"They are staring at me."

"Would you rather be handed over to the guards than being stared at?"

Taehyung sighed. Apparently, the guards had announced to the village that whoever caught sight of him was to bring him to the Dark Queen who would then hand him over to the Light realm. Seokjin said that the best way to hide his aura (because Dark ones had a good Light radar) was to disguise him with magic. Currently, his complexion was an obnoxious shade of bright pink and his nose was elongated and crooked like a hag. A mop of seaweed-like hair veiled his face lightly with only his nose poking out. Seokjin had forced him to change into tattered orange robes and heavy wooden sandals.

"What are they calling me?" Taehyung whispered to Seokjin sharply as they walked through the cobbled streets.

"A bitch."

"A what?!"

"Oh you know, a witch born in bog water. We call them bitches."

"Bitches," Taehyung deadpanned.

Finally, they had reached the entrance of a mountain about which Seokjin had said nothing to Taehyung.

"We have to climb a mountain?!"

" You have to climb a mountain. I have to fly."

With that, Seokjin spread his gorgeous wings and shot into the sky. Okay, Taehyung had seen Seokjin flap his wings lightly but now, under the blazing sun, he looked absolutely unreal. He didn't realise he was gawking at the man until Seokjin called from ten metres inside the forest.

"Do you wish to come or what?"

"Coming!"

Taehyung trudged forward with his weighty sandals and tripped on every root and got smacked in the face with every branch. The only way he knew where he was going was the mighty beating of Seokjin's wings. He grunted and cursed and moaned at every little inconvenience as they ventured deeper into the mountain. Soon the flat ground morphed into a slope that became steeper by the moment. Seokjin flew over it just fine but Taehyung had to grab on potentially sharp rocks and roots to ascend. Next, they were confronted by a gushing river and the only way to cross it was an old, weathered rope bridge that made dangerous sounds with every step Taehyung took so he gripped on the rope like his life depended on it, which in fact did.

When they were done climbing the third hill that day, which was slowly fading into evening, Taehyung just dropped against a tree, wheezing loudly.

"Please-" he heaved. "Just- one- no, two- three? Please let's just rest for ten minutes."

Seokjin turned around to look at his crumbled figure in dismay.

"I thought Light ones were immortals."

"Immortals- fee-feel exhaustion more than you think," Taehyung exhaled as he closed his eyes and felt his conscious slowly slipping away-

Splash!

"AGH!" Taehyung jolted upright and looked dumbfounded at Seokjin who seemed to be suppressing a smile as he capped the bottle and threw it at Taehyung without any warning.

It hit Taehyung's groin and both males gasped, one in amusement, one in utter pain.

"Sorry," Seokjin squeaked as he tried to hold in his laughter by biting his bottom lip, to which Taehyung definitely did not pay any attention.

"Let's dress up as something else next time. Being a bitch is hard," Taehyung complained as he got up and passed the bottle of water to Seokjin who stuffed it in his brown shoulder bag.

"Let's continue. The dragon will be waking up at twilight."

"How much path do we have left?" Taehyung asked as he swatted away a giant insect from his face.

"It will take us another fifty two minutes."

"So we will have eight minutes before it wakes up?"

"Precisely."

Taehyung sighed and took a frustrated step, only to slip on a random patch of mud and bump into a startled Seokjin who instinctively wrapped his arms around Taehyung to balance him but it was too late. The Dark one stumbled backwards and his back hit a tree, and Taehyung's flailing arms planted themselves on either side of Seokjin so they were in a very suggestive position with their faces too close for their hearts' welfare.

"Sorry," Taehyung blurted out as he quickly moved away.

Seokjin just gave him a wide-eyed look before proceeding on the path without a word. Taehyung might have seen his ears burn red.

After what felt like two and a half eternities (yes, this was actually a measurement of time taught to young Light ones), Seokjin finally halted in front of a cliff that faced a mountain range and the setting sun.

"We're here," Seokjin announced quietly.

"But where's the big guy?"

"SSHH"

"Okay, okay," Taehyung said in a lower volume. "Where is it?"

Seokjin ushered him to inch closer to the edge and pointed down. Taehyung's eyes followed Seokjin's finger and his eyes bulged out when he saw the massive head of the dragon resting not far than a metre below them at the opening of a cave on the side of the mountain.

"Listen," Seokjin whispered. "As he is about to wake up, he will shoot fire through his nostrils, okay? We're gonna cover our hands with heat protectant ointment and hold the jars over the smoke that comes after the fire, alright? Here."

Seokjin rummaged through his satchel to find the ointment. He squeezed a generous amount into Taehyung's hands before providing for himself. They rubbed the ointment on their hands and arms carefully before Seokjin took out two jars shaped like pomegranates and handed them to Taehyung.

As Seokjin took out the remaining two jars, two columns of fire launched into the evening sky, causing both of them to nearly jump out of their skin.

