or if we're forming a zehalu. it's actually recommended you mate here after you form a zehalu. they say it brings you good luck and you'll be blessed," he kisses jimin's forehead gently before smiling back down at him, "so it's fine."

jimin swallows, but he doesn't have time to suggest doing this somewhere else because taehyung runs his thumb over jimin's . the brunette arches his back and whimpers, panting quietly. "t-tae," jimin moans.

"shh, minie," taehyung smiles, taking his hand out of jimin's shirt to unbuckle jimin's belt, "it's fine. if they didn't want us doing this, they would've told us."

jimin swallows, staring up at taehyung in uncertainty, but lifts his waist to let taehyung slip off his pants and underwear anyway.

"where have you been?"

jimin's eyes widen and he straightens, looking around. he's got a small limp, and he's sure he looks like he just ran a marathon or something, but he manages to play it cool when his eyes lock with jeongguk's. jeongguk is shaking, tears filling his waterlines and rivering down his cheeks. one of his eyes are swollen and almost black from a blackeye, a sleeve of his large t-shirt slipping off of his shoulder to expose a large bruise covering half of his collarbone and shoulder. jimin curses, kicking off his shoes and walking up to jeongguk. "gguk, i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to stay out so late."

"where have you been?" jeongguk repeats, staring up at jimin hard and dodging jimin's hands.

jimin sighs, shoulders slumping. "i was... out. with my friend."

"you don't have friends," jeongguk spits, inhaling shakily through his mouth and blinking away some of his tears, only to have them blur his vision again. "don't ing lie to me, jimin-hyung. don't."

jimin stares at jeongguk quietly before placing his hands onto the younger's shoulders, mindful of the bruises on his shoulder and all the ones probably littering his pretty skin underneath his clothes. "gguk," jimin looks straight into jeongguk's glossed eyes, "how would you feel about leaving? about going some place magical, away from all the cruel people, from her? where we, you, can be happy?"

jeongguk whimpers, trying to pull away from jimin's hold, but the older's grip is tight enough to keep him in place and it makes his tears fall faster. "d-don't do this, jimin-hyung, don't make me think of i can't have."

"you can," jimin breathes, smiling and moving a hand up to cup jeongguk's swollen cheek, "you can, jeongguk, if you just listen to me."

jeongguk stills, staring down at jimin. jimin's heart hurts seeing jeongguk like this, scared and in pain, bottom lip trembling and eyes puffed from hours and hours of crying, wondering where his big brother is as their mother beats him with anything she can get her hands on. "when i leave, i go out into the forest. deep, deep inside there, there's this place full of gentle, caring people called le'vitians. they're so kind, gguk, so kind and accepting. they—they treat me like i'm someone so very special, and they want me to stay there. especially taehyung.. taehyung talks to me about it all the time, but i tell him i can't because of you. i promised i'd talk to you about it, about moving there."

jeongguk's eyebrows furrow slightly because this sounds ridiculous, but jimin is talking so passionately that he can't help but stay quiet and let jimin continue. jimin's close to crying himself, lips still stretched into a smile and his thumb moves to smear jeongguk's tears across his cheek. "y-you'd be safe there, gguk. you'd be cared about by so many people. they'll protect you. you can have so much space to play around, too! th-there's fairies, and dragons, and a whole bunch of mystical creatures you thought you'd only see in fairy tales, and they're really nice too! there's delicious foods, and weird and crazy, but cool plantlife. taehyung would like you, i know he will. kriez, their leader, would take you in and treat you like his very own son. taehyung would make sure—"

"jimin." jeongguk whispers and jimin freezes, mouth snapping shut and eyes widening. jeongguk sighs quietly, but doesn't move or talk. jimin's a bit confused as to why jeongguk interrupted him, but jeongguk has always been a confusing boy, and sometimes needs time to process things, to analyze everything inside of his head like his brain is some type of advanced computer, picking apart all of the words he's just heard to see if there's a lie, a hidden message, a hint, before putting it back together and responding.

only two minutes later, jeongguk socks jimin in the shoulder as hard as his exhausted, beaten, weak body will allow him to. jimin yelps, stepping back and holding his shoulder, but before he can question jeongguk, the younger gives him a sharp glare. "if you're lying, i swear to ing god, i will beat your ."

jimin blinks once, twice, thrice, then five times more. jeongguk rolls his eyes. "you're so slow, hyung."

"a-are... are you saying.. yes?" jimin questions, quietly, softly. jeongguk looks down at jimin and nods. "duh."

jimin stares at jeongguk for a second, a few more, then a whole minute before pulling jeongguk into a hug. jeongguk squeaks then hisses, placing his hands on jimin's lower abdomen. "hy-hyung, that hurts."

", sorry." jimin immediately lets jeongguk go and nibbling his bottom lip. "why'd.. why'd you agree?"

jeongguk raises an eyebrow, looking at jimin like he's stupid before sighing. "because you sounded serious. genuine. i didn't see any lie, or false promise of happiness, so i just supposed you were telling the truth. but.. who's taehyung?"

jimin's back straightens and clears his throat. "the son of the leader, kriez and next in line. why?"

"no," jeongguk tilts his head to the side, "who is he to you?"

jimin's eyes widen and he looks off to the side, rubbing a hand over his face to get rid of the blush he felt forming. "a-a friend.."

"you're lying, jimin-hyung." jeongguk clicks his tongue, crossing his arms over his chest.

jimin pouts, brushing passed jeongguk to head into their room, plopping down onto their bed. he stares up at the ceiling and pouts again when jeongguk rushes into the room after him, closing the door. jeongguk scurries up to jimin on his bed and jumps onto it, knees digging into the bed and leaning over jimin with wide eyes. jimin's face scrunches up. "what?"

"oh my god," jeongguk whispers, "you two are dating!"

jimin blinks and he's glad it's dark in the room because jeongguk would've noticed he's blushing. "wh-what are you talking about, gguk?"

"you were limping! you were walking with a limp," jeongguk suddenly goes quiet then gasps deeply, "holy , you guys had before you came back."

jimin coughs, a mixture of spluttering and saliva going down the wrong tube, and moves closer to the wall. jeongguk stares at jimin, a smirk slowly forming and sits on the bed. "mm, that's why you said his name like that."

"li-like what?" jimin questions, though a bit scared of what the younger is going to say.

jeongguk's smirk widens a bit. "like you were in love."

jimin pouts, rolling over so his back is facing jeongguk and squeezing his eyes shut. "i'm going to sleep. good night."

jeongguk smiles, looking over at his bed and his smile is gone instantly. he frowns, glancing back at jimin. he stares at jimin silently for a few moments before speaking. "jiminie-hyung..?"

"mm?" jimin hums.

"can i sleep with you tonight?"

jimin's eyes open and he stares at the wall before rolling over to smile to jeongguk. he moves the sheets from under him and lifts them as a sign for jeongguk to crawl under them. jeongguk smiles, moving until he's laying beside jimin and tucks himself into jimin's side. jimin wraps an arm around jeongguk protectively. he closes his eyes again and it doesn't take long for jimin to start walking on the thin line between conscious and unconscious.

"hyung?"

"mm?" jimin hums, both out of shock from the sudden whisper jerking him awake and to let jeongguk know he's listening.

"love you.." jeongguk mutters, speaking against jimin's side to muffle his words.

jimin's eyes are still shut, eyebrows furrowing as he tries to find the definition behind those words that he knows are somewhere in his exhausted brain before he relaxes, grinning a bit. "love you too, brat."

jimin runs through the forest, pushing himself to go faster, faster, faster still. he promised jeongguk he'd only be gone for /at least/ an hour, he needs to move as quick as he can. he wishes he had long legs like taehyung, it'd be so much easier to get there faster with twenty less steps then jimin would need to take. taehyung is also a lot faster than jimin, but taehyung was raised to be quick and quiet, whereas jimin practically stumbled into life then had to deal with thousands of pounds of bull as soon as he was ten and jeongguk was eight. jimin's eyes narrow in both determination and the sharp winds whisking by from his speeds (plus it was a bit nippy that day, which doesn't help). he reaches taehyung's favorite spot to skip his responsibilities and relax, eyes darting around hurriedly.

he's not there.

