Chapter Text
“Remember this: Nothing is written in the stars. Not these stars, nor any others. No one controls your destiny.”
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked
-
"This," he begins, "is the story of how I turned to stone."
"Well," his brother says, because of course he does. "I hate this already."
Taehyung rolls his eyes.
Nobody appreciates humor these days.
-
“Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
— Macbeth, Act IV Scene I
Contrary to popular belief, that is, in fact, exactly what happens albeit through a series of not-so-unfortunate choices that led him up to this. There was probably a mistake realized at some point and he’d lost it in his grasp the moment his choices led from one thing to another.
They say life gives you lemons but sometimes you're allergic to the lemons and you end up consuming it anyway (you have no choice for the matter) and you end up as a rock. It is what it is.
It's a long story and his brother is kicking his ass.
"What in Hecate's name," Taehyung groans from where he's buried under the mountain of pillows, "is your problem?"
He lifts his head up anyway (he's so brave) and sees his brother standing next to his bed, hands on his hips and already dressed up to go—pinstriped jacket, long-sleeved shirt with his collars actually pressed this time and black tie tied. He's even wearing proper dress trousers.
Taehyung turns to his side and rests his chin cheekily on his hand.
“Why, don’t you look dapper,” he says.
Jungkook’s already present frown becomes more pronounced and Taehyung can’t help but wonder how people seem to think they resemble each other.
Probably the haircut, he finds himself thinking and absently patting his own hair, a bird’s nest if anything. The fact that they escaped the womb together at the same time could also be a reason why, though.
“We’re going to be late,” Jungkook growls. “I’ll leave you.”
School might be the only blight in his life.
Taehyung turns in bed. He loves his bed, it’s all brass, four-poster with delicate castings of songbirds on the brass fittings. He has about a hundred pillows and his covers are so warm, the mattress soft and inviting…
“School?” Taehyung gasps into the crook of his arm. “We have school? Today? ”
His brother kicks him again. “It’s Monday!”
Terrible.
Jungkook is in an even cursed mood once they’re finally making their way downstairs. Taehyung dressed haphazardly under his brother’s steely gaze and so he’s trudging down the staircase with half of the buttons of his shirt unbuttoned, dark hair a mess, collars popped, and tie breezily loose.
“Wouldn’t it be nice,” Taehyung says, “if there were five days of rest and two days of work?”
Jungkook grunts as a reply.
“Who decided the days of the week should be seven?” Taehyung continues. “What if I want my days to be arbitrary? Seven days is too much work, so little rest. It should be a nice and even ten.”
“Your days will be numbered if you keep talking.”
“Wow! So mean to your elder brother!”
“Four minutes is barely anything,” Jungkook hisses at him as they turn left towards the dining room.
Geez. Grouchy.
Their dining room isn't the largest space although the long oak table occupying the center could fit about twenty. Like most parts of their aged house, the walls are covered with maroon wallpaper with golden damask flowers repeated over and over. Some parts near the edges of the ceiling are dripping off the walls from age, revealing the wooden paneling behind it.
It's a little dim with three of the tall pull-up windows shuttered down although the old crystal sconces on the walls still give the room much needed light. Next to the door to the kitchen, there's a large iron maiden which Jungkook pats out of habit, making Taehyung snicker. Framed on the wall next to it is a painting of their family, their parents standing side by side with toddler Taehyung and Jungkook, looking a lot more alike than they do now, seated on little chairs.
Their parents are seated at the far end of the table, right by the fireplace with their father at the head and their mother to his left. It's a rare occasion to have them both together as they're always busy going to and fro places.
Even now, they’re both busy. Their father is scribbling on something as he sips his morning coffee. Their mother has scattered a bunch of papers and small raw crystals around her. They both look up as soon as they step inside however and immediately stop whatever it was they were doing previously.
"There you are," their father says appreciatively, laughing at the state of Taehyung's clothes.
"We're going to be late," Jungkook grumbles but moves to sit next to their father anyway.
Taehyung follows suit next to him, grinning.
"It's not like Coop can't drive us really fast."
"Let's not test the limits of that, huh?" Their dad quips just as their butler comes shuffling in with more food.
"We're leaving soon," their mother reminds them, although her pointed look is directed right at Taehyung.
Taehyung smiles wide, opens his hands palms up innocently.
"Look out for each other, okay?" she says. She opens one palm up and twirls her other hand above it so that tiny little stars start falling from her fingers onto her open palm.
A long crystal as clear as day sprouts from her palm and once it's long enough, she stops, plucking it out and snapping it cleanly in two before handing each piece to Taehyung and Jungkook.
"Call me," she tells them.
Their mother is a crystal-monger, making all sorts of crystals for whatever purpose. Whatever purpose is also the reason their parents are often not at home. Taehyung can feel her warmth in the small crystal in his palm, like a hug.
"Your grandmother will be visiting in a couple of weeks," their father tells them. "We might not be around to see her, though. She misses you a lot."
Taehyung absolutely loves their grandmother, sitting up when their father mentions her. She's a little strange in the way she's old. She hangs out with Somalian pirates a lot so she has plenty of stories to tell. Jungkook grimaces though; Grandma had known he liked collecting bones before, a hobby he had grown out of but Grandma still brings him some anyway.
"Dad, please," Jungkook pleads, "the bones..."
“Ah, the bones,” their father sighs in nostalgia. “They’re a wonderful collection. Why don’t you ask for a bear trap next time?”
Jungkook groans into his plate of eggs and Taehyung waves a hand cheerfully.
“I’ll take it!”
Good morning, Master.
Their black Mini Cooper comes to life as soon as Taehyung and Jungkook make it to the estate garage, Taehyung pats the steering wheel affectionately when he climbs in.
“Jungkook wants to go to school, Coop,” Taehyung informs, a matter-of-factly.
“We need to go to school,” Jungkook corrects with a frown as Taehyung starts the engine.
“Oh, yeah, right.”
You’re not dressed properly for school, Coop counters, his semi-mechanical voice echoing out the vents.
Jungkook snaps his head towards him in triumph and Taehyung sighs, relenting and finally buttoning up his shirt.
“Alright,” he grumbles as he drives one-handedly, “I get schooled by my brother and the car I love it.”
It is what it is.
Jungkook bursts out laughing.
Taehyung drives but Coop is mostly doing the job and as expected, they arrive in front of the school doors faster than they could imagine, and Taehyung smiles smugly at his brother the moment they come to a stop.
“Next time I’m leaving you,” Jungkook warns gravely as they get out.
“Nice try,” Taehyung beams, patting Coop’s hood tenderly. “Coop would never do that to me.”
I will, sir. Jungkook snorts out loud and Taehyung blinks twice. I will pick you both up at exactly five pm.
Coop beeps twice, doors locking and simply speeds off and leaves the two of them in the dust.
“I can’t believe I’d live to see the day Coop will finally turn on me,” Taehyung smiles, putting his hands on his hips. “It’s like watching your child grow.”
Jungkook grimaces. “How is it that you make everything sound like we’re older than we are?”
“I’m a century old in my heart.”
