middle of my mind

by wildlikeawolfpack

Chapter 4: i could never figure out why you were so hard to find

when taehyung and jimin make it back, padding softly into the room, jungkook’s still asleep and yoongi’s still curled around him, one hand rubbing his back and the other on the back of his head.

“hey, hyung,” taehyung whispers, carefully crawling onto the bed. he sits down next to jungkook, looking down at him while biting his lip. “how’s he doing?” he seems almost afraid to touch jungkook, hands hovering over his body like he’s not sure which parts he can touch safely.

“he’s okay. just very tired.”

“hoseok-hyung said he had a wound on his leg?” jimin joins them on the bed, as well. he lies down behind yoongi, slinging an arm over his waist and shuffling as close as possible.

“something about an arrow… i don’t know what happened.”

taehyung follows jimin’s lead and lies down, hands smoothing over jungkook’s side. he presses a short kiss to the back of jungkook’s neck and hides his nose in the boy’s hair. “i missed him,” taehyung sighs. “i’m so glad he’s back. feels like i can breathe easy now that everyone’s back home.”

home.

yoongi tries not to make it obvious when he peeks over jungkook at taehyung, but both taehyung and jimin notice. taehyung blinks in confusion at his own words, while jimin’s arm around yoongi tightens a little.

“home?” yoongi asks after some silence. “is the palace home to you?”

“... no, my clan is my home.”

it’s jimin who answers for taehyung, clarifies what he’d meant: “home isn’t really a place. it’s… the people that make a place a home.”

“and… who… are the ones that are home to you?” yoongi looks at taehyung directly now, taking note of the way he blushes prettily, and how he hides his face in jungkook’s neck a little while he stays silent. he looks as though he’s finding the courage to speak.

“isn’t it obvious?” taehyung finally says. he chances a look over jungkook’s head, making shy eye-contact. “it’s all of you.”

“i was hoping you’d say that,” yoongi tells taehyung sincerely. his small, shy smile mirrors taehyung’s, pretty and giddy and cute. despite the fact that yoongi’s supposed to be the hyung in this situation, he seems about as ill-equipped to deal with this as jimin and taehyung. he tries very hard not to hide his face, but it’s difficult—he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“how did you three meet?” yoongi asks after a while.

“taehyung and i have known each other since we were children. his father’s a general, and my father’s confidant. we… grew up together. we met jungkook a few years back. remember when all the clans came together to celebrate the electro leader’s birthday? and we all suddenly decided to put our differences aside and pretend to be best friends?”

“and some younger royals from different clans ended up in a brawl and the clans refused to speak to each other for the next year? yeah, i remember…” yoongi snorts.

“we weren’t there for the fight, sadly, because jimin and i snuck away. we were busy making out, when… a very pretty guard came in. he thought we were intruders, at first, so he tried to kick us out, but then he saw the emblem on jimin’s robes, and he realised…” taehyung stops to laugh softly for a minute, clearly thinking back on that day. “he apologised profusely and started blushing so prettily. and he started stammering and, and…”

jimin giggles into yoongi’s neck. it tickles a little, and yoongi’s squirming makes jimin giggle even more. “we let him go, that time, but then… we made sure we got caught again, several times, by him the day after. and the day after that we asked him if, perhaps, he wanted to join. and he did. he was so shy, but he seemed to know what he wanted, you know? it was… nice. he didn’t seem to care about our status, or that we were from a different clan… he certainly didn’t care that we were two, already. i think he kind of liked it, actually, that we were two. he liked the extra attention and liked that he could focus on both of us.”

“and you haven’t faced any issues within your clan? do your families know?”

jimin shakes his head. yoongi feels it against the back of his neck, mostly because jimin’s lips are pressed to his skin there. “they don’t know. we were already dating jungkook when the clan decided we were engaged to be wed. they… wouldn’t kick us out of the clan if they were to find out, because of our status, but they’d pressure jungkookie’s clan into sending him away. they’d find a way. our main concern while dating has always been jungkook’s safety, even though he doesn’t agree with it.”

“do you think it’s better or worse that he’s not of royal birth?” it feels like such a stupid question to ask, because yoongi hates the distinction between royal and common. they’re all just dragons, their blood isn’t any different, but what yoongi thinks doesn’t matter much. it doesn’t change what the others believe.

“if he were from a different clan, it’d be worse, i think, but his clan leader holds him very dear. he’d protect jungkookie if something were to happen.”

yoongi nods slowly.

taehyung works himself up onto his elbow, looking down at jungkook with a fond gaze. he strokes the side of jungkook’s face, taking note of all the little wounds he sees. “maybe we’ve been selfish by holding onto jungkook, but… we love him.”

yoongi has no trouble believing that. it’s very easy to love jungkook—he so very quickly worms his way into someone’s heart that you don’t even notice it, until it’s already too late. “i guess… love is kind of selfish like that, isn’t it?”

taehyung nods. he reaches over jungkook to stroke yoongi’s cheek. “that’s why jin-hyung was mad you, right?”

yoongi doesn’t say anything. he knows full well that his nod isn’t just a yeah, that’s why. it’s also a silent admission that seokjin is more than just a hyung to him. he trusts taehyung and jimin with that knowledge, because he realises they already know. everyone knows.

“i’m glad he’s not mad at you anymore. i’m glad the brat shouted at him.” taehyung sinks back down behind jungkook. the four lie still in bed. jungkook’s the only one sleeping, but the other three are nearly there themselves.

“hyung,” comes jimin’s soft voice from behind.

yoongi’s so very close to falling asleep, but he forces himself to crack an eye open and make a quiet noise of acknowledgement.

“are we home to you, too?”

yoongi turns around a little, enough to see parts of jimin’s hair, and his nose, enough to see jimin’s mouth and press his lips to it. they kiss slowly—jimin parting his lips for yoongi to slip his tongue inside. his hand lies on jimin’s cheek, smushing his face a little, but jimin doesn’t seem to care much. “yeah. you are.”

“this is our first kiss, hyung. what took you so long?” jimin murmurs against yoongi’s mouth, in between kisses.

yoongi nips at his bottom lip, pulls on it a little and grazes the soft flesh with his teeth. “did i? take too long?” he licks into jimin’s mouth, only to suck on his tongue when jimin pokes it out. “i think this was the perfect time to kiss you, jimin-ah.”

jimin smiles against yoongi’s mouth.

 

seokjin’s very reluctant to join them when they get together to discuss namjoon, taehyung and jimin’s findings. he seems equal parts ashamed and anxious about the whole ordeal, and he spends the first few minutes fidgeting nervously in his seat while hoseok and jimin take turns kissing his knuckles and stroking his hair.

once seokjin’s calmed down enough, namjoon tells them what he’s found. “we can flush it out. it should be… relatively easy, actually.” taehyung and jimin nods enthusiastically.

jungkook sits up as much as he’s able to, but he promptly gasps when the movement makes his leg ache. “and how do we do that?”

yoongi takes jungkook’s hand. he raises his brows to silently ask how he’s doing, at which jungkook nods and shrugs it off.

“yoongi-hyung. we’re… very lucky that he’s a natural spirit dragon and that he’s been working on his fire element. otherwise we would have had to find two different dragons to help us out.”

“what do i have to do?”

“to… put things simply: you have to combine your spirit and fire energy and blast his spiritual system to hell and back. it should kick the void right out.”

“sounds… easy enough. that’s all?”

seokjin seems to agree with yoongi’s skepticism. he, too, is frowning a little, head cocked while he considers their simple solution. “what happens to the void inside of me? couldn’t it harm him?”

yoongi waves it off. “that doesn’t matter. won’t it harm hyung in any way?”

“of course that matters ,” seokjin fires back. “what if it goes right into you? what if you go dormant? you’re the future high priest, we can’t have that!”

yoongi almost wishes seokjin would go back to refusing to talk about all of this. his concern would be touching in any other situation, but all that matters now is seokjin. even if yoongi were to go dormant, he thinks he’d be okay with it if it meant seokjin got his element back.

“i know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop. i won’t have anyone sacrifice themselves for me.”

namjoon sighs heavily. he sits back and watches the two go back and forth for a while, clearly too tired to intervene. the others don’t make any attempts to stop them, either, realising it’s probably better to wait until they get it out of their systems.

“it should be fine,” namjoon finally says. “if hyung uses enough power, it should obliterate the void right away. no one will be harmed. you’ll both be fine.”

both seokjin and yoongi stare at namjoon with narrowed eyes, before they turn to look at each other silently.

“are they communicating right now?” jungkook whispers loudly.

“i think so,” jimin whispers back, even louder.

“okay, we’ll do it,” yoongi and seokjin say at the same exact time. they nod at each other, before turning back to namjoon and giving him a nod, as well.

 

that’s how they all end up down in the valley just outside of the palace gardens. they’ve all come to the conclusion that it’s better to take it outside, in case something bad were to happen, like a huge explosion or, god forbid, the void not being obliterated and attempting to wreak havoc.

“are you sure about this?” seokjin asks. he’s sitting in the center, the rest of them gathered around him and yoongi, all sporting equal faces of concern. theory is one thing, but in practice? when they don’t even know the full ramifications? when their two hyungs are involved?

but there’s not much else they can do. there’s not even an expert they can consult, so they’re on their own, no matter what happens.

yoongi nods curtly. “as sure as i’ll ever be.”

“okay. guys… take a step back. i don’t want anything to happen to you.”

they all do, albeit reluctantly. seokjin and yoongi stare at each other for a while, until seokjin breaks their stare and their silence by grabbing yoongi by the back of his neck and pulling him closer roughly. they share a heated kiss.

“i’m sorry for being mad at you,” seokjin whispers against yoongi’s lips.

yoongi merely shakes his head. “i’m sorry for not listening to you.”

