"Why does my heart cry?
Feelings I can't fight
You're free to leave me, but just don't deceive me
And please
believe me when I say I love you"

El Tango de Roxanne - Moulin Rouge
(the girlies KNOW I loved this song/movie/play b4 TikTok, not that it matters but STILL) (Omg I can't stop yapping I started listening to this and writing and OMG ITS SO JERA ITS THEM)

Spice - O - Meter: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ oh shi oh 💨🛠️🔥 THE SPICE O METER IS BROKEN 🚑 lol is this hyping it up too much!?

Aera
🥀

"Pompous ass. I don't need to be original when u see right through you."

Love, he had called her. Oh, the irony.

Aera's blood still pulsed wildly in her veins. All she could think about was watching that stunning woman place her mouth on his, a mouth that had been hers alone a week prior.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw herself at the man and turn his clothes into ribbons as he had done to her skin.

Aera felt defeated. He had spoken about needing her earlier in the day, and then within hours, he was kissing another woman. Within hours, he was handing a stranger his blood like it was nothing.

Like they weren't already bound through blood.

It was the highest offense, and he did not seem to care. No. He looked pretty content with himself, as he ordered another glass of brandy.

"And was it you see Aera?" He made conversation like she wasn't ready to rip out his throat, instead staring at the amber liquid in his hand before taking a sip.

She wondered if he would carry the same tone if she walked away and sat on one of the young sailor's laps. Her lips twitched at the thought.

"An idiot who thought with his dick instead of his mind." She reprimanded him without reproach. "Blood holds power, life." Her voice trailed off, before burning up again. Jimin's eyes caught her own, his attention pulled back to her. "Meaning. Giving it out willingly is like asking for someone to send a stake through your heart. Either you know how foolish it was and don't care, or you planned to help Nox in some way right in front of my face."

Aera should thank herself. She had given him the reigns to go find another woman and he had. That was her answer. The Jimin that could want only her, the Jimin that would fill her with excitement and trepidation, the Jimin that could fight her one moment and whisk her heart away did not exist.

So why did she want to erase the last hour? The last decade? She wanted to cut him open and pull out any thought of another woman from inside of him. There, I said it. Her skin felt so hot, she was sure it would soon melt. She quickly gestured to the bartender to grab her some wine, and he carefully poured her a heavy glass.

"Oh, you forgot one. I could have given her the blood as an open rejection of our bond, as I gave a part of myself to another. Unless you have another accusation to spit at me, I suggest you continue to seek information, preferably away from me." Jimin fixed the cuffs of his crisp shirt, barely sparing her a glance. He settled himself on the bar's stool, readying himself for the rest of the night.

No apology. No denial. The slight moments of humanity are gone. It was like their shared night never happened. Aera shouldn't be surprised, it was the same tale every time. Draw her in with honey, and snap! His jaws would bite around her, drawing blood. He would retreat and set the trap once more.

Aera got caught every time. It was fun for him, to watch her let down her guard every time just for him to strike.

It did not even matter that they were pereche. Of course, he wanted her body, the bond made it so. But his heart was empty for her as it had always been.

The kiss replayed in her mind. Over, and over. Over and over and over until the words started seeping from her lips, a venomous stream.

Aera scoffed, her stomach churning and her chest hollow, "You expect me to think anything else when you're quite horrible?"

"I am not always horrible." He stressed the word, taking a bigger sip of alcohol. It made his pink lips shine, as he swiped around the soft skin with his tongue.

"You need to be horrible," Aera said the first part more quietly to herself. It was a keepsake for her to remember. "That is what you've always been and what you always will be."

It did not matter he seemed to be made of the heavens himself. If his brother had been the eclipse, he was the sun when it faded just enough to be admired.

Aera had barely noticed the world filling with light, because there was him. A subtle glow kissed his cheekbones, the bride of his nose, and his jaw. The same gold as the sky, with his skin and his angular features. The rays reflected in his white hair, his dark eyes the shadow cast from the earth below. When he looked up at her, a knowing expression in his eyes, her breath caught. All that darkness within him, held by a celestial vessel.

"Just because you don't think you're irredeemable does not mean I am."

Snap! His teeth bit into her. From the glaring challenge on his face, he was unwilling to let go.

"What are you droning on about?" Aera refused to bite back. Increasingly growing anxious, Jimin seemed to delight at her collected manner.

Fuck.

What was he going to say?

When they were younger, they enjoyed playing the game called whispers. They gave each other a week to run around the castle and try to collect as many secrets about each other as they could. They had to choose one secret they believed to be true to divulge to the other.

If it was true, they won. If it was false, they had to let one bite the other as punishment...

They were so young then. So naive. And still, Aera felt that familiar edge of excitement in her stomach at the prospect.

"I heard a whisper." Jimin started, looking a little too proud of himself. His silver hair fell over his eyes, messy and improper. He hated when he didn't look put together, but it did unsightly things to her witnessing it. Aera crossed her arms waiting, as the man sat forward. His eyes went up and down her body, resting on her eyes. "You think I don't know?" His smile curled dangerously, "You think I am not aware of why Sorina was able to escape her chains the day of the massacre?"

Aera's blood ran cold. She grabbed onto the seat before her, afraid she was going to fall.

"Enough." Her voice cracked.

Jimin did not stop, instead, he leaned in. Consuming what was left of her feigned righteousness. He tore through it, blood splattering the both of them.

She looked down at her hands and swore she could still see the blood coating them from when she lifted her mother's body into her arms.

"Before the rest of us left on our tour, you took Jeongguk with you to the throne room. You thought it would be funny if the daughter of the moon was able to get out of them during a public mocking. You had him brittle the metal just enough, that it would seem like someone tampered with them. You would then have me take the blame in front of the entire court."

