#Jazz is a little shaken up from the ordeal but is doing her best | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jincherie · 5 years

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♥ — pairing: taehyung x reader ♥ — genre: cupid au, soulmate au, cupid taehyung, (future angst & fluff). kind of slice of life ♥ — words: 8.2k+ ♥ — rating: sfw ♥ — warnings: none! ♥ — notes: yoooo whats up!!! bet u didnt think this bad boy was getting an update before the end of the year!!

Taehyung has been matchmaking since the dawn of time, bringing souls together with their other half and inspiring love. But as time went on the joy he gained from his job and creating happiness for the humans began to fade, a wanting and desire welling up in him with each century that passed for something more, something unattainable, something he knew he wouldn’t ever have. Taehyung knew why he didn’t have a soulmate, and why he couldn’t ever experience love as the humans did. But then, he couldn’t seem to fathom… why didn’t you?

masterlist || prev. | next — posted; 14.09.2019

It was only the second time you'd seen this building, but the awe-inspiring sensation from the first time still lingered within you. Bright Helios Entertainment was one of the bigger names in the business with their finger in a number of pies, from music, to movies, to models, and probably more. If someone in this city didn't know who they were, it would probably be safe to assume that they'd just moved here or they'd lived under a rock for a majority of their life. Rosé would probably be inclined to assume the latter, but you'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt. Nonetheless, Bright Helios Entertainment took up the second biggest building in the heart of the city, and it was where you went for an interview on the Friday just passed, and where you were about to start the job you successfully acquired from said interview.

It was a bit of a rapid hiring process, as you were quick to find out when they sent you an email informing you of your success the very next day after the interview. Apparently, they were in desperate need of the position being filled. You couldn't understand why, though, considering your position was really quite basic and they probably had a hundred others in the same one.

Oh well. You weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Finally, you managed to quit marvelling at the shiny aspects of the building and forced yourself to enter before you spent a little too long dilly-dallying and made yourself late for your first shift at this job. The interior, just as it had been the last time you were in here, was still as sleek and gorgeously designed as you remembered it. Smooth, velvety reds and seafoam blues were used in combination throughout the building, an unexpectedly pleasant looking design choice. You'd asked the receptionist about it when you were here last, and she'd happily informed you it was actually the CEO who designed the whole building. Well, you had him to thank for the aesthetically pleasing journey to the floor where you would be working from now on, you supposed.

Straight in through the front door, down the hallway to the left with the tall potted plants, and into the pristine, shiny elevator at the end— this was how you got to your floor. It was floor 49, the last floor below the CEO and higher-positioned official's level. Not bad for your first gig, you admitted. You were excited to see if the view was as nice as you were imagining.

The elevator ride was filled with soft jazz spilling from the speakers above your head, surprisingly the tasteful kind. You usually turned your head at the mere mention of jazz, having been scarred by certain experiences with your aunt as a child, but this... you had to admit, it wasn't bad at all. Props to the corporate DJ responsible.

Up the floors you went, and with each one the nervous response that hadn't quite hit you yet finally began to sink in. This was it, a brand new job with amazing pay and hours and you were about to embark on the very first shift, where your first impressions were definitely going to matter. Suddenly paranoid, you checked your watch before letting out a huff of relief. Nope, still good for time. You lost a few minutes back there but you're still fifteen minutes early so no need to stress.

The elevator climbed the floors faster than you would have liked, though, and soon you were breaching the 40th floor and trying not to panic again. Okay calm, calm. You needed to be calm and collected so you could focus on being on top of your game and making the best impression possible on your new boss...

....whoever that may be. They didn't really tell you.

The elevator dinged, signifying the arrival of your floor far before you were ready, and you had to quickly clear your throat and swallow down your nerves. Attempting to school your expression, you took a breath as the doors opened and then made your way out. Here went nothing!

The lady who had emailed you told you that the person you would be an assistant to had their own office-slash room at the end of the hall to the left. Each corner of the room was marked by a different pair of potted plants, and the ones that marked their little alcove had two vibrant tropical plants and some angelica flowers in pots mounted to the wall above them. You had to look up angelica flowers to know what exactly they were, but since you did that you now spotted them with ease. Steeling yourself, you turned and began to make your way there. Your shift started not long after theirs did, so they should already be there to greet you when you arrive. At least, that's what the email told you.