They’re not far from being actually late so Jungkook makes sure Taehyung sees him roll his eyes before turning to the door—there are several students milling about trying to get to their lockers and he’d like to avoid the sea of pinstripes and black skirts as much as possible. However, a matte gray Lamborghini skids to a stop just a ways from them with a screech and it makes them stop on their tracks.
It’s not the only fancy car that’s ever rounded up the school doors; nearly everyone he can name in school comes from an illustrious family, and a nice ride came with it too. Still, Taehyung can appreciate art.
Of course the appreciation instantly turns into surprise when their friend Jihoon, really a year younger than they are but somehow in the same year level nevertheless, comes out of the passenger seat in a rush.
“What about my goodbye kiss…?” comes a voice from inside the vehicle.
Jihoon turns into a shade of purple. “Hyung, Tartarus help me if I mess up my attendance I’ll kick your ass all the way to Munchkinland.”
In the five years they’ve known him since Jihoon transferred, they’ve never quite seen him so bristled. He closes the door with a smack and stomps his way to the entryway, only pausing when he sees Taehyung and Jungkook still standing there and impatiently looking over his shoulder as he waits for the Lamborghini to roll out down towards the school gates far below the steep hill where their school resides.
“That was a new car,” Taehyung casually comments like they’re not about to be late for class.
Jihoon scowls. “My brother got transferred so he works nearby now.”
Taehyung and Jungkook share a glance. They’ve never actually seen his mysterious brother before and up to some point had wondered if he’s merely a myth. Guess not.
“Good for you, isn’t it?” Jungkook offers.
“I’m still thinking about that.” Jihoon sighs and trudges up to the hallway.
Unsurprisingly, they're met with a huge crowd, bodies running off to places to catch up to classes and coaxing various doors open. As classrooms are different for Years 1 to 8, it's absolute chaos. Several things are flying through the air—winged books headed to classrooms, small mice flapping over their heads and hitting the chandelier in a rush, an entire bubbling cauldron hurtles past, contents dripping with students underneath parting quickly so they won't be splashed on.
Mornings are always the worst. Somehow the school can be a castle and be crowded still.
Taehyung scoots closer to Jungkook to avoid getting elbowed by a Year 1 student who's huffing and puffing to get to class with an armful of books hugged to their chest.
Taehyung grins and pulls at the hem of Jungkook's shirt and gestures a thumb towards the student who passed them by.
"Can you believe we looked like that as an eleven-year-old? Though I guess we were cuter..."
Jihoon stares at him blankly while Jungkook shakes his head and starts snickering.
"Tae," Jihoon intones, making sure he's right between Taehyung and Jungkook at all times—his stature makes it very easy for him to get lost. "We're graduating next year and I'm very close to thinking you haven't made it past Year Two."
"I know! I don't age! I think it might be a curse."
The resounding groan only makes Taehyung giggle.
They reach the forked corridors and here, Taehyung parts ways with Jungkook and Jihoon who takes the path to the right, flourishing them both with an enthusiastic bow.
Once you're in Year 5, students get to choose to focus on getting classes for purely physical or metaphysical magic although rarely, there are some students who don't like choosing (mostly scholars and those of non-magical origin) so they end up taking both ways.
Taehyung and Jungkook's mother is a master at physical magic with her crystal-mongering and Jungkook had taken after her. Their father, meanwhile, although excelling quite well with the metaphysical, chose the scenic route and ended up being a defense attorney for the magical and non-magical alike.
Life gives different lemons to everyone and Taehyung is allergic to all of them.
So he takes his father's route.
He makes it to the lockers, rows and rows of tapered hexagonal boxes, just as the unnerving loud bong resounds through the entire castle announcing the commencement of classes. He doesn't bother hurrying too much; his first class is Potions and Professor Kim is never early for mornings so he takes his time gathering his things into his bag—his test tubes, his tray of flasks and pipettes, his Potions book and is wondering if he should bring along his unfinished notes (he always needs his mind busy) when there's a loud clattering in the locker next to his.
He has his locker door open so he can't see but oh, he knows who it is. Face blank, he slowly adjusts his door so he can peek.
Now this is a surprise—he has never seen Park Jimin late before in the few years they've known each other.
They don't know each other, though. Jimin transferred here on Year 5, like Jihoon but unlike Jihoon he's somehow become the bane of Taehyung's life ever since.
He's too eerily...perfect. He's a scholar for one, the most confounding of all, since there are so few scholars in school. Taehyung never gets a grade below A and he's not a scholar. He even knows Jimin goes to both classes! It's baffling. Jimin is a model student and he's out to get Taehyung.
Probably not but it's disconcerting anyway.
Jimin looks harassed as he digs into his locker and haphazardly stuffing his things into a bag. Like he has eyes on the back of his head (it's very likely), he snaps his head towards Taehyung looking very irritated.
"Can I help you?" he hisses.
Yikes. Jimin is a bit shorter than he is. Not as short as Jihoon but short enough to pat his head though Taehyung could hardly imagine that ever happening. He's just small like an elf.
The shorter the person the larger the rage.
"I don't..." Taehyung starts, eyes looking everywhere but at his locker-mate. "I don't...know you."
Jimin scoffs harshly, probably in disbelief.
“If you don’t have anything good to say, Taehyung-ssi, I’m late for class,” and he smacks his locker door closed, making Taehyung jump and he watches Jimin stalk off to the nearest staircase with his feet stomping loudly.
Taehyung releases a breath with a whistle.
They definitely didn’t know each other, alright.
-
"The world unwraps itself to you, again and again as soon as you are ready to see it anew."
— Wicked
There’s something oddly peaceful about Potions class, regardless of how sleep-inducing it may get, that has Taehyung wrapped around its fingers.
The classroom is a little cramped, old and dark with the windows shuttered so as not to disturb any potion they might be making. The floors are hardwood and creak in some areas due to age. The shelves and cabinets are dusty, a few bending from the weight of the multitude of books and bottles of ingredients. Professor Kim Namjoon also has the smoothest voice known to man and he could be reading the entirety of the schoolbook for all the world and Taehyung would willingly listen.
The soft sound of bubbling and dripping from the cauldrons on each table and the test tubes hovering above each one is soothing. Taehyung wonders if over the years he could finally settle on a lemon he’s not allergic to.
There is however, the little circumstance of the seating arrangement…
“I think we’re to add wolfsbane next,” Jeonghan, Taehyung’s Potions partner, gestures to one of the bottles hovering around them and grabs the one containing wolfsbane. “Or was it dittany?”
“Dittany,” Taehyung tells him, grabbing the correct one and pouring a measured amount into their cauldron, its contents turning a shade of lilac, the same color of Jeonghan’s long hair.
Towards the front of the room, Professor Kim is explaining even further about the importance of correct measurement and the appropriate amount of stirring as they go through all the steps. Also towards the front of the room is Park Jimin, seated up front and center with his partner Wonwoo. They’re doing a very impressive feat of noting down every single word that’s pouring out of Professor Kim’s mouth and managing to keep up with the steps at the same time.
Jimin looks serious but every so often Wonwoo would murmur something, perhaps a weird joke, and Jimin would burst out laughing. Taehyung can hear it all the way from where he’s seated with Jeonghan at the back of the room.