"!" jimin curses, looking up to think where else taehyung would be before twisting around and pushing his trembling body forward.

it's hard to breathe and he's practically wheezing, but jimin pushes himself forward with jeongguk finally be /safe/ for once on mind, and maybe because he likes seeing taehyung. jimin has lost count of how many times he has tripped, or been roughly jerked to a stop because his clothes got caught. he's not wearing much, black leather pants and a black pull over hooded sweater one size too large, but they're starting to feel gross against his skin, even with the few rips from his running letting air seep in and press against him. he's a bit surprised the black snapback he quickly threw on before he left to hide the fact he didn't brush his hair when he woke up hasn't flown off.

jimin's been searching for half an hour when he slams into a hard chest and gets thrown back onto the ground with a loud yelp.

"jimin?"

jimin looks up and his eyes light up upon seeing taehyung towering over him with worried, gentle eyes. he shoots up and his mouth opens, but the words won't come out. he can't breathe, no matter how much oxygen he gulps down. he pants violently, chest heaving.

"jimin? jimin," taehyung places his hands on jimin's cheeks, "jimin, relax. slow down your breathing, you're going to have an attack."

jimin blinks hard a few times before his eyes lock with taehyung's, hands going up to grab taehyung's wrists. taehyung whispers to him, voice deep, but warm. jimin can breathe now, but just barely. it's enough to speak, which is good enough for jimin. "h-he said yes."

taehyung blinks in confusion, head leaning back. "excuse me? who? to what?"

"je-jeongguk," jimin pants, swallowing down more air, "he said yes to moving here."

taehyung stares at jimin in confusion before his eyes light up, eyebrows raising and mouth falling ajar. he presses his forehead against jimin's and laughs. "oh my god, jimin, that's great."

"yeah," jimin giggles breathlessly, "it is."

taehyung presses his lips to jimin's, moving one of his hands off of jimin's cheek to wrap an arm around his waist and dips him back. jimin squeaks into the kiss, slapping taehyung's shoulder. taehyung smiles, moving back to let jimin stand properly. they pull away with breathtaking smiles, foreheads pressed together again. "are you serious?" taehyung whispers.

jimin nods, moving his arms around taehyung's neck to pull him a bit closer. "yeah, i'm serious. i spoke to him about when i got home last night. he also said if i was lying, he was going to beat my ."

taehyung blinks in surprise before giggling, pecking jimin's lips. "quite the mouth he's got."

"oh you have no idea," jimin giggles. he relaxes into taehyung's hold before gasping. ", i told jeongguk i would go back to get him after i found you!"

taehyung's eyes widen, blinking. "do you want me to come with you?"

jimin smiles, nodding. just as he's about to start running, taehyung manages to lift jimin onto his back. jimin squeaks, hands clinging to taehyung's shoulders. "what the hell, tae?!"

"face it," taehyung grins, moving jimin around on his back, "you can't run."

jeongguk wasn't expecting to see a tall male with teal-green skin, moon-like eyes, white hair, and three tails when jimin led him into the forest. jeongguk raises an eyebrow, taking in this blue-skinned stranger's outfit (though taehyung would argue that he is teal, borderline of blue and light blue, with a green undertone that only really shows when the light hits him). a black and white arrow-striped poncho long enough to cover his chest and the shortest parts at the sides are a little above his elbow, but there's enough of the cloth to cover his entire torso and make it seem like he's wearing a shirt underneath as well, and black pants that stop just below his ankles, but jeongguk can see a beaded anklet around his right ankle.

"jeongguk," jimin says with a smile to get his brother's attention, "this is taehyung."

jeongguk blinks, looking back over at taehyung. taehyung smiles, bowing a bit in greeting.

"taehyung, this is jeongguk." jimin says.

jeongguk blinks slowly, staring intensely at taehyung as if analyzing everything about him, his aura, his stance, his smile, to see if he was good enough for jimin. the brunette catches on, gently jamming his elbow into jeongguk's ribs. "stop it," he hisses. "tae's a good guy."

"tae?" jeongguk questions, looking at jimin with raised eyebrows. "so you guys are dating?"

taehyung blinks, grinning in amusement. "yeah."

jimin hisses at taehyung, slapping his arm. taehyung smiles at jimin playfully, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him closer. jimin blushes brightly, slapping taehyung's chest a few times and whining when taehyung dips his head to peck jimin's lips.

"whoa," jeongguk says, raising his hands and eyebrows shooting up, "if we're going to get along, don't kiss my brother in front of me. it's gross."

taehyung looks up at jeongguk and smiles. jimin slaps taehyung's chest again, shoving him away with a pout and turning to jeongguk again. "anyways, you ready?"

jeongguk nods, shoving his hands into the pockets of his denim jacket. taehyung suddenly moves in front of jeongguk and stares at him. jeongguk jumps, looking up in surprise. "what?"

taehyung's lips drag to the side before smiling. "namjoon can help with those bruises of yours."

jeongguk blinks in surprise before looking down, raising a hand to drag his red beanie lower over his forehead to force his hair into his eyes. jimin smiles, moving over to jeongguk and patting his back. jeongguk glances up at jimin before looking back down. he looks himself over the best he can and his shoulders slump a bit at the thought of these clothes being the only thing he'll have to remind him where he came from years from now, but maybe he'll also see it as a reminder of his new beginning (jimin told him not to bring anything along other than one pair of clothes to wear on the way there).

it's a simple collared denim jacket over a slightly larger cream-coloured jacket, white t-shirt, black jeans that fit to his legs almost like a second skin if not for the hundreds of creases and wrinkles as a design, and pure black converse high tops all topped off with a red beanie. jimin didn't believe him when he said he threw on the first things he saw.

"gguk?" jimin asks, smiling.

jeongguk looks up before jogging forward, rolling his eyes when jimin slings an arm around his shoulders. jimin's smile widens and he looks forward. the walk to where le'vitian territory starts is a lot longer than usual because jimin didn't want to just chuck jeongguk into all of it, but when they arrive jeongguk's eyebrows shoot up. the first thing he notices is how everything looks more lively here. he almost jumps when little glowing orbs come up to him out of no where. they tap against jimin's cheeks and nose before circling jeongguk in confusion.

"jeongguk, these are some of the fairies." jimin says with a smile. "the yellow one is yenette, the blue one is sapphire, the purple one is lilian, the green one is eve, the white one is vivian, and the red-pink one is scarlette. fairies, this is jeongguk, my brother."

jeongguk blinks a few times as the fairies fly around him and giggle happily. they brush against his cheeks and nose, and soon, he's giggling and shaking his head to get them off because they're brushing against his bruises.

jimin's smiles widely, almost proudly, and crosses his arms over his chest. taehyung moves up behind jimin, kissing his neck lightly. "they like him."

jimin giggles, looking up at taehyung before looking back at jeongguk. "i know."

he could handle the fairies. he could handle the glowing plants and trees, and touch-activated glowing grass and moss. he could handle the four-armed blue monkeys. he could handle the small (barely mid-calf) black and blue, fox-like creatures with horns sprouting from the tops of their heads and curling back and wolf-like faces. he could handle the trees humming when jimin walked by and the grass giggling when jimin looked at them with a smile. he could handle the small (also barely mid-calf) black and fiery orange animals with long, fluffy tails and emerald green eyes. he could handle the black, green, and white creatures that looked like tiny lions, scruture wise, with horns coming from their tails, sprouting from within the thick fluff. he barely managed to handle the, apparently, female-only race with dark, midnight blue skin, long and straight black hair, with large antlers sprouting from their temples and only strings and leaves for clothes, eyes snow white.

he can not handle a huge ing dragon that is light grey, two shades darker than silver, with icy blue eyes. the dragon has spines protruding all down his spine, starting from the back of his head to the tip of his tail. there's some spikes coming from his jaw. his wings are folded against its back, tail curled lazily.

"it looks like it could be godzilla's ing cousin," jeongguk hisses quietly, just in case the dragon is hostile and can understand korean.

jimin giggles, shaking his head. "don't be ridiculous, ggukie. this is yoongi."

"yoongi?" jeongguk repeats, giving jimin a surprised look. "yoongi? why yoongi? that's a pretty korean, and, you know, non-dragon like name."