However, contrary to what the email told you, when you arrived at the end of the hall and saw a cleared desk by the window with nothing but a monitor (presumably your station), and a reasonably sized office sitting behind glass windows and a large glass door, you found that it was empty. You paused, allowing your eyes to sweep the place once more. No, definitely empty. They weren't here? Some of the tension your body held immediately departed at the discovery, a huff of relief passing your lips. Okay, that was fine. Maybe they popped out for a bit? You could use this opportunity to settle in a bit, get your things set up. A smile touched your lips at that. Perfect. Stepping forward, you got started straight away, placing your bag down on the desk and beginning to pull your items out.

It didn't take you long at all to finish setting up, since you didn't exactly know what you'd need and so didn't bring all that much. When you finished placing your little potted succulent by the computer monitor, you were at last forced to face that fact that you now had nothing to do. Turning slightly, you affirmed that your new boss wasn't here yet and you hadn't been left any tasks (the email had said that you would receive a list from the person you were assisting, one that had been given to him to pass along). Well, you really had nothing to do— you could go on your phone or surf the web on your computer, but you really didn't want to risk such a thing on your very first day. No, you were going to be the best, model employee. Even if you currently had nothing to actually...do.

Left to your own devices, it was natural that your mind began to wander. Lately, though, a wandering mind hadn't been a good thing, since more often than not your thoughts brought you to that man.

That night, after what happened at the club, you'd been so worked up that you hadn't been able to sleep for hours. The whiplash you'd gotten, seeing him so soon after convincing yourself that he was nothing more than a figment of your imagination, had really shaken you. Rosé had been a bit too drunk to really investigate your odd behaviour, and considering she'd crashed as soon as you got back to her apartment, you knew she wasn't going to remember it in the morning to ask.

You'd gone to bed slightly panicked, but when you woke in the morning, you felt surprisingly much better. Perhaps that advice your mother always gave you about sleeping on your problems had some merit to it after all. You were still unsettled, yes, but also... you felt oddly detached. It probably helped that you hadn't seen the man since then (likely due to the fact you hadn't really left your house in a while except for the interview and runs to the corner store, but you digress) but it felt as though you were able to distance yourself a little bit from the whole ordeal. Yeah, you were still slightly paranoid that you may or may not be being followed by a (really handsome) strange man who you (thought) you'd seen do questionable (impossible) things, but you were able to take a deep breath and not let the resulting panic consume you. You'd say you'd come a long way, since those first few weeks after The Incident.

Actually, for the most part it sat in the back of your mind, only presenting itself in situations such as this one where you had literally nothing else to entertain your poor monkey brain.

Thankfully, you were saved from further ruminating on the odd events that had occurred to you as of late by the sound of light footsteps beginning to echo down your hall, and you looked up expecting a new face belonging to your 'boss' but were instead, to your complete and utter surprise, greeted by the sight of the woman that interviewed you, striding around the corner in her dress slacks and long-sleeved blouse. As her eyes fell upon you they lit up, a bright smile pulling her lips.

"Good morning, Miss y/n!" Sunmi greeted, flashing perfect teeth as she beamed at you. "How are you today?"

Even during your interview, Sunmi had managed to put you at ease, and now was no different. The smile you returned was automatic. "I'm fantastic," you said, inclining your head as she drew closer. "How are you?"

"Oh I'm good, I'm good—" Sunmi waved her hand through the air, smile growing lazy before her eyes swept to the office behind you and she halted, dark brows drawing together. "Oh, he's not in yet? Trust him to pull one of his disappearing acts when he's meant to be meeting his new assistant."

You were slightly confused until you recalled that your job was you being an assistant to someone, someone who had yet to show their face. You let out a nervous laugh, not wanting to get them in trouble when you hadn't even met them yourself yet. "Oh, uh... no. I haven't seen him yet."

Sunmi hummed, staring blankly into the office as her thoughts consumed her for a moment before she snapped out of them and turned back to you with a winning smile. "Well, doesn't matter! You'll meet him later anyway, doesn't matter what time he drags himself in I suppose. You're his assistant so he can't avoid you forever!"

You weren't sure how to respond to that, but settled for a soft laugh since it was a little funny.

"Now, you're probably wondering what brings me here," Sunmi began, taking strides to round the desk and arrive at your side. "I see you've managed to log into the system and everything— great! You're already ahead of half the employees we've ever hired."

That got another soft snort from you, and Sunmi seemed pleased that her comments were being received well.

"Anyway, I'm here to show you the ropes— in actuality, you don't have that many role-specific tasks that are all-too important but, well..." She straightened, brushing her long ponytail of silky black hair behind her shoulder. "His manager actually called in for some sudden time off, a family emergency or something along those lines. So, although you've only just started today, a lot of his tasks... will be going to you. But don't stress!"

