Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The first thing Jungkook saw when he stepped out of the portal was a thin boy kissing up the neck of a shorter boy with light blond hair. The second they saw him, they broke apart, but not frantically enough to show any true embarrassment. Jungkook blinked, taking a moment to get over the fact that, yes, they were both Asian like him, and yes, they were both probably the most attractive people he'd ever seen in his life. The portal closed behind him with a pop.

"This Blackthorn?"

"Yes," answered the shorter one. He was slender too, but slightly more built than the other, mainly in his legs. Jungkook knew this thanks to the black pants he was wearing, which clung to his thighs like they'd been painted on. "Name?"

"What, is this the registration?"

The blond boy's mouth curved into a smile, but his eyes remained the same; watchful, quiet, unreadable. Jungkook was close enough now to see that one eye was black and the other was green.

"Yes, actually."

"Of course it is," Jungkook muttered to himself, trying not to roll his eyes. "It's Jeon Jungkook."

"Oh!" the other boy exclaimed. Jungkook jumped. His voice was a lot deeper than Jungkook expected. He got right up behind the blond boy, hooking his chin over his shoulder, and gave Jungkook a shameless up-and-down from under a messy fringe of salmon-pink hair.

"They must've told you I was coming."

"Oh they told us," the blond boy said. "The rich faerie from Seoul. We know. Just this way."

Jungkook needed a drink.

He followed them up the hill. The top levelled off to a stretch of emerald green grass, almost perfectly smooth except for a few dips and swells. Jungkook glanced behind him. Dense forest in all directions.

"The school's this way," the pink-haired boy said. Jungkook had the feeling he was actually trying to be helpful, but he decided to be a dick about it anyway.

"I know," he said. "I can see the obvious castle looming in the distance."

"It's actually a mansion built in a chateauesque style," the blond haired boy said. "And before you decide to play the disinterested asshole about it, it has a lot of really cool magical stuff inside it, so maybe keep your mouth shut before you say anything else about things you don't know anything about."

Jungkook raised his eyebrows. "Whoa, okay. Fuck."  

The greensward led up to an enormous plaza, with more grass, fancy shrubs, and a stone labyrinth. Students were milling around, reading on benches, chatting. A guy with teal blue hair was sitting in the centre of the labyrinth playing a flute.

"The labyrinth is fucking huge, but totally worth it," pink-haired guy said. He was walking along, swinging his arms at his sides, seemingly unaffected by Jungkook's dismissive attitude. His button-down was done up wrong, making the whole shirt look crooked. His jeans were ripped. His boots must've been at least three sizes too big for him, and they had no laces. "It has a charm built into it which dispels stress. During exam season it's so busy, Yoongi would never get away with that."

"Yoongi gets away with whatever he wants, whenever he wants," the blond-haired boy muttered.

"I like Yoongi," Jungkook said.

Both of them ignored him.

To the left was a big ornate brick building with turrets, towers, arched windows, and all the other kinds of things you'd expect on an ivy league university built in a castle, or mansion, or whatever. To the right was another big, brick, castley building. The two were connected by a cloister walk.

"Left is the school, centre are the offices and refectory," the blond boy said. "Right is the dorms, where we're headed."

Jungkook followed them up a set of stairs, hauling his heavy duffel bag and trying not to check out the blond guy's ass, which was kind of a challenge, seeing as his flowy white shirt kept riding up every time he took a step.

They arrived in a hallway. The floor was patterned tile. The walls were white panel. Sunny windows lined one wall, doors the other.

"I'm getting shining vibes," Jungkook said.

"We actually don't have ghosts here," the pink-haired guy said, pouting. "I know, it sucks."

Jungkook let out a single, emotionless laugh.

"First years are usually two to a room, and we make them duel for the best bunk, but you get to skip all that fun." The blond boy pushed open a door and leaned against it. "The deans set aside a solo room for you. Money talks, I guess."

Jungkook waited for him to move over so he could get by. He didn't. Jungkook shrugged, and stalked through, practically scraping him off the door with his duffel bag. He could feel those varicoloured eyes watching him the entire time. The pink-haired guy snickered from the hallway.

The ceiling was intimidatingly high, with a chandelier. There was a mahogany desk with shitloads of drawers, a queen-sized bed already dressed in burgundy sheets, and a big wooden bureau in the corner. He had to admit that the view was nice. He could see the forest peeking up over the hill.

He set his bag on the ground. There was a pause, and then he turned around. "Well," he grunted. "I think I've got things handled at this point, thanks for—"

A man swept into the room before Jungkook could finish his sentence. Jungkook assumed he must've been someone important, because the blond boy actually moved aside for him this time.

The newcomer took a moment to arrange himself next to Jungkook's bed before speaking.

"I am Dean Phantasmagorium, and I am pleased to welcome you to Blackthorn University."

The pink-haired boy was smirking at Jungkook from behind the dean's back. The blond boy was watching Jungkook closely, even as the pink-haired boy was working a slender hand up the front of his shirt. A sliver of tan, tight abs flickered overtop of his pants.

Jungkook cleared his throat. "Thanks."

The dean rearranged his Bolvaints on the rug, like he were trying to scrub dirt off the bottoms of them, and nodded.

"I would also like to express my gratitude for your family's rather excessive donation. Because of them, we were able to launch various projects. The graduate department was thrilled."

Jungkook forced his face into a smile. "Great."

The dean was ludicrously well-dressed. Everything he was wearing looked custom tailored. There was so much brocade. So much silk. His skin was black, his hair nonexistent, and his gold-rimmed glasses hung on a feather-light golden chain around his neck.

"There is, however, the matter of your transcripts."

Jungkook opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a harsh gasp. The dean turned around, narrowly missing the pink-haired boy yanking his hand out from under the blond boy's shirt. The fabric was so thin Jungkook could actually tell his nipples had hardened.

There was a pause.

"Yes, well," the dean said, turning back to Jungkook.

"I wouldn't expect anything too special."  

"That's quite alright. We are here to cultivate talent, not to mine it, after all."

"Wait," the pink-haired boy said. "Did you write the entrance exams?"

Jungkook blinked. "There were entrance exams?"

"What the serious fuck!"

"Mind your tone, Taehyung," the dean said.

The blond boy heaved a sigh. "I mean, it's not like they were even that hard, but the fact that he didn't have to write them at all is kind of..."

"Let's not be discourteous, Jimin." The dean turned to Jungkook. "I assume Jimin and Taehyung showed you around the school?"

"Yeah," Jungkook said at the exact same time that Jimin said "No" and Taehyung said "Do we have to it's dinnertime and I'm hungry."

"Why yes, you have to give him the tour. The university has a unique agreement with Jungkook's parents and I would appreciate it if you two would respect the university's wishes, and fulfil your duties as members of the student union."

Jungkook rubbed his face with both hands. The dean seemed okay, nice even, but he really wished the dean would stop talking.

The dean cleared his throat. Jungkook opened his eyes and realized he'd been leaving the dean hanging for a handshake for god knows how long. He hurriedly grabbed his hand and gave it a shake. The dean smiled smartly.

"Nice to meet you Jungkook. I'm excited to see what gifts you have to offer." The dean tucked his hands into his pockets and strode out the door. "Oh, and make sure to pick up your schedule from the office before it closes. Classes start tomorrow."

The three of them stared at each other in silence as the dean's footsteps faded into the distance.

"Is his name actually Phantasmagorium," Jungkook said quietly.

"Yep," Taehyung said.

"Need help finding the office?" Jimin asked.

"No."

"Want a tour?"

"No."

"Excellent." Jimin's eyes trailed over Jungkook's mouth. "Well, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, given that you scored a room on our floor, with that... unique arrangement of yours."

Jungkook scowled.

"Bye bye, rich boy."

Jimin laced his fingers through Taehyung's and led him out the door. Jungkook mouthed a silent fuck to himself. The moment they were gone, he shoved his bag under the bed, changed into a t-shirt, and went looking for the campus bar.

***

"Another whiskey, please."

"Sorry kid, last call was ten minutes ago."

Jungkook searched the walls for a clock.

"Bar closes at eight on weeknights," the bartender said tiredly. "Sorry, deans' rules."

Jungkook grumbled, searching his pockets for his wallet.

"Don't worry about it, I'll bill your account."

"Need my name?"

The bartender looked a little sheepish. "Oh, I know who you are."

Jungkook stumbled outside. The moon was barely visible through the cloud cover. A mist was creeping out of the forest, hovering over the field. He threw his head back and let the cool air sweep over his skin.

"Sucks, hey?"

Jungkook had had too many whiskeys to find it very surprising that somebody he hadn't even known was there was talking to him. It made sense in the simple way that things tended to when he'd been drinking. Slowly, he peered over his shoulder, and squinted.

The teal-haired boy from the labyrinth was leaning against the wall, next to a bushel of ivy bigger than his entire body, smoking.

"Bar closes early as fuck."

"You're Yoongi," Jungkook pointed out.

"How the fuck do you know that."

"Taehyung and Jimin told me."

"Oh those two." Yoongi ashed his cigarette, laughing harshly. The smoke smelled floral, kind of like lavender, but sharper. "True blue ivy league kids. Best of their grade. Insufferable fucks."

"They seemed..." Jungkook paused.

"To not give one fuck? They get away with it because of their grades."

"Funny, because they said the same thing about you."

"Oh my grades are shit." Yoongi took another long drag, and then talked as smoke trickled out from between his teeth. "Well, most of my grades. See, those two are the types who're good at everything. I'm the type who's bad at most things, but really, really good at one thing."

"What's that?"

"Musomancy." Yoongi looked at Jungkook expectantly. "You know, music magic."

Jungkook shrugged.

"You really don't know what that is? Huh. Well, can't say as I blame you. This whole place must seem like kind of a joke to someone like you."

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't faeries all up their asses about how superior their magic is to witch magic and yadee yada?"

"Jesus Christ," Jungkook hissed. "Does everybody know who I am around here?"

"Pretty much."

"Fuck."

"Why are you here, anyway?" Yoongi let his eyes wander over Jungkook's body. Not the same probing look that Jimin gave him, nothing like Taehyung's unabashed staring. This was something far less intrusive, a reserved kind of curiosity. "I think you're literally the first faerie to ever enrol at Blackthorn."

"Well, I'm only half-faerie."

"That's right. Your mom's a witch. Brilliant, top of her field. Groundbreaking marriage. Made the news." Yoongi laughed. "Must be weird, having everybody know these things about you."

"I'm used to it."

"But your faerie side is nobility."

"I'd rather not get into it."

"Fair enough." Yoongi tossed his cigarette on the ground and stomped on it with one of his big leather boots.

Jungkook crossed his arms. "Do you have any weed?"

Yoongi's gummy grin was uncharacteristically cute. "As a matter-of-fact, I do."

He pushed off the wall, all languid and slouchy in his denim jacket. A massive patch was sewn onto the back with an ink drawing of a raven. His lip was pierced with a hoop. Jungkook followed him across the field, down the hill, to the edge of the forest.

"Gotta get out of smelling range," Yoongi grunted, hopping over a log.

Jungkook could feel goosebumps breaking out on his arms, but he was too drunk to feel properly cold. A patch of glowing insects hovered around a particularly big tree a couple yards away. The ground was covered in dense bracken and moss. It was like walking on foam.

"You sure this is a good idea?"

"Getting second thoughts?" Yoongi chuckled. "Don't worry. Nothing out here that'll bite, too hard."

Jungkook shivered.

They sat down on a couple stumps next to a stream. Yoongi pulled a plastic bag out of his inner pocket and rolled a joint. Jungkook watched the familiar process unfold in silence. Being around Yoongi, with his patches, his gruff way of speaking and cigarettes felt like stepping into a warm, familiar bath.

"Hello. Hello."

Jungkook spun around, cursing loudly. Yoongi almost fell off his stump, he was laughing so hard.

"It's just the talking squirrels," he gasped, wiping his eyes. "Oh fuck, your face—"

"The talking fucking god-damned squirrels." Jungkook squared his shoulders. "Right."

"Never thought a faerie would scare so easily. Don't you folks have all kinds of enchanted forests?"

Jungkook sighed. "Less talking, more drugs."

"Yeah, yeah, here."

Yoongi shoved the joint between Jungkook's lips and lit it with a little flame from the tip of his pinkie. Jungkook sucked in, hard. A moment later he was hacking and spitting all over the moss.

"Yeah, it's a bit harsh." Yoongi blew a smoke ring. His lungs must've been made of steel. "It's all I could get out here. Makes things glow purple sometimes, though, which is pretty dope."

"Yeah, your nose looks pretty purple right now."

"Hey guys," came a voice from behind Yoongi.

Jungkook jolted.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it eventually." Yoongi picked ash off his knee.

They finished the joint and snuck back into the dorms. It turned out Yoongi's room was only a couple doors down from Jungkook's. It also turned out Yoongi had various bottles of liquor stashed in his desk. They drank gin straight from the bottle and played cards.

"Too quiet in here," Yoongi said. He flicked his fingers, and Jungkook heard the familiar beep boop of a speaker turning on somewhere. A moment later a bass line tore through the room, loud enough to make the chandelier rattle.

"Won't they hear?"

"Nope. Cast a silencing ward. Every inch of this place is padded."

"Can I do that on my room too?"

"Well I dunno faerie boy, can you?" Yoongi smirked. "I doubt it. It's pretty advanced magic, even for someone like Taehyung or Jimin."

Jungkook grunted.

"Wanna see some more cool music shit?"

"Why not."

Yoongi flicked at the air and the song changed.

A piano line appeared, feathery, light. The notes hovered around Jungkook's head. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd never heard anything so earnest, so pure.

"W-what is this?"

"What do you think it is?"

Jungkook sniffled, wiping his eyes. "Well, fuck, I'm crying, but I'm not sad."

"It's joy, in musical form." Yoongi snapped his fingers. "Here."

The piano drifted away, replaced by synth. The papers on Yoongi's desk riffled in some invisible wind. Jungkook's hair was stirring around his face.

He was standing on a hill, looking at a house. A big house. He was back in Seoul. And then he wasn't.

The notes were shifting. Jungkook could feel the bass inside him, moving things around. He gulped another mouthful of gin and set the bottle down with shaking hands. Yoongi was leaning against the wall, his mouth open, breathing a little harshly.

"W-what is that?"

"A song."

Jungkook swallowed, arching his back, spreading his legs to give the music more room to move.

"Yoongi, I..."

Yoongi groaned, sliding onto his back.

Jungkook laughed faintly. The front of his pants was incredibly tight. He fell back on his forearms and gazed deliriously at the chandelier. It was purple now, just like the candelabra in the corner. He heard Yoongi moan somewhere to his right.

"Jesus Christ," Jungkook hissed.

After a drunkenly indeterminate amount of time, Yoongi waved a hand and the music settled back into something more comprehensible. Jungkook's eyes were closed. Yoongi reached for the pack of cards, presumably giving Jungkook a moment to compose himself.

"Songs can make you cry," Yoongi said. "They can make you remember stuff from the past. They can—"

"Make you jizz your pants even though you're piss drunk," Jungkook panted, his face sliding into a crooked grin.

Yoongi smirked. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. Jungkook glanced at the candelabra. The flames had regained their typical orangey glow. He looked back at Yoongi, who was shuffling the cards.

"Songs are different from people." Yoongi threw down a card. It was the jack of hearts. "They can permeate places inside you that you can't reach with fingers, tongues. Places that aren't even physical. Doesn't matter if you're drunk and numb. I found that one in an old grimoire in the library and recorded it myself. It took forever to get the harmonics right. There're some very specific intervals, I obsessed over the ratios for days."

"Wow."

"Musomancy's fucked," Yoongi said. "It has so many applications."

"No shit."

Jungkook threw his head back and laughed. He laughed until he was breathless and his shoulder blades hurt from rolling around on Yoongi's tile. Yoongi smirked at him, sipping gin like it was water. They finished the bottle, and played another round, and the last thing Jungkook remembered was stumbling back to his room and crashing onto his mattress, smearing sweat and forest moss all over his fresh sheets. He plummeted into a heavy sleep, too drunk to worry about where he was, too drunk to worry about taking a shower, too drunk to worry about whether or not Taehyung had been telling the truth about Blackthorn having no ghosts.

***

He was doing push-ups next to the labyrinth the next afternoon, when he heard someone sit down nearby.

He glanced up. Taehyung was sitting on the grass a couple meters away, cross-legged, watching him.

"The deans want to talk to you..."

Jungkook started to stand up.

"...in a minute."

Jungkook paused.

"Go ahead and finish your routine first."

Jungkook got back down and started a set of pike push-ups. He heard Taehyung exhale heavily. Jungkook worked his way through a set of crunches, burpees, more push-ups, and a stretching routine, all with Taehyung sitting there, watching.

"Alright," he said, pushing sweaty hair out of his eyes. "I'm done."

Taehyung blinked. "Cool. Follow me."

Taehyung's sweater hung off his shoulders like a shawl. The collar was wide around his neck. He was wearing leggings and the same oversized boots as the day before. He definitely had less muscle on his legs than Jimin, but as for his ass, that remained to be determined, seeing as the sweater was long enough to hide most of it from view. His pink hair looked like cotton candy in the sunlight. He led them through an arched doorway into a courtyard on the other side of the cloister.

"In there," he said, gesturing to a door marked dean's office.

Jungkook turned to him, his mouth quirking up into a little smile. "You aren't going to come in with me?"

"I mean." Taehyung stared at him blankly. "Do you want me to?"

"Are you blushing?"

"No."

"Wow." Jungkook raised his eyebrows. "You're different when Jimin isn't around."

"Fuck off," Taehyung muttered.

Jungkook chuckled, and pushed through the door.

Not one, but two deans were waiting for him, both sitting in identical leather armchairs around a fireplace. Purple flames stirred behind the grate, even though it must've been at least 68 degrees outside. Jungkook gave the fire a weird look, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh," Phantasmagorium said. "They aren't for warmth; merely decorative. You can change the colour, like so—"

He swirled his ring finger in the direction of the fireplace. The flames morphed slowly from purple to green. Jungkook let go of the breath he'd been holding.

"I'm Dean Sukie."

The second dean leaned back in her armchair, not lazy so much as attentively relaxed. Her skin was only slightly lighter than Phantasmagorium's, and her hair only slightly more present, cropped short to her scalp. She, too, was dressed quite nicely, in a sharp black suit and golden pumps. She made no move to shake Jungkook's hand.

"Go ahead, sit down Jungkook," Phantasmagorium said, gesturing to a third armchair.

Jungkook was suddenly much more aware of what he was wearing. His muscle-shirt and sweatpants came close to being anachronistic in the dim, antique light of the deans' office, surrounded by grandfather clocks, fine rugs, and rosewood desks. The ceiling pressed down low and close. He was sure it was supposed to feel confidential and cozy, but the amount of gin he'd consumed last night made the entire experience a little suffocating. Sweat dripped down his back.

"Let's hop right into it, shall we?" Dean Sukie said, clapping her hands together. "You never picked up your schedule from the office yesterday. You slept through your morning classes."

"You've been conducting a comprehensive fitness routine in the plaza for the greater part of the afternoon, and frankly, you reek of alcohol," Phantasmagorium said.

"Sorry about that," Jungkook said.

There was a pause.

"You know my parents sent me here to punish me, right?"

"Well, I suppose there was a basic understanding—"

"Because it's a witching university, which is actually kind of embarrassing for a faerie to even be attending in the first place—"

"Your transcripts arrived," Sukie interjected cheerfully. "Seems to me you'd be lucky if any institution admitted you at this point."

"I'm not going to be going to any classes."

"Jeon Jungkook!" Phantasmagorium exclaimed. "That is utterly unacceptable."

"To your community, our institution may be a joke," Sukie said, "but in the witching world this is as fine a school as any young witch can hope to get into."  

"Yeah. I doubt my parents would've let me come here otherwise."

"Everyone around you fought tooth and nail to study here."

"Good for them."

"If you walk around acting like you're better than all this, you're going to gain a lot of enemies."

"Doubt it. I'm a faerie."

"Oh, they won't touch you." Sukie's smile was a little mean. "But I'm not really talking about you specifically. You know there's already a rift, right?"

"Yeah, I haven't been living under a rock my entire life, thanks."

"Well then you must know that your actions have the potential to drive our communities even further apart."

Jungkook bristled.

"That being said, when we accepted your parents' donation, we did indeed sign a contract agreeing to enrol you, no matter what." Sukie sighed, pouring herself scotch from a decanter. "I'm beginning to see why they included that clause. If you really want to turn Blackthorn into a joke to settle some feud with your parents, there is nothing we can do to stop you."

"Listen," Jungkook grated out. "I don't actually think witch magic is inferior, I just—"

"Your actions have consequences nonetheless," Sukie said.

There was a beat. Sukie sipped her scotch. Phantasmagorium looked like he was on the brink of tears.

"Can't you pour him one too?" Jungkook asked, annoyed.

"I've never been much of a scotch man," Phantasmagorium said delicately. "I much prefer my wine."

Another beat.

"I'm leaving," Jungkook said.

The two deans nodded. Jungkook got up, crossed the room, and opened the door. It almost got Taehyung in the face.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Eavesdropping. Cast a spell on the door to make it conduct sound."

Jungkook grimaced.

"I can't believe you talked to Dean Sukie like that," Taehyung whispered, following Jungkook along the path. "You do know she's a warrior right? Fought down a bunch of mountain imps that were trying to invade her hometown in the Himalayas, and she knows so much shit about curses, mainly how to banish them, but—"

"All I want," Jungkook muttered, "is for everybody to fuck off."

"So you really aren't going to go to any of your classes?"

Jungkook paused, staring out into the forest.

"What on earth are you going to do with all your time?"

"For starters, I could really use some smokes." Jungkook started hiking into the trees.

Taehyung stared at him, gripping nervously the hem of his own sweater with both hands. "Where are you going?"

"Next town can't be too far off."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jungkook smiled at Taehyung over his shoulder. Taehyung's pretty mouth was tipped down at the sides.

"It means witches suck, so I'm going to find some humans instead."

***

If Jeon Jungkook was good at anything, it was finding a way to pass time.

He wandered around the forest until he found a pathway. It was narrow and overgrown, but it was leading somewhere, so he decided to follow it. Twenty minutes later it spat him out into a parking lot. A chipped sign loomed overhead, with the words Maven Gas & Convenience, glowing in blue and white.

He bought smokes from the gas station and wandered down the road to a strip mall. A bar was jammed in beside a laundromat and a seasonal fruit stand, which was closed for the day.

The sun trickled through battered Venetian blinds. Billiards clunked and thumped alongside a classic rock playlist. The first whiskey took a while to get down, but after that it was smooth sailing. The bartender didn't even ID him.

He bought a breakfast wrap from the gas station on his way back. The sun had set. He walked back and forth along the edge of the parking lot, searching for the opening, and either he was too drunk, or it was too dark out, but it all looked the same. He was about to go back and ask the girls he'd been partying with all afternoon if he could crash with them, when he heard a voice calling from the woods.

"Hi, there!"

He flinched. He could see it now, the place where two red alder trees parted around the pathway. The last thing he wanted was to walk the twenty minutes back to Blackthorn in the pitch dark, surrounded by talking squirrels and god knew what else, but when he turned around, his heart sank. The girls' truck was gone.

"Fuck," he snarled.

He stuffed the wrap into his pocket and got his phone out. The flashlight was weak, and his battery was at twenty percent. He put it back in his pocket and waited for his eyes to adjust. At that very moment all the lights in the gas station went out. Shit thing about small towns was that everything closed early, except for the bars.

With no further ado, he stepped over the curb into the forest.

The air was fresh. The mist was dense, but somehow, his feet seemed to know where to go.

"Whatcha doing?"

He clenched his jaw, and tried to think about Yoongi, laughing so hard he almost fell off the log. They were just talking squirrels, but how did Jungkook know that? How was he supposed to know that Yoongi was telling the truth? Maybe Yoongi was fucking with him, maybe Yoongi genuinely didn't know all the secrets of the forest. All he really cared about was music after all. Besides, Yoongi was a fourth year with all kinds of wicked musomancy powers. He could probably stun a monster just by humming at it.

Jungkook tried closing his eyes. He tried counting to ten forwards and back. At the end of the day, the only thing that remotely helped was thinking about how smug Jimin would be if he knew how terrified Jungkook was just then.

"I'm not scared," he muttered.

"Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo!" a voice chattered overhead.

Jungkook laughed a little hysterically.

When he got back to the dorms his body was dripping in cold sweat. He tossed the wrap on his desk and grabbed a towel.