Aera had been one of the first to walk into that ballroom. The first to look around and see all the dead bodies that littered the floor. Back then, it had made her stand on the edge of a cliff once a day, deciding whether to live or die. She did not know that Sorina was kind and that her parents had been a part of a usurpation. It changed some things.

Not the murder of her parents, not the guilt that made a home in her heart.

Still, she wished she made the chains break quicker.

"Stop."

Nightmares end when you wake up. She believed that only she and Jeongguk knew what had occurred, and it seemed like he had forgotten after discovering his mother strung from the ceiling. Jimin was forcing all of them to the surface.

"Only, that's not what happened was it?" Jimin furrowed his brows, clicking his tongue. "True, or false? I bet from your reaction that I am right."

"I should have left your lousy, abysmal being in that prison cell." I should have never let you pull my hair. I shouldn't want you. I should have never liked your smile. I should have never thought for a moment we could be friends. I should have wanted the kinder brother. I should hate you. I shouldn't have let you invade my thoughts, I should have let you go. "I should have-" Aera was shaking so badly, that her wine spotted the table. She took a deep breath, unable to speak, knowing if she tore out his throat she would have to kill every other human in this room.

"I do not blame you for it, I never would. You blame yourself." He said like he was reading her page by page. Licking his thumb, and turning the parchment. "Point being, you and I are more alike than you can withstand." He made a show of it, holding up the glass of alcohol between them. Both of their faces reflected. "At least I can stand to look at myself in the mirror, and I do not make any excuses for the viper staring back."

Aera slammed her wine on the table. "More, please." She did not look as the bartender listened to her command. She kept staring at her reflection, now rippling within Jimin's dark eyes.

She stood up, now taller than him as he sat down. Looking down on him she sauntered forward. I am not a child anymore, I am not a teen, and I am not your plaything. I am your pereche, though it kills you to be, so obey my wish to be left alone. It sounded exactly like she wanted in her head, detached. A warning. Instead, she said blankly, "Damn you."

She did not see Jimin's eyes follow her as she walked away, but she felt them. Tracing the back of her thighs, the curve of her spine. Her neck inexcusably tilted to the side, wanting to feel it there too.

During their terrible conversation, the bar had filled in. The world filtered back into her senses, a flood after the silence. Music played from the corner, both men playing a violin and a piano. Young sailors placed themself at the bars, and tables, and stood with drinks in their hands, laughing at nothing in particular. Women of the night in shorter skirts placed themselves in dark corners, waiting for a man to bite. Aera thought about leaving them a bag of money and telling them to run away from all of this, but a voice interrupted her.

"You are different from the rest, aren't you?" The voice wasn't unpleasant.

Aera rolled her eyes at the overused and misogynistic line, before painting a suave smile on her face. She turned a quarter, her profile visible to Jimin. She made sure to even block him out of her peripheral after she felt his stare burn across her cheeks. "What gave you that impression?"

The man was blonde, his skin tanned from the deep seas. His brown eyes smiled at her, seemingly genuine as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "Your dress covers your knees. You hold yourself like you're a Queen. I don't recognize you at all, trust me I would remember that face." He smiled, and Aera felt nothing. "Why don't you sit with my friends and me? Your drinks will be on us."

Aera turned, just enough to see Jimin angled towards her. His hips were wide as he leaned against the bar, his hand wound around his brandy. She snapped her attention forward, smiling brightly at the man.

"I would love to join you."

"Perfect." The man stumbled, shocked she said yes. The man gestured to the table behind him, and the four men that now gained their attention. His friends were amused, nudging each other and whispering as she walked over.

The blonde man sat down in the single chair that was open before thinking. He looked up at Aera apologetically, before gesturing to his red-headed friend. "Aaron, move-"

"Oh, no need." Aera sat on the blonde male's lap. She turned her head, making sure to capture his eyes, "This is fine with you?"

"More than fine." The man was delighted, his teeth in full view as she settled on his strong legs.

A glass broke in the corner near the bar. It was so loud, that no other human seemed to hear the sound. She ignored it.

Aera forgot all why she needed to speak to others in the first place. Hours, days, months it felt like sitting in that cramped bar talking about nothing that mattered.

Fuck you, Leila. Fuck you Taehyung. She thought to herself, as she took another shot of measly human alcohol. Fuck you all for sending me on this useless chase of a god, and their faithful servant. Honestly, she did not care if they found Nox or not. If the gods knew what was good for them, they would fuck-off.

The man whose lap she sat on wrapped his arm more tightly around her. It was cheap, but it felt good to be wanted. He told her his name, and she was not listening. Too busy laughing at nothing and dealing out cards.

Maybe she could stay here. Maybe she never had to go back to the castle. She looked around at the men's red, whiskey-ridden faces. The music swung on, and people breezed past her as they danced. None of them were afraid of her, none of them would laugh if she fell.

Her smile faltered, as she held onto the last playing card in her hand.

Aera could start fresh and begin a life without the influence of her parents, or the preconceived notions of her peers. Leila and Lily would miss her, maybe, but they would eventually move on.

There was only one glaring thing keeping her anchored to the shore.

Would I be able to forget him?

Oh wait, I can't. He is my pereche, and I am bound to him until I can find a way to sever us. Aera almost laughed at the irony of it.

"How about we take this upstairs." She felt hot breath in her ear, and she curdled. The man underneath her saw it as a shiver of delight. "You would like that, wouldn't you."

No. I have filled my days with men to distract from the one I shouldn't want.

Aera just wanted to be alone.