She whipped her hands up as though to placate you, still smiling. "We'll help you with everything you need, and I'm here now to run you through it all. So don't worry, okay? It'll all be fine!"

Admittedly, you were feeling kind of overwhelmed and more than a little panicked, but you slapped a shaky smile on for her sake and nodded along. "Okay."

Sunmi breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. Fantastic. Well, first thing's first! Let's show you how to view the schedules..."

x + x + x

By the time your lunch break rolled around, you couldn't be more thankful for it. The work you were doing mightn't have been all that hard, but you'd been loaded up with a lot of information at once and so... you were getting a bit overwhelmed. Sunmi seemed to sense it, and had wrapped up her teachings for the day, saying she'd taught you all the vital thing's you'd need to know for now and that she'd teach you more tomorrow. She also happened to be a saint, you realised, as she promised to print out some instructions for you to refer to for all the things you'd learnt today.

You'd only really known her for a collective few hours, but if she were to ask you to marry her you'd probably say yes.

It was around eleven-thirty that she'd dismissed you to go on lunch, telling you that you had the freedom to choose when in the day to take it so long as it was between ten and two. She left you with a small list of tasks to complete afterwards, saying that so long as they were all completed you could leave by three. You didn’t think that was too bad of a deal, especially since the tasks, from what you’d seen, didn’t seem to be too difficult, which meant you’d get to take your time and familiarise yourself with them, make sure they were done properly.

Each floor had a lunch room of its own, but considering that the floor you were on didn’t have that many occupants in the first place, it was about as empty as you expected it to be. Humming to yourself, you made yourself at home and took advantage of the expensive coffee machine as Sunmi had advised you to, using her parting words to tell you in a rush all the goodies the lunch rooms had to offer. You’d said it before, but right now you were so thankful for that woman you were contemplating getting down on one knee.

Your lunch passed pretty quickly, but not alarmingly so. By the time it was over you were refreshed and ready to get started on the tasks that you’d been left. Nodding to yourself, you cleaned up your mess and tidied the lunch room before beginning on your way back to your little work alcove. Idly, you wondered as you walked, if you were actually going to meet the person you were meant to be assisting today. Intermittently throughout your little teaching session, Sunmi had muttered about his apparent tendency to suddenly disappear at odd times of the day and often in the middle of a task or job. He always came back, but apparently never explained where he went and just went on as if nothing was out of order. If Sunmi’s grumbling was anything to go by, that was the part that irritated her the most.

She had assured you, though, that you were going to like him and enjoy working for him. You could only hope she wasn’t trying to blow smoke up your ass and he wasn’t actually a massive asshole or an old pervert. You really did know almost nothing about this man, so you were a little apprehensive but tried to keep an optimistic outlook.

After returning to your desk, you took a moment to have some water before beginning on the first of your tasks. You needed to read over some of the business proposals and requests and pick out some of the seedier ones to be flagged, the likes of which would then be reviewed and dealt with from there. An odd task for your role, but you did it anyway.

One by one, you worked through the items on the list that you’d been given, none of them particularly hard but some of them a little more arduous than others. At numerous times, did you find yourself thankful for technology. Some of these things would have been a bitch to do without a computer and a handy search filter function.

It was about ten to three, and the end of the current task you were on was just on the horizon. You’d slipped into a sort of intense focus for the moment, your back turned to the hall as you sorted through forms to photocopy. If you’d just been a little bit more tuned in with your environment, then perhaps the sudden sound of an oddly familiar baritone wouldn’t have made you jump out of your skin as much as it did.

“Oh, you’re the new assistant? You’re here already? Ah, I should have read my emails this morning…”

It took a moment for the fright to leave your muscles before realisation kicked in and they were tensing with it again. You spun around, eyes wide and mouth falling open. Him. It was him. No way…

The man whose face had been haunting you for weeks froze on the spot, mid-stride and hand outstretched for the handle of the glass door leading to the office behind you. The office… that was meant to belong to the man you would be assisting and working for.

Oh no. This couldn’t be happening.

“You,” he breathed, hand falling to his side as he adjusted his stance to face you better, dark cocoa eyes sweeping along your form as though trying to discern if it was really you or some sort of illusion. A humoured, curious smile began to curl the corners of his lips. “Well, the Fates have brought us together again, it seems.”

Something welled in your lungs, and for a moment you thought it might be fear but suddenly it seemed to tug and pull and you realised, with a certain sense of cognitive dissonance, that it was longing. It was that realisation, that scared you.

A part of you, the bolder, sassier part, instantly brought forth the urge to accuse him, 'Are you following me?'. He seemed genuinely surprised to see you here though, and you were a little too stuck in the shock of the situation to be throwing witty remarks out.