The washroom was at the end of the hallway. A line of fancy brass taps all poured into the same sink. There was an enormous basin in the middle of the room. Jungkook couldn't decide if it was a fountain or a bathtub. Either way it was dusty and unused. The washrooms were gender neutral, but he assumed communal baths were pushing it, even for Blackthorn.

Various alcoves dipped into the tile walls, serving as shower stalls. Jungkook undressed quickly and ducked into one that was partially obscured by a tuft of vines. There were plants everywhere in the dorms, and he could never quite figure out where they were growing from.

A shower was running near the end of the chamber.

Jungkook rolled his shoulders back. Hot water streamed over his body. He closed his eyes and tried to enjoy what was left of his whiskey buzz.

"Oh fuck—"

His eyes sprang open.

That was definitely no talking squirrel.

He cocked his head to the side and tried to listen over the steady pitter-patter of water against the tile.

Someone was moaning.

Breathlessly.

He immediately turned to face the back of the stall. There were no curtains on the showers. Most students, he'd learned, knew how to cast concealment charms, because most students; meaning, every single student except him—was a full-blooded witch.

"Oh god please."

The voice was high, but full, like whoever it was had a naturally high speaking voice to begin with. Jungkook reached for his soap. Another moan, chestier this time. Jungkook lathered up his armpits and tried to think about small animals dying and nasty old men and anything else to avoid getting caught rock hard in the communal bathroom listening to someone jerking off with no excuse for his lack of concealment other than his own incompetence.

"Fuck, I'm g-gonna, fuck—"

Jungkook was supposed to be rinsing his hair. Why on earth was shampoo so slippery. Why on earth was his hand around his dick. Why on earth—

"TAE, I'M CUMMING!"

Jungkook froze.

There was another low, harsh grunt. A slapping sound.

And then giggles.

Jungkook's blood ran cold.

"C'mon," someone said breathlessly. "Let's get out of here."

They turned off their water. There was a pause.

"Wait. Is there another shower going?"

"Oh fuck," someone hissed. "Someone else is in here."

Jungkook groped madly for his shampoo bottle and dropped it. It hit the floor with a resonant bang.

Hissed whispering.

Wet feet smacked over the tile. Jungkook's towel was too far away to risk it. He stood up, abandoning his shampoo bottle next to the drain, and turned towards the back of the stall just as the two of them passed by.

He almost thought he was in the clear. Nobody said anything for a good ten seconds. But then—

"Jungkook?"

He closed his eyes.

"Oh my god, it's only Jungkook," Jimin said. "And here I was worried we were going to offend someone."

Jungkook frowned at him over his shoulder. "Mind looking away so I can get my towel?"

"Why?" Jimin's eyes trailed downwards. His blond hair fell around his face, wet and dripping. His cheeks were flushed, and his lips were puffier than usual. Jungkook grit his teeth and tried not to think about how they'd gotten that way.

"You're the one who didn't cast any concealment charms."

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect anyone else to be showering this late."

"Fair enough. I mean, neither did we," Jimin giggled.

Jungkook accepted the fact that he wasn't going to be getting any less hard anytime soon. Not with both of them standing there, staring at his ass, with nothing on but some haphazardly draped towels. He also accepted the fact that neither of them were going to let this one go easily, so he turned around and grabbed his towel from the hook.

Jimin whistled.

"You made it back through the woods," Taehyung said, as if his collar bones weren't littered with hickeys, as if he weren't currently watching Jungkook wrap a towel around his waist to conceal his rock hard dick.

"Yep."

"Find anything cool?"

"Visited a little town called Maven. Got drunk with some of the locals."

"Wait, what?" Jimin asked. "How long did it take you to walk there?"

"I dunno, twenty, thirty minutes?" Jungkook fished his shampoo bottle out of the drain. "There was a pathway that led straight there."

"Maven must be at least an hour's drive from Blackthorn. It's university policy to maintain a minimum radius from human towns."

"Well then, what—"

"Someone must've cast a spell on the forest," Taehyung said excitedly. "They're called proximity pathways. They're similar to portals, but different in that they're usually permanent. Both compress distances, though, so that people can move between two locations much faster than if—"

"You went drinking with humans?" Jimin asked. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"They're..." Jimin made a face. "Do I even need to explain this?"

"It's because they can't do magic, right?"

Jimin made weak affirmative noises.

"There's a lot more to people than just magic." Jungkook turned off the water. "Clearly I'm not the only one who's ever thought so."

He walked past them, stopping at the sinks to chug some water out of the tap. He wiped his mouth, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His faerie blood let him get away with murder. Two days into a bender and his skin still glowed, warm and smooth and tan. His sparkling black eyes revealed nothing of how exhausted he felt. His hair grew in fast and thick, much like how he built muscle. The bowl cut he'd given himself two weeks ago so he could blend in with the humans in Seoul had already grown out past his ears.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?" Jungkook strode towards the door. "Someone had to have created that pathway."

***

Jungkook jogged around the edge of the forest the next afternoon, out of sight from the classroom windows. Taehyung and Jimin managed to find him anyway.

"Is this like, a faerie thing?" Jimin asked, walking around in a circle, observing as he did crunches. "Being so physically active?"

"I don't know why you decided to jog down here today," Taehyung said. "I was really enjoying the view before."

"Aren't you enjoying the view now?" Jungkook grunted.

"Fair point."

"Didn't want to push things with the deans, did you?" Jimin crossed his arms. His bracelets glinted in the sunlight. "Taehyung told me what happened yesterday."

Jungkook leaned over, stretching his hamstrings.

"Do you ever speak, or are you literally just for show?"

"I'm not afraid of the deans. I just don't see a point in involving them in something they have nothing to do with."

"Like the feud with your parents."

Jungkook stood up, cracked his neck, and started back up the hill.

"Fascinating." Jimin hurried to catch up. Taehyung followed on the other side.

"So your parents sent you to Blackthorn to punish you for something you did, don't worry, I know you're now going to tell us what that was, or open your mouth for any other reason, other than to put alcohol in it—"

"But we can always speculate," Taehyung said. "Perhaps it has to do with the fact that your mom is a witch—"

"—or your shit-ass grades, or the fact that you hang out with humans all the time—"

Jungkook walked faster.

"Hey, hey—" Taehyung jumped in front of him. "Wait."

Jungkook glowered at him. "What?"

"Do you mind, if I... just..."

"Really?"

Taehyung bit his lip, staring up at Jungkook through thick lashes. Jungkook rolled his eyes.

"Fuck. I don't really care."

Taehyung reached out and ran his hands down Jungkook's chest. "Fuck," he breathed, stepping to the side to squeeze his bicep.

A second later two tiny hands squeezed his forearm on the other side.  

"I can't believe this," Jungkook said. "I can't believe you two."

There was a flicker of blue in the distance. Jungkook squinted. Someone's hand was sliding down his back, getting close to his ass.

"Is that Yoongi?"

Jimin shrugged.

"Oye!" Jungkook waved, and then yipped as someone squeezed his thigh. He looked down to find Taehyung on his knees beside him.

"You can see the moon," Taehyung said, gazing up at the sky. Both his hands were still clasped around Jungkook's leg. "Even though it's daytime."

"Better let go. I'm about to start running."

Taehyung pouted, dropping his hands to his lap. Jimin took a step back. Jungkook broke into a jog, and ran Yoongi down by the dorms.

"Hey man." Yoongi greeted him with a fist-bump. "My classes are over for the day. Wanna get high?"

"Hell yeah."

Jungkook followed Yoongi around the building, in the opposite direction of the deans' office, back down the hill and into the forest. When he glanced out over the greensward, Jimin and Taehyung were gone.

"Hanging out with Taehyung and Jimin again?"

"Yeah, they keep following me around."

"Weird." Yoongi hopped over a patch of lilies. "Don't know what those two would want with someone like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The campus delinquent. Used to be me, but you do it better."

Jungkook snorted, trying to squash down the weird feeling in his stomach.

Yoongi's eyes went wide. "Nice, Hobi's here."

Jungkook followed Yoongi into the same clearing as before.

A boy was sitting on one of the stumps. He was dressed similarly to Yoongi, lots of black, but his vibe came off as slightly less punk and more goth. His nails were painted plum. He was wearing knee-high, pointy boots and a drapey black sweater with a druid hood. He was even skinnier than Taehyung.

"Sup dude," Yoongi said.

"Yo." The boy looked up from the book he was reading—a tiny, leather-bound journal propped on his knee. A cigarette was poised between two fingers of his other hand. "Oh. You brought the faerie boy."

Jungkook forced out a smile.

"I'm Hoseok." Hoseok smiled, his cheeks bunching up, plump and round. "Did Yoongi show you his porn song yet?"

"Jesus Christ," Yoongi said.

"As a matter of fact, he did."

"Musomancy is great. Unfortunately, I'm a demonologist. Nothing quite as sexy in my field."

"Demonology, huh." Jungkook jerked his head towards Yoongi. "Is that why you hang out with him?"

"Hey, fuck off."

The three of them smoked a joint, and then trudged up the hill to the field. Jungkook and Hoseok played a very clumsy, very distracted game of tag, while Yoongi lay on his back and whistled at the sky. They barely made it back to the refectory in time for dinner. Jungkook ploughed through three plates of cold pasta while Yoongi and Hoseok bickered about whether or not servants of fallen gods counted as demons.

The rest of the week was gloriously unremarkable. Jungkook jogged in peace, ate in peace, hiked the proximity path and got drunk with the bartender in Maven in peace. There were no more late night bathroom encounters, no more spur-of-the-moment inspections of Jungkook's muscles, and Jungkook was starting to think Yoongi was right. Maybe the novelty had worn off. Maybe Taehyung and Jimin had lost interest in him, and he could finally resume his life as normal.

It was better this way. He wasn't here to make friends. Yoongi and Hoseok didn't count in the same way; they were the quintessential smoke pit buddies he managed to find wherever he went. Comfortable. Familiar, like cracking his first beer on a hot night.

He had people to get stoned with. There was a bar nearby.

He was going to be fine.

In addition to these perks, by week two, he'd figured out a pretty decent life hack concerning the way meals went around Blackthorn. Most students hit the refectory at five o'clock sharp, wolfed down a quick dinner, and then retreated back to their dorms, or the library, or wherever it was people went who actually had papers to write and exams to pass. Jungkook started sliding in later and later, waiting for that perfect interval when the seating area cleared out, and the cafeteria staff started turning the lights out, and the servers gave him all the leftover food so it wouldn't go to waste.

It was Friday night. He sat in the dark, behind a pillar, making his way through the largest plate of scalloped potatoes he'd ever seen in his entire life. Things were looking up.

"Yoo hoo."

Jungkook's fork paused.

The two chairs in front of him pulled away from the table. He looked up to find Jimin sinking down in front of him like a cat. Taehyung threw himself down a couple moments later as if they were playing a game of musical chairs and almost toppled onto the floor.

"Happy Friday," Jimin said.

It took Jungkook almost an entire minute to get through his mouthful. The cheese was starting to congeal and it stuck to his teeth. He stared at them, chewing. They stared back. When it was done, he washed it down with a gulp of water, and coughed.

"Want to come see the wishing fountain with us?" Taehyung asked.

"Not really."

"Did you know that if you walk around the dorms long enough, you'll run into a scrying cloud?" Taehyung grinned. "Little pockets of memories. If you get one to the face, you'll see things from the past. They cluster around areas where lots of people live. It's especially intense in the dorms because there's a turnover every year."

"So that's what that was." Jungkook blinked. "I just thought I was really stoned."

"We could try to find one if you like? There are some pretty raunchy ones around the laundry room."

"I think I'd rather finish my potatoes."

"For the love of god I have never met anyone so—" Jimin sucked in a breath and held it. After a moment he opened his eyes and smiled. "Fine. Have it your way." His voice became downright silky. "Taehyung and I want to try drugs. Can you get us some?"

Jungkook tossed his fork down and crossed his arms. Both of them shuffled nervously in their chairs. He was almost tempted to yell, ah hah!

"What makes you think I have access to that kind of stuff?"

"Give me a fucking break," Jimin hissed under his breath, glancing over his shoulder. "You and Yoongi and Hoseok are out in the forest getting stoned almost every day."

So they had noticed. Jungkook was going to have to warn Yoongi that 'out of smelling range' apparently wasn't good enough, not when Taehyung and Jimin were involved.

"So you want to try weed?"

"I dunno." Jimin shrugged one shoulder. "Weed, mushrooms, whatever you have on hand."

"I don't have anything on hand. Yoongi is generous with his stash, but I don't know if he's ready to become a dealer."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if you want to try drugs, you'll have to come do them with us."

He picked up his fork, fully expecting both of them to protest, but Jimin simply nodded.

"Seems reasonable," Taehyung said.

"When can we get this plan in action?" Jimin whispered, leaning in close.

"The cafeteria's empty, you don't have to act so sketchy," Jungkook laughed.

"Nuh uh," Taehyung said, pointing. "There's a bushel of listening vines right there. Gotta be careful, the deans might ask them about it later."

"Ask who?" Jungkook demanded incredulously. "The vines?"

Taehyung nodded.

"Okay, this one has gotta be a fucking lark. It isn't like the deans are going to ask a bunch of plants about whether or not they heard three students talking about drugs in the—"

"SHHHHHHHHHH!"

Taehyung and Jimin both stared at the vines with wide eyes.

Jungkook inhaled slowly.

"Okay, fuck," he whispered, leaning closer. "We were planning on doing mushrooms tomorrow night. If you think you can handle something like that, meet us in the forest at seven o'clock."

Both of them nodded, looking mildly terrified.

"Now if you don't mind, I want to finish my potatoes before they turn into complete mush."

Taehyung and Jimin got up, pushed their chairs in, and filed out of the refectory in silence. Jungkook watched them go, chewing his potatoes, feeling only a little hollow over the fact that Yoongi had been right. Jungkook may have been of faerie descent, but to two people like that—stunning, brilliant, top of their class—hanging out with Jungkook would only ever mean one thing: a walk on the wild side.

***

"Who's this?" Jungkook demanded.

"Namjoon," Taehyung said.

Namjoon looked friendly. Jungkook highly suspected it had something to do with the dimples. His hair was long in the back, almost the same colour as Jimin's, and although Blackthorn had no uniform policy, he looked like he was wearing one.

"He caught us trying to sneak out," Jimin explained. "He said he'd promise not to tell the deans if we let him come along."

Jungkook crossed his arms. "Well, why's he here then?"

"I'm here because this is Namjoon's first time doing psychedelic substances and I want to supervise him to make sure nothing bad happens," the second witch said. He was tall, black hair chopped into a perfect bowl-cut, broad shoulders filling out a black pea coat. Like Jimin, his lips were inordinately luscious and full, and like everyone Jungkook had met at Blackthorn so far, he was unlawfully attractive.

"And you are?"

"Kim Seokjin. Potions major."

"Okay." Jungkook pinched the bridge of his nose. "We might all have to do a smaller dose. I didn't know so many people were going to show up."

"Oh, no." Jin laughed lightly. "No thanks. I'm just here to watch."

"What I wanna know," Yoongi said, "is why the hell my mushroom night is getting crashed by four goody-goodies from the students union."

Namjoon was the only one who looked remotely insulted. Jimin and Taehyung straightened up proudly, and Jin was too busy fussing over Namjoon's collar to notice.

"It isn't like I've never thought about doing drugs before," Namjoon said, as Jin buttoned up the topmost button of his blazer, and then stood back to admire his work. "I've read a lot about psychedelics. They can be used to expand your magical field. Some great mages from the past have even used them to weaken the boundaries between realms. One mage in particular, Uskglass, used powdered cactus to enter the mirror realm—"

Yoongi heaved a gutteral, wretched sigh.

"It is what it is," Hoseok said, closing the book he was reading. "Roll with it Yoons. I'm getting high either way."

"Sorry," Jungkook muttered.

"Fuck," Yoongi said. "At least I bought extra. You owe me, faerie boy."

They were all huddled around the smoking pit. Jungkook felt even worse, having outed Yoongi's special spot to so many people.

"Well, c'mon, I guess," Yoongi said, gesturing for them to follow. He led them deeper into the forest. They passed the tree with all the glowing bugs flitting around it, and Taehyung stopped to poke the soil.

"Whoa, there's definitely something weird going on here."

"I've been wondering about that for a while," Yoongi said. "Wasn't there in my first year."

"Doesn't feel malign," Hoseok said, licking his forefinger and holding it up, as if he were testing the direction of the wind.

"C'mon, nerd," Jimin said, grabbing Taehyung's arm and pulling him up. "Save it for when we're actually high."

They eventually reached a clearing by the stream. The ground was covered in a thin layer of red moss. Yoongi plopped down and pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket.

"I bought these from a witch down south. I haven't had a chance to test them yet, so I guess we're all going in cold tonight." He looked up and grinned menacingly at the newcomers.

Namjoon sat down beside him. Jungkook had to give it to him, he might've been the straight-laced type, but he didn't look the least bit scared.

"May I see?" Jin asked, holding out a hand.

Yoongi dropped a mushroom in his palm. It was forest green all over, with golden speckles on the cap, and a long stem.

"Psilocybe coelem," Jin said, picking it up by the stem and examining it. "Extremely basic as far as magic toadstools go, but be careful, they're strong."

"Well now that we've had an expert's stamp of approval, what say we get down to business?" Hoseok said, drumming impatiently on his knees.

Yoongi handed each of them a mushroom. Yoongi and Hoseok both agreed that if they felt nothing after an hour, they were going to do a second one. Jin assured them that wouldn't be necessary.

Hoseok popped his into his mouth and chewed like it was a stick of gum.

"Fuck, you made it look easy," Yoongi said, grimacing. He resurrected a flask from his leather jacket and chased the mushroom down with what Jungkook assumed was gin.

Jungkook was sitting cross-legged on a little mound, contemplating whether or not he wanted to try to chew the mushroom, or if he could maybe swallow it whole. Jimin and Taehyung were still loitering back by the trees. He caught them staring and raised an eyebrow.

"Come on," Taehyung muttered, dragging Jimin over. They plopped down beside him.

"You don't have to do this, you know."

"We already risked sneaking out of the dorms," Jimin said. "It would be a waste if we bowed out now."

"We even picked out special outfits," Taehyung said.

"So that's why you're dressed like that."

Jimin was wearing black shirt with a lace up collar and billowing, frilly sleeves. His neck was littered with at least five necklaces, a tangle of chains, leathers, pendants and stones, and his legs were encased in his usual skin-tight black pants. Overtop the whole thing was a velvet lilac vest. He looked like a vampire.

Taehyung was rocking more of a wood-elf look, with a grey tunic over leggings. His salmon-pink hair was brushed down underneath an actual tiara, which looked plastic and cheap enough to have come from a dollar store.

"You two look like you're heading to a music festival," Jungkook remarked.

"A music wha—?"

"It's a thing humans do. Thousands of people, DJs, it's really exciting."

"Sounds okay, I guess."

Jungkook took a decisive bite from his mushroom and immediately swore.

"Is it that bad?" Taehyung asked.

Jungkook stuffed the rest in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "Fuck," he muttered. "Glad that's over with."

Taehyung and Jimin both examined their mushrooms with renewed trepidation.

"Like I said, you really don't have to—"

Taehyung stuffed his entire mushroom in his mouth, chewed twice, and then swallowed. Jungkook's eyes went wide. Taehyung sat there, staring into the distance for a firm count of ten.

"Fucking hell," he choked, scrambling towards the stream.

"That water might be bewitched," Hoseok warned.

"Fuck if I care right now," Taehyung gasped, gulping a handful.

"So, what's the verdict?" Jungkook asked Jimin.

"Now that he's done it, I don't really have a choice." Jimin frowned. "We lived together all of first year. We still sleep in each other's beds all the time. We've been around each other so long, our magic is kind of synced. I don't think the night will end well if he's stoned out of his mind and I'm not."

"So you two are... dating?"

"I mean, I don't know if I'd say that. We do help each other out in various ways."

"I know. All too well."

Jimin smiled at Jungkook from the side. "I seem to recall you didn't really mind playing the voyeur to our bathroom activities." His eyes flitted down to Jungkook's lap. "I don't think you really minded at all."

"Just eat your mushroom," Jungkook muttered.

"Fine." Jimin lifted the mushroom by the stem. "You should know that when I get high I turn into a bit of a whore, so be warned."

Jungkook couldn't imagine what that would look like, seeing as Jimin already radiated enough sexual energy to get Jungkook a little hard just by walking by him in the hall, not that Jungkook was speaking from personal experience.

"Wait." Jungkook blinked. "I thought you said you'd never done drugs before."

Jimin paused. He inhaled, as if to speak, and then took a bite of mushroom instead.

"Fucking, don't bite it," Taehyung exclaimed, crawling back over from the stream. "That'll only draw it out."

Jimin swallowed, looking a little pale.

"Hey Yoongi," Jungkook said. "Gimme your flask."

"Fuck off, Jeon."

Jungkook handed the flask to Jimin. "Chase the rest with this, it makes it a little easier."

Jimin forced down what was left and took a gulp from the flask. He almost gagged.

"Pure gin?" he asked, looking at Yoongi in dismay.

"What did you expect, a margarita?" Yoongi ashed his cigarette. "A flask can only hold so much, gotta make each drop count. Had I known you were all going to suck off my supply, I would've brought a bottle."

Jungkook shrugged. "I mean, if I had my way, it would be whiskey, but beggars can't be choosers."

"Animals," Jimin muttered, wiping his mouth.

"The moon," Taehyung said, drawing out each syllable twice as long as necessary, "is right overhead."

Jungkook looked up. The trees parted around the clearing. The moon hovered in the break in the canopy, bathing the moss in wan light.

"Almost a week until it's full."

"That's right, baby." Jimin rubbed the back of Taehyung's head, ruffling his hair.

Jungkook leaned against a trunk, watching them. Jimin's green eye was glowing in the moonlight. The other half of his face, with the black eye, was cast in shadow. His profile stood out like a black and white woodcut. His nose was tiny and pointed, his jawline sharp as a blade.

He turned and met Jungkook's eye.

Namjoon was lying on his back. Jin was sitting beside him, picking at the moss, talking quietly. Hoseok and Yoongi were passing the flask back and forth, hunched over on a log by the stream.

"I don't know anything about you," Jungkook said.

"You know our names," Taehyung said.

"You know we're witches," Jimin said.

Jungkook thought about getting a cigarette out and smoking it, but his hands were so heavy, he didn't know if he could lift them. He studied Taehyung's hands instead, which were tangled up in Jimin's coat. They were elegant, slender hands. Elegant knuckles. Elegant palms. Even his nails were elegant.

"Why did you two even want to come do this?" Jungkook pondered, more to himself than to them.

"Did you know that the forest is so potent, the school had to cast an enchantment on the mouth of the river?" Taehyung said. "It was spilling all kinds of magic out into the human world, turning frogs pink and shit."

"I'm starting to think the deans put you two up to this," Jungkook said. "Following me around, trying to get me interested in magic so I'll go to classes."

"Good guess, but no," Jimin said. "Taehyung is just a nerd."

"Well okay, the deans did ask us to twist your arm a little," Taehyung said. "When you first arrived."

"Fucking narks."

"Uh, what?" Jimin said.

"Nothing, never mind."

"But we gave up on that a week ago."

"So then, what..."

There was a stretch of silence. Jungkook couldn't decide if it was awkward or not. Part of the problem was not knowing how much time had passed. The silence kept changing shape, same as the night air, or the trees surrounding the clearing.

Eventually, Jimin leaned over and rested his head on Jungkook's thigh, petting over his jeans with a tiny, ring-clad hand.

"I've never seen a faerie before."

"You've said."

"I've seen many things. But not a faerie."

"I can tell you, it isn't as exciting as you seem to think."

Jimin hummed ambivalently.

Slowly, hesitantly, Jungkook lifted a hand and ran his fingers through Jimin's hair. It was just as soft as he imagined. Soft, but thick. Jimin purred, a raspy sound at the back of his throat.

"Hey, don't leave me out," Taehyung mumbled, plopping his head down on Jungkook's other thigh.

"My needy baby," Jimin said, lacing his fingers through Taehyung's.

Jungkook lifted his other hand. It was still as heavy as a sandbag, and landed on Taehyung's face instead of his hair.

"Whoops," Jungkook said.

Taehyung giggled, turning his head and nipping lightly at Jungkook's thigh through his jeans. Jungkook tugged at his hair. Taehyung twisted his body around. His face ended up squished right up in Jungkook's crotch.

