My Sun, My Life, I Love Your Eyes - quietmidnights - 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Taehyung steps out into the warm summer night, beneath the glow of the amber streetlights and the subtle twinkling of stars. He locks the doors behind him, triple-checking that they’re indeed locked, because he was entrusted with a key to the building and he doesn’t want to be responsible for a break-in. Although who in their mountain town would break in and what they would steal from the little headquarters of their town newspaper, he doesn’t really know.

He pockets his keys and checks the time on his phone. 11:34 PM. He just shrugs it off and starts his walk home.

It’s not like anyone makes him stay so late. He’s actually very discouraged from it, but he doesn’t mind. It’s really no different from finishing his work up at home – which he also doesn’t have to do, and is also discouraged from. He just enjoys the view from the windows of their office, especially when their town starts to slowly go to sleep for the night. Everybody who usually fills the sidewalks starts to trickle away while signs hanging on the businesses’ doors flip to mark that they’re closed. The orange streetlights flicker on, and it’s just him. It’s quiet, and it’s nice. He really only does it once a week, when he prepares for his anonymous advice column’s answers to be printed. It’s not that he procrastinates; he just takes it very seriously and spends all week thinking of answers (which Jimin teases him for, but in a very endeared and charmed way). People trust him (or, well, an anonymous stranger, but everyone mostly knows who writes their community’s newspaper even if they don’t know who writes that specific part of it) enough to send him their secrets and struggles, so he’s going to do his best to give them heartfelt advice. He’s extremely unqualified for that, but he always mixes it with encouragement and praise, which he thinks is what people mostly write in for.

He walks down the empty sidewalks, through the warm lights with only the sound of his footsteps joining the singing crickets and cicadas hidden somewhere. He walks past the coffee shop conveniently placed right next door to the newspaper headquarters. Past the bakery, the beloved sushi restaurant, the photography studio where Yoongi develops the film for the paper because Jungkook doesn’t want the paper to lose its charm by modernizing it, so it’s printed mostly traditionally.

Taehyung huffs to himself. Jungkook.

When Taehyung graduated from college several years ago, he decided to move out of the city. He found their little mountain town on a whim, and he was instantly drawn to their newspaper. He loved the technical aspects of it – the layout and formatting, their voice and topics they found worth publishing – and just the overall feel of it: how it’s not super modernized. Most print publications desperately try to hold onto relevancy in a mostly digital world, but their paper doesn’t. It’s just a simple newspaper, kept beloved and read because it doesn’t try to change or adapt; it stays a cozy reminder of a slower time.

He loved the paper’s headquarters too, with the way the warm brick exterior was nestled between a coffee shop on one side and a plant shop on the other. He loved the overall feel of the town too. The tree-covered mountains that can always be seen in the distance from wherever he’s standing. How it’s bigger than a small town, but smaller than a city: enough to feel like a community and get the cozy perks of a small town, but without the place feeling too slow and sleepy and recognizing every person he sees at the grocery store. It was just what he didn’t know he wanted.

When he did the initial interviews to see if he’d be a good fit for the town’s newspaper, he liked it even more. He interviewed with Jimin first, something they both laugh about now years later when they think about how not serious Jimin is, and probably unqualified to conduct an important interview. Which was proven correct right away when he thought Taehyung should be hired just based on the way they clicked without really taking his credentials into account.

When the lead journalists and editors of the different topics of the paper – Jimin, the head of cartoons and illustrations and co-head of entertainment; Hoseok, Jimin’s partner in entertainment and head of pop culture; Namjoon, the leader of politics and world affairs; and Yoongi, their photographer and right-hand to the boss – all approved of him, he had an interview set up with the editor-in-chief. Everybody he interviewed with sang Jungkook’s praises. They talked about how relaxed and comfortable the environment of the paper is because of him. How professional he is while still remaining warm and friendly. How good at his job he is, both as a journalist and editor and as everybody’s approachable, kind boss. The way they spoke about him made Taehyung look forward to his interview.

Then he met Jungkook.

He huffs to himself again.

Jungkook.

He rolls his eyes even though he’s alone.

He’s not that great, he thinks. Whatever.

Everything they spoke of was true. Taehyung could tell right away that Jungkook was kind, and that he really cared about everybody who worked there and about the paper itself. He could tell Jungkook knew what he was doing as the editor-in-chief, but never seemed like he was trying to take over the newspaper and make it how he thought it should be. He could tell that Jungkook’s friendliness and sincerity wasn’t an act and wasn’t put on just to make others feel at ease; he really was that way.

Still, Taehyung was not moved by him. Yeah he was warm and welcoming and never made him feel like he was simply a new addition to the team or an outsider. Yeah he’s good at his job and talented at what he does. Yeah he has big doe eyes that are so earnest and interested when he looks at anyone.

But Taehyung did not – does not – think he’s all that great.

He’s his boss. And even if he feels like he’s just one of the team, he’s still his boss who runs the paper. Not that Taehyung has any desire whatsoever to run it himself. It’s just that everybody looks up to Jungkook and feels comfortable in his presence, but he’s their boss, basically their version of a CEO (even if Jungkook really couldn’t be further from how a CEO is), so he refuses to admire him the way everybody else does.

Whatever. He’s not that great.

Taehyung unlocks the door to his apartment above the town’s ice cream shop and trudges up the stairs. Each wooden step squeaks beneath his feet like he’s being welcomed home, or like maybe he’s waking up the creaky wood at this hour. He yawns along with them and unlocks the second door at the top of the stairs and walks into his apartment. He yawns again as he takes off his shoes and drops his bag by the door. He doesn’t flip on any of the lights so he doesn’t interrupt this quiet night with its warm streetlights. He takes off all of his clothes except for his boxer briefs while he brushes his teeth. He looks in the mirror and tries to pat down his wavy hair that’s gone a little puffy and frizzy from the humid night, then he falls into bed with a content sigh. The night has been quiet and calm, but still, after being away from his apartment until nearly midnight, even the quiet of somewhere outside of his home starts to make him feel a little itchy, craving somewhere that’s familiar and his own. Now he feels like he can finally settle down and rest.

He squints against the bright light of his phone screen when he checks it for the first time all night. He scrolls past notifications to open his and Jimin’s messages first, just like he does on all the nights Jimin knows he stays late.

Taehyung
I’m home

Jimin
yay
nighty night i love you

Taehyung
Heh I love you too gnight

Before he can set his phone down to try to get some sleep, he sees the notification for an email sent earlier, just before the workday ended.

Taehyung huffs to himself and responds.

He fluffs up his pillows and pulls the blanket over him more, cozying up to go through his favorite notifications. He opens the latest video on his asmr channel, posted just last night, and he starts scrolling through the new comments there.

alwaysmingoo: this video was so good i thinkk im fallign asleeepffjs,,,,,,,

leafsheep: YES. ONE OF MY FAVORITE KINDS OF VIDEOS :).

mareridt: The head scratches 🤤

He excitedly rubs his feet together beneath the blanket, clicking the heart beside the majority of the comments with a full heart of his own. He makes asmr videos because he enjoys it and because he understands the struggle of falling asleep sometimes, not because he wants the kind words and validation, but he can’t say he doesn’t love those things too.

As he’s reading the comments with an unconscious smile on his face, he finds his favorite username mixed in the bunch.

jaykay: Ah your voice was so nice in this one 🥹 I love your affirmations videos. They’re so nice to fall asleep to

↳ sweetnight: Thank you, jaykay 🤎 Your comments are so nice to fall asleep to too

As he’s responding to more comments, he gets a different notification at the top of his screen. He blinks at it.

Taehyung doesn’t know why they’re still addressing their emails and sending them with sign offs, but he’ll stop when Jungkook does.

Taehyung huffs. Jungkook. Whatever.

Taehyung ignores the weird pang of worry in his chest that ripples outward like a single water droplet. It’s just from running his channel for so long and reading comments about how troubling it is for sleep to not come easy to so many people. He understands the struggle; it’s why he started making sleep asmr videos to begin with. He knows how frustrating and upsetting it is to not be able to fall asleep, so he sends up a little wish to the moon or to his angel or to the orange street light peeking into his room that Jungkook will be able to get some rest.

He scrolls through more of his comments, responding to some and hearting the others. Deleting a few who left unkind words or things they wish he’d change, start doing, or stop doing, when they are all very much unasked for – especially considering that his videos are posted for free. The vast majority of his viewers are kind, but there are always a few strangers who appear to provide criticism or negative opinions. He’d be more open to hearing them if they were paying him or he were making money off of these videos, but when they’re filmed and posted for free, leaving an unkind comment behind just adds more negativity into the world, and it will never make sense to him when he just wants to post things that he hopes can help some people slow down and take some time for themselves. It’s very easy to just click away if they don’t like something he posted, so to go out of their way to say something mean about something he’s sharing just out of the kindness of his heart, he thinks it reflects more on who those people are rather than the quality of his videos.

Once he’s gone through all of his new comments, he sets his phone on the nightstand and wiggles around in bed, getting snug and comfy. He turns onto his side and looks out his window at the orange streetlight, shining calmly into the night. He thinks about watching last spring’s rain showers fall through the light. The snow doing the same just the season before. Now the hot, muggy air feels like it’s coming from the light itself. As he thinks about what autumn will be like months away, he falls asleep.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Taehyung wakes up just minutes before his alarm, which he tends to do almost every morning. He’s started to think of it as a little message from the universe, his angel, whoever is looking out for him about what kind of day it will be so he knows how to prepare for it. If he wakes up before the sound of his alarm and can turn it off to wake up gently, it means he’ll have a pleasant day. If he wakes up to a blaring sound, truly like a warning alarm, he knows it probably won’t be one of his better days. It’s a pattern he noticed long ago that’s never contradicted itself before, although it could be his expectation mindset that is really what sets the tone for the day.

He turns off his alarm before it can sound, then he rolls over in bed to look out the window. The sky is a soft blue with not a single cloud in sight. The sunlight looks gentle and kind right now, but he’s certain he’ll feel the heat of it the second he steps outside on his walk to work. He sees a few people strolling down the sidewalk, because someone’s always awake at any hour in town. The early mornings see the shop owners or early risers or parents bringing their children to school when it isn’t summer vacation. The late night sees… well, him, usually.

He turns over again, finally pulling himself out of bed with a big yawn and a big stretch. He shuffles to the bathroom as he rubs the sleep from his eyes. As he brushes his teeth, he inspects his reflection to figure out if he’ll need to wet his hair to style it. He fixes his part so it’s just off center, then he brushes his bangs to the sides so they’re not covering his forehead. He fixes the way they curve, then he ruffles his hair a little bit to loosen the waves. Then he realizes he’ll need to shower anyway, so he rinses his mouth and turns on the water.

Thirty minutes later finds him sitting at his kitchen table, having a cup of tea as he reads through the newspaper delivered outside of his door this morning. He knows exactly what’s in it, but he sometimes doesn’t get to take his time on each part. He giggles to himself at Jimin’s little comic today. He skims through some of Namjoon’s reporting since he already heard it directly from the source. He makes mental notes of things to compliment his teammates on, because he’s always amazed by the talent of everyone around him.

He folds up the paper once he’s read through it, tucking it in his bag so he can save the crossword puzzle for when he gets to work like always, and he welcomes in the morning as he finishes the last of his tea. He looks around his apartment, admiring the sun that pours in from every window. It lights up each leaf of the pothos plant that sits on his kitchen counter, its vines draped over the light wood cabinets, trailing along the white countertops. He’ll need to find a new place for it to go, because some vines are dusting the wood floors too. He’s not sure where it can go though, since pretty much all of his window space and shelf space is already home to a plant of some kind.

The living room, the kitchen, and the small dining area with a round table just for two all flow together in an open, airy, sunny design, so he looks across the space to see if he can rearrange anything. His apartment isn’t very big though, so the way everything is arranged is really the only way it can be arranged. His dark green velvet couch is across from the fireplace that he feels very lucky to have. The TV is mounted above the mantle, each side flanked by shelves of books and plants and old newspaper stacks and little things he’s acquired over the years. Two side tables are beside his couch with two different lamps on top of them – one from a yard sale, the other from an antique shop. Sources of different lights are in various spots throughout his apartment, because he will not ever have the overhead light on. Everything in his apartment is eclectic and random, but doesn’t look messy or like he takes what he can get. The style still flows together into something so him and cozy.

And because it’s so him and cozy, he doesn’t think there’s a space for his plant to go, so he supposes he’ll just keep having to brush the vines aside every time he needs to get a baking pan from beneath the countertop it sits on.

He glances at his watch, then he takes his last sip of tea and places his mug in the sink. He gathers all of his things, then he stops in front of the antique mirror beside his front door to check over the way he looks before he leaves. The dress code of the office is casual. Not business casual, but casual casual. Well, it’s actually not anything at all, really, because Jungkook says there’s no dress code. Still, Taehyung likes to look nice, because either he dresses nicely or he wears sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt – no in between.

So he’s wearing brown trousers with a burnt orange sweater vest, a cream colored t-shirt under it since it’s summer. His hair is parted just off center with subtle waves, and gold-rimmed glasses sit on his nose, the color accenting his tan skin that’s a shade darker than usual from walking under the sun and taking his lunch breaks in the park with Jimin every day. He double checks that he has everything he needs in his bag with his phone in his pocket, then he walks down the creaky steps to join the outside world.

It’s a little muggier than it’s been lately since they’re right in the heart of summer now, the air feeling more solid than breezy. The walk to work isn’t very far though, so he slows down so he doesn’t show up hot and sweaty.

He lives on the same street that the newspaper headquarters is on, on the opposite side of town. It makes his commute easy, a nice way to get adjusted to the day and wind down from work after. He walks past the grocery shop where the owners are carrying out boxes of fruit to display out front, always showcasing their best outside to try to lure people in. He sidesteps a woman carrying a huge armful of clothes into the dry cleaner, taking a deep, happy breath when the door opens and he smells clean laundry. He takes another deep inhale as he walks past the flower shop, smelling the delicate petals of so many flowers lounging around inside. He looks to the other side of the street, where people are walking through the park, enjoying their morning coffee and the sunlight. It’s quiet and calm out now, but he knows more people will be out soon because even hot, humid days aren’t enough to keep anybody inside in their pretty mountain town.

He approaches the paper’s headquarters, which always feels like a silly thing to call it. It makes it sound Big and Important. It is very important, but it’s not very big at all. It’s just like any other business whose home is on the town strip, just as charming as the coffee shop he walks past and the plant shop on the other side (which is the reason why he can’t fit anything else of any kind in his apartment).

Multiple windows are on each side of the old wooden door with its rusted mail slot and decaying decal on the window that reads “Town Paper,” accompanied by the building number beneath it. They could get it replaced so the letter stickers aren’t chipped in some spots and sun-faded in others, but he knows Jungkook likes to keep the original charm to the paper and the building, and Taehyung doesn’t disagree.

The windows of the headquarters are open, as they usually are, and Taehyung huffs to himself remembering the whole debacle it was to petition (to Jungkook) to open the headquarters’ windows. As he walks up to the door, he sees a small smile on his face in the reflection as he remembers it.

Proposal for Opening the Windows During Work Hours
A numbered list in defense by Kim Taehyung, as per Jeon Jungkook’s request

1. Fresh air

While this one may be obvious, it clearly isn’t for Jungkook-ssi. Jimin told me to take that part out, but I’m not going to. (Don’t use his attitude against him please I want the windows open too –Jimin) If you walk to work or spend any of your time outside at all, you’ll see that all of the businesses on the strip have their windows and doors open. Breathing in old, recycled, stuffy air is not only bad for your staff’s health, but also general morale. Feeling like we are holed up in the office all day is disheartening, but when the wind is blowing in and we can hear everyone outside, it doesn’t feel so restrictive.

2. Good smells

There are coffee shops, flower shops, plant shops, bakeries, and more all within walking distance from our workplace. We are able to smell them when standing outside. But when standing inside, all we smell is paper and Jungkook-ssi.

He tries to suppress his smile remembering Jungkook reading that, and his whiny, “Hey…” Then mumbled, “I don’t even have a smell.” Then the way he turned to Yoongi and said, quietly, “Do I?”

3. Transparency

We will start to cultivate a sense of trust with the readers of our paper when they are able to see inside our headquarters when they walk past. They’ll see that we are not sneaky, secretive journalists who use dirty money in exchange for information, or forge the truth to our whims. They’ll just see normal people. They’ll see a random guy with pink hair hunched over his desk with ink on his hands.

He remembers Jimin’s much whinier, “Hey! I don’t hunch!” Then the way he turned to Yoongi and said, quietly, “Do I?”

The list had many more numbered explanations for why they should keep the windows open during the seasons they’re able to, but Taehyung knows it wasn’t really necessary. Jungkook planned on doing it when he initially suggested it, but he requested a formal proposal for why he should allow it just for fun (and because Taehyung secretly thinks he likes to get under his skin because he’s amused by the huffs he receives).

As he opens the door into the headquarters, with the ancient bell that’s still attached to the handle jingling in the way it still can to welcome him to work, he hears Jimin’s twinkling laugh float over to him. He doesn’t even need to see who is making him laugh, because Jimin turns into a giggly little fairy with a crush anytime Yoongi is around.

As expected, when he walks inside, he sees Jimin sitting at his desk with Yoongi standing beside him, leaning against it. They are truly the image of a mysterious bad boy and the sweet, angelic person who are in mutual infatuation. The two of them have been playing this game for years, never moving it past casual (and very obvious) (and not really so casual) workplace flirting. Taehyung suspects they secretly like it: existing in this in-between space where every interaction leaves them with butterflies. He tries to tell Jimin that they could have that and more by finally doing something about it, but he thinks they both like the feeling of hope, the feeling of always being right on the verge of something. So he just amusedly walks past them to his desk.

Taehyung has seen the newspaper headquarters of many different types of papers – both in person through being a journalism major in college, and through scenes shown in movies or TV. They’re usually fast-paced and loud, bright with white overhead office lighting, and generally just… grey. Cubicles of people working, some loudly talking on the phone, others rushing past them in a flurry with their grey business suits. They all find a way to be overstimulating and bland all at once, and he resigned himself to his fate when he chose his major.

None of those words or any of their synonyms can be used to describe the newspaper’s headquarters. He would credit it to being the paper for a medium-sized town, but he was told that it used to be much different when run by the former editor-in-chief.

It’s cozy inside. Not cozy to whatever extent an office can be, but cozy in a homey way. The floors – previously covered in beige carpet – are a beautiful, old, original wood that shines when the sunlight hits it. The entire back wall of the space is exposed brick, and the rest of the walls are painted a deep, moody, dark turquoise color (with the hex code being #134d55, Taehyung immediately identified, to be more specific). He would think it would make the whole space too moody and dark, but the effect is offset by the little lamps on each person’s desk – all of them different. Some of them are stained glass Tiffany lamps, some traditional desk lamps he thinks he’d find in a university library, all of them different and eclectic like they were handpicked from an antique store. The desks themselves are the same: made of a medium-toned oak wood with the most comfortable chairs that could be found. There are rugs throughout the space, vintage photos on the walls, shelves hung about with stacks of newspapers and awards and very many plants. The windows are always open, making the cozy, intimate space sunny too.

It’s nice. Taehyung really likes it here. It’s not somewhere he dreads coming, especially not when his best friend’s desk is right across from his own, and all Jimin has to do is turn his chair around and drag it over. Or just use his desk as his own from the other side, which is often what happens.

The lead writers of the paper take up the main area of the floor, giving them extra space to work and collaborate and breathe since they’re the life of the paper. He, Jimin, Namjoon, and Hoseok are the only four desks in the main area of the headquarters, while the other secondary contributors are stationed a bit away from them, around the corner and in their own section of the office. Jungkook’s office is at the front with Yoongi’s office beside it, and in the far corner is a lounge area with a dark red velvet couch with decorative pillows and comfy chairs, a coffee bar, and a vintage TV with old-school gaming consoles.

It’s cozy and warm and sunny and moody, and Taehyung likes it very much. He sets his bag on his desk and pulls out his laptop and notepad. He checks the time on his watch and sees that there are only a few minutes until their daily morning meeting, so he goes to the meeting room.

He’s usually the first person to sit at the oval table every morning, but he’s not today. He tries to hold back whatever expressions pass over his features, and he just barely manages to hold in his huff. Jungkook looks up from his notes, and he offers him a kind smile. “Good morning, Taehyung.”

Jungkook’s hair is at a length where sometimes when he blinks, the strands are woven through his eyelashes and his bangs subtly rustle. Taehyung pointed it out to Jimin after one of their meetings once, wanting to talk about how distracting it is and how maybe Jungkook should get a haircut, but when it was met with, “Why are you paying such close attention to Jungkook’s face that you notice his eyelashes?” he didn’t bring it up again. Still, he does notice it, and the wavy locks of hair blink with his eyelashes.

He’s wearing what he usually wears every day, which is a black shirt and black pants. The hoop earrings in his ears are a black metal, and the ring through his bottom lip is silver. Taehyung wonders why he doesn’t switch that one to black too, but it would probably take attention away from the rest of his facial features. Especially when he bites on it so much whenever he’s thinking, which is often – not because Taehyung thinks he’s particularly pensive; he’s just asked a lot of questions. Right now his lips, which always seem to be slightly chapped no matter what season they’re in (but Taehyung doesn’t point that out to Jimin), are upwardly curved as he watches Taehyung walk into the meeting room.

Taehyung nods his head at him. “Jungkook,” he says in greeting. “How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Taehyung says. He sits at his usual seat on Jungkook's right and waits for everyone to arrive. He usually uses this time to work on this morning’s crossword puzzle because the others in this meeting usually take their time wandering in despite it being a scheduled time, but he’s thrown off by Jungkook’s presence, so he sits silently.

“Great job on those edits again,” Jungkook says. “And I was reading through your answers from this week’s advice column, and they were really great. I see the effort and care you put into each one, and I know it’s appreciated by our readers and the people who send in questions. It’s something I wanted to talk about in the meeting too.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. He looks down at his fidgeting fingers in his lap because he’s unsure if he’s blushing. “Thank you.”

Jungkook’s smile is just as warm and kind as always when he looks up again. Thankfully the rest of the meeting’s attendees walk in just a second later.

Yoongi is wearing an outfit similar to Jungkook’s – a black shirt with black pants – with his long hair always looking windswept. His feline eyes are looking at Jimin like they usually are, and Jimin looks like the opposite of him. His blonde hair makes his features even more angelic, and his light blue shirt and jeans make him look like he floated down from the sky, there just to slowly fall in love with the boy who acts as his shadow. Hoseok follows close behind in his bright clothes with his bright laugh and his heart-shaped smile directed at Namjoon, who always looks like the mix of a library and a forest.

Yoongi sits across from Taehyung, on the other side of Jungkook at the head of the table. Hoseok and Namjoon sit beside Yoongi, while Jimin sits beside him like always.

“Morning, everyone,” Jungkook says once they’re all settled in. “We have a lot of things to cover, so let’s get started so I don’t keep you from your work.”

– ♡ –

The first half of the meeting doesn’t directly affect or require Taehyung, so he stays quiet unless his input is requested. Jungkook and Namjoon talk about current affairs and how much page space each feature should fill. Hoseok and Jimin discuss which trending pop culture and entertainment topics have longevity to make their paper worth reading a day or two after the day it’ll be out, in case someone doesn’t pick it up it in time. The topic eventually fades into talking about the topics themselves instead of how they pertain to the paper, which then turns into a gossip session with all of them.

Finally, the subject turns to town affairs – Taehyung’s specialty.

“Before we talk about what stories you’ll be covering today,” Jungkook says to him, “I wanted to talk about the advice column.” Taehyung starts to panic because he’s prone to doing so, even though Jungkook just complimented his work on that section not even an hour ago. “Have you checked the inbox today?”

