Falling || Taejin

Chapter 3

"They are staring at me."

"Would you rather be handed over to the guards than being stared at?"

Taehyung sighed. Apparently, the guards had announced to the village that whoever caught sight of him was to bring him to the Dark Queen who would then hand him over to the Light realm. Seokjin said that the best way to hide his aura (because Dark ones had a good Light radar) was to disguise him with magic. Currently, his complexion was an obnoxious shade of bright pink and his nose was elongated and crooked like a hag. A mop of seaweed-like hair veiled his face lightly with only his nose poking out. Seokjin had forced him to change into tattered orange robes and heavy wooden sandals.

"What are they calling me?" Taehyung whispered to Seokjin sharply as they walked through the cobbled streets.

"A bitch."

"A what?!"

"Oh you know, a witch born in bog water. We call them bitches."

"Bitches," Taehyung deadpanned.

Finally, they had reached the entrance of a mountain about which Seokjin had said nothing to Taehyung.

"We have to climb a mountain?!"

" You have to climb a mountain. I have to fly."

With that, Seokjin spread his gorgeous wings and shot into the sky. Okay, Taehyung had seen Seokjin flap his wings lightly but now, under the blazing sun, he looked absolutely unreal. He didn't realise he was gawking at the man until Seokjin called from ten metres inside the forest.

"Do you wish to come or what?"

"Coming!"

Taehyung trudged forward with his weighty sandals and tripped on every root and got smacked in the face with every branch. The only way he knew where he was going was the mighty beating of Seokjin's wings. He grunted and cursed and moaned at every little inconvenience as they ventured deeper into the mountain. Soon the flat ground morphed into a slope that became steeper by the moment. Seokjin flew over it just fine but Taehyung had to grab on potentially sharp rocks and roots to ascend. Next, they were confronted by a gushing river and the only way to cross it was an old, weathered rope bridge that made dangerous sounds with every step Taehyung took so he gripped on the rope like his life depended on it, which in fact did.

When they were done climbing the third hill that day, which was slowly fading into evening, Taehyung just dropped against a tree, wheezing loudly.

"Please-" he heaved. "Just- one- no, two- three? Please let's just rest for ten minutes."

Seokjin turned around to look at his crumbled figure in dismay.

"I thought Light ones were immortals."

"Immortals- fee-feel exhaustion more than you think," Taehyung exhaled as he closed his eyes and felt his conscious slowly slipping away-

Splash!

"AGH!" Taehyung jolted upright and looked dumbfounded at Seokjin who seemed to be suppressing a smile as he capped the bottle and threw it at Taehyung without any warning.

It hit Taehyung's groin and both males gasped, one in amusement, one in utter pain.

"Sorry," Seokjin squeaked as he tried to hold in his laughter by biting his bottom lip, to which Taehyung definitely did not pay any attention.

"Let's dress up as something else next time. Being a bitch is hard," Taehyung complained as he got up and passed the bottle of water to Seokjin who stuffed it in his brown shoulder bag.