"I don't think so." Aera started, removing his arms from her waist. The man looked confused, not angry, thank god. She didn't want to have to clean the human's blood off of her dress, "I should-"

Go to our shared room and lock the door. I should run away and let Jimin find Nox himself.

"Come on, stay for a few more drinks. They won't hurt you." The good-looking blonde offered. She wished he would have just shut his mouth.

Aera stood up and away from the table. Some of the sailors groaned, telling her she ruined all the fun. They were lucky she was too distracted to say anything back.

She took another step back, distracted and a little tipsy. Shocked when she ran into a cold body.

"Another drink for you? I am parched." Jimin's voice said from behind her. All of her hair stood on end. Her back went stiff, her hands held into tight fists. "Better yet, let's dance."

Aera had no choice unless she wanted to massacre an entire bar. It sounded good, but she doubted she would get a warm welcome anywhere if she did so.

The woman turned with a huff wrapping her arms around Jimin's neck. He pretended to wince, as her movements were overly aggressive. She bared her teeth at him, forcing their bodies closer to the makeshift dance floor. Luckily for them, the music had slowed down and they didn't have to get close to others.

"Careful there." Jimin laughed into her ear. She scented the sweetness of bourbon and his tongue and wanted to lean closer. "You'll make me spill my drink."

Aera scoffed, noticing the arm that wasn't wrapped around her waist was also holding a drink.  How resourceful.

She tried not to pay attention to having his body pressed against hers once again. Her soul delighted in it, taking what they would not give one another. She felt a burst of energy, and a primal urge to keep him attached there forever. It started in the pit of her stomach and then shocked her in waves to her fingers and toes. It was a strange sensation that felt like excitement, as being pereche only amplified what she felt before.

"This is the first time we have ever danced together," Jimin commented after a few more moments of angry silence.  He looked down at her, and she avoided his gaze entirely.

She still felt his dark eyes on her profile, taking her all in. Probably to relish in just how much he was annoying her.

The Immortui decided to prod her darling pereche back. "As much as you threw yourself at other women tonight, you seem to hate seeing me with other men."

She wanted to accuse him of things she would of other men. Like he only cared now because he felt like she was his property. As much as she detested Jimin sometimes, that didn't feel right. No, it felt downright slanderous.

It all came back to him caring when he felt like he was lost. Sitting on that man's lap after Jimin had her for a night was a sign he had not won Aera over in the slightest.

"Hatred is only a drink away from lust," Jimin said softly.

She caught his starless eyes, and her stomach dipped. She had asked the question a million times, but she hadn't wanted to know the truth until now.

"And do you? Hate me."

He kept her eyes locked on his own. Swaying her skillfully to the sound of a lilting fiddly, while lifting his free hand to his mouth. The man sipped his drink slowly, carefully. He licked any remnants of liquid from the rim of the glass.

Aera felt it in her core.

Jimin smiled, their bodies moving back and forth like willow branches. The warm firelight of the building turned him into dusk, where the sun was orange at the tree line. Now that Aera knew what it looked like, that was all she could see him as. Golden and ever-fading. She felt Jimin begin to play with the ends of her hair.

"Deeply." The man proclaimed to her ardently.

Aera knew his answer wouldn't be any different, even with their newfound connection. It should have hurt less.

"I do not want to dance anymore." Aera lamented as if she were bored. She pushed away from the man, from his embrace.

Jimin made it easy, but for a second she wondered if he didn't want to let go. His grip around her waist lingered for a second too long before he stepped away too and pointed to an empty table darkened with shadow, hidden away from the festivities and the lights.

"Fine. But we should sit and talk before we go up to the room."

Great.

Aera sat down across from him, only because the night couldn't get any worse. She leaned back on her chair, stabbing her knife into the wood beside her.

Jimin eyed the knife warily, lifting a brow.

"Plan on using that?"

"Hmm, not at the moment. It's there just in case."

"Fine, keep it out. I'm not afraid of a little knife play."

Aera groaned, pushing back on her seat and holding onto the table so she didn't launch herself at him in an attack. "I am leaving if you can't just spit it out!"

Jimin laughed, and the sound curled around her thighs. A single dimple showed between the shadow and the candlelight on his face.
"Fine, fine. I won't hold off any longer just please, sit."

Aera placed herself back down with a huff. She would be lying if it didn't give her a sick thrill that his eyes traced along the lace hem of her midnight black gown. The color of his eyes. The color of her feelings for him.

"What?" Aera confronted him, laying her fist flat on the table. While he contemplated his words, she took a sip of his bourbon.

"So, I should explain myself," Jimin said, not taking his drink back from her. Instead, his fingers tapped along the wood of the table. He was nervous, why? "I am not interested in that woman, nor she in me. She had information about Nox."

Aera betrayed nothing with her expression. She held the glass to her cheek and smiled sweetly, "Mhmm. Did you exchange information while locking lips? If so I better sign you up for a circus and make money off of you while I can."

Jimin rolled his eyes, "If you don't care it shouldn't matter." He looked at her waiting for an answer. Her silence disappointed him, but still, he continued. "It would befit you to know that apparently, the Priest has already fled this city. The Somnum Exterreri, Nox's followers if you recall, are planning to ambush us. Oh, and we are supposed to visit the old Temple by the sea for answers."

"So we came all this way for a person who isn't even here?"

"Yes." Jimin shook his head. "Maybe they just wanted to get rid of us."

"Just you. I was collateral." Aera commented dryly. "Won't you tell me what truly happened?"

She didn't have to specify. Jimin knew she was referring to the manipulation of his mother and Nox. He had turned down the god during this request.

Jimin stayed quiet, turning his head to the side.

