"Coward!" Jungkook yelled from below.

"You got this, Tae!" Jimin shouted in defense before jabbing Jungkook in the ribs.

"Yeah but you need to jump first!" Jungkook screamed.

"You can do it!" Jimin hollered.

"I can't do this," Taehyung told Seokjin who leaned forward to give him the twenty second kiss of encouragement.

"Yes you can. We all believe in you," Seokjin comforted his soulmate.

"I don't believe in myself."

"I do."

"I don't"

"Hyung, please." Large, sparkling eyes and an irresistible good boy smile followed the magic words.

Taehyung sighed. There was no escape from Seokjin's " Hyung, please ."

"They're going to catch me if I fall, right?" Taehyung asked nervously.

"Yes, they will and if they don't, I'm always behind you," Seokjin reassured.

Taehyung nodded, feeling a little relieved.

"Anyways it's just the roof of my house. I have a serum ready in the kitchen just in case you fall."

There goes his relief.

"JUST DO IT!" Jungkook roared from the ground.

"IT'S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, TAE!"

"Hyung, please ."

Taehyung jumped.

For a scary miniscule of a minute, Taehyung thought he was doomed but then he started to remember things. His mind supplied him with the emotions of soaring under the sun, of gliding through the clouds, of running away from lightning. He reminisced feeling invincible when he was in the sky, when his wings had become his entire mind, heart and soul.

He didn't crash into the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was in the clouds. He was free. He was flying .

Taehyung's voice nearly shattered from how much he was screaming as he shot through the sky like a comet. Tears streamed down his face as he relived what he had lost. He could hear the mighty beats of his wings, he could see the impossibly delicate black feathers, he could feel how unbreakable his wings were. He felt unstoppable.

When he returned from the clouds, he found all three of the Dark ones looking up at the sky with squinting eyes; all of them were in mid-air and seemed to be contemplating if they should go higher to check on him. As Taehyung spiralled downwards, he seized Seokjin into his arms and they spun until Taehyung made them land safely. But he didn't let Seokjin breathe because he immediately slotted their lips together and slid his tongue inside.

He had just started to enjoy Seokjin's sweet, warm cavern when Jungkook made dramatic throwing up noises from behind them.

"Is that how your species say thank you?"

"Jungkook, we're the same species."

"Oh... then we can make out instead of saying thank you as well!"

SMACK

"Don't pay attention to them. Kiss me more."

And how could Taehyung ever refuse his Seokjin?

__________

"Higher!"

Taehyung groaned as he willed his wings to fly higher at Seokjin's command with Seokjin himself lying in his arms in bridal position.

"Come on, your wings won't get trained by themselves. Flap, flap!"

"This is ridiculous!" Taehyung complained as he circled the peak of the mountain with his coach who refused to fly on his own.

"No, this is called training! Now, five more laps!"

"UGH!"

Taehyung had no other option so he obeyed Seokjin and flew around the mountain five times before he slowly descended to the base. After Seokjin hopped out of his arms, Taehyung crumbled to the ground in an exaggerated manner.

"I'm dying," Taehyung said dramatically.

"Then let's go home," Seokjin said as he bent down to grab Taehyung's wrist and tug at it.

"Yes, thank you, drag me like this."

"We can shower together today."

Taehyung sprang up and began to drag Seokjin instead.

Since they ambled back home, it was already dark outside. When they were ten metres away from the cottage, Seokjin abruptly stopped in his tracks and his face turned pale as if he had just witnessed a murder. Without a warning, Seokjin shoved Taehyung against the brick wall of some school and stared up at him, trying to convey a message that Taehyung could not interpret but he stayed in his place and watched his mate walk around the corner and towards their house with calculated steps.

He widened his eyes, trying to adapt to the darkness and see what on earth had frightened Seokjin so much.

And then he saw luminescent, white wings.

Taehyung felt like the world was pulled out from under his feet.

Three days

Taehyung's head spun and he tasted bile in his mouth.

No... Seokjin-ah...

"Seokjin-sshi, we have been waiting for some time."

"As any civil being should, instead of breaking into someone's else's house," Seokjin replied sharply.

"We would like to apologise for last time. We had done great damage to your home," one of the guards said without a hint of apologetic air.

"Why are you here?" Seokjin asked indifferently.

"Seokjin-sshi, I want you to have a look at this," the guard spoke almost secretively as he handed something that was vaguely shaped like a test tube.

"Do you recognise the contents of it?"

Seokjin took a moment to answer.

"Yes, I do."

"We found traces of the potion on the Northern Hills. We gathered news from the villagers that you were caught in an accident on the Northern Hills during winter. We are assuming that you are the only being who can brew this potion."

No... no...

"You are right. I had brewed it," Seokjin responded without a falter in his voice.

"And several villagers have witnessed a wingless man in your abode. Are we correct?"

Tears stained Taehyung's cheeks as he slid down the wall.

"You are."

"We wish to see him."

Taehyung just stared at the ground, hoping it would open up and swallow him, just snuff his breath away forever.

"He is right around the corner. He is lagging behind because he is tired from training on the mountain."

Taehyung shot up on his feet and against his own will, they began to carry him around the corner. He did not understand what was happening but he felt like he was forced into a straightjacket. He felt like he could faint from the headrush when he walked himself towards the guards whose eyes hunted him like a kettle of hawks. He met Seokjin's eyes but he couldn't read them.

"V, these are guards from the Light realm. Guards, this is my mate, V," Seokjin introduced them.

The guards seemed to study him thoroughly while rivulets of perspiration drenched Taehyung's shirt from the anticipation.