His smile is too bright, eyes disappearing into crescents as he laughs and it’s really unsettling.
“You know,” Jeonghan says, seemingly knowing what Taehyung is thinking. He had long suspected Jeonghan might be some sort of seer and avoids thinking hard when he’s around him as much as he can.
“If you weren’t magical you’d be a great scholar,” Jeonghan continues, flicking a strand of hair away from his face. He’d already tied his hair back and still, strands kept falling forward to bother him.
Taehyung blinks, confused.
“What?”
Jeonghan shrugs. “I mean, you’re really smart you know? We could’ve messed up this whole thing just a while ago.”
Taehyung inclines his head. “No, no what—what was that about me being magical?”
Jeonghan laughs a tiny squeaky laugh, shaking his head.
“You are magical right? Only the non-magical can be scholars, you know. Well, mostly I’d say. Not all of them though, they’d have to be really smart.”
What.
“What? ” Taehyung wheezes.
Jeonghan snorts and counts under his breath as he stirs their cauldron.
“It’s okay you didn’t know—four—it’s not common knowledge—five—Wonwoo just told me because we’re neighbors—six—”
In the near distance, Jimin laughs again. Now this is interesting.
“Why are they like that, though,” Taehyung wonders aloud, mostly to themself as he stares at Jimin with narrowed eyes. “All perfect and smart and popular.”
Jeonghan does a bewildered double take as their potion finally turns its final shade of navy blue.
“I’m sorry—they’re what?” he asks, strangely.
Taehyung gives him an unblinking smile and gathers the jars they have for storing.
“Nothing,” he inclines his head towards their cauldron. “You scoop, I’ll hold.”
Jeonghan gives him a smile and they start putting away their potion. He’s asking offhandedly if Taehyung has any werewolf friends when Professor Kim clears his throat to gather their attention.
“Alright, most of you must be finished by now,” he says. Professor Kim smiles at all of them, his cheeks dimpling like so. “As you know, you’re graduating next year and Year Eight isn’t far off.”
Collective groaning. Beside him, Jeonghan slumps onto their table and hugs their jars of wolfsbane potion close.
“After that,” Professor Kim continues with a kind tone, “who knows? You might start working. You might end up studying some more.”
Ah, the lemons.
"But we're not talking about what happens after, we're talking about what happens now. Now, of course, would be discussing your last major project before you move up to Year Eight..."
Now Taehyung sighs.
Professor Kim laughs as he looks at the faces of his students.
"Don't look at me like that! It will either be easy or difficult and it will depend on you entirely."
When Professor Kim beams, his entire face lights up and he holds up a finger.
"I want you to make me a potion, the rarer the better. Make me an original one? Even better. It could be anything your heart desires although the consequences are yours to face, as is with the law of creation. So maybe don’t kill people, hmm?"
There's laughter and Professor Kim’s eyes are twinkling but Taehyung's eyes are wide and he's on the edge of his seat.
Professor Kim tells them they have to hand in a report with a bottle of the potion by the end of the school year and he's excited. So many things he could do and this could be it! He’ll finally be at the top of the class! He could make a potion that could grow mushrooms in his hair or make Jungkook's voice squirrelly for a whole day or—
"I'm going to make one to clear a person's mind of fog," Jeonghan drawls with a giggle and Taehyung turns his gaze towards him.
Definitely a seer.
"Can we ask for outside help?"
That was Jimin, his hand is raised and Taehyung nearly gets whiplash as he spins his head around real fast.
Professor Kim smiles. "Well, why not? It has to be made by your hands though; I'll be able to tell."
Jimin smiles wide and Taehyung sees it when Jimin turns his head to Wonwoo.
Taehyung narrows his eyes.
Unnerving, that's what it is.
"He's so annoying a-and troublesome, and infuriating and—!"
Jungkook complains when Coop picks them up on time and he straight up growls into his hands as they get in.
Jungkook's no longer wearing his pinstriped jacket and Taehyung sees it haphazardly stuffed inside his bag that he had thrown into the backseat once they're in the car.
Rough day, Master Jungkook? Coop wants to know.
“Those are the same words,” Taehyung raises his eyebrows. "What's up with you?"
"Park Jimin!" Jungkook snarls to the dashboard. He's scowling impressively, pouting as he does and there's a vein jumping in his temple in his frustration.
Whoa. Park Jimin. That guy.
Jungkook always seemed to have an on and off issue with Park Jimin. Taehyung always kept a considerate distance during classes (they don't know each other) but Jungkook's classes can't really permit social distancing especially when you use your body to create magic.
Taehyung gets bothered by how smart this Park Jimin is. He's a pretty package, all in one. Taehyung's smart! He gets good grades and has an esteemed reputation. Then there's Park Jimin. But hey, that's fine. He can be irritated with people from a distance.
Jungkook, on the other hand, is very competitive.
"I swear he's got favoritism on his side or something!" Jungkook rants. "He's already so good at dancing and now I've got proof he can make Hoseok-hyung bend!"
Hoseok is the school's instructor for the physical's Contemporary Magic class. He teaches magic in the performing arts and is a recent graduate so he refuses to be called professor. Taehyung knows him to be quite the professional regardless so he doubts Jungkook for a hot second.
Taehyung also knows firsthand that Jimin is indeed good at dancing. He has been to Jungkook's class before (unfortunately) a couple of times while waiting for him to finish and has had his eyes assaulted by a one Park Jimin doing very questionable body movements that he had to stare at his brother do the same just to get the image flushed from his brain.
Even worse, they have a dance at the end of every school year and he has seen boys and girls scrambling to get a dance with him.
Unsettling.
"He didn't like his dance partner because he was too tall!" Jungkook continues to wail. Coop hums sympathetically. "So he went to Hoseok-hyung and he got a partner change immediately! To me! Why? I'm taller than him too!"
Now that is a whole predicament.
"What a pickle you’re in," Taehyung muses.
"I hate him," Jungkook says with fervor, clenching his fists. He's about a minute away from punching through the side mirror and Taehyung sincerely hopes he's not about to do it. “Hoseok-hyung definitely agreed because he was being all cutesy!”
Taehyung nearly chokes. “Excuse me.”
“You know that stupid way he’d smile and his eyes disappear everyone’s a sucker for that!”
Wow. Who is this “everyone” Taehyung wants to know. Jungkook clenches and unclenches his fist and he points to himself indignantly.
“I can be cute too!” he exclaims.
Taehyung snorts unpleasantly. “Kook, I don’t know how to say this to you but you’re really not.”
“I’m cute.”
"Okay, let's just say you are, you muscle pig."
"I'm gonna fight him."
Famous last words, Coop says.
"So violent," Taehyung says, breezily. "I think I might make your voice squirrelly after all. Did you know we have to make our own potion? That's our last big project for Potions."
"Not my voice!" Jungkook stresses.
"Well then stop being so aggressive, geez. If you want to get back at him then practice hard.”
“Oh wow,” Jungkook’s voice turns sarcastic, waggling his fingers. “Didn’t know we had a pacifist over here.”
Taehyung lets go of the steering wheel and smiles serenely.
“I’ll deck you.”