Questions sent to him – or technically to the anonymous advice columnist – are done through the locked dropbox on the outside of the building. It’s a mailbox that was built into the architecture long ago when the building was first new, before the next inheritors lost the key and added a mail flap onto the door instead of finding an actual solution to their problem. Jungkook somehow managed to find the key after a century of it being lost, but the mail people never adjusted to the mailbox being in use again and continued to send their mail through the mail slot. It was good timing though, because Taehyung arrived soon after, along with the advice column, so now the old mailbox is used for people to write in advice they need answered or just serve as a place to vent.

Since the advice column is only in the Sunday editions of the newspaper, Taehyung usually checks the inbox midway through the week, sometimes another day or two if he needs a break from the main stories he’s writing. He only just finished this Sunday’s responses last night, so he hasn’t checked what’s come in since then.

He shakes his head. “You should go check,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung blinks at him. “Right now?” Jungkook nods.

Confused, Taehyung gets up and walks out of the meeting room. He grabs the key from his desk and walks outside. He can hear children playing in the park, the sound of the bells on the doors of various businesses ringing when people enter or leave. The sound of the skeleton key that only he has to open the old mailbox where letters are dropped.

As soon as he opens the door with its usual rusted sound, envelopes burst out and fall to the ground. Taehyung’s eyes go wide as he tries to catch as many as he can before they fall. He looks down at all of them, some of them bent or torn from being forced inside the over-full container. He just emptied the inbox the day before yesterday. This is only from a couple days, when it’s usually more than he gets in an entire week.

He gathers them up when the wind tries to blow them away, and he walks back to the meeting room and deposits them all on the table. Everyone’s eyes go equally as wide, while Jungkook looks a mix of amused and… and proud, maybe. It makes Taehyung’s fingertips oddly tingle.

“Why are there so many?” Hoseok asks. He reaches out to grab an envelope, but Taehyung slaps his hand away. Hoseok pulls it to his chest with a screech as he looks at him in offense.

“I’ve gotten a lot of emails lately,” Jungkook says, “about how much people look forward to the advice column every Sunday. Half of them said that they’ve never even sent anything in; they just love reading it.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. A pleased smile comes to his lips.

Jimin’s hands are on Taehyung’s blushing cheeks as he loudly coos. “People love my smart, sweet, caring Taehyungie,” he says.

“Stop,” Taehyung giggles, slapping his hands away too. Jungkook still has that same smile on his face, and everyone else’s smiles are endeared too.

“Since everybody loves that section of the paper,” Jungkook continues, “I have three options for you to choose from. You don’t have to choose right now; you can just think on it.” Taehyung nods. “Option one is that things stay the same. It stays a Sunday feature. You can either read through all of the submissions and pick a few, or blindly choose, or do it however you’d like.

“Option two is that we make this a daily feature. I know how much time and effort you put into doing this, and this would expand your responsibilities when you already have one of the most time- and effort-heavy roles at the newspaper. This would add more things to your plate.

“The third option is that we make this a daily feature, but I cut back your Community News team.” Taehyung blinks at him. He has three other people on his team, and after every morning meeting, he meets with them to delegate stories. How would adding more work while taking away the others who share his responsibilities make sense? Before he can say something snarky like that, as everyone – including Jungkook – is clearly anticipating, he continues. “Instead of you and the three others, you and I would co-lead the team together.”

Taehyung continues to blink at him. “You’re the editor-in-chief.” Jungkook nods. “You’re not a contributor, because you’re the editor, the person who everyone sends their stories to. Why would you run a section with me?”

“Because the advice column is popular. From a financial standpoint, it has increased newspaper subscriptions, and our individual purchase numbers are significantly higher on Sundays than the rest of the days of the week. From a personal, non-capitalist view, I know our community really values it. The people who write in feel heard, and the readers learn from your answers even if it wasn’t their question. And I know you enjoy doing work on that section. It shows through the way the readers feel attached to it. If you were just answering robotically with generic advice, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

Taehyung can tell that Jimin is just on the verge of cooing again. “If it gets to be too much,” Hoseok pipes, “I could help ans–”

“No,” Taehyung immediately says. Hoseok huffs and looks offended again.

Jungkook’s face is endeared when Taehyung looks at him again. “You’d be able to handle it,” Jimin says. “You just organize it all and make a list. It’s what you do, you and your little lists.”

“It’s up to you,” Jungkook says. “If you’d like to keep things as they are, it won’t be a loss, because it would give everyone in town something to look forward to every week. If you would like to restructure your team though to make it co-run with me, with maybe an additional contributor here and there when we need the help, then don’t feel like you’re putting me out by it. I’ve missed doing traditional reporting, and we would work hand-in-hand.” Jimin very subtly nudges him at that wording, and Taehyung holds himself back from elbowing him. “You wouldn’t have to be the sole reporter, the one who comes up with the ideas, the interviewer, the writer, all of the different things that you are alone since you don’t have people on your team who are on your level, and the articles and stories would run smoothly when done by equally-as-experienced contributors.”

That’s a good point. He likes his team, but they’re mostly on the younger side and therefore inexperienced. It’s not a bad thing at all; he doesn’t mind it. Everyone has to start somewhere just like he did, and he enjoys mentoring his team and helping them grow. Still, though, when he leads one of the more demanding facets of the paper, doing his own reporting while also managing a team and helping teach the others is a lot. Like this, he wouldn’t have to do anything but what his actual job is: be a writer and reporter.

However, the advice column doesn’t only require physical work hours from him. Most days once he’s finished writing everything for the Sunday edition, he feels tired. It requires so much mental and emotional work from him. He doesn’t know how he’ll be able to manage doing that every single day. Hearing everybody’s problems and struggles and finding ways to respond with empathy requires connecting to them, and doing that so much gets exhausting. It requires even more work from him than it would to others, because his way of thinking and feeling is different from others’. Sometimes he doesn’t know if he’s getting it right and has to ask Jimin for help or search things on the internet. It’s not easy and straightforward a lot of the time, and it makes him tired in many different ways.

Jungkook said he can think about it, but he already knows his decision. Still, though, he’ll take a day to sit on it and see if he still feels the same in the morning.

“I’d like to think about it,” he says.

Jungkook nods. “No problem. There’s no rush. You can come to me for any questions you have. Anything you choose is alright with me.”

Taehyung nods, and the meeting carries on.

– ♡ –

Taehyung is walking around the office. He nods at the other staff writers when he passes their nook of the building, their space just as cozy as his own. He peeks into the kitchen, finds the sunlight falling onto the periwinkle cabinets and white countertops – an interesting choice (color #c5cddf, that is), but one that Jungkook didn’t make. It’s made less… shocking by the choices Jungkook did make, like the fresh flowers that are always on the small island and the art on the walls that complement the colors. Jimin is sitting at the island beneath the warm pendant lights, eating green grapes as usual (so often that Taehyung knows that they’re generally in the range of #d6e273) as he scrolls through his phone. Taehyung doesn’t feel like stopping to talk right now since he’s on a mission, so he keeps walking.

He looks in their meeting room even though it’s really just a table and chairs. He inspects the shelves and cabinets around the lounge space. He finally just gives up and returns back to his desk, where Jungkook is walking up, holding something.

“I brought this for you,” he says. He holds out a small wooden container with a lid and a latch. Exactly like something Taehyung was looking for. “Figured you'd need a place to store all the mail.”

Taehyung nods. “Yeah, thanks,” he says as he takes it from him. He sets it on his desk and starts to dump all the envelopes in it.

“Let me know if you need anything.”

Taehyung nods. “Okay,” he says, and Jungkook leaves him.

Once Taehyung has the box organized safely in his desk drawer, he sits down and gets to work. Well, he tries to, but Jimin comes back from his snack break and drags his chair to the other side of his desk. He smells like cotton candy, and the twinkle in his eyes is just as sweet. “Hi,” he says. “Which one are you going to choose?”

Taehyung leans back in his chair and pretends to think about it. “If Jungkook and I run the Community News team together, with just the two of us, that means we’ll be spending a lot of time together. Like, all of our time together. You know how much groundwork I do. He’d be tagging along.” So much of Taehyung’s workdays are spent out in the town, interviewing people about things he’s covering, going to local businesses or events to write about them, meeting people in their community or making observations about things going on. If he and Jungkook worked together, so much of that time would also be spent together.

“Doesn’t seem like a problem to me. Not for you,” Jimin smirks.

Taehyung huffs and rolls his eyes. “You’re insane.”

“You’re not fooling anybody,” Jimin says. “Especially not me. I know what’s behind that attitude for Jungkook.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes again. “Behind my ‘attitude’ is him being my boss, and me not seeing him as someone to be friends and buddy-buddy with like the rest of everybody else here.”

Jimin rolls his eyes this time. “If you would get rid of your stand-up-to-authority mindset, you’d see that Jungkook is exactly your ty–”

“Hey, Taehyung,” Jungkook says when he appears at his side. Jimin’s mouth snaps shut before an impish smile appears. Jungkook looks at him. “Don’t you have a comic to be drawing?”

Jimin brings two fingers up to his temple. “Sir, yes, sir,” he says, then he drags his chair back to his own desk. Taehyung looks up at Jungkook. Jimin is insane. Jungkook isn’t his type. He’s not his anything except for his boss. Jungkook’s doe eyes look back down at him. Taehyung notices that they sparkle in the warm light. He notices it every time.

“Could you come to my office?” Jungkook asks.

“Sure,” Taehyung says. He follows Jungkook to his office, which is only a few steps away from his desk. Jungkook’s office is barely even an office because of how much his boss tries to not have it be a separate space from the rest of the main office. Taehyung hasn’t seen the door or the blinds shut the entire time he’s worked here because Jungkook always wants everyone to feel like they can walk right in when they need him.

It’s decorated the same as the rest of the office, just as warmly but with some personal touches that must reflect who Jungkook is, not that Taehyung really knows. His desk is a slightly darker wood than everybody else’s, with the lamps a little dimmer. There’s a couch against one wall, the same as the one in the lounge area, with a coffee table and a floor lamp. There are shelves with different knick knacks and accolades (the random figurines in the forefront with his various awards and degrees pushed to the back). His office fits in with the rest of the main office, but is just a little calmer and quieter.

Instead of sitting on the other side of the desk when Taehyung takes a seat, Jungkook sits in the chair beside him. “There’s a story I’d like you to cover,” Jungkook says. “But it’s… different. Depending on how it plays out and what we uncover, it most likely will not be featured in the paper.”

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows. Why would he report on something that won’t be shared? Jungkook just spoke to him about how he already has a lot on his plate and might even be taking on more, so he’s confused about why he’d be assigned a story that sounds like it’s extracurricular. It does, however, make him extremely intrigued, because why isn’t he going to share it, and what makes it worth the work without any of the usual results?

“Okay…” he says.

“No one knows about this but us. No one can know about this but us. Okay?”

Taehyung finds himself subconsciously leaning in. “Okay.”

Then, for the first time ever, Jungkook stands and closes his door. Everybody in the office’s heads snap over at the sound, and he and Jimin make shocked eye contact as Jungkook is pulling the shades down.

Taehyung’s stomach drops. “Do we have a serial killer?” he whispers with wide eyes. His stomach flutters back up when Jungkook laughs.

“No, there’s no serial killer.” Jungkook sits across from him again, then he furrows his eyebrows at him – an unusual turn of events. “I wouldn’t make you investigate a serial killer. You’re not a crime detective. I wouldn’t send you off to do something if I thought you’d get hurt.” Taehyung sits back in his chair. That is true. “There is crime involved, though. Oh yeah, would you like something to drink? Or maybe–”

“Oh my god, just get to it, Jungkook,” Taehyung says. Then he quickly tacks on, “–ssi. Sir.”

Jungkook just laughs. Taehyung forces the corners of his lips to stay down. Jungkook takes a deep breath. “So.” He grabs a file folder from his desk, but he doesn’t hand it over or open it yet. “I’ll give you an overview, then we can look at what I’ve collected so far.” Jungkook seems to be settling in, so Taehyung does too – as much as he can in his boss’s office when he doesn’t know what’s going on. “I first heard word of this about a month and a half ago, but it was just little things here and there. It took me a while to connect some of the dots.”

“Are you going to tell me what it is or are you going to keep talking vaguely?” Taehyung says, then adds, again, “Sir.”

“Stop calling me sir,” Jungkook laughs. “I’m getting to it. The timeline is important. I was at the grocery store and overheard the manager talking to one of the assistant managers. He said that some of the stock in the backroom had been disappearing. He said it’d been happening for a while, but only in small amounts, which is usually just counted as human error. But when it was consistent, and it started being more inventory that’d gone missing, they started to take it more seriously. When they looked into it more, they noticed that the security cameras go dark during certain hours in the middle of the night. It’s never on the same days or times, so having a police car on standby at the store in the middle of the night every night wouldn’t do anything, and it especially wouldn’t if the person responsible – if there’s a person responsible and it’s not a mistake – sees and leaves. You know how the police department is too though, so I don’t think anyone is getting them involved in any part of this.”

Taehyung snorts. Yeah, that sounds about right. Nothing will get done unless they do it themselves. And he doesn’t want to ever involve the police or be around them for more personal reasons. He pushes the sudden thoughts of his childhood away for now so he can focus.

This does sound like a criminal case though, which is out of his skill set as just a simple reporter.

“I overheard it and just stored the conversation away,” Jungkook continues. “I didn’t think about it again really until a while later, when I was walking my dog. I heard a woman talking to her neighbor as I walked past. The two of them were talking about how the last few times they’ve hung their laundry up to dry outside, some of their things have gone missing. They checked around the area, and it wasn’t the wind blowing it away or anything, so someone came to swipe them.”

“Did they leave their laundry out overnight?” Taehyung asks, the gears in his head already turning. “And do you know if this was happening at the same time as the missing inventory at the grocery store?”

Jungkook smiles at him. Taehyung blames the glittery feeling in his fingertips on getting excited about an interesting story to follow. “This is why I chose you for the job,” Jungkook says. Despite himself, Taehyung sits up a little straighter and lets the small smile come to his lips. “I’m not sure. All of the information I’ve compiled is disjointed. Pretty much all of the things I’ve looked into will be needed to be looked into further to find out more details.” That’s easy. Taehyung has always been good at talking to people as long as he has a clear objective, and he doesn’t ever feel shy about asking questions, since he unintentionally has a blunt way of speaking to begin with (or so he's been told, because he never noticed it himself). But,Jungkook says, “We can’t outright ask these people about any of it.”

Taehyung’s shoulders slump as he stares at him. “Why?”

“As far as I can tell, nobody in any part of this knows about the other people. The neighbors talking about the laundry don’t know about the grocery store, and the grocery store workers don’t know about what happened at the gas station, which I’ll fill you in on too. And no one can know about any of these things except for us.”

“Why though?” Taehyung says.

“Because with the theme of the things this person – or people, or if it’s someone at all and not just a bunch of random events that happen to be happening at the same time – is doing, it kind of suggests it being a homeless person.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says, slowly nodding his head. The food, the laundry. Whatever else Jungkook has for him to look through probably fits the same profile. If that is who is doing all of this, the police department finding out would result in something not very good, rather than providing any necessary or beneficial help like they should. “The proper term now is unhoused person, or houseless. We don’t say homeless anymore.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “Good to know. Unhoused, then. Thank you for telling me.”

“So… what’s the goal for this though? Like, we find out who it is, if it is someone, then what?”

“Then we use some of the newspaper funds, and whatever I can donate, and help this person.” Taehyung blinks at him. “We have a reserve of money in the paper’s funds, which is there for expansion – moving to a new headquarters, hiring more staff, putting out more content or expanding our reach. I don’t want any of those things for the paper, nor do I think it would be a good thing. I think it would ruin it, really. So that money is just sitting there, and I’d like to use it for something good if it’s going to be used.”

“You don’t think it’s bad that they’re stealing?” Taehyung asks as a test, because this is a side of Jungkook that he didn’t know existed.

And he can’t help but be very pleasantly surprised when Jungkook says, “No, I don’t. If it’s stealing to survive, I think that’s different. It should be seen as a need for help. It should be approached as that, not as something to punish. But when you look through what I’ve collected, you’ll see even more why I don’t think it’s bad.”

Jungkook did choose the right person for this job, because Taehyung doesn’t even need all of the information to ask, “Did these two things happen to take place on the east side of town?” He knows he’s got it because of the look Jungkook gives him. Then Taehyung’s face shifts into one of disgust. “Ew, do you live on the east side?”

Jungkook throws his head back and laughs. The sight and the sound make Taehyung giggle. When he realizes it, he quickly seals his lips shut. “No, I don’t,” Jungkook says. “I live north of here.” Which is also where Taehyung lives, but he doesn’t mention it. “I was just taking my dog on a long walk and heard it. A few of the other leads I collected were also word of mouth, and I didn’t recognize the people, so they’ll have to be looked into to see which part of town they live in.”

The east side is where the wealthier people are. Taehyung thinks with amused annoyance that their little – well, not little, really, but by no means a city – town has a rich part of town, but he supposes rich people will always try to segregate themselves. And if all of these things take place on the east side, well, it makes it quite a bit more interesting. And it makes Taehyung definitely root for whoever is doing this.

“So what’s our next plan of action?” he asks.

“Well, for now, I’ll walk you through the file and get you caught up. After that, I think a good place to start would just be, kind of… eavesdropping.”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

Jungkook shrugs. “We have a lot of information right now, but it’s all very disjointed. We need more to let it start to thread together, and rich people love to talk. Especially if some ‘injustice’ is happening to them, so if we spend some time in their part of town, I don’t think it will be hard to gather more information.”

“Where should I place this in my priorities?” Taehyung asks. It’s important and something he definitely wants to take on, but this isn’t something that will contribute to their paper, and he has actual work to do.

“This is separate from what we talked about in the meeting, but for the duration of this investigation, I’ll be taking on half of your workload. That could be permanent based on what you decide about the advice column, but for right now, we’ll be splitting it. I do think this is very important, especially when it could have negative consequences if this is all uncovered by someone else.”

Taehyung nods. He agrees that it’s important, much more important than reporting on the yearly summer parade next week. “Okay,” he says. Since he’s here, he might as well say, “I thought about what you said, and I’d like to make the advice column a daily thing. With you becoming part of my team.”

Jungkook snorts. The sound turns into a laugh, and Taehyung presses his lips together tightly. “We’ll be co-leading the team,” Jungkook reminds him. “We won’t even be leading, really. We’ll just be a team.”

“So you’re not my boss then?” Taehyung asks, an eyebrow raised.

Jungkook laughs, and Taehyung doesn’t know why he has to try so hard to keep himself from smiling around Jungkook, but it’s getting tiring. “I am still your boss,” Jungkook says. “Maybe just a little less than usual. I’m not going to be running our team; it’s a joint effort. You’re just as important as I am.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Thank you, Jungkook,” he says with a bow. “You’re so selfless and humble for thinking I’m just as important as the editor-in-chief is.”

Jungkook’s eyes go wide, and he starts to trip over his words as he tries to get them out so quickly. “No! That’s–that’s not what I mean. I just meant that–that–”

“I’m just joking, Jungkook,” Taehyung says flatly. “I know what you meant.” Jungkook stares at him, then he deflates. Then he yawns, and Taehyung remembers last night. “Did you sleep alright?”

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows at him, then he remembers, “Oh, yeah, I did. Kind of. But I’m okay, thanks for asking. Want to go through the file now?”

Jungkook doesn’t seem to want to talk about it, so Taehyung puts it to rest, and he opens the folder. He blinks down it. “You’re the editor-in-chief and this is how you take notes?” He looks back up, and Jungkook looks like a deer caught in the headlights with his innocent doe eyes looking at him. Taehyung sighs. “I’m going to get my laptop. Send me the files. I need to organize this.”

– ♡ –

Untitled Case
Led by Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook
(Initial leads compiled by Jungkook and organized by Kim Taehyung, because Jungkook takes notes like an intern at his first job.)
(JJK: Hey…)

I. Lead #1: The Grocery Store

• Date: unknown (Seriously, Jungkook.) (JJK: I didn't know it meant anything yet!)
• Location: Evergreen Market (referred to herein as “the grocery store”)
• Sources:
  • Unnamed manager: male, mid 30s, buzzcut
  • Unnamed store worker: female, early 20s, blonde
• Information gathered: Inventory has gone missing from the stock room. The beginning date of the incidents is unknown. Increasing quantities have gone missing as the weeks progressed, until human error is no longer an applicable explanation. Days of the week and times vary, but speculation suggests it oftentimes takes place within the AM hours. During times of activity, security cameras have cut out.
• Additional notes: The police department has not been notified, to our knowledge.

II. Lead #2: The East Side Neighborhood

• Date: also unknown
• Location: East side of town, streets and addresses unknown. However: “The big white house and the one next to it.” (Could you really not just… take your dog on a walk again so we’d at least have the addresses?) (JJK: No comment) (How are you even the editor-in-chief.) (JJK: I just threw this all together today!!!!!!) (I can tell.)
• Sources:
  • Unnamed inhabitant of the white house: female, mid to late 40s, greying hair
  • Unnamed neighbor: male, early 30s, hair similar to Jungkook’s
• Information gathered: Laundry hung outside to dry in unnamed female source’s backyard occasionally goes missing. The type of laundry taken is unknown, as is whether it’s happening to others and what time of day it takes place.
• Additional notes: None.

III. Lead #3: The Gas Station

• Date: dates of activity unknown, but information gathered on the 15th of June
• Location: S-Oil (referred to herein as “the gas station”)
• Sources:
  • Minseo: male, late 50s, wearing a green employee hat and assumed to be the manager
  • Unnamed gas station attendant: description unknown due to obstructed view
• Information gathered: During the AM hours, suspect arrives at the gas station. Their license plate is covered, and their vehicle is different on each occasion. Suspect selects the option “pay in cash” on the screen. Suspect proceeds to fill several empty red gallons kept in their trunk. Once finished, suspect does not pay inside.
• Additional notes: As of today (the 20th of June), this is presumed to only have happened two times.

Current Plan of Action

Jungkook:

• Take unnamed dog (JJK: Bam, he’s a doberman and really cute) on a walk on the east side of town, where you supposedly don’t live. (JJK: I don’t!!! I don’t know how much money you think I make, but definitely not enough to live around there). Collect the address where the laundry incident has taken place. Scope out people who have a clothesline in their backyard.
• Take Bam on a walk through town to see if you notice or hear anything.

Taehyung:

• Go to the grocery store to see if you can gather more information on the missing inventory.
• Take your car to get gas in the middle of the night. Observe the attendant to see if they try to type you as a suspect. Maybe act offended, try to gather any information you can.
  

– ♡ –

“I don’t know if you should do that,” Jungkook says as they look over his notes.

“Why?” Taehyung asks.

“I dunno. It’s late at night. We don’t know anything about the suspect, or suspects. It could be dangerous. Even without that part of it, it could be dangerous to go to the gas station by yourself in the middle of the night.”

“Our town is safe,” Taehyung says. “This is the only crime-adjacent thing that’s happened since I’ve lived here. That’s why people like our newspaper, because there’s basically never anything bad in it.”

“Okay, well, this isn’t crime-adjacent,” Jungkook says with a chuckle. “This is crime. We’re just figuring out whether it’s justified. Which, to anyone else, probably, no crime is justified, which is why we are the only ones who can know about it. Still, our knowledge on any of this is limited. I just don’t want you to go to the gas station late at night.”

“Well how will we get any information on this?”

“I can go instead. We can switch one of our things.”

“How come you can go but I can’t? Do you think I’m weak?”

“No!” Jungkook says, eyes wide as he shakes his head. “No, no, not at all. I just, I dunno, I’d rather do it. What if we do it together?”