"oh, it's because he has a human form, and yoongi just fit." taehyung says with a grin.

jeongguk blinks a few times, looking up at the dragon—yoongi—and jumping upon seeing how close his face is. "oh my , don't eat me."

jimin and taehyung giggle to themselves, but jeongguk doesn't entirely see what's so funny because this dragon is scary as . yoongi shifts and jeongguk hisses, squeezing his eyes shut. his body tenses, preparing for large claws peircing his body, sharp pain, teeth digging into him, something. but none of that happens, instead a deep voice speaks, edges rough with knowledge.

"i'm not going to eat you, kid."

jeongguk slowly opens his eyes and blinks a few times upon seeing a small male instead of a large, terrifying dragon. his hair is tousled like he just got out of bed and grey, eyes icy blue, and skin almost as white as snow. jeongguk raises an eyebrow at the thin white shirt and blue jeans he's wearing. "where did..?"

"i was sitting on them," yoongi rolls his eyes, walking up to the three, "so who's the brat?"

jeongguk mouth flaps like a fish out of water in offense, raising a hand to his chest. "e-excuse me."

"jeongguk," jimin says with a dashing smile, "my little brother."

"oh god, you multiplied." yoongi groans and his shoulders curve down, rolling his eyes.

jimin pouts, bumping his shoulder against yoongi's and it makes the dragon (human-demon hybrid, jeongguk adds in his mind) lean away from him. "no, i did not multiply, my parents had another kid. be nice to him, would ya? he's the only real family i got."

jeongguk flushes, pouting and looking down. yoongi stares at jimin, looks at jeongguk, then looks at taehyung before sighing. "fine, fine, whatever."

yoongi walks up to jeongguk and looks him over with a raised eyebrow. jeongguk shifts awkwardly, swallowing. yoongi's a few inches shorter than him, but he still manages to send a scared chill up jeongguk's spine. yoongi notices this and rolls his eyes. "i'm not going to eat you. calm the down."

jeongguk twitches but nods, swallowing. he takes yoongi's appearence in again. yoongi's eyes are feline-like, which he finds strange for a dragon, and they look like they've seen generations upon generations. they're kind of pretty, if jeongguk lets himself thinks such a thing. yoongi's stance, messy hair, and winkled clothing, evidence of his quick and lazy pulling them on, makes him look bored and even lazy, but there's something about his gaze and how his shoulders are in a straight line that makes him look confident and wise.

"how old are you?" jeongguk asks without thinking, slamming a hand over his mouth afterwards.

yoongi raises an eyebrow, glancing at jimin before looking back at jeongguk. "old enough to know you're a straight up brat with a soft side for anyone willing to care for you and deal with your ."

jeongguk's eyes widen before narrowing into a glare. "that's not answering my question, dragon."

"oh," yoongi's eyebrows raise and his white lips curl up into a smirk, "fiesty. well, human, i'm over ten thousand. not sure what the exact number is, i stopped caring for specifics when i reached four thousand."

"holy ," jeongguk covers his mouth, looking yoongi over again.

well, that explains the confident and wise aura, and the knowledge-weilding eyes.

"i like you," yoongi says in a quiet voice, almost as if he was saying it to himself instead of jeongguk, before turning on his heel and walking deeper into his cave, raising a hand as a form of 'bye'.

jeongguk blinks a few times in surprise. "i.. didn't even get to ask why he knew korean.."

"yoongi settled here

years ago, he's had plenty of time to learn korean." jimin giggles, turning and patting jeongguk's abdomen. "let's go."

jeongguk gets insecure and even shy when they enter the village before everyone outside stops and stares at him. when the gazes stop on him, he freezes at the entrance way. jimin blinks, looking over at jeongguk and smiling. "they did the same to me. except i woke up here because i got knocked out."

"what?" jeongguk squeaks, looking at jimin with wide eyes.

jimin giggles. "don't worry, not because of them, i fell and hit my head."

jeongguk nods slowly, looking back at the staring eyes. jimin grabs jeongguk's hand and pulls him towards the large tree towering over the smaller ones with doorways grown into the trunks and bridges connecting the tops. jeongguk looks up at the top of the tree, mouth falling open and he sees silhouettes of small dragons (or winged creatures with tails, jeongguk doesn't know) flying out of and into the branches.

"aowa?" jimin calls, looking around and smiling at the le'vitians inside. "aowa?"

"yes, my son?" kriez says, walking down the stairs spiraling down the side of the collum in the middle of the hollowed tree. his eyes land on the awkward, lanky figure beside jimin and his eyes light up. he skips down the rest of the stairs and moves up in front of them, placing his hands on jeongguk's forearms. he stares at the bruise on jeongguk's eye, but says nothing of it. "is this your brother, haeba?"

jimin smiles, nodding. a spark of confusion lights in jeongguk's head at the name he just used to call jimin, but he's too busy staring up at the very rough looking, very intimidating man. he swallows. "i-i'm.. jeongguk."

"jeongguk," kriez repeats, testing the name on his tongue and looking up in thought before smiling widely. "welcome, kahsa."

jeongguk blinks a few times. "k-..kah...sa?"

"kahsa," kriez nods, "it means wise light."

jeongguk's eyes widen and he flushes, looking down. "i-i—i'm not wise, sir, o-or—"

"my child," kriez interrupts with a gentle smile, "i can tell you are very wise for your age. the way your eyes were moving all around earlier, like you were studying your surroundings, was a clear sign. and i have a feeling you will be a light for us, like your brother has been thus far."

jeongguk swallows, glancing at jimin quickly before looking back up at kriez. "th-thank you, sir—"

"please, call me aowa." kriez waves a dismissive hand, "no need for formalities."

jeongguk blinks a few times slowly, then quickly. "a-aowa?"

"it means father," kriez explains, placing a hand on top of jeongguk's head and running his slender fingers along his beanie.

jeongguk's eyes widen and his blush deepens. "i-i-i can't c-call you father, i-i'm not, not family."

"nonsense." kriez raises an eyebrow. "you are brother of haeba here, are you not?"

jeongguk blinks, nodding slowly. kriez smiles gently again. "then you are family."

jeongguk stares up at kriez before looking down in embarrassment, scratching the back of his neck. jimin watches jeongguk almost proudly, leaning back against taehyung. the white haired male grins, wrapping an arm around jimin's waist. jeongguk clears his throat. "th-thank you.. a-ao..wa..."

"no need for thanks." kriez says, patting jeongguk's shoulder. "now if you excuse me, i have things to attend to. again, welcome, kahsa. i am glad you could join us."

jeongguk looks up in time to catch kriez's warm eyes before he turns, cocking a half-smile. "yeah.."

jimin watches kriez leave before hugging jeongguk. "you're all grown up!"

jeongguk flushes before pouting, shoving jimin off of him. "shut up.."

jimin grins widely, bumping shoulders with his brother. jeongguk glances at him, smiling slightly before looking around.

"by the way, haeba means bright child." jimin chuckles quietly.

jeongguk raises an eyebrow, staring at jimin. "well, they got that wrong."

jimin's lips part with a loud pop, gasping deeping and he doesn't have time to hit his already-injured brother because jeongguk has sprinted out the tree.

jimin showed jeongguk as many people as he could, and, truth be told, jeongguk doesn't remember even half of the names. his brain is clouded and he's a bit dazed from being tugged around a medium-sized village with hundreds living in it for an hour or two, considering the sun is setting now. the only two he really remembers are hoseok and seokjin, specifically only because their names sounded like names he'd here around the streets in busan and they were easy to remember.

hoseok was a gentle, caring person with a heart-shaped smile that was, interestingly enough, interested in dancing. like, "human" dancing (hoseok's words, not jeongguk's). hoseok is also the one that makes clothes for people when they grow out of their old pairs. seokjin is a quieter, but equally as gentle and caring, person that has a soothing, almost motherly aura about him that juggles being part of the cooking team and the medic. le'vitians don't fight humans or other races much, however, so he mainly cooks.

now they're going to meet a person named namjoon. their shaman/medic/whatever else jimin said he was (he's, apparently, a really important person that does a lot of stuff for the le'vitians). so, naturally, jeongguk was expecting to see some old guy with baggy, wrinkly skin and long hair in drapes. that's what he was prepared for. he was not prepared for a young male (an attractive young male, but jeongguk wouldn't say that out loud) with short hair, fringe brushed off to the side off his forehead and out of his eyes, a pair of glasses with the frames made out of small branches sitting delicately on the bridge of his nose, a white button-down shirt tucked into black pants similar to taehyung's. he would look like a high-class professor if not for his bare feet.

