➵ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓: 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 [𝐊.𝐓𝐇]

"Then leave it! Leave her be, Tae!"

"Okay, we're alone," Namjoon said with a squinty-eyed look at the demigod in front of him, "so, tell me. What do you want, Taehyung?"

Taehyung, for his part, cocked an eyebrow and stared him straight in the eye, gaze intense and fiery. Namjoon had to admit, the kid had cleaned up incredibly well— but, then again, he always did. Never missed a chance to preen like a peacock to impress the female population.

He'd tried to hold out the hope that it hadn't worked on you. That his constant flirting and charms wouldn't be able to find a crack in the stone exterior you tended to throw up in the face of people like him. Your past experiences had been enough for you to be at least a little wary of a boy with a pretty face and empty words.

To say the least, Namjoon had been completely and utterly horrified when he realized that you were the person Taehyung in his message had said (with some sort of odd fondness, too) was taking care of him. The way Jimin had spilled the news hadn't helped either.

And now he was back. It hadn't taken long for Namjoon to put two and two together, to connect the message that had been the cause of sleepless nights in their search for him to Taehyung... who was now affiliated with his sister.

He had tried so hard to keep you away from his life as a demigod, his life surrounded with people so similar to the one who had broken you. He'd accounted for all the factors, decided that when you'd found someone suitable who'd stolen your heart enough to keep you away from the dangerous, fleeting seduction of his life, he'd tell you. Yes, he's accounted for all the factors... but then there was a certain Kim Taehyung.

Damn you, Tae. I love you, but gods damn you for making everything so complicated.

No, don't get him wrong here— Namjoon was as overjoyed as any of them that Taehyung had returned. He'd wanted to find him as desperately as all of them. He had been the one who was supposed to take care of them, ensure their safety, and he'd let one of the youngest vanish right before their very eyes. But there was still that dangerous thread of tension flickering there, a thread that had become increasingly obvious during the dinner Jungkook had demanded they throw in Taehyung's honor.

It had gone well. At first, Namjoon had been wary of you being there, but then he felt the familiar sibling guilt of leaving you out, and besides, he had reasoned, he himself was there to make sure none of the tried anything. He wanted you there, he realized. He wanted you to see the demigod side of him, because you were one of the closest people to him and he wanted you to see all of who he was.

And everything had been going well. Incredibly so, actually— Jimin, Seokjin, and Hoseok actually seemed to be on their decent behavior, and you seemed to actually enjoy their company. You and Yoongi occasionally fell into battles of sharp words, and Jungkook seemed to purposefully trying to grate on your nerves at times, shooting Taehyung and you smirks as you recounted how much time you'd spent together and purposefully making you embarrassed with teasing words like "oh, it's Taehyung's fault your late, is it? Tae, you didn't want her to come? Why, because she looks so good in those clothes?" or "if you two are going to eye-f*ck each other, I'd appreciate it if you did it somewhere NOT in front of my food".