"As far as enchanted forests go, this one is actually pretty mild," Jimin said.

"You've seen better?"

"My family liked to travel."

"And Taehyung?"

"Bit more provincial," Jimin said.

"But you're both top students."

"Our grades are perfect."

"You like it here?"

"It's a decent forest. The talking squirrels are annoying, but I really like the stream, and the trees are really wise."

"I was actually talking about the school, but okay."

"Oh." Jimin played with Taehyung's fingers. "Right."

"You and Taehyung are kind of strange."

"We're gifted."

"Sure."

"My lips feel weird," Taehyung said.

"Is that why you keep biting me?"

"Here," Jimin said.

He reached up and pushed two fingers inside Taehyung's mouth. Taehyung's eyes tumbled closed. He hummed. Jimin stroked his cheek with the other hand. Taehyung reached up, holding Jimin's wrist firmly, and slurped. The sound rang out into the clearing.

"Fuck," Jungkook breathed.

Yoongi turned around and looked at them. The moonlight shone down on his hair like powdered silver. The forest morphed and swirled behind him like a vortex. Both Jungkook and Yoongi watched as Taehyung took Jimin's fingers deeper, sucking until his cheeks hollowed. Neither of them said anything. If Jungkook's current state was anything to go on, Yoongi was probably too stoned to be able to form much of an opinion on anything just at that moment.

Jin was the only sober one, but he was too wrapped up playing anchor for Namjoon to notice. Hoseok had moved down onto the moss beside them, and the three of them were discussing morality, or something related to demons and good and evil. Jungkook only caught snippets of the conversation over his own pulse, which was pounding in his ears, louder and louder as he watched Taehyung take Jimin's fingers deeper and deeper into his mouth.

Taehyung's heart-shaped mouth parted so perfectly around Jimin's fingers. Jungkook figured it would look even more perfect around something else.

"I've never been this high," Jimin said.

"I've never been this hard," Jungkook said.

"I can feel that."

"Wish I hadn't worn jeans."

"Maybe we can do something about it."

"I dunno." Jungkook tried to lift his arm, and failed. "I really want to. But I don't know if I can move."

"Who said anything about moving?"

Jimin reached up and undid Jungkook's pants, still pumping two fingers in and out of Taehyung's mouth. Jungkook's zipper opened audibly. Jimin pushed up on his elbow with a little groan, and yanked Jungkook's jeans down, fumbling with his briefs.

"What are you—"

A moment later Jungkook's bare dick met the chilly night air. Jimin stroked it a couple times. Jungkook hissed through his teeth.

"They're right there," he whispered.

"I know. I'm not blind."

Jungkook watched, transfixed, as Jimin led Taehyung's head closer. He pulled his fingers out of Taehyung's mouth, with some difficulty. Taehyung groaned in protest, tugging on Jimin's wrist to get them back, and Jimin yanked his hand away.

"Here, Taehyungie," he said softly.

The moon had shifted behind the tree above them, casting the three of them in shadow. Jungkook couldn't see Taehyung's expression, but Taehyung could clearly see him, because he let out a low, hungry groan.

"Just wait a minu—"

Taehyung pushed forward, gripping at the base of Jungkook's dick with both hands to steady it. Jungkook had about half a second to prepare himself. He sucked in a deep, shaky breath, and then Taehyung leaned down, and Jungkook was engulfed in the warm, wet rapture that was Taehyung's mouth. The back of Jungkook's head hit the trunk with a thud.

"Mmm," Jimin said, petting Taehyung's hair. "Much better."

Jungkook's jaw was so tense it felt like his teeth might shatter. He couldn't tell if Yoongi was still watching. Every brain cell he had left was focusing its strength on not making noises, which was not only impossible, but also futile, given the fact that Taehyung was slurping and sucking at him just as loudly as he'd gone at Jimin's fingers a couple seconds ago.

"Poor Taehyungie," Jimin said. "He's got such a bad oral fixation sometimes."

Taehyung was sucking Jungkook's dick with little or no regard for anyone else but himself. It was the most one-sided blowjob Jungkook had ever received, catering chiefly to Taehyung's mouth and which texture he wanted to feel at any given moment. He pushed Jungkook's crown into his cheek, licking up the side, pulled back and suckled at the head, repetitively, unrelentingly, until a whimper actually did escape through Jungkook's teeth. Jimin laughed at him.

"Shhh," he whispered, pushing up close and staring Jungkook in the face.

Taehyung lapped hard at the underside of Jungkook's head, and then pushed down until he gagged himself.

Jungkook groaned, deep in his chest this time. "Gukkie," Jimin said, sounding scandalized. "Shhh. They're going to hear."

As if they hadn't already heard. Yoongi was a fucking musical witch. His specialty was sounds. Either way, Jimin pressed in closer, close enough that his chest was crunched right up against Jungkook's arm. Jungkook couldn't stop whimpering.

"Hmm." Jimin sounded thoughtful.

He reached over and ran his thumb along Jungkook's jaw. Jungkook knew what was coming, but he wasn't ready. Jimin tipped Jungkook's face towards his, leaned in even closer, and kissed him.

If only Taehyung would settle into some kind of defined rhythm. This was the exact opposite of Yoongi's 'porn song', as Hoseok had put it, which had taken him apart in a matter of minutes. Jungkook drifted in a feverish haze, on the edge for what felt like hours, kissing into Jimin's mouth to blow off his frustration, but only frustrating himself more. For all his highfalutin airs, Jimin was a filthy kisser. He sucked Jungkook's lips, biting hard, and then lapped deep into his mouth. Their tongues thrashed, almost competitively, as Taehyung continued to pacify himself with Jungkook's increasingly sore cock.

"Just wanna cum," he whined, when Jimin pulled away to catch his breath.

"I know," Jimin said, smoothing his hair sympathetically, and then dove back in for more, without further comment.

Through his stoned haze, Jungkook heard someone laughing. Yoongi was singing something and Hoseok was clumsily following along. Voices burbled, like when a conversation made its way into a dream, muffled and distant. Jungkook eventually came, gasping harshly into Jimin's mouth, arching against the tree trunk. Taehyung swallowed, and lapped, and started to suck him again, and Jungkook shoved him off with a frantic little shriek.

Jimin grabbed Taehyung by the front of his tunic and pulled him into a kiss. Taehyung moaned gratefully, and crawled into Jungkook's lap to get closer. Jungkook caught his breath, and his consciousness slowly returned, and he realized someone had lit a fire.

Taehyung was grinding up against his leg. Jungkook rearranged himself against the trunk. His back was really starting to ache, and the leg underneath Taehyung was starting to fall asleep. Yoongi caught his eye at the exact moment that Jimin shoved his hand down the front of Taehyung's pants.

Well, if a walk on the wild side was what they were looking for, they were certainly getting it. There was literally no point in trying to hide what was going on anymore. The flames flickered brightly, lighting up the entire clearing. Jungkook exchanged a polite smile with Yoongi, over Taehyung's shoulder, as Taehyung bit hard into Jungkook's bicep, and slick sounds emanated up from where Jimin's wrist was working down below.

Taehyung shuddered, and then went slack. Jungkook glanced down.

"Did you literally just cum all over my shirt?"

"Sorry," Taehyung gasped, hardly sounding repentant at all.

"Just wipe it off," Jimin said impatiently. "Someone needs to get me off now."

As much as Jungkook was itching to get his hands all over Jimin, the fire really was killing his buzz. He'd never been much of an exhibitionist at the best of times, let alone stoned out of his tree on mushrooms.

"I'll do it," Taehyung said, licking his lips.

"Okay, baby, but make it quicker than you did for Jungkook, okay?"

"Just fuck my throat then, I don't care."

"Jesus Christ," Yoongi muttered. Hoseok, who had been artfully studying the trees behind Yoongi, shook his head.

"Don't act like you aren't finding this at least a little entertaining," Namjoon said.

"I know I am," Jin said.

"I'm glad y-you're enjoying the show, but at this point I r-really do just wanna get off so we can move on w-with the night," Jimin said, in his usual calm, silky tone, except ten times shakier than usual, probably because he was thrusting hard and fast into Taehyung's mouth as he spoke. Taehyung's hands rested on Jimin's thighs. He breathed evenly through his nostrils, taking it like a pro.

Hoseok and Yoongi were passing the flask back and forth again. Namjoon's head was resting on Jin's shoulder. Both of them were watching lazily from across the fire. Little frantic moans rose at the back of Jimin's throat. Jungkook locked eyes with him. Jimin's eyes looked smokier than usual, heavy-lidded and red. His mouth hung open, tongue pressing hard against the back of his front teeth.

"Kiss me," Jimin whispered.

Jungkook hesitated. He could feel the others watching.

"Please, G-Guk, I'm g-gonna..."

"Fuck it," Jungkook grunted.

He leaned in. Only when their mouths melted together did he realize how much he'd been wanting it. They'd been kissing a few minutes ago, but it still felt like too long. He held Jimin by the sides of his head, drinking in his sweet little moans as he bucked his hips and came hard down Taehyung's throat.

They broke apart slowly. Jimin was all trembly, shivering in Jungkook's hands.

"You okay?" Jungkook asked.

"Uh huh," Jimin said softly.

"I'm also fine, thanks for asking," Taehyung croaked, wiping his mouth. He sat up slowly, and winced.

"C'mere, Tae-Tae," Jimin said, pulling Taehyung closer. Taehyung's knees thundered over Jungkook's leg, which was properly asleep now, and pins and needles shot up into his groin. He yelped.  

"Well now that that's over with," Jin said, and then hard-stopped. "Uh. Yeah. I actually don't have any suggestions."

"Hard to know where to go from there," Namjoon said.

Taehyung giggled. He sounded like he'd just smoked an entire pack of cigarettes to himself. Jungkook was turning redder and redder by the second.

"Obviously the answer is more alcohol," Yoongi said. "It's always more alcohol."

They hauled themselves up. Jungkook's back cracked in three separate places, and his legs felt like blocks of cement. Hoseok doused the flames with a wave of his hand and they were swallowed by darkness. Something creaked to Jungkook's left.

"Here," Namjoon said. A ball of blue flame appeared in his hand.

"Gotta make our way back in the dark," Yoongi said. "If we light anything closer to the school, someone will see."

"Right," Namjoon said. The darkness returned.

Jungkook shivered.

They hiked through the forest single-file, sneaking along the hill up to the dorms. By the time they got back to Yoongi's room, everything that had happened in the clearing was starting to feel more and more like a dream. Yoongi closed the door and put on some trip hop.

"So you cast a charm to keep the sound from leaving the room?" Jimin asked, running his fingers over the brick.

Yoongi nodded.

"How often do you do this kind of thing?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Yoongi said, passing him a glass of gin.

Jungkook sat on the bed, watching. He kept telling himself that what had happened was some kind of vivid, magical hallucination, but Jimin's hair was too mussed up for that too be true, Taehyung's lips too red and puffy. He could feel how raw his own dick was whenever he moved, dragging against the front of his jeans through his briefs.

Yes, they really had gotten each other off in a clearing in front of his two stoner friends and two dean's list kids he hardly knew.

There was an uncomfortable, woozy realism creeping into Jungkook's mind as his mushroom high began to fade. Yeah, he felt a little weird, wondering about what the others thought about all of it, but Namjoon and Jin had admitted to kind of liking it, and he and Yoongi had basically gotten off in each other's presences last week to that magical sex song, and he highly suspected Yoongi and Hoseok had done the same with each other at some point.

No, when he really got down to brass tacks, he realized that what was really making him clammy was what he could no longer deny.

He wanted it.

Again.

Soon.

He tanked a glass of gin, and the feeling started to subside. He swallowed back another, and then went in for the bottle instead, and before he knew it, he was slow dancing with himself, next to the wardrobe, and everything was blank and safe, and he could've walked through a dozen scrying clouds just then and not batted an eye.

He collapsed on Yoongi's bed not long after. The trip back to his room, even though it was only a couple doors down, seemed insurmountable. Namjoon clearly felt the same way. He was passed out on the floor next to Jin, his indigo blazer draped over his eyes to block out the lamplight. Hoseok and Yoongi chatted in the corner, smoking their pungent, floral cigarettes out Yoongi's open window. Jungkook drifted in and out of sleep, wishing he had a glass of water, wishing he knew where his shirt was, wishing, only distantly, that he knew where Jimin and Taehyung had gone.

Eventually Yoongi and Hoseok turned off the light and curled up beside him, and at least he wasn't cold anymore.

***

Faerie blood or not, Jungkook was actually too tired to jog the next day. He crawled back to his room the next morning, collapsed in his bed, and slept the rest of the weekend away. Despite how much sleep he'd missed out on the night before, it was fitful. He never seemed to drop below the surface. Images and snippets of conversation kept gliding through his mind, the fire glinting off Yoongi's flask, Taehyung's face, gilded in moonlight.

It wasn't until Tuesday that he was able to properly fall asleep.

"What was in those things?" he groaned.

"I know. I keep getting flashbacks and Hoseok and I didn't even eat a second one."

He and Yoongi were tiredly smoking amongst the topiary. Yoongi looked like hell. It was an overcast, pale day, and the bags under his eyes stood out starkly against his porcelain skin. His hair was greasier than usual.

"Been taking advantage, pulling some late nights at the studio."

"Jealous."

Jungkook, on the other hand, looked fresh as a daisy—as usual. Anyone looking at him, with his glowing skin, his thick hair falling around his face, his rosy cheeks and rosebud mouth, would've wondered why he was dressed in the same sweatshirt and jeans as the day before, hunched over like it was twenty degrees colder than it actually was.

"Having trouble finding a way to pass your sleepless nights?"

Jungkook glanced up and saw Yoongi's expression.

"Ahh, fuck off."

"Just saying," Yoongi cackled, lifting both hands into the air in mock innocence.

"Nah," Jungkook grunted, sucking hard at the end of his cigarette. "That was a one time thing, I think."

"Have you talked to them since?"

"Haven't seen them since Saturday."

"Weird." Yoongi pushed his cigarette into the tip of his finger, snuffing it out with some kind of spell. "I haven't seen them either. Well, it is exam season."

"I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Shut up, don't look so smug," Yoongi said, reaching out to smack Jungkook's head. Jungkook dodged, the height difference leaving him at an unfair advantage. "Well, excuse me while I haul my ass inside and study. I've gotta not fail at least a few things, otherwise they might actually kick me out."

"Have fun," Jungkook called.

The truth was, Jungkook, master of passing time in solitary, idle bliss, was actually starting to find the glacial pace at which the week was proceeding a little aggravating. He knew Yoongi's class schedule by heart now, inconspicuously (he hoped) wandering through the quad and making himself available during Yoongi's smoke breaks, hoping to catch at least a couple moments with him. Yoongi had been holed up since the weekend in his studio, trying to rerecord another lost song, and their drunken, stoned evenings had been put on hold until further notice.

Even Hoseok had gone full scholar for midterms season. He was in the library combing over books every night. Jungkook spotted him one time, crouched over a desk, the last one to leave, a tiny orb of light in a room lined with shelves, glasses balanced on the tip of his swooping nose. Jungkook had taken to wandering the school in his spare time. He may not have known anything about botany, minor protective spells, or summoning, but at this point he knew Blackthorn's floorplan better than the architect who'd designed it.

In all his days of aimless wandering, he didn't run into Jimin or Taehyung once. Once the high finally wore off, the cycling images stopped, but Jungkook still caught himself thinking about the feeling of Taehyung's mouth, the taste of Jimin's breath, and he hated himself for it. He hated how aware he was of what day of the week it was, of how long it had been since they'd last spoken. It was like a bug bite, getting itchier and itchier the more he scratched it. Like Yoongi in the studio, Jungkook needed to practise some discipline and get back to what he did best: coasting, through a sea of days and weeks that swam by, formless and undefined as a cloudless summer sky.

More importantly, he needed to remember his place.

Next Saturday, he hiked to Maven to buy more smokes, seeing as he was almost out and he had nothing better to do. He stopped at the bar for a beer and bought a couple bottles of liquor while he was at it. Yoongi was endlessly giving, but his lavender cigarettes left a weird taste in Jungkook's mouth, and besides, Jungkook could only sponge off him so much without feeling bad. Yoongi came from a big city, headhunted by schools from young for his unusual gifts. His family was poor. He lived off scholarship money, unlike Jungkook, whose parents had enough money to fund the programs giving out the scholarships. He figured he'd stock up on booze for when Yoongi's song was finished.

He got back around eight. He sat in his room, sipping whiskey from a glass he'd filched from the refectory. The moon hung over the field like a massive, phosphorescent sea creature from another world.

He started to wonder about his friends back in Korea. They were never busy on weeknights. They always had time for late night karaoke. His heart ached for his last summer in Seoul; nightclubs and flashing lights, dancing, loitering in parks and drinking soju straight from the bottle. Baristas, delivery people, freeters with big hearts and endless appetites for fun.

His friends back in Korea were just as free as he yearned to be.

They were also the reason his parents had sent him here. Not because of anything they had done, specifically, but because they were human, and wild, and Jungkook preferred to spend time with them than to act like a faerie.

Jungkook shot back the rest of his glass and stood up. Maven was no Seoul, but it had alcohol, chipped barstools, and more importantly, people who didn't give one fuck if he was on the honour roll or not. He grabbed his hoodie and headed into the hallway, with renewed conviction to not give one fuck about Blackthorn and to remain a truant for the rest of time.

He made it two steps before everything went black.

"Fuck," he muttered, groping blindly for something, anything to get his bearings, but the floor was tilting. There was a flash of scorching light.

He was in a hallway.

The same hallway as before, but the direction was wrong.

He turned around, blinking. Sunlight shone through the windows. The pier glass mirror at the end of the hall reflected sunbeams across the ceiling. The patterned plasterwork looked like icing on an enormous, upside-down cake.

Someone was crying.

Jungkook followed the sound down the corridor. His chest was heavy. His foot brushed against a listening vine, pushing up through the floorboards, and he recoiled, huddling into himself.

The crying was getting louder. It was coming from behind one of the doors. It felt like the sobs were coming from inside Jungkook, even though his lips were sealed tight. He understood. Everything about this world was so incomprehensible. So terrifying.

The door handle gleamed in the sun, perfectly buffed and immaculate as most things were in a school that knew how to clean itself. He reached out and his hand slipped, brushing against something smooth and wooden.

Well, that made no sense. He blinked, focusing his eyes, and reached out, aiming directly at the handle this time. His hand slammed against some invisible surface, but his fingers found purchase on cool metal, and he smiled in satisfaction, pushing through the door.

"Dude, what the fuck!"

The vision melted away slowly. It was like he was seeing double. The world from the vision and the world as it was were layered over each other messily. He tripped, disoriented, and barked his shin on the edge of a desk.

"Shit, did I forget to lock the door?"

His head spun as he fought to get his bearings. There was a series of frantic, scrambling noises. He gripped onto the edge of the desk for dear life, blinking, as pain coursed through his shin.

"Jungkook, what are you doing in here?"

"Scrying cloud," Jungkook muttered, giving his head a shake. "Sorry. It was a bad one."

Jimin peered up into his face. "Is that why you're crying?"

"Huh?"

Jungkook reached up and touched his face. His cheeks were wet. "Oh."

"Nghhh."

Jungkook's head jerked in the direction of the sound. Jimin moved to block his line of sight, and smiled brightly.

"Now really isn't the best time," he said quickly.

Jungkook stared over Jimin's shoulder. Like how it was with Yoongi, any attempt to physically impede him was greatly hampered by the height difference.

"Oh shit." Jungkook started to blush. "Sorry, I—"

Taehyung was lying in bed. His hair was so sweaty it stuck to his scalp. A sheet had been draped over him haphazardly, presumably when Jungkook had come unexpectedly barging into their room. Other than that he seemed pretty naked.

"I'm gonna go," Jungkook said quickly.

"I think you should," Jimin said.

Jungkook made his way to the door, finding it only a teeny bit strange that Jimin was entirely clothed, and frowning, rather than smirking like he usually did when horny and lascivious things were afoot.

"No," Taehyung moaned.

"Shhh," Jimin said, pushing on Jungkook's back to hurry him up. "I'll be right there, hun, just give me one second—"

"Gukkie..."

Jungkook paused. Jimin kept pushing.

"Can you just..." Taehyung swallowed heavily. "Can you just come here for a second...?"

"Taehyung, that is a terrible idea," Jimin said.

"No it isn't." Taehyung shook his head. "I just want him to, oh, oh fuck." He hissed, arching off the bed. "'S a bad one, Chim, 's bad—"

"Oh Tae."

Jimin hurried to the side of the bed and dropped down, smoothing Taehyung's hair back from his face. Taehyung hissed through his teeth, and then collapsed in a panting, sweaty heap. The sheet was starting to slip off.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing," Jimin snapped.

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"Either way, I won't be able to help him until you leave."

Jungkook turned to go.

"Noooo," Taehyung bawled.

"Tae, think about this," Jimin said, grabbing the sides of his face. "Think about how you'll feel later. Think about what's on the line."

"I don't care." Taehyung's speech was almost a little slurred. His lips glistened with spit. "He smells... so... good."

"Not worth it, baby."

"You need to study," Taehyung said, in a moment of bizarre lucidity, before erupting into another keen.

"Oh fuck," Jimin muttered, grabbing Taehyung's hands.

"What can I do to help?" Jungkook asked, walking towards the bed.

"You can leave."

Taehyung reached out a trembling foot and hooked it around Jungkook's leg.

"Oh my god Tae," Jimin moaned.

"I won't tell anyone. Whatever it is, I promise I'll keep it to myself."

Jimin looked up at Jungkook, and then back to Taehyung. An intense, silent negotiation seemed to be taking place. Jimin's blond hair was tied back in a little topknot. His sleeves were rolled up. There were shadows underneath his eyes.

"How long have you been taking care of him?"

"Almost a week."

That explained why nobody had seen them around campus.

"Does he need medicine? I could go get one of the deans—"

Jimin reached out and grabbed his forearm, digging in with his pointy nails. "You can't do that," he hissed. "Nobody can find out about this."

"Okay, okay. Ouch."

Jimin let go. Taehyung struggled into a sitting position and the sheet slipped off his shoulders. Without all his baggy clothes, Jungkook was able to see just how skinny he truly was. There weren't really any biceps or pecks to be found. He was lithe, boyish. His collar bones could've cut someone open.

"God damn it Chim," Taehyung grated out. "Someone needs to help me, and you said it yourself, you need to study for the botany final."  

Jungkook resisted the urge to snort. "I really don't think now is the time to be worrying about exams. Clearly you're sick, and you need—"

"He's going to be fine! This happens every month!"

There was a beat.

"Okay." Jungkook paused. "I maybe don't know what the fuck I'm talking about."

"No shit," Jimin said.

Taehyung reached out and grabbed a handful of Jungkook's shirt, pulling him sideways onto the bed.

"Tae, you're going to hate yourself for this."

"Please," Taehyung whimpered, pressing his forehead into Jungkook's shoulder. "Please, I know he'll make it better, so much better..."

"Fine." Jimin heaved a sigh. "But I'm not going to leave you alone with him."

"What do you need?" Jungkook asked quietly.

"Hand," Taehyung breathed.

Jungkook offered up the requested object. Taehyung promptly guided it underneath the sheet, between his legs, and against something hot and extremely wet.

Jungkook swallowed, his throat clicking audibly. "What..."

Taehyung grabbed Jungkook's shoulders and ground up sloppily against his palm. Jungkook tried to angle his hand in the right direction. Taehyung had a dick. That was quite clear. It was hard, and actually a lot bigger than Jungkook's, rubbing insistently against Jungkook's wrist. But there was also something else.

Taehyung nuzzled into his neck, breathing deeply. Jungkook's entire hand was dripping. There were so many textures, so many folds. He fumbled around, trying to figure it out. A smell was coming off Taehyung's body, sweet, almost, but sharp at the same time.

"He's shit at asking for what he needs," Jimin said. "Stick your fingers inside him. It'll help relieve the pressure."

Jungkook nodded. He curved his wrist, and let his fingertips glide over soft, slick skin until he found an opening.

"This one?"

Taehyung gulped, scrambling in closer until he was jammed in Jungkook's lap, clumsily straddling him. His thighs trembled against Jungkook's thighs. The sheet was still bunched around his waist, tangled between them. Jungkook wrapped an arm around Taehyung's back and pushed two fingers inside whatever it was he had found.

Taehyung gasped harshly, grinding his face into Jungkook's neck.

"Better?" Jungkook asked uncertainly.

Taehyung whined in a way that sounded generally affirmative.