"ah, jimin," namjoon smiles, patting jimin's head. "so nice to see you again."

jimin nods, smiling widely. "same, joonie."

namjoon looks over at jeongguk and his smile drops in thought, placing a hand on his hip and uses his other to use his middle finger to push his glasses up. "who's this, might i ask?"

"jeongguk, my brother." jimin responds cheerfully. he glances at jeongguk paralyzed in his spot and shoves his shoulder against jeongguk's slightly. "h-h-hi.."

namjoon smiles and holy , he's gorgeous. jeongguk flushes, looking down and raises a hand to drag his beanie down lower again. he's got the deepest dimples jeongguk has ever seen, and it's cute (but jeongguk would never say that out loud).

"nice to meet you, jeongguk." namjoon says, bowing a bit.

jeongguk smiles sheepishly, nodding in what namjoon chalks up to agreement. namjoon looks jeongguk over slightly. taehyung steps forward. "ah, namjoon."

namjoon looks over at taehyung. "yes, jjijura?"

"jeongguk has some injuries," taehyung starts, gesturing to jeongguk, "from.. mm... well, he has some injuries and i was wondering if you could take care of them for me?"

namjoon raises an eyebrow. "you saw seokjin before coming to me, yes? why didn't you get him to do it?"

taehyung shrugs. "seokjin was busy."

namjoon stares at taehyung quietly before sighing, gesturing towards jeongguk. "take off your clothes."

jeongguk's eyes widen and he squeaks in shock. "wh-what?!"

namjoon raises an eyebrow again before smiling. "everything, but your underwear. i need to examine your injuries. if they're anything as bad as your eye, i'll need to give you medication to take every day until it heals."

jeongguk clears his throat and taehyung moves to pull the thick leather over the entrance. jeongguk grabs his jacket before freezing, glancing back at taehyung. the white haired male raises his hands, gives jimin a kiss on the cheek and turns to leave. jeongguk slumps, shyly glancing up at namjoon and the male takes the hint, turning until his back is facing jeongguk. the black haired male slowly strips down to just his underwear and jimin holds all of his clothes. "o-okay.."

namjoon turns on his heel and his eyebrows shoot up at the bruises littering the young boy's body. "oh my," namjoon whispers.

he moves to point at the table extending out of the wall with a sheet of leather over it. jeongguk scurries over to it and pulls himself onto it. namjoon steps closer and looks between all the bruises, gently prodding the skin around some of the bruises and watching jeongguk's reaction before moving over to a shelf. he sifts through the contents on the shelf before plucking a small jar from the mess that namjoon would argue is very organised before walking back over to jeongguk. he unscrews the cap, placing it beside jeongguk and scoops some of the pale mint green cream onto his fingers before gently smearing it over jeongguk's bruises.

jeongguk hisses, flinching.

"don't move," namjoon says gently, massaging the cream into jeongguk's skin as gently as possible, scooping some more up and repeating.

jeongguk flushes and looks down. it's kind of relaxing, having namjoon's fingers massage his skin, but before he can revel in the sensation, namjoon pulls away with a smile. "all done. that should stop the pain and help with some of the heeling, but," he moves back over to the shelf and pulls out a much smaller jar, moving back to jeongguk and handing it to him, "apply this to them daily."

jeongguk nods hesitantly. namjoon's smile widens and he wipes his hand on a small cloth. jimin looks at jeongguk with a grin, and the younger glares at him, blushing. "you like him," jimin mouths.

jeongguk rolls his eyes, mouthing back. "shut up."

"jeongguk's fitting in," taehyung mumbles into jimin's hair with a grin. jimin smiles, moving around in taehyung's hold to look up at him before burying his face into taehyung's chest. "yeah.."

taehyung raises an eyebrow. "something wrong, baby?"

"what?" jimin sits up, turning at the waist to look down at taehyung, "no, nothing's wrong."

"minie." taehyung says, sitting up as well and raising a hand to cup jimin's cheek. "i know you better than you think. i know you're lying."

jimin pouts before sighing, leaning back against taehyung's chest. taehyung immediately wraps an arm around jimin's waist, turning his head to press his lips against the side of jimin's head. "c'mon," taehyung whispers, dragging his lips down to jimin's cheek, "tell me what's wrong."

"i just.." jimin sighs, "it's weird. for gguk not to come up to me for help with things anymore. he goes to hoseok, or seokjin, or namjoon, or even yoongi. it's older brother stuff, tae, don't worry about it."

taehyung grins, kissing jimin's cheek again. "mm, maybe jeongguk doesn't want to bother you? because he used to always have to go to you?"

jimin hums, closing his eyes. "maybe.."

"hey," taehyung pouts, raising his other hand to cup jimin's chin and lifting his head, "i'm sure jeongguk isn't ignoring you, or anything. you're his older brother that's been there for him his entire life, he loves you. inside that bratty, foul mouthed shell is a scared, abused little boy, jimin. whether he wants to admit it or not, he needs you. so he's probably just going to other people for help because maybe he feels like he's been a burden to you all these years, going to you over and over, and over, so he's making up for it by giving you space. plus," he taps jimin's nose with a grin, "you don't know this place as well as you think you do."

jimin stares up at taehyung before sighing, going limp against taehyung. "yeah, i guess you're right..."

"i am right." taehyung's grin widens and he knocks his forehead against jimin's. "you worry too much."

jimin rolls his eyes with a small smile. taehyung's grin fades and he pouts deeply. "aah," he places both of his hands on either of jimin's hips, "that won't do."

jimin looks back at taehyung in confusion. "wh—"

he doesn't have time to finish his sentence, taehyung's boney fingers digging into his underarms. jimin squeaks so loud, it echoes through out the forest surrounding them, and falls forward. taehyung climbs on top of jimin and continues his assault on his boyfriend. jimin releases a mixture of screams, laughs, and cries for mercy.

"t-tae, st-stop!" jimin gasps, squirming in taehyung's grip.

taehyung smiles, using one hand to gather both of jimin's wrists and pin them above the brunette's head, other hand switching between jimin's underarms. jimin barely has time to gasp for air because he's laughing so hard it hurts in his stomach, chest, and shoulders.

"t-t..tae, pl-please!" jimin trembles and twists his body. "i-i can't b-breathe!"

taehyung lifts himself off of jimin slightly, just enough to flip jimin over onto his back, and grabs jimin's wrists again, but with both hands, and pins them on either side of jimin's head. he leans down until their noses are brushing, smile playing on his lips. "there. better."

"o-oh," jimin pants, "me w-with.. a red face, tears s-steaming down, and m-messy hair is.. better?"

taehyung nods, rubbing his nose against jimin's. "because now you're smiling."

jimin blinks a few times before flushing, smile dropping and looking away. taehyung giggles, releasing jimin's wrists and using one hand to cup jimin's cheek. he uses his thumb to brush away jimin's tears, turning jimin's head to look at him again. taehyung leans down and kisses jimin lightly. jimin would like to be mad at taehyung a bit longer, but taehyung's lips are so soft and jimin can never stay upset at taehyung for very long anyways, so he melts into the kiss. his arms hook loosely around taehyung's neck and he opens his mouth when taehyung's tongue slides across his top lip. taehyung's tongue slides over the backs of jimin's teeth before moving to tickle the top of his mouth.

jimin whines, taking a hand away from taehyung's neck to slap his shoulder. taehyung's shoulders hop with silent laughter, pulling away from the kiss with a smile. "i love you," taehyung whispers, using his thumb to jimin's cheek.

jimin flushes before smiling shyly. "i love you too."

taehyung's smile widens a bit, looking down and taking his hand off of jimin's cheek and reaching behind him. jimin blinks in confusion. "tae? is something wrong?"

