Summary — Life Gets A Little More Complicated When Your Son Befriends A Kid Whose Father Seems To Hate

I believe in a thing called fluffy- haired Taehyung supremacy 

life goes on | bts dad drabbles

➳ life goes on ➳

masterlist 

pairings: BTS x OCs (yoongi x sohyun, hoseok x sarang, namjoon x byul, jimin x yuna, taehyung x bora, jungkook x rina, seokjin x mae)

genre: family, fluff, crack, angst

the drabbles are in random order

the drabble series sequel for The Most Beautiful Moment in Life! so what do you want to know?  how yoongi proposed to sohyun? when bora told taehyung that she was pregnant? jungkook and rina’s baby girl? let me know! 

Life Goes On is all about what happened after The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series. so you can ask to see anything you want (you can even pick out things from the tmbmil epilogue if you want!)

just send me a friendly ask~

(just no smut lol)

a/n: i already got a few requests from those on twitter! i’ll be working on some of them hehe i love you all <3

i’ll be working on little drabbles for this series while i prepare for our next series! more hints on that on my twitter btw, so some of you already know about it hehehe

disclaimer: no YN in this series! just OCs <3 we all know the girls already anyways, at least for my tmbmil family~

if you don’t know who i’m talking about and are very much confused, read here: the most beautiful moment in life 

➳➳➳➳➳➳➳

two lines (sarang and mae)

half you, half me (taehyung x bora)

➳➳➳➳➳➳➳

i will be posting randomly and not at a scheduled time! this masterlist will be updated whenever i post a drabble for this series.

Dan Hays Colorado Snow Effect 4 (with detail) 2007, oil on canvas

moving far away to a sunny place.

they’ve come so far

BTS — Title Track Typography

petals 010#: secret santa

#010 - When Baby Min got a matching sweater with Daddy (A Christmas edition)

➽ Character/Genre/words | Min Yoongi x occasional OC | Parenthood!au, Fluff | 1,689 words

➽ Author’s Note | based on my Baby Min headcanons. Please ignore the fact that I was having a hot summer Christmas at the time I was writing this.

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summary: in which it’s jungkook turn to steal your clothes.

> fluff / wc: 2.4k

note: helloooo if you’ve already read this it’s because i had to repost :DD but i also changed it up just a bit !

—

jungkook is aware of his nickname as the laundry fairy. undeniably, doing the laundry is one of his favorite activities to do at home. separating the whites from the colors. smelling his favorite fabric softener. watching the clothes slosh around inside the circle in pure fascination. sitting in a corner scrolling through his phone while waiting for the washing machine and dryer to finish their jobs. while there is the satisfaction from finishing chores as an adult, he just simply loves fresh laundry. it makes him feel at home. at peace, even.

the household chores were already discussed and divided when you were still at the planning stage of moving in together. you were both afraid of them becoming a reason of constant arguments, so you made an effort to avoid that as much as possible. he quickly volunteered to do the laundry and the cooking, the fields in which he is already an expert in. on the other hand, you’re in charge of washing the dishes and cleaning. so far, this has been working well for you. even more, you help each other when you’re not busy.

if there is one thing he has come to love the most about doing the laundry in your shared home for the past year, it’s learning what your favorite pieces of clothing are. living together doesn’t mean seeing each other 24/7. of course, you have your own endeavors to attend to. he doesn’t see every outfit you change into. and so, he develops a deeper familiarity with you in this way.

moreover, by doing the laundry, he can see what kind of week you’ve been having. you’ve been staying at home for the past four days, only going out once the other day to restock groceries. therefore, your dirty laundry consists mostly of shorts and his oversized shirts. the simple outfit you wore outside stands out in the sea of neutral colors, and a random idea pops in his mind as he takes out the load of clothes from the dryer.

jungkook enters the living room casually, plopping down on the couch next to you with a small smirk visible on his lips. however, his presence goes unnoticed when you spare him not even a glance. your fingers dance around the keyboard, moving to a fast-paced beat of drums rolling in your head.

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expect the unexpected | 21

(text after the pictures!)

-

“Get ready for bed,” Jin says, pushing Soojin on the forehead with his pointer finger. He was sitting on the couch, leaning back as he finally relaxed. You know, now that you’re home and all. 

“But it’s earlyyyy,” Soojin says, leaning on the couch. “I want to watch with you.” She jumps onto the couch, cuddling into Jin’s side. 

“No, no,” Jin says, pushing her away. “It’s time for you to go to bed. Daddy has some work to do after you sleep.”

“But you’re watching TV,” Soojin says, pointing to the screen in front of them. Avengers: End Game was playing. Jin sighs, getting up and picking her up from the couch. 

“Bedtime~” Jin says, walking to her room. 

“You used to let me stay with you to watch,” she pouts. “Now all you say is no.” Jin sighs yet again. I guess this is what he gets for always giving her what she wants huh?

“I know, but daddy has stuff to do tonight. We can watch tomorrow okay?” he says. “Look, mommy’s reading Haneul and Minseok a story.” He says as he was about to pass Haneul’s room.

“Hi,” you say, smiling up at your husband and daughter. “Wanna join us?”

“Why are we sleeping early tonight,” Soojin says with a big frown. “It’s Saturday!” 

“Because it’s been a long week for all of us,” you say. “Now come sit here and join us for a bedtime story.” Jin drops Soojin on the bed next to Haneul, making them bounce. 

“I want a story with the wolves.” Soojin says, she taps on her chin, “I forgot the name.”