Taehyung tries to hold back his minor look of distaste. Hanging out with his boss in the middle of the night? It wouldn’t be hanging out, but still. Even though they barely have anything to go off of, he’s finding himself a bit passionate about this case, and he wants to learn more. He’d like to gather everything himself, but he knows that’s not possible, and being part of each course of action would require doing every step with Jungkook, and he doesn’t know if he wants that.

But since they’re in the beginning still and they have very elementary steps to follow, he’d like to be part of it. So he says, “Okay. When?”

“When do you think the suspect would be most likely to go?”

“During weekdays when there’s less of a chance of people being up late than on the weekends.” Jungkook gives him that proud, pleased look, and Taehyung can’t help but perk up. “I think it would be better to go on a weekday. There could be more of a chance to get the attendants to talk if it’s on a weekend and they see more people – and it could be safer – but they might suspect us more on a weekday, and we could have the response we want.”

Jungkook nods. “How’s tomorrow night then?”

Taehyung was planning on recording a video tomorrow night so he could post it the following day as usual, but he supposes he could record and edit the video tonight instead. But he’ll have to figure out how to work this and that into his schedule for tonight then, because he wants to be prepared and ready with a plan for tomorrow night, and he can’t really work on this at his desk since it’s supposed to stay between them.

“Yeah, tomorrow night works,” Taehyung says.

“Are you sure?” Jungkook asks, because he probably sounds reluctant.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I don’t mind working after hours obviously, I truly don’t, especially for this, but I can’t really work on this at my desk if it’s supposed to stay secret.”

“You’ll be getting a raise for the amount of extra work this is going to be for you,” Jungkook says. “I already notified the finance team, and–”

“Wait, what?”

Jungkook gives him a confused look. “I’m not going to give you extra work and not compensate you for it. I honestly should’ve given you a raise sooner. The fact that I chose you for this shows that I think you’re one of the most trusted and talented people here. You deserve to be shown that in your pay.”

Taehyung blinks at him. Then he furiously blushes. “Oh, w-well, thank you.” He bows as much as he can sitting down.

“No need to thank me,” Jungkook says. “Thank you for your work. You deserve it.”

Taehyung takes a moment to compose himself, feeling his heart and stomach fluttering from the praise and recognition. “I can’t work on this at my desk, and some nights I won’t be able to work on it at home – especially if we’ll be physically doing things for the case, like tomorrow.”

“You’re welcome to use my office,” Jungkook says. “Especially since we’ll probably be working on it together.”

“What about everybody else though? This is, like, the first time you’ve ever closed your door.”

Jungkook shrugs. “We can just say it’s about what we talked about in the meeting. Us co-leading the Community News team.”

Taehyung nods. The timing is lucky. “Okay,” he says. He’s not sure about having to work in such close quarters with his boss, during and after work hours, but he’ll deal with it. “Text me with the details for tomorrow night then.”

Jungkook nods. “Thank you for agreeing to take this on.”

Taehyung just nods and gathers his things. He gives one more head nod to him, then he leaves his office.

As soon as the door opens, everyone’s heads snap over again. Taehyung rolls his eyes and goes to his desk. Immediately, Jimin rolls his chair over. Instead of asking what all of that was about, Jimin says, “Did you guys kiss?”

Taehyung makes a noise that’s a mix of a snort, a sputter, and a sound of disgust. “No, we did not kiss. He’s my boss, and he’s also Jungkook, who is my boss.”

Jimin only rolls his eyes. “What was all that about then?”

He absolutely hates lying to Jimin, but it’s not exactly a lie. He’s just not telling him all the little details like he normally would on something like this, which still feels like a lie. “We’re going to be working together, so we were getting all of that in order and going over things.”

Thankfully Jimin doesn’t ask more since he was in this morning’s meeting. He does smirk though. “You two will be spending a lot of time together.”

Jimin doesn’t even know the half of it. “Yep.”

Jimin’s smirk deepens. “I can’t wait to be right.”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow. “Right about what?”

“Oh, nothing,” Jimin singsongs as he rolls his chair back to his desk.

Taehyung just shakes his head and brushes it off. He opens his planner, and he starts to figure out how he’s going to manage all of these things. This case with Jungkook, his now-daily advice column, and the occasional community news article. It’ll be a lot, but he smiles to himself as he pencils things in. He hadn’t really noticed how… monotonous this has all become. He loves his job and he loves what he does, but it’s kind of the same cycle of things every week even though the stories change. This is something new and exciting. And he does have to work closely with his boss, but he supposes that it’s less horrible than it’d be if he had anyone else as his boss.

Ew, no, what? he thinks to himself with his face scrunching up. It’s Jungkook.

Just then, Jungkook walks out of his office. He’s fidgeting with the many earrings in his ears like he does sometimes. He’s twisting the hoop in his right ear back and forth between his tattooed fingers. He offers a kind smile to everyone he passes, and to Taehyung too. When he passes him, Taehyung just rolls his eyes to himself and looks back down at his planner, and he gets to work.

– ♡ –

“Hi, baby,” Taehyung softly whispers. “I missed you.” He snuggles further into bed. Pulls the blanket around him tighter. “I’m sorry I’m getting home late. I was caught up at work. I was thinking about you the whole time though.”

He reaches a hand out, then he brushes his fingers through the fur cap that’s over his mic. The motion of his hand looks as if he’s brushing through someone’s hair, and the sound it makes is the same.

These aren’t his most favorite videos to record, but they’re some of his most beloved. He always feels a little cringe filming them and editing them, even though he doesn’t think watching them is anything to be ashamed of. On lonely nights, before he started his channel, he’d sometimes watch a romantic personal attention asmr video. He very much understands the appeal, and he always gets tons of comments every video of people saying how grateful they are for him, and it’s why he does it. He’s been told about people’s loneliness, their insecurities and fears, sometimes their trauma. If something as simple as lying in his bed and pretending to talk to someone with love is all it takes for the people who watch his videos to feel it, to find safety and calmness enough to fall asleep, then he’ll do it as many times as he can. He feels lucky and grateful to be able to.

He checks the camera again to make sure his face is out of the frame. No one who knows sweetnight knows what he looks like. They’ve only ever seen him from the neck down, and mostly only see his hands and hear his voice. No one has ever commented on it either, really. The little community he’s built is so kind and never demands more, even though he’s certain they’re all curious about what he looks like. He wouldn’t mind showing his face if he weren’t a journalist. It would be easy for those two things to merge in several different ways, and he wouldn’t really like any of them.

So he’s just anonymous like he is at part of his job too, and he doesn’t mind it. Just his hands and his voice seem to be enough for people.

He continues to pretend like he’s brushing through someone's hair, occasionally gently scratching as if he were scratching their head. Sometimes he’ll act like he’s tracing their eyebrows or around their lips as he talks before he goes back to massaging their head.

“I can’t wait ‘til it’s the weekend,” he whispers. “Nothing to do for either of us. We can just stay home and cuddle, catch up on our show. Maybe we can go on a walk, or have a picnic in the park. Actually, maybe not that, because I think it might rain this weekend. So we can just have a cozy couple of days inside together.”

He was kind of nervous when first starting to do videos like these, that maybe people would be weird about it, weird with him. He knows how it feels to have a parasocial relationship with someone whose videos he loyally watches online, especially an asmr artist, and he’s sure that his viewers feel that way with him. He’s with these people in the middle of the night, whispering to them, helping lull them to sleep. It’s such a personal, vulnerable time, and it makes sense anyone would get attached.

Still, despite making videos where he pretends to be in love with the person watching them, no one has gotten too weird about it or made him feel uncomfortable. They’ve mostly just told him what a comfort he is, the way he makes them feel safe enough to sleep. And it’s so very nice.

He continues talking to himself, pretending like he’s talking to someone he’s in love with so the people who watch his videos can pretend it’s them. He does it for another half hour or so, until he starts to get sleepy himself. He yawns, slides his hand down so it’s on the bed again. “I’m getting sleepy now. I want to be the big spoon tonight.” He wiggles in closer to the camera and yawns again. “G’night, baby. I love you.” He reaches over and grabs the remote that controls the lights in his room, and he turns them off. He rustles around a little more so the mic picks up the sound of the blankets and sheets moving, then he stills again. He waits a couple minutes more, then he turns on the lights and stops the recording. He sets his camera and mic on the nightstand, then he turns off the lights again and sleeps by himself.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Taehyung sits at his desk at work the next morning, finally sorting through all of the advice column mail. He brought the box back out with him when he arrived, and thankfully there were only a few more waiting there that were dropped off sometime during the day or overnight. He hopes he doesn’t get an overwhelming amount multiple times a week like he did yesterday, because his spread will only be a page long – well, not “only,” because having a page all to himself every newspaper issue is insane. But still, it can only fit a certain number of questions depending on the length of the questions and the length of his answers. He doesn’t want to answer more succinctly just to fit more on the page, so he hopes the inbox is steady and not overwhelming.

Thankfully a lot of the letters he received are just fanmail, which is very nice. Jungkook said he’s been getting some in his email inbox, and it appears he wasn’t lying. Some of the other letters are too personal, containing too many names and some town gossip that seems like it should stay private – but he’s very appreciative of those, because he likes hearing the gossip. He’s left with still quite a few, so hopefully he doesn’t receive very many tomorrow since these will have to be stretched across a few days.

Trying to pick out where to start first though feels stressful, so he turns to the digital inbox instead.

The advice column was initially proposed as a way to get more traffic to their website. While they do try to keep things traditional, they still do have a website for accessibility purposes for those who might not be able to read a newspaper for any type of reason. At first they weren’t making enough money from the website to run the website, and Jungkook wanted to at least break even on it, so they brainstormed different ways to get people there. It was one of the motives behind the idea of the advice column, because people from outside of town could submit their questions too. It really helped them and made them go viral on social media, which made Taehyung’s section even more popular and successful.

Once they achieved what they set out to do, they pulled their focus in again to only focus on submissions from people who live in their town, but they still accept one out-of-town answer per issue – now per day.

It was a good idea not only for professional newspaper purposes, but because it gave them more diversity. Sometimes the things he gets can be a little repetitive because everyone in their town lives similar lives, but broadening their audience gives him submissions from different types of people in different types of places, and it’s nice to have some wildcards thrown in sometimes.

When they were first working through the concept, they tried to brainstorm something for Taehyung to be called, what the writers could address him as. “Anonymous” seemed too impersonal, maybe even a little political, and they didn’t want to do a hidden variation of his name. It was Jimin who came up with the idea when he said, “What is that song you sing or hum to yourself? That you said your grandmother used to sing to you?”

“Winter bear?” Taehyung said.

“Yeah! What about winter bear?”

It instantly fit, and it felt nice to see those words again so often. It soon evolved though when, once the season was no longer winter and the advice column grew more popular, he got a letter addressed to “summer bear.” He thought it was the cutest thing in the world, and he now changes each season.

He scrolls through the inbox, reading the subject line before one calls to him, and he clicks it.

– ♡ –

– ♡ –

“Who is blowing up your phone?” Jimin asks before Taehyung can put it on do not disturb. It’s been vibrating and chiming nonstop as they walked from the office to the park, but his hands were too full from carrying their lunch that he couldn’t silence it.

As soon as they sit on their usual bench, Taehyung slides it out of his pocket to put it on do not disturb. “Comments,” he says.

“Ah,” Jimin nods as he unwraps the top of his kimbap burrito. “My best friend is famous.”

Taehyung snorts. He’s not wrong though, really. He has two famous alter egos. Winter (and Summer and Autumn and Spring) Bear, and sweetnight. His latest video was scheduled to post earlier, so now his phone is blowing up with comments because he keeps forgetting to turn the notifications off.

“Your best friend is going to stop being famous soon because I don’t know how I’m going to fit filming videos in with my new work schedule. I’m going to be too tired to record anything when I get home from work every day.” He unwraps his own kimbap burrito and takes a bite.

He and Jimin have been coming to this park to eat during their lunch break every spring, summer, and half of autumn for three years. It’s just across the street from the paper’s headquarters, taking up the center of town. It’s quite big because their mountain town really cares about the outdoors, so there’s lots to do. There are walking paths and fields, dog parks and playgrounds. So many trees and so much greenery, all with the mountains visible in the distance.

He and Jimin sit on the same wooden bench that they always do, facing a water fountain where birds are always playing and bathing, and their headquarters across the street. It’s currently summer vacation, so Taehyung can hear the sounds of children playing in the park, and that mixed with the scent of flowers around them, the warm sunlight, and the clear blue sky, it feels like a wonderful summer day. Even more so when he looks over and sees Jimin’s bright hair and serene smile as he soaks up the sun too.

“Maybe you could make videos of you doing work?” Jimin suggests. “You stay late at work most nights, but if you want to continue working, maybe you can finish it at home where you can record? You know, just set your camera up so its view is of your desk, and you can get some keyboard sounds and your pen on paper and things like that.”

That’s actually a great idea. He hadn’t thought of that. It’s been a while since he filmed that type of asmr video, and it gets two things done at once. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I think I’ll do that.” Jimin hums, pleased with himself. “How’s Jasmine?”

Jimin coos without him even being there. “He’s perfect. I miss him. I wish he’d come by.”

It’s not out of the realm of possibility considering it’s a warm, sunny day, which is usually the kind of days he likes to drop by while they’re in the park since it’s happened on one of their lunch breaks before. Taehyung glances around the park to see if he can spot him. He sees pink, white, and purple hydrangea bushes and wooden walkways, a young girl chasing her little French bulldog, and a couple napping in the grass, but no Jasmine, so he goes back to eating.

“How’s working with Jungkook going?” Jimin asks.

“We haven’t done anything together yet,” Taehyung says around a mouthful of kimbap. “We just decided to do this yesterday.” He wishes he could tell Jimin about what they’re doing later tonight. He’s not lying to him, but it feels like he is because they tell each other every little tiny detail of their lives. With something as big as him working alone with Jungkook so much, late at night – something Jimin would absolutely die over and endlessly tease him about – it feels like he’s a bad friend for not telling him.

Still, he has orders from his boss to not tell anyone, and this case is important, so he listens. Even though he teases and questions Jungkook a lot, he’s still his boss, and he still respects him, even if he does so begrudgingly.

“Seriously, though,” Jimin says, “I’m happy for you. Proud of you too.”

Taehyung blushes. “Why?” he mumbles.

“I know how much you like doing the advice column, and how it’s frustrating to lead your team sometimes. It shows how much you care about your work and how good you are at it that Jungkook would choose you and offer to work with you. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Taehyung shyly mutters, followed by Jimin cooing and pinching his cheeks.

“Jungkook looks nice today,” Jimin says. “Don’t you think so?”

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows. Jungkook looks the same as he does every day. His black pants are a little tighter today, just around the thighs and… above them, and the white shirt is baggier than usual, loose around his waist so Taehyung can’t see the curve of it. His hair is a little messy today, fluffier and wavier because it’s a slightly windier day today.

“I dunno,” Taehyung says. “Looks the same as always. I think he got a new tattoo though. On his arm. The ink is more vibrant than the others there, and it looked a little shiny when he walked past, like he just put healing cream on it. I think he changed his lip ring too, because I think the metal is a different color, but it could’ve just been the light. If he did though, it contrasts with the color of his rings on his fingers, so, no, it doesn’t look nice, and it’s distracting. The stuff on his arm too. Doesn’t it stick to things? He used his eraser in his office like fifty times today because I could hear it, so don’t the eraser shavings get stuck to it? Whatever.” He takes another bite of food, chewing with a slight scowl, watching a couple of birds splash in the fountain across from them. He looks over when the silence has stretched on for a while. Jimin blinks at him. “What?” he asks around another mouthful of kimbap.

“You look at him enough to notice a new tattoo in his entire sleeve of tattoos? And new facial jewelry, and how it wouldn’t match his other jewelry? And you pay so much attention to his office you can hear his eraser?”

Taehyung quickly looks away, back at the birds. “I’m a journalist,” he says casually. “My job is to notice things.”

“What’s Hoseok-hyung wearing today? And what have I spent the morning working on?”

Trying to sound nonchalant, he says, “Hoseok-hyung is wearing another colorful outfit. I think his shirt is red. And you were working on a comic.” He shrugs and takes another bite of food, but Jimin bursts out laughing, the sound carrying over the park while Taehyung has to grab a hold of his shirt so he doesn’t fall off the bench.

“Hoseok-hyung isn’t even here today. He’s out sick, which you could hear Namjoon-hyung say. And no, I was not working on a comic. I told Yoongi-hyung, right across from your desk, that I was trying to get tickets for the concert in the city so I could write about it. We talked about it for, like, thirty minutes. You couldn’t hear either of those things, but you could hear Jungkook using an eraser from a different room? You didn’t notice that the most talkative person in the office isn’t there, but you noticed that a part of Jungkook’s arm is shiny?”

“I was busy work–”

“Don’t try to make excuses,” Jimin says, a few more giggles bubbling up. Taehyung refuses to say anything more and takes another bite of his food. “Yoongi and Jungkook are best friends, you know.”

“Okay.”

“Like you and I are best friends.”

“Jimin, he’s literally our boss. I don’t like him. I don’t like him because he’s our boss. And, again, he’s our boss, so even if I did like him – which I very much do not – there is nothing I could, or would, do about it.”

“We don’t even have office dating rules,” Jimin says.

“Yeah, between the people in the office. Not someone and the boss.”

“I don’t think there’s anything about that either. Didn’t you hear about him and Hana?”

Taehyung snaps his head over to him, looks right into his eyes, disregarding the discomfort, because no, he did not hear about him and Hana. “No. What about them?”

Jimin shrugs. “Heard they’re going on a date.” Taehyung’s jaw involuntarily clenches. He never liked Hana, from day one. Her perfume is always overly strong, and he knows it probably gives Jungkook a headache, so he doesn’t know why he’d want to go out with her. She’s always seemed uptight too in her pencil skirts, and she’s never been the friendliest. Not that he particularly is either, but he at least nods his head or smiles at people in the office when he passes them. Now that he thinks about it, he thinks he’s seen her walking back and forth in front of Jungkook’s office more often than she’s needed to, like she wanted Jungkook to notice her. He should’ve known that– “Oh my god, I was kidding,” Jimin says. “Jesus. Just wanted to prove you’d get jealous, not that you’d charge into the office and kill someone. Hana literally has a wife. She comes to pick her up from work every day, and she has a ring on her finger. Aren’t you a journalist? Isn’t it your job to notice things?”

Taehyung checks his watch. “Oh, our lunch break is just about over. I’m done eating, so I’m going to head back because I have a lot of work to do.” He stands and gathers his garbage, and he walks back to the office with Jimin’s cackles following behind him.

When he walks back inside though, the air is tense. It’s dead silent – both things never being descriptors of the office. He keeps his footsteps light, and he jumps when he hears Jungkook’s voice. He’s not even yelling; his voice isn’t raised, but it’s just so different from how he’s ever heard it that it makes him flinch a little bit.

“Get out,” Jungkook says.

“But–but Jungkook–”

“Get out. You’re fired. You have five minutes to clear your desk before you’re thrown out. Go.”

One of the interns – Taehyung isn’t really sure of his name – rushes out from Jungkook’s office. He keeps his head down and goes to his desk on the other end of the office to clear it out while everything stays pin-drop silent. Taehyung hesitantly sits at his desk, making sure his chair doesn’t make a sound. Then he stands instead, and he walks the few steps to Jungkook’s office. In the time it takes to do so, everyone’s heads snap over, their eyes wide as they shake their heads.

He doesn’t listen; he walks inside Jungkook’s office. Jungkook is standing in front of the window, looking out with his back to Taehyung. His hands are behind him, and he’s pressing his thumb down on each of his fingers in the motion of cracking his knuckles, but none of them crack, meaning he must have done them all already and this is one of his fidgets that Taehyung rarely ever sees because of what it means. His head snaps over when Taehyung closes the door, his jaw tense. Taehyung closes the blinds too, and Jungkook’s shoulders drop. Taehyung doesn’t know why he feels confident enough to do that, but he sits once the space has become private.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

Jungkook sits in his desk chair with a sigh and scrubs his hands down his face. “Yeah. Just,” another sigh, “yeah.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I’m your boss,” Jungkook says. “Can’t talk about office politics.”

“You’re only my boss sometimes,” Taehyung says. “We co-lead a team.”

Jungkook snorts, and the corner of Taehyung’s lips twitch up. “I’m still your boss.”

Taehyung shrugs. “You don’t have to talk about it. Just an offer.”

“I heard Jongsu bragging to the other interns about how he went out last night and hooked up with someone. One of the others asked, ‘Don’t you have a girlfriend?’ and he smirked and said, ‘Yeah.’”

Taehyung makes a face of disgust. “Ew.”

Jungkook snorts. “Yeah. I know that’s not really a valid reason to fire someone, and I probably wouldn’t be able to if he were a regular worker, but he’s an intern, so.”

Taehyung doesn’t need to ask further questions to figure out that this must be something that affected Jungkook more than normal disgust, and he doesn’t know how he feels about that, to know that it was something personal that was triggered. “Well, we’re better off without him,” he says. “No room for bad people on the paper.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook sighs. Taehyung watches him compose himself, but he doesn’t do a great job. He straightens his spine and pushes his shoulders back, but there’s still a droop to them. He smooths out his expression, but Taehyung still sees the way there’s a slight downturn to his pierced lips – where his lip ring is a different color metal, just like he thought. “Anyway, did you need something?”

“Oh, u-um…” Taehyung says. He doesn’t want to say he came in just to check on him, because he doesn’t want to say that, but he thinks Jungkook can tell anyway. “U-Uh, oh yeah, you didn’t text me with details about tonight.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “Sorry, I was, uh, dealing with stuff.” Taehyung noticed the purple painted beneath his pretty – wait, what? – eyes earlier, and he remembers Jungkook mentioning that he has trouble sleeping sometimes, but he doesn’t comment on it. “Anyway, if you want to text me your address, I can pick you up? Maybe around eleven? We really have no leads on this, so I don’t know what time would be good. Maybe eleven, and we can stake it out for a while to see if anything happens. And if nothing does, we can pull into the gas station at midnight and try to get more information.”

Taehyung nods. “Works for me,” he says. Then Jungkook’s office descends into a strange, heavy silence. They look at each other. Taehyung looks into his dark eyes, barely sparing a thought that he never looks into anybody’s eyes if he can help it, but he doesn’t feel the itch to look away right now. He realizes he should have stood up and left several seconds ago after they made their plans, but he’s still sitting here, and Jungkook is watching him. Taehyung sees his bangs very subtly move with his eyelashes when he blinks. He sees the freckle on his skin even when it’s hidden beneath the shadow of his lip. Jungkook is watching him, not looking at other parts of his face like Taehyung is, just his eyes. Taehyung snaps out of it. He quickly stands, and he looks away because he can feel his face heat up. “Um, yeah, so I’ll see you tonight.” He doesn’t wait for Jungkook to reply; he just opens his door and walks out.

Everyone looks at him, in the still-dead-silent office. Taehyung realizes that with the way he’s rushing out with a red face, everyone probably thinks he was yelled at or something happened after Jungkook’s outburst earlier. He supposes it’s better than them thinking something else, like him being flustered because of nothing. He just sits down at his desk, avoiding Jimin’s gaze because he’d be able to spot what the blush is about, and he gets to work.

– ♡ –

Taehyung is looking himself over in the mirror. He feels silly for wearing this, like he might be teased because he’s following a movie cliché, but shouldn’t he be wearing all black? They are literally doing a stakeout, at nighttime. They’ll be sitting in Jungkook’s car, trying to be undetected. It makes sense that he’d wear black, and he chose something comfortable and casual too just in case. Just in case for what, he doesn’t know, because he keeps feeling like he’s a detective who’s trying to catch a criminal when he is very much not that.

