Chapter 74

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Jungkook, Taehyung and Eunji arrived when the sun had already gone down. The three of them had gotten there by car. After all that way Eunji could use Jungkook's uni schedule as an excuse as for why she was showing up to the party as late as she could.

Eunji was very clearly still pretty shifty around Taehyung and stuck to Jungkook's side, always keeping her distance from the siren. It really wasn't surprising. While Taehyung clearly cared for Jungkook, Eunji didn't really mean anything to him, aside from the fact that he knew that Jungkook really cared for her. Jungkook trusted Taehyung enough to know that that alone should have been enough for Taehyung to treat Eunji with respect... but Eunji couldn't know that.

Taehyung on the other hand seemed pretty damn awkward with Eunji. He kept glancing at her like he was trying to think of something to say, but ended up coming up empty. It was precious, although painful, to watch.

Jungkook had been pretty clear about why they were here to Taehyung. There was no reason not to tell him. Even if they were just here to help Eunji out, they could still enjoy the evening together. After all, there were drinks (just lemonade for Jungkook since he would still have to drive later), food, and even marshmallows to grill over the fire.

"I'm going to go say hello to the birthday kid... Jungkook, I need you to stay close by. No quick detours into the ocean with Taehyung." Eunji warned him, raising her finger like she was lecturing him. Jungkook shook his head in amusement.

"No worries. It might come as a surprise to you, but I'm still not the most motivated to get into deep bottomless waters with Taehyung, even if it has been a while since I almost drowned." He chuckled, but then instantly felt bad when he could see Taehyung shrink a little next to him. Now, after everything, he actually seemed to feel bad for that. Well, it somewhat made sense given that their relationship had changed since then. Still, Jungkook felt a little glad that Taehyung did care about almost killing him.

"Good. See you later. And keep an eye on Taehyung. No consumption of any guests." Jungkook giggled, but Eunji sent him a warning look. He sighed in exasperation. "Of course he won't be eating anyone. He has been nice lately."

Eunji furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion. "I'm keeping my eyes on you." Then she left to a different area where a group of people were talking. One of them likely the guy who was crushing on Eunji.

"So what do you want to do?" Jungkook asked softly, while turning around to Taehyung, who was staring out at the ocean. The siren blinked, seemingly taking a second or two to come back to Jungkook with his thoughts. Then he looked around, searching the area for anything that looked interesting.

"How about the marshmallows you mentioned I should try. And shores?"

For a second Jungkook stared at Taehyung in confusion. What shores was he talking about? But then he realised.

"Oh, s'mores. Yeah sure. Let's introduce you to smores." Jungkook pulled Taehyung over to the camp fire.

They sat by the fireplace for a while, grilling marshmallows over the open flame, Jungkook chatting away like usual while Taehyung listened to him with a soft smile on his lips. Maybe Jungkook hadn't realised before, since he had been too focused on it being impossible for Taehyung to like him. But now that he knew... Taehyung's expression suddenly felt quite different. More than once Jungkook had to avert his eyes because he could genuinely not take the soft smiles Taehyung was sending his way. It was just too much for his weak heart.

Which was fucking weird. Jungkook had been in love before. Had dated before. Had really cared about Minji. But it had never been like this. He had never felt this much like an idiot in love. Like his feelings got too much.

He tried distracting himself. "Are you not comfortable with the fire?"

The whole time they had been sitting there Taehyung had seemed a little on edge. More than he now usually was with people. His eyes kept flying over to the open fire like it was suddenly going to decide to swallow him whole.

He looked a little surprised though that Jungkook had caught on. But he also didn't try to deny it or make excuses. Instead, he poked his empty marshmallow stick into the burning wood at the bottom of the campfire.

"I don't know fire all that well... it's a little scary." He looked over at Jungkook with an almost sheepish expression at being scared of something. Jungkook had to consciously stop himself from pinching Taehyung's cheeks. This was precious.