"What? Are you afraid of people thinking you aren't entirely vile? Trust me I'll vouch for your horribleness even after you admit that you weren't entirely in control of yourself."

Jimin slammed his hand on the table, his eyes growing darker as he stared up at Aera. She could see a thicker darkness forming around his shoulders.

"How are you so sure of that Aera?" Jimin narrowed his eyes on her, spraying her wide open. "You never did quite tell me how you convinced them that I wasn't myself. You were the one who helped them with that awful plan instead of killing me right?" His breath grew shaky as his fury rose, "You were so sure of my innocence that you threw yourself in harm's way. And you know what I did?" Aera could barely breathe as he held her stare with his own. He shook his head, his eyes growing glassy as he leaned forward, "I flayed you, with no hesitation."

This is all too much, too real, too close to the truth.

"You're acting as if it's out of character." Aera feigned humour. "You've probably been waiting your entire life to do that to me, and finally found your chance." Aera leaned forward onto the table, just enough so that their noses did not brush. "You hate me."

Jimin's smile back at her was unkind. He tilted his head, eyes shining from the alcohol. "You hate me too. Why? You always ask me, and I answer. Still, you have never given me a good reason."

You know why you rat. 

"I always have. You were like a buzzing insect around the prince, never leaving his side. You got his attention when that was all I wanted." Aera took his bourbon back and took a sip. She was going to need a little more truth serum. "You pulled my hair during tutoring. You stole my rations of blood. You made me feel like a silly little girl for even daring to have affection towards anyone. For wanting a friend."

Jimin laughed, an unearthly sound. He undid a button at the top of his blouse, letting more of his chest show. "From what I remember, everything you did to me was worse."

"Was not!"

"Great argument, Aera. But I remember, you were heartless." 

Jimin cradled the spot on his chest, where he possessed none. 

Aera shook her head, "Give me one thing I did that was more horrible than the schemes you conjured." 

"I told you earlier." Jimin shook his head as if she was too stupid to remember. "But I will entertain you with more. Yes, I stole your portion, but you replaced mine with rat blood."

Aera held back a laugh. "And?"

"What about the spider under Lily's pillow? What did she even do to you?"

"I don't remember," Aera answered truthfully, giving Jimin a blank stare. "She must have pissed me off." 

Jimin sat forward, his gaze growing more accusatory by the minute. "What about setting that maid's hair on fire? Taehyung losing his compass before we went on an important, much-needed hunt? Using blood magic to prevent other women from coming into my room? That took me about four months to undo, imagine the dry spell I went through."

The first, Aera had done after the maid refused to set Jimin's bone after he broke it when they were eleven. The second, Taehyung deserved it because he told Aera she could not be on the council until the other older men let him take over completely. The last...Aera had no good excuse for it.

 She remembered one of the neighboring villages coming to the castle when they were 16. She remembered one especially pretty red-headed girl disappearing into his room went she went to go bother him. 

Still, none of what he said compared to what he had done to her. 

Aera lifted a brow, tilting her chin up arrogantly at the partial prince. "You suggested the plan for me to join with Garnett after the prince ended our engagement."

The light air of humor disappeared around them. Aera almost regretted bringing it up again, watching the way Jimin's smile slipped silently off his face. Was he hurt? She told herself she did not care. No matter his intention or how it happened, it was still true. It was the first step in the cataclysm that began her adult life. Aera took another sip of bourbon, using the burn of liquid to wash away some remorse. 

He nodded his head in surrender. She wondered if he would fight back, and once again claim innocence she did not believe it. She wished he would. 

"What if some of my reasons are the same?" Jimin answered finally, his eyes on the table. They leaned in, both elbows on the wood, and his sweet scent much closer. 

Aera leaned forward, tapping on the shell of her ear. "Hmm? Stop speaking in riddles, it doesn't befit you."

She had no idea just how much would change when the moron opened his mouth once again. 

The man leaned closer, much closer than she got. The bridge of his bumped along hers, and she took a shaky breath as his eyes flirted between her mouth and her eyes. His irises shone, frenzied as his chest rose and fell faster and faster. Kiss me, and I can forget everything. She had little time to regret pushing him before his satin-like words bit into her flesh. 

"Maybe it's because you were always buzzing around the prince like a fly. Maybe it's because I had to agitate you to look in my direction. Maybe stealing your rations made you furious and I liked watching your face grow red from anger because it made your eyes shine like sea glass-" Jimin's lips brushed against her own before he pulled away, his eyes screwing shut in frustration. He shook himself out of it, sitting down in his seat fully and away from Aera. When his eyes opened once again on her, they were darker than she had ever seen them. All the last vestiges of his hatred were given only to her. "Maybe one day you will realize you are the only person I have ever tried to be good for." Stop. He kept speaking, his voice all thorns as they wrapped around her neck. "Maybe I suggested Garnett because Taehyung offered my name for you instead. And I knew that I would be the last person you could ever want. You would rather perish. Is that all?" He sipped the rest of his drink, slamming it on the table. 

He got up swiftly, already several paces away and his back turned from her before she could take her next breath.

"Jimin." His name came out like a torrent of rain, all at once. 

Do not leave me, not again.

He could hear her, she knew it. Above the crowd, above the noise of the rest of the world. She saw him pause in his gait, for a moment. 

Do not leave me as you ripped the earth away under my feet.

"Goodnight."

The last of him fell away into shadow. Like that, he disappeared from her sight, as he headed to their room.

Aera was left, alone and gripping the table like it was the only thing keeping her upright. 

Her breath was coming out in quick, painful huffs. A deranged laugh bubbled up in her chest, but it fell away to sobs just as rapidly. What was there to be happy about?