“it’s okay.”

yoongi nods. “yeah. it’s okay.”

they both laugh softly, before sitting up. yoongi places his hand over seokjin’s heart. they take a deep breath at the same time.

seokjin places his hand over yoongi’s again. “okay. whenever you’re ready.”

yoongi doesn’t need to psych himself up to blast seokjin with more power than he should. he’s had an entire sleepless night to get ready for it, even going so far as to practice yielding the two elements at the same time. he can do it. he knows he can, and he knows that they don’t have any other options, so there’s no use worrying over it now.

he lets go of both elements at the same time, injects it straight into seokjin’s heart. the shock of it sends him back into the grass, yoongi toppling over and on top of him. he keeps going despite their fall, feeling seokjin’s body out, while simultaneously feeling his own power course through the both of them.

seokjin squirms under yoongi. it must hurt, all that energy that isn’t his, but he doesn’t say anything and yoongi keeps going, pushing and pushing and pushing his energy into seokjin, until he’s left wondering how seokjin hasn’t exploded yet. he must be bursting at the seams.

he doesn’t have to wonder for very long. he can feel the void, struggling to stay in place, but ultimately succumbing to yoongi’s energy. the void isn’t just kicked right out—yoongi burns straight through it.

once he’s done, seokjin’s fire immediately comes back. it thunders through him, at such an explosive and violent rate that yoongi hardly has time to yell at the others to get away. they take cover as fast as possible, but yoongi still throws up a protective shield.

the entire bubble around the two of them fills with fire, bursting right out of seokjin. yoongi holds onto seokjin for dear life.

 

when yoongi comes to only seconds later, the first thing he notices is the smell of burning. it’s their clothes, he realises, but it might also be the grass all around them. seokjin has scorched everything within their bubble.

“hyungs!” hoseok is the first to approach, dousing the burning grass around them and—

yoongi looks down at their bodies, expecting to see their clothes in smoldering tatters, but he’s instead met with nothing but skin covered in soot.

“hyung,” yoongi complains, “you burned right through my clothes!”

seokjin doesn’t say anything. he stays on his back in whatever is left of the grass. his entire body is shuddering and he looks like he’s having trouble breathing, yet he still manages to choke out a laugh.

jimin snorts, too. “hyung, if you wanted to get him naked, you could have at least waited until we were inside. it’s cold.”

the rest get closer carefully, equal expressions of shock on their faces. it’s hoseok who takes off his coat and drapes it over both yoongi and seokjin, rubbing their backs to generate a minimal amount of heat.

“it’s alright. hyung’s burning up,” yoongi mumbles lamely. “you okay, hyung?” he presses his hand to seokjin’s forehead, to his cheek, down his shoulder and chest. yoongi feels the fire everywhere. it’s still running rampant, but it no longer feels like it’s going to explode out of seokjin.

“i’m… really tired,” seokjin mutters. “could someone help me to bed? i think i’m about to pass out.” he barely finishes his sentence, before, true to his word, he passes out.

between the five of them, they manage to get seokjin onto hoseok’s back, right between his wings. yoongi sits behind him to hold him in place, while the others follow hoseok back to the courtyard.

back in the palace, hoseok continues carrying seokjin on his back. once seokjin’s on the bed and hoseok and jimin have gently washed the soot off his body, they tuck him in.

the six sit on the bed in stunned silence.

“what... happened, hyung? why was there so much fire?” namjoon’s brows knot together in worry.

yoongi lets hoseok and taehyung guide him back against the headboard, lifting his arms and turning his head for jimin to drag a wet cloth over his skin and clean him up, too. “there was a lot of excess energy in his body, it built up because it couldn’t go anywhere. the moment i blew through the void, it exploded. i don’t think hyung could stop it, either. i barely had enough time to throw up a shield. are you all okay?”

jungkook is the one who nods. since he has difficulty moving, still, he can only lean forward a little and pat yoongi’s arm. “you protected us. thank you. you did amazing.”

yoongi hums tiredly. “i think i need some sleep, too. i have no energy left. used it all up…”

the five all agree right away, hoseok and namjoon helping him lie down, while jimin and taehyung help jungkook up and lead him out of the room.

yoongi falls asleep with namjoon sitting next to him, softly stroking his hair.

 

when yoongi wakes up next, seokjin’s still beside him, out like a light. yoongi stays in bed for a while, studying him quietly. he strokes seokjin’s hair and takes a peek inside of him to see how he’s doing. it all looks fine, thankfully: his fire is burning lowly and keeping the rest of his body warm. there’s no trace of the void left inside of him—there’s just the exhaustion and the anxiety left.

after staying with his hyung for some more time, he decides to get up. there’s a set of clothes for him at the foot of the bed which he puts on. he spares seokjin another look, before he leaves the room quietly.

his first idea is to make his way over to his own room, maybe freshen up a bit and try to get some more sleep in his own bed. he doesn’t feel tired, but he knows he need more sleep. he’s used up more energy at once than he has in years. it’s a lot, and his body needs the rest, but yoongi decides he might as well take a detour now that he’s up.

he doesn’t have a clear destination in mind, he just knows he wants to walk for a little. his stroll takes him along the different corridors around the palace, uncaring of where his feet lead him, until he ends up running into namjoon along the way.

namjoon and yoongi greet each other with a tired smile and namjoon asks how yoongi’s doing and yoongi says he’s okay, he’s just tired, and then they’re walking side to side in silence until they eventually reach yoongi’s door.

they don’t part there, namjoon just rubs the small of yoongi’s back and walks in after him, guides him over to the bathroom where he helps yoongi draw a bath and rummages around until he finds some herbs and nice smelling oils to put in the water. yoongi tries to help, but when namjoon shoos him away, he ends up on his knees hanging over the edge of the tub, hands swirling around in the warm water.

“c’mon, hyung,” namjoon murmurs, once he’s done. he hoists yoongi to his feet and helps him out of his clothes.

yoongi blushes faintly through the whole ordeal, especially once he’s fully naked and standing in front of namjoon, who doesn’t at all hide the way he looks him over. there’s something heated in the way he studies every inch of yoongi, yet something soft, as well—namjoon’s little smile is fond and appreciative and nothing short of admiring.

“you’re so very pretty, hyung,” namjoon says softly. “do you want to get in?”

yoongi just nods. he allows namjoon to help him in, relishing in the gentle touches on his skin, the way namjoon’s fingers slip a little lower than what’s considered helpful… namjoon doesn’t take it beyond that, though—he just goes to sit behind yoongi and helps him wash his hair and his back and shoulders, massages whatever parts he can get his hands on, until yoongi is so pliant in his hands that he melts right into every touch of his.

it’s only once namjoon’s stopped actively moving his hands, is just resting them on yoongi’s shoulder and back, that yoongi finds his voice again: “namjoon-ah… can i ask you something?”

“of course.” namjoon shifts on his stool until he’s leaning forward, chin on yoongi’s shoulder. yoongi presses the side of his face against namjoon’s. he considers asking namjoon to join him in the tub, considers what it would feel like to sit nestled between namjoon’s thighs, namjoon’s warm chest supporting his back… the invitation is at the back of throat, but he stows it away for later.

yoongi turns his face to eye namjoon. “you don’t have to answer this if you’re not comfortable, but… what happened between you and hoseok and hyung?”

namjoon’s easy smile, his open face and his calm demeanor, everything about him changes rapidly as soon as yoongi finishes his question. his face falls, a small frown appears and he pulls his shoulders up a little. yoongi catches it all, and he wishes he could take his question back the moment he’s opened his mouth. “forget it. it’s… i shouldn’t have asked.”

for a moment, namjoon looks as though he’s going to nod and ignore yoongi’s question, but then he shakes his head slowly. “no, it’s okay. i guess you have a right to know.”

a right to know? yoongi cocks his head in confusion. “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“we’ve all become so close that it feels weird to keep my history from you, i guess.”

yoongi shakes his head. “you really don’t have to tell me. i shouldn’t have asked,” he says again, but namjoon smiles softly as he places a hand to yoongi’s cheek and presses their foreheads together momentarily.

“we… i met the two of them in the water clan. i was there as an apprentice. d’you know how some of us secondary-element dragons show affinity for the primary elements ours is a product of?”

yoongi nods.

“well… i’m one of them. i showed affinity for both, and since i’m a scholar, they figured it’d benefit both myself and the clan, so they sent me to the earth clan first, and once i completed that apprenticeship i was sent to the water clan.

“hoseok and seokjin-hyung weren’t really a thing back then. they just fooled around a little. since their clans were neighbours, seokjin spent a lot of time at the water clan, so it was easy for them to see each other. and i came along and they took a liking to me, so… we would just make out a little, at first, and then that turned into sleeping together and it was…” namjoon hangs his head, smiling lightly while he thinks back on those days. “... i was young and inexperienced back then, but it was great. we worked well together.”

“what happened?” yoongi slips a hand into namjoon’s hair, massaging his scalp slowly. namjoon’s eyes close and he sighs softly. if he could purr, he would.

“did i ever tell you about my parents?”

“hm?” yoongi frowns at the sudden change of subject.

“my parents aren’t nature dragons. not my—well… i’m adopted. my adoptive parents are nature dragons. my biological ones… are not. i’m the result of a water and an earth dragon mating one evening.”

“oh.” yoongi frowns some more, turning his head enough to look at namjoon in curiosity. “i never knew. how—how come you were… ?”

“adopted?” namjoon turns to look at yoongi. he’s still smiling softly. “my biological father is the water general. my biological mother is the earth princess. my birth would have…” he shakes his head. “it would’ve brought shame to both clans. i was born, they realised i was neither a water nor an earth dragon, so they gave me to the nature clan. i was… and am, still, their dirty little secret. everything was good while i was out of sight, but then the apprenticeships happened, and… they didn’t realise who i was at the earth clan, but the water clan eventually learned of my lineage.

“hoseok’s father didn’t know the three of us were more than friends, or he would’ve… he would’ve forcefully separated us even before finding out about my birth parents, but just the fact that i, a product of two different elements, even spent time with his son? hyung’s father learned, too, and they forced hoseok and seokjin-hyung to stay away from me.

“they did as they were told, and i didn’t understand at the time. i felt so betrayed and angry and… unloved. it kind of… it kind of fucked me up a little, at the time.”

“joon-ah…” yoongi turns around as much as he’s able to now, grabbing hold of namjoon’s face. “i’m so sorry. that must’ve been incredibly hard.”

namjoon nods slowly. “a little.”

“did the earth clan realise eventually?”

