Chapter 56

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Jungkook barely realized Taehyung had started singing when the room around him changed and he was back at the house party. Minji's voice was the first thing he could hear clearly. Actually even clearer than he had the first time he had talked to her at the houseparty. She looked a little different too.

A little Uncanny Valley. He was noticing different things about her. The first time his focus had been on her eyes and the conversation they were having, but now he was consciously noticing the features of her face... and actually felt nothing towards her. No anger, no sadness... he was just waiting for Jung- himself to finish talking to her.

"Do you mind if I talk to you for a second?" She paused for a bit, looking right at him, before looking back at Jungkook. "Alone?"

He felt a spike of annoyance. Why was she trying to leave with Jungkook? He and Jungkook had come here together.

Wait, Jungkook? Only now did Jungkook realize that these weren't his memories. They were Taehyung's. He was seeing what had happened at the house party from Taehyung's eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I promised Taehyung we would stay together."

Relief. Jungkook wasn't going to go back on what they had agreed they would do. Even if he had previously been in love with Minji.

They continued talking but he no longer listened. Instead he was looking around. For a second Jungkook spotted the man that had later taken pictures of them but Taehyung barely registered him and continued scanning his eyes over the interior of the kitchen and the other people around.

"You have a crush?! On who? Is she pretty?" Minji's voice had gotten louder so Taehyung's attention snapped back to her.

"Yeah, they are pretty. And I can't say?" Jungkook had a crush on someone? Did Taehyung know them? Maybe the girl Jungkook had mentioned dating? Why had Jungkook not told him about that?

"I don't really have a chance in the first place so it doesn't matter." Taehyung felt a little spike of annoyance. Jungkook was nice. Why would someone not like him?

Minji touched his arm again as she said something and Jungkook... no, Taehyung felt the urge to reach out and slap her arm away. Jungkook had clearly said he didn't like her anymore so why did she keep touching him like that? And why was Jungkook letting her? Why was he smiling as he answered her?

"I hope things between you and Chohee work out!" She hugged Jungkook and Taehyung had to stop himself from hissing. Why was she disrespecting Jungkook's boundaries this much? If Jungkook didn't like her she had no right to touch him.

Was Chohee her friend? Was that why she had come over? To get Jungkook and her friend to date? Humans really were weird. To do something like that...

"You used to love her?" Taehyung didn't get it. Why someone like her? There was nothing special about her. He had thought Jungkook would have been pickier.

"Yeah. But as I said before, I no longer do. As sad as it is, people tend to fall out of love quite easily." Jungkook reached out to hold his shoulder and Taehyung leaned a little into the touch as he followed Jungkook to the main area.

How could someone who had once loved Jungkook willingly give him to someone else? She should have fought to make things between them work. To make Jungkook happy, and yet here she was, trying to push that job onto a friend of hers. That was egoistic. There was no way she had even loved Jungkook in the first place.

"And she... wants you to fall in love with her friend too?"

"Yeah. Because she thinks I could be happier that way." Jungkook was scanning the area with his eyes. Why was she assuming that Jungkook wasn't happy... he seemed to be when he was spending time with Taehyung. Sometimes he was a little overly careful but that was reasonable given how Taehyung had treated him in the beginning.

"Why does she think that?"

"Because she thinks I'm lonely."

Jungkook didn't seem to be. Was he intentionally hiding that around Taehyung?

"Are you?"

But when Jungkook smiled it felt genuine. "No, I'm not."

And then Jungkook disappeared out of nowhere. One second he had been talking about how he and Taehyung could never be together romantically, which was genuinely something Taehyung had never thought about, but then the next second he was gone after telling Taehyung to stay in place.

And Taehyung did. In an attempt to stay away from the other people in the house he squeezed himself into the corner of the room where a little less was going on. He watched the people in the garden jump into the pool and the awful stench of chlorine started filling his nostrils, so he moved farther away from the door, a little more into the corner.