It made sense, really. Taehyung had spent all of his life underwater. How was he supposed to know fires that well? There was no such a thing as a candle or a campfire underwater. He probably understood fires even less than Jungkook did.

"Do they look threatening to you... fires, I mean? You come off like not a lot can hurt you. I mean, when I tried to stab you..."

Taehyung had the nerve to grin cheekily at that. Jungkook rolled his eyes but continued. He knew the siren in front of him was ridiculously overpowered.

"It didn't do anything. I remember you touching the blade, but it didn't even cut you. And then of course, you had to show off your strength and just shatter the blade. Still rude as fuck by the way. That was my favourite knife you destroyed."

Taehyung chuckled, rubbing his thigh as if to console him, before looking back at the flames. "The skin of my hands is tougher than that of the rest of my body... I caught your knife because you might have actually given me a tiny scratch if you got to my upper body." Taehyung was still definitely teasing him. Oh, a scratch. What an absolutely deadly and horrific wound.

"As for fire... it's not that bad as far as I know. It just stings a bit and I really don't like the heat... it can't really hurt me though." He reached his hand out and held it over the flame. Jungkook's first reflex was to try to grab Taehyung's arm and pull it back, he really didn't want Taehyung to hurt himself while trying to prove a point, but the siren caught his hand before Jungkook could stop him.

"It's seriously okay. No worries." Jungkook watched in horror as flames licked all around Taehyung's hand. He was straight up holding his hand into the part of the fire where it was bound to hurt. But nothing was showing on his face, so Jungkook forced himself to relax and instead glance around to make sure no one was watching. To his relief there really wasn't anyone. Just groups of people further down the beach, drinking and playing volleyball with a glow-in-the-dark inflatable ball.

When Jungkook looked back at Taehyung the siren pulled his hand back out of the flames. It must have been in there for at least twenty seconds. Jungkook was absolutely certain that if that had been his hand, it probably would have been burnt so badly that even a visit to the hospital wouldn't have helped.

Taehyung's skin on the other hand looked completely fine, safe from a hint of pink that faded so quickly that Jungkook wasn't sure if he had just imagined it because he had been expecting to see something.

"See... all fine." Taehyung smiled, putting his hand on Jungkook's. It felt hot in his hold. Such a weird thing...

"You are such a weirdo... do you know that?" Jungkook patted Taehyung's hand, feeling bad for it being put through such things by Taehyung. Even if he was a siren... what if he actually got hurt by something like this one day.

It was a little weird to feel this protective of a siren that likely could have a tank roll over him and be fine, but Jungkook couldn't help it. Even if Taehyung was basically immortal... he could still get hurt. Even if it was harder.

"I'm seriously okay. Stop worrying." Taehyung chuckled, bringing his hand up to Jungkook's cheek, making him look back up at his face. There it was again. That soft smile that made Jungkook feel so many things at once.

When Taehyung leaned in to peck his lips his mind went blank for a second. He didn't think he would ever get used to this... Taehyung just kissing him. He'd done it a couple of times this last week and every single time it left Jungkook a stuttering mess.

Maybe it was because of how surreally beautiful Taehyung was... just his siren magic. Just a magic creature kissing Jungkook. Nothing more. (It totally was a lot more than that.)

Probably furiously blushing he turned back to face the fire and grabbed a new marshmallow. Anything to busy his hands. "You want another s'more? I will make you one. You need to try one of mine. They are amazing."

Taehyung leaned forward, supporting his head on his hand, looking at Jungkook and smiling that smile again. "Sure."

They kept their eyes on Eunji, exactly as promised. Jungkook made Taehyung some drinks that weren't too heavy on the alcohol and introduced him to some other snacks, but for the most part they just sat around and talked. Taehyung shared some early childhood memories of his with Jungkook. Back when Jimin hadn't even been born yet. Places Taehyung had been to. Things he had tried. Stories he himself had heard.