“yeah.” namjoon laughs softly now. “remember that banquet where there was a brawl between some of the water and earth youths? that was about me.”

yoongi snorts. he doesn’t mean to, but he can’t help it.

“what?” but namjoon is smiling, too.

“just—it’s a small world. jimin and taehyung met jungkook there.”

“oh. a small world, indeed.” namjoon’s still smiling, which yoongi takes as a good sign. it means yoongi hadn’t unwittingly reopened old wounds of his.

“and what about your birth parents? have you ever spoken to them? do they know you?”

“ah.” namjoon pulls a face. he doesn’t look necessarily pained, but his facial expression is enough of an indicator for yoongi. “no. i think they might have seen me once or twice? maybe they haven’t? i don’t… know. i haven’t ever spoken to them, at least.”

“would you want to?”

namjoon cocks his head. he sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling on it while he thinks. it comes back red and swollen and yoongi nearly chides him for it. “yes? and no? it’s...” he hums while he thinks some more. “i wouldn’t trade my parents for the world, don’t get me wrong. i’ve been extremely lucky to be adopted by them, but sometimes it still feels like i’m bitter over it. as a teen i would dream of talking to them, my birth parents, one day and showing them how great i was doing, so that they’d realise what they were missing out on, and so that they would know i didn’t need them, you know? and even back then i never… wanted to trade them in for my parents. it wasn’t ever about that. it was just that i wanted to show them look what a great person you abandoned. it just always felt like i had to prove myself to them? and for what?” namjoon shakes his head while he snorts softly.

“and now? what would you want to say to them now?”

again, namjoon takes some time to think. yoongi takes that opportunity to fully turn his body around, leaning his forearms on the edge of the tub. he lays his cheek to rest on his arm as he watches namjoon from under his lashes.

“nothing.” namjoon shakes his head, purses his lips. “maybe, if i ever got the chance, i would just end up screaming, but… there’s nothing. they’re not worth my anger now, or my time, really. maybe i would…” he shuts up, smiling softly to himself.

“what?” yoongi presses. “what are you smiling about?”

“maybe if i were strong enough, i’d thank them. if they hadn’t made me, i would’ve never met you, or the others. i would’ve never met my parents… they didn’t give me a whole lot, but they did give me my life, and that’s something.”

yoongi smiles, too. he lifts his head from his arms, reaching out for namjoon’s cheek again. “namjoonie…”

“hyung?”

“do you want to join me in the tub? there’s plenty of room...”

when namjoon smiles playfully and gestures down at his own body, yoongi gets the hint immediately. he carefully gets to his feet, taking care not to slip, and undresses namjoon as slowly as possible. he takes the opportunity to slip his hands down the boy’s chest, to feel the soft skin underneath his fingertips… his hands linger every now and then, but namjoon doesn’t seem to mind particularly.

“sit behind me?” yoongi suggests, once he’s done. he waits for the nature dragon to smirk lightly and do as asked, enjoying the hands on his waist when namjoon tugs him down.

finally, yoongi feels what it’s like to sit between namjoon’s legs, back to chest: it’s even better than he’d imagined, especially when namjoon wraps his arms around yoongi’s waist. yoongi melts into him completely.

“hyung…” namjoon whispers. he unwraps one arm to take yoongi’s chin between his fingers. after turning yoongi’s head, he latches onto his mouth, kissing lazily and yet deeply, until all yoongi tastes on his tongue is namjoon, just namjoon.

“yeah, i do think i should thank them for giving me up,” murmurs namjoon after a while. his voice sounds a little rougher, sending shivers down yoongi’s spine. “because i wouldn’t give this up for the world.”

 

it takes a few days for yoongi’s full strength to come back to him. he feels exhausted, still, his mind and body heavy after what’s happened, but the others—except for jungkook and seokjin, who are both still healing, as well, and therefore unable to be of much help—fuss over him the entire time. it feels so nice to have people care for him not because they have to, but because they want to.

it makes yoongi feel loved.

once he recovers enough that he’s able to start his studies again, he gives that same amount of love to jungkook and seokjin, as much as he’s able to, anyway. he visits them multiple times a day, sitting with them to talk or to offer them some company.

with jungkook, he practices electricity a little, but they mostly just talk a lot—about jungkook’s life, where he grew up and his friends and family, how he got to where he is, what drives him, his relationship with his clan and, particularly, with his clan leader. they talk about taehyung and jimin, and jungkook does so with a fond smile and words full of love and praise, except when it’s time to talk about their differences. jungkook explains he doesn’t much care about their difference in status, because jimin and taehyung don’t care about it either and they’ve talked about it extensively over the years, but the fact that they’re from different clans seems a little harder for him to talk about.

“you have to understand, i don’t care about the purity of blood lines and i don’t understand why inter-elemental relationships are such taboo, but it’s still difficult, you know? even within my own clan, where they’re generally pretty open… where the focus is not on the great clan this , the great clan that, where we don’t… we’re not taught to hate the other clans or to think of them as lesser than us… but even in my clan, a relationship with a dragon from a different clan? is unthinkable. it’s something i can’t share. my parents know, and i think the clan leader suspects, but my friends from back home? my fellow soldiers? they would shun me if they knew. and it sucks, because it means i can never show them off, i can never be myself with them in public. but they can. the hyungs can hold hands and hug and kiss and no one would bat an eye. it’s been years, and i’ve gotten better at it and i’ve accepted it, but sometimes it still hurts.”

they talk about hoseok and seokjin, they talk about namjoon. jungkook blushes while he does so and he admits, in a very quiet voice, that he never really thought he’d end up feeling the way he does for jimin and taehyung for others. he didn’t think he could open up his heart any further, but...

yoongi doesn’t bring himself up, but jungkook does. he smiles very sweetly as he takes yoongi’s hand and kisses his knuckles, asking if hyung likes him a little, as well.

“just a little,” yoongi replies, smiling as softly as jungkook, since they both know that a little can sometimes mean a lot and sometimes that can go without saying.

with seokjin it’s a little different. seokjin’s energy is slowly getting back up, his fire returning to its normal state, but losing it temporarily is something he can’t get over very quickly. he seems scared, especially now that he knows what it’s like to lose it.

seokjin seems a little apprehensive of the world outside of his room, or outside of the palace, and yoongi understands. he realises seokjin’s going to need a lot of time to get back to the way he was, if he ever does make his way back there. it sucks that there’s not much yoongi can do but hold his hand and stroke his hair and offer him a listening ear.

seokjin doesn’t always want that. sometimes he wants silence, or just for yoongi to kiss him. sometimes they just sleep together, and yoongi understands that seokjin wants that for multiple reasons: he wants to sleep with yoongi because he wants yoongi, wants to be with yoongi, but it’s also because he likes the type of vulnerability it offers him.

seokjin and yoongi grow closer that way, even if it’s mostly unspoken and a lot of it is physical, but hoseok’s there as well, a lot of the time, and he helps yoongi understand the relationship between hoseok and seokjin, as well as their relationship with yoongi and the others.

it’s a very strange period of time for yoongi, because it feels like a lot is being said and a lot of growing is being done, individually and as a group, in pairs and in threesomes and in every which way imaginable, but at the same time… not a lot is said. nothing in concrete, anyway. it’s all just… vague, like they’re all kind of scared to take it further than the confessions and the what-ifs and the casual encounters that aren’t at all casual.

 

“yoongi-yah,” comes seokjin’s sleepy voice from behind. he’s been tracing yoongi’s back, studying yoongi’s marks. “when did you activate your fire mark?”

“i never said?” yoongi doesn’t turn around, he just reaches behind him awkwardly until he finds seokjin’s hand. “it was you. helping you activated my mark.”

“oh.” seokjin circles his arms around yoongi, pulling him closer. “it looks really nice, with your other activated ones, and even the few dormant ones left.”

“yeah. i like it, too.” yoongi smiles.

“feels a little like i put it there,” seokjin mutters. “like i marked you.”

“do you like that?”

“i do. i like it a lot.”

yoongi awkwardly moves his hand up until he can slip his fingers in seokjin’s hair, where he lets them rest.

“yoongi-yah,” seokjin says again.

“hm?”

“thank you for never giving up on me. thank you for helping me.”

“i’d do it all over again.”

 

on the very rare days that the high priest has the strength to get out of bed, yoongi spends time with him. they’re done with their lessons, metal had been very easy to pick up for yoongi—so easy he managed with a lot of solo practice—so now there’s not much left for them to do but talk.

they talk a lot. they talk about yoongi’s future and what’s waiting for him upon the high priest’s death. the high priest is very calm when they bring up his imminent death. he seems to have made peace with it quite easily. yoongi asks after it, and the old man simply tells him that it’s time for him to go, that he’s lived long enough and that he’s tired and has seen and done everything.

they talk about yoongi’s marks on his back. they discuss the void, and the reason behind yoongi’s void mark. for the first time, yoongi admits that the mark scares him. it’s partly the fact that he doesn’t know what it means, but it’s largely due to the fact that he’s now seen firsthand how vicious the void truly is: his brother, the high priest, seokjin. he doesn’t mention the countless upon countless of dragons who have fallen to the void, too, but they’re implied.

so why is the void on his back? is he meant to master it? is the void going to take him over eventually? what does it want with them? why did it come back around the time of his birth? more importantly: why had it seemed to target both seokjin and jungkook?

“perhaps the void doesn’t want anything with you. have you ever considered that the void didn’t put that mark there?”

“then who or what did?”

the high priest shrugs. “who put the other marks on your back? why do you and i have marks belonging to different clans? why does your nature dragon, sweet, sweet namjoon, have water and earth marks alongside his nature one?”

“but namjoon’s marks come fr—” yoongi shuts up, before he reveals namjoon’s secret so carelessly.

“that’s right,” the older man agrees with a slow nod. “he got those from his parents. but he’s a nature dragon. he belongs to the nature clan. why would some secondary-elemental dragons get extra marks, while others don’t? who decides which marks we get on our back?”

yoongi looks at the high priest now, a slight frown on his face. “you don’t know?”

“no. do you?”

yoongi shakes his head.

“well, then. i guess no one knows.”

there’s silence for some time. yoongi and the high priest sit side by side, each stuck inside their own minds a little.