“Mommy is talking about Cinderella,” Minseok tells her. “Haneul picked tonight.”

“Isn’t there a wolf in Cinderella?” Jin says, sitting down behind his kids. 

“No,” you and Minseok say at the same time. 

“I’m sure there is,” he says, winking at you. Just go along with it. 

“No a different one,” Soojin whines, turning to Jin then to you.

“Twilight?” Jin asks. You give Jin a look. “They haven’t heard of that one yet huh?” 

“No and–”

“Well this girl went to a new school and falls in love with a vampire, but she finds out one of her friend is a wolf–” 

“How does she not know he’s a wolf,” Minseok asks, interrupting his dad.

“He looks like a normal person, but he turns into a wolf.”

“Oh,” Minseok says, very intrigued with the story. Soojin seemed to be interested too. Haneul was listening, his eyebrows furrowed and mouth hanging open.

“Okay anyways, the girl’s name is Bella and she falls in love with Edward, who is a vampire. She doesn’t know this until later on and she was even begging him to make her a vampire because she was so in lo–”

“Jin we should change the story,” you interrupt. “The wolf fairytale you were asking about was Little Red Ridinghood right? Or Three Little Pigs?” You ask, looking at Soojin.

“I want to keep listening to daddy’s story,” she says, turning to Jin. You glare at your husband.

“Change it,” you mouth at him. Twilight wasn’t age appropriate for them. 

“Okay well,” Jin says, catching what you were getting at. “Bella and Edward dated all throughout High School like mommy and daddy and then they fought bad guys together with super powers. At the end, they have a baby and live together forever and ever. Because they’re vampires and they don’t die, you know?” Technically he didn’t lie, he just skipped the parts where Jacob (the wolf friend) hates Edward and is in love with Bella and tries to keep them apart, and also like Bella dying because of the baby that was killing her from the inside out. Edward having to bite her everywhere in an attempt to save her. And Jacob falling in love with the baby? “Also vampires glow in the sun like they’re bedazzled with white rhinestones,” Jin adds. 

“I want to be sparkly like that,” Soojin giggles. 

“Maybe next time,” Jin says. He ruffled her hair, making her laugh. 

“Okay, I think it’s time for bed right?” you say, bringing the attention back to bed. 

“I want to finish Cinderella,” Haneul tells you. “You didn’t finish..” It was true, Soojin did kind of interrupt you in the middle of your story.

“Okay where were we?” 

“Cinderella met the prince,” Minseok says. 

“Oh yeah! So Cinderella and the prince, Prince Charming–”

“They danced together all night and then Cinderella was like ‘Oops, bedtime. I have to get ready for bed’,” Jin says. He even did Cinderella’s voice. “And the prince said ‘Okay! Good night, I’ll text you in the morning’ but then when Cinderella ran off, the prince realized he didn’t give her his phone number so he said ‘WAIT!’ but it was too late. Cinderella got home and she decided to eat an apple before bed and she ended up feeling sick. This is why uncle JK always says, ‘night apple is poison apple.’ This made her fall asleep for days. Until one day, the prince found a tower in the middle of the woods and so he rode his magic carpet up that tower. He walked inside and found Cinderella. The prince thought she looked so pretty that he placed a kiss on her lips and she woke up and they lived happily ever after, the end.”

You stared at Jin with furrowed brows, and so did Minseok and Haneul. Soojin scratched her head. You’ve told them the story before and they also have watched the movie. They knew how it went.

“Did you just mix up Cinderella with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, and Rapunzel?” 

“It’s a story to teach kids that you should already be at home way before bed time and also eating apples late at night is bad for your stomach,” Jin argued.

“Sure,” Soojin says, a yawn escaping her mouth a little afterwards. 

“Aha! You are sleepy!” Jin laughs, pointing at his daughter. She glares up at him. “Come on, bed time,” Jin says, picking her up. “Say night night to mommy and your brothers.” He carries her in front of Haneul to give him a kiss, and Minseok too. Then towards you.

“Good night my princess,” you say, giving her a kiss. 

-

“I’m just going to take a quick shower,” you say. 

Now that all the kids were tucked in bed, Jin was going to do some paperwork in his office.

“I’ll be in my office,” Jin says, grabbing his laptop from his bed as you were going into the bathroom. 

“Okay, don’t stay up too late. I miss sleeping in bed with you,” you say. Jin laughs.

“We did that last night?”

“With Haneul in between us,” you scoff. 

“Well okay, I won’t stay in too long.”

“Okay, good.” You went ahead and went into the bathroom, ready to take a shower. 

Jin went ahead and stepped out of the room, about to head to his office when your phone rang from the living room. 

His eyes widened at the loud ring, afraid it was going to wake up the kids. 

He immediately ran to the couch, searching for your phone and he found it right under Haneul’s blanket. 

Dr. Cha Eun-Seok

It was your doctor, Jin and you have had the same doctor since Minseok was born. Safe to say he’s basically a family friend now.

Jin answers the call.

“Hello Mrs. Kim, I know it’s late, but I’m just calling again for your second appointment next Friday,” he says. Jin furrows his brows, tilting his head to the side. 

“This is Jin actually–”

“Oh! Jin-ssi,” Dr. Cha laughs. “I thought I called your wife–”

“You did, she’s in the shower right now and her phone was ringing so I went to answer it. Uh, what were you calling about? Second appointment for what?”

