—

Taehyung woke up in the middle of the night.

He had fallen asleep before Jimin had gotten home, not really caring to stay awake for the shorter male to get off work and dozing off around seven o'clock. Jimin slept soundly beside him now though, snuggled into their bedsheets and snoring softly.

Taehyung yawned before smacking his lips together twice, frowning at the sensation of dry mouth on his tongue. He looked to his bedside table and pursed his lips once he saw no glass of water, before sighing and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

He rubbed his eyes, which were now bare without his contacts and sighed softly. Taehyung always made it a point to be awake before Jimin so that he could hide his true self. Sometimes, he would wake up, slip his contacts in, and then pretend to be asleep so that Jimin could 'wake him up'.

It was honestly so exhausting.

There was nothing inherently wrong about Jimin, but having to go through all of this effort to protect himself was making him start to resent the shorter male as a result. If his kind hadn't been so spineless, then maybe Taehyung wouldn't have to go through all of this stress and struggle.

He ran a hand through his messy bed head and made his way over to the bedroom door, before opening it and heading towards the kitchen. It was so wonderfully chilly in their apartment. Goosebumps didn't even rise on Taehyung's skin though all he wore were plaid sleep pants, the temperature was honestly just perfect to him. He sometimes wondered how Jimin could bare it, knowing that perfect for him was quite cold for an average human.

'He must just love me that much' He thought as he walked down the hallway, though his heart didn't flutter as it should of. It just meant that he was doing his job right.

Another yawn slipped past his lips as he switched on the kitchen light, squinting at the brightness as he eyes adjusted. He opened a cupboard and grabbed a glass out of it before setting it on the counter and placing his hand on top of the rim.

Quickly, frost began to cover the previously clear glass, small fractals of ice forming and spreading the longer Taehyung's hand was in contact with the cup. He didn't often get to use his magic due to living with a human, but he indulged in it any chance he could possibly get.

He lifted his hand once the glass was frosted enough to his liking, before walking over to the sink and filling it with cold water.

He leaned against the kitchen counter and took a sip.

Maybe it was the curse of the late night hour, maybe Taehyung was reaching his breaking point, but as he stood there in the quiet kitchen his mind began producing thoughts as cold as his powers.

He was so dissatisfied with his life.

With the routine he found himself in, the person he found himself with, the circumstances that brought him here, the future he foresaw.

He could barely even remember the first few blissful years of his life before everything went awry, he barely had anything positive to cling to. Except for maybe Yoongi, but the lunar witch was just out of his grasp.

He sometimes thought that maybe his life would be better if he had just moved, or hid, or did anything other than put on a mask every single day. But he was still a child, and practically orphaned when he chose his path so it was all he could come up with at the time.

Pretend, pretend, pretend.

What else could he do as a child with a target on his back?

Taehyung let out a deep sigh and shook his head, attempting to rattle the thoughts out of his brain.

He just wished everything was different. He wished that he hadn't trapped himself in this exhausting cycle.

He turned his head to the side and raised an eyebrow when something caught his attention through the doorway to the living room. Why was the lamp still on? It was a simple thought, but it immediately distracted him from the melancholy he had been drenched in just moments before.

He cocked his head before setting his glass down on the kitchen counter and walking towards the light source. It wasn't groundbreakingly odd, it was just a little strange. They never left the light on before calling it a night. Maybe Jimin had just been really tired.

Taehyung passed through the doorway to the living room and was making his was towards the still shining lamp when he completely stopped in his tracks upon passing the couch. He caught it out of the corner of his eye, and it froze him in place when he registered it.

He slowly turned his head and his eyes rested upon something that definitely wasn't there when he went to bed.

There was a person on his couch.

A person, sound asleep, and snuggled up in Jimin's clothes.

The hoodie he wore had the hood popped up, framing his face in emerald green material as he slept. His hair, strawberry blonde, fell against his forehead messily, and there was a still fresh cut on his face just underneath his eye.

He didn't look much younger than him or Jimin, and Taehyung had to assume that the reason he was here was because of his boyfriend.

But why?

Taehyung approached the sleeping figure, now taking soft steps so not to wake him by accident. Why would Jimin bring someone here after work? He wracked his brain for any possible reason, his gaze bewildered as he stared down at the male beneath him.

Jimin had friends, sure, but Taehyung had met them all and this was not one of them. Had he met someone new? Taehyung stewed his thoughts, trying to remember if Jimin had brought up anybody new lately.

When he remembered, his eyes widened.

'A young guy, he's living alone.'

'His name's Jungkook.'

Taehyung's breath caught in his throat. He had to be overreacting, he just had to be. Jungkook was a common enough name, this couldn't be the same person he was associating it with.

'Your mother had her baby, y'know.' His father's bitter tone rang through his ears as he slowly reached down. 'Congratulations, I guess. You have a brother. She named him Jungkook.'

A brother he would never meet. A brother he never wanted to meet. A brother that stole away his mother's love and left a family broken.

A brother that was a product of an affair.