"You... are you the one who that office belongs to?" Apparently you could manage to get something out though, a question that carried an undertone of the slight fear you had— fear that his answer would confirm your suspicions and your fate. Was it too early to quit if he said yes?

The male tilted his head, flaxen strands whispering across his forehead at the movement like silk. You couldn't decipher the meaning of whatever was swirling in his eyes, and you weren't sure you wanted to. One thing you were sure of, though, was that your heart absolutely did not stutter or skip a beat when his smile grew and you were hit with what had to be the full radiant brunt of it.

"And if I said yes, would you run?" he asked, voice running like velvet over your ears. You hated that it almost made you shiver from the sound alone. You weren't a schoolgirl, and this dude was probably a massive creep! Get a hold of yourself!

He had you, though. You felt oddly called out, flustered, heat rising to your cheeks and burning the tips of your ears. His eyes flitted over, catching the way your skin flushed, and you almost expected him to coo from the way his expression shifted ever so slightly.

"Maybe," you finally answered, voice level and almost challenging. You supposed you were compensating subconsciously for how unsettled he was currently making you, in a number of ways. "Are you going to follow me if I run?"

You weren't sure what he had been expecting, but apparently it hadn't been that response. He blinked, still for a split-second as it registered before he tilted his head back and let loose a pleasant laugh. Regrettably, it made your heated cheeks flush further. This was ridiculous.

"I guess we'll see," he said, infuriatingly neither denying or confirming that he had been following you. You needed some closure, some assurance that you weren't losing your mind bit by bit. You felt as though you were about to burst, the sudden situation very quickly growing overwhelming for you.

The male seemed to sense it, posture shifting into a more relaxed stance and leaning slightly back, working to make you feel a little less threatened. Oddly, it seemed to work. The elevated rate of your heartbeat, something you hadn't even felt rise, began to settle at the subtle shift of pressure in the air.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you from your work," he said, tone amused. He angled his body towards the office— which you now recalled with a sense of regret was actually pretty much open with those glass walls facing you and posing as the only tangible thing between you— and began to stride that way. His hands soon grasped the sleek metal handle, but before he entered, he threw one last sly smile over his shoulder and murmured, "I look forward to working with you, y/n."

The sound of your name rolling off his tongue really did make you shiver this time, the nerves at the back of your neck tingling and sending tiny shots of electricity down your spine. You didn't understand the reaction, and didn't really have time to try to before he was slipping into the office and leaving you to your own tangled thoughts, still flustered and somewhat bamboozled over the whole situation

Surprisingly, the dominant emotion that resulted from seeing him in real life once more wasn't fear. Actually, at this point you could say you were mostly confused, oddly. For some reason, the sight of him no longer activated your flight or fight response so strongly, but rather, it reached to an obscure part of you. Each time he stepped into your world he left more and more of an echo, a lingering presence in your thoughts that you couldn't help but keep coming back to. You weren't happy about it, but there wasn't really anything you could do about it either.

You were expecting to spend the last hour or so of your day on edge, with a constant feeling of being watched, but to your complete and utter surprise when you finally gave into the gnawing urge to turn and peek over your shoulder, you found the blinds on the other side of the office windows (which you hadn't even noticed where there in the first place, to be honest) were drawn. It seemed he was kind enough to afford you this decency— you didn't know how to feel about it, and so tried not to think to hard about it.

Contrary to whatever else you might have expected, you spent the rest of your time simply doing your remaining task without so much as a peep from the office. With the blinds drawn in an unspoken promise to leave you undisturbed, it seemed he was intent to follow through. By the time you managed to finish everything up and began packing your things away, the most you'd heard from him was an odd scuffling sound, and then a dull but potent thud and a subsequent exclamation of pain so low you almost strained to hear it. It... had been an audio story.

After checking it was past three and you were free to go, you were quick to take advantage of that and essentially hightailed it out of there, mind racing in the background as you did so.

Weird. This was so weird. But what was weirder still, was that each time you happened to encounter him, you felt a completely different way about it. You'd think that encountering the same guy you (allegedly) saw shoot people with a bow and arrow at your new workplace as the person you were going to be working directly for, would be a little more alarming. And yes, you were alarmed, and wary and cautious, but you didn't feel the same level of— of almost primal, instinctive fear, as you did that first night you encountered him.

Perhaps it was because, for whatever reason, he now beginning to feel less like a threat and more like an enigma; an anomaly, a puzzle piece that you wanted to take and see where it fit.

