belated merry christmas and a happy new year! more happiness for you this 2018~

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"These marks," Jimin says as they fall into a slow walking pace side by side. He tugs on the collar of his shirt.

Jungkook looked up and stared at the spirit's mark located just below his collarbone against his pale skin— the dark figure of the cresent shining with purple that seemed to be swimming in it like a galaxy unfolding before your eyes.

"I've read about them," His eyes snap back to Jimin's eyes when he spoke again. "Ever since I discovered this damn mark."

"How long have you been a spirit?" The question left the mortal's lips softly, genuine curiosity intertwined with his tone.

"I can't exactly answer that. I kind of just roamed around endlessly for I don't know how long as a spirit but then a fucking witch decided to summon 'a spirit of midnight', who didn't really exist and I guess I was the nearest wandering lost soul that I'm the one she summoned." Jimin looked up at the sky with a grin.

"Kind of a funny story how I got my powers and how I end up being a demon."

Jungkook chuckled along. "That's how demons exist?"

"Some of them."

"That's interesting. I guess lost souls are people that weren't ready to die?" Jungkook ponders out loud. Jimin answers with a shrug.

"I'm celebrating my 121th birthday this September 1st."

Jungkook's jaw dropped in disbelief, his feet halted in their steps abruptly and Jimin mimicked him. Two things made him shiver: Jimin was older than his grandmother and had the same birthday as him. What are the odds, right?
He looked at Jimin with shock written all over his face to which the other just laughed at him.

Jungkook resembled a deer caught in headlights. "How—" he swallowed down, feeling his suddenly dry lips. "How did you know your birthday? I thought you didn't remember anything?"

"Yeah. I don't." Jimin replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But look at this," The spirit started to peel off his blazer and it saw the panic slowly forming in Jungkook's eyes as realization hits him when he was about to unbutton his shirt.

"Whoa! Whoa!"

Jimin actually laughed at his reaction, his eyes creating those cresents and his cheeks bunching up. Jungkook might've stared longer but Jimin stepped closer to him, making him stumble a few steps back.

"Does it make you uncomfortable that you're going to see me half naked?" The spirit smirked teasingly, its eyes practically glimmering with how much entertainment this provides him.

"No!" Jungkook sputtered out too quickly. "I mean we're both men here and you've seen me almost naked so it's only fair!" He ranted out in one breathless speech.

Jimin couldn't contain the smile that broke out, making Jungkook all the more flustered and his cheeks more red as the spirit continued unbuttoning his collared shirt.

As the shirt parted in the middle, Jungkook couldn't help but look. No, he wasn't a creep. Yeah, he admits Jimin has a pretty sculpted torso as more skin reveals itself but what got his attention more are the tattoos littered all over Jimin's torso. It even covered his back as well when Jimin did a turn for him to see. He suddenly had an unexplainable urge to reach out and touch the black ink beautifully drawn on the skin in front of him. But he realized that that would be inappropriate.

"Cool, right?" Jimin said, a closed-lip smile on his face. "I must've lived a crazy life."

Jungkook nodded wordlessly. His eyes were still trained on the tattoos branded on Jimin's skin. There were a lot but not enough to cover all the patch of skin. Somehow Jungkook found a sense of comfort and familiarity with the tattoos.

Most of them were of roses. Some were colored red, some stayed black and a couple were colored yellow. He assumes the colors has a meaning behind them but he isn't too keen on flowers so he has no idea.

"The roses were done so beautifully." Jungkook admits. His fingers starting to itch from how much he wanted to trace over them.

"Look, here." Jimin twists a bit to show a series of numbers inked delicately on the side of his ribcage. "It says 09/01/98. That's September first 1898. I just assumed it's the day of my birth. Because why else would it be there?"

This time, Jungkook raised his hand and ran a curious finger along the tattooed numbers, making Jimin tense and hitch a breath. The skin beneath Jungkook's finger felt like ice yet there was a certain softness to it. 

Jimin watched him curiously, feeling the heat of blood rushing under the skin of Jungkook's finger. He was warm. Always warm. And Jimin longed for that kind of warmth.

"Okay." Jimin suddenly picked up his blazer, suprising Jungkook. "That's enough." The younger immediately pulled his hand away. His unexplainable urge to trace over all the tattoos were still bubbling inside him. He bit his lip, trying to control his flinching fingers while he watched the last traces of tattoos disappear as Jimin buttons up his shirt. "We got a bit off topic there."

"You were talking about our marks." Jungkook said.

"Yeah. As I said, I've read a lot about marks like these but apparently they have a lot of meaning." Jimin continues to button his shirt, straightening his blazer afterwards.
"Back in the 1600's they used to be a branding for people with magic, a different color for each of the different areas of magic. Because magic people had their own community. Way back before that the marks were used as a mark of shame for relatives of witches who were discovered and burnt. There's a lot more but I won't bore you with them. I think that what this mark generally means is something related to magic or witchraft."

"Oh." Jungkook says, his hand curling around the neckline of his sweater that's covering his mark. "It means we were witches?"

"Maybe." Jimin shrugs yet again. "Hard to tell. It all depends on the place. And suprise, suprise, I don't really know where I'm from."

Jungkook couldn't do anything but nod again. All this information was heavy to digest all at once. It all makes an unsettling feeling in his stomach as if there's a whirpool of powerful wings flapping erratically inside him.

But he pushed the feeling away when Jimin started walking again. He copied the other's steps, falling into another rhythmic pace of left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

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this is pretty short
just wanted to update
i missed this book
i hope you did too <3