He figures they’ll be sitting in the car for a while though, so might as well be comfortable anyway. He’s wearing a pair of black jogger sweatpants with a black t-shirt and a matching hoodie in case he gets cold, even though he can tell it’s a humid night. He’s wearing his black glasses too even though he doesn’t truly need them, but they do provide a little extra help, especially when it’s nighttime. The style of his hair has fallen loose after walking home in the humidity, so it looks kind of fluffy right now. He looks comfy and cozy and laid back, which he supposes is not really the way he looks when he’s at work.

He starts to put things in his bag that might be useful to have: a notepad with writing utensils, his laptop even though they won’t have wifi, phone chargers, anything else that could aid them on their first stakeout. He wonders if he should’ve compiled a list of some things to talk about, since he’ll just be sitting in the car with Jungkook, and it’s going to be awkward to be with his boss, alone in a car, in the dark, close to midnight.

He picks up his phone and searches “things to talk about to someone” then “questions to ask someone” too. Before he can even find anything good, he gets a text from Jungkook notifying him that he’s here, so he just sighs and grabs his things. He knows how to talk to people. In fact, he’s amazing at talking to people (most of the time). It’s literally one of his things. He’s not the best at reading people’s tone or figuring out what they’re saying if they’re not saying it directly, and he’s not good at holding eye contact, but apart from those (pretty important) things, he’s good at it. He’s good at talking to people and making friends, and he enjoys talking to people and making friends. It’s part of why he wanted to be a journalist, because he loves that aspect of it. So he doesn’t know why he feels stressed about all of this. He doesn’t know why he feels like he needs a list of things to refer to when being with Jungkook when that’s never been a thing in his entire life.

Maybe it’s because Jungkook is his boss. Maybe it’s because everyone loves Jungkook – when he’s their boss – and he doesn’t, so it puts a weird divide between them. He doesn’t hate Jungkook. He’s just– he’s Jungkook. He’s their boss, not their friend. He’s in charge of them, they have to listen to the things he says, he makes more money than them, he can fire any of them, he runs the paper, he decides every single thing about it, because he’s the boss, he’s in charge. He’s not one of them; he’s the boss of all of them, even if he’s nice and friendly and has big, round doe eyes and–

“Hi, Taehyung,” Jungkook says in a warm voice when Taehyung opens the door.

Taehyung sits down, puts his bag between his legs, and pulls the car door shut. “Hello.”

Jungkook doesn’t pull away until Taehyung buckles his seatbelt. “Anything you want before we start?” he asks. “Food or something to drink?”

“I ate. And I have water. Thank you.”

Jungkook just nods as they drive through town, towards the gas station at the edge of it. Taehyung looks at him, trying not to turn his head too much, but just enough so he can see what he looks like outside of work. Not that he thinks he’d look different, but he himself looks different, so maybe Jungkook does too – even though he feels like he shouldn’t be able to see if there’s a difference between his boss at work and his boss at night; he feels like he should keep his eyes ahead of him. But he doesn’t.

Jungkook seems to be wearing all black too, but he almost always is wearing that, so Taehyung doesn’t know if it’s because of the way they’re basically playing detective. His outfit matches his own, a black t-shirt and black sweatpants. He changed his piercings again, his lip ring back to silver, his earrings black. He wonders why he keeps doing that. It seems like it’d be uncomfortable to change a lip ring. Taehyung remembers when he first got his piercing, when it was just a stud at first before he could change it. He changed it just a couple weeks later, which was much too soon, because Taehyung researched how to care for a new lip piercing when Jungkook got it and read that he’s not supposed to change the jewelry for at least five weeks, and up to several months depending on how it’s healing. Jungkook definitely did it much too soon, but it seems like it healed fine despite the strain he puts it through – between changing the jewelry so often and fidgeting with it with his tongue, which he does all the time, but still usually only when he’s in certain moods. The moods being–

“How are you?” Jungkook asks.

Taehyung snaps out of it. “I’m fine,” he says. Then after a few seconds, “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Jungkook says. “A little sleepy, but.” He shrugs. This isn’t the first time Jungkook has mentioned being tired. Taehyung wonders how many hours he sleeps a night, but that’s too personal (and strange) to ask. Adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night though to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Jungkook usually arrives at the office around 8:30 in the morning, meaning he’d probably have to wake up around 7:30 to get ready, have breakfast, and commute to work – assuming he lives relatively close to the office. That means he’d have to be asleep around midnight, more or less, but he knows from talking to Jungkook as late as two in the morning that he doesn’t sleep around midnight. By how often Jungkook says he’s tired, he’s sure that that’s usually the time he’s awake by – if not later, meaning he certainly does not get enough sleep. “I said it yesterday, but I don’t mind doing this alone if you’d like to sleep. You can even sleep once we get there and park.”

“I’m fine, really,” Jungkook says. Taehyung thinks he might be trying to brush it off. He’s not certain, and he’s afraid that maybe he’s not and Jungkook will think he’s brushing it off, but he thinks by the way Jungkook didn’t look over when he said it, as he did when he spoke before, means he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, so Taehyung doesn’t say anything more.

The drive there isn’t uncomfortable like he thought it’d be. All of his friends have spent time with Jungkook outside of work. Jimin, Hoseok, Namjoon, Seokjin, Yoongi – who he wouldn’t really put in the “friend” category yet, but still. He’s the only one who hasn’t been around Jungkook outside of work, and he was expecting it to be awkward. The rest of his friends see Jungkook as a friend, but he and Jungkook aren’t anything more than acquaintances, in his opinion. Maybe not even that. Work colleagues. Not that either, really, because they aren’t coworkers like Taehyung has teased. Jungkook is his boss, and Taehyung is his employee. And he thought it’d be awkward because of that, or that he’d be nervous about doing this with him since he has to prove himself to his boss, but it doesn’t feel like that. The air isn’t tense, doesn’t make him want to fidget. Jungkook isn’t doing any of his usual fidgeting that he does at the office either. The radio is on low, playing a song quietly and softly in the background. Taehyung looks over, and he sees the lights at the end of people’s driveways tracing Jungkook’s features with a warm yellowy white. It shows the slope of his round nose, the way it’s slightly too big for his face in a sweet way. It kisses his lips that are often in a pout, reflecting off the lip ring. Jungkook glances at him out of the corner of his eye, then he does a double take when he confirms Taehyung is watching him.

Taehyung quickly faces forward again, and the air in the car finally is weird, but just for a few seconds before it fades back to comfortable silence. Taehyung stays looking out the window, ignoring his boss. They’re outside of town, driving slowly through the neighborhood streets. It’s late, so the streets are empty, most windows dark with only the lights on the outside of the houses lighting their way. They pass a house with a blue picket fence, another with a tire swing hanging from the big tree out front, another with their lawn made of wildflowers rather than grass. Each house has a unique character, and it’s sweet. He’s never in the neighborhoods, really, since he lives in town, and it’s fun to observe.

Ten minutes later they’re out of the neighborhoods, and the gas station comes into view. It’s almost on the outside of town, and it’s not really surrounded by anything. Just dense, dark forest – a good place for this type of thing to happen. If someone is doing what the gas station attendant and Jungkook claim, if the car(s) doing this just turn off their lights when they drive away, they’re easily swallowed up by the rural darkness.

The gas station shines blindingly bright into the night, overpowering any light from the moon or the stars with its fluorescence. The stars are so delicate and quiet that the scattering of the ones that are bright enough to show just look like stardust. No one is getting gas at this hour as suspected, so if someone does, it’s easy for them to scope them out. And if no one does and they get gas, it’s easy for the attendants inside to notice.

Jungkook pulls over on the side of the road, into a little alcove where trees part that he must have found earlier for this occasion. He backs in so the front of the car is facing the street. He puts his hand on the back of Taehyung’s headrest and turns his body halfway around as he maneuvers the car. Taehyung can see the cut of his jawline. His sleeve of tattoos. His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek as he focuses. Taehyung swallows and quickly looks away.

Once the car is parked, Jungkook rolls down some of the windows for them and turns it off. The car falls into silence, the sound interrupted by the songs of the insects hidden in the forest around them. It’s a little eerie to be parked in the night, hidden by the darkness with no one around. Jungkook doesn’t seem to think so though, because he rolls his chair back and unbuckles his seatbelt. He brings a leg up so it’s against the steering wheel as he settles in for the next hour. Taehyung does the same to make himself comfortable. Jungkook has turned his body so he’s facing him, so Taehyung doesn’t know if he’s supposed to do that too, or if it’d be awkward to be turned into each other, staring. He gets comfortable, but he stays facing forward, watching the road. Then Taehyung realizes that he’s probably facing the gas station and not him, and he’s grateful that he didn’t turn his body. But when Taehyung looks over, Jungkook is looking at him, not the LED lights of the empty gas station. Taehyung faces forward again. But then he looks back at Jungkook. He looks away, but he looks back again like he can’t control it. This time, he stays looking at him, and he finds himself turning his body towards him anyway with his side against the seat and his legs to his chest. Jungkook’s smile is nice. It’s soft. Quiet.

Then the silence becomes awkward, and Taehyung wishes he hadn’t turned himself. Would it be awkward to face forward again? He can pretend he’s grabbing something out of his bag. Yeah, he’s going to do that. He faces forward and reaches for his bag on the floor, and he pulls out his water bottle. He takes a drink and sets it in the cupholder, then the car is silent and still again.

Taehyung looks around them, and he thinks he’d probably be scared if he were doing this alone, so even though it’s awkward to sit here with his boss, he’s glad he suggested they do it together. He’s not scared because of what could happen with the case, but because the car is tucked away in the darkness. They’re surrounded by dark forest in the middle of the night, and he knows he wouldn’t be able to even focus on watching the gas station because he’d be searching for anything around him. It’s silent except for all of the little creatures who live in the forest, but even that could be scary because of the possibility of them going silent. Even the hot, humid, summertime weather could be unsettling because of how close it feels.

It’s not scary right now though. He feels kind of cozy. The light of the moon is gentle, and the sounds of the forest are beautiful. Crickets and cicadas and frogs from a creek that must be unseen through the trees, all of them singing into the warm summer night. Leaves rustle on the trees whenever the breeze appears, sending a calm gust through the car to sweep out the muggy air and give them a few moments of relief. It’s nice.

But still, it’s awkward too. Taehyung forces himself not to fidget. He sits perfectly, weirdly still, looking out the windshield at nothing. He’s biting the inside of his cheek when Jungkook (thankfully?) finally talks. “How did you and Jimin become friends?”

Taehyung glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He looks ahead again, at the empty, dark road. He wonders why there are no streetlights out here. It’s pitch black, nothing but dark forest and an empty road before coming upon the bright gas station. “The job interview,” he says.

It’s silent for a few seconds. “You mean the job interview for the paper?” Taehyung nods. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. I assumed you guys had been friends since childhood or something with how close you two are.”

Taehyung smiles to himself. “Yeah, kinda feels like I’ve known him forever. We just clicked at the interview.”

“I’m glad you joined the paper then, if only so you could meet Jimin.”

The comment sends a surge of overwhelming warmth through his body. That’s such a nice thing to say. “I’m glad I joined the paper too.” The car falls into silence again.

Taehyung drums his fingers against his leg as he looks out the window, then he realizes what he’s doing and stops. He coughs once in the way he subconsciously does to fill empty silence sometimes, then he takes a sip of water to have something to do. He sniffles, and the car is silent again. This whole time, Jungkook hasn’t moved or made a sound. Jungkook is always moving or making sounds. Always fidgeting, physically or vocally. Self-stimulating behaviors, Taehyung thinks, that help regulate his sensory experiences, since he’s always seemed to be sensitive to them. Tapping, humming, cracking his knuckles, making repetitive, quiet noises, moving his hands or his arms or his legs. Jungkook is full of movement, but he’s completely still right now. He hasn’t even shown that he feels awkward or uncomfortable. He’s just sitting there, either watching the gas station or watching Taehyung, but Taehyung doesn’t turn to look.

Taehyung bites the inside of his cheek. He bites the skin off his lips, then he realizes what he’s doing and stops. He adjusts to try to get comfortable, then he sits back in his seat again. He swallows. Scratches an itch on his nose. Sits still again. Listens to the summertime noises of the woods surrounding them. He goes through his own senses, committing the details to memory just in case they could apply to the case somehow.

What I Can See:

• The moonlight and the stars, maybe the lights of downtown way down the road, but that could just be a trick of the eye
• The moonlight outlines Jungkook’s face, but it’s so faint that there isn’t much to see. Still, it lights up his eyes, because almost everything does. It weaves through his eyelashes too, casts the faintest shadows on his faceIrrelevant to the case.
• The dark forest. I can’t even make out the shape of the trees, because it’s just darkness, a dark indigo that’s almost black
• The gas station, the logo and coloring yellow and white. Yellow gas pumps, four of them that I can see from here, but I’m sure there are more – all of them unattended

What I Can Hear:

• Every nocturnal creature that exists, I’m sure
• Maybe even the faint buzzing of all of the fluorescent gas station lights, but that could just be a trick of the ear

What I Can Smell:

• The forest. Greenery. Fresh air. Maybe a little bit of asphalt, but enough to make it feel like summer, not to ruin the atmosphere
• A hint of fabric softener I think. Different from the kind I use, so it must be Jungkook’s

Taehyung records all he can in his head and commits it to memory where he knows it’s safe and permanent. Jimin always says his brain is like a computer with unlimited storage space, and he's not wrong, really. What he lacks in being able to pick up on the abstract, he makes up for in excelling with the concrete. He compiles all of the lists he can, because, sometimes, when he has enough of them, he’s able to see the thread that connects all of the things together.

Jungkook seems to work the opposite way. He shines at things unseen. Feelings, themes, symbolism, subliminal messages. He notices things in a different way, so Taehyung thinks, begrudgingly, that they’re a good team for this.

The car is still silent. He thought Jungkook would have things to talk about, because Jungkook always has things to talk about. But it’s silent. Is it because he’s focused on keeping an eye out? Taehyung looks over to see, and he finds Jungkook looking at him. Taehyung quickly looks away.

Thankfully, finally, they see headlights. Still far away down the road, but they perk up in their seats and watch them come nearer. The bright lights cut through the darkness, lighting the forest and the pavement. A red car drives past them, the driver – and anyone else possibly in the car – remaining unseen because of the darkness. They watch it drive down the road, closer and closer to the gas station. They subconsciously lean forward in their seats, holding their breath. Then the red car drives past the gas station, and they sigh and slump back into their seats. It’s silent and still once again.

Jungkook yawns. He sniffles sleepily after. It makes Taehyung yawn too. Jungkook yawns again, and Taehyung yawns again too. They spot headlights again coming from the opposite direction, and they perk up again. Then the car drives past the gas station. The green pickup truck drives past them too, then it disappears into the night. They make noises of disappointment, and it’s silent once more.

Taehyung feels when the hint of awkwardness in the silence disappears. It feels easier to breathe again, easier to relax. It happens suddenly, and it makes him glance over. Jungkook’s eyes are closed, his chest evenly rising and falling. Taehyung realizes he’s fallen asleep.

He panics. Should he wake him? That’s so awkward. Waking anybody up is awkward, but Jungkook is his boss, and he barely knows him. Well, that second part isn’t exactly true, but still.

He doesn’t really need to be awake for this though. All they’re doing is staring down any car that drives by, and if something finally does happen, he’ll be full of enough adrenaline to not care about waking him. He knows that Jungkook seems to be tired a lot, so he doesn’t mind letting him get some rest when he can, even if it doesn’t seem too comfortable in a car seat.

He tries to get comfortable in his own seat. He slowly and quietly brings his legs to his chest and leans against the back of the seat, settling in to watch nothing happening. A few more cars go by – a black car, a white car, another black car – but they all just drive past, doing whatever they’re doing out at midnight. He yawns, but just out of boredom. He could respond to some comments on his latest video or get some work done, but his phone screen would shine a light in their hidden darkness, and it’d make him a bad investigative journalist anyway if he weren’t dedicating his full attention to the case – even the slow parts.

Minutes tick away, but he doesn’t know how many with the clock not showing in the turned off car, and it’s too dark to see the time on his watch. The gas station continues to shine like a fluorescent beacon into the night. Insects and critters continue to talk and sing and gossip about a car pulled into their home. Jungkook’s chest continues to rise and fall as he sleeps.

Without realizing he’s doing it, Taehyung turns to look at him. Jungkook’s arms are wrapped around his legs, hugging them against his chest. His head is tilted so it’s resting against the seat, some of his dark hair falling into his eyes. His cheeks look softer like this. His lips are pouted, slightly parted as he breathes. He looks so much younger like this. His face looks softer. All of the lines smoothed out. Completely relaxed, not looking anything like his editor-in-chief boss. He looks his age, which is younger than Taehyung. Not that he’s too young to be in his position, because he’s definitely not. Taehyung just sometimes forgets that he’s younger than he is because even though he has a grumpy attitude towards Jungkook, he’s really great at his job. Jungkook is just the boss, so he forgets that he’s still the hyung, even though that’s irrelevant for the type of professional work relationship they have. He looks like he’s younger now, his face innocent like this despite the way the rest of his body looks. He looks kind of sweet.

Another car passes theirs, and Taehyung turns to look at it with gratitude, but apart from that, nothing of note ever happens. He wonders if they should be writing down license plate numbers of the cars who are, for some reason, driving around so late at night, but it’d be impossible to do it so quickly anyway with the light they’re barely given.

He looks at the gas station, past the rows of pumps and into the small building at the back of it. Even from far away, he can see inside. It’s almost made entirely of glass windows, and it’s so bright that everything is exposed. He can see a worker behind the counter. He can see the aisles of snacks, the drink refrigerators. He looks at all of the pumps, figuring out which ones are most hidden from the attendants inside – which ones would let a car escape quickly with the driver going undetected, hidden behind the machine – when Jungkook finally wakes, what must be an hour later.

It starts with a few sniffles, like a puppy. Jungkook kind of is like a puppy, Taehyung thinks. Excitable and cute and, um, energetic. Jungkook raises his tattooed hand and scratches the tip of his nose, then lets it heavily fall. It makes Taehyung quietly chuckle, and the sound makes Jungkook blink awake. They’re slow at first as he fights to open his eyelids, then he seems to realize where he is and what he was doing, and he quickly jerks awake.

Even though he’s sitting up now, it takes several more blinks and even more seconds to orient himself. Then his blush is so heavy that Taehyung can see it even through the darkness. “f*ck, I’m–I’m so sorry, Taehyung. f*ck, I didn’t mean to. That’s so unprofessional. I’m sorry, that’s so rude and disrespectful of me to make you do this alone while I sl–”

“Hey,” Taehyung says gently, cutting him off. He rests a hand on Jungkook’s forearm. Jungkook looks down at it. Taehyung realizes he put it there, and he quickly takes his hand back. Jungkook’s skin felt warm from sleep. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. You were yawning, so I’m glad you got some rest. Nothing has happened, and I would have woken you if it did. Don’t worry about it. It’s late, we worked earlier today, and nothing was happening. It’s okay.”

“Still, I’m so s–”

“Stop.” Jungkook snaps his mouth shut. Taehyung thinks, for some reason, he spots another blush. “No more apologies. Okay?” Jungkook’s eyes, always so big but even rounder right now, are wide as he nods. “Good. Now do you want to go to the gas station and wrap this up?”

Jungkook just nods again. Taehyung raises an eyebrow, and Jungkook quickly says, “Yes, yes, let’s go do that.”

Taehyung sits back in his seat like normal again while Jungkook unfolds his body too. He starts the car, and their own headlights almost feel blinding as they shine into the forest on the other side of the street. It’s strange to see the trees when it was just a void of black for so long. They pull away from their hiding spot and drive down the road, the sound of their tires crunching against the gravel almost feeling too loud after over an hour of silence. “Go to pump number seven,” he says.

“Why?”

“It’s not farthest away from the building, but it’d shield us from view of the attendants the best. I think that’s probably where one of the incidents happened, so it’ll make the attendants suspicious of us.”

“Smart,” Jungkook says. It makes Taehyung perk up with a small, proud smile to himself.

They pull up to pump number seven, and Taehyung’s suspicions are confirmed when he sees the attendant inside immediately stand to attention. “You should get gas,” Taehyung says, “and choose the pay inside option. Then we should wait a little while to make it seem like we’re not going to pay inside to see how they react. Then once you do, I’ll come with you to pretend like I want to pick out snacks, and we’ll start.”

Jungkook nods and gets out of the car to start their plan. Taehyung finds it strange how well they seem to work together already. He thinks other journalists would probably organize a script or talking points for when they go inside, but he thinks they both seem like the type to go in unprepared to make it seem more natural than dryly following a script.

He tries to subtly keep an eye on the attendants inside as Jungkook fills up his car with gas, but the workers aren’t trying to be subtle at all with the way they’re watching him. Jungkook leans against the side of the car, and Taehyung finds himself watching him too.

One of his legs is crossed over the other as he leans there. He looks… good, Taehyung supposes, in his all black outfit, tattoos on display, hair slightly messy since he was sleeping not too long ago, but in a way that works for him. He seems casual too, acting natural. He looks across the gas station into the forest, and his jawline is sharp, his profile intimidating. It’s funny, Taehyung thinks, since he was thinking about how babyish his face looked earlier while he slept.

Jungkook looks away from the forest and into the car, meeting Taehyung’s eye. He catches him staring, and Taehyung quickly looks away and into the gas station, trying to act natural too.

Jungkook places the gas pump back in its spot and walks back around the car. He gets back in the driver’s seat, and he grabs a bottle of hand sanitizer from one of the cup holders. Taehyung finds it charming as he rubs it in, even though it’s really not; it’s just common sense to want to sanitize his hands after touching the germy gas pump. Jungkook’s nose twitches, and Taehyung thinks it’s maybe because the strong alcohol smells bothers him.

They wait another minute, surely driving the attendant inside insane, before they finally get out of the car. It’s quite hot out, he realizes, now that the inside of the car is no longer subduing the heat. They walk across the concrete, through the rows of pumps, and the now-two attendants don’t try to hide the way they’re watching them. A bell dings when Jungkook opens the door, and he steps aside, letting Taehyung go first. “Thank you,” Taehyung mumbles. He feels his cheeks heat up for some reason, so he keeps his eyes on the ground.

“Find a snack for me too,” Jungkook says, starting the next part of their investigation.

Taehyung nods and goes to one of the aisles, but he stays close by so he can hear the exchange.

“Hi,” Jungkook says politely to the attendant. “Pump number seven.”

The attendant doesn’t say anything. Taehyung doesn’t look over even though he desperately wants to. He picks through the snacks and candy, grabbing a few things he knows Jungkook likes. He’s focused, so only a part of his mind thinks about how he knows what Jungkook likes. He grabs honey butter chips for himself, the crinkling of the bag sounding deafening in the quiet gas station. Even the TV behind the counter that’s always on since they have to work in the dead of night is muted. The bright lights reflect off of the waxy floors, off the shiny chip bags stocked on their shelves. He grabs a couple more things to give Jungkook some more time, then he returns to him.

The attendants haven’t said or done anything. They’re just staring him down. And when Taehyung returns to Jungkook, they stare him down too.

“Is… everything okay?” Taehyung asks. He looks between the two attendants and Jungkook, pretending like he doesn’t know what’s going on.

“Were you guys closed or something?” Jungkook asks. “Sorry if you were. We just assumed since the lights were on and everything.”

Eventually one of the attendants turns to the register and clicks around on the screen, pulling up the amount of gas they used on their pump. Taehyung slowly sets the snacks on the counter. “Is everything okay?” he asks again.

The older of the two snaps out of it, or maybe snaps into an act, and his face becomes normal. Taehyung finally gets a good look at them both, and he sees that they fit the description of their notes. Minseo is printed on the older one’s nametag, and he looks to be in his late fifties, wearing a green employee hat. He has lines etched into his tan face, but none around his mouth, as if he’s never smiled enough to show the memory of it. The one who’s clearly profiling them back, as he keeps glancing away from the register screen, seems to be in his twenties. He looks similar to Minseo, as if they’re maybe related. He’s not wearing a nametag, but he’s wearing an employee uniform as well: a quite annoyingly bright yellow and white bowling-style shirt with green piping to match the hats. Taehyung wishes they’d take them off so they can get a better scope of what they look like, but he commits what he can to memory.