"We are bloody fools." Aera gritted through her teeth, out loud. "I am a bloody fool."

What he said did not erase their history. They had been cruel to each other, in ways neither could entirely take back, nor did they want to. Aera could barely sift through what he had told her, and what it could mean. But it was different, it was a vulnerable piece of him that he had been unwilling to give up. Aera had berated him, and when he tried to tell her the truth, she had thrown it away like it meant nothing. 

Aera went through her memories, sifting for truth or just another plot against her.

When she accused him of planning her bond with Garnett, he had not defended himself. Instead, he had looked at her wounds. He had asked if she was alright. 

Knowing what she knew now, it must have hurt him a thousand times more than the being he offered her hand to had taken advantage of her. He was not responsible. What had happened was not his fault, it was a horrible attack by a horrible person.

No, he was trying to save her. From the consequences of marrying him. Because that is all Aera ever told him. That she hated him, hated him, hated him. Why would he believe anything else? 

She chose to believe he hated her all the same. He did a good job of it too. But he was right, even without his antics, he was truly the only one to pay attention to quiet little Aera when she first arrived. It was Jimin who kept her alive in those endless days of loneliness, even if it was due to his constant prodding. She looked forward to coming up with new insults to make him scour, and new pranks that would turn into a fight. When she was engaged to Taehyung, being named the fiancé of a Prince was an isolating experience. While at first, he left her alone too, he had begun to bother her again. Why? Why? Because she was fading away like a ghost, and he cared enough to try and pull her back to the land of the living. 

Could my judgments of him cloud his actions? Shit. Was Jimin right, when he said Aera only hated him because she forced herself to? He had been a friend, all this time. He had done the kind thing, in his unkind ways. And she repaid him with unkindness of her own. Until they both could not take it anymore. 

Aera went through his words once more. Nowhere did he say that he denied himself from marrying her because he wanted to. 

The Immortui sprang up from the table, not caring as she knocked over several glasses. Nothing mattered as she pushed through a throng of bodies, not caring as she felt bone against bone. 

"Sweetheart, where are you going?" The man from earlier breathed into her ear, attempting to pull on her wrist.

She heard a faint cry as she ripped away from him. "Piss off." 

Aera ran up the stairs, every step closer feeling further and further away. The shadowed hallway swallowed her as she made her way to the last, maroon door on the right. She stood before it, shaking. Knowing that whatever happened when she opened the door would change her life forever. Good, or bad. 

She rested her head on the door, feeling guilt and affection squeeze at her lungs. 

I am sorry I planned your murder under pretenses. I am sorry that I planned on seducing you after giving up on killing you, just to ruin your heart some more. I am sorry for being a bitch. I am sorry for not noticing when you were caring. She wanted to say, so she placed her palm on the door. She swore she could hear the soft patter of his heartbeat. Don't worry, we're even. As always. He would say.

Aera wanted more this time. 

It is what gave her the courage to turn the door knob and step into the room.

"Knocking would be appreciated," Jimin called to her as if nothing occurred between them. As if he didn't rip the air from her lungs, ruin her religion, change the rotation of the sun, and stop the tides. 

He lay on the bed, strewn across it like some lost artist. He wore his white blouse entirely unbuttoned, his abdomen and chest turned into stone by the moonlight. His trousers hung low on his waist. The man looked out the window, not sparing her a glance as she closed the door behind her. 

A single red blanket and pillow was placed on the floor. Aera laughed, walking closer. The idiot forgot that evil people wouldn't have even thought to give her anything at all, even if they were planning to take the bed. 

Aera skipped over Jimin's setup on the floor. Her chest felt tighter as she sat on the edge of the bed, sharing some of the moonlight. She leaned on one hand, placing it close to his own.

Jimin's chest fell more rapidly, but he kept his chin up. Allowing her to rest alone the contours of his profile, and just truly admire him for once. Not caring if underneath the beauty were all fangs. 

"You can't just say all of that and run away," Aera said calmly. 

It must have been the lack of anger in her voice that made him turn to look at her. He still possessed his vexation, and she finally recognized it for what it was. The same protection that she always adorned herself in around him.

Armor. 

Jimin's fingers twitched, the ones closest to hers. His jaw clenched, his eyebrows lifting together. "Why not? Come to laugh at me? Draw blood and mock me for things that I felt as a child? I'd rather avoid your smugness. I know what is true already."

Woah.

Immediately, she felt light-headed. She drew back further on the bed as all the holes and threads filled themselves in. 

Fuck, holy fuck. He just admitted it. Aera told herself to stop hiding, to stop giving in to the fear of the unknown. This was the truth that she could not run from, scarier than if she had been alone in her feelings. Because now she had someone else to lose. Again that feeling of elation rose in her throat, threatening more tears. 

Their talk was not over yet. Aera would not lose herself. She would forever remain a pragmatist.

All those moments of jealousy, she hadn't imagined. All of those pranks, and tricks because he wanted her attention. Admitting his obsession with her. That is all she thought it was, obsession and the unyielding need to win. Still, Aera could not wrap her head around it, that he could want her just as much. 

She looked at the ethereal man just a few breaths away. He stared back at her, defenses still at the ready. She has tasted his blood, his skin, and his lips. They tore each other apart. They defended each other against all other elements. She had taken every single one of his ruthless words as scripture. 

 Maybe she should have looked at him, where she found the truth before.

Eyes don't lie. 

"It doesn't make sense. None of it. You've always despised me." Aera shook her head, almost whispering it herself.

Jimin eyed her wearily, "Because if I told you, would it have changed anything?

"I can't change the past," Aera told him, not unkindly. There were things he could not take back either.