"no, no," taehyung whispers, pulling a small velvet box out of his back pocket and using his thumb to flip it open.

due to the angle, jimin can't see what is in taehyung's hand, nor can he see what taehyung's hand is even doing. jimin looks between the little bit he can see and taehyung's eyes still not connected with his. "tae..?"

taehyung finally looks back up into jimin's eyes and raises the box into jimin's eyesight. jimin quickly looks at the box and his eyes widen. "t-tae, is.. is th-that...?"

"park jimin," taehyung whispers and jimin looks up at him, "will you marry me?"

jimin stares at taehyung before looking back at the box. there's a bracelet laying inside, made out of pretty gems only royals can have and a strong vine, but if that wasn't enough, exactly opposite of the clip, there's a small glass orb filled with resin and a single petal that's snow white, but glows rainbows when the light hits it. "i-is that..?"

"i wanted to get you the whole flower," taehyung grins sheepishly and looks away, "but i.. kinda dropped it on my way back.."

"tae," jimin breathes, looking up at taehyung with wide eyes, "that flower is miles away from here—practically on the other side of the forest!"

"i know." taehyung smiles at jimin.

jimin blinks a few times (taehyung said that like going half way across the forest to get a flower was /no big deal/). "and usually has huge extremely poisonous thorn bushes surrounding it."

"i know." taehyung simply says.

"tae!" jimin squeaks. "don't you see how ridiculous it is to put yourself in danger just to get a flower for me?!"

taehyung pouts, lowering the box. "you like that flower.."

"that doesn't mean anything!" jimin shouts, moving to sit up making taehyung move back onto his legs. tears start forming in jimin's eyes as he glares at taehyung. "that doesn't mean anything when it comes to you putting yourself in danger for me, for some stupid flower that i said i liked. what if you got poisoned by those bushes, and didn't get back in time to get a cure? you'd be dead and i would be by my ing self!"

taehyung lowers the box more onto his lap and looks down. it's true—he wasn't really thinking about that, about what would happen if he got injured or poisoned and died. he just wanted to get jimin something special, and that flower is an extremely rare flower that only blooms in spring and dies as soon as the weather gets too hot. jimin sighs, noticing taehyung's guilty look. "just.. don't do something reckless like that again..."

taehyung nods, chewing the inside of his cheek before looking up at jimin. "soo..? will you? marry me, i mean."

jimin rolls his eyes, moving closer and cupping taehyung's cheeks gently, kissing the white haired male gently. when he pulls away, he presses his forehead to taehyung's and smiles. "of course i will, you idiot."

taehyung smiles widely, leaning forward to kiss jimin. jimin smiles into the kiss, wrapping one arm around taehyung's neck. taehyung pulls away and giggles, deep and gleeful. he places the box onto the ground and gently picks up the bracelet, unclipping it and holding it up. jimin lifts his wrist, biting his bottom lip. taehyung smiles at jimin as he wraps it around jimin's thin wrist, clipping it. it hangs only half an inch off of his wrist, probably so it doesn't get caught on anything when he's moving about in the forest or give him away in any way, and the orb is barely an inch in length and width. jimin smiles. "it's beautiful.."

"not as beautiful as you," taehyung whispers into jimin's ear, kissing his cheek afterwards.

jimin blushes, clearing his throat. taehyung grins, slinging an arm around jimin's shoulders. "love you."

jimin looks back at taehyung and smiles, resting his forehead against taehyung's neck. "love you.."

"holy , he proposed?" jeongguk gasps when he sees the new bracelet on jimin's wrist.

jimin blushes, hiding his wide grin behind his hand and nodding. jeongguk stares at jimin, mouth ajar, before enveloping his brother in a tight hug. jimin squeaks before giggling, hugging jeongguk back the best he can with his arms squished between their bodies. jeongguk pulls away after a short moment and smiles down at jimin. "i'm happy for you, really."

jimin smiles, patting jeongguk's head. "thank you, gguk."

"when's the wedding?" jeongguk teases, gently prodding jimin's ribs.

jimin rolls his eyes, shoving jeongguk's shoulder gently before flopping down onto a make-shift bean bag made out of sand, dirt, and thick, large leaves that hoseok managed to throw together (something about wanting them to be comfortable as they adjusted to their ways). "tae didn't say that. he's turning twenty one soon, so maybe after he becomes the leader."

"twenty one?" jeongguk's head tilts to the side. "you never said he was two years older than you."

jimin shrugs, mindlessly twirling the glass orb around his fingers. "it never came up. plus age doesn't really matter to the le'vitians, so i kinda forgot about the . i even almost forgot i was nineteen once." he chuckles quietly.

jeongguk pouts a bit, rolling his eyes and sitting down indian style on the floor, left ankle tucked under his right calf. jimin looks over at jeongguk and watches him for a few seconds. "how's everything with namjoon?"

jeongguk flushes, glaring wide-eyed at the floor. "i-i, uh, i don't know what you're talking about, hyung."

jimin grins, leaning off of the bean bag to tap jeongguk's nose playfully before sinking into it again. "you don't have to call me hyung anymore, gguk, we don't live in korea anymore. well, i mean, we do, but y'know. and you know exactly what i'm talking about. i know all about your little crush on namjoon."

jeongguk pouts, drawing circles on the floor with the pad of his left index finger. "i don't.. think he likes me... at least the way i do.."

jimin's grin drops and he moves over to sit beside jeongguk, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "gguk," jimin starts, but he hasn't quite figured out how to phrase what he wants to say, so he settles for a sigh. he sits there until it's phrased properly in his head. "gguk, there's several things that could be working here. maybe he's confused about his feelings. maybe he doesn't know you quite enough. maybe he wants to get closer to you first. maybe he's hiding his feelings in fear that you're the one that doesn't feel the same."

"or maybe he just doesn't like me," jeongguk says, staring down at his fingers in his lap, "maybe he has someone already."

"jeongguk," jimin starts firmly, but softly, "i've known namjoon for a long time, and i've never seen him with or heard him speak about a lover."

jeongguk doesn't look happy with that though, body slouched and bottom lip jutting out a bit in a depressed pout, eyes staring at the ground and sad. it makes jimin upset to see jeongguk like this, sad and almost broken, as if the possibility of namjoon not liking him back would send his world into ruin, but jimin wouldn't blame jeongguk if it did. namjoon is the only ever person, aside from jimin, that has been so gentle towards jeongguk, that gave jeongguk his complete attention when he was talking, that made jeongguk smile. now, jimin's not saying taehyung, hoseok, yoongi, and seokjin don't make jeongguk happy and that jeongguk doesn't like their company, that's far from the truth, it's just that jeongguk's eyes sparkle when he talks about namjoon. namjoon makes jeongguk so completely, utterly happy. and jimin's going to do something about it.

"hey, namjoon?" jimin questions, pulling the leather curtain away from the door and stepping into namjoon's home.

namjoon's back straightens, turning around on his stool to look at jimin. he has to tilt his head back a bit because his glasses are pushed down on his nose (he only has trouble seeing things far off, so he pushes them down when he's working) and his hands are raised as if he's been touching sticky stuff, and he doesn't trust touching anything until they're clean. "ah, yes, jimin. is there something i can do for you?"

jimin nods. "yeah.. there is."

namjoon leans back at jimin's voice, eyebrows pushing a bit closer together. he stands from his stool, grabbing a towel and wiping his hands, using his forearm to push his glasses back up on his nose. "and that is?"

jimin sniffs, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the ground before looking up at namjoon again. "tell me.. what do you think about jeongguk?"

"jeongguk?" namjoon questions, eyebrows raising and knitting together. he looks off in thought before looking back at jimin. "he's.. a good kid. he's a bit scarred from... well, you know, but he tries not to let it show. he's eager to help around, always smiling. he's got a surprising knack for making health creams, potions, and medicine. he—"

"no," jimin interrupts with a sigh, "no, i mean. what do you think about jeongguk?"

namjoon blinks a few times, staring at jimin before his mouth falls open in realization and  blinks a few more times in thought, eyebrows raising. "i, um, well," he crosses his arms over his chest, "well, he's cute."

jimin's eyebrows raise slightly as a sign for namjoon to keep going, but when namjoon simply bites his bottom lip and looks off to the side, jimin raises a hand and swirls his wrist slowly. "and..?"