The next few minutes are a tussle—Taehyung grabs Jungkook’s hair and pulls hard while Jungkook retaliates by kicking him across the seat, both of them shouting in varying degrees of pain as Coop exasperatedly tells them both to calm down or he will crash the car.
Typical day.
-
"How goes the world, sir, now?"
— Macbeth, Act II Scene IV
After dinner finds them in the foyer, opposite their dining room. It’s a larger room outfitted with the same dripping maroon wallpaper with shuttered windows. Crystal sconces are hung on the walls along with a mismatch of dark paintings of the nearby marsh and mounted animal heads that their mother brought back home from her travels. A large bookshelf encompasses the wall next to the lit and crackling fireplace while a doorway to the left leads to their conservatory. Under the eye of a particularly large boar taxidermy is an old grand piano.
Taehyung is practicing his nonverbal spells, seated on their couch with his schoolbook open in his lap and he’s focusing static energy on making every single hair on Jungkook’s head stand on end. The latter is gathered around the living room table with their butler, Joowon as they play battleship with explosives so that the house keeps rumbling every now and then.
“Blow F6!” Jungkook tells Joowon gleefully, now in a better mood. His eyes are lit up by the fire, making him look manic.
Joowon merely nods as Jungkook punches his fist in the air as their butler pushes the button on his board. Not a second later, there’s a loud boom echoing through the house from, presumably, the attic.
Jungkook rolls on his back and onto the floor, laughing triumphantly and ruining Taehyung’s handiwork.
“Now, you’ve done it.” Taehyung mourns and Jungkook sticks his tongue out at him and gets up to continue playing.
He starts over, focusing on the text in his book and zoning his mind purely on the strands of Jungkook’s hair as he moves his head around. Slowly, with all his center and picturing his hands going through them, the static around each one making it stiffen and…
The fire cackles and Taehyung blinks out of his reverie at once. Jungkook is chortling at something Joowon says in a deadpan voice and Taehyung inclines his head to look past him right towards their fireplace.
The fire is dancing, as it would but it's laughing a very human laugh that has Taehyung's skin crawling and the hair on his neck prickling.
He knows what this is, only he'd been sure they'd been told it wouldn't be by today.
As if reading his mind, their fireplace abruptly bursts into an enormous cloud of black smoke and ash that sends them all in a short fit of coughing. Taehyung is already on his feet the moment something lands hard onto the fireplace and he's grinning before he hears it.
"Hello, my uglies!"
The fire returns and burns brighter than before.
"Grandma!" Taehyung gasps and runs towards their grandmother's open arms. She's a lot shorter than he is so she laughs as she makes Taehyung bend down to kiss him loudly on the cheek.
"My little raven!" she exclaims in a scratchy, high-pitched voice and looks around Taehyung to see Jungkook lying down on the floor with a pout. "Ah! And there's my other one!"
She hurriedly totters over to pepper Jungkook's face with kisses, making him laugh.
Taehyung takes the bag she came with out of the still burning fireplace and dusts off the ash before walking over to put it on the table. Joowon hastily gathers the remnants of their battleship game and skitters away as their grandmother hops onto the couch, bringing Jungkook with her.
"But Grandma," Taehyung says. "I thought you won't be here till a couple of weeks?"
Their grandmother scoffs, pushing away the multitude of scarves she has around her neck and continues dusting off the ash from her gray dress.
"My son ne'er gets his facts right!" she sniffs hootily. "Junghwan, that boy! How is he and Taeha?"
"They're gone," Jungkook grins, scooting closer.
Their grandmother wheezes in delight, grinning. "For good?" And they both fall into peals of laughter.
Taehyung rolls his eyes and sits on his grandmother's other side.
"Where have you been?" he asks.
"I was in Prague!" she begins excitedly, reaching for her large handbag and immediately digging in. "They caught me smuggling iguanas out to the pier and I ‘scaped in a Somali pirate ship."
"Again?" Jungkook's eyes brighten.
"Aha—again!"
Their grandmother pulls out an entire cannonball from inside her bag and sets it down before taking out exactly one spiked high heel, a flask of arsenic, a jewel-encrusted dagger, and a bag of black liquorice.
"I've got'em gifts!" she proclaims in a lilted voice and hands the bag of liquorice to Taehyung who beams.
"And of course—" she holds a finger up to Jungkook as she digs around her bag and pulls out a frayed ziplock, "—tada! Freshly dug cat bones straight from the grave."
Jungkook's eyes are saucers, blinking at the bag of bones although accepting it gratefully nevertheless.
"But, I also thought," Grandma continues, making a thoughtful expression as she taps a long-nailed finger on her chin, "you are getting a bit old for bones, no? So I got you this!" and pulls out another item from her bag.
It's a bear trap.
Taehyung nearly bursts out laughing when Jungkook looks a little teary from happiness.
"Thank you, Grandma."
Grandma grins tenderly and leans over to kiss Jungkook on the forehead, moving back to do Taehyung the same.
"Now for s’more..." she says, shaking her bag and completely upending its contents onto the table.
Stacks of money come pouring out, a good hefty amount with a single diamond necklace falling on top of it all like a cherry on a cake.
Jungkook whoops in appreciation.
Grandma wags a finger in front of Taehyung with a sly look in her eye.
"Remember kids, it ain't cheatin' if no one catches you!" she cackles loudly, sitting back on the couch and pulling the two of them to her sides like when they were children. "So what 'ave you been doing? Any rituals I didn't know of? Any unbridled anger? Cursed sacrifices?"
At the mention of anger, Jungkook is very quick to react with a small hiss.
"Park Jimin," he scowls.
"Oh," Taehyung says.
"Park who-what?" Grandma's smile turns pinched.
"Park Jimin," Jungkook repeats with a renewed rage. "He's too perfect. He must be defeated."
Taehyung narrows his eyes in thought. "Yeah, he is too smart. His smile is too perfect hmm, that’s not human."
Grandma looks at them back and forth, bewildered.
"Is this a friend?"
"No." Taehyung and Jungkook replies at the same time.
"I don't know him," Taehyung says immediately.
"I will defeat him." Jungkook inputs.
Grandma shrugs. "Well what do you plan to do with him?"
Taehyung balks because he doesn't really have one. He's spent the last five years staring at Jimin's back and is doing just fine with the little irritation now and then on somehow never getting the highest score in Potions even though it's his favorite. He'll get back at Jimin in Divination or something. Taehyung's definitely sure he's a lot better at the metaphysical's Contemporary Magic class but Park Jimin is also good at visual arts so.
So.
Jungkook has no problem whipping out his plan with a clenched fist.
"I'm going to practice so hard my bones will break off from my body."
Grandma cheers, laughing delightedly.
"That's it! That's it, the sheer motivation. And what about you little raven?" she tickles Taehyung under his chin, making him giggle.
"I have to make a potion for Potions class. It has to be a really good one," he tells her. "I'll do my best then."
"A potion, how charming," Grandma grins. "Your father is really good at them. His truth serum works like a treat in court!"
Taehyung and Jungkook laugh and Grandma nods.
"Yes," she continues, "but this Park Jimin. You can always turn him to stone."
