Bargain (Not Met) (JungHope)

Merger: Demon and Manager

Breakfast was a casual affair to any bystander that happened to witness it.

To two of the three occupants, however, it was psychological warfare.

"Did you want extra rice with that, Jungkook-ssi?" Taehyung questioned, cupping his phone's speaker with his hand.

"Yes, please," Jungkook replied meekly.

Hoseok gave the demon a hard shove from where he sat beside. Jungkook startled and gave him a look that was both panicked and wounded. Hoseok grit his teeth and leaned in close to hiss an impatient, "When do you plan on telling him?" before giving a pointed jerk of his head toward Taehyung, who was still chatting cheerfully with the delivery-service employee.

Jungkook sent a pained side-eyed glance toward Taehyung before focusing back on Hoseok. "He's on the phone. I can't just interrupt him-"

"Alright!" Taehyung abruptly exclaimed, forcing Jungkook to grimace and Hoseok to snort at the irony. "Thank you! Have a good morning!" Taehyung hung up and turned toward the two occupants of his dining table. "Well, he said it'll take twenty minutes to get here, so what do you want to do in the meantime?"

Hoseok sighed, crossed his forearms onto the smooth surface of the table, and leaned his weight forward. He offered Jungkook an expectant gaze.

The demon's eyes screamed, Don't do this to me, and Hoseok's grin replied to the plea with a lofty, Go get 'em, tiger.

Jungkook sighed, and Hoseok could see his will escape along with the breath.

"Alright." Jungkook gave pause, finally meeting Taehyung's curious eyes. "Well, I guess I should start from the beginning."

With a slight startle, Hoseok realized that their eventual explanation was going to be achingly familiar to the one that they had that fateful morning a week prior.

--

Hoseok had given Jungkook a look that he was sure spoke massive volumes of disbelief.

"Now, I know what you're thinking, hyung," Jungkook had been quick to say, voice raising an octave higher in his haste to explain (something that he'd been doing all morning), "but I swear to all that's unholy that I'm telling nothing but the truth right now."

The thing was, Jungkook's explanation to what he meant when he unveiled the reason Taehyung was aware of his existence was part fantastical, part unreasonable, and all sorts confusing.

Hoseok glanced over to where Jimin sat comfortably against the bed frame and shared a brief, knowing glance with the angel: He can't be serious, right?

"Hey, hey. Why are you guys looking at each other? Are you communicating with your eyes? Stop that!" Jungkook's complaints were whole-heartedly ignored in favor of shared eye rolls. "Don't roll your eyes at me! What more do I have to do to get you to believe me?"

Hoseok allowed his gaze to travel away from Jimin's and to Jungkook's. He gave Jungkook a blank stare that ended up blending into a scrutinizing glare the longer he looked. "I dunno, Kook," he finally spoke, voice weary. "Your explanation to this whole mess is, quite frankly, really impossible to believe."

"What's so hard to believe?"

"Oh, I dunno. The fact that someone like you"-Hoseok used the hand that wasn't holding his coffee to gesture to all of Jungkook, much to the offense of the demon-"could have known someone like Taehyung in his past life."