“speaking of your namjoon.”

yoongi has half a mind to ask him why he’s put it like that, why he thinks namjoon’s is yoongi’s, but he doesn’t, because he has no idea what answer he’ll get.

“he let me borrow a book of his. it’s a very interesting read. if you promise not to tell anyone about the existence of the book, i’ll give it to you. i’m sure he won’t mind. i think he meant for it to end up in your hands, anyway.”

“why… should i not tell anyone about the book?”

a small smile. “its subject is quite sensitive.”

“oh.” yoongi has no idea what that means. it could mean anything, really, especially coming from the high priest, whose questionable morals have always kind of baffled yoongi.

“walk me back to my study? i’ll give you the book, then. it’s on my desk.”

yoongi agrees with a nod. he holds his arm out for the high priest, who takes it and gets to his feet slowly. just standing up seems to be a whole feat, and walking is even more difficult, but yoongi walks slowly enough and they reach the study eventually.

“where did i leave the damn book...” the high priest mutters to himself, looking over his desk with a sigh. it’s covered in stacks of papers and towers of books swaying dangerously, seconds away from collapsing. yoongi’s always been familiar with the disarray of the study, it’s always been a little of an explosion, but it seems worse now than ever. still, it doesn’t faze him. he’s come to expect it.

after some searching, the high priest does find the book. he pulls it out from under a stack with a triumphant sound, holding it up with a grin. “there it is!”

yoongi looks at the title without saying a word. a history of dragons , it’s called, which is innocent enough. it’s the subtitle he doesn’t know what to do with: a look into its early polygamous and cross-elemental practices.

for the first time, yoongi wonders just how much the high priest knows. yoongi knows he’s always known a lot, because he’s shrewd and extremely fond of gossip, but yoongi hasn’t realised his ill state hasn’t done anything to put a stop that. his little birds had never stopped singing to him.

he probably knew everything.

“i don’t—” yoongi begins, starting to shake his head, despite the fact that he doesn’t know what to say.

“i’m not here to judge you, sweet boy. on the contrary, i’m hoping this book might help you come to terms with whatever it is that you’re feeling.”

“but i’m not—”

the high priest shuts him up with a mere raise of his brow. he gestures for yoongi to sit and sits down himself. “whatever you decide to do, i support your decision. i hope you choose what makes you happy, though.”

“i don’t understand…” yoongi finally says.

“namjoon and i have a lot in common,” is all he says, but yoongi understands what he’s not saying.

“oh.”

“read the book, my boy. it might offer you some clarity.”

yoongi nods slowly. he gets up, clutching the book to his chest as he looks at the high priest with an unreadable expression.

“yoongi-yah,” the high priest calls, before yoongi can leave the room.

“yes?”

“i fear i might not have many days of clarity left myself. i… wanted to say that i’m very proud of all that you’ve accomplished so far. we’ve not always seen eye to eye, but i have no doubt you’ll make a greater high priest than i have ever been. don’t let your status come in the way of your happiness, though. no matter how much the clans pull on you, no matter how much they judge and try to influence you… you’re in charge of your own life. never forget that. you’ll be the highest authority in a matter of days, and you should never forget that. your words will be law, and while you must never abuse that, you’d do well to remember it.”

“i… won’t,” yoongi says softly. he shuffles back over, kneels at the high priest’s side. he takes one of his hands, trying very hard not to focus on how pale he’s gotten, on the black spots that are blooming up under his skin. the void is taking him over rapidly—his scales are starting to turn black, too. “thank you for looking after me all this time.”

a thin hand covers yoongi’s. more black spots. “it’s been my pleasure. thank you, my boy.”

 

yoongi cries on his way back to his room. for once, he’s glad that he doesn’t run into the others. he’s not yet grieving, it feels weird to do so in this situation, but he’s close, and he doesn’t want anyone around him for this.

what he does, instead of searching for the others, is open the book he was given. it almost feels like a final gift to yoongi, even if he’s just borrowing it.

upon opening it, he’s greeted with a red scrawl across the inside of the cover informing of the illicit nature of the book. it’s been written off by whichever clan namjoon got this from.

how did he get this, anyway?

alongside the red letters, there’s also namjoon’s neat handwriting. yoongi flips through the book once, realising namjoon hadn’t just written on the first page—he’d added notes all throughout.

for a moment, yoongi just stares at namjoon’s first notes, smiling softly as he traces a finger over the letters. he wonders what namjoon has to say, which is why he flips to the next page and begins reading.

he reads and he reads and he reads. there’s knocking on his door every few hours or so, but yoongi ignores the noise in favour of reading.

he learns some interesting stuff—mainly about how, not even that long ago, polygamy and inter-elemental relationships were celebrated and encouraged, even. it was believed it strengthened the dragon community, creating even stronger dragons with an improved grasp on their element.

it touches briefly on how this practice is the sole reason there are as many clans as there are today, how none of the secondary clans would have come to be, had it not been for the mating between different elements.

aside from that, a point the book keeps coming back to is that it wasn’t just encouraged to create stronger dragons, and this is the part namjoon’s underlined heavily: it was an attempt to bring all the clans together, too, and to promote the right to love freely.

it’s a short book, so yoongi finishes it in one sitting. once he’s done, he keeps it open on his lap, on the last page, so full of namjoon’s scribbles that yoongi can’t make out much, other than this: seokjinyoongihoseokjimintaehyungjungkook.

yoongi stares at it for a while, before he gets up and goes in search of a pen. he adds namjoon’s name to the end and sits down once more, staring at the seven names until his vision’s gone blurry and the whole page turns into a giant black blob.

 

the book helps, but yoongi doesn’t go to namjoon or the others immediately. he takes the rest of the day to ponder on it, and the first half of the next day, too, until jimin and taehyung unexpectedly barge into his room with a letter from his brother, telling him they’re coming with him.

“where—where are we going?” yoongi asks, taking the letter from taehyung and peering down at it suspiciously.

“we didn’t mean to read it,” taehyung clarifies, smiling ever so innocently and sweetly, before grabbing yoongi’s hand and swaying it to and fro gently. “but we’re accompanying you, just so you know.”

yoongi reads the letter. it’s his brother, writing to him to let him know that it’s safe to visit now. he doesn’t explain how or why now, when he’s been advised against going to him before, but yoongi doesn’t really care to know about that, really. all that matters is that he can go see his brother now.

“okay. how soon can we leave?” yoongi asks, as he’s getting up and heading over to his balcony, having a half a mind to jump off it and fly off straight away.

“now,” jimin shrugs. “last off the balcony is a loser!” he declares, while he barrels past yoongi, throws open the double doors and climbs onto the railing. he flings himself off with little care for his own safety, but yoongi’s not worried—they’re dragons, after all.

a pretty laugh bubbles up out of taehyung, grabbing yoongi’s hand and pulling him along. they jump off the balcony at the same time. it’s a little tricky not to transform in such a way that they smack each other with their wings, but they’re both skillful enough to avoid the collision

 

“little brother.”

his brother’s in bed. he’s pale and he’s got the same black spots all over that yoongi saw on the high priest. some of the scales on his face and hands have gone from their normal white to a dark grey. it’s a little jarring.

yoongi stays hovering just inside of the room, taehyung and jimin behind him and squeezing his shoulder and fingers to give him whatever courage he needs. he’s not sure if he’s allowed to approach his brother, let alone touch him. he’d gone straight to his brother, not stopping long enough to seek out anyone for information.

“hyung...” yoongi worries his lip between his teeth.

“it’s okay. you can come closer if you want. i don’t bite, and it’s safe to touch.” his brother holds up an arm, gesturing at him with a kind and careful smile.

yoongi rushes over in an instant, perching on the bed and throwing his arms over his brother’s shoulders.

“oh!” his brother laughs, rubbing his back slowly. “easy. i’m here. i’m not going anywhere.”

“you’re okay?” when yoongi pulls back, it’s only to take his brother’s face between his hand and turn it side to side slowly, inspecting every inch of him.

his brother gives up on trying to free his face after a few failed attempts at pulling himself free. “i’ve been better, but i can’t complain.”

“your scales…” yoongi lets go of his hyung’s face now to take one of his hands instead. he looks at the scales that have changed, wondering how much it took for the colour to shift. “the void?”

his hyung just nods. “it’s alright. they were black before. they’re turning back to white slowly. not before long i’ll be as handsome as ever, don’t you worry.”

yoongi fusses over him some more, until he hears some shuffling behind him and realises taehyung and jimin are still by the door. he looks up slowly, turning to gaze over his shoulder. “oh. taehyung-ah, jimin-ah, come meet my hyung.”

jimin and taehyung approach cautiously. it’s most likely not the fact that they’re afraid of the infection, or of getting sick, it’s just that his brother is… his brother. to yoongi he’s just hyung, but to others he’s a powerful clan leader with a stern face and an ever stricter sounding voice.

“hyung, these are taehyung and jimin. they’re my ice masters.”

“oh.” his brother sits up a little, offering them each a vague inclination of his head as a greeting. “yoongi has told me all about his great teachers. i’m grateful you’re taking such good care of him.”

jimin smiles shyly, while taehyung looks a little proud. they hang back a little, holding hands timidly, until yoongi leans forward and off the bed to grasp one of them by the wrist and pull them closer. “hyung, can i tell you something?”

“what is it?”

it’s like taehyung and jimin know what he’s about to say, even if yoongi himself isn’t even sure of his words yet, not sure of what he’s actually about to say, but he kind of makes up his mind on the spot. it made sense for his hyung to be the first one to tell after reading the book. it felt… like practice, for the real thing yet to come, the harder thing—actually sitting all the boys down and telling them outright.

yoongi’s very thankful for the way taehyung steps forward to rest his hand on yoongi’s shoulder. a silent i’m here, i’ve got your back . he looks over his shoulder to find jimin smiling at him, and he thinks that pretty smile is trying to convey the same message taehyung’s hand had: whatever happens, you still have us.