His eyes hardened, "Right. So there is no point in rehashing my foolish thoughts as a boy-"

"How do you feel about me now?" Aera interrupted him, leaning forward. They had always done this, and it made a maze of meaningless words neither could escape from. She would not let him create another path away from the end. 

This time, the man was genuinely pained. He could not even hide it. His mouth parted, his expression mortified as he took in her hair as it fell over her shoulder, and the soft smile on her face. Too soft, too soft for her. He sat up, his shirt falling open further, his hair mussed. He drew closer so he could find the hidden intention behind her eyes, "Are you mocking me? Aera, this is cruel. Even for you. Have I not suffered enough from revealing so much to you already?" 

Jimin's eyes flashed with recognition, and he began to explain himself. He thought Aera was just being nice so she could trap him. "I thought I was giving you a choice after Taehyung ended your engagement. Not taking it away. I thought I thought for once I wasn't being selfish, if I was, gods I would have." The man paused, letting the fury fade away from his voice. His eyes finally softened as he took in Aera's face, and she wondered how she had been so blind before. "I knew I would not make you happy. I don't know you anymore like you've said, but I know that much."

"You're right, you don't know me." She said with a smile.

She got up from the bed, walking over to the door. She rested her hand on the doorknob, not turning it. Waiting. 

"Aera."

His voice on his lips sent shivers throughout her body. She finally embraced it, sinking into the feeling of falling from the sky in his presence. 

"I would have said yes."

The room was filled with shadow. There was no longer a doorknob for her to grab onto to escape. Aera's smile only grew wider, and her long-lived foe pulled on her wrist and slammed them both into the wall behind them. 

"No, you're not running." Jimin panted his entire body pressing into her own. His eyes were wild, an animal and his voice just as desperate. The man had managed to grab both of her wrists, holding them above her head. One of his thighs rested between her own, and she was sure he could feel the heat of her. "Not after you tell me that. You're lying, you must be."

Aera's expression melted, a lake thawed in spring. She let her voice fill with every apology she could not say, "I'm not."

"Is this another game?" Jimin's eyes glittered with pith. Aera fell back from the shock of seeing the truth of his feelings for her in his tears. His forehead fell on her own tenderly as he nuzzled himself into her cheek while keeping her pinned to the wall with just his hips. His tone was depraved, "I cannot handle it if it is, I forfeit. You win, you finally win."

Goddess blessed, any other moment and she wouldn't have let Jimin hear the end of it. 

"Jimin—" Aera laughed out his name painfully. Years lost between them, "How did you not know?"

"Aera, Aera." He repeated her name against her neck, his lips warm. He groaned into her skin, before inhaling her scent. "You're fucking killing me." He pulled back, needing to see into her mind. "How did I not know what?"

Aera let her body weight rest further on his thigh. His eyes never moved away from her own, his hands tightening around her wrists to keep her upright. "Come on. You're the one who said I was fooling myself."

She saw everything in his expression, his eyes widening slightly. He had always spoken his desires, and his wishes aloud. He let her think he was being a raunchy rake, and using suggestions to taunt her further. 

Jimin never thought he was right. He was just as clueless as she was. It would be adorable if it wasn't so fucking infuriating. 

"This is real?" He asked her again. 

Aera rolled her eyes, grinding her hips into his. "If you don't stop being dramatic and talking instead of taking me to bed I'll-"

Jimin roughly crashed his lips onto hers, silencing the rest of her words. Aera could barely breathe as he pressed her further into the wall, and she could hardly care. She arched into him, as he continued to hold her wrists with one hand.  The other wrapped around her waist crushing her to him as he devoured her. He lifted his thigh tighter into her center, making her cry out into his mouth. He took the opportunity to take her tongue into his mouth and suck. He was an unyielding force of nature, and Aera was ready to break with him. Words carried between them, I want you, I want you. All this time? You're killing me. You are my end. You are everything. Aera could no longer tell who uttered what.

The man grabbed at the back of her dress wildly, ripping the lace without a single thought. It tore like the pages of a book, as he began to read her. His fingertips trailed lightly down her arms as he took her in wholly with his lips, breaking against the shore and soothing away the particles of sand. A tormented torrent, he shed his skin with every kiss. I need you. He told her as his hands shook in its path to the center of her chest. You want me to. The thought only increased their fire, threatening to overtake them as he avenged her lips for not speaking the truth sooner. 

"Damn you Aera." Jimin's glare at her was all half-hearted vengeance. Something like love, as he pulled the rest of her dress away from the front of her body. "I wasn't sane before, I was mad for you." Aera's heart lulled and skipped when he placed his swollen lips to her collarbone, dragging them down to her chest as he looked up at her, that same madness he spoke about clear in his eyes. "Now I will be insatiable." 

"You think after all I have told you today, that I am not the same?" Aera choked on the last of her words, as his lips wrapped over the pink, peaked part of her flesh. She practically combusted as he ran his tongue from her breast on the way to the skin caging her heart. 

He looked at her, smirking as he let his teeth elongate. Aera nodded, giving him the honor, her center pulsing with arousal as he scratched lines of blood into her skin. "I plan to gorge myself on you, and to fuck you thoroughly." He licked at the red blood on his lips, smiling like a beast. "As punishment for not telling me you wanted me sooner."

Aera scoffed, the sound turning into a moan when licked the valley between her breasts. Her hands found their way to his silver hair, pulling. The sick fucker liked the pain way too much. 

"You're one to talk?" Aera was losing some of her flame when she realized his kiss fell lower, and lower. The man placed himself on his knees, a cocky glare in his eyes as he waited for her to be done mocking him. "I never wish to touch you. You are a terrible kisser. No man would ever want you. He will never want you. You said absolutely nothing when I accepted my engagement to your brother. I didn't even want to." 