Taehyung stops short.
"Stone?" Taehyung and Jungkook echoes.
“If he’s so perfect then he might as well be a marble statue,” Grandma cackles, shrugging.
Jungkook looks excited, gripping their grandmother’s hand tight.
“How do you do that?” he whispers.
Grandma grins, grabbing her bag once more and feeling around inside the pockets. She takes out a really crinkly paper, stained and browned with age and hands it easily to Taehyung. Jungkook leans over behind Grandma’s back to take a peek.
Taehyung carefully unfolds the paper and sees it’s a list of nine ingredients, scribbles below and behind it indicate other things for a potion.
“It was your grandfather’s,” Grandma says, nostalgic. “He made many en’mies in the day though he’s revised this ol’ thing a couple of times so it wouldn’t be so o’vious. Imagine all the statues of yer enemies in one room!”
As an afterthought, she adds, “Like Pygmalion and Galatea!”
Taehyung blinks. “That’s—This is the complete opposite of Pygmalion and Galatea.”
Grandma simply laughs loudly and shrugs, nonplussed.
He feels Jungkook staring at him and Taehyung stares back, both looking with intent and he knows what Jungkook is trying to say as his eyes turn shifty.
Let’s do it. I’ll help.
I’m deciding.
What are you waiting for? Ragnarok?
Are you stupid?
“Well? It’s nice, no?” Grandma snickers, encouraging.
Taehyung laces his fingers together, eyes narrowing as he thinks.
“Let’s say it is,” he hums. “How am I gonna go about this?”
Jungkook makes an ugly pfft noise.
“Just be frank with him or something!” he says, waving his hand dismissively. “We can...I dunno, uproot a lock of his hair during class or whatever.”
Taehyung opens his mouth and closes it again. “I don’t know the guy.”
Jungkook groans loudly. “That’s what you always say.”
“How ever do we do anything?” Grandma cackles, beaming a toothy grin. “You ask, of course.”
-
“It’s the age of daring. It’s the only time we have. We must live in the present. We are young and alive.”
— Wicked
As crowded as mornings go, lunch time is more of an organized mess as everyone goes down the cafeteria. Taehyung supposes no other force on earth can humble people into discipline than hunger and there's actually a proper line and all. That isn't to say there isn't a mess anyway, just organized and loud.
Very loud.
The limestone brick wall makes everything echo back and it's noisy. The black cafeteria tables are circular, fitting six people and are scattered everywhere in the spacious room. They're spaced quite well apart but Taehyung can still hear the ridiculous conversation of their neighbor. He doesn't even know why he bothers eating down here but for everyone, it's sort of a habit. Or a learned ritual.
As per usual, a fight breaks out now and again as people line up for food which is why Taehyung and Jungkook bring their own. Nobody ever bats an eye when someone complains of another person cutting in line, or bumping into their tray, it’s whatever.
But.
It’s Yoo Jeongyeon and two of her pals, the three of them chatting enthusiastically as they go up to the end of the line and minding their own business insofar as everyone is concerned. Jeongyeon is making big gestures as she talks while her two friends take turns flicking at each other’s black bowties and nodding along at what she’s saying.
She likely didn’t mean it due to her excitement but she flaps her arms twice and brings it down right onto Park Jimin’s tray as he passes by and for a brief moment, the cafeteria is filled with the echoing sound of the metal tray slamming onto the minton flooring along with its contents.
The cafeteria actually stays silent for a good second as they stare at the disaster and then start up again in the next second.
Jeongyeon and her friends look shocked, Jeongyeon bowing in apology although she looks more flustered than sorry and Jimin just...stands there. Looking down at the remnants of his lunch on the floor.
Taehyung thinks he’s been looking stressed recently.
“What’s going on there?” comes a large booming voice and everyone turns to see one of the lunch attendants stomping out from the kitchen doors, eyeing at the spilled food on the floor with anger. He’s a large man with olive skin, wearing a little gray kitchen apron and a small chef’s hat and Taehyung swears his biceps get larger when he sees the mess. “Who’s here wasting my food?”
Jeongyeon raises both her hands, bristled.
“It was an accident, I swear! I didn’t see—”
The lunch attendant swipes at a wooden spatula tucked into his apron and points it towards Jeongyeon, his face all pinched.
“Don’t swear!” he demands and points at Jimin next. “You! What do you have to say for yourself?”
Jimin doesn’t say anything. He’s still looking at his fallen lunch and sighing. His eyes are downturned and crestfallen, lips actually trembling as if he’s about to cry.
Taehyung has only seen him cry once and it was only because Seungcheol misread his tea leaves when they were partners in Divination and Jimin burst into tears, laughing at the results.
Now though, he looks like a kicked cat.
“Tsk,” the lunch attendant says.
“I was only walking,” Jimin gulps and Jeongyeon gasps.
“I didn’t mean it!” she says in disbelief.
"Detention!" the lunch attendant roars at Jeongyeon, waving his wooden spatula. Everyone gasps. "So you will never waste food again!"
"But I—"
"I won't hear it!" The timbre of his voice makes Taehyung's thumbs prickle. "What's your class and year?"
Jeongyeon stiffens, nervous and she glances back to her two friends who are both wide-eyed in fright.
"Um, Physical. Year Six."
The lunch attendant scoffs and turns to leave.
"It is remembered," he says ominously before thundering away.
The noise returns but Taehyung's ears are sharper.
"Why didn't you tell him it was an accident! " Jeongyeon shrieks, likely from terror, at Jimin who merely looks down at her. "You just stood there without saying anything!"
Jimin merely shrugs, all at once no longer looking like he wants to cry and steps over his spilled food.
"Well, you did make me drop it," and simply walks away much to Jeongyeon's disbelief.
Taehyung releases a breath.
"Whew."
Beside him, still digging into his lunch without a care for his surroundings, Jungkook snorts. "That was nasty."
Jihoon rushes to their table holding a large, square metal tin.
"I missed something, didn't I?" He stops for a second to look around at the people who are awkwardly giving leeway to Jeongyeon who is wailing into her friend's arms.
"Someone got detention," Jungkook says around a chicken leg.
Jihoon's eyes widen and he slowly sits down with an awkward grimace.
Detentions are rare, almost legendary and only a few people have ever gotten it in the years Taehyung has been here, much less announced in public. Nobody knows what goes on in detentions and everyone who has been through it has been sworn into secrecy.
Taehyung looks at his brother blankly. "You want me to be frank with that guy? Him?"
Jungkook shrugs.
"You want me to die? He's invincible or something. You saw those eyes he did?"
Jungkook rolls his eyes.
"What in Hades' name is this?" Jihoon says with a frown as he turns over the metal tin in his hand. On the other side reads ENJOY UR LUNCH FROM HYUNG.
Jungkook looks over to read it and snorts.
"Adorable."
Jihoon groans.
It's not very hard to think about Park Jimin as he slowly hauls his cauldron from up his room, down through one of their two staircases, into the foyer and through the doorway into the conservatory. He's probably left scratches on the wooden flooring for life and he hopes Joowon will forgive him. He probably needs a distraction anyway; Taehyung can hear Grandma's loud cackling from the kitchen, likely telling him about not so audience-friendly tales from her adventures.