"and," namjoon starts, clearing his throat and head tilting to the side before looking up at jimin, "to put it simply, i like him. a lot."

"would you date him?" jimin questions, triumpth and satisfaction slowly building up and he has to force down a smirk. "like, if he asked you out?"

namjoon gives jimin a weird look, wondering why jimin is asking him these questions suddenly and so specific, and a bit awkward considering jimin is jeongguk's /older brother/, but he still answers genuinely. "yes. i would."

jimin breaks out into a wide smile, nodding in satisfaction. "thank you. sorry for wasting your time, joon."

namjoon doesn't have time to respond, jimin immediately turning and leaving. namjoon blinks, staring at the leather curtain before his head tilts again, eyes shifting to the side and down. after a few seconds his eyebrows lift, knit together, then go back to normal. "hmm."

"he ing said yes." jeongguk squeals, staring at jimin with wide eyes. jimin blinks, straightening and staring at jeongguk. "i'm sorry?"

"namjoon," jeongguk whispers, having trouble breathing in a weird mixture of shock and happiness, "i asked him out, like you said, and he actually said yes."

jimin slowly grins as wide as he can, eyes thin lines against his skin, and leans back in his chair made purely out of branches. "told you."

"i can't believe it," jeongguk leans against the table taehyung crafted for them, "i can't believe you were right. i can't believe namjoon said yes. like, namjoon said yes to going out with me. are you sure i'm not dreaming right now? it would be ed up if i was. holy , i hope i'm not dreaming, please—"

"jeongguk." jimin says, standing up and standing in front of the younger with a smile, placing his hands on jeongguk's biceps. "you're not dreaming. namjoon actually said yes to dating you. this is real. but, you know," he shrugs and placing his hands on his hips, "i can slap you if you want. if you're still questioning it."

"no, thank you," jeongguk rolls his eyes and shoving jimin away from him.

jimin grins, giggling quietly. jeongguk looks up at jimin, crossing his arms over his chest. "how about you and taehyung?"

jimin's grin drops and he raises an eyebrow, walking back over to the chair and plopping onto it. "what about tae and me?"

jeongguk raises his eyebrows, moving one hand from the crossed position over his chest and swirling his wrist. jimin simply stares at jeongguk, blinking a few times. jeongguk rolls his eyes. "oh, for the love of— the wedding! have you two planned anything yet?"

jimin flushes a bit, clearing his throat and looking to the side. "no.. tae's busy."

"too busy to give his fiancé attention?" jeongguk's eyes narrow, leaning against the table. if taehyung was ignoring jimin because of some stupid lessons, or responsibilities as the soon-to-be-leader of the le'vitians, jeongguk is going to strangle the stupid blue monkey (a name jeongguk's learned pisses taehyung off).

jimin stares down at his lap. "n-no, no, he's been giving me attention and we're still doing stuff we used to, but," jimin pauses and sighs, looking up at jeongguk with a smile, "he's going to be the leader of this clan soon, gguk. his twenty first birthday is coming up, which will start the ceremonies prepping him to take over aowa's position. he can't be with me all the time. taehyung has responsibilities, gguk, a duty."

jeongguk's cheeks turn red with anger, eyes widening into a wide glare. "what the fu— jimin, if you're upset because taehyung isn't giving you attention, i'll go strangle him for you. and what ceremonies?"

"don't strangle him," jimin whispers with a pleading tone, "you've got to understand, tae has to worry about other things than me. that's why we haven't talked about the wedding. and the prepping ceremonies. praying to a'awae for a good, long rein, for peace amoung them and their sister clan, n'aabii. helping give some orders to get him, and the people, used to him being the new jjijuwae. going out to see every leader of every clan in this forest and woodland clan to renew the truce. going to hoseok to get his new outfit. stuff like that."

"are you indirectly saying taehyung has to focus on more important things?" jeongguk questions, head tilting.

jimin's eyes widen. "wh-what? no," he sighs, "just drop it, jeongguk. taehyung has other things he needs to be doing. just worry about you and namjoon, i'll worry about taehyung and me."

jeongguk stares at jimin before sighing, rolling his eyes, and dropping his arms with a slump. "fine."

jimin smiles, looking down at the bracelet taehyung proposed to him with. "thank you.."

"whatever." jeongguk huffs.

"jimin?"

jimin spins on his heel and looks up, eyes widening. taehyung drags his feet when entering his house, back hunched and shoulders curved as far down as they can get, eyes hardly being able to stay open. jimin immediately notices the dark blue, almost black, bags underneath taehyung's eyes and he scurries forward, wrapping his arms around taehyung. "oh my god, tae, what happened?"

"nothing happened," taehyung mumbles and jimin cringes at how thick is voice is with exhaustian, "i'm just tired."

"come on, let's get you to bed," jimin circles one arm around taehyung's hips and slings his other arm around his shoulders. jimin switches between carefully moving taehyung up the stairs spiraling down the collum in the tree and watching taehyung. "god," he whispers, taking in taehyung's completely and utterly /beat/ expression, watches how taehyung's head droops and his eyes close before opening and raising his head, "what are they doing to you?"

taehyung smiles, looking over at jimin. "preparing me for.. the prepping ceremonies that'll start on my birthday."

"no, i know that," jimin sighs, lifting taehyung a bit to get up the rest of the stairs quicker, "but you look tired."

taehyung simply groans in response, head lolling onto jimin's shoulder. jimin bites his bottom lip and carries taehyung quietly over to his hammock hanging between two thick, large branches. truth be told, it's pretty scary and jimin has feared the hammock breaking and taehyung falling all the way down to his death, but he's been assured it'll never happen. not when a'awae made these beds herself. he carefully balances them on the branch and breathes slowly. "alright, tae, you gotta help me put you in here."

taehyung grunts, squatting down and leaning forward to crawl into the hammock. jimin swallows, squatting and staring down at taehyung. the white haired male shifts around until he's comfortable, head resting on a soft, fluffy pillow. jimin's questioned how they deal without blankets before, but taehyung only said it was because that's how it's always been; they only pull out blankets when it's colder and snowing. jimin watches taehyung silently, smiling down at the older. he moves to get up and walk away, but fingers curl around his wrist. "sleep with me."

jimin blinks, looking back down and almost flinches in surprise at seeing taehyung's large, practically glowing silver eyes staring up at him. jimin swallows before sighing, carefully moving into the hammock beside taehyung. the white haired male smiles sleepily, wrapping an arm around jimin securely and bringing the younger closer. jimin buries his face into taehyung's chest, breathing in his warm, musky, and earthy scent. "good night."

"mm, good night," taehyung responds, kissing the top of jimin's head.

when jimin wakes up, taehyung's not there and it makes him a bit upset, bitter smile on his lips. jimin sighs, raising his arm above him to stare at the bracelet on his wrist. he stares at the sparkling petal, head titling to the side. he will admit, having taehyung gone most of the time recently is making him depressed; not extremely depressed, just a little less happy than usual. but he can't say anything about it, and he's not. it'll be worse than this when taehyung becomes leader, but it's okay. jimin smiles to himself. yeah. it'll be okay.

"jimin?" hoseok's head appears in jimin's vision and it makes the brunette jump in surprise.

hoseok giggles, reaching down to grab jimin's hand and carefully tugging him up onto his feet before wrapping his arms around jimin's waist to lift him off the hammock. jimin flushes and pouts, punching hoseok's chest. hoseok smiles, ruffling jimin's hair. "you're welcome for saving you the trouble of getting out of one of those things."

jimin rolls his eyes and hoseok giggles again, head tilting as he looks jimin over. his smile softens a bit to almost proud. "you're fitting in so well.."

jimin jumps, blinking rapidly and looking up at hoseok in surprise. "w-what?"

"you're fitting in so well," hoseok repeats with a sigh, "like you're actually one of us. minus your height and appearence."

"what about my height?" jimin pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. hoseok grins, patting jimin's head as if mocking the younger.

