"Why do we need Namjoon's blessing?" Taehyung asked as he watched Seokjin pour the muddy liquid into a crystal potion bottle before screwing the top tightly.

"Well, it is not exactly a blessing. It is more like cross checking. Namjoon will just assure us that there is nothing missing in the potion and it is safe to consume it," Seokjin replied as he wrapped three layers of clothes around the fragile bottle and tied them together with a sturdy string.

"But I trust you," Taehyung said, and he was not lying.

"Thank you," Seokjin responded, but the 'thank you' sounded like a child was accepting a sugar coated feedback from his parents after he showed them his nonsensical drawing.

"Seokjin-ah." Taehyung moved to the other side of the table, standing right behind Seokjin. He rested his head on Seokjin's shoulder, which had become his comfort spot for the past few months, smooshing his cheek, and glided his hands up and down Seokjin's arms.

"I'm serious," Taehyung said. "I really trust you. And I'm grateful for everything you are doing for me."

Taehyung meant every word.

He could feel Seokjin slowly pausing in his actions, and to Taehyung's great delight, his ears were ablaze. Without even thinking, Taehyung leaned up to kiss the tip of his red ear before moving onto the next.

"Wha-What are you doing?" Seokjin asked in a light, complaining manner.

"Your ears turn red so easily, did you know that?" Taehyung mused, his smile growing bigger as the redness began to seep into the apple of Seokjin's cheeks.

"Now your cheeks are red," Taehyung noted with a chuckle as he poked the younger's soft cheeks to which Seokjin whined in protest, so Taehyung's hands found themselves on Seokjin's hips and twirled him to face Taehyung who pressed chaste kisses on Seokjin's cheeks.

"Move!" Seokjin pushed him off playfully before turning around to finish tying the string.

Soft notes of laughter echoed through the kitchen as Taehyung leaned against the wall to stare at Seokjin's wings, having completely forgotten about the fact that his initial goal was to convince Seokjin to not visit the clairvoyant.

"You know," Seokjin said quietly.

"Hm?"

"My lips are red too."

Taehyung choked on air but before he could respond, Seokjin swooped out of the kitchen.

__________

"How am I supposed to climb like this?" Taehyung complained as he waddled like a penguin in his heavy, fluffy winter coat.

"Do you want frostbite then?" Seokjin asked calmly as he fluttered over the snowy slope.

Taehyung sighed and followed the Dark one who had previously refused to carry Taehyung because of the added weight of his coat.

"So this Namjoon," Taehyung began.

"He knows everything ?"

Seokjin thought for a while before answering, "It's like he has visions, surges of feelings, and then he interprets and analyzes them before coming to a conclusion."

"And are his conclusions always right?"

"Yes, always."

Taehyung began to feel cold despite the coat nearly suffocating him with warmth.

"So he knows everything beforehand?" Taehyung asked.

"Well, no. Sometimes he gets visions of the past as well. Sometimes he doesn't get visions of a particular incident unless he is present in that area himself. That's why we had to wait for winter. It is the only season he is not travelling the world," Seokjin explained.

Taehyung nodded; he wasn't relieved but he was hopeful.

"Ah, I can't go any further," Taehyung announced before falling on his back on the snow.

Seokjin landed softly next to him and sat down, so much different from the Seokjin who had splashed water on him when collecting dragon breath.

"Are you cold?" Seokjin asked shyly as he touched Taehyung's face which was, just as he estimated, cold.

"Why, are you planning to warm me?" Taehyung asked back slyly.

Seokjin just swatted the air between them and looked away.

"You asked for a kiss, remember?" Taehyung recalled in a sing-song voice.

"No I didn't," Seokjin denied with a pout.

Taehyung lifted himself on his elbows and scooted closer to Seokjin before dropping his head on the older's criss-crossed legs.

"Let's just stay here," Taehyung said as he gazed at Seokjin who looked ridiculously regal from that angle.

"Mm and freeze to death?" Seokjin said as his hand hung in mid-air in hesitation before threading into Taehyung's locks.

"We're immortal."

" You are immortal."

Taehyung's eyebrows launched upwards, stupefied.

"What do you mean?"

Seokjin did not answer his question and instead asked, "So what happened that night?"

He immediately flushed with pink when he realized where he veered the topic to.

"You remember that better than me," Taehyung responded, his heart slowly picking up a faster pace at the memory and at the fact that they were actually talking about it with Seokjin having initiated it; so the Dark one did think of it as often as Taehyung.

"You called me 'hyung'," Taehyung recounted.

"Oh..."

"Call me hyung again," Taehyung requested, his lips forming a slanted smile.

"Enough rest. Let's get going." With that, Seokjin rolled Taehyung off him, the latter getting a mouthful of snow, and flitted away.

Despite feeling like his face would fall off from the numbing cold, Taehyung smiled like a fool and pursued Seokjin.

"We're here," Seokjin breathed out when he descended to the ground, causing Taehyung to bump into him because the older was not paying much heed to his surroundings due to extreme exhaustion.

The Light one had expected to see towering pillars and glowering statues but instead he was welcomed by a warmly lit cottage almost drowning in snow. Seokjin flew over the snow and knocked at the front door while Taehyung had to literally shovel his way through the deep snow. The shovelling cost him the last bits of his energy because as soon as the door swung open, Taehyung tilted sideways as Seokjin frantically struggled to hold him in his arms. The last thing he saw was Seokjin's panicked doe eyes and a pair of dragon-like eyes.

When Taehyung regained consciousness, which must not have been long since he passed out, he felt himself being lowered on a soft surface. He groaned loudly and stirred, his vision clearing gradually. Two tall figures were leaning over him with concerned faces and it took no time for Taehyung to recognise them- that strange man who had turned to dust in the kitchen and his Seokjin.