He also notices that there’s a pothos plant on the counter. It’s not a relevant detail, but he steps closer to take a better look at it. It’s a marble queen pothos with beautiful variegation, and it must get tons of sunlight being in a place almost made of windows. It’s a little droopy though, and Taehyung raises his hand to feel the soil. It’s very dry, and he’s about to tell them that they should water it, but then he realizes where he is and what they’re doing, and that they’re all staring at him, and he shuffles shyly back to Jungkook’s side. He supposes it’s good for their act, if anything.

“Sorry,” Minseo says, responding to Jungkook. His voice is gruff, and Taehyung can tell just from the one word that any kindness in his tone is forced and doesn’t feel natural. “It’s late. Suspicious of anyone at this hour.”

Jungkook nods in understanding. He motions to Taehyung and back to himself. “We weren’t able to get any sleep. Figured a night drive and some snacks could do the trick.” Taehyung nods.

“What kind of car do you drive?” the younger of the two asks.

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. “It’s out there. Why do you ask? Will it affect the gas prices?” He meant it as a joke, but no one laughs. Taehyung throws a late laugh in there awkwardly.

“Why won’t you just say what kind?” the younger boy says, his voice kind of harsh now. Taehyung finds himself subconsciously taking a step closer to Jungkook. He doesn’t know if it’s because he wants Jungkook to protect him, or if he wants to protect Jungkook. Then he thinks that it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

“Myung,” Minseo snaps at him. Taehyung commits the name to memory. “Excuse him,” he says back to the two of them. “There have just been some… incidents the past few weeks. He’s just on edge.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “Incidents how?” He makes his eyes go wide. “Like break-ins?”

Minseo sizes them up again. Taehyung stays calm and waiting, Jungkook the same. Jungkook leans into him just a little bit. It’s imperceptible, but Taehyung can feel his body heat move closer. “Someone’s been coming to get gas,” Minseo says. “Leaves without paying.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says, his face looking stunned. He’s better at acting than Taehyung thought he’d be, even though he really had nothing to go off of. Jungkook’s face is always just full of expression, his eyes giving away everything he’s thinking and feeling. He thought it’d be difficult to flip that switch, but he’s doing a great job so far.

“Came right around this time all three times too,” Miseo says, looking them up and down again.

Three times, he says to himself. He glances at the clock. Twenty minutes after midnight. He seers it into his mind.

Jungkook chuckles. “Sorry to hear that, but we’re just here on a snack run.” Taehyung raises his arms to motion at the snacks on the counter. “We’re also in here. Paying.”

Minseo glances out the window, looking in the direction of their car, while Myung keeps staring them down. More specifically: Jungkook. He looks Jungkook up and down, a sneer and a scowl on his lips that doesn’t seem to be fueled by their suspicion, but just a dislike for Jungkook.

Taehyung doesn’t like it. Jungkook hasn’t done anything. Neither of them have. If they were normal customers, he’d be pissed off, and he doesn’t like the disrespectful way Jungkook is being watched. It’s clearly because he’s tattooed and pierced and more built than them all, and it’s silently being used against him.

Taehyung takes a step closer and wraps his arm around Jungkook’s waist, pulling him close. Jungkook tenses for just a second, and Taehyung panics that he made the wrong move. Then Jungkook raises his arm to wrap it around Taehyung’s shoulders. Taehyung fights to keep his eyes open as he’s now tucked into Jungkook’s side, kept warm and safe and close.

“We’re really tired,” Jungkook says. “Can we please pay so we can head home?”

“Ring them up,” Minseo tells Myung. He reluctantly starts scanning their items. Taehyung watches him. He feels Jungkook’s thumb brush back and forth against his shoulder where his hand is resting. He’s not sure if it’s a conscious gesture or not, but he finds himself leaning further into Jungkook’s side. Maybe he’s more tired than he thought. Jungkook pulls him closer, and Taehyung’s eyes flutter. Maybe he should get some more sleep than usual.

Jungkook pays when they’re told the total. Taehyung feels a chill when Jungkook lets him go to grab the bag. He silently follows Jungkook out into the hot summer night, feeling like he can breathe better in the fresh air, out of the tense space. Then Jungkook takes his hand, and any of the awkward unease from moments ago completely disappears. He presses their palms together, fingers fitting in the empty spaces. Taehyung holds his hand back without a second thought, only realizing belatedly that the workers are definitely watching them through the window. Their hands swing calmly between them like the branches of the trees in the forest surrounding them. The night is quieter from here, no sleepless creatures close enough to the gas station to be heard, only the sound of their footsteps.

Their hands part when they approach the car, but Jungkook walks to the passenger’s side instead of the driver’s side. He opens the door for him. Taehyung tucks his chin when he gets in because he can feel warmth on his cheeks. He watches Jungkook walk around the front of the car, posture confident despite knowing he’s being watched. He looks so different from the side, more intimidating when he can’t see his innocent doe eyes. He gets in the driver’s side and sets the bag of decoy snacks by Taehyung’s feet. They turn to each other.

“That didn’t go as great as I’d hoped,” Taehyung says, trying to focus on anything but his blush he’s certain is there.

“Yeah,” Jungkook says, sounding disappointed. He starts the car because he knows that the attendants are definitely still watching. He pulls onto the road and rolls down the windows a little more, just enough to let the breeze cool them down. “At least we know the time and the number of times now. That’s important information.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says, but he sounds disappointed too. He’s not really sure what his expectations were. Those are valuable things to know. It’s not like he was expecting to catch the person right then and there.

The road is as empty and dark as before as they drive down it. Their headlights shine ahead of them, illuminating the edges of the forest too. Taehyung can see the green mountains way off into the distance, looking more like a shadow than something real. Warm wind flows through the open windows, bringing in the scent of the woods and the summer night as they sit together silently, going over everything in their heads. Neither of them bring up what else happened in the gas station. Taehyung hopes they don’t, because he doesn’t know what got into him.

They’re soon pulling up in front of Taehyung’s building, the lights off in the closed ice cream shop and in his apartment above it. Their empty town is lit by the warm streetlights sprinkled along the sidewalks, no one around but them. It’s something he likes about living in town: these moments where he can see it empty. It’s a strange feeling, an odd, warm loneliness.

“Thank you for your work tonight,” Jungkook says. Taehyung looks over. Jungkook just has such a naturally kind face. He looks so trustworthy. Even though Taehyung doesn’t particularly like him, he still knows he is. “I know it’s asking a lot of you.”

“No need to thank me,” Taehyung says. “I like the work. I’m honored that you asked me to help you with this.”

Jungkook has such a kind smile too. Even when it’s sleepy and smaller than it is during the daytime, it’s nice. “Have a good night. See you tomorrow.”

Taehyung just nods at him and gets out of the car. Jungkook stays idled there until the door to Taehyung’s building closes behind him, then he finally drives off.

Taehyung trudges up the creaky wood stairs to his apartment. He takes his shoes off and throws his bag on the couch. He pouts when he realizes he left the bag of snacks in Jungkook’s car. Jungkook did pay for them, but he was looking forward to his honey butter chips.

He turns on the lamp on the table beside the couch, this one similar to the dragonfly Tiffany lamp he has on his desk at work – the stained glass primarily made of reds, yellows, and oranges with the dragonflies green so the light it casts is warm. He plops down onto his green velvet couch to get all of this down while it’s still fresh in his head, even though there’s not much to get down.

He opens up his laptop and the document of all of their notes. He makes a new page that will be dedicated to all of the notes regarding the gas station, where they can add new information as they gain new intel.

June 21st, 11 PM: sat in the car (fill in notes later, not much happened, cars drove by, etc)

June 22nd, 12:20 AM (same night)

• Minseo
• Myung, possibly related to Minseo

He sighs. He’s too tired. His head is too jumbled to take notes right now. He can’t figure out how to structure them. Maybe he should just get all the information down and organize them some other time. He’s just about to shut his laptop and scribble it down by hand when he sees in the top right corner that someone else has opened the document too. He watches a new cursor blink at him, then it moves when the person starts to type.

JJK: Go to bed

KTH: You go to bed. I have to get these notes down.

JJK: There aren’t any notes to get down. The person came in twice during the time we went

KTH: There ARE notes to get down since you clearly don’t remember them. They came three times.

JJK: Oh. Yeah maybe I should go to bed

KTH: Yes. Go.

JJK: You first

KTH: Jungkook.

JJK: I’m getting in bed now. You too

Taehyung stands with a sigh. He closes his laptop and opens the app on his phone instead. He doesn’t bother doing any of his nightly routines. It’s pushing one in the morning and he’s tired, not exactly looking forward to waking up early for work in the morning. He turns off the lamp and makes sure the front door is locked. He at least brushes his teeth, then he takes off his pants and gets in bed. Once he’s cozied up there, he looks at his phone again.

KTH: I’m in bed.

JJK: Good

The cursor blinks at him for a few seconds, then more letters start to appear.

JJK: So what do you want to talk about

Taehyung almost jumps at the actual giggle that comes out of him, the sound loud in the quiet room, the quiet night. The whole night has been quiet, really. In the car, during the drive. Even when he and Jungkook were talking, it felt quiet.

KTH: Are we going to have a conversation in the google doc?

JJK: Yes

KTH: Okay.

JJK: I don’t really know much about you. I know everybody in the office and I’m friends with Yoongi Jimin Hoseok and Namjoon. But I don’t know you

KTH: What do you want to know?

JJK: Do you have any pets?

KTH: No. I’d like a dog, but I can’t really commit to one at the moment. I consider Jimin’s bird to be partially mine too though, because he stops by a lot.

JJK: What do you mean he stops by? Also Jimin has a bird?

KTH: Jimin has a hummingbird named Jasmine. At the end of last summer, he found him in the park with a hurt wing, in a jasmine bush. Jimin took care of him, but once he got better, he never left. He doesn’t keep him caged inside because that’s mean, and he just leaves his window cracked all the time. Jasmine can’t fly very far because of his wing, so he just stays around town and comes and goes.

JJK: 😦 Are you lying

KTH: No. I’ll send you a picture.

Taehyung closes the google doc and opens his photo album. He scrolls through the many photos he has of his small friend with the red feathers adorning his chest, and he copies and pastes one into the document. It’s so silly to be communicating this way.

JJK: What the

KTH: So no, I don’t have any pets, but he knows where I live and is over sometimes, so.

JJK: Wow. You have more lore than I expected

Taehyung laughs out loud again.

KTH: My friend’s bird is not lore.

JJK: Do you play any instruments?

KTH: Saxophone, or at least I used to.

JJK: You really do have lore

KTH: Random facts are not lore. I also had pet fish as a child and I don’t like spicy food. They’re just things.

JJK: I don’t know anything about you so the little things seem big. And some don’t make sense for how I know you. The saxophone does, spicy food doesn’t

KTH: Well we’re going to be working with each other a lot it seems, so we’ll be learning each other’s lore. Now go to bed. It’s late.

JJK: Roger that, boss 🫡

Taehyung snorts, then he makes the smile on his face disappear.

KTH: Goodnight, Jungkook.

JJK: Night, Taehyung

Taehyung closes the app, then he opens another one. He scrolls through his comments like he does most nights before bed, liking all of them, responding to some.

hakiro: I love these types of videos!!!🥹🌟🫶✨ I would love to see more😭✨ Only if you want to though ofc🥺 No pressure!!!🥺💛✨💫✨💛

↳ sweetnight: I’ve got another one planned soon ☺️🤎

august:you’re my favorite asmr creator ! i love that you don’t stick to just one type of asmr and have so many different kinds on your channel. there’s always one to fit my mood before bed 🥹

↳ sweetnight: Thank you so much 🥹 I’m so happy I can keep you company 🤎

jaykay: My favorite kind of videos of yours 🥹🖤 I was having a really rough night when you posted this. Sleeping has been harder than usual lately because of stuff in my personal life and these videos always make it so easy. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything like what you say in these and I hope you know how much comfort you provide for all of us 🖤

↳ sweetnight: Oh that means so much to me 🫂 I hope you’ll find someone to whisper sweet words to you, and I’ll always be here to do it for you in the meantime. Thank you for your kind words 🤎 I hope you get an easy sleep tonight 💤 You deserve rest

Taehyung puts his phone to sleep and sets it on the nightstand. He turns over in bed and looks out the window. He sees the moon shining bright above the tops of trees in the park. It paints the edges of the leaves on the trees in a subtle light, touches everything that’s beneath it, falls gently across his bed. The stars were drowned out by the lights earlier, but he can see them now. His window is cracked for Jasmine and to let in the summertime nighttime sounds too, the same ones he heard with Jungkook. He looks at the stars in the sky. Sees the stars in Jungkook's eyes. The moonlight weaving through the leaves on the trees, the moonlight weaving through his eyelashes. It’s not intentional, but Jungkook is the last thing on his mind before he falls asleep. His name, his eyes, his smile cling to him in his dreams too.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Taehyung walks to work the next morning, feeling quite tired after not getting much sleep, but ready for the day nevertheless. He’s wearing lighter colors today – beige flowy pants rather than dark brown, an off-white shirt, and his gold-rimmed glasses – as if it can help him wake up more if he matches the morning. He sees his reflection in the headquarters’ door, and he definitely looks tired. His hair isn’t as neat as it usually is, falling over his forehead in rather messy waves and curls rather than partially brushed off of his forehead like usual, and his shirt has a wrinkle in it when he’d normally never let that happen, but it just is what it is today.

He enters the building, walking down the little wood-paneled hallway from the door that’s lined with framed special issues of their paper. He turns the corner into the office space, seeing Yoongi leaning against Jimin’s desk as usual, Jimin’s giggles dancing around them as usual. Taehyung rolls his eyes when Jimin doesn’t even look at him to greet him, too busy giving heart eyes to his not-boyfriend.

“Morning, Taehyung-ah,” Namjoon says, giving him a kind smile. He’s in lighter colors today too, dressed similarly to himself, but in khaki pants and a white t-shirt, his usual glasses, and his brown hair parted to the side and brushed partially off his forehead.

“Hey, hyung,” he says back.

“How are you?”

“I’m good. A little sleepy. How are you?”

“Same,” Namjoon says. Then he gets back to work because he’s always productive but always spares some of it for friendliness.

Taehyung looks at everybody’s desks. Jimin sitting at his, his elbow on top of it, holding his head up with his hand, looking up at Yoongi with his coy smile as Yoongi looks down at him, talking quite closely. He looks around Jimin’s desk from where he is, then he looks over at Hoseok’s. Hoseok isn’t there because he’s probably off somewhere having an animated conversation with someone, but his laptop is there and his things are unpacked, and there’s a fresh flower in the small vase on his desk, meaning he’s already left for the morning and came back. He looks at Namjoon where he’s hunched over his laptop, his desk quite pristine except for the date marker that’s several weeks behind and the small koala bear figurine that he accidentally knocks over several times a day – the sound of the plastic hitting the wood just part of the office’s ambient noise now.

Taehyung leans over and peeks through the open doorway of Jungkook’s office – because his office is so close that that’s all it takes. Jungkook looks up from his laptop and raises an eyebrow, then Taehyung leans away before he can look more. He grabs his wallet from his bag, then he leaves the office again.

He walks just a door over to the coffee shop. He hums happily when he’s met with the invigorating, cozy scent of coffee beans and sees that the shop is mostly empty, so he won’t be holding up the line with his long order. He has everybody’s preferred drinks memorized, and he orders something for all of his friends, Jungkook, and himself.

He looks around as the blue-haired barista makes all of their drinks. This isn’t his usual coffee shop, just the one he occasionally stops at on work days. It’s not the ambience he prefers if he’s going to sit and hangout, really, but it’s still very nice. The walls are white with all of the accenting colors being the light wood of the counter, the tables, and the menu. It’s not overly bright or clinical though, still cozy with that coffeeshop feeling. He just prefers his own place that’s a little darker and moodier.

He does like the plants they have here though, the way they’re on every available surface, adding more color and life to the space. He’s checking out the big variegated umbrella tree they have in the corner when his order is finally called. He thanks the barista, then he carefully walks back holding two drink carriers. Yoongi and Jimin finally acknowledge his existence when they smell the several cups of coffee drinks he walks in with.

“Taaaaae,” Jimin coos. “You’re such an angel.”

He wraps his arms around Taehyung while Taehyung holds Yoongi’s drink out for him. Jimin switches to a back hug so he has to waddle around to give Hoseok and Namjoon their drinks too. He walks back to grab Jungkook’s, then Jimin unwraps himself from around him. “I’ll give you two some alone time,” he says with an audible smirk. Taehyung rolls his eyes with a laugh and walks to Jungkook’s office.

Jungkook looks up when he enters, and he gives him that same kind smile. It’s so strange to see when it’s adorned by his lip ring, something edgy to go with something sweet. His earrings move with the motion of his head, and he watches Taehyung with those doe eyes of his. He’s wearing all black again today, a black t-shirt under an unbuttoned black button-up. It’s very–he looks back at his smile again. The corner of Taehyung’s lips twitch, but that’s all. “I brought you coffee,” he says. “Well, not coffee. Iced matcha latte. That’s your usual order, right?”

He almost wants to coo at the dusting of pink that appears on Jungkook’s cheeks, the only color to him right now apart from his lips. “Yeah, that’s my order. Thanks, Tae,” then he quickly adds on, “-hyung.”

“No problem,” Taehyung says. He lingers just a second too long to look at Jungkook’s smile, then he quickly turns and leaves.

“Taetae is blushiiiiiing,” Jimin teases, thankfully quiet enough that only he and Yoongi hear.

“Gross,” Taehyung says. “Am not.” He sees Jimin and Yoongi roll their eyes at each other, but he ignores them and looks at his laptop to start his work for the day. They don’t have their morning meetings on Fridays, so it’s just extra time to make sure they can get all of their work in before the weekend starts so they don’t have to work any later than they’re supposed to.

He doesn’t get a second to start though, because Jungkook appears at his desk. Taehyung sighs. He has no idea how he ever manages to get any work done.

“Yes, Jungkook-ssi?” he says without looking away from his laptop, his voice flat.

Jungkook snorts. “Don’t call me that. The two community news stories you planned out for today are the profile on the owner of the bakery and the new renovations happening at the park. Do you have a preference for which one you want to do?”

“I know Seokjin-hyung better than you do,” he says, “so I’ll write the feature on him. You can write about the park.”

“Can you send me your notes on that one?”

“Sure,” Taehyung mutters distractedly, pulling them up on his laptop.

“Thanks,” Jungkook says, and he thankfully leaves him to work.

Taehyung should have known that that doesn’t mean he gets peace now though, because Jimin rolls his chair over. He looks sunny and cute today in his yellow shorts and his big white sweater – contrasting seasonal clothes, but he tends to get cold at the office. “I see you and Jungkook are getting friendly.”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow. “How is that something you gathered from our fifteen second interaction? It was about work.”

“If you say sooooo,” Jimin sings. Taehyung just rolls his eyes and shakes his head. He’s dealt with this teasing pretty much from the day he started, when Jimin noticed his minorly annoyed attitude towards Jungkook.

He ignores him and opens his email.

The corner of his lips do their usual twitch when he hears the quiet laugh from Jungkook’s office. He opens his word file with his notes beside him, and he gets to work.

– ♡ –

Baked With Love and Terrible Jokes

When the familiar bell on the door jingles to welcome new guests inside, regulars of Making Dough will be greeted by two things: the mouth-watering smell of freshly baked bread, and a horrible joke.

When I walked inside on a sunny and slow Sunday morning, I was hit with the comforting scent of croissants in the oven, and lavender-haired owner and head pastry chef Kim Seokjin’s impish voice saying, “How did Namjoon [Seokjin’s partner of ten years] win me over on our first date?”

I sighed as I set my notepad down on the counter. “How?”

“He brought me lots of flours.”

I can’t lie, that one made me laugh a little bit, even if it’s not that great of a joke when spoken aloud.

The success of the town’s beloved bakery comes as no surprise, if only for the ambience. The exterior is enough to draw anybody in. It stands out from the other businesses on the street, the aged white-brick exterior catching the eye when amongst the normal warm, red stone.

“I did not paint the bricks myself,” Seokjin stated vehemently, passionate that everybody should know. “I do not believe in painting brick, especially not white. Ick. The building was this color when I bought the space because some kooky-headed woman wanted the color of her pet grooming salon to be the color of her dog. You know those white-haired curly dogs that always look a little rabid? She had one of those, with the red crusty eyes, and, get this, she painted the door red to match it. I painted the door lavender because I did not want that rabid dog energy lingering, and now that the painted brick has weathered and aged, I think it looks alright. Oh, and, Ryu Yoon-ssi and your crusty dog, I hope you are resting in peace. Wait, are you going to put all that in the paper?”

The famous lavender door is a beloved photo-op for those who stop by for a sweet treat or the sweet company. The windows surrounding it in its walk-up alcove are painted with ever-changing colorful flowers (the artist being none other than Park Jimin, friend and our paper’s talented cartoonist).

Stepping inside the bakery just seals the deal that this is the perfect place to spend some time on any type of day. (“Say ‘seals the croissant dough,” Seokjin interjected as I drafted up some article points at the counter. “If you don’t seal the dough really well, the butter leaks out, and then the croissants aren’t all flaky and airy like they’re supposed to be, you know?” I did not know, but I do now.)

The entire front of the bakery is made of windows, letting sunlight pour into the space at all hours of the day. The view overlooks the park, giving guests something sweet to watch as they have something sweet to eat in the comfortable, colorful tufted chairs on one side of the windows, or the table tucked into the sunny alcove on the other – quite a coveted spot.

Fresh flowers (given to Seokjin from The Flower Shop in exchange for breakfast pastries) sit in vases and mason jars on the tables and counters, and soft music is always lazily drifting through the space. When seeing that I was noting the interior’s characteristics, Seokjin had more to add, as he’s as prolific in dramatics as he is in baking.

“You see the floors?” he asked. I looked down, seeing the white tile floors that have details of occasional light blue-colored starlight engraved in. “These are original from when the place was first built, and the previous owner – the woman with the demon dog – had them covered with carpet. Not only should she have been charged with a crime for covering them alone, but carpet in a grooming salon? Honestly, what was her deal?” When I asked Seokjin what his deal was, since I’m sure all readers have concluded that he has a particular vendetta against this woman, he continued, “She was very rude to me when I toured the space. She said she didn’t want to rent it out to me for a myriad of reasons, when she didn’t even own the place! She was just a renter! I didn’t need her permission. And on the way out, her demon dog tried to attack Namjoon, and, while it was funny, it made me dislike her more. I later learned that everybody was happy to have her out of town, so I don’t feel bad for talking about her horrible choices.”

The walls, which I was informed were also previously red – to, of course, “match the demon dog’s crusty eyes” – were painted over with a clean off-white, the color muted and mostly covered by art. There is always a seasonal rotation of local artists’ work that’s for sale, and when displayed proudly in a beautiful location with beautiful scents, they always sell out by the time the season is through.

When the location and the atmosphere are paired with the talent of Seokjin’s baked goods – carefully honed through more than a decade of practice and years of culinary school – it comes as no surprise that Making Dough is a town hit and a permanent fixture.

– ♡ –

Taehyung continues writing for the next hour. He writes in Seokjin’s backstory – how he started baking in his childhood, how he went to school for it later in life, how he tried and failed to open a bakery before the success of this one. He goes through his menu, and he fondly and nostalgically remembers getting to taste test everything – the reason why he knows everything is deserving of his exemplary reviews that he hopes does them justice. He rounds it out with more things from Seokjin’s personal life and what might be in store for his bakery next, then he ends it on a silly note – the only way to end things when writing about Seokjin.