“Ah I see. I’m just calling about her second appointment. We were talking about it when she came by yesterday morning. We thought it would be a good idea to bring all the kids to the ultrasound. You know how it works,” he laughs. “She’s about one month along right now, we can have her first ultrasound next Friday and try to hear the heartbeat of the baby. I’m sure Haneul will be amazed eh?”

Jin was confused. 

You’re pregnant? 

“Yeah,” Jin says, trying to laugh along. “I’m sure he will. I’ll remind her, thank you Dr. Cha.”

“Yeah yeah, no worries. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay,” Jin says, hanging up the phone. 

Jin looks down at your phone, looking at your wallpaper. A picture of you two and the kids. He doesn’t move from where he’s standing.

“Hey,” you say, walking down the hallway as you were about to look for your phone that you left in the living room. “You’re not in your office?” You say, seeing Jin standing there. His back was facing you. 

“You got a phone call,” he says lowly, turning around and handing you your phone.

“From who?” You say, smiling up at him. You were confused. His eyebrows were furrowed and he had a serious expression on his face.

“Dr. Cha.”

Your eyes widened slightly.

“D-did you answer it?” You say, not seeing any missed calls on your lock screen.

“Yeah and he said something funny,” Jin says, forcing out a laugh.

“Like what…?” You look up at him with worry in your eyes.

“You’re pregnant?” He says, leaning down to your face. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“I was going to, I–”

“How long did you know?”

“Not too long, I just found out a few days ago.” Jin scoffs, looking away from you.

“Jin, I was going to tell you.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“You were complaining about the kids all week, and saying let’s just stick to three kids,” you say, mocking his voice. “Jin you said maybe to a GOLDFISH. What would you say if I said we were having another kid?”

“BECAUSE IT’S NOT IN THE PLAN YN. We always said THREE. And you know how hard it is with just them three?” Jin says, moving his arm to the side and motioning towards the kids room. “What the hell happened?” He yells. 

“Aren’t you the one who said “no matter how hard you plan, the future is uncertain”?” You say. Jin has given advice to his friends countless times before, and you remember most of them. This one being his advice to Bora when she was confused with Taehyung and her ex. “Well we always planned for a big family, three was ideal. But what if four is what completes our family?” You yell back at him.

Jin laughs, crossing his arms across his chest, looking away from your face. You were so close to crying. 

“It’s too soon, Haneul’s only three. How did this even happen?”

“And Minseok was two when we had Soojin. And Soojin was around two with Haneul as well. What’s the difference?”

“The difference is, it’s not as easy as it once was Yn. How could you let this happen?”

You scoff. What does he mean by that?

“How could I let this happen? Jin what the heck did we do during our anniversary trip?! WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN?”

“YOU’RE ON THE PILL! THEY’RE LIKE 99% EFFECTIVE!” He laughs. “What did you do? Forget to take it? Were you that stupid?” Your mouth drops open when he says that last bit. You let out an annoyed scoff. You can’t believe him.

“I guess I am,” you say. “The day we left, I ran out.” You shake your head. “I was supposed to buy more but so many things happened that day and I couldn’t remember the one thing I was supposed to do. So I guess, yeah. I am stupid.”

“How could you forget that? You take it everyday, wouldn’t you remember–”

“Oh like how you forgot to pick up the kids from school? Yeah, I know you don’t pick them up everyday but you had ONE job Jin. The first day I leave and the house falls apart–” “EXACTLY. IT’S THREE KIDS AND ME. AND YOU’RE ADDING ONE MORE?”

“JIN YOU ACT LIKE THIS IS A ONE PERSON JOB?” Your eyes were already watering and a few tears have dropped. “I don’t care if you want this kid or not–”

“Oh my gosh,” He rolls his eyes at you. “I DIDN’T SAY–”

“Ah–” You gasp out, holding onto your stomach. Your face contorted in pain as you stumbled back. You felt a shoot of pain on your lower belly.

Jin’s face suddenly softens when he sees you in pain, all anger suddenly leaves his body. He reaches out to you to help but you move from his hand.

“I’m going to go to bed,” you mumble, walking to your room.

Jin stays there, standing in the living room, watching you go while holding onto your stomach. You slam the door behind you, locking it while you’re at it. You didn’t want Jin following you, you just wanted to be alone.

“D..daddy?”

Jin turns his head to the side to see Minseok standing by the kitchen counter. 

“Minseok what are you doing up?” He asks in a quiet voice, motioning for him to come to him. 

“You and mommy were being loud,” he says. “I woke up when you started screaming and I came out and you and mommy were just yelling at each other.” He walks up to his dad and Jin sits on the couch, pulling him close. 

“I’m sorry, do you want me to tuck you in again?” Jin asks, softly smiling up at Minseok and caressing his head.

“It’s okay, but why were you and mommy fighting? You never did that before,” he says, looking back at your closed door. 

“It’s between mommy and I,” Jin says, looking at your door as well. “It’s not the first time we fought. We just don’t do it often so you don’t see. Not everyone is perfect.”

“Not even you and mommy?” Minseok asks. Jin shakes his head. His eyes were getting watery as well. 

“Go to bed, daddy’s going to do some work in his office.” 

“Okay,” Minseok says, walking back to his room. He stops midway, turning to Jin. “Can you sleep with me tonight?” Minseok probably heard you lock the door, knowing Jin might be sleeping on the couch. Jin nods.

“Okay, I’ll go in after. Go ahead and go to bed.”