When two girls approached him he had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Hey, you wanna play some beer pong with us?" One of the girls, the smaller one, reached out her hand and put it on his chest. He felt disgusted at her touch but Jungkook had told him that she wasn't doing it to attack him... it was just human behavior. For humans this wasn't her threatening him. She was trying to have sex with him.

"Trust me, it will be fun!" Before he could say anything the second girl grabbed his arm and Taehyung hissed, but she didn't hear him over the music. She pulled him over to a table a few people had gathered around already. There were a bunch of cups just like the one Taehyung was carrying on each end of the table.

"Have you ever played beer pong?"

The girl with the blond hair just kept touching him. Her hand was on his shoulder again as she got way too close. Taehyung clenched his teeth but shook his head. Where was Jungkook? Why had he just run off like that if he had promised he was going to stay by Taehyung's side? He had promised.

Had he gone to meet that girl his ex had told him about? Or maybe his crush? Or maybe he had decided that Taehyung was still too dangerous to meet his best friend. But Taehyung was really trying. He had promised Jungkook he wasn't going to hurt anyone and he really wasn't. So why had Jungkook left him alone?

Jungkook wanted to yell at Taehyung that he hadn't left because he'd wanted to. He had tried to make sure Taehyung was safe... he had tried to protect the two of them from unwanted attention. But he couldn't. The feeling of disgust as the girl clung to him and explained how to throw the ball stayed. She kept touching him everywhere and Taehyung felt like she was burning him. When she grabbed his arm to show him how to throw he had enough. Roughly he pulled out of her grip and quickly moved out of her reach.

He could feel his heart racing as he made his way through the mass of people that were blocking his way to the entrance but there was no end to it. Every meter he worked through the crowd people bumped against him, patted his shoulder or turned to look at him.

His body grew more and more tense. He felt so on edge he just wanted to push them away. He couldn't hurt them. Just push them to make them get out of his way. But that would hurt them. The air around him was filled with scents that almost made Taehyung gag. It was disgusting.

The closer he got to the door the more he felt like the bodies around him were closing in. He just wanted to get out of there. Jungkook had told him to stay in place but he couldn't. He had to breathe. Get away from all these humans touching him with their filthy hands.

And then he broke through the door and out into the fresh air. Finally he could relax his arms instead of focusing on keeping them close to his body to stop himself from instinctively defending himself. The door fell close behind him and Taehyung was finally free from the crowd of people.

And then he bumped into another body.

"Hey, watch where you're..." The human boy didn't get further. Taehyung lifted his arm just like that his life was over. A simple flick of the hand in the right direction and his legs gave out under him. Taehyung had broken his neck. He stared down at the body at his feet, his heart rate spiking once again.

That... Taehyung hadn't meant to kill him. He hadn't wanted to kill. His body had just moved on its own. Jungkook was going to be so angry. Taehyung had promised him. He had to tell him that it hadn't been intentional. But first he had to take care of the...

He looked up and stared straight into Jungkook's eyes. Jungkook looked terrified. His eyes wide staring at the body at Taehyung's feet, his phone still in his hand. The last time Taehyung had seen him this scared had been when Taehyung had almost killed him.

Before Taehyung could say anything, Jungkook turned around. And he just left him alone with the body. Taehyung wanted Jungkook to turn around and hear him out but he didn't.

When Jungkook didn't return, Taehyung realized people could be leaving the building any second. He had to get rid of the body. He stared down at the corpse at his feet and for the first time ever he felt bad for killing a human. Why had he done this?

„You..." Jungkook didn't know what exactly to say. "You actually didn't mean to kill him."

Without consciously making the decision, he reached out and hugged Taehyung tightly. He still felt the anxiety and the bitter taste of all those people around him touching him. "I'm so sorry I left you alone in there. I shouldn't have gone after that guy. That's the reason I left. Some creep was taking photos of us, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn't use them for anything weird."

He squeezed even tighter. "I'm sorry I left like that."

"It's okay."

Jungkook could feel Taehyung hugging him back.

