salt || jikook

twenty two

white a smoke appeared in the living room of jimin and yoongi's apartment. the two demons stood up from the couch, exchanging confused glances at each other while the smoke slowly cleared.

"what the fuck?" yoongi's eyes turned a bright red. he was ready to hit something or someone if he had to.

"calm down," a familiar voice said. jimin dropped his guard immediately at the buttery voice.

"jungkook?" jimin asked. jungkook stepped out of the smokey cloud, waving his hand, immediately getting rid of it. jungkook smiled faintly as he let out a soft sigh.

"oh this guy," yoongi said boredly, flopping down lazily onto the couch.

"nice to see you too— anyway hi," jungkook said, not saying anything more before pulling jimin into a tight hug. jimin tensed at the contact then looked over at yoongi. he loosely put his arms around the angel, wondering what made him engage in the embrace.

"hey... are you alright?" jimin asked in what he hoped was a soothing tone. jungkook nodded.

"i am drained, i am mentally... drained," jungkook responded. his voice sounded like he was on the brink of tears but he wasn't gonna cry or anything. he was just broken and his brokenness was apparent in his voice.

"what happened..?" jimin asked, leading them to the couch. jimin sat the angel down and gently held
his hands. he wasn't gonna pry for answers, but if he could help he would.

"i was cast out... of heaven," jungkook mumbled.

jimin's eyes widened, remembering the story he told yoongi only moments before jungkook showed up. yoongi's expression seemed interested. he originally expected it to happen, he actually thought it would, but the fact that it did happen... now he's hearing the story. it seemed like a lot to happen.

"jungkook i'm... sorry..." he felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. if only he had stopped himself from falling so hard, if only he had thought of jungkook as 'any other person,' maybe their lives would be less complicated right now. maybe heaven and hell would be in perfect working order.

"i'm gonna repeat it until you burn it into your soul, but it wasn't your fault, what's done is done so we don't need to dwell on pointing fingers and placing blame," jungkook said finally.

the room was silent before yoongi spoke up.

"hey wait... what happens when you get cast out of heaven... or hell?" yoongi asked. jimin and jungkook looked at each other before looking at the raven haired male.

"uh..? you live your life in neither realm?" jimin asked. very unconfident in his answer.

"wrong, you have to go somewhere and there are only two places: heaven and hell, earth only exists for humans, there is no in between," yoongi said deep in thought.

"obviously there's a third, jungkook is in that between place," jimin said. he patted jungkook's body down, like an officer searching for weapons. "i mean he's real, alive and not dead..."

"no, he's not, if he's not on a side, do you know what happens?" yoongi asked. it seems like he knew something of valuable information. he was withholding something he should be saying. but he was cautious. he didn't want jimin or jungkook to freak out over it when he wasn't sure for himself. the angel and the demon stared at each other once again, then looked back to the other demon.

"what happens?" jungkook was tired of the back and forth. he just wanted a straight forward answer, he didn't have the brain power to keep this up. his entire body felt tired. he put his arms around jimin carefully, still mindful of jimin's wounds. his face was gently nuzzled into the demon's neck.

"i'm not sure if this is right... but i think jungkook's life force... is gonna... dissipate..." yoongi said quietly.

yoongi abruptly stood up and began making a beeline for his room. he remembered reading about it in a book, angelology. just like angels, demons are granted a book on their enemies when their work is on earth. he frantically flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning over each one like a hawk. he was sure why, but he was feeling some kind of sympathy for his supposed enemy.

somewhere in the middle of the book he stopped skinny the pages and began reading. jimin watched him with concerned eyes. he wasn't sure what yoongi was talking about, he never heard the information himself. he actually... didn't study the angelology book. that was already one strike for him besides the many others he collected over his time on earth.

yoongi's eyes quickly scanned the paper, his eye's following a finger as he read.

"jungkook was cast out, meaning... he's probably gonna wither away at some point, assuming this book is correct," yoongi said, closing the book and placing it on the table.

"i don't believe it," jimin rolled his eyes. "who was this book written by? a demon? how is a demon supposed to know anything about angels? i feel like it's illogical."

"maybe... but if we can take him to hell and—"

"if we take him to hell, he could die there if we're wrong," jimin said. "and if he doesn't die there naturally, i'm sure the big man will have something to say about us bringing an angel into his territory," his voice became dark, protective. he didn't want to do anything he didn't need to, he didn't want to take any risks to jungkook.

meanwhile the angel had fallen asleep in jimin's arms. he was completely unaware of the conversation going on, deep into the world of sleep.

yoongi sighed.

"look i don't care," yoongi admitted. "i really could care less about him, i have no emotional attachment to him like you do, i'm only saying this for your sake," he said, sitting back down on the couch.

"since when do you care about me?"

"since the devil paired us up together— it's stupid but you're like a little brother..." yoongi mumbled. a small smirk went across jimin's lips. "as annoying as you are and no matter how much pain and suffering you deserve, i hate seeing you in that pain and suffering," yoongi looked outside, only to avoid jimin's gaze. "i don't want something to be undeservingly taken away from you, i wish you happiness i guess..." he mumbled.

"so you're saying you care about me?" jimin teased.

"no, not at all."

"i... okay," jimin sighed, letting his fingers run through jungkook's dirty blonde locks. his mind wandered to what yoongi read from the book, wondering how much credibility was held in the words. the red scarlet eyes stayed on the angel as he slept, meanwhile jimin's mind raced.

"if he doesn't improve... we'll take him to my father..."