Seokjin mouthed "Watch me" before thrusting both of his hands with upturned jars into the dark smoke. When he retracted his arms, the jars were filled with a strange dark liquid- some sort of condensed smoke, Taehyung guessed. How the smoke turned into liquid, Taehyung did not have the time to think about it.

The smoke cleared and the second round of fire was blasted into the sky. With Seokjin's cue, Taehyung stretched his shaking arms into the smoke and counted till five before pulling out. Only one jar returned.

Both of their eyes grew wide with fear. A crash was heard. Their eyes widened even further. A thunderous roar shook the mountain as Seokjin yelled, "Run!"

But in contrast to his words, Seokjin snaked his arms around a petrified Taehyung and propelled forwards into the forest like a hurricane

_________

Taehyung spat out the third piece of leaf into the kitchen sink, complaining, "If we needed just an ounce of dragon breath then why did we bring four jars?"

"Because I need the breath for other things."

"Like?"

"Scented candles that raise libido."

Taehyung decided not to question any further because that would make him think how Seokjin's lips were just a few centimetres away from his. Damn it, he has already thought about it.

"Do your wings hurt?" Taehyung asked as he sat on the chair next to Seokjin who was boiling the condensed dragon breath in a small cauldron which was getting heated on its own.

"Hm?" Seokjin threw a glance at his wings where some feathers were sticking out in unusual directions.The Dark one had gotten tired at the end of his flight because of Taehyung's extra weight and flew through the boughs of a tree which did some damage to his wings.

Seokjin sighed before saying, "It will take a week to heal. The next ingredient on our list is found at the bottom of Lava lake, so I would be needing my wings for it."

"Lava...?"

"Yes, literal lava."

"Then how are we supposed to-"

"Oh, that would be your job. Light ones are more or less immune to heat. I just made you apply the ointment today for safety measures."

"We are?"

"You don't know? Tch. I can bring you to Namjoon, he's a clairvoyant. He knows everything."

"Um, I think I trust you," Taehyung concluded.

"And the place is filled with active craters so it's prone to earthquakes. So in case there is a huge eruption, we can fly out of there before we get buried under debris," Seokjin explained.

"I'm sleepy. My back aches from sleeping on the couch. We will share the bed from tonight."

_________________

Taehyung could not sleep until the first tendrils of sunlight kissed his face. He had never slept with anyone in the same bed. He did not feel threatened by Seokjin's presence next to him. Truth was, he was a horrible sleeper and would octopus hug anything within his reach if he didn't have a second pillow to hold onto. He didn't want Seokjin to wake up with Taehyung all over him so the latter just stayed up until his eyelids could withstand the heaviness no more and he was dragged into the ocean of dreams.

When he woke up, the bed was empty except for himself. As he freshened up and went downstairs, he just hoped he did not stifle Seokjin to death. He stopped at the entrance of the kitchen when he saw someone sitting on a chair with Seokjin kneeled in front of them. Seokjin was rubbing a piece of wet cloth on someone's calf while an incantation poured from his lips. He removed the cloth to reveal a nasty looking green wound before blowing on it gently. Like a miracle, the green tint faded and the wound began to close. Soon, the person's calf was good as new.

"Thank you so much, hyung! You have gold hands!" The man launched himself on Seokjin and tackled him into a hug.

They must be close , Taehyung thought.

Chuckling and blushing from the compliment, Seokjin stood up before pulling the smaller man to his feet who once again latched himself on Seokjin from the back, resting his chin on Seokjin's shoulder.

"What happened to your wings, by the way? They look a little distorted," the man said as he peered over Seokjin's shoulder to see what the older was doing at the table.

"Nothing much. Just some trees."

"You flew into trees?"

"Yes, the dragon woke up when getting dragon breath."

The man hissed before saying, "You didn't;t get burned, right?"

"Fortunately, it couldn't catch up."

"Hmm."

The man let go of Seokjin and planted a kiss on his cheek which roused an unknown feeling within Taehyung for a split second.

"I'll be going now, hyung. See you!" The man turned and Taehyung scurried into the shadows. Thankfully, he left without a glance thrown in Taehyung's direction.

"Taehyung, can you stir this? I need to attend to our breakfast," Seokjin's voice made Taehyung jump.

"I can feel it when someone stares at me," Seokjin stated blatantly as he handed the ladle to Taehyung.

"Oh," was all Taehyung could say as he stirred the pot of dragon breath.

"So why do you stare at me when I try to sleep? Are you afraid I might grow fangs and suck your unhealthy blood?"

Seokjin's back was against him so he couldn't see the pinkness of Taehyung's cheeks.

"You're beautiful," Taehyung blurted out.

Seokjin did not respond to it but for the second time, Taehyung witnessed Seokjin's ears blush.