"I can usually handle it, but it came early this month," Jimin said. "Straight in the middle of midterms. I think it might've had something to do with the mushrooms. I mean, they were pretty basic, as Seokjin said, but still, they were laced with magic, and magic has been known thrown him off before."

"Um." Taehyung was sucking at Jungkook's neck, hard. Jungkook was doing his best to finger him, with his arm pinned awkwardly under the sheet. "Throw h-him off from what?"

Jimin sighed. "Tae, do you want to tell him, or should I?"

"I'm a werewolf," Taehyung mumbled. "I'll explain more later."

Jimin giggled fondly, still looking extremely worried. "Oh, he's reeeally going to hate himself."

"Should I stop?" Jungkook asked.

"No, he won't hate himself for that. Here, let me get that out of the way." Jimin leaned over, yanking the sheet out from between them. "It's just, like... actually a shitshow that you're here right now."

"So werewolves..."

"Aren't sick, or infected, or any of that nonsense. They're a magical race that has been oppressed for centuries with rumours and lies."

"S'not sexy," Taehyung complained.

"I know baby, but I'm just giving Jungkook some of the facts."

"What's happening to him right now?"

"He's in heat. Well, sort of." Jimin looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "There isn't really a word for it, because most werewolves live in secrecy, and hardly any research has been done about them. We call it his heat, but it happens every month, so in some ways it's more like a menstrual cycle..."

"On the full moon," Jungkook said, slowly putting together the pieces.

"In and around it, yes."

Taehyung reached down and started undoing the front of Jungkook's pants.

"You don't have to let him do that if you don't want."

"Uh. I don't mind."

Jimin watched as Taehyung tugged helplessly at Jungkook's pants. "Here," Jungkook said, standing up. Taehyung let out a sad little cry as he pulled away. "I'll be right back," Jungkook said. "I'm just taking these off."

"So are all faeries just like... ready to bust a nut 24/7?" Jimin asked.

"Take off your boxers too," Taehyung said.

"Maybe?" Jungkook said. "I'm not sure, I don't have any faerie friends to compare myself to."

"You're such a weirdo."

"Coming from you? Okay then."

"Yeah okay, this isn't our finest hour." Jimin leaned against the bedframe. "Just know that if you tell anybody about this, I'm going to curse you so hard."

"I'm not going to tell anybody, for fuck's sakes."

"How am I supposed to know that? We barely know each other."

"Stop arguing," Taehyung said. "I wanna ride Jungkookie in peace."

Jungkook sat back down on the mattress. Taehyung was back in his lap in seconds. He reached down, lined them up, and sat down on Jungkook's cock so fast Jungkook swore.

"Uh, p-protection?"

"He's clean. We've only fucked each other for the past year. Too busy with studies for anything else. And werewolves can only get pregnant from other werewolves, so you're good."

There was the sound of shuffling paper.

Jungkook looked over. Jimin was actually going through a stack of study notes. Jungkook caught a glimpse of a diagram with some kind of bulb-looking thing, before Taehyung rolled his hips and his vision went spotty.

"God-damn," he choked.

Taehyung moaned wantonly, scratching hard at Jungkook's back. His face was twisted up in pain. Jungkook could feel him clenching up tight around his dick.

"Am I helping?" Jungkook wheezed.

"That position isn't the greatest," Jimin commented, turning a page. "His legs are really weak, seeing as he's been like this all week. What he really wants is for you to fuck him on his back, but he likes to come off as sexually domineering, so he's trying to impress you."

"Chim!!" Taehyung yelled.

"Silly. You should've said something." Jungkook tilted Taehyung's face so he could look at him. Taehyung avoided his eyes.

"Hey," Jungkook breathed. "Look at me."

Taehyung locked eyes with him. His expression was blank, almost stricken. Jungkook's heart clenched up as he got it.

Taehyung was ravening, needy and desperate, but underneath it all, he was ultimately terrified of what Jungkook thought about this. Jungkook thought back to that night in the forest. Did Taehyung really have an oral fixation? Or was sucking people off the only way he could get close to them, without outing himself?

"Pretty boy," Jungkook grunted, petting the sides of his head.

"Fuck me Gukkie. Please."

Taehyung's begging was so deadpan. His voice was low, emotionless, but his nails were digging so hard into Jungkook's shoulders, Jungkook was amazed they hadn't broken the skin at this point.

"Okay, hold on."

Jungkook pushed Taehyung onto his back, and anchored his knees against the mattress. Taehyung inhaled sharply in anticipation. Jungkook knew when to draw things out, and now was not one of those times.

He snapped his hips, once, twice, again. Taehyung threw his head back and moaned. He was so wet, Jungkook's pubes were actually soaked. Jungkook clenched his jaw. He wasn't going to even think about cumming, avoiding the mere concept with a ten foot pole, out of the question. It wasn't easy, given the fact that his dick was basically being drowned to death in the most beautiful and euphoric way imaginable.

Once he got his shit together, he settled into a nice rhythm, not lightning fast but not slow either, steady enough that he could feel himself starting to sweat. Taehyung's moans were getting less strangled, more like vocalized, drawn-out sighs. He pushed up on his forearms, and watched Taehyung's pretty mouth drop open. His eyes were closed, thick lashes brushing over perfect cheekbones.

He suddenly realized that the two of them had never kissed.

It seemed almost laughable, given all the other things Taehyung's mouth had done to him. He ducked his head and brushed their lips together. Taehyung grabbed his hair and yanked him closer.

They kissed for minutes on end. While Jimin was a frantic, passionate kisser, Taehyung was more methodical, deep. They kissed until Jungkook was too breathless to kiss anymore, and he panted into Taehyung's mouth while Taehyung bit and sucked on his tongue. Okay, maybe Taehyung really did have an oral fixation, but Jungkook still wanted to give him everything he deserved, everything he had ever wanted.

"Touch m-me," Taehyung whispered.

Jungkook got up higher, spreading his thighs wide, and wrapped a hand around Taehyung's dick. Taehyung covered his face with both hands. Jungkook gripped the headboard over Taehyung's head.

Taehyung came with a choked little sigh, hidden behind his fingers, the force of Jungkook's thrusts fucking his cock up into Jungkook's hand. White fluid spurted out of him, and while he didn't explicitly tell Jungkook to stop, his hands flew up and gripped Jungkook's forearms with vicelike strength.

"You g-good?"

Taehyung nodded, gulping.

Jungkook pulled out, slowly, with a wet squelching noise.

"J-just gonna... take care of this real quick."

"Can I?"

Jungkook looked up in surprise. Jimin still had his notes in one hand, but the other had snuck down between his legs, squeezing at a suggestive shape in his pyjama bottoms. He was staring at Jungkook's cock.

"Chim," Taehyung giggled.

"What?" Jimin snapped, tossing the notes on the nightstand.

He shuffled across the mattress on his knees, pulling Jungkook's sweat-drenched t-shirt over his head and tossing it on the floor. He ran a hand down Jungkook's chest, biting his lip.

"He's so pretty," Taehyung said.

"He really is."

"You gonna jerk me off, or do you want me to fuck you too?"

"Hold your horses, I know you wanna cum, just gimme a second."

Jimin stripped out of his own shirt, and his pyjama bottoms.

"So you want me to fuck you."

"No," Jimin said sweetly. "I just wanted to give you something nice to look at while I jerk you off."

"Oh."

"Don't look so hard done by." Jimin reached out and wrapped a hand around Jungkook's dick. "Look at yourself. You probably wouldn't last a minute."

"A lot can happen in a minute."

Jimin hummed contemplatively.

He jerked Jungkook off nice and steady, fast little snaps of his wrist. Jungkook bit his lip harshly, letting his eyes wander over Jimin's body. His stature was inherently smaller than Taehyung's, but a little more built. He had the cutest little nipples, pointing out perkily from his pecks.

"How do you get abs, reading books all day?"

Jimin raised an eyebrow. "How do you think?"

Jungkook let out a choked laugh, blushing a little.

Taehyung's slick was starting to dry. Jimin let go for a moment, and reached down between Taehyung's legs, scooping mercilessly underneath his dick, and then resumed his hold on Jungkook. Taehyung yelped.

"Thanks, babe," Jimin said.

"Yeah, fuckin, anytime," Taehyung muttered, trying to sound bitter, but he was watching too intently to really pull it off.

Jimin's hand was small, but tight, and he really knew how to use his fingers. Jungkook's chest rose and fell.

"L-last chance to r-ride my dick," he stammered.

"Yeah, right," Jimin laughed.

Jungkook came seconds later. He bucked frantically into Jimin's fingers, and then jerked back, releasing the most awkward, chesty, ugly sound he had ever heard himself make in his entire life.

"Fuck," Taehyung muttered lowly.

Jungkook shuddered, fighting to catch his breath. He had the explicit feeling he was being watched.

"Tradesies," Jimin said.

Jungkook looked up and found Jimin stroking himself, his eyes trailing hungrily over Jungkook's body. Jungkook might've said he'd gone from being the watcher to the watched, the subject to the object, but something about the look in Jimin's eye told him he'd been the object all along.

"Could you not just fuck me instead?" Taehyung said. "I'm still crampy."

"Fucking hell Tae," Jimin swore.

He rolled on top of Taehyung and pushed straight in. Taehyung moaned contentedly. Jungkook leaned against the wall, still catching his breath, and tried not to get hard again, watching Jimin's ass jiggle as he thundered into Taehyung with feverish impatience.

"I swear to god," Jimin hissed, between thrusts, "my back is going to be broken by the end of this week—"

"Not my fault," Taehyung argued, between whines.

"Oh fuck," Jimin moaned, his voice jumping up an octave.

"What—"

Jungkook repositioned his fingers, and pinched again, both of Jimin's nipples, at the same time.

"Oh, fucking hell—"

Jungkook snuggled up behind him, kissing the side of his neck. His thrusts became erratic. Jungkook rolled his fingers, giving one of Jimin's nipples a flick.

"I'm c-cumming," Jimin mumbled.

His hips shuddered a couple more times, and then he moaned, even higher than before, his voice trembling on the edge of breaking, but never quite getting there, crystalline, fragile.

He pulled out and rolled onto his back, hissing through his teeth. Taehyung grabbed Jungkook's arm and yanked him down beside them.

"My dick is so fucking raw," Jimin said.

"Thanks Chim." Taehyung snuggled into Jimin's shoulder. "I think I'll be able to sleep now."

"Witches have a problem with stamina or something?" Jungkook asked.

"We've probably fucked like, twenty times this week. Your dick would've fallen off by now."

"Wow." Jungkook was actually impressed.

Taehyung pulled Jungkook closer. Jungkook reached down, groping for some kind of cover to pull over them. Everything he touched was wet. He eventually gave up, letting his arm flop uselessly over Taehyung's waist.

"So werewolves..."

Jungkook could feel Taehyung tense up against him.

"...have a dick," Jungkook carried on, tracing his fingers over Taehyung's hip. Taehyung's breath was a little shallow, but he lay still, letting Jungkook explore him. Jungkook's fingertips trailed along the underside of Taehyung's cock, and then lower. "And one of these." He traced Taehyung's opening with his forefinger. "And also..." He brushed a thumb over Taehyung's asshole, and Taehyung jolted.

"Just making sure," Jungkook chuckled.

"I have balls too, but they're inside me most of the time."

"It's cool. You have options."

"Say that after you've been through a heat."

Jungkook pulled his hand up and rested it on Taehyung's hip. "What does it feel like?"

"Achy. Messy. All you want is to have sex and cry."

"Sounds intense."

"Griping aside, I actually don't mind taking care of you," Jimin said, flipping a page.

"Are you seriously, fucking, studying, right now, after—"

"The midterm is in two days."

Jungkook rubbed a hand over his face, the same one that was covered in Taehyung's slick, and then went slack in defeat.

"Go ahead and sleep," Jimin said. "I'll pop off right after I'm done this."

"Too cold," Jungkook said.

"There are spare blankets in the bureau."

Jungkook waited. When it became clear that neither Jimin nor Taehyung intended to do anything about the fact that the blankets were over there, not here, he dragged himself up with a wretched groan and stumbled towards the bureau on useless rubber legs.

"You guys owe me," he said, slipping under the covers a moment later.

"Hmm." Jimin's eyes flickered over to him over his notes. "That remains to be seen."

Jimin's green eye glittered in the lamplight, and Jungkook was abruptly reminded that the people he had just slept with were two of the most talented and powerful students at Blackthorn, a werewolf and a witch, nothing like his usual human hookups. Jimin's threat to curse Jungkook if he told anybody about Taehyung rose up from a different angle, sporting sharper fangs now that Jungkook was on the other side of his orgasm.

He huddled into Taehyung's back and closed his eyes, warding off a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. Taehyung was already asleep, breathing evenly against the pillow. It must've been late, because Jungkook passed out almost immediately, despite his reservations.

He woke up in the middle of the night dripping in sweat. Taehyung was generating so much heat Jungkook just as well could've been hugging a gigantic hot water bottle. He squirmed, throwing off some of the covers, and then glanced over to make sure he hadn't pulled them off Jimin.

The bed next to Taehyung was empty. So was the chair. The light was off, but Jimin was nowhere to be seen.

***

When Jungkook woke up the next morning, the first thing that hit him was how he wasn't hungover for a change. His head felt light. The sunlight pouring through the window wasn't excruciating. There was also a naked werewolf wrapped around his body, and all of the blankets were on the floor.

Taehyung was shivering. Jungkook wrapped his arms around him. His skin was still burning up.

"Cold?"

"Cramps," Taehyung said. His morning voice was even cracklier and deeper than Jungkook's.

"D'you have to go to class?"

"No, Jimin's getting the notes for me."

Jungkook hummed. Taehyung sighed, snuggling in closer. Jungkook drifted off. A couple minutes later he was jolted awake by Taehyung whimpering in his ear.

"Here."

Jungkook grabbed Taehyung and dragged him on top of him, pulling his legs apart. Taehyung was slack—a big, lanky doll, all legs and arms. Jungkook grabbed his tiny hips and pushed him down onto his morning wood.

Taehyung's fingers dug into Jungkook's sore, bruised shoulders as Jungkook slid inside him. When he bottomed out, Taehyung let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Fuck," Jungkook breathed.

The two of them lay there like that, Jungkook inside Taehyung, hard as a rock but too lazy to move. Taehyung mouth breathed against Jungkook's collar bones. Jungkook wondered if he'd fallen asleep again.

He closed his eyes.

Sleep floated around the periphery of his mind. It was still heavy, but less easy to tempt in than before. Jungkook shuffled, and Taehyung made a little raspy sound. Jungkook could feel Taehyung's slick dripping onto his pubic bone.

Sleep was so tempting, but the slide was better. Jungkook rolled his hips, scowling, and reached down, gripping harder at Taehyung's hips. Taehyung licked a line up his neck.

Jungkook groaned weakly. He moved Taehyung over him like that, with his hands, dragging his pelvis up and down on his cock. It wasn't really deep enough for either one of them, more of a tease than anything else. Taehyung lapped his way up to Jungkook's ear and sucked hard at his earlobe.

Jungkook buried his nose in Taehyung's hair. To an outsider, the room probably would've reeked of sweat and sex, but Jungkook had been sleeping in it all night, and Taehyung's sweet, sharp scent was only making him more aroused. They squirmed like that, lazy and exasperated, until Jungkook had had enough. He gripped Taehyung's ass, repositioned his hips, and thrusted up hard.

"Blldhasaarghh," Taehyung exclaimed, Jungkook's earlobe slipping free from between his teeth.

Jungkook's stomach was slippery with slick. He pressed his palm down on Taehyung's lower back, trapping Taehyung's dick between them, and fucked him harder. The friction had Taehyung mewling and gasping, cumming all over himself in seconds.

Jungkook started to pull out, and Taehyung chased his dick, sitting down hard.

"Don't."

"Huh?"

"Finish inside me. I can take it."

Jungkook didn't need to be told twice. His teeth were almost chattering, he was so close. He gripped a handful of Taehyung's hair, and pulled him into a kiss. Taehyung groaned lowly into his mouth. Both of them had been panting so hard, their morning breath was almost gone.

Jungkook bucked up into him. It was barely a minute before he was coming apart, choking, cursing, gripping Taehyung's ass for dear life. Taehyung wriggled around, trying to get his hips into a more comfortable position. Jungkook's cock gave up one last spasm, and then he went slack, his hand relaxing its grip on Taehyung's hair.

"So good," Taehyung moaned, a wisp of a sound.

Jungkook jolted awake to the sound of the door closing. He must've fallen asleep again.

"Good sweet baby Jesus," Jimin said, crossing the room and waving his hand in front of his face. He opened the windows one by one.

"Mornin'," Jungkook grunted.

"Afternoon," Jimin corrected him, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I brought lunch. Tae, you should eat something."

Taehyung positioned his hands on either side of Jungkook's torso and pushed up. Jungkook yipped as his skin was almost peeled off his body. There was enough dried slick and cum gluing them together to make a papier-mâché. Jimin threw a sandwich at him.

"After lunch, we're taking a shower," Jimin said.

"Can you clean the sheets?" Taehyung asked, through a mouthful of egg and lettuce.

Jimin sighed. "You know I'm not very good at scouring yet."

"Scouring?" Jungkook asked.

"That's right, I keep forgetting you don't know any witch magic." Jimin picked up the sheet off the floor and held it out in front of him. "Scouring refers to any spell that separates properties, destroying some and leaving others behind. It's incredibly complex, fourth year stuff, but I've been getting a head start on it in my spare time. Some witches still use it for cleaning, but it's a lot easier to enchant things to clean themselves."

"I take it our sheets haven't been enchanted."

"I think the deans did that on purpose. Motivation to read ahead, maybe, or a way to discourage students from hooking up instead of studying."

"Doesn't seem to stop you two."

Jimin spread his fingers wide, muttered something, and gave the sheet a slap. A fine mist burst from the other side, like flour. He did it again and Taehyung sneezed.

"Yeah, not so good at the destroying part." Jimin frowned as the mist settled on the floor and melted into a puddle.

There were at least five other people in the bathroom when they got there. Jungkook tried to shower on his own, but the other two kept following from stall to stall until he gave up.

"This sucks," he said, shivering. He was standing to the side, watching Taehyung shampoo Jimin's hair. "There isn't enough water for the three of us."

"Here." Taehyung reached up and poked the showerhead.

Water exploded out of the pipe, blasted off the ceiling, and blew the face of the showerhead off. Jimin was knocked to his knees, and Taehyung fell on top of him. Jungkook got a jet to the face.

Jimin and Taehyung were still laughing about it by the time they were dry and clothed, standing in front of the mirrors doing their hair, while Jungkook blew his nose and sneezed repeatedly. A couple girls walked past them in towels, blatantly checking out Jimin's ass.

"Should I make my eyes blue or yellow today?" Taehyung asked.

"Feeling a little better?" Jimin said, rubbing a pasty ointment onto his cheeks.

"Yeah." Taehyung closed one eye, rubbing the lid. When he opened it his iris was bright gold. "I think I'll be able to make it to the rest of my afternoon classes."

"Is your green eye fake too?" Jungkook asked.

"Nope," Jimin said, brushing bronze sparkles onto his eyelids.

They walked back down the hallway to their rooms. Jimin and Taehyung held hands, chatting about the things Taehyung needed to catch up on. Jungkook's stomach kept lurching. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and gazed out the window. It was only two o'clock.

"We're off to the library." Jimin gave Jungkook a little wave. "Ta-ta."

Jungkook went back to his room because it felt oddly awkward to stand there and watch them go. His nose still ached from having a litre of water blown up each nostril, but somehow, that seemed like the least of his troubles.

He waited five minutes and then wandered down to the field. It was a sunny day, and students were milling about, lying on the greensward, reading, napping. It occurred to him that these people lived in his building, ate the same food, but he didn't know even one of their names.

He did a few laps. He thought about going to Maven for a couple drinks, but Yoongi and Hoseok intercepted him in the quad, and he decided to smoke with them instead.

"How's the song going?"

"So-so." Yoongi was looking more rundown than before. The shadows underneath his eyes had developed into bags. His skin looked pasty. His roots were starting to grow in, black on teal, accentuating the grease. Jungkook figured there was some kind of spell for changing hair colours, but Yoongi was probably too busy to do it, unlike Jimin, who would've taken the time to do his makeup before going into battle. "When I listen to it I can still tell what's going to happen next. I've been getting an elevated heartbeat sixteen counts in though, so that's something."

"What's it supposed to be?"

Yoongi turned and levied his big gummy smile on Jungkook. "The auditory embodiment of surprise."

"Whoa."

"I wanted another porn song," Hoseok said. All his hair was hidden underneath a toque, his nose was oily, and his nail polish was chipped, but standing beside Yoongi he looked like he'd just walked off a runway.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that."

"Okay, your orgasm-inducing hymn of eternal splendour."

Yoongi shook his head in disgust.

"What about you?" Yoongi's eyes trailed over Jungkook's neck. "Seems like you've been busy."

"The sex is good, leave me alone."

"My idea of what faeries are like is going to be so skewed after hanging out with you."

"Good."

"Is there a hickey on your earlobe?" Yoongi squinted.

"I dunno, probably."

"Are you wearing eyeshadow?" Hoseok asked.

"I didn't come here to be scrutinized—"

"Jungkook, your eyelids are literally baby blue."

"I told him to go with silver," Jungkook muttered bitterly, "but he wouldn't listen."

"Whipped for two ivy kids." Yoongi raised an eyebrow, spitting distractedly on the cobblestones. "Wow. Who would've thought."

Jungkook made various strangled sounds, and tossed his cigarette on the ground, but found himself horrifyingly incapable of denying that statement. Maybe they could tell he was a little out of sorts, because they took pity on him and ate dinner with him instead of heading straight back to their studies.

But then dinner was over, and Yoongi and Hoseok were gone, and he was alone in his room, with nothing to do but stare out the window and think about the smell of Taehyung's sweat, and the feeling of their slippery, soapy bodies pressing in around him as they tried to get the showerhead stuck back on with a spell, and the look on Jimin's face as Jungkook had exploded in his evil little hand.

He reached under the bed and pulled a bottle of whiskey up onto the mattress. He took a little, lacklustre sip, and then dropped it back on the floor. He curled on his side and closed his eyes.

When he'd walked into the scrying cloud, he'd followed the sound of weeping into that person's room, the person who the memory belonged to, wanting to help them feel better somehow. But what could he have possibly said? Tell them he got it, he understood how they were feeling? Even if that was true, what good was understanding something if you couldn't change it?  

He woke up, parched and sweaty. The sky was pitch black. He trudged down the hall to the washroom. Calm, contained flames twinkled inside lamps that were mounted on the wall. He gulped water from the sink and splashed some on his face.

He was halfway down the corridor when a door creaked opened to his right.

Taehyung paused, eyes open wide. He was dressed in a sweater and slacks. The lamps were on in his room. Jungkook caught a glimpse of Jimin behind him, leaning over a stack of notes.  

"Gukkie," Taehyung said. "You aren't in Maven?"

"Was sleeping," Jungkook said, rubbing one of his eyes.

"You look tired."

"Faeries can't look tired."

Taehyung leaned closer, and then laughed. "Oh, it's the eyeshadow. It's all smudged."

"Oh."

"Come here, Jimin can take it off for you."

Taehyung wrapped his hands around Jungkook's arm and pulled him into the room. Jungkook sat down right on the floor, swaying with sleepiness.

"You should really take better care of yourself," Jimin said, rubbing at Jungkook's eyes with a washcloth.

"Isn't there a spell for that?"

"Yes, but I'm not confident enough to try it on someone's face yet."

"He uses the same spell to clean his cauldron."

"Like I said, scouring is a bitch." Jimin straightened up. "There. You're back to looking insultingly perfect."

Jungkook yawned. "Thanks."

"So sleepy." Jimin ruffled his hair. "You're usually out drinking at this hour."

"Didn't think you'd noticed."

Jungkook kept his eyes closed, because he was afraid of what would happen if he opened them.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Jimin leaned over. "Did someone cast a spell on you?"

"No." Jungkook curled in on himself.

Jimin sighed. Taehyung came back from the washroom. The door closed behind him.

"What's wrong?"

"He's acting weird."

"Maybe he walked through another scrying cloud." Taehyung sounded thoughtful. "Maybe they affect faeries differently."

"I don't know what to do," Jimin sighed. "We still need to study."

"I'll go," Jungkook croaked.

There was a clunk as Taehyung set something down on the desk. A moment later he dropped down in front of Jungkook, peering into his face.