"No, it's not!" He sighed. "I left you alone there even though I promised I would stay by your side. I broke my promise and you..." Jungkook swallowed, not sure if he would offend Taehyung if he said it out loud. "Because of me you got scared. I put you in that position. Because of me you..." Jungkook choked up. It really had been his fault. For more than one reason. "...you killed him."

"I'm sorry." Taehyung was practically whispering but Jungkook still heard him.

"You have nothing to apologize for... I put you in that position." Jungkook had to bite back tears. He was the one at fault for the way all of this had turned out. His voice was a little rough when he continued talking.

"What did you do with him? Where did you take his body?"

Jungkook had to know. He knew he had the blood of that man on his hands. At least he wanted to know where he had ended up.

"He's in the ocean now." Taehyung pulled away from the hug. "He's really far out in the ocean."

"You didn't eat him?"

Taehyung shook his head. "I didn't."

Why did Jungkook feel somewhat relieved at that?

"Why didn't you?"

Taehyung pressed his lips together. "It would have felt wrong."

He pulled his legs into a cross legged position. "I didn't mean to kill him... it's the first time I killed someone I didn't want to kill."

Jungkook felt bad. "Do you need another hug?"

Taehyung looked confused. "Why?"

"Because you look like you could use one." Jungkook chuckled, absolutely exhausted. He still felt sick, especially because now he knew that that guy's death had been his fault alone. "And I could really use one too."

He didn't expect Taehyung to be the one to hug him first and yet he found himself pulled in tightly by the siren. He felt warm against his body and he found himself leaning into the touch, his heart rate finally slowing down. He felt safe like this. Comforted even though he could still feel the guilt eating at his conscience.

"You said you don't want to kill humans anymore... did you really mean that?" Taehyung's hands against his back felt so good. He was being so careful with the way he hugged Jungkook. Like Jungkook could accidentally break if he squeezed too hard.

"Jimin doesn't, and you and Yoongi absolutely hate it... and I have no reason to continue hunting for humans aside from the fact that they are easy to hunt. I can keep myself healthy without. And if makes you start looking less uncomfortable whenever I mention hunting it's worth it."

Taehyung paused for a couple of seconds. "You looked so scared of me today... It made me think."

Jungkook could feel his heart speed up a little at that again. Taehyung was willing to do that for him. He knew it was just because they were friends, but it felt bigger than that. This was a big gesture.

Even if today an innocent man had died... many more would be spared because of him. That didn't mean Jungkook felt any less guilty but there was something good in it to be found.

Jungkook barely noticed when tears of relief started rolling down his cheeks. He squeezed Taehyung tightly. "Thank you... thank you so much." He really thought he no longer had to feel guilty about the fact that he liked Taehyung now.

"No problem..." Taehyung patted Jungkook's back soothingly. Why did this feel so... normal? Taehyung felt so human at that moment. Maybe partly because Jungkook had seen into his head just seconds ago and felt... the emotions Taehyung had felt. Maybe he did think differently from Jungkook, but even then, his anxiety and emotions had seemed so human.

"Why..." Jungkook hesitated. "Humans and sirens are not that different... why do you dislike them so much?"

"I just had some bad experiences with them whenever I tried to... see what Jimin liked about them."

Jungkook lifted his eyebrows in curiosity. "How so?"

"Do you want to see?" Taehyung pulled away from Jungkook's hug and looked him straight into the eyes. "Should I show you?"

Hesitantly Jungkook nodded. Seeing it from Taehyung's perspective... seemed like the best way to understand.

"Yeah, I want you to show me."

A/N

So Jungkook somewhat forgave Taehyung... what do you all think? Should he be forgiven?

Genuinely curious about your thoughts on that and why you think so!

Also one person wrote a comment when I asked what ya'll thought was the reason that said 'reflex' and I genuinely just sat there 'well... this is probably the best way to sum it up💀'

I liked the theories ppl made a lot tho! Especially because if anyone had tried kissing him out of nowhere that person certainly would have died skdbsjd

ALSO I DREW SIREN TAE AGAIN😖 I know it's probably annoying at this point but I'm kinda proud of it so I wanted to share it with you guys. What do ya'll think?