You supposed that for anyone normal, the logical thing to do when they found out that the person they suspected of 'following' them happened to be at their new workplace, would be to quit that job and leave that workplace. You didn't want to, though. Most of it was due to your inherently stubborn nature, and the fact you actually liked this job and its perks a lot so far, and you didn't want to bow your head to him even when it came to something like that. The rest of it...

You weren't ready to admit that just yet. What you were ready for, on the other hand, was to finally dump the whole of your experience on one of your best friends.

You dialled the most recent of the two in your call history.

“… Yes? Is there a reason you interrupted my nap?”

“Rosé,” you huffed, slightly out of breath from the way you’d hurried from your new workplace. “I have a lot to tell you— you’re never going to believe this, but—okay, well, first I have to tell you what happened a few weeks ago—”

You ended up telling her everything, every detail you possessed, and the call... didn’t end for a while.

x + x + x

The next day of your new job at the entertainment building office came quicker than you were prepared for. You'd spent a good portion of the previous evening after your shift on the phone to Rosé, filling her in on all the things she'd missed— or rather, all the things you'd neglected to tell her dating back a few weeks. The situation had shifted somehow, just minutely, but it was enough that you'd felt you could now finally tell her all the wack shit that had been happening. It had been easier, too, now that you weren't scared as much as you were slightly humoured by the incredulousness of the situation. Rosé had probably actually been more stressed out than you, and threatened numerous times to beat your ass for not telling her sooner. You were probably not going to drop by her place for a few days, and hoped you wouldn’t run into her in the building before she cooled down. r

Of course, there was still a generous amount of nerves at play as you got ready the next day and made your way into the building that was very quickly becoming familiar to you. The pleasing aesthetic of the floors as you passed them was almost enough to soothe you completely, but the closer you drew to your floor the less you were able to escape the recollection of who exactly it was you'd been assigned to assist. The feeling fluttering in your abdomen was different to the sensation you might have been inclined to expect. You didn't feel sick or nauseous from the nerves, and while you were cautious you weren't too on edge. It felt less like a natural reaction to be wary of the situation, and more like a conscious one. Why that was, you had absolutely no idea, but you were hoping as the day went on that the reason would go ahead and reveal itself to you.

Smoothing the top of your slacks one last time, you took a deep breath and rounded the corner, biting the bullet and entering the short little hall that led to your office alcove. The first thing you noticed was that the desk was, thankfully, exactly how you'd left it, save for a thin pile of papers stapled together and placed neatly next to the keyboard, and a short piece of paper with several bullet points hand-scribbled onto it. You supposed that was your list of to-do's for the day, courtesy of Sunmi. You were glad that she'd prepared things in advance, because otherwise you might have been a bit lost and overwhelmed for what to do.

Making your way over to your desk, you tried to prolong the inevitable for as long as possible before you finally caved and could resist no longer. Your eyes strayed as they'd strained to ever since you entered the hall, flitting to the glass windows that hid the man's office behind them. Oddly, you didn't even know his name— something you'd realised while spilling your long-winded tale to Rosé yesterday. The nameless man who drew your gaze effortlessly and seemed to appear wherever you were consistently for the past few weeks, give or take a few days, was— to your surprise, considering how yesterday went— actually in his office when your gaze swept to take it in. The current open nature of the blinds permitted you the sight of him leaning against the large window in the room, gaze unfocused as he stared out and spoke into the phone held to his ear. The pose accentuated the long line of his legs in black slacks, belt cinching at narrow hips and tucking in the bottom of his loose-sleeved button up, the white and baby blue granite swirling pattern unexpected but not unflattering to his tanned complexion and ashen hair.

He looked a little too good, and you tore your gaze away before you had the chance to lose yourself in observing every little detail about him. Somewhat dutifully, you took your seat at your desk and began unpacking your things, hoping to go unnoticed and unsure how successful you were at doing so.

Thankfully, the first part of the morning went easily. You completed the first few tasks that Sunmi left for you without a problem, since they were related to all the things you'd learnt yesterday, the knowledge still fresh and readily accessible in your brain. Some of the other tasks were taking you a little longer though, and it was as you were in the middle of attempting to navigate the scheduling software that your first disturbance of the morning made itself known.

It began as the soft sound of footsteps pattering down the other end of the hall, something that actually took you a moment to decipher amongst the soft hum of your computer and the noises filtering in through the crack of the opened window to your side. As soon as it registered though, you realised that it seemed to be growing louder with each second.