"Did you find something weird in the forest?"

"There's nothing weird in that forest," Jimin said.

Jungkook inhaled shakily.

"You're crying," Taehyung observed.

"Sad," Jungkook whispered.

"Oh."

There was a pause.

Taehyung wrapped his arms around him. Jungkook hid his face in Taehyung's shoulder, sobbing quietly into his sweater.

"Taehyung. Uh." Jimin stared down expressionlessly. "I don't know what to do."

"Give him a hug."

"Oh, okay."

Jimin slid off the chair behind Jungkook and sandwiched him in from behind, tucking his chin over Jungkook's shoulder.

"Jungkook," Jimin giggled. "What on earth is wrong?"

Jungkook made a wretched sniffling noise. "It's f-fine, you t-two need to study—"

"It's okay, this is more interesting."

"Chim."

"More... important."

Taehyung nodded. "That's right."

"You could sleep in the bed while we finish up these notes?" Jimin suggested.

Jungkook shook his head, gripping at Taehyung's sweater.

"Wow, he's so needy!" Taehyung laughed. "You'd think he was on his heat."

Jungkook immediately pushed Taehyung away and tried to wriggle out from between them.

"Oh no you don't," Taehyung said, pushing him back down. He tumbled into Jimin, squishing him against the desk. The air whooshed out of Jimin's lungs.

Jungkook finally looked up and met Taehyung's eye, scowling.

"Get in front of me," Taehyung ordered.

"Why?"

"Stop asking so many questions."

"Can't breathe," Jimin gasped, pushing Jungkook forward. Jungkook's face landed in Taehyung's lap.

Jungkook half-expected to have a dick in his mouth in a couple seconds, but instead, Taehyung grabbed him, turned him around, and dug his thumbs into Jungkook's shoulders. Jungkook keened, trying and failing to turn it into a cough.

"Read the notes to me."

Jungkook frowned.

"As much as it seems like I'm trying to lure you into the wild and wacky world of academia, I need to study and my hands are busy."

Jimin had already slithered back into his chair, and was leaning over an enormous, yellowing tome.

"Can you prop them up so I can see them better?" Jungkook murmured sulkily.

That was how they spent the next hour and a half. Taehyung rubbing Jungkook's back, Jungkook, in his paper-thin, post-sobbing voice, reciting what was written on the parchment in front of him, and Jimin staring intently at the tome, turning pages at an unrealistic pace.

Then Jimin was turning the lights out, and Taehyung was getting naked. Jungkook lay on his back, crammed between them.

"I kind of want to jerk off," Jimin said.  

Jungkook moved his arm out of the way as Taehyung reached over and yanked Jimin's pyjama bottoms down.

"Sleeping naked has its perks," Taehyung said. "Might wanna consider it sometime."

"I get too cold."

Jungkook closed his eyes. Jimin moaned.

"You guys suck," Jungkook said wearily, reaching down and pulling his own dick out of his boxers.

"Heat's almost over, gotta take advantage of that shit," Taehyung said.

"He's honestly not even that different when he's not on his heat," Jimin panted into Jungkook's neck.

"Oh yeah? And what about you?"

"I'm..." Jimin's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm a bit of a slut."

"That's right," Taehyung said. "My pretty little whore."

Jungkook jerked hopelessly at his sore dick.

"Kinda wanna take it from Jungkook sometime," Jimin said, as Taehyung continued to jerk him off. "Also wanna give it to Jungkook sometime."

"Fuck, that's hot," Taehyung said.

"I haven't even sucked his dick yet," Jimin said.

"It's really nice. Not as big as mine, though."

"Fuck off," Jungkook grunted.

"I bet he'd look so nice spread out for m-me." Jimin's voice was low, raspy almost. "Those thick thighs o-over my shoulders, maybe stuff my fingers in his mouth to keep him quiet—"

Taehyung and Jungkook both moaned at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm a little wet," Taehyung said.

Jungkook stroked himself faster.

"If we didn't have a lab tomorrow morning I'd sit on both of you."

"Can we n-not have sex once, without talking a-about homework?" Jungkook asked.

"Yeah, like that, Tae, please—"

Jimin gasped, arching off the bed. Jungkook was next. Taehyung came, thrusting into Jungkook's hand, and for the second night in a row, Jungkook fell asleep in Taehyung's bed, covered in way more cum and way more boys than he'd expected.

****

"We notice you've been spending some time with Mr. Park and Mr. Kim."

"Of course you have."

"I am not sure, Jungkook," Dean Phantasmagorium said, "what that is supposed to mean."

Jungkook snorted. "Listening vines? They're everywhere. Not to mention the fact that you basically asked those two to spy on me when I first arrived."

"I believe I asked them to help you integrate, there is a vast difference—"

"So you know about the listening vines," Dean Sukie said. "I'm glad to see you've taken some interest in the magical phenomena around the school."

"It's less about interest and more about self-preservation."

"More port, Jungkook?"

Jungkook held out his glass. Dean Phantasmagorium topped him up. The fireplace seemed somewhat less out of place now that autumn had started to creep in. It wasn't quite cold enough to justify wearing a cashmere Burberry coat indoors, though.

Jungkook took a sip. "Good stuff, although I'd prefer some of that scotch."

"Nice try, kid," Dean Sukie said, swirling her scotch in a tumbler.

"So this truly is your plan." Dean Phantasmagorium leaned back reflectively in his armchair. "A faerie comes to Blackthorn. Treats the campus as his vacation home, passing his days in continuous leisure, drinking with the faculty, propositioning various members of the student body—"

"They propositioned me."

"We've had several complaints," Dean Sukie said.

Jungkook made a face. "About Jimin and Taehyung?"

"About your jogging. The students find it demoralizing, watching you tramping around the lawn all day."

"Fair point. I'll keep my jogging to the forest paths."

"I'm surprised. When you first arrived, I thought you would be wreaking all kinds of havoc around here. But you eat your meals at the same time every day, and apart from your fitness regime, you're generally keeping to yourself." Dean Sukie sighed, adjusting her sleeves. She was dressed in an indigo suit with French cuffs. Her hair had grown out a little, and she'd slicked it back. "You aren't a bad kid, Jungkook. I wish you wouldn't allow this feud with your parents to stand between you and your future."

"I don't care about my future."

"Ahh, the privilege of youth," Dean Phantasmagorium said.

"How old are you now?" Dean Sukie asked.

"Nineteen."

"And faeries, they live longer than witches, don't they?" She tapped the side of her glass with her fingertip. More ice jangled into her scotch, out of thin air. "Seems kind of lonely to me. All those years, no learning, no goals, nothing but your own mind to keep you company."

Jungkook set his glass down and stood up. "Did my parents write spontaneous counselling sessions into the contract too?"

"Think it over Jungkook."

He threw on his jacket and walked out the door.

The grass was still thick and green, the topiaries plump and sculpted. The only hint that autumn was on its way was the rain. He sprinted to the cloister, ducking inside the school through an arched doorway.

The hallways were definitely dated, but not medieval. Instead of bare stone and sconces, there was wood panelling and chandeliers. The floors were a mixture of hardwood, patterned tile, and ornate rugs. Jungkook made his way past the library to a line of classrooms, and pushed through the door marked praxi 18.

"Fucking, hold still—"

"Jimin, it hurts—"

Jungkook almost dropped his bag.

"One... second..." Jimin pressed his forefinger to Taehyung's neck, and dragged it along the gouge, which was spilling blood all over the floor in a massive puddle.

"What the fuck happened?"

"Spell got away on us," Jimin said, and then muttered a little incantation. Taehyung made a little whining noise, and when Jimin pulled his finger away, the cut was sealed, although it was hard to tell with how much blood was everywhere.

"I thought you two said you were going to wait."

Jungkook knelt beside Taehyung. Taehyung reached out, grabbed Jungkook's shoulders, and hauled himself to his feet. He slipped on the puddle of blood and fell into a line of desks.

"Jesus Christ," Jungkook said, grabbing his arm.

"I'm fine," Taehyung said. "Jimin, clean up the blood so we can get started."

"I'm not down," Jungkook said emphatically, eying Taehyung's blood-soaked sweater.

"We're going to do it anyway," Taehyung said. "And if you don't help us, we'll probably hurt ourselves again by accident."

Jungkook frowned.

"Did you bring the books?" Jimin asked.

"Yeah, yeah, hold on." Jungkook set his bag on a desk and pulled the books out, one by one.

"Wow," Jimin said, standing up. The floor was clean. His scouring spells were already getting a lot better. "You got everything we asked for. Nice job Gukkie."

"My pleasure," Jungkook said sullenly.

In addition to helping out with their spells, Jungkook had been checking books out of the library for them, making copies of notes, and other simple tasks that partially helped to justify how much time the three of them had been spending together. Some days the payoff was more apparent than others.

"It's so nice having a pageboy around to run our errands."

"I'm leaving."

Jimin caught his wrist as he walked by, almost ripping his arm out of his its socket. Jungkook swore.

"Whoops, sorry, forgot I still had my strength spell activated."

Taehyung powered up a scouring spell and smacked hard at the front of his shirt. It caught on fire.

Five minutes later, Jungkook sat in a chair, massaging his temples, while Jimin and Taehyung leaned over the books, murmuring to each other.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"It looks like this is where we fucked up," Taehyung said, pointing at something on the page. "Jungkook, go stand by the blackboard."

Jungkook got up and positioned himself at the front of the classroom.

"This spell proceeds as a duet. It's advanced transfiguration, meant to flip certain properties on living objects. Taehyung and I were both performing the spell, but the problem was, Taehyung was also acting as the object, and that's where things got twisted."

"I told you to wait for me."

"Yeah, well, you were taking forever."

"I had to meet with the deans. And your writing is terrible."

Jimin always made detailed lists of the books he wanted Jungkook to get, with their section number and author name. His writing was tiny, crabbed—probably one of the only things about him that wasn't perfect. Jungkook secretly found it cute, but damned if he was going to admit that after he'd been called a pageboy.

Jimin wrote a long, complicated word on the blackboard in chalk. "I don't know what you're talking about. You can read that just fine, can't you, Taehyung?"

Taehyung examined the word. "It's alright," he said delicately.

"Memorize this," Jimin said, tapping the board. "You're going to have to say it the second the spell goes off."

"Wasn't part of the agreement," Jungkook said. "I told you I'm not learning any spells."

"It isn't anything fancy, just a basic stabilizer."

Jungkook reached for his jacket.

Jimin shoved him back towards the blackboard. Jungkook glowered at him.

"You're absolutely no fun, you know that?" Jimin said, reaching into his backpack. He retrieved an eyeliner pencil and pulled the lid off with a sigh, drawing the word on Jungkook's forehead instead.

"Just as long as I don't have to do any spells."

"I don't understand you. How can you be so snobby about witch magic, but not snobby about witches?"

"You can't have sex with witch magic."

"Says who?" Taehyung said.

Jungkook's eyes widened before he could stop himself.

"Maybe we'll show you afterwards, if this works out," Jimin said. He poked Jungkook's nose and then stepped back, getting in position.

"So what exactly are you flipping?"

"The spell is usually used for bodily alterations, surgeries, that kind of thing. But seeing as we've never done this before, we're just going to change the colour of your pants with the colour of your shirt."

"And change it back, right?"

"That's the plan," Jimin said.

The two of them stood side-by-side and counted five steps away from each other. Jimin straightened up, sweeping his blond hair out of his face. He looked poised; almost princely, in his lace chiffon button down, transparent enough to see his ribs. Taehyung was slightly hunched, rough-and-ready, like he was about to catch a ball. His sweater hung off his shoulders in singed, bloody tatters, like some post-apocalyptic halter top.

"Alright, Gukkie, don't move."

The two of them started reciting the spell.

Over the past month, Jungkook had garnered that some spells required saying something out loud, while others didn't. Mixing potions, or simple things, like casting a concealment on the shower, could be done in silence. Really complicated spells seemed to involve more talking.

He clenched up the muscles in his legs and tried not to move, not even an inch. His breathing was shallow. Both of them looked incredibly focused. Jimin's brow was furrowed, his face devoid of its usual sly smile. Taehyung was biting his lip. It might've been sexy if Jungkook hadn't been preparing to have his skin sliced open at any moment.

The reciting stopped. The room glowed for a moment, like the sun was peeking momentarily out of the clouds, and then the dim, rainy, overcast light returned. Jungkook's head jerked forward, heavier than before.

"Oh, shit," Taehyung said.

Everything was black. At first Jungkook thought he'd gone blind. He scrambled to touch his face, and his hands collided with a thick curtain of hair.

"Oh dear," Jimin said.

Jungkook shook his head back and brushed and tucked, but there was just so much hair. Eventually his face peeked out. He looked down. His hair was had grown past his knees, and his pants were gone.

"To be fair, it could've been worse," Jimin said.

The three of them were back in the washrooms. Jungkook was standing in front of the mirror in his boxers, watching as Jimin cut and chopped at the dense mop protruding out of his scalp. The floor was littered with chunks of hair longer than his arm.

"So we transmuted the mass from his pants into hair," Taehyung said. He was perched on the counter, picking at his chin in thought. "Why?"

"I think I might've slurred the fifth syllable from the third verse."

Taehyung nodded. "That would've done it."

"Eat up, Tae. You lost a lot of blood."

"Oh," Taehyung said. "Right."

Jimin had given him a bag of oblong-shaped berries. They were supposed to be rich in iron. Jungkook had tried one and spat it out, it was so metallic. Taehyung popped one into his mouth and chewed miserably.

"I take it I'm not getting my pants back?" Jungkook asked.

"Unfortunately not. We're nowhere near being able to reverse something that complex." Jimin sighed. "Are you sure you don't want me to leave it? It looks kind of hot at shoulder length."

"Can you go shorter? I've been meaning to get my bowl cut back anyway."

Jimin hummed unhappily, and moved back in with the shears.

"I'm honestly surprised you aren't more upset with us," Taehyung said.

"The looks on your faces were kind of worth it."

There was a loud snip. A chunk of hair fell away, revealing the smudged sigil on Jungkook's forehead.

"Woops," Jimin said. "That's a little short."

"It's fine. It'll grow back in a couple days."

"So faeries never look tired, their hair grows really fast, and they like to fuck," Jimin said. "These are the three whole facts I know about your race."

"And they cry," Taehyung said.

"That never happened, stop bringing it up," Jungkook groaned.

"I really wouldn't mind seeing some faerie magic one of these days," Jimin said.

"So, WEREWOLVES," Jungkook said.

Both of them shushed him hysterically.

"Asshole," Taehyung said.

"Stop bugging me, I'll stop bugging you."

"I don't mind if you bug me," Taehyung said. "Just not in public."

Taehyung looked genuinely shaken up. Jungkook felt a little bad. When they were back in Taehyung's room, Jungkook came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his skinny body from behind. Taehyung leaned back into him, dropping the shirt he was about to put on.

"I'm sorry I was a dick."

"It's okay. It would just be really, really bad if anybody found out."

"How bad?" Jungkook asked softly.

"Like, my parents disowning me kind of bad."

"But aren't they werewolves too? Don't they get it?"

Taehyung pulled away, reaching for the shirt. "My mom works at a witch bank. My dad's a teacher. None of their colleagues know. None of our neighbours."

"Is it hard to hide?"

"You saw how bad my heats can get. Every month around the full moon, I have to find an excuse to hide away in my room. And it isn't just that." Taehyung slipped into his shirt and started hunting around in a drawer for a pair of socks. "My mom gave birth to me at home. The only person there was my dad, who doesn't know a thing about medicine. She was too afraid to go to a hospital. Thank god the birth went fine."

Taehyung put his socks on and stood up. He started organizing the desk, putting pens back in the penholder, straightening papers. His voice was calm, but Jungkook saw the way he repositioned a textbook three times. He wasn't typically the kind of person who gave one shit about things being neat and tidy.

"Werewolf genitalia is different from witches, as you know, and we're born with fangs, so she didn't want the nurses to see either one of us. They filed mine down twice. I don't remember the first time, but the second time, when my adult teeth came in, it really hurt."

"Do you get it now?" Jimin snapped. "It isn't just Taehyung's secret he's keeping. If he gets outed, so does his entire family."

Jungkook felt like crawling into a hole.

"Why?" he asked. "Why do werewolves have to hide?"

"I don't know," Taehyung said. "Over the ages, we've been accused of being uncivilized, mainly because of our heats. I think the sexual aspect makes witches uncomfortable. And with our genitals, we don't fit neatly inside the gender binary and that weirds people out too. I read in a book once that old werewolf societies used to have multiple genders, or sometimes none at all, but I'm not entirely sure if that's true. Either way my parents hate talking about it, and they raised me as a boy, and it feels generally right so I went with it?" He organized a stack of erasers from biggest to smallest. "I don't know, maybe it's because there aren't that many of us left, I don't know, is it ever entirely logical why one race gets subjugated by another?"

"Tae," Jimin said, reaching out and taking his hand. "The desk is fine. Do you want to sit down?"

Taehyung shook his head.

Jungkook sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face with his hands. "I'm sorry for being stupid," he said. "I'm sorry to make you talk about it."

"Stop feeling bad about yourself," Jimin said. "It won't do anybody any good."

"I'm such an idiot."

"Just keep it a secret and we're good," Taehyung said.

"I think, to make it even, he should tell us something about himself," Jimin said.

"I'm half-faerie, my grades are shit, I like to party, what else do you need to know?"

"Just one spell." Jimin sat down beside Jungkook on the bed, leaning in close. "Something simple. Can't faeries make plants grow? You could make a flower bloom, or—"

"No."

"For the love of fuck, Jungkook."

"Can we please just talk about something else?"

Jimin opened his mouth to argue.

"Lay off, Chim," Taehyung said, sitting down in Jimin's lap. "I've had enough of the anxious vibes. Anyone want a blow job?"

"I'm not horny right now," Jungkook said.

Jimin started undoing his belt.

Jungkook moved over to give them more room. He heard Taehyung grunt as he slurped Jimin's cock into his mouth. He rubbed his hands up the back of his head. It was probably the best haircut he'd had in months, much better than the ones he gave himself. His back was still itchy with the little hairs that had tumbled down the back of his shirt. Jimin let out a shameless, pornographic moan.

"I know what you two are trying to do."

"Is it working?" Jimin asked breathlessly.

Jungkook took his shirt off with no comment.

Jimin pulled him into a kiss. Jungkook reached into his boxers and touched himself, listening as Jimin's moans got more and more desperate.

"H-hold on," Jimin said, grabbing Taehyung's hair.

Taehyung made a disgruntled noise.

"I know baby, I know," Jimin said, pulling hard at Taehyung's hair. Taehyung's mouth separated from Jimin's dick with a wet suction noise, and he scowled. "Don't worry, I have a really fun idea."

Jungkook was starting to get an ominous feeling about this.

"I was just thinking about the fact that the three of us have been fucking for a whole month now, and neither one of us has had our dicks in Jungkook's ass."

Jungkook immediately stopped jerking himself off.

"That's right!" Taehyung said.

"It should probably be me, seeing as my dick is the smallest," Jimin said.

"Not a bad idea."

"Excuse me," Jungkook said.

"Hey Gukkie." Jimin turned to Jungkook. "Have you ever bottomed before?"

"No."

"I think I just thought of a way for you to repay us for today."

Jungkook frowned at both of them, his brow crunching up. Jimin laughed, trying to smooth it out with his thumb. Taehyung leaned back on the floor, spreading his legs, stroking himself nonchalantly as he watched.

"Well, get on with it then," Jungkook muttered.

"Yay," Taehyung said. "Sandwiching Jungkook, best Wednesday ever."

"Tae, can you prep him?"

"You betcha."

Jungkook lay on his back with his head in Jimin's lap. Jimin stroked his hair, gazing down at him with his varicoloured eyes. Taehyung arranged himself at the other end of the bed, between Jungkook's legs.

"You're so pretty, Guk," Taehyung said.

"Don't," Jungkook said.

"Seriously. Your asshole is a straight-up ten out of ten."

"God damn it, Taehyung, can you just fucking do it?"

"Chill out. You can't really rush this process." Taehyung reached down between his own legs.

Jungkook waited. Taehyung moaned.

"Okay Tae, I'm gonna have to take Jungkook's side on this, you need to hurry the fuck up," Jimin said.

"Sorry, got distracted." Taehyung pulled his fingers out of himself, which were now glistening with slick. "Nice and lubed up," he muttered, examining them for a moment, and then pressed them directly to Jungkook's hole.

Jungkook jolted.

"It's okay," Jimin purred, running his hands over Jungkook's chest. "I'm right here."

"That's supposed to make me feel better how?" Jungkook grunted.

Jimin giggled.

Taehyung pushed a finger inside him.

"Oh god," Jungkook moaned.

"You have given anal, right?" Jimin asked.

Jungkook nodded mutely.

"Okay, well at least there's that."

Taehyung pushed his finger all the way in. Jungkook swore.

"Even your hands are fucking huge."

"It's true, Tae has magic fingers," Jimin said.

"So when do I get to top you?" Jungkook asked.

"Let's get your ass stretched out and then have that conversation, okay?"

Taehyung pulled out, lined up, and pushed two fingers in. Jungkook arched off the bed.

"Got some length going on, now it's just about stretching you out," Taehyung said, twisting his wrist around. "You're hard, so you can't be hating this."

"Feels weird," Jungkook rasped.

"Do you like it?" Jimin asked.

Jungkook closed his eyes. And then he nodded.

"So much pride. Being a faerie seems like no fun at all."

"It isn't," Jungkook whispered.

Taehyung added a third finger and Jungkook hardly noticed.  

"Whoa you're a natural at this. I think he's ready, Chim."

"Fucking finally," Jimin growled.

Jungkook felt like he was about to get eaten alive.

Taehyung pulled his fingers out. "Roll over, baby."

"So it's baby now?" Jungkook asked, but did as he was told, flipping onto his stomach.

Jimin and Taehyung switched places. Small, wicked hands clawed their way down Jungkook's back, and he hissed through his teeth. Jimin massaged his ass, digging his thumbs in, and then pushed his cheeks apart.

"Taehyung was right," Jimin said softly. "You do have a pretty asshole."

Jungkook was blushing too hard to respond.

Jimin pulled Jungkook's hips up, cocking his ass higher, and leaned over him. "I'm gonna fuck him for a while to get him used to the feeling, and then you can get underneath him, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Taehyung said.

Jimin pushed inside. Jungkook moaned, gripping hard at Taehyung's thighs.

"Still kind of big, huh?" Taehyung asked.

Jungkook whimpered.

He could feel Jimin inside him, but he could also feel him over him. He could imagine the way those varicoloured eyes were trailing over his ass, his trembling shoulders, knowing he was the one who'd done this to him. Jungkook furrowed his brow, determined to regain some of his pride.

"You actually gonna fuck me, or—"

Jimin pulled back and thrusted back in, a steady, merciless slide. Jungkook broke off into a strangled moan. Jimin did it again.

Jungkook could feel himself drooling. He licked his lips, panting loudly, trying not to make too much noise. Taehyung's room didn't have a muffling spell on it like Yoongi's. He couldn't even remember if any of them had remembered to lock the door.

"God damn, he is a natural," Jimin said.

"Can I get underneath him yet?" Taehyung was leaning against the headboard, impatiently jerking off as he watched them.

"Fine. Here."

Jimin pulled Jungkook up by his shoulders. Jungkook scrambled, working out the new angle, as Taehyung turned around and shuffled in underneath him.

"Got my ass ready for you, Gukkie," Taehyung said. "It just seemed like the right thing to do."

"Gee, thanks," Jungkook grunted, more consonant than vowel.

Taehyung reached around and grabbed Jungkook's dick, lining it up with his own asshole. Jimin pushed into him from behind, pushing Jungkook inside Taehyung, and Jungkook wheezed.

Jimin pumped his hips a few times, moaning carelessly, and then pulled back, giving Jungkook some space to work with.

"Rhythm's on you, baby," he panted. "Time to use those muscles."

Taehyung moaned, trembling on all fours, Jungkook balls deep in his ass.

"Make sure to fuck Tae nice and good to let him know how much you care about him."

Jungkook sucked in a breath and tried to focus. He pulled his hips back to get some leverage for Taehyung, and got an ass full of Jimin.

"Fuck," he moaned.

"That's right, fuck yourself on my cock."

"Are you g-gonna trash talk your way through bottoming for me too?"

"He will," Taehyung said.

Jungkook whipped his hips forward, and Taehyung moaned. The stimulation was overwhelming.

"I kind of can't feel my dick."