“i… like them.”

there’s some silence, it’s a bit tense on yoongi’s end, but it seems mosty confused on his brother’s end, who ends up cocking his head and frowning at yoongi. “like who?”

before yoongi can answer, his hyung’s eyes travel up from yoongi’s face, up taehyung’s arm… he looks between taehyung and jimin, sparing them each a few seconds of intense scrutiny.

“oh.”

silence reigns once more, and it’s somehow even tenser than before. yoongi doesn’t know what that oh means. had it been a good oh ? or a bad oh? it’s all made very difficult by the fact that his brother’s facial expression is practically unreadable.

“and… do they like you back?” he’s asking yoongi, but he’s looking at the two ice dragons, brows raised almost skeptically, to the point where taehyung’s first instinct is to get defensive and jimin nearly starts pouting.

“yes. as far as i know, they do.” yoongi doesn’t look over his shoulder now to confirm, but then he doesn’t really need that confirmation. he feels secure enough not to doubt them.

“we do,” taehyung says hastily. his tone still sounds a little defensive, but yoongi can tell he’s trying to sound as calm as possible. it wouldn’t be wise to disrespect the brother of the man you liked, after all.

yoongi’s brother nods now. he’s rubbing his chin in thought, and yoongi still can’t tell what he’s thinking. it’s making him a little anxious, not knowing what’s waiting for him.

“could you leave us for a bit? i’d like to talk to my little brother in private.” the spirit leader offers both taehyung and jimin a polite smile. he doesn’t say anything until the two have quietly shut the door behind them.

“hyung… ?”

“yoongi-yah, you really like them?”

for a moment, yoongi considers shaking his head and telling him it was all just a stupid prank, that he doesn’t like them and that there’s nothing to worry about, but… “i do.”

“and they make you happy? and they take care of you?”

yoongi nods very slowly and very cautiously.

“okay, then. that’s good enough.” it’s just one nod, his brother is pushing his lips together in a straight line, almost like he’s angry, but he doesn’t seem very angry. he just seems… worried.

“it’s… not… that’s not the only thing, though. there’s more,” yoongi admits. secretly, he’s kind of glad taehyung and jimin aren’t here for this. he wants to tell them at the same time that he tells the others. “they’re not the only ones i like.”

yoongi’s brother just frowns now. his brows have risen so high that they’re dangerously close to disappearing into his hairline, but he doesn’t say anything, waiting for yoongi to go on.

“the others who are teaching me right now. it’s all of them. not just taehyung and jimin. it’s all six. i like all six, and i think the feeling is mutual.” yoongi looks down into his lap. he can’t look up at his brother right now, doesn’t want to see the inevitable horror he’ll find. it’s one thing to like two different people of a clan that isn’t your own, but liking six? of different clans? it isn’t just taboo, it’s unthinkable.

“that’s… a lot of people,” his brother says lamely, before he snorts rather awkwardly and reaches for yoongi’s chin to lift his head. “it sounds… tough. that’s a lot of people to like at the same time, you know?”

yoongi nods slowly. he knows. oh, he knows. “but it’s… not as tough at it sounds, hyung.” he bites his lip now, his nerves getting the best of him. “it’s quite easy to like them. they’re all amazing dragons in their own right and i feel really comfortable around them.”

“and they’re not just… friends? you like them romantically?”

yoongi can tell his hyung is having a hard time wrapping his head around what yoongi’s just told him, but he can see that he’s trying, and that already means so much. it’s more than he could have ever hoped for.

“yes. i like them romantically. i’m pretty sure they all feel the same way about each other, too. and about me.”

“oh.”

more silence. a thick silence that makes yoongi want to squirm with how uncomfortable it makes him feel.

“hyung,” prompts yoongi softly, “will you please say something?”

“hm? oh. right, yeah, i… i… yoongi-yah, this is a lot to process.”

yoongi hangs his head again.

“but i… support you. even if i don’t necessarily understand it now, i support you, so long as you’re happy. are you? happy?”

“i think so.” yoongi gazes at his brother, a look of sincerity on his face. “they make me happy.”

“then that’s all that matters.”

 

yoongi stays with his brother for a few hours. they walk around for some time, yoongi offering his brother an arm despite his hyung’s protests that he doesn’t need any help.

taehyung and jimin join them, walking behind the two brothers with a cute sort of shyness while yoongi gives them a little bit of a tour of his clan.

his brother stays silent for most of the walk, but he chimes in every now and then to supply them with more information and ends up asking them the odd question once they sit down for some time.

yoongi realises pretty quickly that he’s trying to make an effort to get to know them for yoongi’s  sake and he has to discreetly turn his head to the side and blink his tears away. it’s a nice feeling, for his brother to keep an open mind and heart for him.

when they do leave and his brother says goodbye to both taehyung and jimin, before the two step away a little and offer them some privacy, yoongi holds his brother’s hands tightly. there are more tears, but he doesn’t try to hide them this time. “thank you, hyung.”

but his brother just shakes his head and smiles softly. “visit me more often, little brother. maybe introduce me to the others, if you’re up for it. hm?”

“okay. i will.” yoongi cries a little more and his brother just wipes his tears away and rubs his back while he holds him, until yoongi pulls away shakily and says that it’s probably time to go.

his brother watches them leave, until they’re just three, tiny dots on the horizon.

 

he waits until the next day to grab the book and return it to namjoon. yoongi expects to just find namjoon in the library, but he’s surprised to find them all there, lounging in front of the fireplace.

seokjin’s spread out on the couch with hoseok between his legs, a hand in jungkook’s hair, who is sat on the floor with his back against the couch. jimin and taehyung are on the carpet, on their bellies with their feet in the air, lying opposite of each other as they’re playing a card game.

namjoon’s the only one sat at a table, a wall of books in front and to the side of him. his glasses are slipping off his nose, but he doesn’t seem to have noticed—tongue poking out of his mouth as he’s furiously scribbling on a dirty parchment.

as the door falls shut behind yoongi, everyone looks up. six sweet smiles greet him, some more distracted or sleepy than others.

“hyung!” jungkook doesn’t get up, but he does wave yoongi over. “we weren’t hiding from you, you know? we just didn’t know where you were. but here you are! come sit with me?” he pats the empty spot on the floor next to him now, beaming at him.

“what’s that book, hyung?” jimin asks lazily, rolling onto his back in order to look at yoongi.

yoongi looks down at the book he’s holding, like he’s forgotten he’s been holding it in the first place. “i was… handed… this book by the high priest.” he moves his arms down a little so that the others can read the letters on the cover. he finds namjoon’s gaze on him and offers him a careful smile. “namjoon-ah, he gave me the book. i hope you don’t mind that i read it?”

namjoon’s quick to shake his head. he gets up quickly, although he stays rooted in place. “no. i meant for you to read it. i was hoping he’d pass it along to you, actually.” he hangs his head shyly. “what… did you think of it?”

“it was…” yoongi walks over to them. he hands the book to jimin, making grabby hands at it, and goes to sit next to jungkook. “it was interesting.”

“how do you… feel about the ideas that the book was trying to explore?” namjoon goes to sit down, but then he changes his mind and stands up once more. he paces a little, until he eventually ends up sitting cross-legged next to taehyung.

“there was—there was one part i really liked.”

namjoon leans forward a little, waiting eagerly for yoongi to continue.

“the part about loving freely.” yoongi’s gaze travels down to look at jungkook’s hand on his thigh, jungkook’s slender fingers rubbing circles into his skin. he rests his hand on top of jungkook’s, who swiftly turns his hand palm faced up and laces their fingers together. “i liked that part a lot.”

“so did i,” namjoon tells them. “hyung, we wanted to talk to you about something. we’ve been trying to find the right moment to tell you, but i think… i think now’s a pretty good time.”

yoongi looks around the room. jimin and taehyung have sat up a little straighter, jimin still holding onto the book, although he’s not even looking at it. jungkook’s squeezing his hand nervously and seokjin and hoseok behind him have sat up, too. suddenly, every face in the room has taken on a serious expression, which in turn makes yoongi a little nervous.

he doesn’t expect them to say anything bad, he knows they’re about to breach the subject everyone’s been tip-toeing around, but still. it’s a lot.

it’s seokjin who ends up speaking, instead of namjoon—who seems not to know what to say, for once. “we all lead pretty different lives, we all have… you know, different circumstances. some of us have more freedom than others, and you are probably the one with the least freedom, so… the, it’s… well, we want to give you the final say on this, i guess. we all… know what we want, but we’re not sure what you want.”

more talking around it. seokjin’s saying a lot of words, without actually saying anything, and yet yoongi still understands what he’s getting at. it doesn’t come as a surprise when seokjin finally finds the courage.

“we know you’re in the public eye the most, especially once… once you ascend, so this is a difficult thing to ask, and we’d understand if you can’t or simply don’t want to, but we wanted to ask if you would want to be… if you’d like to…” seokjin huffs in frustration, unable to find the right words.

yoongi smiles softly. maybe seokjin hasn’t found the courage yet, after all.

“d’you wanna date us, hyung?” jungkook asks simply. “like, a relationship, between the seven of us. something official. would you… be interested in that?”

despite the fact that yoongi has yet to answer, an immediate feeling of relief washes over the room.

yoongi opens his mouth, ready to easily say yes, that he’d love nothing more, but a door is thrown open. an advisor rushes into the room. he looks around in sheer panic, until he spots yoongi and gestures for him to come. “spirit prince, it’s the high priest. you must hurry.”

before yoongi can answer, he’s being pulled to his feet and forced out of the room, an insistent tugging on his wrist that puts more and more space between yoongi and the other six, who are still waiting for his answer.

yoongi manages to free his wrist just outside of the library, mumbling that he’s forgotten something and they he’ll be over immediately. the advisor gives him a look, but he speeds off and leaves yoongi to it.

“yes,” yoongi says, sticking only his head inside. six heads on shoulders sagging in disappointment perk up to look at him. “i’m interested in a relationship between all of us. i’d really like that.” he stays long enough to see them smile, but then he quickly leaves and speeds over the high priest’s room.

 

there are a bunch of advisors standing around the bed when sneaks in. some look up distractedly when he comes in, but others completely ignore him, as they’ve always done.