"you're short," hoseok shrugs, "even if you looked like us, you know, had our eyes, hair, skin, and tails, you'd still stick out because of your height. i don't know if you've noticed, but we're a tall race."

jimin's pout deepens, looking down. hoseok's smile widens and he pats jimin's shoulder before turning, slinging an arm around the boy's shoulders. jimin rolls his eyes as hoseok starts to tug him in the direction of the stairs. "so," hoseok starts with a huff of air, "why're you up here in taehyung's hammock?" he turns his head to look down at jimin.

the younger shrugs, skipping down the stairs in order to keep up with hoseok's long strides. "i was in here last night, helping around the tree when taehyung came back and he was super exhausted so i helped him up to his bed, and he told me to sleep with him."

hoseok nods, bottom lip jutting out a bit and eyebrows moving just that much closer to each other. "you miss him, don't you?"

"w-what?" jimin squeaks, halting and looking up at hoseok. the other stops as well before jerking jimin forward with the arm he has around jimin's neck to get the younger to start walking again. "you miss him, don't you?" he echoes.

jimin bites his bottom lip, looking down. he doesn't answer because hoseok already knows it. hoseok turns his head to watch the younger, frowning. jimin's too much of a sefless, beautiful person to be sad like this. hoseok comes to a stop, which makes jimin stop, and turns to stand in front of jimin. the brunette blinks a few times, looking up at hoseok and becomes confused at the slightly determined expression the older is wearing. hoseok raises a hand to cup jimin's chin, leaning down so their noses are touching. "i can treat you better."

jimin's eyes widen and he blushes furiously, shoulders raising in surprise. "w-w-what? ho-hoseok, what a-are you talking about?"

hoseok giggles, pulling back and taking his hand from jimin's chin to ruffle his hair. "i'm just jokin', jimin."

jimin blinks a few times before pouting, shoving hoseok's shoulder and brushing passed him. hoseok laughs, turning and jogging up to jimin, wrapping an arm around the younger's neck. jimin's pout deepens, crossing his arms over his chest. hoseok giggles, knocking his forehead against jimin's temple. jimin's pout turns into a frown and he sighs.

"ah, babe!"

jimin jumps, glancing up and blinking upon seeing taehyung running towards him before halting upon seeing hoseok's arm around jimin's shoulders and the blush on jimin's cheek. taehyung blinks, looking at hoseok before looking at jimin. hoseok lifts his arm off of jimin's shoulders, eyebrows raising and turning. "see ya' later, chim."

taehyung raises an eyebrow, staring at jimin. the brunette smiles, leaning up to kiss taehyung lightly. "hoseok was giving me company because you were gone."

taehyung nods slowly before his large, rectangular smile is on his face again. he leans forward to kiss jimin's forehead before turning around and wrapping an arm around jimin's waist. jimin smiles, walking forward along with taehyung. the white haired male clears his throat. "so, i've been thinking about our wedding."

jimin forces himself not to tense, chewing his bottom lip and nodding. taehyung his lips, moving his arm up to jimin's neck and raising his other hand to make gestures as he talks. "i want to make it more like the human way, to make you more comfortable."

jimin's eyes widen, looking up at taehyung. the white haired male smiles down at jimin, lips stretched into a rectangle and teeth glistening in the sunlight. jimin stares at taehyung before his eyebrows furrow. "a-are you sure..? wouldn't.. we be disrespecting the people, or your ancestors, for not doing it straight le'vitian way?"

"jimin," taehyung rolls his eyes, "stop saying stuff like that. i'm a le'vitian, meaning i'd know what disrespects the people, my ancestors, or our ways. altering the marriage process isn't going to piss off a'awae, or something."

jimin frowns, looking down and taehyung pouts. he watches jimin silently for a while before stopping. jimin blinks, looking up at the older and opening his mouth to question him, but a squeak comes out instead because taehyung has lifted him up bridal style. "t-tae?!"

taehyung smiles, head dipping down to kiss jimin's forehead and jogging out the village. jimin blinks a few times, staring up at taehyung in confusion as he keeps the pace, not too quick, but not too slow. taehyung doesn't say anything, so jimin doesn't. the brunette looks down, chewing his bottom lip lightly and messes with his fingers as he waits for them to arrive at where ever taehyung is taking him. it's almost an hour later—at least it feels like an hour to jimin—before taehyung leans down to jimin's ear, pressing a gentle kiss to his earlobe. "jimin, we're here."

jimin looks up and he immediately tenses; they're at the ancestor trees. jimin's mouth opens, but his voice takes a few seconds to come out. "t-tae, why are we here?"

"to ask the ancestors if they'll mind us altering the marriage process." taehyung smiles, walking into the marge mass of trees. "since it's bothering you so much."

jimin's lips part before pressing together and looking down as taehyung gently sits on his calves, jimin in his lap. taehyung reaches over and carefully grabs a few branchs, sliding his fingers down towards the ends and lifting them higher more towards them, looking at jimin for a second before looking back at the white branches. jimin swallows, slowly reaching over and resting the pads of his fingers on the small group of branches taehyung's holding. "my ancestors," taehyung whispers in his native tongue and jimin has to remember everything he's learned on the language, "the soon-to-be jjijukao of the seventeenth generation is uneasy of our zehalu formation plans, so i, azleious taehyung, the current jjijura of the seventeenth generation and soon-to-be jjijuwae, son of azleious kriez and koakoalie tirius, requests you tell us if it is okay we alter the zehalu formation process to fit grey land walker ways, to make him more comfortable."

jimin bites his bottom lip, and he didn't really understand what taehyung said because he didn't know much riowgra to begin with, but he did understand when the soft whispers of the ancestors warm his fingertips and tell them it's perfectly okay. jimin brings his free hand to his mouth and he forces himself not to cry. taehyung looks over at jimin with a smile and jimin hiccups before throwing his arms around taehyung's shoulders. taehyung giggles, hugging jimin back just as tightly. "jeez, jiminie, calm down."

jimin whines quietly against taehyung's neck, but leans back with a large smile. taehyung's own smile widens until he feels a small burn in his cheeks as jimin leans over until they're kissing. taehyung gives jimin a light squeeze, pressing forward until jimin is almost flush against the ground before leaning back and pulling away from the kiss with a smile.

"jimin." taehyung whispers, pulling jimin closer.

jimin shifts on taehyung's lap, swallowing. "y-yes?"

"my birthday is in four days," taehyung says slowly and jimin nods hesitantly, "we're getting married in four days."

"what?" jimin squeaks, eyes wide and leaning away from taehyung. "tae. we can't get married on your birthday! you already have the coming of age ceremony and the leader beginnings ceremony! you'll be exhausted!"

taehyung rolls his eyes, lips a hair away from jimin's and brushing his nose against jimin's. "chill, minie. the coming of age ceremony is just a glorified human marriage and the leader beginnings ceremony only lasts, like, a minute because they just paint me then we all get together and touch each other's shoulders, praying to a'awae. it'll be fine."

jimin frowns, staring at taehyung silently. taehyung rolls his eyes, kissing jimin lightly and squeezing his waist lightly. "it's fine," taehyung repeats, smiling up at jimin.

jimin holds his frown, but sighs and drops his forehead onto taehyung's. "if you pass out, i'm going to say i told you so."

"i know you will," taehyung giggles, nosing along jimin's cheek.

four days go by all too quickly for jimin. they must do the leader beginnings and the coming of age ceremonies first, which jimin didn't mind at all because he feels sick to his stomach. jimin sits in a tree far in the back, far away from everyone gathered around the area the moved to for the leader beginnings ceremony. he doesn't want to be around taehyung right now, because he's scared he'll throw up all over him how nervous he is. so he watches from afar as the crowd splits to let taehyung walk down the make-shift aisle to where kriez stands on a thick, high pile of roots and moss.

wind blows and jimin smiles at the sight of taehyung's hair moving along with it. "he's beautiful," jimin whispers to himself, giggling when a flower petal lands in taehyung's hair and the older shakes his head to get it off. "cute."

but his happiness is short-lived and nervousness hits him like a truck, and he's surprised he didn't throw up right there how powerful it was. jimin bites his bottom lip, forcing himself to watch as kriez taps taehyung's forehead, his left shoulder, the middle of his abdomen, his right shoulder, then his forehead again. this is an important moment and jimin needs to watch; you only become the leader once (even though taehyung isn't officially the leader yet).