-

Jin grabs his laptop that was on the couch and heads to his office. He turns on the light, sighing. 

He didn’t plan the next few days that you were back to end up like this. Everything was supposed to be smooth sailing now that you’re back. But like what you said, like what he said before. No matter how hard you plan, the future is uncertain. And he ruined it all tonight. 

Jin walks to his desk placing his laptop on top. But something else was there.

A small canvas with a painting of two people. One was way bigger than the other. The bigger one was hugging the smaller one. And on top written in huge characters said,‘I love my daddy’. Signed by Haneul. 

This was when Jin lost it, a stream of tears slid down his cheek as he held tightly onto the canvas done by his youngest son. 

Everyone sees you and Jin as the perfect couple. Everything is easy with you two. You have the perfect kids, the perfect life, and the perfect relationship.

But what if I tell you that you don’t? For moments like this. Fighting over something that was supposed to be great. Something other’s dreamed they had. What if I told you that raising three kids is hard? Even for you and Jin. You two are the oldest out of all of your friends, you two are whom they go to for advice. For relationship advice, and for kid advice. You two were the “pros” according to them. Nothing you can’t handle.

But to you and Jin, you don’t see it that way. You two had your share of problems just like everyone else. There are things your friends don’t know about you two.

For Jin, he’s insecure about being a father. He has three kids right now, out of all his friends, he was the first to have a kid. Out of all his friends, he’s the only one with more than one kid. You’d think he’d know everything by now right?

Well he doesn’t and he’s still learning and from the past few days alone, he realizes he might not have what it takes, but he’s good enough he thinks. 

To everyone’s eyes he’s perfect, even to his kids. 

Long story short, he’s scared. 

But of what? 

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

expect the unexpected

♡ part twenty-one: the perfect couple ♡ 

pairings: ceo, dad!jin x interior designer, mom!reader

a/n: the way it was cute at first 😐 okay i hope this is angsty enough also LOL i mentioned that the doctor (who is the doctor in dodosolsollalasol) is a family friend bc doctors don’t call that late in the evening, or call? at all? idk i don’t go to the doctors unless im dying

EDIT: hi sorry, i don’t usually use the read more feature because idk it always messes up something and it took out a chunk of dialogue after the cut off haha😀 i edited it now tho so it should be good

EDIT PT2: OKAY THE READ MORE KEEPS CUTTING OFF THE NEXT DIALOGUE WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIX IT SO I JUST HAD TO TAKE IT OFF I APOLOGIZE

taglist: @silentlyimpractical @jillianmarie @waddlebby @cecedrake2217 @ddofa @samros95 @sope-and-shine @joonjoonsmiles @codeinebelle @aianloveseven @Chamchamcham @princessjazzyjazz @notvantaes @casspirit0705 @ramyagovindraj @brinnalaine @ephyra1230 @betysotelo18 @thoughtfultaledreamer @salty-for-suga @cosmicdaylight @dreamcatcherjiah @kookoo-kachoo @justinetingball  @josierosie @jayhope88 @butterflylion @hobiismyhopeu @momma-said-that-it-was-oke @ygbubs @catspancake  @somewhereofftheglobe @strawberryforever25 @rjsmochii @prdshobi @beeeb05 @eatjeanjin @taekookcaneatme @Cheeely14 @kookietsukkie @anpanman-sonyeondan @glitteringcoffeefreak @chocobetterknot @alpaca1612 @ohmy-fandoms @liljooniecutie @Jikachoo @preciouschimine @fan-ati–c @Joondala @httpmuffin @dammit-jjk @jikooksgirl19

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Chapter Eight... Home, Again.

Has no one ever told you not to rifle through old attics? Has no one ever told you that if you find old vintage rings that seem to have a mind of their own, the one thing you should definitely not do is to wear them? Well maybe they have, but it’s October 31st and you’re in desperate need of good accessories. And as such the next thing you know, there is a man named Yoongi in your bedroom and he insists that you’ve just married the King of the Otherworld.

▶ t/w: murder, fighting, cannibalism, vomiting just gross stuff cause there's mermaids involved, angst, drowning, burning someone to death, mature audiences that are not squeamish advised

▶ word count: 5.0k

▶ Interested in this story?

▶ Interested in reading something else?

You grow vaguely aware of someone’s comforting caresses on your back as the world teeters from left to right and you can’t. Stop. Projecting. Everything out. The calming patter encourages not to keep anything down, says it’s going to make it worse but how could it possibly get any worse after everything you just saw.

When you finally slump, having given it all with some discontent you see not Yoongi by your side but Jimin and it’s not the world that’s swaying but just the boat. You groan wincing at the dour taste in your mouth, letting your damp forehead rest on the wooden edge. At this rate you’ll develop aquaphobia. Jimin scrunches the sleeve of his silk shirt, wiping away the cold sweat.

“It’s not long until the palace,” he mutters meant to comfort you but if anything it has the opposite effect.

Yoongi is there, you know he is and you don’t have the slightest clue of how to react anymore. You feel everything. All and every emotion humanity has vollectively ever felt rages through you and you want to baw like a child at the face of such monumental anguish. You hate him and you love him, you want to kill him, strangle him to repay at least some of the pain he put you through and you want to cradle him in your arms, whispering how you forgive him because it’s Yoongi and if souls were true then you were made of one.