Jimin's eyes turned from the midnight sky to a looming morning, "Say that again."

"I did not want to accept the engagement."

Jimin nodded his head slowly, pulling the last of her dress from her thighs. He hooked his finger around her underwear. "Why?" 

Aera's cheeks heated. "I was worried that I wouldn't be able to play pranks with you, or be your friend. All you did after that was ignore me, and act crueler than before." 

Jimin lifted a brow, raising goosebumps along her flesh as he pulled the last material separating their flesh from her legs. Her breath caught as the man leaned forward, kissing her upper thigh and running his tongue along the flesh. Her thoughts became muddled with anticipation, his closeness being what she craved. "What were you expecting instead?"

She took in a shaky breath. "I expected you to be my first kiss. I expected you to go to Taehyung, and tell him he could not take what was not his."

Jimin did not lose any of his heat, instead, it melted into a passion. His hands held the outer parts of her thighs affectionately, as he lifted himself to press a floating kiss on her navel that erupted her stomach into butterflies. "I wanted to." He promised onto her skin, wishing he could warp time instead of shadow. "That is why I begged you for the truth, even then I thought you might be lying. That you were just doing your duty, and you began to like me too" Jimin's kiss lingered on her skin, and Aera brushed away some stray hairs from his forehead. She felt the silk beneath her fingers, holding onto the memory. "I lost hope when you told me it was what you wanted. Because who am I to deny that from you? I left you alone because I could not stand-" The man paused, looking up at Aera. Letting every weak feeling he had for her rise to the surface. 

"Kiss me now. Be my last." Aera said, cutting the ropes of uncertainty that still lingered. 

Jimin's face lit up, and stars scattered across the sky. He could barely contain his masculine smile as mischief brewed within his gaze, "Much obliged." 

Aera cried out with pleasure when his lips engorged on her center. Her hands went to his hair, pulling harshly once again. The man growled with laughter, mumbling for her to pull harder as he feasted on her. 

"Wrap your legs around my shoulders," Jimin told her, his mouth glazed as he looked up at her.

"You're crazy."

"Yes, we just established this." 

Aera obliged, placing her legs over his shoulders. When the man held her comfortably, both arms wrapped around her thighs with his head situated in between, he stood up. Aera's head fell back against the wall as he pressed, forward. Standing and kissing between her legs. It was just about the hottest thing she ever experienced and witnessed. Once again taken by the juxtaposition of his heavenly features and his demon-like grip on her body. It was like he needed no time to breathe, swirling his tongue around her most sensitive part and flicking when she could barely take the sensation. "I can't take it anymore," Aera said, her skin rippling with intense heat.

Jimin gripped her thighs tighter in his hands, making his veins stand out. "Yes, you can." He licked a long stripe up her center, making more sweat erupt at her brow. She felt like she was folding in on herself. An unrecognizable, whine left her mouth and Jimin laughed. "I have you just how I want you. Soft, needy, and incorrigible." His eyes grew darker as he placed his mouth just above her center, licking the shining skin there. "Only for me." 

Aera moaned, her body going limp as her hips moved against his mouth. He encouraged her added friction, his eyes fluttering closed as she used his mouth. Her body fell off rhythm as her climax peaked. 

The man hummed into her skin, begging. "Come on my tongue." 

"I'm-" Her words fell apart into endless moans. Jimin pressed her harder into the wall, holding her upright as she writhed out her euphoria onto his dangerous mouth. 

He let her slip carefully down the wall, her body still floating in the clouds when he caught her in his hands. He enveloped her mouth, bloodthirsty. She tasted herself and him on his lips, and it sent her into a frenzy. She grabbed at his blouse, thanking the goddess above that it was already unbuttoned. She ran her hands down his bare shoulders, wanting to engrave his smooth skin into her own. His flesh, her flesh. She wanted to be sewn together. When she ran her hands over the smooth muscles of his back, on the way up she dragged her sharp nails over the dips and valleys of the expanse. Jimin's lips parted underneath hers, and she ran her tongue over his teeth. Curses mixed in with her name, and the man wrapped his hands under her thighs and splayed her across his torso. She ground herself into his hardness, causing more curses to leave his mouth before he let her down gently on the bed.

Aera tried to sit up to take off his trousers, but he placed a spread hand on her chest.

"Give me one moment."

He looked her up and down, a reverence appearing in them now. "I can say it now."

"Say what?" Aera asked coyly. She lifted herself onto her elbows, running her other foot up her knee sensually. 

The man grew more shaken, before answering. "That you are the most divine woman I have ever seen." He fell to his knees onto the bed, his hands tracing along the curve of her waist, down the line of her stomach. His lips trailed over her thighs, to her navel, and all the way up to her ribs. He kissed each of them. "Just purely magnificent. Like the forest after a rain. The air just before the thunderstorm. It scares some people." Jimin's smile turned into a panther, "But I like being frightened." 

"For once, I don't want you to stop talking," Aera responded, trying to hide her embarrassment at his open appreciation of her. She knew he thought she was attractive, but this? 

Jimin unbuttoned the top of his pants, his smile stretching. It showed the long expanse of flat skin, and Aera's mouth began to water. "Care to take these off? I made it easy for you."

Aera crawled to the edge of the bed, batting her eyelashes. She wasted no time revealing the rest of him. Jimin could not hide his desire, as she tortured him just as he had. She kissed along his hips and the sides of his thighs. Everywhere but where he needed her the most. She enjoyed the control, as she sunk her lengthened teeth into his hip bone.