kriez presses a hand to his heart then presses it to taehyung and they both close their eyes, staying silent for a few seconds before opening their eyes. they smile at each other before kriez bends down to pick up and basket made out of thin branches, grabbing a handful of the water-soaked white rose petals and throws them into the air to flutter around taehyung. he does this a four times before placing the basket back down then brings taehyung in for a hug. "i'm so proud," kriez whispers, squeezing his son.

taehyung smiles, returning the hug. "thanks, aowa."

they pull away shortly after, smiling at each other then walking off of the pile of roots and moss to let everyone tap taehyung's shoulders and forehead.

jimin's far away from the area where the ceremony takes place again (this time it's the door of kriez's and taehyung's home tree). he swallows as taehyung comes out of the back, only a thin string with a long strip of cloth in the middle of the string in the front and back. he walks up to namjoon who smiles, both sitting down. namjoon picks up a wooden bowl and sticks two fingers into the light green paint to scoop some onto his fingers, and starts painting lines all over taehyung's body.

taehyung shivers because the paint is cold, but quickly gets used to it. he keeps his head high and back straight as namjoon paints him. he stretches out one leg at a time, then stands up when namjoon is done. he walks forward, the little bit of green he can in the top of his vision where the paint got onto his eyelashes when namjoon marked his eyes a tad annoying, but he doesn't mind. everyone circles around taehyung and the first ring around him place their hands on his shoulders. then the second ring places their hands on the first rings' shoulders, and so on until everyone is touching someone's shoulders.

jimin smiles at the scene, vision blurry slightly, just slightly, from tears. his neves are temporarily calmed from his over-powering amount of happiness and just how proud he feels of his boyfriend. half way through whispering their prayer to a'awae, taehyung opens his eyes and looks up at jimin. the brunette jumps, blushing and smiling hesitantly. taehyung smiles, looking back down and closing his eyes.

jimin's smile drops, looking at his hands and sighs. the wedding is soon. they're going to be married soon. jimin smiles at the thought, but then he feels like he's going to throw up again and he stands up to leave.

"holy , jeongguk, i don't think i can do this." jimin whispers, pacing back and forth and hoseok stands in the corner waiting for jimin to calm down to mess with his outfit (taehyung requested hoseok give them outfits, or at least spruce up their current ones, to fit the human ways of marriage).

jeongguk rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "jimin, you need to calm down. you love taehyung, right?"

"yes, without a doubt." jimin immediately responds, voice muffled by his hands on his face.

"then shut up." jeongguk shrugs, walking over to his brother and patting his shoulder. "seriously, calm down. let hoseok make you pretty and , then carry your out there and marry taehyung."

jimin looks up at jeongguk and pouts. jeongguk sighs, waving hoseok over and knocking his forehead against his brother's. "jimin, it's going to be fine."

jimin doesn't respond and doesn't agree, but raises his arms to let hoseok measure him. hoseok smiles, nodding and walking over to the bag he had with him, reaching inside and pulling something out. jimin watches him, eyes widening when hoseok turns around. "i finished this yesterday. it took me two weeks," hoseok smiles.

hoseok is holding up a shirt made purely out of flower petals. they're all pastel (pinks, yellows, blues, whites, purples, it's like a pastel rainbow, but with four other colours) and jimin notices some petals of that one specific flower he said he liked. he frowns, looking up at hoseok and the older shrugged. "they were easy to get, don't worry."

jimin's frown deepens because there is scratches all along hoseok's hands and arms, but doesn't say anything of it. he slowly slips off his shirt and hoseok gently tugs the flower petal one over jimin's head. it falls to his hips, some strands of flower petals falling to his knees. it's surprisingly soft and it makes jimin smile, looking up at hoseok. "thank you, hoseok. really."

hoseok laughs, shrugging like it was no big deal and patting jimin's head. jimin rolls his eyes, looking himself over again. the shirt really was nice. it looked nice with the sky blue cotton pants he's wearing (probably only because it was multi-coloured and had sky blue petals in it). he jumps when someone knocks on one of the trees, looking up to see seokjin standing there with a gentle smile. "he's ready."

jimin stops breathing, but only for a few seconds. jeongguk gives his brother a quick hug, smiling. "go on, hyung. go marry taehyung."

jimin swallows, but his mouth is dry and there's no saliva so his throat hurts for two seconds and nods. his legs shake slightly as he walks out and follows seokjin to where everyone is waiting in the middle of the ancestor trees. jimin stares at the ground, lip between his teeth and he only looks up when he hears whistles and seokjin moves outof his vision.

and he almost starts crying.

where did taehyung get a tux? why does it look so good on him?

jimin's legs tremble as he walks up to taehyung and the older giggles, holding onto jimin's shoulders. "you look beautiful," taehyung smiles.

"y-you look," jimin pauses to breathe, "great. where'd you get a tux?"

taehyung simply winks in response, looking up and backing away from jimin when kriez walks up. he smiles at the two boys before his gaze lands on taehyung. "taehyung, do you take park jimin to be your husband? in the eyes of our ancestors and a'awae?"

"i do." taehyung responds, looking at jimin and smiling.

"jimin," kriez says and looks at him with a smile, "do you take azleious taehyung to be your husband? in the eyes of our ancestors and a'awae?"

jimin takes a deep breath, looking away from kriez and up at taehyung. "i do."

kriez's smile widens. "you may kiss."

taehyung immediately wraps an arm around jimin's waist and pulls the younger closer, pressing his lips to jimin's. jimin squeaks in surprise, before smiling and closing his eyes, wrapping his arms around taehyung's neck. the kiss doesn't last for long, both pulling away with a bright smile on their faces. they press their foreheads together and giggle quietly. kriez pats them both on the back and people cheer. jimin turns his head and everyone's happy and smiling, and jeongguk looks like he's as proud as he can get. jimin giggles, looking back into taehyung's stunning eyes. "i love you, tae, really."

"i love you too, jiminie." taehyung pecks jimin's lips lightly with a smile.

it's been two years since then and jimin and taehyung are happily married. taehyung has taken over the position as clan leader and is doing a, not very surprisingly, good job at it. jimin is doing wonderfully at being the jjijukao, and namjoon has looked much less stressed lately from some weight being lifted off his shoulders. he also proposed to jeongguk a week ago, and jeongguk obviously said yes. jimin was brought to tears with the news, and jeongguk was beyond embarrassed, shoving his brother and telling him to stop making a scene.

"baby," taehyung whispers, wrapping his arms around jimin's waist from behind and kissing his ear, "the marriage is starting in five minutes. come on."

"i know, i know," jimin says, flipping through some photos he brought when they moved here of him and jeongguk as kids. taehyung rests his chin on jimin's shoulder, looking at the photos and giggling. "you were cute as a kid."

jimin glares at taehyung, placing the photos back into a small case and stuffing it under the moutain of pillows he sleeps on every night. he turns around in taehyung's hold, smiling up at the white haired male and pecks his lips. "let's go."

"mm," taehyung hums in response, releasing jimin and turning around to walk out jimin's and jeongguk's house.

it takes four and a half minutes to reach the ancestor trees, and when they arrive, jeongguk is already walking down the aisle. jimin whimpers quietly because he wanted to hug jeongguk before he walked, but leans against taehyung and they sit down. they watch as jeongguk walks up to namjoon with shaky legs, and jeongguk turns to stand in front of him. jeongguk gives a shaky smile and namjoon grins.

kriez is the one to ask them if they take each other as their husbands again, and they both say i do. when they kiss, jimin slaps a hand onto his mouth to muffle his cries and taehyung hugs him close. "i'm just," jimin hiccups and buries his face into taehyung's neck, "s-so happy and proud."

"i know," taehyung kisses the top of jimin's head. "me too."

jimin looks up again and his eyes connect with jeongguk's. they smile at each other and jeongguk rolls his eyes at seeing the tears streaming down jimin's cheeks, but raisies a hand to give him a thumbs up. jimin chokes out a giggle, leaning against taehyung and looking up at him. taehyung smiles down at jimin. "i love you."

"i love you too." jimin whispers, leaning up to kiss taehyung lightly.

"hey!" jeongguk shouts with a pout. "this is my wedding, no kissing!"

they laugh, pulling away to smile at jeongguk who holds his pout even when namjoon hugs him from behind and kisses his neck.