"You are a Dark one?" a guard asked carefully.

"Yes," Taehyung replied in a voice that was too high pitched to be his.

"Your name is V? Strange name."

"It stands for-" and the next word that came out of Taehyung's mouth sounded like a series of gurgles and dolphin bleats.

"Uh, we understand why you call yourself V," replied one of the younger guards.

"Nobody else lives with you, Seokjin-sshi?"

"Not another soul."

"Have you or your mate by any chance met a Light being with no wings? Someone that introduced themselves as Taehyung?"

"No."

"Very well, Seokjin-sshi. Please look out for this Light one, Taehyung. He is a wanted criminal on our list."

"Perhaps you should search other lands," Seokjin suggested coldly. "The Fae Forest, the Seven seas, the human world even."

"The search is still going on. The Fae Forest has been closely inspected, the Seven seas are still under supervision and as for the human world, my own mortal spouse has taken the lead to find this man," the guard sounded quite proud when mentioning his partner.

"Your... mortal spouse?"

Taehyung felt weak in the knees. He couldn't do this.

"Yes, do you have an issue with that?" the guard's voice turned rigid.

"No. I had heard rumours from the naiads that Light ones are forbidden to have direct human interaction," Seokjin lied effortlessly but his voice sounded tighter.

"Rumours are not facts, Seokjin-sshi. We too can love."

When the guards had left, Taehyung fell on his knees and began to sob horribly. He wanted to be swallowed by flames, wanted to be drowned in the ocean, wanted to be thrown off a clip. Words began tumbling out of his lips without direction

"I'm sorry- I'm so sorry Seokjin-ah I love you please believe me- I love you please don't think I don't love you- I lied, I lied to you- I lied to everyone I didn't listen to Namjoon-"

"Get up," Seokjin's voice was hollow.

Seokjin entered the cottage and Taehyung stumbled behind him. The lights came on with a flick of Seokjin's wrist and they stood in silence in the living room before Seokjin's voice pierced through the quietness.

"What was your crime?"

"I stole something," Taehyung recounted hoarsely. "It was just a penny. It was lying on the streets and I pocketed it. Then I started to hunt for such pennies but there weren't many anywhere. I wanted more. My eyes searched for others' satchels and quite often, I would find their coins in my hands. The coins turned from bronze to silver to gold..."

"I felt unstoppable. I listened to them more and more. Do you know what my job was? I had to invade the minds of wrongdoers and whisper the right path into their thoughts. But it was too much. If only you could hear what they thought about. I couldn't do it anymore. I started to listen. They began to whisper back to me. I began to steal more and more. It was just a matter of a few months. And then I saw it."

"The Book of the Cosmos. It was in the chambers of an honourable Light being. I broke into her house and stole the book but I didn't anticipate how heavy the security would be. They chased me for miles and lost me once. I hid the book. The last thing I read from it was about you and the shortcut through the woods to reach your cottage."

"They caught me eventually and they discovered all the riches that I stole. They demanded where the book was, I refused to answer unless they agreed to return what I had stolen. And they broke my wings.The moment I lost my wings was the moment I saw past my frenzy for the first time in two months. I couldn't stomach what I had done. My greed was lost among the pain and regret. And then I escaped and..."

"...met you ."

"Taehyung, don't."

"I know what I have done. I know I am a criminal. But please believe me that I am no longer like that. I know what hurts you more is that I lied."

Taehyung closed his eyes, two droplets streamed down his cheeks and he inhaled to get the strength to continue.

"I thought you wouldn't help me if I told you I was a criminal. I still should have told you the truth after we grew close but I was afraid. Namjoon... he had told me that day what happens to a Dark one when their heart is broken and it frightened me, Seokjin-ah. Your truth concoction... I didn't know it was a truth serum. I just thought it was coffee and dumped it into a flower pot-"

"I knew about that," Seokjin said quietly. "But I chose to trust you."

"Seokjin-ah," Taehyung murmured as he stepped closer and took Seokjin's hands into his.

"I'm so sorry," Taehyung said as he looked right into the younger's rigid eyes.

Seokjin's hands slipped out and Taehyung's heart shattered.

"I don't know how to trust you again," Seokjin exhaled as he slowly sat down on the floor with his back against the wall and stared at blank space.

"Seokjin-ah..." Taehyung got on his knees in front of him but the younger refused to meet his eyes.

"I thought you had lost your first soulmate. I empatized you. I thought we could understand each other in some way." Seokjin's voice held no emotion.

"I understand you, Seokjin-ah, I really do," Taehyung said desperately.

"How do I know... you are not lying now?"

"Because I love you," Taehyung whispered.

"You can- you can give me the truth serum-"

"No," Seokjin intervened. "I ran out of truth serum. Besides..."

"I'm not low enough to make someone drink the truth serum to know if they love me."

"Then, please believe me when I say I love you. Just believe that only. You don't have to trust me in anything else. Just..." Taehyung trailed off when Seokjin stood up.

"Seokjin-ah..."

"I want to sleep," Seokjin announced, his voice so fragile. "Don't wake me up."

Taehyung tried to not take his words in any other way but something clawed at his throat and someone whispered a few dreaded words in Taehyung's mind as Seokjin disappeared up the stairs.

Taehyung wallowed in misery as he shed tears until there were no more emotions to cry out. He felt barren, numb. He felt like his mind was drained of thoughts, his heart was emptied out. Just one single feeling and one single name stayed behind.

Taehyung put a hand over his heart and looked upstairs.

__________

*evil laughter*

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Saranghae❤