The man snarled, lifting her and setting her on her stomach on the bed. "Can you take me like this?" Jimin growled in her ear, losing control by the second. He would always ask, never assume.

"Yes." Aera gasped, grinding her backside into his length. Their skin was molten as his chest rested on her spine, their legs tangled. He moaned savagely as she continued to wind her hips into his, getting him impossibly harder. 

"Thank the gods you want me," Jimin whispered into her ear, licking the shell. He lifted her hips just enough to angle himself at her opening, and Aera moaned at the ghost of the feeling. "Because I need you."

He entered her from behind, and they both moaned. Jimin almost let his weight fall on her, weak by the sensation of her wrapped around him. He found his strength, angling his hips so that he would fill her to the hilt. Once she relaxed, he sent his hips forward. Aera grabbed helplessly onto the bed sheets, feeling his abdomen rolling against her back as he entered her. She felt electric, her body coiled tightly as she met his thrusts. The man leaned down, kissing the crook of her shoulder as he moved inside of her. He lifted one hand to her breast, kneading it from behind and using it to pull her body harder into his own. 

"Fuck. Fuck." That is all Aera could say, losing her mind from him. She placed her hand over his on her chest, just needing to hold onto him. 

The man lost it, driving into her harder. He lifted his chest from her back and lifted her hips higher up. Then the man wrapped her hair around his fists.

"That's not my name Aera." The man lined himself up to her, and Aera whined. She moved her body back to take him in, but he laughed darker and pulled his hips further away. "Who is fucking you?"

"Please."

He placed himself at her opening, letting it touch. Aera nearly screamed, sensitive from all the pleasure he was giving her. Her mouth fell open wordlessly when he pounded into her once, pulling all the way back out.

"Whose fucking you Aera?" He grew more unhinged as he asked, not even withholding himself from her anymore. He thrust into her, hard and slow. "Tell me, I want to hear it from your arrogant lips." He pulled on her, her spine curving more as her profile was brought into his view, cheeks and lips reddened. "Come on, with that pretty, dirty mouth of yours. Say my name."

"Jimin." Aera rasped out, her eyes meeting his own. She ground into him further, biting her lip. "Mine." 

His midnight eyes darkened, his mouth parting as she continued to take him faithfully. The man stopped, pulling out of her and she almost started sobbing.

That was before he flipped her over on her back, her ebony hair a waterfall behind her. The man grazed over her face, taking in everything about her at this moment. 

"I need to see you."

He parted her thighs easily, as she opened for him. 

Jimin leaned down kissing across her heated skin. He grabbed both of her hands, kissing the knuckles before placing them on either side of her head. Then, the man who she had always seen as detached and too rough for intimacy, threaded his fingers through her own.

"I've never done this before," Aera said softly, peering up at the beautiful man shyly. "I never held hands while-" Her voice trailed off.

Jimin's eyes smiled, but his plush lips remained parted. He was a little breathless as he hovered over the goddess below him. "Neither have I." 

Aera's chest swelled with devotion. They had saved some piece of themselves for each other, in some way. 

Jimin looked between her eyes and her lips, before capturing her own. This kiss was different, slower. He took his time learning every line, and every curve. Tasting her and making her feel what he had kept from her for too long. Apologies turned into soft traces of his tongue, and his promises were written on her bottom lip for safekeeping. He let her consume him slowly, their kiss growing more fervent with every touch. 

When he entered her again, they moved as one. She whispered his name on his lips, and he took her confession into his heart. As they moved closer to the edge, Aera felt her soul settle. Lost in desire and worship, they fractured together. Jimin held onto her hands, letting her nails pierce his skin. Their mouths parted over one another's, grazing and vowing to never break their promises.

Jimin let his chest rest on her own, embracing her as they settled from their shared rapture. They clung together, unwilling to let go. She liked his weight on her body, and she felt herself nuzzling into the vanilla scent of his pulse point on his neck. He ran his fingers over her arms, up and down the skin. So lightly, like she was still breakable despite his scheme to remold her into metal. It was not an insult, she realized, as he played with her dark hair between his fingers, learning all the ways it appeared red in the light. He just thought Aera deserved to be handled with care, not that she needed to.

Jimin breathed heavily, though there was a dark weight that seemed to be lifted off of him. Aera did not realize the man had been crying, not until she saw the glittering pith-like scattered stardust on her body when they separated.

It was not for long. The man wrapped her in a blanket, before facing her towards him on her side. He pulled her close, embracing her with his arms and tangling their legs together. Bound, as their blood would suggest. Aera looked at the wet stains underneath his eyes and pulled him closer. He played with her hand, running over her knuckles and the length of her elegant fingers as if it were some fine painting. 

She knew how he felt since they were one and the same. It was hard to be the villain in everyone else's story. 

It should feel wrong, to be with Jimin. Her proclaimed enemy, holding her close enough to hurt her. She felt his heart pound against her back, she knew it was the only place she belonged.

Jimin took her open hand and pressed a soft kiss to the center of her palm.

"You don't hate me. Not one bit." Aera whispered against his lips. The man looked at her like she was the only being responsible for his agony.

 It hadn't been the first time he gave her that look. It was the first time she recognized what it truly meant. 

"No, Ihrin. Though I wonder sometimes it would be much easier if I did."

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WELL DAMN. I need a goddamn break after writing that piping hot scene. DAMNNN >>> okay but it ate tho? 

(A/N: This chapter....has me SPEECHLESS HAHAHHHHAHAHA.

I mean there is too much to say myself, sooooo Thoughts? Reactions? Questions?

Thank you all so much again! This story is noootttt over yet!