So Taehyung doesn't mind the scratching and his mind lands on Park Jimin. Smart and perfect and tiny Park Jimin with his popular brain and popular smile.
Taehyung isn't at all bothered not being known by every one of the student body and frankly Jimin looks like he couldn't care less either. He's just so cunning and serious at times that Taehyung often thinks he would kill just to get the top spot so there's that. Irritation.
Always feeling like he has to catch up.
Taehyung’s not surprised when he sees Jungkook already in the conservatory, grumbling to himself.
He’s seated at their long wooden table, a huge verdigris vase in front of him that he likely took out from the kitchen, and a large stack of red roses that he’s angrily snipping off, leaving just the thorny stems to put into the vase.
It’s almost like a renaissance painting—an angry man with messy black hair, dressed down in a loose shirt and black pants, surrounded by heads of red roses as he’s snipping them off from the stem, only lit by moonlight and the crystal sconces on the walls.
Taehyung snorts. “Scoot over.”
Jungkook sighs but does it anyway, moving the bunch of roses and his thorny bouquet away as Taehyung hauls his cauldron up the table with a huff. He takes out the list of ingredients from his jacket pocket as Jungkook starts to rant.
“We started practicing the dance today,” he says. “But we can never get along with the arrangement. I’m too tall for this, I said. Tell me something I don’t know, he said.”
“Kook, what do you want me to say?”
“Nothing! Let me hate him in peace!”
“This isn’t exactly peaceful.”
“I hate his guts and I’m pretty sure he hates mine.” Jungkook eyes the paper Taehyung is holding and raises an eyebrow. “Are you going to do it?”
Taehyung shrugs and grins. “Why not? It’s just a potion. It’d be nice to know what it does. Although…” he peruses through the ingredients and his laugh makes his brother look at him strangely.
Taehyung only grins. “It’d be hard to do this if I don’t know him, huh?”
It turns into a cycle—everyday Taehyung would see him in class and watch him leave, and it takes him a while to realize he’s never actually made a friend in person. Once you’re in school you get forced to interact with a certain number of people and over the years you just end up assuming they’re by default, your friends.
“It looks like a star,” Seungcheol mutters, holding on to Taehyung’s tea dregs and he’s trying his best to read them. He turns it around. “But here it kinda looks like the sun too, huh? You know what? I really think tasseomancy isn’t right for me.”
Taehyung takes his teacup back with a serene smile, chin propped onto his hand as he stares at Seungcheol who is despairing at the mess of tea leaves on their table. They’re partners this time and Taehyung couldn’t think of anyone better to ask.
“You made it all the way here to give up now,” Taehyung grins a boxy smile and Seungcheol looks taken aback, if not a little moved so he starts brewing a new cup again.
“Cheol-ah,” Taehyung says. “Jeonghan is your best friend, right?”
Seungcheol pauses to blink up at him with his long lashes.
“Er, yeah? I’d say so, yeah.”
“Right. Jimin’s your friend too right?”
Now Seungcheol looks bewildered. “Jimin? Park Jimin? That Park Jimin?” He points way behind Taehyung.
Again, Jimin is seated way up front near the professor’s desk, huddled with his partner over their own teacups. He’s not too far from where Taehyung and Seungcheol are; the Divination classroom is tiny in comparison to all the other rooms in the castle. It’s basically the attic—the highest point in the building, and tinted cloths are draped all over the ceiling making everyone feel like they’re in a tent.
Taehyung smiles wider. “Yes. That Park Jimin.”
The realization makes Seungcheol ease back into a smile.
“Oh. I guess he is a friend. He was my partner a few times in other classes too, he’s a decent guy.” Seungcheol inclines his head. “I’ve never talked to him outside of class though.”
A decent guy, Taehyung nods.
“Why not?”
Seungcheol mulls it over. “You know what? You’re right. Why not? I should do it. He just leaves really quickly since he has a part-time job, I heard. But I’ll do it, we have breaks anyway. You’re pretty smart, Tae.”
Taehyung wonders if he should start compiling things to look over in a tiny black book.
He laughs at Seungcheol’s remark and takes his cup of tea for reading.
“Thank you,” he says.
Have a good day at school, Coop says as he drops them off and quickly rolls away the next instant.
“There’s something I learned yesterday,” Taehyung tells Jungkook the moment Coop leaves and Jungkook takes his time flicking off unseeable lint from his jacket before they go face the mess of the morning hallway.
“And you couldn’t be bothered to have said it during dinner and breakfast?” Jungkook says, the smartass, opening his hands in a sarcastic manner that Taehyung wants to slap it away.
“No. The drama wasn’t right,” Taehyung fires back, making a face. Jungkook sticks his tongue out at him. “Also Grandma was there.”
“About that,” Jungkook interjects. “When is she leaving? I miss taking a bath and not having someone barge in even if you locked the door just for them to admire the porcelain claw-foot bathtub.”
“Right,” Taehyung sighs. “Probably just waiting on her pirate friends. But anyway—Park Jimin has a part-time job.”
A car rolls him behind them and they don’t bother to look. Jungkook stares at him oddly.
“Okay. What’s that got to do with me?”
Briefly, they hear two car doors opening, Jihoon’s snarky complaint and an answering amused laugh.
Taehyung groans in exasperation. “Forget I even said it.”
“Hyung, what are you doing?”
They both turn and see Jihoon still on the pavement, standing beside his brother’s car with his hands on his hips. His brother is out of the car for once, smiling crookedly and very teasing as he leans on the hood of the car.
“Nothing,” he crosses his arms and feigns innocence, “I’m just taking you to school.”
Taehyung realizes this may be the first time they’ve ever actually seen his almost mythical brother. He’s not very tall although he can’t say he’s short either. He's pale, like Jihoon, and he looks dressed up, probably for work. He's wearing a long black and red velvet coat, long enough to reach his knees with gold paisley etchings. Underneath is a simple white shirt and black pants. Simple enough but he's also wearing a rolex watch and a gold ring so there's that.
A large circular pendant hangs around his neck, an hourglass embossed on the silver so he presumably works with time.
“Show-off,” Jihoon huffs in satoori.
“Who, me?” his brother replies, also in satoori.
Taehyung laughs to himself and glances at Jungkook.
“Guess he isn’t a myth after all…” he starts to say and drifts off when he sees Jungkook is pointedly not listening.
He’s staring at Jihoon’s brother with a vacant, starstruck expression like he’s never seen another human being before. Taehyung blinks, looks back at Jihoon’s brother and back at Jungkook.
Okay.
It takes more hustling for Jihoon to finally get his brother back on the road, a very petulant Yoongi-hyung! sends his brother laughing and getting into his car, ignoring all the stares they’re getting from other students.
Jihoon’s face is red with embarrassment as he catches up to Taehyung and Jungkook.
“I’m never riding with him to school again,” he says, rubbing his face. “I’ll take our other car! Who cares!”
Taehyung is still glancing at his brother who’s now eyeing Jihoon almost in a trance.
Taehyung beams. “I think,” he puts an arm around Jihoon much to his puzzlement, “it’s really kind of your brother to drive you to school so he should definitely do it more.”