You gasp for breath when your lungs begin to burn. No matter how much oxygen you pull in, it’s not enough. The sense of asphyxiation puts you in a chokehold of primal fear and you begin to trash around, clawing at your throat.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Jimin tries to pacify your panic but doing so he puts his hands on both sides of your cheeks and it reminds you so starkly of how Yoongi held you both in his madness and health, that you choke even harder. Quickly, Jimin unhands you, timidly resting his fingers instead on your knees - a relatively safe zone.

“Is this okay?” he asks nervously, echoing your panic. Slowly you climb down from the terror, gasping in and out with your eyes closed. If only you would see darkness and not Yoongi passed out on the floor with his face mauled open. Tentatively still trembling but no longer fearing that you would die (again that is), you open your eyes. The air is cold and damp, fog rolling over the surface of the canal. Jimin is there, eyebrows scrunched up in worry, searching for any signs of distress on your face of which there was plenty. At least, he’s no longer blue meaning whatever drug had coursed through you had been successfully exorcised.

“Why would you ever use such a thing,” you mutter, running a clammy hand through your hair. They’re all knotted.

“I don’t feel the effects as harshly as you. It seems your prolonged residence in human work has distanced you from certain fae benefits.”

You hadn’t even thought of how technically you weren’t even human. Humans after all didn’t revert to infancy after dying. But that’s not what causes you to pull your head up from the safe haven of your thighs, to nail Jimin down with an astonished glare.

“You know? How much do you know?!”

He looks guiltily to the side, wetting his dry lips.

“Uh… sort of everything? It’s a bit awkward to explain, I’m your - ” he blushes bright pink, reminding you of his hair when he came to the orphanage all those years ago.

“What?” you push on and if possible he flushes even more.

“I guess you could say I’m your fan,” he mumbles, drumming his fingers energetically against your kneecap. “You probably don’t recall it but I come from Nyavena, nymph faction, and you’re quite popular there.”

Maybe if you rattled your brain enough, you could faintly remember some bits of fragments about a certain food shortage that you once helped to fix but that was also the time your brother was sent to dungeons, so Nyavena and its problems had escaped your viewing focus.

“I also did my dissertation on you, so I had to dig up a lot of old documents and court stories that Yoongi probably wouldn’t like to know about.”

At the mention of his name, you recoil, feeling that crushing hold, grip around your heart once more.

“Nymphs have universities?...” you quietly wonder, desperate to distract yourself from the imminent descent.

“Gotta get our education somewhere,” Jimin remarks with a light chuckle. You can’t produce your own.

“Is that why you didn’t tell me when I was little?” you ask and he falls sombre

“I...” he stammers, running through his dishevelled hair. “Well, how was I supposed to tell you all this?” he gestures vaguely around and you notice that the boat is in fact steering on its own.

“You were only eight years old then, it’s not a story you tell a kid. But mostly and please, please, do not relay this to Yoongi,” you gaze at him blankly while Jimin struggles to get the words out, his tapping increasing in speed.

“I love Yoongi like a brother, I really do but what you both had or have is just too damn tragic.”

“Who is he to presume on such things?” a sharp voice hisses in your ear though you can’t tell who does it belong to - the King, Yoongi or you.

“If I would tell you who you were or what that ring is, it… it would haunt you. Even if you wouldn’t take it, I don’t think one could ever forget about it. When I read about your...death,” he grimaced, “ I felt really sorry for you and I didn’t want for the history to repeat itself.”

“So the story about Vegas?”

Jimin chuckled self-consciously.

“Oh, a complete lie. I popped by your school’s party and trust me I had enough. I went home pretty soon after that, mulled around my parents' house and then returned back to Yoongi.”

“What did you say to him?”

“Said that I found you as promised and left you a note to read when you’re old enough.”

“That’s why when Yoongi came - ” you begin and Jimin finishes.

“- he thought that you’d forgiven him and I guess were ready to get hitched after the world’s longest engagement.”

You sink deep in thought, recalling that Halloween night.

“I’ve come to take you home, Your Majesty.”

Not a disinterested title but a childhood nickname, a very Yoongi way of saying -

“Let’s get married, baby” or whatever went through his mind that moment.

“Last time I saw him,” you start with a croak in your throat.

A quick cough. Continue.

You don’t want to but what choice there really was.

“He was not in a good...state.”

“A soft way of saying he was five miles out of his mind.”

Could you comprehend what amusement was right now, you’d at least smirk at Jimin’s honesty but the wound was still too raw to be covered up with humour.

“Is he...alright now?”

Jimin ponders for a long time, so long it makes you worried.

“He’s not... he doesn’t throw fits anymore, he doesn’t abuse his power. After you...left, Joon made him seek counselling.”

“Joon?”

“Namjoon, current Court Secretary.”

Oh, you remember him. The bespectacled man by the well.

“He’s trying. He’s been trying so hard. I don’t make any excuses for his behaviour in the past but I have nothing bad to say about him now.”

“Hmm…” is all you can reply.

“Jin and I were most worried about your return,” Jimin admits quietly, “your...departure shocked him so much, I guess it forced him to revert back to some sanity but we were worried that if you were around, he’d fall back into old habits.”

“You’re saying I make him crazy?” you don’t ask out of defensiveness or insult but out of genuine curiosity. No matter how hard you toss or turn, every decision seems wrong. Leaving Yoongi is similar to trying to cut out your liver using a nail file but you couldn't just run up to him like an eager puppy, yapping “of course I forgive you, I don’t care that I died and was made an orphan because of you.”

That’s not how this worked, did it? You had your hurt and he had his.