Once he’s finished, Taehyung reads his article over once, twice, three times, changing little things here and there. Once he’s got it how he likes it, he drags and drops it to another email to send to the editor-in-chief.

He stretches out his neck and cracks his back when he stands, needing to loosen his bones after sitting at his desk for so long. He grabs his water bottle and heads to the kitchen to fill it, peeking into Jungkook’s office on his way past, catching a glimpse of him looking up before he’s out of sight. He nods in greeting at the few staff writers he passes on the way, then he walks into the periwinkle kitchen.

He stands at the station meant specifically for filling reusable water bottles – which all new hires are given and urged to use by the editor-in-chief when they start their job. He moves it over to the section where they can even add some flavoring, and he decides on fruit punch, because he thinks he deserves it after having a late night.

“Hey, Tae!” he hears, and he looks over when Hoseok struts into the kitchen. He looks to be wearing a matching set with baggy sky blue pants and a matching cropped top. His glasses – blue light glasses because he likes the look with some outfits, not because he needs them – are pushed to the top of his head and keeping some of his dark hair back, while a few wavy locks curl over his forehead still.

“Hi, hyung,” Taehyung says as he screws the lid back on his water bottle. Hoseok sits at the island and grabs a pack of fruit snacks, so Taehyung takes the seat beside him because a longer break won’t hurt anything. “How are you? I like your outfit. It looks nice with your skin tone and your dark hair.”

Hoseok’s smile is as sweetly heart-shaped as it always is. Jimin’s eyes completely disappear when he smiles, but Hoseok’s stay the slightest sliver open like he wants to see the person who made him happy. “Thank you! You always give the best compliments. So specific. Your outfits look nice every day. Cozy warm Taehyungie.” Taehyung is wearing his fuzzy brown cardigan that he keeps in his desk for when he gets cold, and Jimin always tells him it makes him look like a baby bear. “How are you? Whatcha up to?”

“Good. Sleepy. I just got done writing my profile about Seokjin-hyung,” he says.

“Oooh, I’m excited to read it. It’ll be silly to read something about someone I know. Can you write a profile about me next?” His eyes are wide as he feigns begging, and Taehyung notices the area around them shimmers in silver with the makeup he’s wearing today.

“I mean, I guess I could,” he says. “I don’t see why not.”

Hoseok’s sparkly eyes go wider. “I was mostly kidding, but, um, yes I want a profile. I’ll be famous that week.”

Taehyung snorts. “You basically already are famous.” Everybody who lives here knows Hoseok. Their community is too big for the phrase “everybody knows everybody,” but that phrase is very much true for Hoseok. Everyone sees him as the one responsible for the sunshine in their town, and it’s impossible for Hoseok to walk down the street without being stopped to talk to every few steps – a reason why he never does the coffee runs even though he really wants to treat people to coffee.

Before they can talk about it further, Jimin shouts across the office, “Hoseok!” to call for him.

They both turn to see Jimin waving him over from his desk, but before Hoseok can follow his beckoning, Jungkook steps out of his office. “Jimin,” he says calmly, but firmly. Jimin turns to him, his wide eyes visible even from here. “This is an office. This is not a playground. We do not yell here.”

“Sorry,” Jimin mutters, looking down at the floor.

Taehyung nearly bites through his lip. He feels his cheeks heat up. Thankfully Hoseok leaves to find out why Jimin yelled for him before he can see, which Taehyung is grateful for because he does not want to figure out what’s behind that reaction. He has too much left to do today; he doesn’t need something else to think about.

Once his cheeks feel like a normal temperature beneath his palms, he grabs his water bottle and walks back to his desk. Jimin and Hoseok are talking animatedly at Jimin’s desk about somewhere they’re going to attend to write about for the paper, and Taehyung is grateful that Jimin is unaffected by being reprimanded. Taehyung notices the same silver shimmers on his eyes as Hoseok’s, and he wonders who did the other’s. He looks down at their hands and squints, and he sees the slightest sparkle on Hoseok’s fingertip as his answer.

He sits down and opens his laptop to find an email from the editor-in-chief.

He smiles to himself, feeling sparkles on his own fingertips knowing he’s good at his job – good at something he loves – and told so by his boss.

He sends the article to the formatting department for them to figure out how they’ll lay it out in tomorrow’s issue. He crosses that off of his day’s to-do list in his planner, then he opens his drawer with the advice column questions. He’ll have to get through as many as he can today. It’s Friday, meaning he’ll need two day’s worth of them to give to formatting. He originally was told he doesn’t have to do it on the weekends, but he’s never listened. The weekends are the interns’ time to shine, and the paper is run by them during those two days so the main writers can have their weekends off (while the interns get to choose their own two days). It’s something Taehyung has never heard of – allowing inexperienced people to take over the paper without guidance for two days – but he can’t help but be impressed by it. A normal editor-in-chief would never give the paper away to underqualified people and trust them to cover the weekend’s news, but they’re all trained by them and by Jungkook, meaning they’re good at what they do. And in the history of Jungkook being the editor-in-chief and doing this, there’s never been a problem.

Taehyung tries not to smile when he hears the quiet huff of a laugh, but he doesn’t succeed.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Taehyung is standing at his kitchen counter, cutting the bottoms of the stems off of a bouquet of flowers while Jimin sits at his kitchen table. It’s their weekend tradition: Jimin comes over with flowers for him to refresh his vases in his apartment since he walks past the flower shop on his way over, and he stays at his apartment to hangout, or they venture out and do something. This week’s bouquet is made up of buttercups, violets, dandelions that Jimin must have plucked on his way over and nestled inside, and daisies.

It’s also their tradition to talk about Yoongi for the first half hour (minimum). Taehyung doesn’t mind; he thinks this whole thing Jimin and Yoongi have going on is silly and sweet. Both of them clearly and obviously liking each other, being so close to becoming more without letting themselves have it yet. They’ve been in the butterflies and having a crush phase for so long, and neither of those seem to have gone away yet. He tries to tell Jimin that they won’t even when they are together, but he thinks it’s cute that the suspense has been building for so long that it’s going to be so incredible when something finally happens.

Jimin dresses casually at the office, but sometimes he really goes for it when he comes to Taehyung’s apartment, and that’s how Taehyung knows if they’ll be staying in or spending the day out. Jimin is wearing grey sweatpants with a white t-shirt, both clothing items quite old and stretched out on his small frame. His platinum blonde hair is a bit of a mess from the breezy day, and he kind of looks like he rolled out of bed and came over.

Taehyung looks quite the same. He stayed in his brown plaid pajama pants with his white shirt just as worn-in as Jimin’s, his dark hair equally as messy but in a wavy, curly, fluffy way (which prompted Jimin’s frequent remark, “You look like such a cute little baby bear today. So cuddly.”). Taehyung is glad they’re staying in, because he’s needed a day of just lounging around, looking however he does when he wakes up and not trying to be anything else.

“I think Yoongi and I are going to go to his hometown,” Jimin says. “Oh yeah! He’s from Daegu! Maybe you can come with us!”

“I will not be third wheeling on your couples trip with you two,” Taehyung says. “But it’s very nice that you’re going there together. Feels like a big step in your not-relationship.”

“Why don’t you ask Jungkook to go?” Taehyung looks away from the flower piles he’s making to fill his separate vases and gives Jimin a blank stare. Jimin rolls his eyes. “Jungkook and Yoongi are best friends just like we are. It could be a friendship trip.”

“Jungkook and I also aren’t friends,” he says. “That would be so awkward. I don’t want to hang out with the boss, who’s in control of my job, who I have to be professional and respectful around, while you and Yoongi are off pretending like you’re not dating.” His brain supplies the reminder that he did spend alone time with Jungkook, and it wasn’t awkward at all, really, but he doesn’t want to think about that.

Jimin dramatically rolls his eyes. “You say that about me and Yoongi, but you and Jungkook are just as bad.”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow. “At what?”

“You guys are also pretending you don’t like each other.”

Taehyung snorts. He starts placing a mini bouquet in his vase that will go on the kitchen table. “We don’t like each other. Jungkook definitely doesn’t like me. Maybe he likes me as his employee, but that’s it. And I certainly do not like him.”

Jimin rolls his eyes again. Taehyung wonders how he doesn’t get a headache from so much of it. “Even if you’re ignoring the fact that he’s exactly your type, I think you guys would be great friends.”

Before his head can stop it, Taehyung thinks about how both things have some (maybe a lot of) truth to them, but he immediately pushes those thoughts away. He’s seen Jungkook around town a few times when he wasn’t dressed in his semi-professional work attire. The black button ups and nice pants are replaced with baggy t-shirts and baggy pants, stomper boots and every tattoo out – wearing all black, looking like a bad boy who’s surprisingly sweet. And his eyes. Taehyung swallows thinking of it in his head.

But Jungkook is not his type, because Jungkook is his boss. He’s not going to be anything to his boss other than his employee.

Jimin cackles, and Taehyung looks away from his flowers. “Thinking about Jungkook? All those piercings? His tattoo sleeves? The muscles those tattoos are on? His chest you can see when his shirt is buttoned d–”

“Stop,” Taehyung says, his cheeks a blazing red. “On paper, yes, perhaps he’s my type. But that’s it. I don’t like Jungkook. I think he’s annoying.”

He walks to the table Jimin is at and sets a vase of flowers there before walking back to the counter to arrange the others. “What’s annoying about him?”

“Well, for starters, I already told you about his eyelashes. The way his bangs get caught in them and move when he blinks until he moves his hair back. It’s annoying and distracting. He should get a haircut, or he should style it differently so it’s not always getting in his eyes. Secondly, I don’t like how much he smiles at people. Most people don’t even deserve it; they’re just there and he smiles at them. I don’t like when he does that. No one is ever that happy all the time, especially when we’re at our jobs. I don't want to feel obligated to smile back at him. Thirdly, I don’t like that he keeps his office door open. I think it’s nice because he’s not being a stuck up boss, but since it’s open, people are constantly in there talking to him. My desk is right next to his office, and I always hear all of the people who go in to talk to him. I don’t like that he lets anybody come in. I’m the one who’s working with him, so I should be the only one in his office. I don’t know what everyone else is there for, but the noise and the movement distracts me from my work. Fourthly, sometimes his shirts are too tight. You can’t tell when he’s just standing there, but if he raises his arms, it looks like the buttons are going to pop out because of what his chest is like. I can also see his biceps through his sleeves. I think wearing clothes that don’t fit right is unprofessional, especially when it’s distracting in a meeting. Fifthly, he puts his tongue in his cheek a lot when he’s thinking. He usually draws circles on his leg with his finger when he's thinking too, but the tongue thing is distracting. He usually only does the tongue thing when he's mad or annoyed though, and then that's extra distracting because then I know whatever he's thinking about, he's upset about in some way. Or he bites on his lip when he's focused on something someone is saying, and it pushes the freckle beneath it out. Or he messes with his hair randomly, for no reason, like kind of a lot, when he's walking usually. When he’s thinking his big eyes get a little far away. They’re very big and very dark, and–” He looks away from where he was arranging the flowers so harshly that he accidentally broke a stem. “Oh no,” he says, looking down at the flowers in his hand.

He looks back up at Jimin, and Jimin is staring at him, face somehow both very amused and very unamused. They look at each other (well, Taehyung looks between his eyebrows as he usually does) until Jimin sighs and puts his head in his hands. “I don’t even have anything to say to that,” Jimin says. “God, you’re so– whatever. I can’t with this right now. You’re an idiot though, just so you know.”

“Hey,” Taehyung pouts. “That was mean.”

Jimin stands and walks around the table. He rounds the kitchen island and back hugs him, his chin resting on his shoulder as he watches him arrange the last of the flowers. He turns his head and kisses Taehyung’s cheek. “I love you.”

Taehyung leans back into him. “I love you too.”

“Did Hoseok-hyung ask you to do a feature on him?”

Taehyung snorts. “Yeah. He said he wants me to do it during asexual awareness week so he can talk about it.”

“Oh, cute,” Jimin says. “When’s bisexual day? I want one too.”

Taehyung snorts again. “Gay pride newspaper.”

“Makes sense since Jungkook runs it and you seem to be his second hand now.”

Taehyung’s hands falter for a second. “Jungkook’s gay?” he asks casually.

“You really are such an idiot,” Jimin says. Taehyung reaches behind him and pinches his ass, pulling a giggle out of Jimin. “Do that again. I liked it. Maybe I’ll keep you for myself.” Jimin turns his head and kisses Taehyung’s neck.

“Shut up,” Taehyung laughs and gently elbows him.

“I would not constantly be trying to get you and Jungkook together if he wasn’t gay. Yes, he’s gay. Well, bi, technically, but gay, yes, into men and doing gay things with other men and falling in love with other men and being with them forever and ever. So are you.”

“Two separate things that aren’t connected in any way,” Taehyung insists, walking to the fireplace mantle – waddling, really, since Jimin won’t let go. He sets a vase of flowers onto it, then he goes back to the kitchen table where he and Jimin sit together.

Jimin rolls his eyes across from him again, because that’s his primary behavior for his best friend. “Anyway, did you hear about what happened with Namjoon-hyung and Seokjin-hyung?” Taehyung shakes his head. “They were cleared for adoption.”

Taehyung’s eyes go insanely wide. “Really? You’re serious?”

Jimin nods with a smile. “It only took years.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Taehyung says.

He sinks back into his chair, feeling like his heart is fluttering. Namjoon and Seokjin have been trying for so long to become eligible for adopting a child. Once they were in a good place with steady jobs and good enough incomes to be accepted as candidates – which took over a year, with Namjoon not trying to bring it up to anybody, but when Jungkook found out, he immediately gave him a raise, which is what did it – they were finally allowed to adopt. Since then, though, the children – varying in ages from babies to elementary school children – slipped through their fingers for one reason or another. Recently, they applied to adopt a little girl, three years old and already passed around to different foster homes. Now they were finally chosen, and she’ll have two kind, loving, caring dads. Taehyung starts to tear up, feeling so happy for all of them. “That’s so nice.” Jimin smiles when he sniffles. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Me too,” Jimin says. It’ll be so silly to watch Namjoon and Seokjin – two very unserious people – be parents. The conversation changes when right after, Jimin sighs. “Yoongi lifted his arms the other day. His shirt rode up, and he had another bruise on his side.”

“Oh…” Taehyung says. He wraps his ankles around Jimin’s beneath the table when he sees the poorly concealed pain on his face.

“I just… I just wish he’d talk to me. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t take this seriously. Doesn’t take us seriously, or me. I know we’ve kept up this flirty thing for so long, but I thought we were just doing it for fun. But maybe this has something to do with it. Either whatever his bruises and cuts are from are things he doesn’t want me involved in, or this was just never serious for him. Just something entertaining.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Taehyung says. “I think it’s just as serious for him as it is for you. I know Yoongi likes you and that he cares about you. I can see it. We all can see it. I think if it’s anything, it’s because he cares enough about you to not wrap you up in whatever’s going on. And you know from what you know that he had a rough childhood, and kind of a rough life after that too. He’s in a good place now, but it was a fight to get here.”

“Yeah,” Jimin says quietly. Then again, “I just wish he’d talk to me. I could… I could take care of him. I want to. When he has cuts sometimes and they’re covered in bandages, I could be the one that does that for him. Or make sure he’s not doing anything to make the bruising worse, or help it when it’s feeling bad. I just… I wish I could be that for him. Even if we finally became more, I don’t think he’d let me. And I don’t know why that is…”

“Yoongi-hyung isn’t someone who trusts very easily, I think,” Taehyung says. “You’ve seen that. It took you guys a year to get anywhere close to where you’re at now. Maybe he just needs some time. Whatever it is, it seems serious, and it makes sense that he’d be hesitant to tell you anything about it if it took you over a year to be as friendly as you two are now. I don’t think it has anything to do with you. I think it’s him, and he’s just slow at opening up. I think you just need to be patient, and show him that you’re being patient. Show him that you’re there. And that’s what you do. You’re good at making people feel safe. He’ll come around eventually.”

“Yeah…” Jimin says quietly. “Thanks, Winter Bear.” It breaks the heavy moment when Taehyung laughs. “Or, sorry, Summer Bear right now.”

“You’re welcome,” Taehyung says. “You guys are, what, three years in the making? More? This isn’t something he’s going to just throw away, same as you won’t.”

“I hope so,” Jimin says quietly, but much more hope and belief are in his tone where it was defeated before.

Jimin stands to get himself something to drink just as Taehyung’s phone vibrates. He’s confused by whose name he sees on the screen. He picks it up and opens the messages.

Jungkook
Hey Tae
hyung sorry I pressed send too soon haha
Just letting you know I’m gonna take bam on a walk and see if I hear anything or try to talk to people I pass

Taehyung
Okay.
Do you want my help?

Jungkook
In what way?

Taehyung
I don’t know. Is there something I can do for you?

Jungkook
You can come on my walk with me?

Taehyung looks up from his phone and sees Jimin picking through his cabinets, looking for a snack.

Taehyung
I can’t today.
I’m sorry.
Tomorrow maybe?

Jungkook
That’s okay!
I can’t tomorrow
We’ll figure a schedule out for these things on Monday 😊

Taehyung
Okay.

Jungkook
I hope you’re having a nice weekend

Taehyung
You too.

He sets his phone down when Jimin comes back with a handful of snacks and multiple bowls of different things. Taehyung honestly thinks Jimin should start contributing to his grocery budget because of how much he eats when he comes over.

“How’s your asmr channel going?” he asks before he shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

“Same as usual,” Taehyung shrugs. “I was gonna film a video tonight but I don’t know what kind yet.”

“Ooh, can I choose?”

Taehyung snorts. “Sure.”

“I love when you do those emoji challenge ones. You should do that.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot about those. It’s been a while.” Those are always fun, rather easy to do. He usually does them on livestream rather than recorded videos, but he doesn’t mind doing that tonight.

He grabs his phone and searches for a pretty photo, then he opens instagram and clicks on his story.

He’s excited. These are always fun. He has viewers send in a string of emojis, and he finds a way to apply them to asmr. If someone sends in 📚🎙️🦋⛈️🫧, he would do a different audible or visual trigger for each one.

📚: He’d take one of his pretty hardcover books and tap his fingers gently against the cover

🎙️: He’d scratch the mic so the sound is picked up (something he’s always found to be a little grating, but other people like it)

🦋: He’d flutter his fingers together, making the sound of his skin brushing together resemble butterfly wings fluttering

⛈️: He’d cover the mic with a towel and run his fingers down it, and it sounds like thunder (one of his, and his viewers’, favorites)

🫧: He’d dip his bubble wand into the soap, then blow them beside the mic so it hears the barely-detectable sound of popping and his viewers can watch the iridescent, hypnotizing shapes

The emoji challenges are always fun and challenging, especially when he gets random ones and has to figure out what he could possibly do for an orange emoji or the unicorn emoji. It’s nice to go live too and get to talk to his viewers in real time. He wishes he could show himself sometimes so his viewers could see his expressions and the way he responds to things more than his whispers and hand movements, but it’s okay. He’s grateful for them and they’re grateful for him, and everything works out just fine.

“How’s your internet boyfriend?” Jimin asks.

Taehyung gives him a blank stare. “I think you’re a little too obsessed with my love life.”

“So you do have a love life.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. Jimin sees all the comments between him and jaykay under his videos and has taken to calling him his internet boyfriend. “You guys spend intimate moments together in the middle of the night. You whisper to him. Sounds like a boyfriend to me.”

Taehyung snorts. “He’s okay, I guess. I don’t know. We literally only talk through comments under my videos. I don’t know about his well-being.” That’s a lie. He knows more than he thinks a normal person does, but that’s just how his asmr community is. There’s vulnerability in feeling safe enough to sleep because of someone. He tells his viewers some parts of himself too, the details about his life that he feels comfortable enough to give away. Sometimes superficial things like what he did that day, sometimes a little more like why he started his channel, why he has trouble sleeping sometimes. He thinks it’s what makes this community feel so comforting: being vulnerable together. Sometimes he sees people in his comments interacting with each other too, and it warms his heart. He feels protective of his little internet friends after so many sleepovers together. He feels especially protective over jaykay, even though it’d probably be weird to say.

Jimin probably knows he’s lying about not knowing how he is. He lurks in his comments section sometimes, always leaving some supportive ones of his own because he watches his videos too. Not in the way they’re needed or intended, but just to cutely cheer him on and tell him he’s proud of him. He doesn’t push the topic this time though, and it feels wrong to talk about it anyway. Jaykay’s comments are public, so he knows anyone can read them. Still, it doesn’t feel right to talk about him to others.

He and Jimin eventually migrate to his balcony because it’s such a nice day out. His balcony is at the front of the building, overlooking the park and his little street of their town. It’s big enough for a table and four chairs, an extra bench that’s lined with plants and flowers, and an old grill he never uses. There are twinkle lights wrapped around the railing for when they’re out here at night time, and an awning they can roll out to protect them on especially sunny or rainy days.

Everyone is out for the beautiful day too. The sound of chatter from the sidewalk and children playing in the park travels up to them, where they sit at the table with drinks and snacks. It’s always one of his favorite things: to be somewhere private and cozy but in the middle of town. Especially when he’s with his best friend, who’s now folded in half laughing as they recall memories of the two of them together.

It’s always amazing to him that in the grand scheme of their lives this far, he and Jimin have known each other for not that much time at all. Three years is a lot of time, but it feels like he and Jimin have been best friends all their lives. He wishes they could have met sooner, but he doesn’t let himself dwell on it. He has Jimin now, and he’ll have Jimin forever. Their lives before each other have just given them so much to learn and talk about. Well, it did. It feels like they know everything there is to know after being inseparable from the day they met.

“We need to go out again,” Jimin sighs after his laughing fit.

Taehyung makes a face of minor disgust. “Do we?”

“Not to a club,” he says. “Honestly, I think if I had to go to a club now I’d die. I don’t know how I did that so much. It sounds horrible. There’s that new wine bar in town though. They do wine tasting with different food pairings, and I heard their patio is really nice, kind of hidden away like a courtyard I think. We could go there one night. Get drunk in a calm way and just hang out together.”

“Yeah, that sounds nice," Taehyung says. He feels so lucky to have found Jimin. And seeing the matching soft smile on Jimin’s face, Taehyung thinks he feels the same.

– ♡ –

Taehyung turns on his light machine and projects it onto the blank wall. He sets it to very slowly cycle between purple, blue, and dark pink. He grabs his humidifier too so the swirling mist effect will be in the background, adding an extra sense of visual asmr and giving his viewers something more to look at since everything above the neck isn’t in the camera. He puts on an ambient music loop very quietly in the background, just so dead silence with triggers during a livestream isn’t awkward.

He double checks that his microphone is plugged in and that he has all of his different mic covers. He makes sure all of his different sensory toys are in reach, and that his water bottle is full. He sets his camera up and makes sure he’ll stay out of its view even if he moves, and he plugs in his headphones so he’ll be able to hear his own sounds too.

He sits down and opens instagram to post on his story that he’ll be going live in one minute. He triple checks again that he has everything he needs, then he puts on his headphones and clicks the live button. He starts softly petting the fuzzy grey and black mic cover he has on, keeping the motion of his fingers slow and hypnotizing as people join the stream.

“Hi, everybody,” he whispers, his voice hovering quietly below his vocal cords. It’s deep and sometimes gravelly, all of the whimsy of his voice (as Jimin calls it) gone to make way for soothing calmness. He watches the viewer number rise and rise as he keeps petting the mic, smiling to himself when he sees so many names he recognizes.