It was a little surreal because all of the things he told Jungkook about had been more than a thousand years in the past. Taehyung had been there for pirates and Vikings. He hadn't seen many probably, but it was still weird to hear first-hand encounters.

After a while, Jungkook realized that maybe drinking almost one whole liter in soft drinks hadn't been the best idea when he was meant to stay in place to watch Eunji and the guy who, at this point, was being... just the tiniest bit creepy.

Since they had arrived three hours had passed and the guy hadn't left Eunji's side even once, even though it was his birthday. Whenever Eunji would go to talk to anyone else, he'd follow her a minute or even less later and join whichever group she had gone to.

"Hey Taehyung, could I ask a tiny favor of you?" Curiously Taehyung lifted his head, clearly waiting on instructions.

"Could you keep an eye on Eunji for me? I need to take a leak and I don't want her to be all alone while I'm gone. If he does anything suspicious or if she looks really uncomfortable just go up to them and get Eunji out of there... and no hurting anyone, okay?" He watched as Taehyung looked over at Eunji, who was talking to the guy alone now. This was probably the worst part to leave but Jungkook's bladder was really starting to hate him now.

"Sure."

Jungkook had no time to doubt his decision and instead leaned closer to Taehyung to ruffle his hair before rushing over the bushes that were a little further down the beach. Taehyung on the other hand stuck around, his eyes fixed on Eunji as she talked to the guy, who was probably a year or two younger than her.

For a little bit, Eunji and the her admirer seemed to be talking relatively comfortably. At least aside from the fact that Eunji generally seemed to be having her guard up a little around him. Likely because of how pushy he had been all evening.

But then the air seemed to shift when he grabbed her arm, trying to get her to follow him further down the beach, farther away from everyone else. Eunji tried to decline politely at first, but he clearly wasn't too willing to take no as an answer. Instead, he continued trying to get her to follow him, tugging on her arm.

When she started looking around, clearly searching the place for Jungkook, Taehyung got up. It was pretty obvious that this was the exact situation they had come here for. And Taehyung had promised Jungkook he was going to take care of this while he was gone.

"Hey." He joined the two of them. For the very first time, Eunji seemed relieved to see him. She tugged on her hand again and this time the guy actually let her go. Taehyung tensed up a little when she moved closer to him, but he consciously reminded himself that it was okay. She was allowed to come close to him. He had promised Jungkook to take care of her.

"Could I have Eunji to myself for a bit? I have something I need to talk to her about." Taehyung was basically trying to think of something Jungkook would say in this kind of situation. He was pretty sure it sounded a little stiff coming from his lips, but it got the message across either way.

"Actually we were just talking... you're kind of interrupting something." The guy tried to get closer to Eunji again, but she casually moved a little more behind Taehyung. Before the guy could get too close to Taehyung he stopped dead in his track. Maybe it was something in the way the siren was looking at him. Even a drunk human got the warning in his eyes.

He had let Eunji into his space, but he wasn't going to let that guy come any closer.

He opened his mouth to talk again. He still had to keep up the appearance of being human. "Sorry, but it's really important. We'll probably have to leave soon, so you should probably say your goodbyes."

He could see Eunji enthusiastically nod in agreement in the corner of his eyes. He still felt a little on edge with how close to him she was standing, but she didn't give off any threatening vibes.

"Yeah, we really have to get home soon. And I'm also really tired. I didn't sleep at all last night." Eunji was talking so quickly she almost stumbled over her words. Taehyung's eyes fell on her hands. They were shaking a little.

The guy looked like he wanted to complain again, but then he was smart enough to leave it be. Taehyung led Eunji back to the campfire. He could tell that she was still pretty nervous, but this time around not because of him.

Still, Taehyung felt almost surprised when Eunji sat down next to him, rubbing her face, clearly trying to loosen up the anxiety. He had seen Jungkook do the exact same thing before.

"Where did Jungkook go? I actually got a little nervous there when Jungkook was suddenly gone." Her voice was a little shaky, but for the first time, she was talking to Taehyung normally... and not looking at him like he was going to just decide that she would make a good snack any second now.