'Please.' Taehyung thought silently, slowly taking hold of the hood that was covering part of Jungkook's face and neck. 'Please, don't be him.' His hand shook as he hesitantly pulled the material back, his breath caught in his throat as he hoped that he really was just being presumptuous.

Of course though, life couldn't be that boring.

Taehyung's eyes landed on something that made him snatch his hand back as if the material had burnt him. Something he had been looking for, but prayed he didn't actually find.

Standing out starkly against the tanned skin of the male was unmistakably a witch's stamp. It was a deep green, like a tattoo, which would've been fine if it matched what Taehyung knew a green witch's marking to look like. It didn't though. It looked very similar to his; a snowflake incased in a diamond frame, the only difference being what looked to be a fern leaf nestled behind it.

A combination of ice and nature.

It had to be him.

Why? Why here? Why now? Out of all people Jimin could have met why did it have to be him? Taehyung had honestly assumed that Jungkook and his mother had perished during the slaying, and though the thought saddened him at first he took it as a sign that he needed to leave his old life behind.

It had been nothing but heartache. Taehyung accepted never knowing what his brother's face looked like.

But now he did. He was standing right in front of him.

Did this mean his mother was alive as well? Did he even want to know that? There were so, so many questions running through his mind as he stared down at the body beneath him - his breathing uneven and his hands shaking.

Should he wake him up? What would he even say if he did? Did he even want to talk to him?

Honestly, not really. Jungkook was a physical manifestation of his mother's betrayal. He was a stark reminder of the worst point in his life, and the beginning of where everything went wrong.

If he had never been born, Taehyung might've been able to have a normal childhood.

"Fuck." Taehyung swore softly, his chest feeling tight and his stomach feeling nauseous as he took a few steps back. "Why are you here?" He never wanted to meet him. He had been so good at pushing down and forgetting his past up until now, he had known that if he ever met Jungkook that would all go down the drain. "Why are you alive?"

It was such a harsh question, but it was all he could think. When Taehyung believed he wasn't alive it was so easy to just forget. Forget, move on, and rebuild his life. With him here, he felt like a child again, grief bubbling up inside of him as he observed Jungkook intently.

He looked like her. He had his mother's nose, her lips, and her high cheekbones. It was so heart wrenching, he had to tear his eyes away when he felt tears beginning to well up in them.

His mother. Their mother. How could she?

What did Jungkook have that he didn't? Why was he so much more loveable, that his mother abandoned her original family because of him?

Taehyung watched Jungkook stir in his sleep, the witch's eyebrows furrowing as he let out a soft whine. A bad dream, maybe, but Taehyung was still so shell shocked he could barely react.

"Mom." Now that got a reaction out of him. The word left Jungkook's lips, sounding so broken and forlorn as it met Taehyung's ears. He watched as Jungkook's bottom lip quivered. His breathing had become uneven, and his hands were gripped into fists. He was dreaming about her. He probably had so many more memories with her than Taehyung did. "Mom, stay here." Jungkook sniffled. "Don't go out there."

Taehyung's eyes widened. This was definitely a bad dream, but was it based on reality? He had believed his mother was dead but never got the confirmation.

A tear slipped past Jungkook's closed eyelids, rolling down his cheek and slipping off of his chin. He had begun to tremble, hands fisted in the fabric of the sweater he wore while he looked as if he was trying to shield himself. He was turning into a mess, really; trembling, crying, breathing ragged. He tossed and turned, burying his face in a pillow at one point and sobbing something Taehyung couldn't make out.

Taehyung could do nothing but watch in disbelief. Had Jungkook seen it happen? Had he watched their mother die? Had he been there in her last moments?

It seemed as though the answer was yes, as the witch's state was getting worse and worse the more time that ticked by. It was a miracle he hadn't woken himself up yet, his face becoming soaked with tears as his hands clawed at his chest. He was a bundle of grief, unravelling and falling apart right before Taehyung's eyes.

Taehyung felt bad, but also mad at himself for feeling that way. This was the kid who stole away his mother. The start of a forged family and a forgotten one. He didn't want to feel bad for him. He had cried just the same when he realized his mother was truly never returning.

He hated him. Hated him, their mother, and the man who had whisked her away. He hated all of them and the sham of a family they had created.

If anything he deserved to feel sadness, after all of the pain Taehyung had gone through.

No mother, a father so distant he was barely there before he left too, a childhood filled with so many tears.

All because his mother loved Jungkook more.

The logical part of him knew that he couldn't put all of the blame on Jungkook, because it's not like the boy asked to be born; but he just had all of this anger and nowhere to put it. With Jungkook right in front of him, he felt like the perfect place to direct it.

He snapped out of his thoughts due to the sound of a loud gasp, and he looked back to Jungkook to see the male finally waking up.

He looked like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and scared, his face still wet with tears as he was ripped from his dream. His hands clutched his chest and his breathing was still ragged, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he had been dreaming.

His eyes shone like amethysts, glassy as he blinked a few times to clear the tears from his vision.

Then, he looked beside him.

And for the first time, the two brother's met eyes.

—

a/n:
I updated out with a bang today too im on quite a roll with this whole writing thing <3

- Charlie :)