Jihoon frowns.
"Uh, Uji, trick question," Jungkook says. "How old is your brother?"
Jihoon looks at him oddly. "Three years older, why?"
"Would you, hypothetically, ever consider me as your family,” Jungkook says in one breath.
Jihoon’s jaw probably falls to the ground. Taehyung is grinning widely.
"Don't do this to me, please." Jihoon jabs at Taehyung’s side and he bursts out laughing when he walks straight into the hallway.
Taehyung winks at his brother who scowls and pouts at the same time.
“Integrate into the Min family, why don’t you?” he laughs.
Their lockers, coffin-shaped as they are, put up with interesting stuff now and again. There are times Taehyung would pass by lockers completely being assaulted by fluttering, sparkling hearts by some creepy admirer.
There are however, unfortunate times when people are not in your favor and leave absolutely nasty things, one of which Taehyung finds when he turns to go to his locker. He smells it before he sees it.
Jimin stands in front of his open locker, not quite angry, not quite sad but a displeased vacancy on his face as he stares at the sardines pooling at his feet, with even more stuffed inside. The downside of everything, Taehyung thinks, once you’re high up above, when people adore you too much, they also get envious too much.
Taehyung has seen this happen before—to Jimin, to someone else, although he’s only ever seen the remnants of it, with Jimin already mopping the floor to get rid of whatever smell there was or with someone magicking it out entirely. He’s never seen it this way like this.
Jimin notices him and Taehyung stands up straighter, hand gripping his bag tighter for some reason, when warm gold eyes regard him.
“Apologies if you want to get to your locker,” Jimin says, flatly. “You’ll have to wait a moment.”
That’s not even close to a problem. Taehyung easily shrugs one shoulder, quirking a smile.
Jimin clears his throat. “And um, it smells so you should just…” he does a shooing motion for him to go.
Taehyung doesn’t move and crosses his arms. “S’okay.”
A conflicted expression passes on Jimin’s face and a pinch settles in between his fair eyebrows. Taehyung sees his usually kempt blond hair is messy, likely from being run over by his fingers a one too many times. He should probably just go; it’s not really his business and Jimin is probably embarrassed by everything.
But then Jimin sniffs once and when Taehyung looks up he really does look like he’s about to cry from frustration, flustered with what he has to do first and unlike the cafeteria incident, he doesn’t look like a cutesy kicked cat.
No, just a person.
Taehyung releases a long, long breath and sets his bag down. Jimin doesn't notice him again until he's physically tapping his shoulder to make him move aside, albeit it makes him startle.
"W-What are you doing?" Jimin says, voice rising in pitch when Taehyung removes his pinstriped jacket and hands it to Jimin for safekeeping. Jimin takes it, stepping back as he's gestured but confused and flabbergasted.
Taehyung shakes his head calmly, opening his arms.
"Relax," he grins, "I don't mind sardines. I won't like it if it gets on my shoes, though."
"What? Are you mad? Get away from there!" Jimin exclaims as Taehyung steps even closer towards his locker.
It smells awful, that is for sure. For whatever reason, no other student has come by around since and the smell is probably why. Whoever did it really stuffed a heck lot of sardines in there, saturating nearly every one of Jimin's papers and other knicknacks he's shoved in his locker.
"Taehyung-ssi," Jimin starts again although now he sounds pleading.
Taehyung turns around briefly to put a finger to his lips and shush him.
"I'm concentrating," he says.
In theory, it's supposed to be easy. They've made things disappear and reappear so many times in class and one thing they're repeatedly taught is that all vanished things go somewhere.
So somewhere it is, Taehyung tries to picture a random one in mind.
It's science in the way you have to feel through each individual rotting cell of each fish ensuring you don't miss a single one, go through all the suspended smell molecules in the air, make out all the disgusting intermolecular bonds making up the fish juice.
It's magic when Taehyung slowly turns one open palm upward, green sparks running out of his hand and making his veins turn a neon green. It's magic that makes the sparks snap vividly, burning brighter so that Jimin has to shield his eyes and it's magic that makes all the small little things start to disappear, the cells, the tiniest of molecules that each snap takes away. Taehyung merely speeds up the process—he flicks his hand down and outward and it vanishes one at a time, the sardines, the smell, the liquid that came with it.
It leaves Jimin with an otherwise clean locker although now that Taehyung's magic disappears, it smells a little burnt.
Jimin immediately rushes forward, his face is marred with incredulity and plain disbelief that he almost laughs hysterically.
"Where'd you send it?" he exclaims, slightly panicked. "Everything goes somewhere, you know!"
Taehyung shrugs both shoulders, nonplussed as he swipes his jacket from Jimin's hands and trots over to his bag.
"That somewhere is someone else's problem now, Jimin."
Jimin breathes hard, still scowling though definitely not about to cry anymore. Perhaps in shock, for one. He's staring hard at Taehyung and Taehyung is glad he's not one to get shy so fast. Jimin's eyes are running over his face, likely trying to read his expression.
Finally, Jimin relaxes.
"I thought you said you didn't know me," he says.
For some reason, this makes Taehyung laugh deeply. He shakes his head and extends his hand for a handshake, grinning in exhilaration.
"Well, maybe I don't."
-
“Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing.”
— Macbeth, Act IV Scene I
Practicing astral projection in class, no matter how many times you've done it, is somehow always a win-lose situation. Sure you get to lie down and sleep but you also have to make sure your consciousness is still very much there so where's the fun in that?
You might also want to make sure you can still feel the thread to your body or else you'll end up floating forever. It's not exactly comfortable. Taehyung is trying not to flinch as others who are not so adept like him, keeps trying to bump into his very passable form.
"I want you to start moving away from your body," their professor says, always the first thing he instructs.
A horrible decision, Taehyung thinks as he stares down at his physical body so plaintively asleep below him, right next to Seungcheol who may or may not be snoring but is currently already zooming around in class, uncaring if he passes through someone else.
Taehyung isn’t very good at moving with a see-through body, it’s especially hard when he tries to grab something for leverage and it passes right through his hand. So he likens it to swimming. He kicks his feet and it makes him drift forward, making sure his thread is still around his waist and tries to avoid running into someone else, which is hard considering the small space.
Eventually he manages to drift up to the front, their professor still surveying them all to make sure everyone is doing what they're told and barking instructions now and then and Taehyung is focusing too hard on his levitating feet that he nearly passes right through Park Jimin.
Unlike him, Jimin doesn't seem to have any problems moving around as if Taehyung could cite another reason why he's actually perfect. In fact, Jimin has his hands in his pockets, the picture of ease and he looks bewildered when Taehyung almost goes through him.
"Whoa," Taehyung says, grinning although he supposes his smile is translucent at the moment. "Hello."
Jimin only stares at him and Taehyung has never seen such a look of judgment directed to his face.
"Hello," Taehyung repeats in case he wasn't heard the first time. "How are you doing this,"
"Your brother is Jungkook," Jimin replies candidly, tilting his head in contemplation.
Taehyung holds up a finger immediately.
"Younger brother," Taehyung corrects. "I've been trying to make him call me hyung for the past decade or so but apparently he says 'four minutes isn't at all relevant.'"