"It's hard, don't worry about it," Taehyung said.

Jungkook gripped Taehyung's hips to steady himself.

Jokes aside, Jimin could just as easily check his own books out of the library. It would actually probably take him less time than scrawling out all those detailed booklists for Jungkook. Taehyung didn't seem to mind getting his neck sliced open. When their spell experiments went awry, Jimin was there to patch him up. Realistically, the reason they kept him around was probably actually for stuff like this, and if that was the case, there was no way in hell Jungkook was going to fuck it up.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and went for it.

Faerie fitness really did pay off sometimes. His legs were shaking, but he held himself steady, rocking his hips between them at a nice, quick pace, which seemed adequate for everyone involved. Jungkook couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut, no matter how hard he tried.

"Wreck me Guk, fucking wreck m-me please—"

"So pretty," Jimin stammered, tugging and twisting at Jungkook's nipples from behind. "Such a p-pretty boy, good fuck—"

"Youu tooo," Jungkook slurred. "Soo fucking hot, oh my god—"

It was a miracle they weren't drunk, or high, or both. He didn't feel remotely sober. He could feel his face burning, the flush creeping down his neck to his chest. Jimin had figured out the rhythm at this point, and with his thrusts added to the mix, Jungkook felt like the lower half of his body was going to detonate.

"Y'have one minute," Jungkook predicted. "Maybe l-less—"

"Dun need it," Taehyung said.

Unlike Jimin, Taehyung never announced when he was going to cum, but Jungkook had learned to read the clues. Jungkook felt Taehyung beginning to clench up, harder and tighter than when Jungkook was inside his other hole.

"Oh fuck," Jungkook gasped.

Taehyung started to spasm. Jimin must've noticed, because he grabbed Jungkook's hips and took over.

Jungkook, through the wall of pleasure pounding in his mind, was vaguely reminded of the time he'd watched Jimin taking Taehyung apart during his heat, thighs flexing, ass quivering, thundering into him like there was no time to waste. Now Jungkook was the recipient of that fury, and he could safely say that he had gained new respect for Taehyung this evening.

"I'm cumming," he yelled, grabbing hard at the sheets.

This fact was clearly irrelevant to Jimin.

He snapped his hips mercilessly, clapping hard into Jungkook's ass. Jungkook twisted and moaned, moaned until his throat was hoarse, until Jimin's hot liquid was shooting inside him and every drop of cum that Jungkook possessed had been fucked out of him from the inside out. He tumbled forward and landed directly on top of Taehyung. Jimin crushed in on top of them and Taehyung hissed.

"Oh fuck," Jungkook said weakly. His mouth was so dry.

Jimin's scouring charm cleaned the sheets no problem, and left only a slight redness on Jungkook's thigh, kind of like a rug burn, which was the least of his worries at the moment.

"My ass," he said.

"Let me get the decoction," Jimin said.

Decoction. Well that sounded magical as fuck, but Jungkook honestly wouldn't have minded if Jimin shoved an entire mandrake root up his ass just then if it made the burning subside. Jimin returned from his room a couple minutes later in a silk robe.

"Did you walk to your room naked?" Jungkook asked.

"Mhm."

"Nice," Taehyung said sleepily.

"Drink," Jimin said, shoving a glass of water into Jungkook's hand. Jungkook took a sip and let out a pleased sigh. His relief was short-lived, because seconds later a cold, wet finger landed directly on his asshole.

"Hold still, it's going to help." Jimin smoothed the cream around his ring, pushing a little up inside him with his pinkie. Jungkook moaned softly. Half the water had spilled down his chest.

"Get me too," Taehyung said, wriggling out from under Jungkook and spreading his legs. Jimin loaded up another finger.

"Been a while since you've had something in your ass, huh," Jimin said.

Jungkook huddled under the covers. Taehyung usually hogged the middle, but tonight, he let Jungkook take it.

"The perks of giving up your ass virginity to a witch," he muttered.

"Did you like it?" Jimin whispered.

"It was intense. Haven't cum that hard in a long time. Still think I prefer topping, though."

"Good, because I prefer bottoming."

"Why didn't you just let me top you then?"

"He's got a thing about power dynamics," Taehyung said.

"I like variety," Jimin said.

The decoction was working. Jungkook's ass still felt different than usual, but the throbbing was gone. He drifted off, one arm slung over Jimin's shoulder, Taehyung spooning him from behind. When he woke up, he glanced on the clock above the desk. It was three in the morning and Jimin was gone.

"Where'd Jimin go?"

Taehyung groaned.

"Tae?"

"He's prob'ly studyin'."

"At three in the morning?"

"Yeah," Taehyung muttered grumpily, and rolled over.

Jungkook lay in the dark, waiting.

It was always like this. Evening study sessions ended up back in Taehyung's room. Late night chats mutated into late night sex. The three of them curled up and cuddled until Taehyung and Jungkook fell asleep, and then, when Jungkook woke up, Jimin had disappeared.

"Gotta piss," he said, hauling himself to his feet.

He wandered down the corridor. He'd been inside Jimin's room a few times, but they tended to hang out in Taehyung's most of the time, because he had a bigger bed, and more chairs, or at least those were the reasons Jungkook had been told.

Nothing was simple with Jimin and Taehyung, Jungkook was coming to realize. When he reached out to open Jimin's door he found that the knob was locked.

He crept back to Taehyung's room and snuggled in beside him.

"How was your piss?" Taehyung asked. His voice still sounded anguished and sleepy.

"Great."

Taehyung wove their fingers together and fell back to sleep. Jungkook lay awake, staring at the wall over Taehyung's shoulder.

Jimin's door was locked. There was no light leaking out from under his door. He'd either left Jungkook and Taehyung to go sleep in his own room, or he was somewhere else.

Either option failed to make perfect sense.

***

Jungkook thought about asking Jimin about where he went at night, but seeing as that might come off as pretty hypocritical, seeing as Jungkook had refused to show him even one faerie spell, he decided to take the most logical and just course of action and secretly stalk him instead.

It was only fair. Those two had followed him around everywhere at the beginning of the term. Lucky for Jungkook, his secrets weren't something you could figure out by watching him—he kept them all locked away in his head, in a special box marked do not touch.

Midterm season blew over. Yoongi finished his song, Hoseok's thesis proposal was approved, and the two of them celebrated by pitching on a giant bag of ensorcelled hash from their dealer down south.

"That stuff was seriously OH HOLY SHIT FUCK—"

Jungkook fell off the couch. Hoseok was clutching the front of his chest, panting, as if he was having a heart attack. Yoongi nodded, gripping the armrests of his rolly chair.

"Does it ever let up?" Jungkook demanded.

"Not really, it's surprise, it isn't supposed to settle," Yoongi said.

Without warning the horn section nose-dived downwards, taking Jungkook's stomach with it.

"We should've smoked up after this, not before—"

"JESUS Christ," Hoseok yelped, as a drum solo erupted out of nowhere.

Jungkook was starting to realize why Yoongi had looked so done-in while he was working on this.

"I'm amazed you didn't have a heart attack while you were recording this."

"I think I lost years off my life."

"Such a noble sacrifiHOLY FUCK—!"

It felt like the room lurched, sending them hurtling down an invisible rollercoaster. A moment later Jungkook was smelling daffodils, and then the bottoms of his feet were so hot he yanked his shoes off and threw them across the room.

"Okay, well."

The song had finally come to an end.

Hoseok looked as frazzled as Jungkook felt. "Nicely done," he said. "Now, can we never listen to that ever again?"

"I made copies and sent it to both the deans," Yoongi snickered.

Jungkook caught a flash of blond and pink hair passing by the studio window. He slunk over and peered out, squinting.

"Don't you guys fuck like, on the daily?" Yoongi asked. "What's with the sketchiness?"

"I'm trying to figure something out," Jungkook muttered.

On the nights that Jungkook slept over, Jimin always disappeared around one or two in the morning. On the nights when Jungkook didn't sleep over, he sometimes crept past Taehyung's room, and heard voices inside, late into the night. Jimin's habits were consistent: when Jungkook was there, he left, and when Jungkook wasn't there, he stayed; somehow, Jungkook was involved, and that was as far as he'd gotten.

Later that week, Taehyung and Jimin tracked Jungkook down in the showers and dragged him back to Taehyung's room, still covered in soap suds, and tried to talk him into letting them sandwich him again. Somehow Taehyung ended up in the middle instead, and Jungkook still didn't know what it was like to top Jimin, and when the time came for cuddling, Jimin didn't even pretend he was going to end up falling asleep with them.

"I'll be back later," he said nonchalantly, slipping into one of Taehyung's sweaters.

"Gotta study?" Taehyung asked.

"Yeah, I'm behind on a lithomancy assignment."

Jungkook curled up around Taehyung and listened to Jimin's footsteps making their way down the corridor.

"He's a hard working guy, that Jimin."

"He really is," Taehyung said.

"Not as smart as you, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you hardly ever need to study late at night, but you still get perfect grades. He, on the other hand, barely sleeps."

Taehyung was silent for a moment.

"It isn't that I'm smarter," he said eventually. "He's more ambitious than me. He's taking on a lot more extracurricular stuff."

Now that was a blatant lie.

Jungkook knew for a fact that Taehyung was reading ahead in divination, astromancy, and several forms of plant magic that Jimin hadn't even heard of. Whenever Taehyung talked about those things for too long, Jimin made faces and called him a nerd. Being their pageboy had its advantages.

"Mm," Jungkook said. "That must be it."

"Go to sleep," Taehyung grumbled.

Jungkook chuckled. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Taehyung had chosen to cover for Jimin instead of salvaging his own pride. It was sweet, but not sweet enough to make Jungkook give up on his quest.

He waited until Taehyung's breathing got deep and even, and then slipped out from under the covers. He was halfway out the door when he heard a door open further down the hall.

He darted back inside and hid in the darkness. Gentle footfalls made their way down the corridor. Jungkook peeked out through the crack and saw a flash of blond hair.

The second the footsteps faded around the corner, Jungkook slipped into the hallway. He crept down the corridor, past the washroom, in the same direction the person had gone.

The school was quiet. The flickering chandeliers made everything too bright. Jungkook moved slowly, still in a t-shirt, boxers, and bare feet. There had been no time to grab shoes or a jacket from his room. He trailed the footsteps down the staircase, past the offices, and out a side door near the refectory.

Jungkook peered out into the night. A short, blond figure, who was definitely wearing Jimin's burgundy jacket and boots, was making his way swiftly down the hill towards the forest.

"Great," Jungkook whispered.

The grass was cold and dewy. It wasn't raining, but a half moon glowed dully through a layer of mist. Jungkook hurried, not wanting to lose sight of Jimin in the gloom. It was a lot harder to predict his movements outside the school. The forest didn't have any official paths, at least not any that Jungkook knew about, other than the proximity path leading to Maven.

Jungkook's entire body was cloaked in damp, cold air. He followed Jimin past the smoke pit, the tree surrounded by glowing insects, and the glade covered in red moss, where they'd dropped mushrooms together last month. Jungkook had less than a second to reminisce the first time Taehyung had gotten his lips around Jungkook's dick, before Jimin hopped over the stream and hiked deeper into the forest.

Jungkook was really starting to regret not bringing a jacket.

The moss gave over to chilly, densely packed mud. Jungkook's feet were achy, not quite cold enough to go numb, but cold enough to sting. He moved as quietly as he could, trying to stop his teeth from chattering.

"Where are you going?" he whispered.

A talking squirrel erupted into a laughing fit behind him, and he swallowed down a scream, his heart pounding so loudly in his ears he almost lost track of Jimin's footsteps.

It must've been another twenty minutes before Jimin stopped. He took a compass out of his pocket and sketched something into the ground with a stick. Jungkook watched from behind a tree, looking for something special about this patch of forest that made it different, but all he saw was the same cedar and hemlock, the same undulating roots, the same fern-covered undergrowth.

A flash of light drew Jungkook's eyes back to Jimin. Or rather, where Jimin had been two seconds ago.

"What the hell," Jungkook breathed.

A gleaming, wavering shape had appeared over the marking Jimin had scratched into the forest floor. It moved like water spurting out of a fountain—fluid, unpredictable. There seemed to be a light source inside it. Cascading light flickered off the boughs. Every now and then something shone bright enough that Jungkook had to look away.

"Jimin?" he asked, stepping closer.

Nobody answered.

Jungkook's stomach sank. It would be just like Jimin to creep into the woods and try some rare, forbidden piece of magic, and get himself blown up, or transfigured, or... Jungkook pushed the thought away, feeling a little sick.

The closer he got, the less shape-like the shape became. It's outline sharpened, and Jungkook saw that it was some kind of opening.

What if Jimin was stuck in some alternate dimension and needed Jungkook's help? What if the second Jungkook stepped through the opening, he got compressed into a speck of light and died? What if Jimin was really an evil monster who had lured Jungkook out into the woods on purpose and planned to steal his soul?

He realized how little he'd thought this through.

Unfortunately, thinking ahead had never been his strong suit; besides, he doubted he'd be able to find his way back to the school without Jimin's help. He rubbed his hands together, gave his feet a little stamp, and hopped through the opening.

His knees hit the ground with a thud. His nostrils were assaulted with a deep, loamy tang. A foreign sky pressed in over a canopy of leaves. He squinted up at the sliver of dancing, watery light bobbing behind him.

He was in another forest, but different from the last. The trees had darker bark. Their limbs curved and crooked outwards like veins. The ground was marshy, and the air was incredibly humid. Everything felt a lot more tropical.

He rose slowly and crept through the trees away from the light, squinting as his eyes readjusted, trying not to make sloshing noises in the damp ground. He was grateful for the heat. His feet weren't cold anymore, but little bugs kept biting at his skin and buzzing in his ears. He heard someone whistling in the distance.

A torch was jammed into the ground, lighting up a clearing up ahead. He slunk behind a fallen log and peeked over.

The golden-haired figure was making his way through what looked to be a cabbage patch, watering the plants with a big metal watering can. Jungkook was close enough to see that it was definitely Jimin—same smoky eyes, same focused, pouty expression—except Jimin also had bird feet, long spindly nails, and branches growing out of his shoulders.

Jungkook pinched his face. He walked backwards, forwards, ducked up and down, but this was no scrying cloud, this was reality, and Jimin really was whistling to a hut, which responded by tromping over to him like a friendly dog. The hut was the size of a small cottage, with a thatched roof, chipped white walls, and several windows with brown shutters. It too was sporting a pair of bird legs, albeit much bigger ones than Jimin, and every step it took made its shutters bang open and closed.

Jungkook took a step forward and his foot landed directly in a massive puddle.

Jimin paused. The hut loitered nearby, shuffling its feet eagerly. Jimin peered into the forest suspiciously.

Jungkook tried to lift his foot, but it was jammed in the mud. Jimin set the watering can down and took a few steps towards him, wielding a glowing blue orb in his hand. Jungkook ducked down, hoping the oak tree was dense enough to hide his boxers—bright red chili peppers making various ridiculous faces on a purple background, gifted to him by a human back in Seoul.

"Hello?" Jimin called uneasily.

Jungkook tried to dislodge his foot. It worked this time, but the ensuing SHLORP erupted into the clearing clear as day.

Jimin's footsteps quickened. Jungkook flailed. Jimin burst around the tree, hand raised above his head, and Jungkook lurched backwards, tumbling into a gigantic fern.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Jimin dropped his hand to his side.

Jungkook was busy trying to untangle himself from the fern. Jimin made no attempt to help him. He eventually hauled himself to his feet, covered in mud and leaves and mosquito bites.

"What are you doing here?" Jimin demanded. "You can't just creep up on me like that, I could've hexed your face off."

"Why do you have chicken legs?"

Jimin looked down and swore.

"Are those leafy, weird-ass wings coming out of your back?"

"Fucking hell Jungkook," Jimin shouted.

"By the way," Jungkook said. "I think your house is wandering away."

Jimin looked up over the log, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and whistled so loud it left Jungkook's ears ringing.

"I told you to stay put," he scolded, making his way back around to the clearing. "Sit down and stop wandering off, I need to clean out your eaves."

The hut sank down, like a goose tucking its feet underneath it, and slumped over.

"Stop sulking, I've got enough shit to deal with right now."

Jungkook wandered out into the clearing. The cabbages varied between gold, green, and an unsettling red colour. They were enormous. Glowing butterflies fluttered through the air, slipping in and out of sight like glitching holograms. There were little purple flowers everywhere.

"Is this where you live?"

"Only over the summer." Jimin climbed his way up a trellis to the roof and started digging mulch out of the eaves. "Can you finish watering the garden? I only got to the third row. Stay out of the forest. It isn't safe."

Jungkook picked up the watering can and got to work.

When Jungkook was finished, he helped Jimin pile the mulch from the eaves into a burlap sack and haul it around back. There was a little greenhouse attached to the back of the hut. It kind of looked like the hut was wearing a see-through backpack. Inside were various planters and pots. Jimin set the mulch next to a pile of bricks and dusted off his hands.

"Pick some of those lemons, I need a drink."

The entirety of the first floor was the kitchen. The counter was covered in potted plants and little piles of dirt. Bags of roots, beans, and little stones were crammed into random crevices in the walls. It was lit with a random assortment of colourful lamps. It was nothing like Jimin's room back in the dorms, with its neatly folded clothes and perfectly made bed.

Jungkook sat down at a little table in the corner and watched Jimin squeeze the lemons into two glasses, add water from a pitcher, and stir in sugar with a thin wooden spoon. The surface of the table was comprised of chipped tiles, each with a different drawing. The images reminded him of the tarot cards his stoner friends used to tell each other's fortunes with.

Jimin shoved the lemonade into his hand and threw himself down in the opposite chair.

"That's quite good," Jungkook said. "Fresh."

"How in the hell did you think to follow me?"

"You kept disappearing after we hooked up. Taehyung wouldn't tell me why."

"So you stayed up and stalked me out into the forest in the middle of the night."

"Pretty much."

Jimin set his glass down on the table and rubbed his face with both hands.

"So are you a..."

"I'm a hag," Jimin fumed, "and before you ask, no, nobody at the school knows, and yes, you absolutely have to keep your mouth shut or I will actually curse you, I swear to god I will this time—"

"So this is where you've been coming every night? To water your cabbages?"

"Not exactly." Jimin let his hands drop to his lap. "It's rainy season. I'm not harvesting anything serious at the moment, but I still need to come out once every couple weeks to make sure my wards are in place. The hut likes to wander past the shields I put up, that's why its eaves are always getting clogged."

"Where... are we?"

"As if I'd tell you." Jimin glared at him. "No hag ever reveals the location of their hut."

"Sorry for not knowing the details of hag etiquette."

"Stop looking so smug." Jimin sighed in disgust. "Yes, you figured it out. In some ways it's a relief. Trying to hide it from you was getting annoying."

"What do you mean?"

"It used to be a lot harder to keep this shit hidden, but now I've gotten to the point where it barely ever slips out... except for when I'm sleeping."

"So we'd hook up, and then I'd crash in Tae's bed..."

"And I'd go back to my room to sleep so you didn't wake up and see twigs sprouting out of my back, or accidentally scratch yourself on one of my claws, or try and kiss me and cut your tongue open on my fangs..."

"You could've told me to leave."

"Didn't really want to. Besides, Tae really likes sleeping with you. He says your smell makes him feel calm."

"So he knows about all this?" Jungkook asked, refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was blushing.

"Of course he does. We lived together in first year. There was no way we could hide this shit from each other. Thankfully he outed himself first—got his heat in the first week of classes, poor bastard. It made it easier for me, though, seeing as I don't like giving secrets away without getting one first."

He glowered at Jungkook, running a pointed claw along his lower lip. Jungkook decided it was a good time to change the topic.

"Doesn't it get exhausting, hiding it all the time?"

"Not really. It's like good posture. At first your back aches all the time, but after a while the muscles adjust and it becomes second nature. When I'm here I let it out mainly because the hut gets moody if I don't."

"Is the hut alive?"

"It's an extension of me, so in a sense, yes; although, I think it's started to suck up power from these woods, so it's developed a bit more of its own character over the years."

"What would happen if you abandoned it?"

The floor bucked, sending their lemonades sailing across the room. Jungkook somersaulted into a shelf, and Jimin leapt up, rubbing the wall with a hand.

"Shh," he cooed, shooting Jungkook a dirty look over his shoulder.

"Sorry," Jungkook mouthed.

"Abandoning the hut is out of the question," Jimin whispered, once the lemonades were cleaned up and they were back outside, checking on the wards. "Every hag stores the majority of their magic in their hut. If I lose my hut, I'm powerless."

"Could you not store you magic inside yourself?"

"That isn't how it works. Hag magic is too unruly to fit inside one person. It's hard to explain."

"Is that why one of your eyes is green?"

"Oh," Jimin laughed, brightening up for the first time since he'd found Jungkook lurking behind the log. "This is a demon eye. I stole it from a devil who lives in the swamp down the way."

"Brutal."

"He was pilfering my cabbage patch, he deserved it. It's really cool." He straightened up, staring at Jungkook. "It lets me see all kinds of things."

Jungkook shuffled uncomfortably.

They walked the perimeter of the clearing. Jimin adjusted invisible boundaries in the air, buried little jewels in the ground, scratched fresh runes into the bark on stumps and trees. The forest stretched beyond, dark and ominous. Jungkook's feet were beginning to itch. Mud had splashed all the way up to his knees.

"Well," Jimin said at last. "We should head back. I want to get back to the school before the sun rises."

"Do you have any spare shoes?" Jungkook asked miserably.

"Oh. Here." Jimin pointed at Jungkook's feet one at a time. The itching disappeared. "I cast a deflection on them. It should keep them dry, at least, until we get back."

The second they stepped through the portal Jungkook started to shiver. Jimin threw his arm around him and drew him close. His chicken feet were gone, his branches vanished. His hand was just an ordinary, clawless hand.

They took a few steps back. Jimin snapped his fingers and the portal exploded into thousands of tiny, crystalline droplets. They trickled onto the ground, splattered against the trees. Glowing bugs swooped in, circling around the clearing.

"It's just like the tree further back."

"Yeah. Those fireflies are drawn to magic. Whenever a portal is cast, it leaves a distinct signature. I used to cast next to that tree all throughout first and second year, but then I realized the bugs were causing suspicions, so I was forced to hike further in to check on my hut."

"Yoongi's convinced an elf was buried there."

"Let him think that," Jimin laughed. "I could've killed Tae the other day, poking around the tree in front of all them."

"Doesn't he know better?"

"Tae knows I'm a hag, but he's never been to my hut. He doesn't know how or when I go to check on it." Jimin sighed murderously. "Unlike some people."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Not even him, if you don't want me to."

"I'm not sure if I trust you. You two are pretty close."

"Not as close as you two." Jungkook kept his gaze fixed head of him. "I like Tae. But I like you just as much, even if you're scarier."

Jimin was silent.

"This is when Tae would take your hand or kiss you, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably."

Jimin reached out and took Jungkook's hand, and turned towards him. Jungkook's heart was thumping almost as hard as when the talking squirrel had scared him.

"Why is this so strange?" Jimin asked, staring at Jungkook expressionlessly.

"Because you're being so serious all of a sudden?"

"Am I?"

There was a pause.

"Do you want to kiss me?"

Jimin nodded.

"Then do it," Jungkook whispered.

Jimin leaned in, slowly, and pressed his lips to Jungkook's. Jungkook closed his eyes. Jimin parted his lips, working his mouth open slowly, gently, and Jungkook let him do it, let himself be kissed. His heart was racing the entire time.

"You're shivering," Jimin said.

"S'really cold."

"Let's go."

Jungkook nodded.

When they got back to the dorms the sky had lightened to a faint cobalt. Jimin was too tired to do a scouring charm, so they took a shower. He scrubbed Jungkook's body carefully, kneeling in front of him, washing pine needles and dead bugs off his feet. Jungkook couldn't stop blushing, and for once in his life, Jimin didn't tease him about it.

They crawled in with Taehyung a couple hours before their first class. Taehyung rolled over, wrapping his arms around Jungkook on reflex.

"You're wet."

"Sorry," Jungkook said.

"My fault," Jimin said.

"Chim," Tae yawned. "What are you doing here?"

"Jungkook found out I'm a hag."

"Oh." Taehyung blinked at the ceiling, still half-asleep. "Does that mean we can sleep together now?"

"Yeah."

"Nice."

He pulled the covers over them and snuggled into Jungkook's neck in a way that clearly indicated that nobody was to say another word and sleep was to ensue as soon as possible.