"He had to go pee... asked me to keep an eye on you." He looked down at the ground, feeling awkward. He wasn't really used to talking to anyone but Jungkook. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... thanks to you. I appreciate you coming over." Eunji sounded just as awkward as he felt. "Sorry for being so rude last time we met."

"It's okay... and pretty fair. You're taking it a lot better than most people would." Taehyung got it. To humans, he was something scary. Of course, they would look out for each other and not trust him.

"You're not a dick." Eunji said that like it was meant to be a compliment. And especially like she herself had just figured it out.

"I'd like to think I'm not." Taehyung chuckled, looking straight ahead into the fire. It was slowly getting weaker, no one had bothered to add wood to it.

"Jungkook has a good hand at picking people. If he likes you, you're not."

Taehyung wasn't sure how much credit to give that statement, given Jungkook had been somewhat forced into acting nice with him at first. Things hadn't quite happened the normal way with the two of them. Still, it was nice to hear Eunji say that.

"Thank you."

"I'm still a little suspicious of you." Eunji was certainly Jungkook's friend. They were quite similar in a way. Painfully blunt. Taehyung appreciated that though. Way more than the way some people would just lie.

"Fair." Taehyung smiled at Eunji a little. It wasn't like he trusted her either. He trusted Jungkook and Jungkook trusted her... that was the main reason Taehyung didn't try to get her to move away even though she was sitting way closer to him than he would usually be comfortable with.

In a way, they were both giving each other a chance because of Jungkook.

"Eunji? What are you doing here? Oh no, did he try something?" And with that Jungkook was back, slipping in the space between the two of them like it was the most natural thing.

Jungkook was a little surprised at how quickly the air between Taehyung and Eunji seemed to have cleared up. It was still quite awkward, but both were trying to actively participate in the conversation. Even if it was a little sparse on Taehyung's side, thoughthat was just Taehyung being Taehyung. He still struggled with casual conversation a lot, but at this point, Jungkook had gotten so used to monologuing that he barely noticed.

Another hour had passed when Jungkook spotted Minji coming over to them. He instantly felt his mood dropping a little from the high that watching Taehyung handing Eunji a marshmallow on his own had given him. Them getting along was basically a done deal at this point. At least he hoped so.

Minji was strolling casually, clearly trying to play her body language off as relaxed, but he could tell how nervous she was. She was brushing her hair out of her face every couple of seconds.

Jungkook could see Taehyung tense next to him. It was more than obvious that he didn't like Minji the tiniest bit. Whether that was because of a little bit of jealousy or just the fact that she had hurt Jungkook in the past he wasn't sure, but Taehyung's dislike was more than just glaring. Even Minji seemed to get more nervous when Tae fixed her with a cold expression.

"Hey." She stumbled a little over her greeting and lifted her hand slightly awkwardly. "I- I just wanted to say goodbye. I'm going to drive back to Seoul tomorrow and it felt a little weird to just leave without saying anything."

Was it bad that Jungkook felt a little relieved? It was just so awkward to keep running into her. He didn't hate her... at least for the most part, but he also never had any idea how to treat her. To greet her when he saw her? To just ignore? What to talk about if they greeted each other? It was just too weird.

"Well. I hope you make it home well." At least that he meant genuinely. He still hoped for her life to go well. Just like he had found Taehyung, maybe she would find the right person for herself.

"And thank you for not hating me, even after everything that happened between us."

"Eeeh. Are you sure I'm not?" He joked, smiling a little teasingly.

Minji rolled her eyes but smiled as well. "Just shut up."

Jungkook chuckled. "Yeah, I'm also glad we got to at least talk things out."

Minji let out a sigh of obvious relief. "I hope you'll find someone you'll be happy with."

"No worries. I already have." He nodded towards Taehyung, who was interrupted in his act of glowering at Minji.