“Hi, kkanjiinterlude,” he whispers when they say hi. He says hi to Mari too, to August, to Jade, some people he’s lucky enough to know by their personal name. His unseen smile grows even wider when he spots–

“I’m okay, jaykay,” he whispers. “How are you?”

When the comments start to come too fast and clog the section so much that he can’t read them, he clicks “subscribers only,” so only those who are subscribed to him can comment. He feels bad doing that, but it’s much more calm this way, which is the entire point.

“As you probably saw,” he whispers, “I’ll be doing emoji challenges. I can only do one person’s comment at a time, so if I don’t choose yours, once I’m done with the one I’m doing, you can comment again so I’ll see it. Please don’t spam the comments section though. I’ll pin whichever one I’m doing so you can see which triggers I do for each emoji. Once I unpin it, you can try commenting yours again. So let’s start.”

He watches the comments section fill with emojis, different colors and pictures slowly rising and disappearing as more come. He just blindly clicks on a random one and pins it before he starts. Many of the emojis people choose are because they know which one he’ll do for it after seeing him do this enough, but some really are a challenge.

📌: 🫙☁️🤏🔮🦚

He grabs his bottle of fizzy lotion, very much a fan favorite. He slowly unscrews it, then he circles the plastic lid around the metallic bottle a few times next to the mic. He pumps a little bit out onto his palm so he has a small pile of foam. It almost has the consistency of hair mousse, and the sound it makes when he presses it against his palm is very satisfyingly fizzy.

He slowly curls his fingers against his palm over and over again while he moves his other hand in front of the camera. He does the same thing with that hand, slowly curling his fingers to have hypnotizing repetitive visual asmr too. He smiles to himself when he reads some of the comments.

He does it until the fizziness has all been popped away, and he slowly rubs the lotion in. He mutes the mic to take the fuzzy cover off before unmuting it. He grabs a cotton ball from his pile set aside and places it on top of his mic. Very slowly, he rolls it back and forth over the curve of the top, where the sensitive mic picks up every soft fiber of the cotton ball squishing together and rolling over the holes of his mic. He holds in his laughter at the swarm of messages about giving people chills, and he won’t lie, hearing something this closely – that he can hear a quiet cotton ball – gives him tingles too.

After a minute or so of doing that until the shape has flattened out and there’s not much to hear anymore, he sets it aside. Then he moves his fingers in front of the camera and makes a slow plucking motion, like he’s pulling something out of the camera. He does it over and over again, softly whispering, “Pluck, pluck, pluck,” making sure to gently enunciate the P and the CK to get the slightly clicky sound of it.

This one isn’t his favorite because he always needs to rehydrate after, but he knows this one is everyone’s favorite, which the comments indicate too, so he does it for longer than the others.

Only once he really needs a water break does he move on to the next one. He grabs his galaxy moon light and turns it on so it illuminates as a soft purple orb. He holds it in front of him so it’s glowing in the camera in front of his chest. Slowly, he drums his fingers against the surface. He switches between doing it with his fingertips and his blunt nails, sometimes dragging them over the textured craters in the moon. This one isn’t his favorite either because he’s not a fan of the higher-pitched plastic noise, so he wraps it up faster than the others.

Lastly, he grabs his two big green feathers that he got from the craft store in town. He drags one of them over the surface of his mic, softly blowing into it too as he drags the other feather over the camera, as if he’s petting it. He smiles to himself when he sees glimpses of the comments. These types of themed livestreams are always fun to do, much more fun than regular lives where it’s a little repetitive. He likes those too, ones where he talks much, much more, but this is stimulating for him too. He likes the feeling of his hands being moisturized, the cotton ball fibers flattening out and becoming less airy. The feeling of falling into a trance when saying a word repetitively, the feeling of the soft feathers in his hand. All of his senses benefit a lot from this too – feeling both like he’s playing and calming down.

He sets the feathers aside and starts slowly drumming his fingers against his desk while he’s not doing anything. “You want me to talk more?” he reads a comment out loud. He sees lots of yesses, some nos – which is very understandable because sometimes he’s not in the mood for vocal asmr. The majority of the people right now want to hear him talk though, so he listens. He gets paid for these lives, both from sponsors and from people tipping, so if he’s being paid by viewers, he’ll listen to their requests. His free videos though are a different story.

“What did I do today?” he reads in a whisper. He puts his furry mic cover on again, and he starts brushing his fingers through it. With his other hand, he does the same toward the camera, slightly behind it, like he’s brushing through someone’s hair with his fingers. “Today my best friend came over like he does most weekends. He brings me flowers whenever he comes because he walks past a flower shop on his way here. Today he brought a bouquet of buttercups, violets, dandelions, and daisies.” He smiles when his comments section becomes a garden of different flower emojis.

“Hi, leafsheep,” he whispers. “Welcome. It’s so nice to have you here. You guys can ask me anything and I’ll answer what I’m comfortable with. Doesn’t matter if I’ve already talked about it a hundred times before.

“I started my channel around three years ago. My best friend says I have a nice voice when I whisper." His comments voice how much they agree with Jimin on this. “I was having a lot of trouble sleeping at that time, so I leaned on a lot of asmr creators. My mental health wasn’t the greatest, and it was seeping into my sleep health too.” It’s just muscle – or, well, vocal – memory at this point to whisper a certain way, to enunciate certain letters and syllables, to make some breathy or drawn out. My mental healthhh wasn’t the greatest, and it was seeping into my sleep health too.

“Once it started to get better, it was partially because the creators whose videos I used to watch helped me so much. My best friend suggested I become one of them. So I decided to try. It was harder to build a following, because most of the others show their faces. I don’t because of my job, so it was a very slow process to build this community and make people trust me enough to sleep with me, even when you can’t see me.”

As expected, several people ask him what his job is, if he works for the NIS or the KCIA, if he’s a famous celebrity. “None of those things,” he chuckles. “My job is relatively normal. I just want to keep these two things separate for different reasons. But anyway, yeah, that’s how I got my start.”

He responds to a few more questions in the comments, then he pins another string of emojis (🌬️⛈️🌻🪁⛳️) and continues lulling people to sleep.

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

The quiet, ambient noises of his favorite coffee shop, the gentle instrumental music playing behind it, and the smell of coffee beans in the air wrap around Taehyung like a familiar, comforting hug. It’s never too busy here, especially on summer days when the sun is shining and it isn’t too hot. He spent a lot of time outside with Jimin yesterday though, and he wants somewhere dimmer, somewhere quieter and more hidden than sitting at the park like he normally would. He’s just in a quieter mood today, wants to be a background character instead of someone important in driving the day forward.

He’s sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in the corner, this one tufted and forest green. Someone is sitting at the table across from the window with a sketchbook in front of them, along with a huge tray of colored pencils. They look up every time the bell on the door chimes with the announcement of a new guest and immediately get to work, drawing them in the time it takes for them to order their drink and stand to the side as they wait for the barista to prepare it. He wonders if he’s immortalized in their sketchbook as well. If there’s a with black pants and a brown shirt, wavy hair and a burgundy cardigan thrown over his arm because it tends to be a little cold in the coffee shop during summertime, standing and waiting for his tea with a slightly pensive but mostly black expression on his face, because that’s what he tends to look like to others.

Across from him are two more comfortable chairs, both of them different from each other and from his own, with a wood coffee table between them. The coffee bar is to his right, and to the other side of him are tables where only one person sits with their laptop in front of them. The walls are burgundy like his cardigan with one of them exposed brick, and the walls are lined with art from different artists in town, just like Seokjin’s bakery, but a different style of art to match each shop’s aesthetics. It’s a cozy space and feels healing today, like it’s putting all his puzzle pieces back together after a weekend of really doing nothing, or pruning all of his wilting leaves so he can grow more healthily. Sometimes he just feels a little messy or like some of his threads have started to loosen, so he’s knitting himself back together as he sits there and reads.

He grabs his tea off the side table to take a sip as he turns the page. The bell on the door rings with the arrival of two new people who chat at the bar once they’ve ordered, not knowing that someone across the shop is creating them on their page.

“No, it’s hard to tell who’s doing it,” one of the people says to the other. Taehyung can’t see what they look like, but they’re talking just loud enough to hear what they’re saying. “Especially when I’m half asleep for all of my shifts. I don’t look at who’s coming and going. It’d be easy to blend in anyway. Someone can just walk in and get stuff from the dryer, and I wouldn’t know if that’s the person who was doing their laundry or if they were sent by someone to go pick it up.”

Dots in Taehyung’s head are connecting, but he doesn’t know if it is what he thinks it is. He wishes he could ask a question, but he writes down everything they’re saying in his head. He stands to order another drink even though he doesn’t need one yet, and he sees two young girls standing at the bar. They look like they’re in their very early twenties, maybe out of college for the summer. The shorter one with her brown hair back in a ponytail sounds like she works at the laundromat tucked away in town.

“No one has complained to my boss yet, just me. Everyone keeps yelling at me that I’m not paying enough attention, or that I am the one stealing their laundry, and I just want to be like, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t leave your laundry unattended and very stealable?’ Like why is it my fault that their things are getting stolen when they’re not there to watch it? I’m not the laundry guard.” Taehyung is filling the notebook in his head with observations and descriptions, committing it to memory and filling in the blanks.

“It’s already f*cked up that they have you work in the middle of the night,” her friend says, platinum blonde hair cut into a bob, taller than the other, a flower tattoo on her left forearm. He thinks he recognizes her from the record store in town. “You have your own job to do. It’s not your job to stare everyone down and be their laundry’s security guard. Aren't there even disclaimer signs saying they’re not responsible for anything that goes missing?”

The two grab their drink orders, and as they’re walking out, the other says, “Yeah, which I show them each time someone says something to me. It’s only been a couple people, but that’s not my problem.” The bell on the door rings again when it shuts behind them, and Taehyung rushes over to grab his phone. He finds that he already has a text from Jungkook.

Jungkook
Hi Taehyung
I found out some info yesterday 😎

Taehyung
I just found something else out too.

Jungkook
Oh! Want to talk about it now or wait until tomorrow?

Taehyung
Tomorrow. I want to update my notes before I forget anything, and it’ll be better to talk in person.

Jungkook
Okay 😊

Taehyung gathers his things, and his phone vibrates again when he walks outside. It’s just as beautiful out as it was on the walk to the coffee shop this morning. A soft blue sky, the occasional breeze cooling the warm air. People are going in and out of shops, in pairs or groups or spending the day alone just like him.

Jungkook
How’s your weekend?

Taehyung raises an eyebrow.

Taehyung
It’s been okay, I guess. I got some things done and spent the rest of the time with Jimin or reading my book.

He doesn’t know why he’s telling Jungkook things like this, or why Jungkook is asking. Or why he’s now asking in return.

Taehyung
What about you?

Jungkook
My weekend’s been okay! I caught up on a lot of chores I was behind on

Taehyung
Like what?

He furrows his eyebrows again at himself for dragging the conversation on. He’s about to apologize for what might come off as prying or nosy, but Jungkook responds right away.

Jungkook
I really needed to mop my floors so I did that and washed all my bedding too and got some groceries and took Bam for a long walk 🤩

Taehyung
That’s nice. Productive weekend.

Jungkook
Yeah!! I have to drive in a second so I won’t be able to text
Looking forward to seeing you and talking tomorrow! 😊

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows again. He thinks he’ll get a crease between them if he keeps talking to Jungkook.

Taehyung
Okay.

He slips his phone into his pocket and continues his walk home.

– ♡ –

IV. Lead #4: The Laundromat

• Date: dates of activity unknown, but information gathered in the 24th of June
• Location: Wash ‘n Dry Laundromat (referred to herein as “the laundromat”)
• Sources:
  • Unnamed worker: female, early 20s, brown hair in a ponytail
  • Unnamed friend of worker: female, early 20s, platinum blonde bob, tattoo of a flower on right forearm
• Information gathered: Laundry has gone missing from dryers at the laundromat. It was implied to have taken place in the middle of the night, when unnamed worker works alone. It seems to have occurred only twice (or at least has been noticed by customers only twice).
• Additional notes: The owners and managers have not been notified, as complaints have only been brought to the unnamed worker. There are signs on the wall showing that the laundromat is not responsible for any items that have gone missing, so no action can be taken.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

“Taehyung, this is great! All I got were some more details, not a whole new lead,” Jungkook says as he looks through their notes on Monday. His hair is touching his eyelashes again as he looks down at his laptop. Taehyung watches it move when he blinks. His eyes travel down to his lips, where he’s biting on his lip ring. He looks a little edgier than he usually dresses at work today – baggy pants with a tight shirt and chunky boots, all black, of course. It suits him, and he looks more comfortable than he does most days. It kind of matches Taehyung’s own style today, the same type of outfit but a little more subdued and in his usual autumn colors. He can feel his own hair touching his eyelashes too because the fluffiness is getting a little out of hand with the humidity, so he needs to get a haircut soon. Like Jungkook has needed to too since he met him, basically, because even when he gets it cut, his eyelashes are distracting. It looks like he just did because it’s shorter than it was before. It’s parted down the middle, curtaining his forehead just a bit with loose waves. He wonders if that was part of his weekend errands too. He wonders why he never cuts it short enough to stop touching his eyelashes, or if he likes that it’s distracting and irritating for him to watch.

“I didn’t even really do anything,” Taehyung says. “It was just lucky that I was sitting at the coffee shop. And more details on things we already know is really important too.”

“Still, this helps us out so much. It’s not luck that you’re observant and aware of your surroundings. I’m glad we’re working together.”

Taehyung fidgets with his hands in his lap as he looks down at them. “Thank you,” he says quietly. Then, “What did you find out?”

Jungkook grabs his own laptop, and he sits next to him on the other side of his desk once he moves his chair closer. Taehyung thinks he can feel his body heat. “I got a few photos and some notes,” he says as he pulls them up. There are two photos, and Taehyung sees that some of the details on the section of the laundry missing from someone’s clothesline lead in their notes has been updated. Addresses, names Jungkook thinks he overheard, and photos of the initial sources.

Before they go through it, Jungkook sighs and sits back in his chair. He thankfully moves his hair out of his eyelashes, and it reveals more of his eyes. They’re dark and round. Taehyung wonders if he can see really well because of how big they are. It’s hard to look at anything but his eyes. He wishes he’d put his hair back where it was. It’s easier to look at his eyelashes than his eyes. “So… there’s something new, and it’s complicated.” Taehyung notices his jaw is clenched, and there’s a new look in his eyes that he’s only ever seen when firing the intern. Anger mixed with something else, but he’s not sure what it is. “The man is named Beomseok, and the woman is Haeun. Beomseok is married, and his neighbor Haeun is not.” Taehyung thinks he sees where this is going. “The timing of all of this is kind of crazy and lucky. I was walking Bam, and through the windows of Beomseok’s house, I saw the two of them kissing. In a very… impassioned way. They quickly stepped back when Beomseok’s wife came home and pulled into the driveway. The door opened and Haeun stepped out on the front porch. Haeun and Beomseok’s wife named Nani greeted each other, and I got the impression that maybe they’re close friends. Haeun said she stopped by to get something, and Bam stopped to sniff someone’s mailbox at the house next door, so I heard their conversation for a while. Haeun talked about the laundry incident again, and she said she’s going to get cameras installed and the police involved. Eventually I had to keep walking once Bam started to too. But, uh, yeah…”

Jungkook’s voice acquired an unnameable tone to it as the story went on. Taehyung gets the impression again that this is something that isn’t far removed from Jungkook’s life. Even though he feels a certain way about Jungkook, the thought that maybe this happened to him sends an unexpecting fire blazing through him. Maybe not a fire, but a spark that can spread if he finds out more. He feels a certain way about Jungkook, but he’s not oblivious enough or clouded by his… annoyance enough to see how kind Jungkook is. How gentle and sweet. How undeserving he is to have been cheated on, if that’s something that happened to him. No one is really deserving of that, but especially not Jungkook.

Jungkook clears his throat and shakes his head a few times, and Taehyung has to blink a few times to snap out of his thoughts too. “Anyway, so, I had a thought… And it would be interfering in a way I normally wouldn’t, but I think we should. I’d like to get your opinion though, because we’re working on this together.”

“Okay.”

“Even though the cops in our town are useless, I really don’t want them involved in this. If they do manage to do something somehow, it would not be good, and involving the police would get word out. They’d probably have us put something about it in the paper, or word would spread just by mouth.”

“You want to tell Nani that Beomseok is having an affair with her neighbor and friend. It’ll distract Haeun enough to forget about installing cameras and notifying the police. Maybe distract her enough to forget about, or stop noticing, the laundry altogether.”

Even though Jungkook’s attitude had changed after telling the story, a proud smile comes to his face. Taehyung smiles back, heart beating a little faster at unspoken praise from his boss. He thinks it’s from that.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything. He looks at Taehyung. His doe eyes roam his face, looking at what Taehyung realizes must be the first time he’s ever smiled at him. The smile drops from his face, but not all at once to ruin the mood that’s started to become lighter again. It turns to a close-lipped smile, then just the corner of his lips tilted up, and Jungkook snaps out of it again. “Yes,” he says, “that’s what I was thinking.”

“How do you suggest we tell her?”

“We can’t tell her directly. It’s not a foolproof plan, but I was thinking of sending her a letter in the mail. Or just dropping one off in the night so she’ll receive it faster than the mail system.”

“What if she doesn’t believe it?”

“I didn’t show you because I was waiting until I got your input, but I have pictures of them kissing too.” Jungkook pulls them up on his laptop, and Taehyung makes a face. Jungkook is making that same face from before.

Before he realizes what he’s doing, Taehyung rests his hand on top of Jungkook’s that’s still on the touchpad on his laptop. Jungkook immediately looks over at him, surprise and confusion on his face. But just as immediately, he twists his hand and presses their palms together, fingers fitting in the spaces of each other’s, like it’s normal for them to hold hands, like it’s something they do every day.

“I don’t mean to be overstepping,” Taehyung says. “But you’re kind, and you’re good. You’re worth keeping and being treated as kindly as you treat others.”

Jungkook blinks at him. It’s silent in the office, but it’s not awkward. Taehyung can hear the muted sounds of the rest of the office through his closed door, and the sounds of people roaming around town outside of his window. In his office though, it’s silent until Jungkook speaks. “Does that mean you’ll stop sending me one word replies with periods on the end?”

Taehyung’s loud snort makes a surprised smile come to Jungkook’s face, all traces of discomfort from before erased to make room for a bunny smile – the kind whose full power has never been directed at him either. “I’ll consider it,” Taehyung says. He squeezes Jungkook’s hand once before sliding it back to himself before it can get awkward. “I think your idea is good for many different reasons. Apart from our investigation, Nani deserves to know.”

Jungkook nods. “I’ll start drafting something up and send it to you for your input once I’m done.”

Taehyung nods. He stands and smooths the front of his pants down. “I’ll get back to work then.”

“Thank you for the new lead and your input. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Taehyung just nods and leaves Jungkook’s office. But to his surprise, Jungkook closes the door behind him again.

Taehyung sits at his desk and opens his laptop. He goes through the email inbox of questions people from outside of their town have sent and finds one that he’d like to answer, then he opens a new word document.

He glances at Jungkook’s door again. It’s only ever been closed when they’re in there together. He looks back at his laptop. He looks back at his door again. It’s never been closed when it’s just Jungkook. He’s also never seen Jungkook the way he did when recalling what he saw at the rich people’s houses, that it might have been something personal. He looks back at his laptop.

Q: Dear Summer Bear,

He only reads a sentence before his mind wanders. He glances at Jungkook’s door again. He sighs and stands with his laptop in his hands. He knocks on Jungkook’s door.

“Come in.” Taehyung walks into his office and closes the door behind him. “Oh, hey,” Jungkook says. He’s sitting behind his desk again. “Need something?”

“Uh, no, not really. I was wondering if I could work in here?”

Jungkook tilts his head to the side, his earrings dangling with the movement. “Is there something more we didn’t go over?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “No. I was just going to work on advice column questions.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “Did you need my help on them?”

Taehyung sighs and tilts his head back to look at the ceiling before he looks back at Jungkook. “No, I don’t need anything from you,” he says. “I’d just like to work in the same space together.”

The corner of Jungkook’s lips tilt up. The corner where his lip ring is pierced through. “Of course. You’re welcome in here any time.”

“Do you want anything before I sit? Coffee or something?”

Jungkook smiles at him again. There’s a strange feeling in Taehyung’s stomach. “No, I’m okay.”

“Okay.” Taehyung sits in the spot he was earlier. Jungkook’s office is cozy. He likes it in here. He looks at Jungkook on the other side of his desk. His eyebrows are furrowed as he types, fidgeting with his lip ring like always. Sometimes when his eyebrows are furrowed and moved down from the shield of his hair, Taehyung thinks he spots two little white dots above and below his eyebrow, like he maybe once had a piercing there. He asked Jimin about it, and he should have anticipated Jimin asking how he noticed two undetectable spots on his eyebrow, which are always hidden behind his hair to begin with. Taehyung attributed it to good vision, which he has. He looks back at his laptop. He finally reads through the question and starts to write.

– ♡ –

– ♡ –

“What’s our next plan of action?” Taehyung asks once he’s finished his answer. He feels a bit emotionally tired in the way he always does after and needs a distraction.

“I’m just about to send you the letter I drafted up. I’ll sneak it into their mailbox late at night, then what do you think we should do next?”

Taehyung pulls up their file of notes again to jog his brain. “We shouldn’t go to the gas station again so soon, and we should think about how we’ll approach the laundromat situation for a couple days since it’s still so new. I think we should follow the grocery store lead for now.

“One of us can go grocery shopping, and we can linger around any employees who are talking together. And if that doesn’t lead us anywhere, we can find something that’s out of stock on the shelf, and ask the manager if they have any left. It’s a slim chance, but maybe we’ll get lucky that it was something that was taken from their stockroom.”

Jungkook nods. “I think that’s a great idea,” he says, and Taehyung can’t suppress his smile. “I think we should go together.”

The smile drops from Taehyung’s face. He blinks at him. “Why?”

“The grocery store is big,” Jungkook says. “There’s a lot to cover. I think we might be more successful if there are two of us. And our chances would be doubled if we both asked about different things out of stock.” Taehyung doesn’t mention that their chances being doubled means that instead of one possibility of success, there’s two, out of every single thing that could be out of stock at the store.

He sighs. “Fine. When?”

Jungkook fidgets with his lip piercing with his tongue as he thinks. Taehyung watches the metal ring move. He sees the little dot beneath Jungkook’s bottom lip. Those big, round eyes of his looking around the room as he thinks before they land on him, catching Taehyung staring at him. Taehyung doesn’t react to being caught. “I think we should go late at night. Fewer people, and if it’s less busy, there’s more of an opportunity of workers slacking off and talking to each other.”

Taehyung nods. “When?”

“Do you have anything going on tonight?” Taehyung shakes his head. “Tonight then?”

Taehyung holds back his sigh. “Okay. Will we go together?”

“There are no pros and cons of going together or separately other than saving money on gas and saving the environment.”

Taehyung snorts. “An extra car on a five minute drive will not heal our crumbling environment.”

Jungkook shrugs. “Might as well help when we can since that’s the attitude everyone else has.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, but it has none of the minor disdain it usually has. “I’ll drive this time then. Send me your address.”

Jungkook nods.

Then they keep looking at each other, even though there’s nothing more to say.

The office is quiet. Taehyung notices the lines in Jungkook’s pink lips. They’ve always been there, a darker magenta creased into its lighter hue. Jungkook is kind of pink everywhere. He notices that his palms are pink once he’s been holding something for a while. Most people’s turn red, but the color dusting different parts of him is always a pastel pink (maybe something close to #fed2cd. He pretends like he doesn’t know what the color of his lips are, or the creases in them too).

He notices his bangs moving with the movement of his blinks, following his long eyelashes every time they move. Maybe distracting isn’t the word. It’s the word he’s used for years, but maybe that’s not the right one. Mesmerizing, maybe.