Jungkook had almost drifted off, when Jimin whispered in his ear.

"An eye for an eye, Jungkook. Just remember. An eye for an eye."

Jimin fell asleep a couple minutes later. Jungkook watched as little twigs pushed out of his shoulder blades, forking into branches, pushing the sheets off his back. The fingers that draped over Jungkook's chest were growing sharper.

Jungkook lay there, sandwiched between two of the most elite students at a witching university, contemplating the fact that of the three of them, he was the only one who actually had any witch blood flowing through his veins.

He stared at the ceiling until the alarm went off and the two of them left for classes.

***

"Do I have to wear the tail?"

Taehyung blinked. "You're joking right."

"It's just a little..."

"Without the tail, the entire outfit makes no sense. Without the tail, you're just a sad excuse for a furry, like every other person who puts zero effort into their Halloween costume. Without the—"

"Okay, okay." Jungkook held up his hands. "I'll wear the god-damned tail. Jimin, what is tha—"

Jungkook closed his eyes to avoid getting jabbed in the retina with an oncoming stabby-looking object. Something wet and cold glided over his eyelid.

"Liquid eyeliner, dear," Jimin said. His breath brushed over Jungkook's chin, boozy and sweet. The three of them had been doing shots of amaretto for the past hour, while Jimin and Taehyung got Jungkook into his costume.

It was October 31. Jungkook had arrived at Taehyung's room at noon, as requested, with several bottles of liquor, a sheet wrapped around his shoulders and a dollar store mask elasticked around his head. Jimin and Taehyung had cracked open the Disaronno, yanked off the sheet, tossed his mask in the garbage, and stripped him naked.

"Nice try," Jimin had purred, "but we have other plans for you."

The theme was slutty animals. Pretty basic, but Jimin and Taehyung were going so hard with it, it was starting to ascend into art-cult vibes. Taehyung was dressed as a sheep (I'm a... in sheep's clothing, get it? Get it guys?), shirtless, with glittering white bootie shorts, thigh-high vinyl boots, and an enormous fluffy pimp coat made out of literal sheepskins. Jimin was a cat, which made sense with his eyes—but Jungkook didn't know of any cats who went around in corsets, black lace stockings, garters, or chokers. He supposed the ears and tail kind of brought it together, as Taehyung said. Both of them had full faces of makeup, and Jungkook was super down with all of it until they announced that they expected him to do the same.  

"There," Jimin said, pulling back. "Go check in the mirror."

"Like, the mirror as in the mirror down the hall and in the washrooms?"

"What other mirror is there?"

Jungkook sighed, took a shot of amaretto, grimaced at how sweet it was, and trudged out into the hallway.

Most of the doors were open. Students wandered in and out of their rooms in varying states of drunkenness. The floor sparkled with glitter, feathers, little pieces of lace. Most people were wearing some kind of costume, but even so, he got a few looks.

Yoongi stumbled out of his room in a dragon onesie. The second his eyes landed on Jungkook he wolf whistled. Jungkook gave him the finger and pushed through the washroom door preparing himself for the worst.

The thing about Jimin and Taehyung, was that they were relatively petite in stature. Jimin was toned, and Taehyung was on the taller side, but neither of them worked out regularly. Jungkook understood why he'd gotten some looks.

His thighs strained against the garters. The shorts were barely zipped up, and the topmost button was undone. His abs rolled out from underneath the matching pink halter top, pulled tight over his pecks. His hair was up in two little pigtails. Jimin had magicked the tip of each one pink. His eyelids were dusted pink. His lips were pink. There was just so much pink.

"You forgot your ears," Taehyung exclaimed, bursting in the door.

"Ears and pigtails?" Jungkook said. "Does that even make sense?"

Taehyung crammed the bunny ears onto Jungkook's head and stepped back, giving him a lengthy up and down. "You look so fucking hot."

"I look like a travesty."

Jimin cupped a hand over Jungkook's mouth from behind. "You mustn't utter such falsehoods aloud," he whispered in Jungkook's ear. "Not on the holy day."

"Taehyung's a sheep. Couldn't I have been a horse or something?" Jungkook complained.

"A horse!" Jimin looked scandalized. "Jungkook. That's naughty."

Taehyung shoved a bottle of something into his hand. He took a sip. It was whiskey. "Thank Christ," he muttered. "You're sure everyone is going to go this hard?"

Jimin and Taehyung both nodded vehemently.

Jungkook shrugged. "Alright. Let's go."

The shorts were starting to ride up his ass, but he was too tipsy to care. Never one to refuse a good party, he let them hook their arms through his on either side and drag him downstairs to the grounds.

"Why's it so warm out?"

"The deans enchanted the courtyard, a localized form of climate control," Taehyung said.

"The deans endorse this?"

"Last year, Dean Phantasmagorium dressed up as the mad hatter. I think he was actually on acid the whole time. Dean Sukie got so trashed she blew up one of the shrubberies."

"How is that a thing?"

"It's Hallow's Eve," Jimin said, as if that explained everything.

The courtyard was filled with lines of stands. One was selling caramel apples and cups of mulled wine, which struck Jungkook as oddly wholesome after what he'd just been told. Another was offering prizes to whoever could shatter a bottle with a spell. There was a game of hop scotch with chalk lines that kept moving around, and an old sage telling fortunes in a tent draped with colourful scarves. The whole compound smelled like incense and weed. As it turned out, people generally did not go as hard as Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook with their costumes.

Taehyung and Jimin decided to get temporary tattoos. Jungkook hung back and watched them whispering in each other's ears, giggling, as a witch with long purple hair scribed black patterns on their wrists with a bewitched stylus.

Taehyung was definitely the more boyish of the two of them, but somehow more manly at the same time, with his deep voice and handsome face. Jimin's contradictions were more blended together—a blurred androgyny. Jungkook had been raised in Seoul, the fashion capital of Korea, with beauty standards that made most people, even faeries, question their own self worth on a daily basis, and he still hadn't met anybody quite like the two people in front of him.

They had known each other for two months now. Jungkook still wasn't entirely convinced the two of them weren't keeping him around as a glorified sex doll, but he slept so soundly pressed up close to Taehyung, with Jimin's claws scratching gently at his skin, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd actually jerked himself off, and besides, he had enough dirt on both of them he was pretty sure they weren't going to toss him anytime soon.

Namjoon sauntered up, interrupting his line of thought.

"Nice costume."

"Thanks. You too."

Namjoon was dressed in a full tuxedo. He'd bewitched his irises into a pale green colour, and he had a cane with a creepy bird head on the top.

"I hear you're coming with us into the corn maze."

It was the first Jungkook had heard of that. "Uh, yeah. Totally."

"It's more of a corn obstacle course," Seokjin said, appearing on Namjoon's left with a cup of wine. His outfit was almost identical to Namjoon's, except his eyes were purple and his cane was solid gold with a hook on the end. "I hope you're ready."

A distant, sober part of Jungkook's brain told him that wandering into an ensorcelled corn maze with two witches, a hag, and a werewolf was probably a really bad idea. He could always go back to the dorms. Buy himself a caramel apple, sober up a bit and wake up the next day a little hungover but otherwise a-ok.

But then Yoongi appeared and shoved a cup of wine into his hand, and a different part of his brain took over, the one which followed the foolproof logic of everything-will-be-fine-as-long-as-I-keep-getting-drunker.

Jimin and Taehyung wandered back over. Jimin had a heart, spade, club, and diamond tattooed around his wrist like a bracelet. Taehyung's whole hand was covered in black feathers.

Jungkook smiled at both of them. "So a corn maze?"

"Oh hi Namjoon," Jimin said.

"We should probably get in line," Seokjin said. "I want to get out in time to check out the cooking stalls."

The sun was only just beginning to set. It hung over the trees, nestled in a fluffy patch of gold-pink clouds. They retrieved Hoseok from an anti-gravity ballpit and made their way past the stone labyrinth to the field.

"Holy shit," Jungkook said.

In the middle of the smooth sea of grass loomed a sprawling, scruffy patch of five-meter high cornstalks. They waited in a line, crammed in with other drunk, bedazzled students, sipping wine and smoking Yoongi's lavender cigarettes. Jungkook was having such a good time, it was actually a bit of a rude awakening when they reached the front of the line and the attendant unhooked the stantion, accepted their tokens, and ushered them into the mouth of the maze.

The ground was mulchy and wet. It reminded Jungkook of the swamps around Jimin's hut. Taehyung's boots were almost instantly coated in mud. They'd barely gone three steps before Yoongi and Hoseok broke out a joint. Seokjin was babbling on about magical fertilizers, dissecting the ethics of introducing them to the human world. Namjoon nodded and grunted sternly, swinging his cane as he listened. Taehyung and Jimin stumbled along, clutching each other, whispering and giggling and shooting little smirks in Jungkook's direction. It could've been any other drunken night out on the town, wandering from one club to another, if Jungkook hadn't been hedged in on both sides by mutant corn at a magical fair on the campus of a witching university.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Jungkook asked.

"I think, for now, we need to follow the white cat," Taehyung said.

A slender Siamese bobbed out from between the stalks, peering disinterestedly over her shoulder.

The cat led them to the left, the left again, and then right. There was a loud banging noise in the distance, followed by shrieks of laughter. Sparkling blue smoke drifted over their heads. Jungkook positioned himself in between Taehyung and Jimin and prayed that nothing jumped out at him from between the whispering, swaying stalks.

They arrived at a fork breaking off into three paths. The cat sprouted batwings and fluttered away.

"Okay," Hoseok said. "Anybody know any divining charms?"

Namjoon stepped forward and tapped his cane on the ground. Three pink circles floated out of the bird head's beak, hovering in front of each the paths. He tapped his cane again, and two of them exploded into puffs of smoke.

"This way," he said.

They followed the path demarcated by the remaining orb. Jimin poked it as they walked by and it began to dissolve, like a sandcastle washing away in the tide.

Next was a waterfall cascading out of thin air that kept reversing the path. Yoongi shattered it with a carefully pitched whistle and they pushed on to another fork. The cat returned at some point, fluttering down and perching on Jungkook’s shoulder. He reached up and scratched behind its ears, and it purred in his ear.

"This one is really beyond me," Hoseok said, scratching his head.

They'd come to a long stretch of path spanning the entire length of one side of the maze. At the end, the lights of the fair twinkled.

"That looks like the exit," Jungkook said. "Maybe that's it? We made it?"

"It's never that simple," Seokjin said.

"There's always a catch," Taehyung said.

"Who designed this maze anyway?" Jungkook said.

"Funny you should ask," Jimin said. "It was me."

Jungkook had about two seconds to process what Jimin had said before Taehyung, Jimin, and Namjoon grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him forward. He went stumbling, dropping his cup of wine, and almost face-planted into the mud.

He grabbed a handful of stalks to stop himself from falling. It worked, he managed to remain upright, but the only problem was that the stalks grabbed back, and they didn't seem that interested in letting go.

"What the fuck," he gasped.

The stalks twined up his arm, snaking around his chest, more vine than corn plant at this point. He threw himself backwards and it only made it worse. The vines were around his whole body now, twisting around his legs, his neck.

"Uh, guys?" he heard Hoseok say.

Jungkook clenched his eyes shut, waiting patiently for Jimin to blast the vines away, for Taehyung to stumble over and grab his arm and laugh in his face about how scared he'd looked.

"Leave it," Jimin said.

"What the hell?" Yoongi said.

"He's a faerie," Namjoon said. "He should know how to handle this."

Oh.

So that was this was about.

Once again, there was a catch.

Hallow's Eve wasn't really about getting drunk in silly costumes and wandering through a trippy obstacle course for shits and giggles. It was about secretly designing a maze and plotting behind Jungkook's back with the explicit intention of getting him to reveal his faerie powers.

Once again, Jungkook, as he was, wasn't enough.

Jungkook's eyes rolled in his head. Since he'd arrived at the school, he'd had a few scares—the talking squirrels, the scrying clouds—but nothing like this. This was roiling, throat-parching fear. This was the knowledge that he was being strangled to death by cursed vines, in front of six people, and nobody was going to save him because they expected him to save himself.

He didn't want to ask for help. He knew what that would mean. He also didn't want to die, but at this point, the vines were squeezing so tight around his throat he couldn't have asked if he wanted to. He thrashed, kicking blindly at the wall, and another vine grabbed his ankle.

"Fuck this," he heard Yoongi grunt. "Let go of me."

"He's going to be fine," Taehyung said, his voice straining as he held Yoongi back.

"Shouldn't he be doing something by now?" Jin asked.

"I don't know what he's waiting for," Namjoon said. "Faeries are supposed to be gifted with plant magic, right? This should be child's play for him."

Blast the vines, Jimin, burn them away, turn this into a joke we can all laugh about later—

"Guys, this is kind of fucked up," Hoseok said.

"Stop being so stubborn," Jimin called out. "You know why I've done this. It's only fair. It's only one spell, Jungkook!"

Jungkook pulled desperately at the vines around his throat. His head was starting to feel light. He was suspended a meter above the ground, like a fly caught in a churning spiderweb.

"Um. Jimin?" Taehyung asked. His voice sounded really far away.

Jungkook was starting to lose consciousness. His eyes drifted shut. His grip on the vines weakened. The vines jerked suddenly, twisting in two directions, and there was a loud pop in Jungkook's right ear. His eyes burst open and a scream erupted in his chest. The sound was snuffed out in his throat, coming out as a ragged squeak.

"Oh fuck," Jimin said.

There was a sound like a massive piece of cardboard getting ripped in half. Jungkook hit the ground a moment later. Chunks of straw fluttered down like confetti. The vines were gone.

Jimin crouched down beside him.

"I think your shoulder is dislocated," he said quietly. "Jungkook, why didn't you do anything?"

Jungkook writhed. Pain radiated through his neck, down his back, but he was too distracted by the fact that he couldn't breathe to pay it much notice. On top of almost being strangled to death, the wind had been knocked out of him when he hit the ground. He gasped pathetically, unable to speak, to yell, to even cry properly.

"Fuck!" Taehyung yelled.

Yoongi dropped down beside him a second later. "What the hell did you do to him? Is he dying?"

Jungkook tried to respond. All that came out was a wheeze.

"The wind was knocked out of his lungs when he fell, he isn't dying," Jimin said.

"His shoulder looks fucked up," Hoseok said.

Seokjin was hunched over, vomiting against the side of the maze, while Namjoon held his hair back, rubbing his back. Through the torrent of pain and terror, Jungkook felt a relic of bitter anger, thinking about how those were the same hands that shoved him into the vines a couple minutes ago.

Taehyung stumbled over, pinching his nose. Blood trickled down his chin.

"Tae, what the hell?" Jimin asked.

"Yoongi punched me in the face. All good. What's wrong with Jungkook?"

"He's winded, and I think his shoulder is dislocated."

"Oh fuck. Here."

Taehyung reached forward and pressed two fingers to Jungkook's sternum. He gasped harshly as his lungs burst open with breath.

"Jungkook, why didn't you just do something?" Taehyung asked.

"I understand being stubborn," Jimin said, "but it isn't like we were asking you to—"

"I can't do magic!" Jungkook shouted, tears streaming angrily down his face, "Witch magic, faerie magic, none of it. I've never been able to and I probably never will! There, are you fucking happy now?"

He rolled over onto his good side, shaking with silent, angry sobs, cradling his useless arm close to his body. He almost wished someone would laugh at him, but all there was was silence.

A familiar silence. A familiar feeling.

Failure.

"He needs to get to the infirmary," Yoongi eventually said. "I know how to set bones, but I don't have any painkillers, and he isn't drunk enough for that shit."

"Even if we lift him, it's going to hurt," Hoseok said.

Still nothing from Taehyung. Nothing from Jimin. Maybe they weren't even there anymore. Maybe they'd left, now that they knew just how useless their pageboy really was.

"Gin," Jungkook whispered.

Yoongi held the bottle to Jungkook's lips. He took a sip.

"Ready?" Yoongi grunted.

Jungkook nodded, grinding his cheek into the mud.

Someone wrapped their arms around him and lifted. His arm shifted, loose in its socket, pain detonated in his shoulder, and the world went black.

***

He woke up eighteen hours later in what he assumed was a bed in the infirmary, although it felt a lot more like a high-end hotel room. There were several lamps placed around the room emitting warm light. The sheets were forest green. The walls were decorated with a rustic, floral wallpaper that he guessed was supposed to be soothing, but it kind of reminded him of the vines. He closed his eyes.

The pain in his shoulder was dull now. He reached up and felt around. Everything seemed to be back in place. He was grateful he hadn't been conscious when whoever it was had popped it back in. Sometimes, in the big, shitty scheme that was his life, a few things worked out.

There was a knock at the door. A witch walked in, with short red hair, pale white skin, and brown eyes. She was wearing a black turtleneck and jeans.

"Who're you?"

"The one who put your shoulder back in its socket. How's everything feeling?"

It turned out her name was Gabrielle Green and she was the head doctor at Blackthorn.

"Sorry, the absence of a uniform threw me," he said.

"It's alright. Healing can get messy, even in the witching world, but most of the time it's nothing a good scouring charm can't take care of. I've scoured blood out of my best denim more times than I can count. University kids are a wild bunch."

"Scouring charms," Jungkook muttered bitterly.

She gave him a funny look. "Well, Mr. Jeon, it turns out you also fractured your spine when you fell on your back. I want one more night to monitor you and make sure my tinctures are doing their job. I'll discharge you tomorrow."

Tinctures. That explained the funny taste in his mouth.

"Oh, and you have a couple visitors. Would you like me to send them in?"

Jungkook shrugged. "Go ahead."

Dr. Green strolled out of the room. He rolled onto his back, fully expecting Yoongi and Hoseok to walk through the door. When Taehyung and Jimin appeared instead, he was too shocked to feel much anger—at least at first.

"How are you feeling?" Taehyung sat on the edge of the bed. There was a piece of blue tape over the bridge of his nose where Yoongi had punched him. Jungkook tried not to feel too happy about how swollen it looked.

"My shoulder is back in its socket. My spine is going to heal." Jungkook shrugged, ignoring the dull ache in his arm everytime he moved. "How's Jin?"

"He's okay. He freaked out when your shoulder popped. His mom died in a duel a couple years ago and he hasn't done well with violence since."

"That's too bad. Was he in on the plan too?"

Taehyung shot Jimin a wary look. Jimin was still hovering to the side. Jungkook didn't really feel like looking at him to see what his face was doing.

"Yeah, he was. Everyone knew about it except Yoongi and Hoseok." Taehyung frowned. "We honestly didn't expect it to get so bad, Gukkie. We thought you were going to do something to stop it."

"I never made a big deal out of your heats. I didn't say a thing about Jimin's claws and fangs," Jungkook whispered. "Why couldn't you have just respected the fact that I didn't want to do magic?"

"We were curious," Taehyung said. "Namjoon has been talking about faerie magic for years, even before you got here. We all kind of assumed you weren't showing it to us because you thought you were better than us. You may not feel that way, but lots of faeries do."

"So you all got together and planned this." Jungkook looked at Jimin. "For how long?"

"Only a couple weeks," Jimin said. He looked tired. "I'm no faerie, but forests and plants are kind of my thing. I grow all kinds of rare plants around my hut. A cornmaze was nothing."

"That's nice," Jungkook said expressionlessly. "How many times did you meet?"

"You stalked me to my hut," Jimin blurted under his breath. "You deliberately sought to uncover my secret, and in return, I sought to uncover yours. It's only fair! An eye for an eye, as I said. I knew you were hiding something. I just never dreamt that it was that you..."

"Don't know how to do magic, yeah."

Both of them fell silent.

Jungkook stared at them, trying to resurrect the feelings he'd felt for them while he watched them getting tattoos at the fair, before the maze. Nothing made it through the wall of shame.

"I don't think I'm better than you. I flunked out of every faerie school in Seoul. I knew from the second I got here that you were all better than me. My parents didn't send me here to learn magic. They gave up on that years ago. They sent me here because they couldn't stand to watch me partying with humans, bringing even more shame to the family than I already had."

"Why do you like humans so much, anyway?" Taehyung asked.

"Why do you think?" Jungkook's voice was flat, tired. "I like them because they're like me."

More silence. Jungkook wanted to crawl out of his skin.  

"You shouldn't feel that bad about yourself," Jimin said. "It's a witch school, everybody's hiding something."

"Not me, anymore, thanks to you two."

Taehyung glanced at Jimin again. Jungkook wanted to tell him to grow a spine, to learn how to think on his own, to scream all the things his parents had screamed at him when another tutor quit, when Jungkook flunked out of another class because he couldn't get through the first assignment.

"Dr. Green doesn't know the details of what brought you here, and with any luck, Namjoon and Seokjin will keep their mouths shut," Jimin said. "Yoongi and Hoseok won't say anything, right?"

Jungkook rolled onto his side. "I don't really give a shit."

"We brought you some potions." Taehyung set a glass vial on the nightstand. "It'll help you sleep, and give you some really cool dreams at the same time."

"No thanks."

"Jungkook," Jimin said. There was a lengthy pause. "I'm sorry. There's no way we could've forseen this."  

"The game is over," Jungkook whispered. "You won. I'm sorry my secret was so boring. You two are free to go now."

"I'm sorry, but we can't. We all know way too much about each other at this point. I would rather we stay in contact."

Jungkook's heart had felt numb up to this point, but that was the clincher.

A walk on the wild side. An anomaly. He was never a real person; just an idea, that never failed to fall short of people's expectations. Now that they knew he had no magic, he was collateral. They just as well would let him go, but they couldn't, not because they cared about him, but because he knew who they really were.

Tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face, welling on the side of his nose, soaking into the pillow.

"I'm not going to tell anybody your stupid secrets."

"I'd still prefer—"

"Please," Jungkook laboured. "Go."

"Jungkook," Taehyung said softly.

Jungkook remained silent. The two of them eventually made their way to the door and left. It was only when the door closed behind them that Jungkook stopped fighting and allowed the hollow sobs to rip through his tender body.

***

He was discharged the next morning. His shoulder still ached, but Dr. Green assured him it was a common symptom with magical healing, something to do with tissues repairing themselves faster than the nerves could catch up, no indication of real damage. He took that as license to do a full fitness routine that afternoon, on the lawn, in full view of the school, because honestly, fuck them.

He turned a corner and spotted Yoongi making his way down to the smoke pit. He turned around and jogged the other way.

"Hey, hey, Guk—"

Jungkook grit his teeth and turned back around. Yoongi waved.

"How's the shoulder?"

"Just did sixty pushups. It's fine."

"Yeah, Dr. Green is great, she reattached my whole foot back in first-year. Rager during frosh week, you're lucky you sidestepped all that."

Jungkook let out a single, humourless laugh.

"Hey man." Yoongi stepped in close, lowering his voice. "What those guys did back there. Seriously fucked up. Even with my magic, I don't know if I would've been able to fend those things off."

Jungkook knew Yoongi was lying, but he appreciated the excuse to vent his anger on something. There was just so much of it, it was hard to know what to do with it. It was like a scared, tired dog barking itself hoarse. He was mad at everything. He was honestly having a hard time not being mad at Yoongi, even though that made no sense at all.

Maybe Jungkook was just mad at him for having been there that night. For seeing Jungkook in such a pathetic state. For knowing he couldn't do any magic.

Yoongi led him down to the smoke pit and lit him a cigarette, rambling about how he never trusted the members of the student council, how Jimin and Taehyung always struck him as mildly sociopathic. The minutes passed, Jungkook sucked back his cigarette, and the elephant loomed larger and larger.

"And Seokjin's just an enabler, I'm pretty sure he and Namjoon—"

"So," Jungkook grunted, cutting Yoongi off.

Yoongi stopped talking so fast, Jungkook suspected he knew this was coming.

There was a pause.

"You get it now, right? Why I'm here?" Jungkook gestured to himself. "Why I act like this?"

Yoongi's eyes flickered to him, and then away. After a moment, he nodded.

"It isn't a choice for me. This isn't some statement I'm making, to be edgy and rebellious. I literally have no other option."

"It isn't a statement for me either, but I'm going to let that slide because I know you're on edge." Yoongi ashed his cigarette and met Jungkook's eye. "Listen man. I don't give a fuck if you can't do magic. We've been hanging out two months now and what can I say?" He shrugged, tiny shoulders bobbing in his oversized jacket. "I like you. You're a good friend."

Yoongi gave Jungkook a minute to get his shit together.

"Okay," Jungkook eventually rasped, wiping away the tears he hadn't been able to blink away. "Thanks."