Jimin raises an eyebrow and sucks in a breath, his cheeks puffing up which he releases the next second.
Taehyung waves a hand dismissively.
"You know how it is."
"I'm an only child."
"Well then you don't...know how it is. Uh," Taehyung clears his throat. He can feel his body about to drift away and there's not much he can do about it. He looks at his kicking feet sheepishly. “Uh,” he says again.
The look on Jimin’s face as he watches Taehyung trying not to stumble back is probably pity.
“Don’t….” Jimin struggles to say, looking bothered. He motions to extend a hand and thinks better about it and stops. “Don’t move around too much,” he finally says, eyebrows pinching.
Taehyung blinks, slowly moving backward. “Huh?”
Jimin starts to fluster, unable to explain himself well that he splays his fingers to his sides.
“Just...just let it happen,” he says, glancing away. “You won’t stumble that way.”
Taehyung brightens immediately. “Oh! I’ve tried but—”
“Yeah, okay, bye,” Jimin interjects and in a rush, turns around and starts floating away, seemingly harried.
Taehyung purses his lips and stares at Jimin's hurriedly retreating form and nods to himself, already floating dangerously close to their professor's table.
"Right. Good talk."
He tries again.
Magic comes with every stroke of Taehyung's brush as they all try to recreate an image of their most recent dream on canvas. He holds onto his palette tightly with one hand and stares at the swirling colors of paint smudged against the smooth wooden surface of it. He realizes belatedly he's run out of an important color and he eyes his painting long enough to wonder if he can go without it.
It's a theater mask, all white with openings for the eyes but no mouth, a smooth mask betraying no emotion. It lies on a bed of wet, wilted dark roses a flurry of moody colors behind the white. It's the dark olives, the maroon, the muted pinks.
Taehyung doesn't dream often but when he does it's nothing short of nonsensical. Sometimes it's the swirling blue moonrise, a view from a window outwards to the stars. Other times he drifts down a river like the aftermath of Ophelia falling from the willow tree.
He definitely needs that color.
He looks up at the other students busy poring over their own canvas, a hard feat this time as they're all spaced a little further apart.
They're holding classes in the Great Hall today, an enormous ballroom with nothing but empty armored knights lined by the walls. Tall windows let natural light in, magnifying the dust motes floating in the air. Everyone is silent as they work as every sound echoes, the only sounds are the quiet humming of some, the clicking noises now and again as paint brushes and bottles drop and roll across the marble floor.
They don't have a permanent classroom for Contemporary Magic unlike the physical class. They change rooms each day, chosen at random by their professor and students have to figure it out on their own through sheer will although they've learned to cope up with this through the years.
When they hold the class in the Great Hall, however, Taehyung finds it enjoyable. He can stretch his whole body without much of a worry about hitting someone. The only problem of course—he can't peek too well.
Now though...he really needs this color.
When he tiptoes and eyes over his canvas in an attempt to be sneaky, his eyes inevitably land on the canvas of a one Park Jimin, as usual, way ahead of him up front.
Jimin is painting what seems to be a view of the night sky dotted with stars, from a white balcony of a house. On the balcony ledge sits a calico next to a tied yellow balloon.
"Wow," Taehyung whispers when he's creeped up right behind Jimin and Jimin, entirely immersed with what he's doing, startles so badly he jumps a foot in the air.
Taehyung watches in amusement as Jimin whips around to send a glare his way, both looking disturbed and irritated. Taehyung can almost hear his pounding heartbeat.
"W-What do you want?" Jimin hedges.
Taehyung points at Jimin's painting, a matter-of-factly. "You're very good."
Jimin narrows his eyes in suspicion, holding his paintbrush tightly like a weapon.
"Do you need anything?"
Taehyung grins his boxy smile. "Do you have any verdigris paint?"
Jimin still looks wary although he seems to be mulling it over. Regardless, he crouches towards his box of paint and starts rummaging while Taehyung continues beaming. It's nice to have friends.
Jimin finds the tiny bottle of green paint and shoves it towards Taehyung.
"There, now go," Jimin tells him hastily.
Taehyung peers at Jimin's painting one last time and winks.
"You have beautiful dreams," he says.
Jimin corners him in one of the dark abandoned hallways once they finish class and they've all packed up to leave and the moment Taehyung finishes locking up his paint box, he feels a hand grab his arm and starts dragging him away.
He doesn't even manage to muster up panic—this is the single most exciting thing that's happened to him today, even moreso when he finds it's Jimin who now stands in front of him, arms sternly on his sides and glaring.
Taehyung hugs his paint box to his chest and grins.
Of course, this only irks Jimin even more.
"Why are you doing this?" he hisses, voice low even though they're literally the only people around aside from a single armored knight next to Taehyung. "We're not friends!"
Now this is surprising. Taehyung's sure he followed the steps and all.
He raises his eyebrows, way up and feels bewildered.
"We're not?" he wonders. "But we shook hands and everything..."
Jimin laughs once in disbelief as though he can't even grasp the audacity.
"You think that's what friendship is?" Jimin snaps. "Literally days ago you said you didn't know me and now you're everywhere!"
Everywhere? He hasn’t been everywhere.
"To be fair, I really didn't."
This doesn't do anything to placate Jimin.
"Is it because you helped me with my locker once? You think I owe you now?"
"Jimin, that—"
"I could have done it myself, for your information!"
Jimin is breathing hard from emotion and he's a bit pink in the face. His gold eyes are glowing with anger. He's clutching his paint box tight and Taehyung hopes he's not about to swing it around.
Taehyung regards him, still hugging his own box close, and tilts his head.
"Did you think I was making fun of you?"
Jimin blinks a couple of times, a bit taken aback.
Taehyung shrugs easily. "Well, I wasn't. And I do know for a fact you would've done it by yourself as you have done for the past five years." He quirks a small smile. "I didn’t expect anything; I just thought we're friends."
"We're not friends."
"I think we share the same theory," Taehyung says gamely, unbothered. "You know how in school there's forced interaction so you think you're friends with people but really it's only because you see them every day. We should discuss that theory sometime—"
Jimin sighs exasperatedly. "Your brother hates me."
Taehyung stares at him, perplexed.
"You don't know that."
"He has told me explicitly."
Ah, there's the rub.
"I'm not my brother, though," Taehyung still smiles, undeterred. “If I were, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”
“I know that!” Jimin hisses back, cheeks turning red and now Taehyung is surprised. He eases his hold on his paint box and takes one step towards Jimin who seizes up immediately.
“Then why are we arguing?” he says as he peers into Jimin’s face, the latter looking more embarrassed than angry now.
"I'm not arguing with you, I just want you to quit being a false acquaintance!"
Taehyung inclines his head once more with a small laugh.
"Why would I need to be false with you, Jimin?" he says and shakes his head. “That would be needlessly cruel, I think.”
This only makes Jimin scoff and he turns on his heels to walk away. Taehyung instantly bursts into action and he trots to keep up with Jimin’s still angry pace.
“So what about that theory, huh?” Taehyung grins, waving a hand. “We should talk about it. I’ve got plenty of free time.”