“I’m not saying that! You’re both very complicated people who love each other very much, any idiot can see that,” Jimin replies, shrugging, “but the baggage you both have is quite heavy and the whole idea of soulmates -”

Every hair on the back of your neck stands up at once.

“What is that?” rips out of you before your natural senses actually received the message of danger.

The water that previously had been smooth is boiling now, but it’s not really boiling. Something is just swimming very fast after your boat. Chasing it down.

A pair of white, lidless eyes poke through the water surface, narrowing you down with a contemptuous glare. Suddenly a smell of rotting fish overclouds your mind.

“Jimin!”

Yoongi felt sick coming back here, to the throne room. These four walls held his grief, his pain and madness. He used to think that if he shut the doors tight enough, he’d be able to seal it away, finally control the poison that seeped from him. It was but a naive hope. He still feels sick when he leaves the room and when he closes his eyes he still sees you disappearing down the well and it didn’t matter whether he was here or at the end of the world. That moment ran deeper than the scar carved on his face.

He shook his head and let the blaring bells of the court grip him into a new alarm. Below him, the first defence line was already caught in a vicious struggle. The problem with the city canals was that they ran everywhere, forcing the soldiers to divert their attention to at least three other places. Merfolk couldn’t get far on the ground, the ability to briefly grow limbs had been bred out for most of them since their exile to Western waters but they could jump. Flinching, Yoongi saw how one of them propelled herself out of the water, unhinging her jaw making her head go backwards with a speed that no one around had even the inkling to run. The unlucky guard was thrown on the pavement and dragged in water before being mauled to pieces all in the span of a second. The court was gripped with wet, squelching sounds as merfolk ate their comrades, occasionally gurgling back undigested parts and hurling them at the remaining fighters.

“Where’s Hoseok?” he growled at Taehyung who was readying a spear.

“I don’t know, I can't find him anywhere.”

That’s just what Yoongi needed.

Your hands stink from the force with which you wack the merman off the boat. Despite Jimin pushing your boat along, using his own created breeze, they are fast. You clutch the oar with a peculiar mix of horrendous rage and paralyzing dread, whipping around the small circle of the boat, trying to somehow predict where they will spring next.

But the space is small and unbalanced. One careless step and you’re dead. A sharp hacking pulls you to the left. Claws gripping the wooden edge, a mermaid hauls their body through the water surface, mouth spread wide open so hard their eyes literally move back and you’re forced to stare down a row of rotting jagged teeth. With no hesitation whatsoever you force your screaming muscles to work and bash the head of the attacker. Black blood spills over your oar as their webbed hands grow limp and release the boat.

“Just a little bit,” Jimin shouts, keeping his eyes on the approaching palace.

There are lights and screams coming from there but it’s still better than being crowded by clawing monsters on a single plank of wood. Seeing the approach to relative safety, they start ramming into the boat, swaying it dangerously close to tipping over. You push to poke one of them but they rip the oar away from your hands. No weapon left and judging from how hard Jimin was panting he would run out of energy any time soon.

You sink underneath the slab of stone that guides the water canal into the inner court. Your feet can barely find the balance anymore. When you came out, you had to jump or risk being dragged into the water. The jump is awkward, not leaping simply away but also somehow upwards. Jimin jumps first almost gracefully and you follow after him, the boat immediately being turned upside down. You already land on your chest against the floor when you’re sharply hauled backwards, claws tearing off the skin at your ankle.

Jimin shouts after you as your nails scrape against the smooth stone trying to hold onto something, anything. The merman who has your leg unhinges his jaw, intending to make you a quick meal. You can see someone’s fingers stuck in his teeth. Then you suddenly slip free and the merman is impaled straight down his mouth with a silver spear. Shivering and distantly screaming you haul yourself backwards and Jimin helps you up.

The court is faring no better and while you’re out of the lion's den you’re now facing a wolf. All around there are mermaids springing like sharks out the water, picking off the Imperial knights at a rapid pace. Sometimes they miscalculate the jump and writhe on the ground where they are slaughtered but even you can see that the tide was in their favour.

“Hello again,” Taehyung greets you pleasantly, loading an arrow into a crossbow and shooting into the eye of a nearby attacker. “Had a good walk?”

He smiles at you nicely, as a classmate would in a hallway, but the side of his face is smeared with black blood and his eyes have double brown pupils.

You don’t reply to anything and he continues just as gently even when he lodges an arrow into the hand of the mermaid and kicks her straight off the ground and into the water.

“Jimin, would you be so kind as to escort her to a more civil place? Our Majesty, really shouldn’t be seeing this.”

Jimin nods grimly, dragging you quickly away as you haphazardly dodge bows and stray attacks. You look back at Taehyung and he waves cheerfully at you and without looking, pulls an arrow from his quiver and stabs a sneaking mermaid through their ear. You retch.

The scent of rot is everywhere and remembering all the horrible things that happened here makes you think that this place is more than just cursed, it’s hell.

“I need to find Yoongi,” you shout over the battle noises and Jimin curses as one mermaid glides over your head, nearly missing the target. “I just want to know he’s alive.”

“Of course, he’s fine ________,” Jimin yells back, not unkindly but you can see that he’s worried you both won’t make it to the palace. And even if you do, the outlook right now was grim. “He’s the King, we all protect him with our lives.”

But those lives are running out, swallowed whole down the throats of the mermaids and then vomited back. You can barely stand.