"Don't go soft on me, Jeon. You know I got your back." Yoongi punched his shoulder. "Oh fuck, sorry—"

Jungkook grimaced, waiting for the pain to die back down. "S'all good."

Yoongi assured him that Hoseok felt the same—as in he also didn't care and mainly wished he'd been the one to punch Taehyung in the face instead. Jungkook knew he wouldn't feel truly at ease until he heard those words come out of Hoseok's mouth himself, and his guts still felt twisted up about a lot of things, but his heart was slightly lighter, and he had Yoongi to thank for that.

Dinner in the refectory that night was equally uncomfortable. Jungkook had to remind himself that the grand majority of the student body still thought of him as a snobby, reclusive faerie with fully functional magic. He ate his soup and salad in the corner, glaring at the listening vines, glaring at the door, daring Namjoon or Seokjin to walk in and ruin his meal. Thankfully the refectory remained as quiet as ever around closing time.

As for the other two, he hadn't put much thought into it. The problem was that everytime he got near it his mind went blank and his hands started to shake.

Which was exactly what happened when, returning to his room from a shower that night, he found Jimin and Taehyung sitting on the edge of his bed. Jimin was dressed in a sweater and slacks. Taehyung was in a bathrobe. Jungkook stood there, staring at them in disbelief as the door creaked shut behind him.

"No," he eventually said. "Get out."

"Listen, Gukkie, we had an idea," Taehyung said quickly.

Jungkook blinked.

Taehyung must've mistaken his mute rage for permission to continue, because he carried on, "We were thinking we could help you learn magic."

"I can't do magic."

"We know, but with the right kind of instruction—"

"Because I don't have any magic."

Silence fell.

Jungkook walked towards the wardrobe, turning his back to them. "My parents took a chance when they had me. A witch and a faerie—very taboo. Yeah, my mom is basically a genius—"

"We know," Jimin said. "She wrote a lot of the textbooks in our program."

"—but it was still unthinkable that my dad would consider procreating with her. Especially given that he's a noble. But my mom is just so fucking brilliant that he couldn't resist, because that's what love is, right, finding someone with the right set of qualifications—"

Jungkook took a moment to catch his breath. Taehyung's eyes were the size of planets. Even Jimin looked a little shaken up. He kept inhaling as if to speak, but nothing came out.

"Either eway, they went against the community's wishes and got themselves knocked up. I think they thought they were going to create some kind of ultra-being, someone with both faerie and witch magic. A perfect little prodigy who would prove everyone wrong. They always did love a good experiment, but with all that intelligence and foresight they didn't once consider the possibility that wedding faerie blood with witch blood might have the opposite effect."

"What do you mean?" Taehyung asked forlornly.

"That they would cancel each other out."

"But..." Taehyung played with his hands nervously, picking at the nails. "You don't know that for sure right? It might still be worth a shot... I could show you some super basic stuff, maybe—"

"I've flunked out of every single class I've ever taken. Elite faerie academies in Seoul. Private tutors."

"Still, I could—"

"CAN YOU STOP BEING SO ARROGANT FOR ONCE IN YOUR FUCKING LIVES?" Jungkook exploded.

Taehyung looked like he'd been slapped across the face.

"You're just a couple of third year witches in an undergraduate program at a fancy-schmanzy school, you aren't god, and you aren't going to be the ones who save me."

"Gukkie—"

"I have no magic. I know you hate that idea, but it's the way it is. It's my fucking life. The last thing I need is you two hanging around trying to coax something out of me that isn't there, making me feel like shit about myself!"

"And you call us arrogant," Jimin said softly.

"You know what?" Jungkook laughed humourlessly. "Even if someone could save me, I wouldn't want it to be you. I hate you."

Taehyung burst into tears.

"Why the fuck are you crying."

"Because I miss you," Taehyung sobbed.

Jungkook shook his head. "You can't say something like that, not after what happened in the corn maze."

"Yes, we shoved you into some strangling vines," Jimin snapped. "Get over it."

Jungkook spun towards him.

"What?" Jimin asked. "Are you going to hit me? Break my nose like Yoongi broke Taehyung's?"

"I want you to leave."

"No," Jimin said. "Not until you hear what I have to say."

Jungkook dropped into a chair and cradled his head in his hands.

"Why can't everyone just leave me alone?"

"Isn't how the world works, babe."

Jungkook breathed raggedly. The fight was draining out of him. His shoulder was throbbing. Taehyung kept choking on sad little sobs.

"I just want to sleep," Jungkook said.

"It isn't like we shoved you into those vines without thinking it through."

"Nah. Designed the whole god-damned maze, apparently—"

"Yes, I designed the maze, but that isn't what I'm talking about," Jimin snapped. "If I thought there was any chance you didn't have magic, I would never have let you step foot in that maze, let alone left you at the mercy of my meanest booby trap."

"Think what you like, but I'm the one who—"

"I don't think you have magic," Jimin said. "I know it."

Jungkook looked up. His expression was guarded, still resentful, but a glimmer of curiosity flickered in his eyes before he crushed it down beneath the usual layer of shame.

"I see that got your attention."

Taehyung hiccupped.

"What kind of bullshit are you spinning now?" Jungkook whispered.

"It's what drew me to you in the first place. That bizarre signature." Jimin tilted his head, staring at Jungkook intently. "As I told you, this demon eye lets me see all kinds of interesting things, like spirits, lingering curses, and people's magic, like yours. It's kind of like a witch's, outward oriented, but it's also generating its own energy. That must be the faerie component." He tilted his head to the other side, narrowing his gaze. "I've never seen anything like it."

"How do I know..." Jungkook swallowed. His voice was hollow. "How do I know you aren't fucking with me?"

"You can't step through portals without magic. Dr. Green's tinctures wouldn't have worked on you if you didn't have magic. There are tons of clues, Jungkook; frankly, I'm amazed you haven't figured this out for yourself. Your parents really must've done a number on you."

"Then what's wrong with me? Why can't I do anything?"

"I'm not sure." Jimin squinted even more. "Your faerie magic is this smooth, egg-shaped thing inside you. It seems like you might not be able to access it without using your witch magic as an intermediary. Have you ever tried learning witch magic before?"

"Nope."

Jungkook burst into tears.

"Oh-kay," Jimin said. "I'm a little out of my element here. What just happened that was sad?"

Taehyung slipped off the bed and wrapped his arms around Jungkook. Jungkook hunched over, spitting and choking into his hands.

"They probably didn't let him," Taehyung said.

"Oh, but that's just stupid," Jimin said. "To have a child who's half witch and forbid him to learn witch magic? What did they expect?"

Jungkook hunched further over. Taehyung went down with him, draping his torso over the armrest.

"Please let me teach you magic, Gukkie," Taehyung said.

"Tae," Jungkook gasped, trying to turn around. "You're gonna bruise your ribs."

"I wanna probe your smooth faerie egg thing with my witch methods."

"Tae, oh my god—"

Jungkook managed to pull Taehyung in front of him. Taehyung immediately crawled into his lap, pressing his face to Jungkook's neck. Jungkook's ass crushed down hard against the wood seat.

"You're heavier than you look," Jungkook groaned.

"I'm so so sorry about the vines," Taehyung mumbled in between deep, hungry breaths.

"Do I really smell that good?"

"You have no idea."

Jimin came over and knelt between Jungkook's knees, gazing up into his face. "What we did wasn't nice. The world of magic isn't nice. It's unpredictable, dangerous, and fucked up. But you have a place in it if you like."

Jungkook glowered at the floor.

Jimin sighed. "What are you mad about now?"

"Be patient with him. He really doesn't get it sometimes," Taehyung said. "His hag emotions are still developing."

"My hag emotions are fully formed, thank you very much. It's witch emotions I have a harder time with. And werewolf emotions. And faerie emotions, apparently."

"I dunno, I just feel like I wanna keep being mad," Jungkook muttered.

"Valid." Taehyung yanked on Jungkook's belt. "How about being mad in bed?"

"Are you not in the least bit excited that you have magic?" Jimin asked.

"God damn it Jimin, I don't wanna talk about it!"

Taehyung pulled him out of the chair and pushed him on the bed. Jungkook looked up at both of them, standing in front of him. His eyes were still glistening with tears.

"Yoongi thinks I don't have magic. And you know what he said? He didn't care. He still wanted to be my friend."

"Good for him," Taehyung said. "But you do have magic."

"He didn't throw me into a wall of strangling vines to get some trick out of me. Because in his eyes I was already good enough."

"Would you rather we never did it?" Jimin asked. "Let you live out your years never knowing?"

"I don't know. I just..." Jungkook dropped his eyes to the floor.

"You want me to tell you the same thing that Yoongi did? Because I can't. I don't understand what that kind of effortless connection feels like. Not even with Taehyung."

Jungkook's cheeks burned with renewed shame. "I don't want anything from you."

"Is that true?"

Jungkook looked up.

Jimin was staring at the ground, biting his lip. His hands were balled up at his sides. He looked genuinely confused. Judging from Taehyung's expression, this wasn't an ordinary occurrence.

"Most of the time you don't seem to mind hanging out with us, even if you act grumpy sometimes," Jimin said softly. "That being said, it's possible I've misinterpreted things. I know we pushed ourselves on you from the start, so if you truly want us to leave... we will."

Jungkook stared straight ahead, frowning harder than ever.

"Come here."

"What?"

"I said come here," Jungkook muttered.

Jimin's eyes went wide.

"You too, Taehyung."

The two of them approached him slowly. Jimin still looked confused. Taehyung was beginning to wear a bit of a smirk. When they were close enough, he grabbed them and dragged them against him, a messy jumble of arms and abs and ribs.

Jimin made a yipping noise. Taehyung reached down and started thumbing at Jungkook's shirt, trying to get it off over his head, but Jungkook stayed put, strong arms holding them in place, his face mashed in between Jimin's firm abs and Taehyung's somewhat softer abs.

"Gukkie," Taehyung laughed.

Jungkook pressed his ear to Jimin's chest, listening to his heartbeat, and then Taehyung's. Jimin stayed still, not saying a word, while Taehyung fidgeted, scratching at Jungkook's scalp, playing with his earlobes.

"You two really are terrible," he murmured.

"You wanna top me?" Jimin whispered.

"Was kind of thinking we could sleep? My shoulder is killing me."

"You should've said something," Taehyung exclaimed. He wriggled away and disappeared out the door.

Jungkook let his arms drop to his sides. Jimin stayed close, gazing down at him, playing with his hair.

"What if I do all the work?"

"Is this your way of apologizing?"

"I'm horny, you have a nice dick, and I feel like it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to spoil you a little right now. Is that so wrong?"

Jungkook chewed the inside of his cheek. "Honestly I was hoping when it happened I could wreck you a little."

"You can wreck me some other time."

The door opened. Taehyung placed a big brown pill in Jungkook's palm and offered him a glass of water.

Jungkook stared at the pill. "Does it make you sleepy?"

"Nope," Taehyung said.

Jungkook popped it in his mouth and washed it down with a slug of water. It left a grassy taste in his mouth. "Whoa," he said, as the pain almost instantly faded away.

"So what's the plan, fam?" Taehyung asked.

Jimin looked at Jungkook.

"I'm wrecking Jimin," Jungkook said.

"Cool," Taehyung said. "How can I help?"

Jungkook thought for a moment. "Undress him."

Jungkook leaned back on the mattress. Taehyung walked over to Jimin, kissed his cheek, and then pulled his sweater over his head. Jimin stared at Jungkook, his cheeks getting a little pinker, as Jungkook let his eyes roam over his bare torso, running a lazy thumb along his lower lip.

"You're pretty when you blush, Chim," Jungkook said, helping himself to Taehyung's petname.

Jimin blinked, dropping his gaze to the floor.

"He's right," Taehyung said, unbuttoning the front of Jimin's pants. "You are."

"You like being pretty, don't you?"

"Maybe," Jimin breathed.

"You like distracting me. Both of you. You like it when I stare."

"Shh," Taehyung said. "Don't bring me into this, I'm trying to focus."

Jungkook chuckled. He watched as Taehyung dropped to his knees, pulling Jimin's pants off his ankles, and then yanked his underwear off just as matter-of-factly. Jimin's dick bounced free, already hard.

Jungkook's eyes zeroed in on it mercilessly.

"How's it feel to be the only naked one for a change?" he asked.

Jimin inhaled to speak, but once again, nothing came out.

"Come here. I want to taste you."

Jimin made a little whimper of protest.

"C'mere kitten, I don't bite."

Jimin frowned, but made his way forward. He kept going to cross his arms, and then dropping them to his sides instead.

"Feeling shy?"

"N-no."

"Mmm. Okay then."

Jungkook leaned forward and parted his lips, sucking on Jimin's tip. Jimin gasped, reaching out and gripping Jungkook's shoulders.

"Tae, hold his hands."

Taehyung, who was sitting on the ground, stood up and made his way behind Jimin. He grabbed Jimin's wrists and pinned them behind him. Jimin huffed.

"So pretty." Jungkook held Jimin's whole cock in his hand, admiring it.

"S-supposed to spoil you."

"I dunno. I kinda think this is more fun."

Jungkook opened his mouth, resting Jimin's cock on his lower lip, and swirled his tongue around the head in slow circles. Jimin shuddered. Jungkook took him deeper, lapping noisily at the underside of his cock, and Jimin made an embarrassed keen.

"Fuck," Taehyung murmured, watching over Jimin's shoulder.

"Gukkie."

"What?" Jungkook asked, pulling off slowly, gazing up at Jimin with heavy-lidded eyes.

"N-nothing."

"Thought so."

Jungkook swallowed him back up, taking him all the way to the back of his throat this time. Jimin wasn't very big. Jungkook's nose pressed against his pelvic bone with only a few protests from his gag reflex. Jimin moaned frantically, his head dropping back onto Taehyung's shoulder, as Jungkook bobbed his head, stroking up the base with his hand.

"You taste so good," he gasped, pulling off with the most obscene slurp he could manage. "Look Chim. You fit so well in my hand, so tiny and cute—"

"Fucking hell, Gukkie," Jimin hissed through his teeth.

"Still down to bottom for me?"

Jimin closed his eyes. His face was flushed, his lips trembling. He nodded silently.

"Lay him down, Tae."

Taehyung pushed Jimin onto the bed. He sprawled on his back, head propped on the pillows, chest rising and falling with shallow breath. His skin glowed agains the sheets. He honestly looked like he could've been the subject of a painting concerning Greek gods, or fallen angels, or other beautiful and wicked things.

"Can I get some lube?"

"Here," Taehyung said, spreading his legs.

Jungkook reached underneath Taehyung's cock and dipped his fingers into his hot, wet heat. Taehyung swallowed hard, gasping a little.

"Don't worry, I have plans for you too," Jungkook said, pulling his fingers out. They were covered in slick. Taehyung nodded keenly.

"Really handy having a werewolf around, when you're about to get your brains fucked out by a—"

Jungkook pushed a finger inside Jimin and he went mute.

"Pretty loose," Jungkook said. "Did you two fuck last night?"

"I'm sorry," Taehyung said, wringing his hands. "It wasn't that we didn't care, we just got back to the dorms and we were so stressed—"

"I'm not even surprised."

Jungkook pulled back, lined up two fingers, and pushed them directly into Jimin's prostate. Jimin's head shot off the pillow with a loud moan. He stared at Jungkook accusatorily.

"You probably let Taehyung fuck you all the time, don't you?" Jungkook twisted his wrist, adding a third finger, and Jimin's eyes rolled up into his head.

"I really like bottoming," he whispered.

"Yeah. I know. I'm actually impressed you held out on me this long."

"Wasn't easy."

"All those times you watched me take Taehyung to pieces. Spread him open, leaned him over the edge of the bed, fucking one orgasm out of him after the next, until he could barely breathe."

Taehyung moaned tragically.

"I bet you wished it was you instead."

Before Jimin could respond, Jungkook pulled all three fingers out of him. Jimin cried out in protest.

"Stop talking so much," Jimin whined.

"You want it that bad, huh?"

"Yes, your cock is amazing and beautiful and I'm begging so please just give it to me."

"His cock really is good," Taehyung said. He lay down next to Jimin, grinding his cock casually against Jimin's hip. "I really think you'll like it."

In ideal circumstances Jungkook would've drawn it out a little longer, maybe gotten Taehyung involved, fucked him first and made Jimin watch, but the truth was, Jimin's desperate little moans were starting to get to him, and it was starting to show. He pushed Jimin's legs over his head, lined up, and eased him back onto his cock, watching closely as he was swallowed up by Jimin's asshole. Both of them moaned in tandem.

"Fuck," Jimin gasped.

Jungkook started to move.

This wasn't messy, sloppy, passionate fucking. This was Jungkook propping both of Jimin's ankles over the same shoulder, holding Jimin just so, and driving his cock in and out of him in quick, precise thrusts.

This was Jungkook fucking to get himself off.

There was no chance of escape for Jimin. Jungkook may not have known how to cast spells, but he certainly knew how to fuck, and every single thrust pounded straight into Jimin's most sensitive spot.

Jimin moaned harshly. Every time he reached out to grip Jungkook's shoulders, Jungkook shoved him off, until he reached up and gripped at his own hair instead. Jungkook stared at him, gritting his teeth, spellbound by how vulnerable and pretty Jimin could be, arching off the mattress, tearing at his own hair, lost in his own desires.

Taehyung must've been getting off on some kind of referred sex high, because he looked pretty wrecked too. He rutted against Jimin's hip, alternating between sucking Jimin's nipples and neck. Jungkook let his mind go blank, watching his two beautiful boys moaning and squirming against each other, and shot off hard into Jimin's ass.

"Fuck," he gasped, slamming his hips against Jimin's ass and holding there. He thrusted a few more times, and then stopped, choking at the over-sensitivity.

Jimin was fighting to catch his breath. Taehyung looked up at Jungkook with a drunken sort of curiosity.

Jungkook wanted to pull Taehyung closer and devour those sensuous, kissable lips, wanted to say something sweet to Jimin, but instead, he pulled out and collapsed back against the wall.

Jimin mewled.

"I thought you were going to..." Taehyung said.

"I wanna watch," Jungkook said. "I want you to show me what you were doing together while I was getting my shoulder popped back in last night."

Taehyung gulped. Jungkook would've felt bad, but Taehyung was still so hard, he couldn't have been that stressed.

"I mean... are you sure?" Taehyung asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Well..." Taehyung seemed a little embarrassed.

"Just get inside me," Jimin said.

Taehyung pulled himself up and positioned himself between Jimin's legs.

"Well wait. Like... exactly what we were doing last night? Then..." He grabbed Jimin's hips and flipped him onto his stomach. Jimin moaned as his dick pressed into the sheets. Taehyung gave Jungkook a final, sidelong glance, and then pushed inside Jimin in one long slide.

"Fucking hell I always forget how big you are," Jimin said, his voice high and strained.

"You had me just last night," Taehyung laughed breathlessly. "Oh god, Guk, you left him so hot and wet..."

Jungkook's hand had made its way to the base of his own dick. He gave it a non-committal stroke.

"Please," Jimin breathed.

Taehyung started to move. Jimin jolted forward, gripping the sheets. Unlike Jungkook, Taehyung took his time, rolling his hips at a leisurely pace. The room was filled with the sound of Taehyung's shaky breaths and Jimin's muffled moans into the pillow.

Jungkook discovered he was starting to get hard again.

"Gukkie was going at me like a fucking jackhammer and then you give me this," Jimin moaned, surfacing with a gasp. "Please Tae, for the love of all that is sacred, fuck me."

"Okay, okay, fine," Taehyung laughed.

The smile melted off his face.

A moment later, Jimin wailed.

Now this, this was messy. Taehyung thrusted frantically, skin clapping hard against skin. Jungkook could tell he was working himself up a little, getting into it, growling in his deep, rumbly voice, slapping Jimin's ass and digging his nails in.

"You like that huh? Such a fucking whore—"

"Please Tae, yes, please just fuck me—"

Taehyung was such a sexual chameleon. But, Jungkook supposed, they all were in their own right.

Jungkook was definitely hard again, jerking himself off with a combination of his own cum and Taehyung's slick.

He imagined them like this, last night... maybe Jimin had still been wearing his lace stockings. Had Taehyung even bothered to take his shorts off? Or were they still on, cock sticking out the front, unzipped? Had the two of them even thought of Jungkook once? Or had they just wanted to get off together, wanted to cum?

The thought made Jungkook's cheeks burn with jealous, painful arousal. He jerked himself harder, his breathless moans joining the cacophany filling his room.

Taehyung pulled Jimin up into his arms, reaching around to stroke him. Jimin squirmed, moaning deliriously, as Taehyung bit his neck.

"I'm cumming," Jimin gasped.

White strands erupted all over Jungkook's sheets. Taehyung sped up, crashing into him hard and fast. Jimin reached up and gripped Taehyung's forearms for dear life as the rest of his cum was fucked out of him from inside.

Taehyung cried out as he came—a loud, formless noise, vaguely resembling yeah or fuck, it was actually so unintelligible Jungkook couldn't tell. Either way, the sound, ridiculous as it was, sent him over the edge, and he came in his hand, a harsh little orgasm that had him straining against the wall.

Jimin tumbled forward and landed on all fours, narrowly avoiding faceplanting in his own cum. Taehyung sat back on his ass, wiping hair out of his eyes. Both of them were sweaty and destroyed looking.

"How was that?" Taehyung asked, giving Jungkook an up and down. "Happy now?"

"It was pretty good," Jungkook said absent-mindedly.

"You should know we were worried sick about you the whole time."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Taehyung made an exasperated noise. "Why do you think?"

"Guilt?" Jungkook mused. "Fear of reprimand? Disappointment?"

"For fuck's sakes, you're so insecure sometimes." Taehyung grabbed Jungkook's arm and pulled. Jungkook pouted. Taehyung pulled harder, and Jungkook fell against his chest. Jimin cuddled in from the other side.

"We like you, Guk. Can you not tell?"

"Like me how?" Jungkook muttered.

"You really want me to spell it out for you?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"Fine." Taehyung sighed. "I guess we owe it to you after last night. For one, you're really sexy—"

"Ah hah! I knew it."

"Back off, I wasn't finished. You're sexy, and you smell like heaven, yeah, but not just anyone would've been so chill about what I am. And not just chill, but nice. You could've walked away, but instead, you helped me, and you didn't make me feel gross about how needy I was." Taehyung made a frustrated noise. "I'm trying to say you're a good person, with a big heart, and fuck I sound so cheesy—"

"I wanted you since the moment you appeared," Jimin said.

"Well, go on and tell it like it really is, won't you?" Taehyung said.  

"I won't lie. Your unique energetic signature drew me to you at first. Hags like to collect fine things, like those special bags of beans you saw in my hut, or my demon eye, or Taehyung. Not many werewolves live out in civilization, and I was quite lucky to come across one myself. Half-faerie, half-witch is quite a compelling combination."

"So what you're telling me is that you wanted to add another interesting thing to your collection?"

"In a sense, yes..." Jimin blinked. "Although, I'm starting to realize that I may need to rethink my plan before adding any more boys. Two has been a lot to deal with so far."

"It is a decent amount," Taehyung said, clearly trying not to laugh.

"But it isn't just your signature," Jimin said.

Jungkook was starting to realize that the way Jimin expressed himself was inconsistent. When he was in his element, something well-rehearsed, like flirting loudly with Jungkook in the showers and embarrassing him, he sounded way more natural, but whenever he was forced to talk about things he didn't understand, his diction became plain, awkward, and almost formal.

"The sex is good, as Taehyung said, but I find you amusing in other ways too. Your actions are hard to predict. You're sneaky, which any hag could relate to, but still, for some reason which I cannot place, I'm inclined to trust you."

Jungkook lay there, wrapped in their arms, thinking it over. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. They were both pretty selfish, and a lot of why they liked Jungkook boiled down to what he could give them.

Still...

It felt good to be appreciated. And besides, he didn't know if he could've done much better. Taehyung and Jimin were, in some ways, just as much a sexy, interesting anomaly to him as he was to them. They were nothing like the kinds of people he usually sought out. They were flippant, careless, and harsh, and more than a little full of themselves. But the truth was, when those vines had almost strangled him to death, coupled with his fear of death and humiliation was the fear of loss.

If he hadn't been able to forgive them, that meant letting them go, and for whatever fucked up reason, he had become pretty attached to them over the course of the past two months.

"Is that okay?" Jimin asked. The confused, raw tone was back in his voice.

"Yeah."

"So you don't want us to leave?"

"Nah."

"Yay," Taehyung said softly.

Jungkook sighed. "Yoongi is going to kill me."