“what’s going on?” he asks softly. “what’s wrong?”

one of the advisors, a fire dragon who has always treated yoongi with kindness, pats his shoulder and offers him a tired smile. “he asked after you. he doesn’t have long.”

before yoongi or any of the advisors can say anything, the high priest shifts slowly in bed. he points one shaking finger toward the door. “all of you, except the young master, out.”

there are some protests, but the man simply waves his hand and dismisses their cries easily. “thank you for your service. that will be all, thank you.”

yoongi waits awkwardly until they all leave, before he sits down on the edge of the bed slowly.

“i know, i know… i said i wouldn’t bother you anymore and just die.”

yoongi opens his mouth to protest, but the high priest simply waves his hand and shuts him up right away.

“but i’d hate to die before finding out whether the book was of help. was it?”

“it—” yoongi shakes his head, trying to set aside the fact that he’s sitting at his mentor’s death bed, that he’s supposed to be saying goodbye, but instead they’re talking about a book. what book? “what?”

the high priest sighs loudly.

namjoonie’s book. he wants to know if yoongi’s worked through his feelings. “oh. the book. yeah. yeah… it—we’re… i think? that, well… they asked if i’d be interested in a relationship. i said yes. just now.”

the high priest sinks into his pillows a little more upon hearing that. he smiles, but the exhaustion is very apparent.

“i told my brother. he didn’t fully understand, but i think he wants to try for me.”

“i’m really glad to hear that, dear boy.” the high priest searches for yoongi’s hand, who offers it to him quickly. “do you remember what you called me when you came here for the first time as a little boy?”

“i don’t—” yoongi begins shaking his head. the memory comes to him before he can finish his sentence. “mister priest, right?”

the high priest nods. “mister priest is very tired, yoongi. look after the palace for me?”

“i will.”

“go now. i’d like to die alone.”

yoongi gets up without another word. he takes a few steps back from the bed, before he bows deeply and silently leaves the room.

 

there’s a crowd outside of the room. a congregation of advisors and medics, every last one of them with worried frowns on their faces. a few of them move to enter the room, but yoongi stops them with a shake of his head. “he wants to be alone.”

no one argues with yoongi, not when he leans his back against the door, nor when he waits around for a few minutes, before he pushes off and turns his back to them to leave.

they all know why he’s going. he’s a spirit dragon, after all. he’s felt the priest pass away.

what yoongi doesn’t expect is for one of them to call to him. he turns back around, only to find everyone on their knees, hands and foreheads to the ground. they’re all bowing to him. yoongi doesn’t know what to do with it, so he just rubs the back of his neck and tells them to get up.

“what now?” yoongi asks no one in particular. he already knows the answer.

“now you ascend, spirit prince.” it’s the fire dragon again. when he speaks to yoongi this time, he keeps his eyes lowered on the ground.

no one looks at him—out of respect, or because it’s customary, yoongi doesn’t know. the only thing he knows is that his world has just turned upside down.

 

yoongi doesn’t get to talk to or even see the others. he’s whisked away immediately, to be bathed and clothed and to be made aware of what he’s supposed to do at the funeral and his ascension right after.

all yoongi wants to do is break down in any of their arms, really. he wants to mourn the loss of his mentor and he wants to worry freely over what’s to come, but they don’t allow him any of that. there’s no time, and he’s not allowed any visitors—it wouldn’t be proper.

so yoongi lets all the servants and advisors tug on him from all sides, feeling himself go number and number with each hand they lay on his skin, until nearly every part of him has been inspected and pinched and scrubbed… until he can recite every miniscule detail of the ceremonies that are to come.

all he can think about is this: seokjinyoongihoseokjimintaehyungjungkook + namjoon. all he can do is yearn and try not to cry and hope everything passes quickly.

he only catches a glimpse of them again three days later. it’s at the funeral. they’re all gathered at a river—yoongi and all the royals and most important dragons in the community and… and them. seokjin and hoseok and namjoon and jimin and taehyung and jungkook.

yoongi doesn’t get to talk to them, but he manages to sneak a glance over his shoulder, and there they are, standing in a neat little row. he wonders vaguely why they’re all standing together, and why jungkook, a mere soldier, is there. is it because they’re his teachers?

if he weren’t so focused on the six, he’d realise his air and earth masters are there, as well, but he doesn’t see them, because they mean nothing to him. no one at the ceremony, except for his brother and his six dragons, matter much to him at all.

they blow the horn and yoongi’s forced to look back up to the front. a select few of the metal clan push the boat carrying the high priest’s body off the shore. yoongi stands there in his white robes, on his own, scrubbed so clean his skin feels raw, and watches the boat drift off.

once it’s nearing the middle of the broad river they’re all facing, yoongi flies up. he sets the boat aflame with one single burst of fire. he doesn’t go back down immediately—he stays hovering in the air, watching the boat get tugged along the current. the flames dance angrily, but there’s something beautiful about the way they eat at everything, too, until there’s not much left at all.

no one moves an inch until the boat’s no longer in sight. 

 

the ceremony happens only hours later. yoongi’s in the middle of a giant circle of stone, surrounded by nine pillars that rise from the very edge of the circle. he’s there on his own, there’s no one to hold his hand or offer him a reassuring smile—it’s just him, in more lavish robes now. his clothes are still white, but there are nine marks running down both arms in their respective colours now, one for each element. the same marks run down his back: a replica of the ones on his skin, except not all of the marks on his skin are as brightly coloured as the ones on his robe.

they’ve drawn on him, too: ten drawings on his fingers, for each of the elements, and a black one representing the void. the other clans have noticed the presence of the void on his hand, he sees it in the way they whisper and stare almost disapprovingly. he nearly covers his hand out of instinct, but, in the end, he leaves the mark of the void uncovered for everyone to see.

they’ll talk about him regardless, and he can’t ignore the void on his back forever.

there’s another addition to his body that hadn’t been there at the funeral: a small crown, barely more than a silver thread meant to look like thorny stems, wrapped around three times to sit snugly on his hair, with ten empty beads to be filled up.

yoongi doesn’t know why there are ten. there are only supposed to be nine, one belonging to each clan, but his crown is supposed to have as many beads as he does markings on his back.

does that mean the void is supposed to fill one of the beads?

just outside of the circle are the attendees from the funeral. each clan stands at the pillar that corresponds to their element. all he sees is the sea of faces, each more vague than the next. he looks around until he finds familiar ones, smiling at him in an attempt to ease his nerves.

seokjin’s smile helps, and so does his brother’s, and jimin’s. it takes him a while longer to spot the others, but he eventually finds all of them in the crowd. while they can’t hold him, their presence is already more comfort than he’s received in days.

before he can get too comfortable, the ceremony begins. one dragon speaks, addressing the crowd—but not yoongi—before opening up a book that’s being handed to him by two servants and reading from it. it’s not a language yoongi, or anyone there, understands. he doubts there’s a dragon alive capable of understanding the ancient language, but none of that matters. it’s not about understanding, it’s about completing the age-old ceremony. it’s just about the ritual, nothing more.

once the dragon stops reading, it’s yoongi’s turn. he turns toward the first pillar, the fire one, and holds out a hand to it. after a ball of fire appears at the top of the pillar, pulsing as though it has a mind of its own, the fire clan leader steps into the circle. he touches two fingers, his pointer and middle finger, to the bead resting on yoongi’s forehead.

“i offer you fire,” the fire leader speaks, before stepping back out. yoongi can’t see, but the bead on his forehead has started burning orange.

a servant steps forward to shift the crown to the left, so that the next empty bead lies on his forehead.

yoongi turns to the next pillar, hand lifted yet again. it’s metal this time, and the metal clan leaders steps forward to go through the same motions as the fire leader that went before her. once the metal leader is done and she’s stepped back off the platform, there’s a bronze bead shimmering on yoongi’s forehead.

the crown is shifted again. next is earth, then nature, water, ice, air, electricity… yoongi’s able to activate all of the pillars, despite the fact that he hasn’t fully activated all of the elements yet—he’s left with water, electricity and nature only, although he’s very close to mastering them. since he has a good enough grasp on them, there’s no need to postpone his ascension.

last up is the spirit clan. his brother steps up very slowly, leaning heavily on a cane. yoongi’s glad to see that most of his scales have gone almost completely back to their normal stark white. most of the colour has returned to his face, as well, and he doesn’t look as tired as before.

when he puts his fingers to the bead on yoongi’s forehead and speaks the words he’s supposed to say, yoongi relaxes visibly at the sound of his voice. how good it felt to hear a familiar voice, to see a familiar face.

when his brother slowly lowers his hand, he touches yoongi’s shoulder briefly. he smiles and gives yoongi a nearly imperceptible nod. hang in there, little brother.

yoongi nods back. thank you, hyung.

the crown is shifted. the last empty bead rests heavily on his forehead. yoongi stands on his own at the platform, unsure of what to do. no one else moves, it looks like they’re all waiting for someone or, perhaps... something.

yoongi doesn’t think any of the advisors know what to do next, either. the ritual can’t be completed with an empty bead in his crown.

after a few moments of silence, yoongi looks around the circle. he turns slowly, catching all the faces that are staring at him now—some are angry, and some are frowning their disappointment, yet others seem almost apprehensive. of what?

yoongi thinks he knows. he feels it. not around him, but inside of him. inside of him he feels all the elements, swirling together, expanding beyond his reaches, grappling onto the pillars and extending toward the clans that are surrounding them.

there’s something else inside of that swirling mass, but it’s hard to discern. it doesn’t belong to any of the clans, nor does it belong to yoongi himself. it’s a dark, pulsing sensation inside of him, yet yoongi isn’t afraid. it’s not here to swallow up the other elements, nor does it seem to want to swallow yoongi whole.

it’s the first time yoongi feels it, but it doesn’t seem to be new at all. has it been here this whole time? inside of him? it seems that only now, once all the elements inside of him have been set free and pulled apart that he feels what’s underneath all of them.

it’s the same thing he felt inside of seokjin, in his brother, in his mentor’s dying body. it’s the void, inside of him, with him.

all of a sudden, seokjin and jungkook’s ambush seems to make sense a little. maybe the point of it hadn’t been to take them. the point had been to make yoongi recognise what the void felt like. it’d been the void’s way of saying hello, i am here.

as though in a trance, yoongi decides to pull on it a little. he can’t physically reach inside of him and pull it out, but he can try to poke it and see what happens.

what happens is this: as his eyes slip closed and he shakes the void inside of him awake, there are yells and screams around him. he doesn’t notice them, at first, but then they become too insistent for him to ignore and he opens his eyes to a black sky.

the sky itself hasn’t turned black—it’s the black dragons, hundreds of them, filling the sky above them as yet more appear on the horizon and are flying toward them.

some of the clans are already up in the air, trying to fight off the void, while others just stand frozen in shock.

yoongi watches for some time, the sound distorted in his ears and the edges of his view blurring as he sees dragons fall from the sky, bursts of fire and water and ice above his head, raining down on the rest that are still standing. it’s every clan for himself, it seems—fire protecting fire and water only looking out for water.

they have to stop fighting.