You could only sit in confusion as the source came rushing down the hall, revealing itself to be a male of average height with dark raven hair and honey skin, a loose, flowing white shirt and ripped black jeans the only thing you were able to catch sight of before he bolted past you and straight into the office behind you. You were mildly alarmed, and part of you wondered if he was even meant to be here since you'd never met him before, but you decided to let it be and promised yourself that you'd step in if there was bloodshed.

The (second) mystery male made a loud announcement right as he ripped the office door open and strode inside, voice incredibly resonant and melodic for how loudly it rung throughout the rooms.

"TAEHYUNG, I found her! It took a while, but—"

As he entered the room and the glass door sealed closed behind him, his voice all but completely disappeared. Which, considering your current position, you shouldn't have been disappointed about, but you kind of were. Anything that would shed more light on the man in that office was welcome in your eyes, even if obtaining that information meant... eavesdropping. Which, you were well aware, wasn't a good look on someone that had been hired barely twenty-four hours previous.

It almost physically hurt to keep your neck in place and not turn your head to look into the room, but somehow you just barely managed to keep yourself on task and somewhat focused on your actual work. You'd see how long this lasted.

x x x

Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass, Taehyung was trying to lose the smile climbing onto his lips as Jimin skidded to a stop in front of him, slightly out of breath— which really said something about the state of his stamina, since he technically wasn't human.

"I found her," he repeated, voice breathy as he sucked in air. His raven locks were windswept and ruffled and if Taehyung hadn't seen him rushing down the hall himself (by chance, since he absolutely had not been looking at you through the glass window of the office) then he might have been wondering exactly how he brought himself here that rendered him to such a state. "That girl you wanted me to find but gave me, like, absolutely no information on. I found her. She's—"

Jimin paused at Taehyung's uncharacteristic show of silence, following the line of his gaze when it flicked to the side subconsciously. A sputter escaped him, incredulity displayed across his features, "— ...sitting right there. She's sitting right there!? Taehyung, I'm going to be honest with you, if you sent me on a wild goose chase for some girl that already works for you—"

Amused as he was, Taehyung didn't feel like dying today— the shirt he picked out was too nice to get blood stains on. He hurried to appease his brother, hands flying up in a gesture of surrender. "She didn't! When I summoned you, she didn't work here. I had no idea that she would end up here... I was very surprised when I walked in yesterday. I told you, I keep seeing her in places, but this is something else."

Jimin halted where he had been mid-stride to come deliver a firm hit to Taehyung's arm, hand hanging mid-air. As Taehyung's words began to sink in, his arm lowered back down to his side and his face adopted a curious, pensive expression. His lips jutted out in a slight pout, something the taller male doubted he realised he did when he was deep in thought.

"Hmm, do you think maybe it's for a reason, then? Does the Above have a task for you? Have the Fates assigned you a test?" Jimin asked, leaning his hip on the side of Taehyung's desk. "Wait, but you said you can't see her Soul String, right?"

Taehyung nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before looking at you with his Sight once more. He'd been doing it all morning, admittedly. It had never happened before, that he had encountered a human without a Soul String, and now that he supposedly had, he couldn’t help continuously looking back and double checking, somewhat convinced it was just a trick of the light, or something along those lines.

Because when it came down to it, such a thing shouldn’t be possible at all.

When the human soul came into creation, it was split in half. The cloth of creation never birthed a single human soul, they came and pairs and that was simply the way it was, the way it had always been and always would be. As such, on the material plane every human soul presented with an intangible Soul String that tied them to their other half, the piece that would complete them. So why, then, could he not see a Soul String tangled around you?

As he’d come to expect after checking back all morning, when his eyes landed on you once more it was no different. All sorts of strings wrapped around you, tied and tangled around your soul, deep in your being. Yet none of them were a Soul String, the most vital tie of all. It completely threw him for a loop, and simultaneously alarmed him and intrigued him. He didn’t know what to do about the situation— didn’t know what was even wrong enough to have caused this in the first place, really—but the prospect of something new, and different to the usual same, mundane task he had, was…

Well, it was exciting.

“There’s nothing,” Taehyung murmured, unaware of the way his brother admired the soft pink glaze that fell over his eyes as he used his gift. “I mean, she has strings, but… no Soul String. It’s the same as I told you last time. It’s simply not there.”

Jimin hummed, turning to look at you as well despite the fact he didn’t have the same gifts as his brother.

“Well,” he commented, dark eyes swinging back to Taehyung. “She’s here now. I’ve been rendered useless. Now that you no longer need me, I’ll be off tending to my actual job.”

Taehyung blinked, his gift slipping back into dormancy, and turned to shoot his brother a silly grin. “Oh? You’re leaving? And here I thought you’d want to stay and play a round of mariokart with me….”