Minji laughed. "I can see you have only told the most positive things about me." She waved at Taehyung, who scrunched up his nose in disgust before pointedly looking away from Minji to instead say something to Eunji, who chuckled and whispered something back.

Minji didn't let the reaction bring her down. "Anyways... yeah... that was basically everything I wanted to say. Goodbye. I hope you'll be well."

Jungkook nodded, taking it as it was. "Same to you. I hope..."

Before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by some angry shouting. He turned his head to find a guy he had never seen before marching towards them. He was gesturing wildly, his words so slurred from the alcohol Jungkook had a hard time making out what he was saying.

Minji's face fell when she looked over too. The guy was looking at both her and Jungkook, his face contorted in anger.

"...going back to this asshole? And I was coming here to surprise you too." Minji seemed visibly horrified. Jungkook wasn't sure what the two were to each other, but right now Minji seemed anything but happy with him pulling the attention of everyone around them on her.

"Shin... you're drunk... it's nothing like that." Minji was clearly trying to deescalate the situation, but 'Shin' was obviously not in a mood to listen. Instead, he grabbed Minji's arm roughly, making her wince.

Jungkook wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but he did know that Minji certainly wasn't trying to get back with him and even if she was... this dude had no right to manhandle her around like this, no matter what she had or hadn't done.

"Hey, don't touch her like that." Jungkook grabbed the arm of the guy, pulling it off Minji's, but of course, now the attention of the drunk angry boyfriend or whatever he was was on him.

The guy aggressively pulled his arm out of Jungkook's hand and he easily let him go. At least now he was no longer grabbing Minji. "You... you don't have the right to tell me anything." He pushed at Jungkook's chest and Jungkook tensed. Not because he was scared of the guy.

No, he was worried because Taehyung had gotten up, clearly not liking the guy touching Jungkook at all. One misstep and things could get ugly very quickly. Jungkook really needed to deescalate the situation.

"Look, dude. Nothing is going on between me and Minji. She was just saying goodbye."

The guy laughed dryly, once again pushing against Jungkook's chest. "Yeah sure. Tell that to someone who's dumber than me. I know who you are. Her oh-so-great ex. Bitch won't stop mentioning you. Of course, she would jump you at the next best chance she got." Next to him Minji visibly looked uncomfortable. The guy pushed him again and Jungkook was growing tenser and tenser. He could tell that Taehyung was losing his patience. He was clearly holding back, otherwise he would have been at the other guy's throat already, but Jungkook knew the second this escalated to a fight this guy was dead.

"We were together for a while. It's normal to mention someone like that. But we really didn't do anything. I'm already in a relationship." Jungkook tried again, but the guy clearly wasn't buying it, pushing Jungkook one more time, before lifting his hand, seemingly ready to throw a punch.

"Bullshit."

Jungkook did the only thing he could do to stop this guy from dying, even if he wasn't a fan of that option at all.

Without a warning, he punched Shin in the face.

He clearly hadn't been able to prepare himself, because the punch more than just landed. His fist met Shin's cheek and he went down with one hit. Dropped flat on his ass like a stone before falling onto his back. Jungkook's hand ached a little as he stared at the man by his feet.

Had he really punched him that hard? Sure, he had put some power in that punch, but not nearly enough to knock a dude out.

On the floor Shin's eyes blinked open in utter confusion. Jungkook sighed with relief when he saw Taehyung relax a little next to him, taking the last step towards him and petting his shoulder.

"You okay?"

Jungkook nodded, feeling a little confused himself. The adrenaline was still rushing through his body, his heart still racing. "Yeah yeah. I'm fine. Thank you for not... you know."

Before Taehyung could answer, Minji seemed to return from her frozen state, staring at the guy at their feet. "I'm so sorry. I have no idea what got into him." She looked over at Taehyung and Jungkook. "He isn't usually..." She stopped herself from making excuses, instead looking down at the man on the floor.

Jungkook knew the look in her eyes. Whatever it was that had been between the guy and Minji, it was very over.