“stop!” yoongi pulls on all the elements inside of him, sends them all out into a burst of energy on all sides. all the yelling stops immediately. the dragons in the air, void or otherwise, hover high up without moving.

yoongi’s panting harshly as he looks up at the sky. the largest and blackest dragon of them all is right above him, very high up in the sky. it looms dangerously over them all for a few harrowing seconds.

yoongi lifts his hand up to the sky, extends it toward the massive beast above him. it looks down on him, before swooping down unexpectedly, diving straight into him. at the very last moment, the dragon transforms into something else altogether—a swirling black mist so thick that yoongi can hardly breathe as it rains down on him.

it tangles itself around yoongi, wrapping him up until all he sees is black, black, black…

and then the mist plunges inside of him. it disappears around him, but they all see it enter him quickly, into his heart and head and throat.

yoongi’s knees buckle underneath him. he can’t breathe, or see, he can’t feel… it’s like he stops existing for a moment. there’s just the void, rushing right through him and crowding every single cell in his body.

yoongi scrabbles for purchase on the stones underneath him. he reaches out to the other elements again, pulling away from him quickly. they slip from his grasp quicker than he can try to latch onto them.

is he going to die? has the void come for him?

he coughs up black. his vision returns to him just to watch it drip down from his face, staining his fingers and the platform he’s sitting on. yoongi gasps for air, but his lungs are just filled with more black.

there are voices around him, he hears them even over the ringing of his ears. he can’t make out what they’re saying, it’s just a dull sort of noise, almost like he’s underwater, and when he looks up, his vision is too blurry to make out any of their faces, but he can feel them, although very faintly: there’s namjoon, right in front of him, and his brother, just behind him… there’s hoseok… and seokjin… and there’s…

“you have…” yoongi tries. he can’t feel his tongue in his mouth. is he even speaking, at all? “... to get… away… please…”

the void is forcing itself out of him now. he wants it out of him, but he tries to keep it in. he has to keep it in, while they’re around him. what if it gets to them?

“please…” he lifts a shaky hand, only to drop it down again. he pushes them off the platform with whatever element works. water, or perhaps air, so as not to hurt them.

yoongi lifts two fingers up to his forehead, up to that last bead. he touches them to the cool metal. when he speaks, loudly and clearly, it’s not in his own voice: “i offer you void.”

he drops his hand at the same time that the black mist rips itself out of his body.

as yoongi faints, the smaller, black dragons in the sky start dropping to the ground. some crumble to ashes, or go up in flames, but others survive. the black pulls out of their scales slowly, until their original colours start peeking out again.

the dragons that rush up the platform to get to yoongi get a good look at what’s on his forehead: the tenth bead. it’s black.

 

there are murmurs and whispers all around him. hands, on his body. fingers, stroking his hair. yoongi doesn’t find the strength to open his eyes, or part his lips, or even lift a finger. he doesn’t think he could speak if he tried—his throat feels so dry it’s screaming at him.

he still can’t really make out what the voices are saying, but he realises how familiar the sounds are to his ears. it’s them. it’s all of them. they speak in hushed tones so as not to wake him, and the worry is evident in the way they speak.

yoongi must have given them a good scare. not that he remembers much. he just remembers black, and he remembers floating. he remembers feeling nothing. he remembers the strange mass inside of him.

it’s there, still. and so are the other elements. they’re all together, woven together so intrinsically that he can no longer pick them apart. it’s very peaceful, like it’s completely balanced out his body.

when yoongi sighs in relief, he hears a few noises of surprise. they must’ve noticed the shift in his body.

“he’s awake,” yoongi’s brother says softly. there’s a hand on yoongi’s forehead now, and he knows that it’s his brother’s. “finally.”

yoongi finds the strength to open his eyes a little. everything’s a blurry, but they’re all there. he manages a small smile, enjoying the way their worry smooths over into relief a little upon seeing him open his eyes.

“you’re all… here,” he whispers. oh, his throat hurts so bad. it feels like he’s swallowed a bunch of sand. the others must notice the pained expression on his face, because they all flock to the bed, worry back on their faces once more. yoongi waves a hand, as much as he’s able to, anyway, as though to tell them that he’s fine, but he doubts they believe him.

“we were so worried…” taehyung tells him, shouldering jimin out of the way to climb onto the bed and grab onto one of yoongi’s hands with both of his. “we—we didn’t know… we just—the—” he just shakes his head violently and hugs yoongi’s hand to his chest as though it’s his most precious belonging.

“what happened?” yoongi croaks. he’s very grateful when jungkook and namjoon help him sit up, jungkook slipping behind him so that he has something to lean against. his brother holds a glass of water to his lips, which yoongi drinks from as though he hasn’t had anything to drink in days.

“we don’t know,” namjoon says, shaking his head. “we saw the void enter you, and all your scales went black, and so did your eyes and your hair… and then you spoke, but it wasn’t you. it was…”

they’re all silent now, exchanging looks as though they think yoongi won’t see them.

“the void,” yoongi finishes his sentence.

“yeah.”

yoongi puffs out a sigh. it sends a sharp pain up his chest, and he groans softly. jungkook rubs his sides softly, nuzzling into his neck.

“how’re you feeling, hyung?” hoseok asks. he settles at the foot of the bed, finding one of yoongi’s feet underneath the sheets to squeeze it softly.

“like a fellow dragon used me as a chew toy, before swallowing me whole,” yoongi answers gruffly, having to pause every two words to catch his breath.

both jimin and his brother laugh softly.

“that sounds rough, hyung,” jimin says. “but whatever you did, you brought back a lot of dragons.”

“what do you mean?”

“the fallen soldiers that were controlled by the void. some of them came back. the void let them go.”

“some of my friends came back,” jungkook whispers, so softly that the others barely hear him. and then, even softer, to the point where only yoongi can hear him: “thank you, hyung.” he presses a small kiss to yoongi’s neck, right above a patch of scales.

“i didn’t do anything.” it hurts to shake his head, but he still does it. “i wasn’t in control at all.”

it’s his brother who shakes his head. “not true. you called for the void, yoongi-yah. i don’t know how, but it came when you called. it went into you when you made everyone stop fighting.”

“but why?” yoongi asks, confused. “i don’t understand.”

yoongi’s brother shakes his head now. so do namjoon and seokjin. “no one does.”

seokjin pats yoongi’s knee. “some… of the clans are angry because of that, actually, because they don’t understand. they think… you are a vessel for the void. they think you’re here to infiltrate the dragon community and destroy us from the inside out.”

“but that’s…” yoongi breathes in sharply, which sends another burst of pain up to his chest. he sinks heavily into jungkook’s chest while he catches his breath once more. “that’s ridiculous.”

“we know. we’ve been trying to placate everyone, but…” seokjin shakes his head, sighing slowly. “you know how the clans are. they’ve all gathered at the palace. ever since we brought you back. they’ve been holding meetings every day and fighting with each other. it’s… it’s a mess. we don’t know what to do.”

“what about the advisors?” yoongi asks weakly. “are they not meddling in this?”

“they all left, hyung,” taehyung tells him. “they’re all proclaiming they never trusted you to begin with, they’re washing their hands of you. they’ve gone back to their clans and are joining in on the shouting matches.”

“so… who’s… who’s left?” yoongi pulls his eyebrows together, frowning deeply.

“we are. we stepped up.” taehyung presses a kiss to yoongi’s knuckles. “i’m sorry we went behind your back, but it was an emergency. we’re… now your advisors. the six of us,” he clarifies, glancing at yoongi’s brother. “not the spirit clan leader, obviously.”

“but…” yoongi rubs his face tiredly, unable to fully comprehend the situation. his mind feels so incredibly muddled, still. “but the high priest…”

“that’s you, hyung.” jungkook carefully wraps his arms around yoongi’s waist. “you’re the highest authority in the dragon community now. i’m sorry.”

“fuck…” yoongi whispers. the others snort. “i should—” he shifts very slowly, attempts to sit on his own. he has so little strength in his upper body that he flops right back into jungkook. “i should address them.”

except he can’t, because he’s unable to get out of bed, or even sit up on his own.

“it’s okay. all you have to do is rest now, regain your strength. we’ll handle it for now, okay?” seokjin’s getting off the bed slowly. “speaking of, i should go back down and see what they’re up to. i hope they haven’t bashed each other’s head in. things were heated when i left…”

yoongi’s brother nods and follows his lead. “i’ll join you, too, i’ve left the clan to fend for itself for too long. i’ll go first and make sure they haven’t lynched my general yet. take your time, fire prince.” he ruffles yoongi’s hair and presses a kiss to his forehead. “and you, get some rest, okay? there’ll be plenty of time to play the high priest later. let them take care of you. that’s my order as your clan leader.”

yoongi’s too tired to tease his brother with his new position, but his slow smile is good enough.

once it’s just the seven of them, no one speaks for some time. they’re all looking at yoongi with soft expressions and small smiles. jimin hugs taehyung from behind, and namjoon and seokjin end up holding hands.

“we’re glad you're back, yoongi-yah,” seokjin says softly. “you had us very worried for a moment.”