Jimin paused, mid-turn, and his head whipped back to face Taehyung, lips already forming a half-hearted warning. “Don’t—don’t you dare, Tae. I need to go—you know I need to go. I won’t… I won’t be lured… by some stupid human game…”

Taehyung opened the drawer at his desk above the one that contained his summoning bowl, fingers playing over the surface of the console in question as though he was luring the attention of a cat. Jimin’s eyes, as expected, followed the movement and shot wide. He seemed torn, and Taehyung was about to exploit it.

“Oh, you can’t?” Taehyung poked and prodded, voice turning pouty and playful. “Or you won’t, because you’re a chicken?”

That was it, that was the jab that always—ALWAYS— got Jimin to break. Insulted beyond reason, the male squawked and began stomping over, fist raised and ready to beat him.

“I’ll kill you for that comment! How could you? Bastard! You know I’m sensitive about that—”

Taehyung was promptly tackled, a loud laugh spilling from his lips as he stumbled backwards under the weight of his brother. He was lucky he hadn’t let the extra parts of his true form out, or else they’d be in a lot of pain right now.

x x x

Hearing a scuffle, you really couldn’t help it when your gaze finally flew to the window of the office. It took you a moment to really take in the scene before you, and by the time you did you were stifling an inappropriate laugh.

Were they wrestling? Fighting? You didn’t know, but your ‘boss’—you really needed to find out his name—was laughing so you supposed it was all right.

Seeing them messing around and having fun eased a bit of the nerves that had settled in your stomach when you hadn’t done anything earlier. You felt a little bit of guilt in advance, should the man who went in there have been doing so to hurt the other, but now… you were appeased. Oddly.

Shaking your head, you turned back and tried refocusing on your tasks. You were making decent headway and didn’t want to lose the streak, so you ducked your head down and got back to work. As you did so, you couldn’t help but wonder if this was what your job was really going to be? Considering you’d been hired as an assistant for someone. It was an entertainment company, and Rosé had said it was for a model…

You froze, mind ticking over painfully slow. Wait. Did that mean that man was…?

Resisting the urge to slam your head to the desk, you shook it once more and channelled your remaining focus. You just had to focus! You could wonder about your boss later, now was the time for work.

You kept your head down for most of the day, eyes to the screen, but you couldn’t help that your ears were stuck to the glass walls. You couldn’t hear a thing, but sometimes when your monitor went dark you caught glimpses of the two in the office, and each time it was like a candid insight into their dynamic. The way they seemed to hold themselves in each other’s presence was similar to that of siblings, and you thought it was ironic if that was the case that you’d already indirectly met your boss’ sibling before even knowing his name.

The dark-haired male didn’t stay all that long, only an hour or so before he was re-emerging from the office, actually acknowledging you this time. The look on his face was odd, indecipherable, and held in place for a bare moment before it shifted into a bright smile that had you forgetting the previous expression was even there.

“Sorry to disturb you,” he apologised, bowing slightly. “We’ll probably see each other again, but until then, take care of Taehyungie!”

And then he was striding down the hall, a small bounce to his step that made the silky raven locks atop his head move with each stride. You blinked, and he was gone, and you were left one more to the list of tasks you had to do. Barely, you restrained yourself from turning and looking into the office. Why were you so innately nosey?! This was getting out of hand. It was probably just because your brain yearned for something more exciting than a computer screen, you attempted to convince yourself.

The interaction with the dark-haired man had been short and confusing, but you did latch on to one specific piece of information—the name that had been tacked on at the end. Taehyungie. You were assuming that it was a nickname, but then what was his full name?

As though through download of divine enlightenment, when your eyes next flicked to the screen, they fell upon a name up in the corner of the appearance request sheet you were processing. Oh. Instantly, you felt a little stupid—this little blurb was on almost every piece of paper you saw, and yet you never processed it.

‘Kim Taehyung.’ It read in the top left corner. On another sheet in particular, it offered some extra information. ‘Model, Actor, Vocalist. 24 years.’

Well, the professions explained a lot.

Feeling appropriately stupid, you hurried and processed the paperwork by entering the requests into a digital form and submitting them for approval. By this point, it was actually almost three, and you were determined to get out as soon as possible so that you could finally cleanse your brain of the thoughts that didn’t seem to leave while you were in this building. Nodding to yourself, you doubled down and got straight into it.

Process requests. Respond to email inquiries. Go over schedule and print. Give schedule to T.