Taehyung cleared his throat and rebuked himself internally for putting the 'his' before Seokjin. Then he slapped himself internally because Seokjin and the man looked confused at Taehyung's throat clearing.

"Here, water," the man said gently as he handed a mug of water to Taehyung who accepted it with gratitude.

"Are you okay?" Seokjin voiced out his worry as he sat down next to Taehyung and pressed his palm on his forehead and neck to check his temperature.

Taehyung nodded and absorbed his surroundings. He was inside the cottage, lying on a couch with his back propped against the armrest. A fireplace was crackling somewhere and the smell of jasmines and roses floated in the air. Maybe he even smelled fresh bread and soup somewhere. Strangely, as Taehyung looked around the house, his eyes wandering from the brown rug and several well-maintained plants to the abstract paintings of nature on the walls, Taehyung was overwhelmed with a sense of hiraeth. There was something about this place that echoed with the word ' home '.

"I'm good," Taehyung lied. He would honestly appreciate a four hour nap right then.

Seokjin nodded, not really convinced, and stood up, opening his satchel to bring out the potion bottle that was nestled inside the layers of cloth.

"Namjoon-ah, I want you to have a look at it," Seokjin said as he unwrapped the bottle and presented it to Namjoon who had been kneeling beside the couch, watching Taehyung intently and making him extremely uneasy.

"Of course," Namjoon answered as his eyes tore away from a nervous Taehyung and held the bottle in his hands.

"Looks about right," Namjoon said after taking just a single glance.

"It's safe for Taehyung to drink?"

"Absolutely safe. You should trust yourself more, Jin hyung," Namjoon said, offering a tender smile.

"That's what I said," Taehyung mumbled audibly.

"So we have your blessing?"

"Hyung, this is embarrassing," Namjoon complained as he moved towards a bookshelf.

"Just say it!" Seokjin followed him persistently.

"Why do you even need my blessing? I'm not a priest conducting your wedding!"

"...yet." Namjoon added with a hint of mischief.

"Namjoon!" Seokjin was once more red to the core.

God, Taehyung loved him so much.

Wait, what?

Taehyung tried to get rid of the intrusive thoughts by shaking his head which earned confused and concerned looks.

"Okay, okay," Namjoon raised his hands over his head in surrender. "You have my blessing, hyung..."

"...for marrying-"

"Namjoon!" Seokjin hit the back of Namjoon's head as fast as lightning.

Namjoon just let out rings of laughter as he rubbed his aching head.

"We should meet more often, hyung. It's good to have a laugh or two every once in a while," Namjoon said, turning somewhat sentimental.

"Oh, have you been living alone this winter?" Seokjin asked. "I thought your mate might not be at home."

"Ah, he is visiting his homeland this winter so it's just me and my babies," Namjoon said, hands gesturing towards his plants.

"Although I doubt you had been lonely lately, hyung," Namjoon said with a suggestive " ahem " at the end which resulted in another loud thunk.

As Taehyung watched the two friends continue their banter, the icey anxiety within him began to melt and eventually he was left with a puddle of relief. Namjoon had not figured out the truth yet.

However, as they were leaving, Seokjin, as usual, had flown ahead and Taehyung was just exiting the cottage with Namjoon on his trail when the clairvoyant placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "The last thing I want to see is Jin hyung's heart in pieces. Do not take advantage of his emotions and my second chance for you, Taehyung. Goodbye."

__________

Taehyung was still quivering under his coat even after it had been two hours since they left Namjoon's abode. The clairvoyant's words kept ringing in his ears, kept playing over and over in his mind until all of his senses closed momentarily. His brain was singularly focused on the fear that was jabbing at his heart. At that point, he was only following the sound of Seokjin's wings.

And that was exactly what brought grave misfortune.

Everything happened too fast.

They were passing by the foot of a hill when the ground began to tremble under them. Seokjin yelled something at Taehyung but the latter was too preoccupied to hear Seokjin and stood in his place, petrified, as he watched a small avalanche hurling towards them. Taehyung was shoved out of the way with one swing of Seokjin's powerful wing. As Taehyung landed safely on the snow, he cried out Seokjin's name horribly as the younger got buried under the avalanche.

Crying out desperately, Taehyung began to dig through the snow frantically, tears gushing down his face and hands shaking from plain fear. After what felt like an eternity, Seokjin's wings emerged from the snow and to Taehyung's horror, they were bent in odd directions and were ice cold. Carefully, Taehyung pulled Seokjin out by his torso and his whole world just shattered when he found Seokjin's eyes wide open, his gaze a million miles away.

Taehyung screamed his name, begging with all his soul for him to wake up. He did not know how to check someone's pulse. He didn't know if Dark ones even had a pulse. He embraced Seokjin's body close, feeling absolutely helpless and sobbed uncontrollably.

For the first time, Taehyung felt pain worse than losing his wings.

"Hyung..."

Taehyung cried even harder when Seokjin's eyes slowly focused on his face.

"Hyung..." he mumbled again.

"Hyung is here, Seokjin-ah. Hyung is here," Taehyung reassured desperately, holding Seokjin's hand and pressing it against his cheek.

"Hyung...hurts...take me home..."

Something lit up inside Taehyung- a small flicker of a flame that suddenly exploded into a roaring fire. He gently placed Seokjin on the ground and shed his coat which he then carefully slipped on Seokjin over his own coat to shield his wings from the cold. The wings were not completely covered because the tips were hanging out of the second layer but it was better than nothing. Taehyung picked Seokjin up, just like he did when the younger got intoxicated, and he ran.

He ran like the guards were chasing him.

He ran like his wings were taken away a second time.

He ran like his life depended on it.

Wings or no wings, Taehyung would get his love home.