“i’m sorry… i didn’t mean to scare you. i’m sorry you had to deal with the clans in my stead.”

seokjin shakes his head. he lets go of namjoon’s hand to climb back onto the bed, where he sits on his knees to the side of yoongi. “don’t be silly. we would do far more for you than that.” he cradles yoongi’s face in his hand, pressing a kiss to his forehead, and then to his mouth. he kisses yoongi so very tenderly that he feels his throat constrict a little. “we’re very proud of you… our little spirit prince.”

“hyung, i don’t think i’m a prince anymore.”

seokjin hums. he kisses yoongi again briefly. “our yoongi,” he corrects himself. yoongi smiles at that.

after seokjin’s excused himself and gone after yoongi’s brother, back into the lion’s den, yoongi nestles into jungkook’s chest more comfortably. he tilts his face this way and that, while the remaining five press careful kisses into his skin.

every cell in his body still feels incredibly sore and sensitive, but their lips and the gentle brushes of their fingers are nice, comforting.

when he eventually mumbles that he’s tired, they help him lie down once more. jungkook and hoseok cage him in on both sides, while the other three squeeze onto the bed beside them. yoongi dozes off almost right away.

 

it takes yoongi another two days of bedrest before he’s finally had enough and drags himself out. the others protest loudly, but he ignores them pointedly while he lets taehyung and hoseok help him into his robes.

he holds onto seokjin’s arm as he makes the very, very long trek down to the room all the clans had been arguing in for days on end. it’s a slow walk, because his entire body still feels like a giant bruise, but seokjin matches his pace easily, walking at a leisure pace as though they’re simply going for a stroll. the others have already gone ahead, but yoongi doesn’t mind—he likes the alone time with his hyung.

“hyung,” yoongi leans into seokjin’s shoulder and smiles at him.

“hm?”

“thank you for fending for me when i couldn’t do it myself.”

seokjin lifts a corner of his mouth. “just doing my duty.”

“also, you look very handsome.” they stop, because yoongi comes to a halt to brush his hands down seokjin’s chest, smoothing out any wrinkles in the front of seokjin’s robe.

“i know.”

“and…” yoongi continues, choosing to ignore seokjin, ”i think… you won’t have to worry about the void again, hyung. your fire is safe. you know that, right?”

seokjin doesn’t respond for some time. there’s a minute frown between his brows, but the moment yoongi reaches up to smooth it out, he nods slowly. “i know,” he says softly, gratefully. “thanks to you.”

yoongi shakes his head, but it’s seokjin’s turn to ignore yoongi now—all he does is kiss yoongi’s cheek and pull him along gently, until they make it to a set of double doors. they stop in front of them. yoongi can already hear the shouting.

“you ready?”

after a very deep breath, yoongi shakes his head. they head in.

 

the room quiets down immediately once the doors open and seokjin and yoongi step through. all eyes are on yoongi—most of them considerably angry or frustrated or, at the very least, annoyed.

yoongi ignores the looks he gets. he leans on seokjin’s arm heavily, until they reach the seat at the head of the large table.

not that most of them are sat at the table. some of them are, but the vast majority are standing, hands leaning on the table to support their weight as they’re suspended in the act of leaning over the table and shouting at whoever is in front of them.

“please, continue,” says yoongi, once he’s finally managed to sit down.

the room stays quiet. everyone slowly sits down. they all look at him expectantly.

“i heard some of you were unhappy with me?” yoongi prompts. “would anyone like to voice their concerns?”

seokjin, sat next to him, squeezes yoongi’s fingers under the table.

more silence.

“i’m not the void. i cannot explain what happened at the ceremony, because i don’t remember what happened, but… i am not the void, that i can promise you.”

“how are we supposed to believe that?” the fire leader scoffs. “do you have proof, spirit prince?”

seokjin opens his mouth, ready to say something to his father, but yoongi just shakes his head and squeezes his fingers back.

“i don’t. do any of you have proof that you’re not the void?”

there’s more scoffing, from different leaders and royals this time. “that’s a ridiculous argument,” someone mutters, loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear.

yoongi nods his agreement. “it is. so why is this argument applied to me? other than the ceremony, there’s been no indication i’m not who i say i am and yet my identity is still pulled into question. if i didn’t know any better, i’d say this situation is being used as an excuse.”

no one scoffs at that. all eyes are downcast, except for seokjin’s, and namjoon’s and his brother’s. the others’ are downcast only because they’re trying to hide the extremely clear amusement on their faces.

“how are we to trust you, when you invite the void into your body, and one of your advisors is… that.” it’s the fire leader again. he’s staring at namjoon with such hatred that, for a moment, namjoon simply recoils. he collects himself as quickly as possible, but yoongi’s already seen the clear hurt on his face.

yoongi pushes to his feet slowly. it’s a laborious process, but he only shakes his head when seokjin attempts to help him up. he walks around the table, until he comes to stand behind namjoon. yoongi places a hand on the nature dragon’s shoulder. “and my advisor is… what? choose your next words very carefully.”

the fire leader looks around the table, looking for support, but no one dares to meet his eye. he’s on his own. even if they share the same sentiment, they’re not willing to disrespect the high priest just yet. not more than they already have.

“he’s a… he’s… not pure.”

yoongi strokes his thumb down namjoon’s neck, for both namjoon’s and his own comfort. touching namjoon makes him feel grounded, and his rage is reduced to a mere simmer.

“i read a very interesting book, recently. my predecessor gave it to me. i think you’ll find the main idea quite shocking. it claims none of us are pure, not the way you all claim to be. i bet if i looked deeply enough inside of any of you that i’d find a combination of different elements.”

yoongi waits a beat, but no one seems to want to interrupt him. “i myself am not pure either. i have ten different forces inside of me. would you like to know what makes him stand out, compared to the rest of you, sitting lazily on your thrones and judging that which you do not know or understand?”

again, he waits, but no one answers.

“at least he can control three times the elements the rest of you are able to. i think that’s pretty noteworthy. would you not agree that makes him an excellent advisor?”

more tense silence, until: “so you’re frolicking with him? that’s it? that’s why you’re defending him?” it’s not the fire leader this time, but it might as well have been. it could have come from any of their mouths.

before yoongi says anything else, he looks to seokjin, raising his brows to ask for silent permission. seokjin gives it to him, and so does hoseok, and jimin and taehyung, and jungkook…

“and with your son,” yoongi says to the fire leader. “and yours,” to the water leader. “and yours, and his fiancé,” to the ice leader. “and…” his eyes fall on the electricity leader next. yoongi gives him a smile, which is thankfully returned. “and your soldier. and...” he finds the nature leader last, “and your precious scholar.”

there’s yet another silence, a stunned sort of silence that yoongi would have found amusing in any other situation. before anyone can say anything hurtful, to yoongi or to his lovers, he continues: “and what are any of you going to do about it? i’m the high priest. i’m no longer the spirit prince. the sooner you realise, the better.”

yoongi decides that’s his cue to leave. the anger inside of him is eating away at the little energy he has, and he thinks he might not make it back to bed if he stays any longer.

“if there are no important matters discuss, i think i’d better take my leave and get some more rest. if there are any further things you wish to discuss, please speak to my brother. if not, i urge you to take your leave, as well, i am sure there are more pressing matters to attend to at your respective clans. travel safely, clan leaders,” he offers them nothing more but a cold nod—although both his brother and the electricity leader each get a small smile—before he loops his arm through the one namjoon holds out to him and walks out slowly and carefully. the other five follow them out, as well.

 

no one speaks until they’re back in the safety of yoongi’s room. it’s jungkook who sighs and looks at yoongi with a little bit of a dazed expression. “hyung, that was really cool.”

yoongi just smiles softly, before he finds namjoon and holds out his hand to him. he waits until namjoon steps back over to him and takes his hand. “joon-ah, are you okay?”

namjoon nods. “thank you, hyung. thanks for looking out for me.” he shifts a little on his feet so that he can lean against hoseok, who’s come to stand behind him.

“i need to lie down now,” yoongi says with a soft sigh. “and… since you’re my advisors… i need you with me. in bed. in case i need some... advising.”

“naturally,” seokjin replies smoothly. “there’s one problem, though: the bed’s hardly big enough to fit all of us comfortably.”

they all stand contemplating yoongi’s bed, until hoseok pipes up. “i’ve got it covered. babies, come with me.” he ushers the youngest three out of the room without explaining his plan.

seokjin takes the opportunity to pull namjoon and yoongi toward the bed. the three sit down on the edge, seokjin in the middle.

“namjoon-ah, i’m very sorry about my father. you know i don’t share his opinions, right?”

“i do, hyung, don’t worry. you don’t have to apologise, it’s not your fault.”

seokjin shakes his head. “i should have stood up to him, as i should’ve stood up to him all those years ago. i’m sorry. we should have never let you go in the first place.”

“it’s okay, hyung. at least we’re here now. together, right?” they kiss slowly.

“together,” seokjin agrees.

yoongi looks at them fondly. the warm, fuzzy feeling he feels blooming up in his chest is indescribable. there are no words to describe how full he feels when he sees the two like that, smiling, and gently cupping each other’s faces.

the rest come back eventually. they’re dragging another mattress in, and extra pillows and blankets. they place that one, plus the mattress on yoongi’s bed, in the middle of the room, pushing them together.

hoseok looks at his handiwork with a pleased smile, hands in his sides. “i think we’ll fit quite nicely, don’t you think?”

“i have no doubt,” yoongi says. the others nod in agreement.

Notes:

if you've made it this far: congratulations! you've just read 60k! about dragons! that's very sexy of you.

i'm not sure anyone will make it this far, mostly because i didn't think i'd get to this point. i really didn't think i'd finish it, if i'm honest, but here we are. thank you for reading, thank you for giving this a shot. i hope you liked it at least a little.

i know a lot of things have been left unsaid, there are so, so many little details that i never even put in the fic, because the entire thing got away from me. i have the entire world built in my mind, and yet i've only shown such a small part of it... it makes me a little sad that i didn't manage to put in everything i came up with, but i don't think i would've finished otherwise. if you do, however, have questions about this world, and as soon as authors are revealed, i'll link my twitter or cc here. don't be afraid to ask or to just stop by if you really love dragons and want to talk about them. i, personally, would love to talk about dragons all day

can you tell i love dragons. can u tell

(thank u)

here's my twitter and my cc. thank you for reading!