The list Sunmi had left you truthfully wasn’t all that long to begin with, and even now you were nearing the end. Just three tasks left, and you worked your way through them one by one. Miraculously, you seemed to finish right on time at three thanks to your increased efforts and drive to get out. Slamming the print button on the schedule you’d just gone over, you then began packing up your things, mind already miles away. You hadn’t greeted your boss, Taehyung, in the first place, so it felt awkward to make a point of saying goodbye. Musing over that, you crammed all your things into your bag, taking the printed paper into your hand and checking your desk before nodding and making your way out of the room. Alright. You were done. Time for your flight response to calm down.

Out into the main floor, into the elevator, down to ground floor. You were excited about the prospect of finishing so early-slash-on-time, and to be honest thinking about what you were going to eat while you called Rosé. She demanded after you told her everything yesterday that you update her today, wanting to know whether you really worked for a creep or if it was all coincidence. To be honest, after witnessing him today and considering the fact he hadn’t even gone out of his way to interact with you—plus what you’d seen of how he was with that other man… you were kind of on the way to deciding that he was harmless. Wild concept all things considered, you knew, but hey maybe he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Mind consumed by thoughts of other things, you got about ten paces onto the footpath outside the building before you registered the paper in your hand and remembered that you were meant to actually give the printed schedule to Taehyung, and not just hold onto it to take home as you were.

Groaning, you turned somewhat reluctantly on your heel and began making your way back in. Guess your day wasn’t over quite yet.

x x

The second you were gone, Taehyung felt like he might scream in relief. His back was in an absolute state; he hadn’t gotten to letting out his form in the past few days and it were absolutely itching to emerge, the muscles across his shoulder blades and down his spine aching and scratching beneath the skin. The second he was sure you left the building, he fell back into his chair and let out a huff, closing his eyes to take in a moment of piece before he did what he had to.

Keeping all of himself in this human form was incredibly hard and taxing, and if he didn’t let his less human traits out every so often then eventually they’d burst out at an inconvenient time, unwitting and unstoppable. Technically, humans shouldn’t be able to see those parts of him anyway, but in the history of his existence there had been a few, and it wasn’t always the easiest experience to deal with. So, he’d learnt to be very careful—and with you, especially, he had a feeling he should be extra careful and on-top of things. He just hadn’t realised it had been so long since he let them out, you know?

Taking in another breath, he let it sink into his lungs before he was lurching smoothly from the chair, beginning to pace around the room and create distance between himself and any breakable objects… if there were any left after all the time he’d been in here. His shirt was quick to go, his love for it saving it from a few irreparable rips and tears. Rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms, he prepared his physical form for the way it’s limitations were about to bend and break. It didn’t strictly hurt, this process, but it wasn’t the most comfortable ordeal either. Taehyung strode over and made sure the blinds were closed before he turned back and made another two or so laps going from one side of the room to the other. Okay, he was warmed up.

Almost subconsciously, he wound up by his desk and pressed his hands to the surface, pointing his back to the ceiling. He felt the change looming beneath his skin, writhing and throbbing and ready to be set free. Taking in a deep breath, Taehyung released the hold he had on it, and felt it instantly snap free. Sudden intense pressure in his shoulders, a pinch like a nerve being pressed, and then a weight that was somehow simultaneously light and heavy at one. He heard the flutter, felt the slight breeze generated.

The relief was instantaneous, a serene smile tugging his lips. It was like getting home and then immediately changing into his softest, most comfortable human sleeping clothes, spending an afternoon lying on the soft, plush mattress of his bed as though it was a cloud. One of the large, looming appendages stemming from his back twitched and jerked of its own accord, flinging out and accidentally knocking his water bottle from the desk. Damn it. And he’d been incident free for so long, too—

“Uh, sorry to bother you, Mister, but I have to gi—oh—”

The sound of another voice didn’t register until too late, Taehyung’s eyes going wide as he spun around, more things flying from his desk as they were knocked off in the panic of his movement. There in the doorway stood you, who he thought had safely gone home, with a paper in your hand halfway outstretched to him and your eyes wide and completely fixed on the area just a little behind his head and to his side.

“W—” you stuttered, face paling slightly. He felt himself grow the slightest bit concerned. “Wings…?”

The appendages in question ruffled and fluttered, as though in response, and Taehyung was simply rooted to the spot, at a loss for words.

Wings, you said wings—you could see them?! Oh god, Taehyung felt a new feeling settling in his abdomen, a slight feeling of regret and dread rolled into one. He wasn’t familiar with it, and didn’t like it at all.

This was going to be hard to explain away.

a/n: please let me know what u think and if u enjoyed it, feel free to support me by buying me a ko-fi or rbing to let me know u like it!! have a good day n thanks for reading bubs!! <3

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