Jungkook couldn't stop himself from joking to make the situation a little less tense. "I must say, you downgraded by quite a bit from your previous boyfriend."

Minji grimaced like she was in pain. "Tell me about it."

Shin groaned, clearly in pain. "Minji..."

Jungkook still had a hard time believing that that had been one punch. Maybe Shin was a lot weaker than he played himself up to be. Or maybe it was the alcohol.

Minji fixed Shin with her eyes, her expression ice cold. "You're leaving. I have no idea how exactly you got here... especially given how drunk you are, but you're leaving the same way. Sleep at a hotel or something or go back to Seoul. It has nothing to do with me."

The guy at her feet seemed to sober up pretty quickly. "No. Wait... I was just..." He shut up when Minji fixed him with her glare again. "Shut up. I don't want nor need to hear it."

Seemingly hoping to get into Minji's good graces by actually doing what she was saying, the guy got up and staggered away. Looking over his shoulder at Minji multiple times, who simply shook her head at him.

"Are you guys... together?"

Minji shook her head again, clearly still feeling pissed. "Not even. We went on two dates and I wasn't entirely sure what to make of him... but this certainly answers that question." She let out a breath, her shoulders relaxing a little. "I'm so sorry this happened."

"This for once is something you really aren't at fault for. That guy being a massive dick has nothing to do with you."

Minji looked at the ground, clearly uncomfortable. "It's my fault I'm apparently a bad enough judge of character to not weed out guys like that."

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. He really wasn't the one to talk about bad taste in men, given he was together with a killer siren.

"Well, I hope you get home alright and he won't give you any more trouble." Jungkook checked to see if he actually was gone, but it certainly seemed that way.

Minji nodded. "Thank you for defending me."

"No problem." Minji smiled one last time at him before saying her goodbyes. She waved not just at Jungkook but also at Eunji and Taehyung, both of which didn't seem too excited, but at least Eunji was polite enough to wave back.

"Yeah, I still don't like her. She is trying too hard to make things seem like they are completely okay between the two of you." Eunji declared as soon as Minji was out of earshot.

"You are entitled to your own opinions... but I honestly appreciate that I got some closure with her. At least I can now think back to our relationship without a bunch of messy emotions... instead I can focus on this adorable siren."

Jungkook turned around and booped Taehyung's nose. Taehyung hissed a little, very clearly not liking the treatment. The distaste didn't last long though, because just seconds later he had wrapped his arms around Jungkook's arm. Jungkook could tell that Taehyung was no longer in the mood to be social whatsoever.

"I think it's time to leave... it's getting late and today has been intense." Jungkook said to Eunji. His best friend clearly got the message, nodding.

"Yeah. I honestly want to get into my bed as soon as possible too."

Taehyung stayed quiet, sticking to Jungkook's side. At this point, Jungkook was used to Taehyung's close-to muteness once he had enough.

"Wanna walk home?" Jungkook asked, this time Taehyung. The siren nodded enthusiastically, clearly liking the idea.

"I'll call a taxi for myself. Mind sticking around till it comes around?" Eunji asked and Jungkook nodded.

"Of course."

Taehyung stayed cuddled up to Jungkook the whole way home. The warm body by his side helped Jungkook finally let go of the tension the situation had caused. Jungkook couldn't help but wonder if Taehyung was the one in need of comfort because of the stress he himself had felt or if he was comforting Jungkook. Maybe a little bit of both.

Whichever of the two it was, Jungkook reached out to pat Taehyung's head. Taehyung deserved it. He had been amazing today.

A/N

Sorry for the long break! I was rlly busy with uni but I finally got around to writing again🥺💜

I feel like I keep repeating myself but I promise you guys no matter what I'm not abandoning this book! I'm just busy!

Can't wait to continue writing tho🥺

Now onto important stuff... TAE GOODEST BOY😭💜💜💜

I swear I want to squish him so bad, but I fear that would lead to murder 😭

How did you guys enjoy the chapter?🥺