Jimin does manage to haul you right to the Imperial doors but he is tripped down a flight of stairs. A mermaid, choking as she is out of the water and injured, hisses and starts dragging Jimin closer to her, unsheathing her long teeth to bite his head off. The palace is illuminated by a few torches and you, wavering underneath its weight, push the flame against the mermaid's spine. The tortured scream it lets out is horrifying and crying you have to remind yourself that if you let go Jimin could die, when it stops screaming you let go of the torch and unceremoniously vomit all over the stairs. The scent of the burnt corpse invades your nostrils.

As you look up, through the many spears and weapons you notice a man on a black horse. He’s wielding a longsword and on his head sits the imperial crown, the same one that was used to carve up his face. Yoongi looks like Death itself, clad in black armour, it’s glistening as it catches the roaring flame of the Imperial torches nestled against the palace walls. He slashes and hacks with wild abandon and the knights follow him suit, inspired to fight for their lives, inspired to give their lives for their Emperor. Their (perhaps) Mad King. Yoongi’s horse, Holly, the one you fed many apples trudging away from Brary, turns around to kick the attackers with his hind legs and doing so puts you and Yoongi directly in each other’s sight.

He knows you know.

You can see it from the way he closes his eyes in pain and regret.

And because of it he doesn’t see the biggest mermaid yet launching in a murderous rage and knocking him off Holly, his sword clanging against the ground as it falls from his hand.

You run.

You just run.

You don’t feel fear or anything. It’s like what you see is not even real. You yourself are not even real. Just a body moving without its mind. You drop down and slide right between Yoongi and the mermaid at just the exact moment when she lets her claws fall down, slashing towards Yoongi’s neck.

You close your eyes, hoping that this time he won’t mourn you to another suicide attempt.

You can hear him breathe beneath you and you focus on that sound, wanting to hear it when you die. You don’t want to end up like her, the other you that had died alone, atop of a strange world, broken and abandoned. But the pain doesn’t come and neither does death, what comes are Yoongi’s arms wrapped around your stomach in a tight hug. You crack open one of your eyes and see the mermaid struggling on the ground, a few meters away.

In your mind, you’re back in your kitchen. With Yoongi’s hand around yours as the large knife sways in your birch wallpaper. You look down on the ring and it glistens as it hadn’t even before, ferociously like a protective beacon.

You and Yoongi scramble up as the large mermaid crawls forward, clamping her jaws shut like you’ve seen alligators do. You both grasp around Yoongi’s sword, the one that you now know your brother had gifted him for good luck when the previous Emperor was usurped. You allow yourself the weakness of looking at him only to find that he is looking back at you. Tears are running down his face as he tugs your fingers tightly against the sword hilt. You know he knows you know. Neither of you know the answer of how to fix this, of how to live with the trauma you caused each other, or how you could learn to love again, anew. But you decide you’ll learn, you’ll find the answers because this was your life and all that mattered was that you and Yoongi were happy, not how happy it might make others.

You clasp his fingers back, trying to mutely express your new foundings.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” the mermaid snarls, advancing further but you and Yoongi, hands entwined on the sword, strike her down before she can fulfil her threat. As you near their face, you can recognize that stench.

“Stupid thing,” she had hissed, “you should have stayed away."

But how can one mermaid know who you were, where you came from and where you were originally from?...

You look into the white eyes and the snarls and you finally grasp that one detail that was mulled in the backdrop of your mind.

Bodies don’t fall without jumping. You had stood here, in this palace courtyard, atop of the well, meaning to jump but you hadn't jumped didn’t you. You fell backwards, tugged by an unknown force that had sprung up and was hidden from the sight of the approaching court.

With that notion, you drive the sword through her heart without any straying remorse.

The mermaids howl all around, trashing in the water. Their dead comrade had been a bigger and better fighter than any of them, undoubtedly you had just executed their leader but it doesn’t make them lose their spirits, it enrages them to a degree they abandon all preservation. Heedlessly, they leap out of the water, push themselves against blades, scream until the ears of the bystanders start bleeding.

Yoongi grips your elbow and drags you to the safety of the palace where the burnt mermaid lay. There’s no Jimin around and you pray that he is safe. Your exit is cut off by a dripping man, his hair is red and he has a distinct, kind face despite the fact that he was drenched in black blood.

“They’ve taken the palace,” he screams, “they used the plumbing to get inside, it’s not safe, Yoongi.

“Hoseok, gather Taehyung and the rest, push back, away from the canals,” Yoongi orders. His grip on your arms is so strong, it starts tingling. You don’t mind, in fact, you relish this small reminder that you’re both still alive.

Yoongi looks around in panic. There was no exit. Wherever the sight landed, there were intruders and falling knights. He whimpered, desperately trying to seek some escape and then his gaze landed on the well.

You understood him the moment the thought nestled in his head.

“No, no, please, I don’t want to go!”

You plead but Yoongi turns a deaf ear, dragging you towards it, across the bodies of his subjects and of his enemies.

“Please Yoongi, I don’t want to go, please, I love you, you idiot, I don’t want to leave you!”

His expression wrenches in torment as he mutely sobs yet he doesn’t stop and when you come next to the mouth of the water well, you feel a cold dread crawl through your skin. You capture his dirtied face in your palms, mimicking his favourite gesture and even through his misery he nuzzles into your hands, almost on an instinct.

“Please, I love you, don’t abandon me,” you beg and press a kiss on his lips. He responds gently, not clawing, not tearing, not demanding anything, just echoing the movement of your lips so tenderly as though he thought it was a dream.

“I love you,” he says, voice barely above a whisper, “I’ll love you forever and after that.”

You hook your hand around his neck and the chain that was hidden underneath his armour plops out of their confines, revealing the same golden ring, glowing bright on your hand.

He presses his forehead onto yours, breathing deep and before you can beg anymore pushes you right down the well.

You fall, down, down and down, seeing Yoongi’s ghastly, tortured grimace watch after you until you breach the surface of the worlds and he disappears. The void between separate realities is filled with many things. None of them make any sense, they’re nightmarish and sick, but even so you feel alone. You fall and fall and fall until it finally breaks and you hit the hard, cold ground, rolling through the Hell Mouth.

You pant.

There is only silence.

The air is cold and the night is dark and there are stars twinkling above you.

No screams, no slaughter, no Yoongi.

You become still, unable to move or do anything as the horrid realization of your whereabouts settle in.

You were back home.

You look down on the ground. Your hand is empty.

The ring that had hugged your finger so tight, you thought no one could ever remove it, is laying away, partially hidden underneath brown leaves.

You reach towards it and the glimmer in its searing brown stone that reminds you of the colour of Yoongi’s eyes begins to shudder until it dies down entirely

“Was this uh… decoration?” Maeve asks kindly as she wretches the lodged kitchen knife from your wall. You don’t respond, choosing to pick up the Galadriel dress that was still on your floor.

Time ran differently in the Otherworld as you realized and the week that you spent with Yoongi was but one hour in the human world.

You returned back home the same night you left, as if you hadn’t just lived two different lives as two different and yet somehow the same women. You had stumbled and fainted in Bill Sandyman’s yard, the one whose daughter was still probably gasping underneath some vampire’s warm mouth. The intoxicated horde that you had partied with was admitted into the one hospital that Sallington had and bucking underneath the weight of many drunken students, no one paid any attention to the nature of your injuries.

When Maeve came to collect you with her green Moskvitch she had joked that of course only you could stumble upon more trouble in the comfort of your own home, but you hadn’t listened to her, merely wrapping around your arms around her neck, trying to delude your brain into thinking that it was Yoongi who you held onto.

She grew suspicious but seeing the morose, heartbroken expression she didn’t press further on it.

The week that followed wasn’t even the worst. Neither the week after that. Maeve stayed with you, trying to comfort you to the best of her abilities while remaining completely oblivious. The week after that you saw Lucia stray home and so you could corner her for some answers. She didn’t know that there even was an attack, she had been sleeping for the most part of it, recovering after the Long Ball.

The worst came in the summer as you began to lose hope that Yoongi will find a way back to you. You had tried, numerous times in a single day and those days after another, you had tried to crawl back to the Otherworld but the Hell Mouth remained a simple tree, and its carving revealed only moist, dark soil and not a bridge between the worlds.

The ring didn’t glow for a single day and no matter how hard you tried it slipped away from your finger. You resolved to wear it around your neck, like Yoongi had. And time moved forward.

Maeve was offered a job outside of Sallington and you encouraged her to go. You were wallowing, sinking in depression that no one could understand and you feared to explain, feared to confine her because of your own selfishness. So you let her go, towards a better life and she left like a beautiful bird, migrating to a better weather. She lived her life as she should.

No other resident of Sallington of which there were far more than you presumed, could open the gateway either. It was entirely shut and you were all left to maroon on top of your own world of normalcy.

The spring came and the summer came and then finally Halloween of the next year came. You were excited. You thought, he had come for you the last Halloween, maybe he would this time. He loved you, he would come.

Yoongi didn’t come.

But he still loved you, right?

He was still alive.

Right?

Halloween came and left. Just a single memory of you sitting soulless in your lonely kitchen watching a single, orange candle in the shape of the pumpkin melting away. You had made dinner for two that night. Yoongi could be hungry when he came to see you.

He didn’t come.

And then there came winter. Christmas. Coating Sallington in white blanket of comfort. Of course it being Sallington it resembled a Swedish crime drama and one would expect more to see Krampus on the roof rather than Santa nevertheless the people made it lovely. Carols, eggnog, family.

You sitting alone, on a snow covered porch, breath etching white clouds into the night air.

You had learned to fake cheer quite well for Maeve who couldn’t make it back home this year. You thanked for her gifts and received a happy thank you for the ones you’d given her. The phone call ended and you let the smile slip away from your face as you stared blankly into the outskirt of the forest.

Quietly you entered Ms Witterman’s children’s home and lay in your bed, the Christmas lights twinkling softly behind your closed eyes.

CREEEEEEEEEK.

Unmistakable.

The creek of your bedroom floor underneath the sole of an unknown intruder.

You didn’t open your eyes. This could be a dream and your heart would shatter if and when you woke up. You better hoped it was a robber, you’d know how to deal with that.

Your bed dipped behind you as cold arms wrapped tentatively around your waist, someone's nose nuzzling softly in your neck. You swallowed your tears, heart pounding in exhilaration and in fear that this was just another one of your delusions, conjuring a happy ending where there wasn’t one.

You reach to touch his hands and eagerly he intertwines your fingers in his.

This was real.

“Sorry for being late, Your Majesty,” Yoongi whispered in your ear.

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Waaaahhhhh thanks to everyone for reading it, it flourished from a small idea to a big world that I've grown very fond of. Please don't be a silent reader and I hope you enjoyed this roller coaster of emotions.

- Sora.