After a few more seconds, Jungkook clears his throat and looks away, back to his computer screen. Taehyung blinks a few times as he snaps out of it. He notices pink on Jungkook’s cheekbones, but he can’t recall that spot on his skin being touched enough to leave color behind.

The air in the office feels heavy, but it becomes easier to breathe when the sound of their keyboard keys fills the silence once more. Taehyung glances back up at Jungkook after writing for a few seconds, and he watches his eyelashes again. He looks away and continues his work.

– ♡ –

Taehyung and Namjoon are walking around town, visiting the spots that he mapped out back at the office. Namjoon isn’t necessary for this, nor does he provide any help; he just wanted to go on a walk.

It’s the height of summer, meaning townspeople and tourists alike are spending the majority of their time outside. They don’t have an official town guide, so he decided to make one. He gathered Jimin’s, Hoseok’s, Namjoon’s, Yoongi’s, Jungkook’s, even Seokjin’s (even though he isn’t part of the paper), and his own favorite places to go in town and narrowed them down to ten.

1. Seokjin’s bakery, of course
2. The community gardens
3. The wine bar he and Jimin still haven’t visited yet
4. The bookstore
5. The park and playgrounds
6. The most beloved restaurant in town that always has at least an hour wait time
7. The hiking trails and where some of them lead
8. The art studios and classes that they offer
9. Their town square and the many small businesses there
10. The town’s nighttime ghost tour

He’s more than familiar with many of these places (the bakery, the park, the bookstore) but some he hasn’t visited in a while (pretty much the rest of them). He can’t cover them all today, but just a few will be helpful. He and Namjoon are strolling down the sidewalk, an iced coffee in Namjoon’s hand and a lemonade in his own.

“And she’s just, god, she’s so cute, and she’s the sweetest little thing ever.” Namjoon has been rambling about their soon-to-be adopted daughter almost the entire walk, and Taehyung loves it. He knows what a process this has been, and he could listen to the happiness and love in Namjoon’s voice forever.

“You’re going to take some time off, right?” he asks. They turn off the main street in town onto one of the quieter avenues, towards the community gardens. It’s really so beautiful here in the summertime. In spring and autumn and winter too, but summer has always been his favorite. The way the sunlight looks yellow and warm when it weaves through the leaves and branches of the trees above them. The way the trees are flourishing, so bushy and full of life. The way the grass is green, the plants and flowers thriving. Everyone is always outside, walking or playing or working on their landscaping. The town is just full of life, and it renews his happiness to be alive every day (if it were ever getting low).

They’re walking beneath a big oak tree, the leaves rustling in the breeze as if they’re expressing their own excitement at Namjoon's wonderful news. They walk past some children playing jump rope or drawing with chalk on the street – something that’s safe to do because of the extremely low speed limits and how much everyone here values each other. They briefly get splashed with a sprinkler watering somebody’s yard, the both of them laughing at the sudden spray on their legs.

Namjoon nods, answering his question. “Seokjin has spent months training people to run the bakery, and I’ve been training one of my team members to lead my section of the paper. Jungkook said I don’t need to have formal out of office dates, that I can come back or leave whenever. So I’ll probably stay home until we all feel settled in, and I can do some work from home too, so.”

“Well, as soon as you guys are settled in, I’ll be expecting an invitation to come over and meet my new niece.”

Namjoon laughs. “Jimin said the same thing. And Hoseok-hyung. She’s going to have a lot of uncles.”

She’ll be very loved. She would be even if all she had were her two new parents, but now there’s five more of them who will love her and be there for anything she or her new family needs.

“How are things going with you?” Namjoon asks. He blends right in with the day. Taehyung always looks like he was plucked from autumn and placed in any season, and Namjoon looks like an eternal summer – when the trees are alive and the sun is warm. Always greens and browns and colors of the earth, always feeling so grounded and steady like he’s one of Mother Nature’s children, sent here just to admire the world around him. His skin is a warm tan just like his own, his shirt green and his pants brown like the trees they pass, like the things his name is so similar to, like he really is made from the earth. He has his glasses on his nose, to see and notice the things around him better, and he recently shaved his head to a buzzcut so it’s growing back in in its natural dark color again, and it looks quite nice on him.

Taehyung shrugs. “Same as ever. No big life updates like you have going on. Just living.”

“That’s nice though,” Namjoon says. “The big moments matter, but life is mostly made of the quiet, little moments. Our adoption is such a huge thing, but then after that, it’s just small moments. Little things that will become her childhood. Tiny things that will reflect this summer, then autumn, then winter, spring. Big moments don’t happen often, so the quiet, ordinary ones matter the most.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Taehyung says, a small smile to himself. That’s a nice philosophy to live by. His life really is made up of little moments. Sitting on his balcony with Jimin. Reading a book while cozy on his couch at night. Taking a walk with Namjoon, taking care of his plants. Nothing big, nothing special, but important and beautiful in their slow ordinariness.

They take another turn at a crosswalk, and they see the entrance to the gardens down the street. He’s always been jealous of the houses that live across from the garden; it’s so quiet and such a beautiful view, somewhere to visit so easily. It’s not like it’s a particularly long walk from where he lives, and he enjoys walking, but still.

They arrive at the ivy-covered arch that’s woven with pink flowers, beckoning them closer so they can join the little world where so many things live. They step beneath its leaves, wrapped in the floral scent that manages to never be overwhelming despite the endless flowers that live here.

Once they step out from beneath the sun-dimmed tunnel, they’re in the middle of the garden with its white gazebo that nature has taken up residence on. Ivy and leaves wrap around the posts, rose bushes climbing up the bottom. There’s a small table with two chairs in the middle with a fake candle lantern that switches on at night for a romantic candlelit atmosphere – which Taehyung knows, because sometimes he used to sit there by himself and enjoy the quiet summer night.

The gazebo is the center of everything, and winding cobblestone paths lead off in several directions from it. They’re all quite old, and Taehyung is pretty sure they haven’t been updated since the gardens were constructed – which he thinks is a very good thing, because the crumbling, aged stone just makes the environment feel even more timeless and important.

They choose a path that goes to the right. It’s decorated with different types of trees on each side, with blankets of poppies between each one. He didn’t know before coming here that poppies came in colors other than red. The ones here are red, of course, but yellow, orange, and golden too. He even spotted some blue and purple ones during springtime one year. The poppies fade off into chrysanthemum, mimicking the same sunset colors – the path welcoming them to the koi pond, where the colors of the friendly fish are the same. He didn’t know before coming here either that chrysanthemums can exist in a season other than fall, and he learned that they’re planted in the shade of the trees so they can have their preferred cooler temperatures. Everything here is so planned out, both technically and visually, and the hard work and care pays off for everyone who visits.

They arrive at the koi pond. They step over the wooden bridge that stretches across it, hearing it creak beneath their feet. They sit on a bench on the other side in front of the water that sparkles in the sunlight. Taehyung takes a few photos on his phone and quickly scribbles down a few notes in his notebook, then he sets his things aside and sits back to enjoy the quiet with his friend.

He watches the koi fish glide through the water, occasionally coming to the surface with their bodies tilted up, like they’re trying to catch glimpses of the sky. Or maybe just to eat a bug that fell into the water. Lily pads float on the surface, only moving when a fish causes a ripple in the water. Some even have a few waterlilies on top, the flower a beautiful purple-pink color, adding a change in hue from the colors of the koi fish. He spots orange and white ones, some with a speckle or two of black too. He spots black and white ones, some even a gorgeous golden color, looking like they’re sparkling beneath the sunlight that meets the water. They’re swimming peacefully around with their friends, some occasionally hopping out of the water and making the two friends on the surface laugh.

There are no sounds. The gardens are tucked away in a quiet neighborhood, so none of the sounds or movement of the semi-busy downtown area can reach them. Only the rustling leaves, the occasional bubbles or splashes in the pond.

“Why did you and Seokjin-hyung move here?” Taehyung asks eventually. He knows they came from the big city, where they lived for years before finding a new home, but he doesn’t know more than that.

Namjoon takes off his glasses and cleans them on his shirt. Taehyung notices how smudged they are, which is such a Namjoon detail. Too busy looking at the world around him that he doesn’t even notice the lenses he’s looking through.

“Seokjin tried to open a bakery in the city,” he says. Taehyung heard a little bit about it when he interviewed Seokjin for the paper, but nothing from an outside, and more empathetic, perspective, because it was just brushed over by the baker. “He tried a few times. First, just from our apartment. He tried to have a small cake business, but it was never successful enough to be called more than a hobby. We found a building, somewhere so small that we rented out for so much money, and less than a year later, he had to close down the bakery before it could even settle in.

“And I’d just never really liked the city. I was there for so long, and the scenery isn’t something I could appreciate like people who love the city do. It just wasn’t for me. Eventually the noise became too much. The dirty air, the lack of nature. There were parks and small trees on the sidewalk, but I wanted somewhere where I didn’t have to go to find greenery.

“So with both things together, we knew we needed to get out – on top of knowing we wanted to start a family one day, but that was still years into the future at that point. We didn’t want a small town, and we were leaving the big city, so we tried to find somewhere in the middle. And now we’ve been here for almost as long as we were in the city. Seokjin’s bakery is as loved as it deserves to be, and I can take walks. It’s quiet and green, and there’s a koi pond where I can sit with a friend.”

Taehyung smiles. This really is where Namjoon and Seokjin belong. It’s where he belongs too; he knew it as soon as he found their town when he was looking to move. All of their friends belong here. It’s easy to see on all of them that it’s home. It’s exactly where they should be. With each other.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Taehyung says. “Well, I guess I’m glad I’m here, since you were here first.”

Namjoon smiles at him. “I’m glad too.”

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

Taehyung pulls up to Jungkook’s address, and he wasn’t lying; he doesn’t live on the east side of town. He wasn’t really expecting him to live in a house though, but it makes sense since he and Jimin are the only ones of all of their friends who live in an apartment above a business in town. He owns his apartment, doesn’t pay rent, but he wonders if he should look into moving into a house. He likes the location where he lives though, right in the middle of town, and he doesn’t really crave having a front or backyard, because he has his balcony. Then he makes a face, because why is he suddenly thinking of making a big life choice because of the tiniest snippet he’s seen of Jungkook’s?

Jungkook’s house is cute. Not really where he’d expect Jungkook to live, not that he ever really thought of it. Jungkook’s house is a dark red with a front porch. The floor of the porch is made of medium-toned wood, and with the stone accents of the pillars in front of it, it adds a cozy element to it. Even more so when the lantern lights that hang beside the door slightly flicker, as if they were lit by candles. The house stands out on his street, almost looking like it belongs closer to the woods. The landscaping is minimal but looks neat, and lantern lights flank the walkway as well to light the way to the home.

The door opens, and Jungkook steps out. In the lantern light as he locks it behind him, Taehyung lets himself stare. He’s wearing baggy jeans with a black shirt tucked in, and Taehyung doesn’t think he’s ever seen him in blue jeans, just black. He’s not wearing his usual chunky boots either, but just regular shoes. He looks so casual right now, boyish almost. His hair looks nice as well, boyish and casual too.

As he walks down the path to his car, the lanterns illuminate his face but cast it into shadows even more. He sees it glint against his rings, earrings, and facial piercings too. The light accentuates the roundness of his nose but the darkness of his eyes, then the curve of his smile before he opens the car door.

“Hey, hyung,” Jungkook says, then he immediately turns awkward comically fast, within the first second of him getting in the car. “Oh, uh, sorry. I never really know what to call you. You’re older than me, but I’m your boss, so not using an honorific feels weird and using one feels weird too.”

“You call everyone else hyung,” Taehyung says as he pulls onto the empty road again. “Do you not respect me?”

“I do!” Jungkook says, then he realizes Taehyung is teasing a second later.

“You can call me hyung if you want to. You don’t have to though.”

“I will,” Jungkook says, then he buckles his seatbelt and settles in.

Taehyung just now notices he was holding something in his hand that he puts between his legs now. “What’s that?”

“Reusable shopping bags.”

Taehyung holds in a giggle. He doesn’t know why that sends a flutter through him. It’s cute. Then he furrows his eyebrows at himself and clears his throat to change the subject. Jungkook does it for him before he has to think of something himself.

“I don’t know about you, but I was planning on getting groceries. I needed to go shopping anyway.”

“The big boss can afford to get groceries from the fancy expensive grocery store in town. Hm.”

“We’re already going to be there! And–” He cuts himself off when he realizes Taehyung is joking, and he whines. Taehyung bites his lip to keep his smile back. “You tease me too much. And you do it with a straight face so I can never even tell at first.”

Taehyung shrugs, smiling now. “You’re too easy.”

They drive along Jungkook’s street, honoring the slow speed limit even at nighttime. It’s summer, so some children could still be out playing despite the darkness, or animals could be crossing the street.

Most houses are dark and asleep though, their way lit by the streetlights and Taehyung’s car lights. It’s a cozy ambience: summertime, nighttime car rides with the windows down, even if they’re not going fast enough for a breeze.

As they drive, the smaller, cute houses slowly start to change into big, stately ones. There’s a clear divide in sections of their town. There isn’t really a properly poor and run down part, but definitely a lower class one, then there’s the modest area that takes up the majority of the town, and the one that flaunts the townspeople’s wealth.

It’s brighter here than in Jungkook’s part of the neighborhood, like the houses want to make a statement and use up all of the resources available to them even in the nighttime. Their landscaping is lit up, lights shining up the brick and stone exteriors. Chandeliers are on in the big windows above the stately doors, in the equally-as-stately foyers, he assumes. The landscaping is very manicured with shaped bushes and neat lawns. Everything is elegant and clearly rich without any personality but that.

“I dropped off the letter in the house’s mailbox,” Jungkook says. “When I was walking Bam.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. “I guess now we wait. Someone should walk by there tomorrow to see if we hear or see anything.”

“I can do it,” Jungkook says. “I walk Bam every day anyway.”

Taehyung nods. “I can do it in the evening or at night too. Just to see at what hours people are home, and maybe it’ll give us more information.”

They eventually pull up to the grocery store – the expensive, fancy one rather than the local one in town. It’s much bigger than the one in town, looking more like a corporation rather than a friendly neighborhood grocery store. He’s never been here, but he already doesn’t like it. He’s always liked grocery shopping because it feels cozy, but just from what he can see of the lighting from here, it looks cold and too bright.

Taehyung parks the car, and they get out together.

“Make sure you have your phone somewhere where you can feel it vibrate, or turn the sound on, in case we need to reach each other. I think we should separate from each other first to cover more ground like you said.”

Jungkook nods. When they walk inside, he grabs a cart. Taehyung blinks at him. He didn’t know they were doing all of that. “What?” Jungkook says, doe eyes big and round. “I’m getting groceries!”

Taehyung just grabs a basket because he wasn’t planning on going on an entire shopping spree, then they go their separate ways for now. Jungkook turns right to go to the produce section, so Taehyung goes to one of the random aisles and starts to walk through.

He keeps an eye out for workers. He takes note of which sections they’re in, what they’re doing, what they look like. He tries not to make it obvious, so he searches for something they’re out of stock of while trying to figure out who the manager is.

The employees seem to be wearing blue smocks over their t-shirts as some shelve groceries or stand at the registers. They’re not helping anybody, because he and Jungkook feel like the only ones here. It’s pretty empty, and quite quiet. The background music is so low that he can barely make out the songs; all he can hear are the sounds the occasional person makes. It’s not eerie or unnerving, just uncomfortable.

He doesn’t see anyone in a different colored smock until he enters the canned vegetables aisle and finds a man fitting the description Jungkook wrote in their case notes. Mid-thirties with a buzzcut, wearing a red smock. He’s on the shorter side, and he has a crease between his eyebrows despite still being young.

He’s walking down the aisle and not talking to anyone, so Taehyung walks past and memorizes something he’ll ask about once he spots him with another person so he can see their reactions together, because people are more likely to have an outward response if someone else there can relate to it.

Taehyung turns into the cereal aisle, but he stops at the end of it when he sees Jungkook there. He’s holding two boxes of cereal in his hands, deliberating between the two. He recognizes the blue box as Oreo O’s and the red box as low sugar whole grain corn flakes – clearly trying to decide if he’s going to indulge in the sugary kind or make himself choose the boring kind (just to definitely be disappointed when he grabs the cereal box the next time he eats it).

Even though Taehyung hasn’t moved or made a sound, Jungkook looks over, like he can sense him staring. Jungkook gives him a small, crooked smile. Without having a say in the matter, Taehyung gives him a soft smile back. They stare from opposite ends of the aisle, below the bright lights that reflect off the waxy floor. Taehyung likes it when Jungook smiles at him. It’s nice to be looked at that way. They’ve stared for several beats too long though, so Taehyung just nods at him and continues walking. Before he’s out of view, he sees Jungkook throw both boxes into the cart.

Taehyung goes a few aisles over to where they keep the ramyeon, which is almost always fully stocked, but he sees a gap on the shelf. The shelf where the bright pink bag of Buldak Carbonara ramyeon usually seems to be is empty, which could just be a normal thing, since that’s almost everyone’s favorite (which he doesn’t understand since it’s the spiciest thing in the entire world, in his opinion – which he learned the hard way when Jimin peer pressured him into trying it). He keeps it in mind, then he goes to the more generic section. He looks for a gap on the shelves where things are missing, then looks at the tag on the empty shelf, memorizing it so he can ask about it too if the first one doesn’t give him anything.

He goes in search of the manager. Somehow, to his luck, he sees him talking to an employee. He has short bleached blonde hair and is exceptionally tall with a tattoo on his wrist – looking similar to the girl he saw in the coffee shop, like maybe they’re siblings. Taehyung puts his acting skills to use and approaches them sheepishly. They look over at him, and he gives a small, rueful smile. His inability to ever make eye contact fortunately contributes to the act. “So sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you have Buldak Carbonara ramyeon in stock, or when you will again?”

The employee shakes his head. “Sorry, we ran out of it just a couple hours ago.”

He only gets a reaction when he asks about the other kind. The manager and employee glance at each other meaningfully. Their name tags read Hwan and Jiwon. He knows he and Jungkook will refer to sources by their titles (manager, gas station attendant, and so on) but their names are good for their notes.

“We also ran out of that earlier today,” the manager says, his tone pinched now. Taehyung can tell by the way he says it and the way the employee shifts his weight from one foot to the other that it’s not because it’s sold out.

Earlier today though? That means the person they’re trying to catch took stuff during the day? While the store was open and there were employees here?

“Oh, okay,” Taehyung says, because he can’t exactly question them and reveal that he knows. “Thanks!” Then he walks away.

When he’s out of sight, he pulls out his phone.

Taehyung
Where are you?

Jungkook
Produce section again
I forgot to get cabbage to make kimchi

Taehyung
Are you even doing what we came here for?

Jungkook
Yes 😤 I’m multitasking

Taehyung goes in search of Jungkook in the produce section, and finds him next to the cabbage (holding one in his right hand). He’s talking to someone, but the woman he’s talking to is not wearing a smock, and she has a grocery cart beside her. She’s wearing a full outfit and heels, because of course she is despite it being late at night; this is the rich grocery store, afterall. She has quite a bit of shiny jewelry on as well, and a full face of makeup. She’s laughing at something Jungkook is saying, and she rests her manicured hand on his arm.

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows. Before he realizes what he’s doing, he stomps over to them. “Hi, baby,” he says. His hand runs down Jungkook’s arm to take his hand (the one that’s not holding the cabbage).

Without missing a single beat, Jungkook turns to him and says, “Hi, sweetheart,” and he laces their fingers together. Taehyung's cheeks heat up because he realizes only now what he did, and that Jungkook didn’t even hesitate.

“What else is on our list?” Taehyung asks.

“I still have to get the rest of the kimchi ingredients,” Jungkook says. Out of the corner of his eye, Taehyung sees the woman walk away without a word, the shrill click of her annoying heels speaking for her.

Taehyung scowls at her, then he remembers why he’s there. “I found out something big,” he says, his smile big too.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything at first. His eyes just roam around his face. His eyes, his eyebrows, his nose. They settle on his smile. “Yeah?”

Taehyung excitedly nods. He leans in closer so no one can hear, even though they’re alone in the produce section. “I found the manager while he was talking to an employee. I asked about ramyeon they’re sold out of, and guess what?”

Jungkook’s smile is so endeared. Taehyung has never seen it this way before. “What?” he asks.

“They came earlier today,” Taehyung says.

Jungkook’s eyes go wide. They’re so round. Taehyung sees the grocery store lights shining in them, and it takes a moment for him to realize Jungkook is talking. “–store is open? So they came while there were workers here? In the daylight?”

“Seems like it,” Taehyung says.

“Do you think maybe they’re working with someone who works here?”

“I don’t know,” Taehyung says. He tries to think of a way he could figure that out, but nothing comes to mind at the moment. The worker who was with the manager seemed restless, but Taehyung thinks it was more because the manager was obviously going to get angry at the reminder of what happened rather than because he’s guilty of helping it happen.

“I’ll find something out of stock and ask employees, instead of him, to see if I can find anything out from them,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung nods, then they continue shopping. It isn’t until he notices Jungkook pushing the cart with one hand that he realizes they’re still holding hands. They’re gently swinging back and forth between them as they walk. He does not want to acknowledge the way this keeps happening – especially when it wasn’t even necessary this time – so he casually lets go to reach for a carton of strawberries, pretending he didn’t notice they were still held together.

Jungkook adds several other vegetables to his cart for kimchi, and Taehyung is surprised he makes it rather than buys it. He’s actually kind of surprised by how many ingredients are in Jungkook’s cart, rather than boxes or cans of food.

“Do you like to cook?” Taehyung asks.

Jungkook glances over at him. He adds green onions to his cart while Taehyung picks out a few apples. “I do,” Jungkook says. “I actually used to want to be a chef.”

“Oh?” Taehyung says. “Interesting. Why’d you stop wanting to be one?”

He shrugs. “I also always wanted to be a journalist and work at a newspaper. As a journalist, I can still cook, but as a chef, I can’t be a journalist. I like making food at home, even if I’m the only one eating it, so it’s a nice compromise.”

Taehyung nods. He’s a journalist too, so even though Jungkook hid the sadness in his tone almost perfectly when saying “even if I’m the only one eating it,” Taehyung caught it.

He’s never felt that way, really. He’s never felt the absence of someone. He’s never had a spot in his life he’s wanted to fill. He doesn’t notice he’s alone in a bad way, and he doesn’t ever really feel lonely. He likes cooking for one person, and being in his apartment by himself.

Still, he’d like to be with someone, he thinks. He’d like to be in love. It’s just not something he’s ever really searched for.

Different things Jungkook has said or done, though, have made it seem like he does notice his loneliness. He’s made it sound like maybe being alone is a recent thing. Taehyung can’t ever remember Jungkook dating anybody during his time of working at the newspaper though, so he’s not sure.

In any case, Taehyung doesn’t like the subtle change in his tone, so he tries to make it better. “Yeah, that sounds like a nice life,” he says, which he means. It’s quiet. A quiet life. “Lets you be really experimental with what you make too, if you’re the only one eating it.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Jungkook says, sounding a little more normal again.

They start to slowly go through the aisles even though Jungkook’s cart indicates that he already did all of this. They’re in the ramyeon aisle so Taehyung can actually pick something out this time, and he walks back and forth in front of the shelves. Jungkook stays where he is, watching him as he leans his forearms against the handle of the cart, slowly rolling it back and forth in front of him.

Taehyung picks up one of the bags and reads what it says. A chili pepper is on the front, so he sets it back down. He taps his fingers against his mouth, then he see another package, this one not made of red packaging, which might be more promising.

“Were you actually planning on getting ramyeon, or…?” Taehyung looks over at Jungkook. He stares at him. Jungkook’s teasing attitude immediately changes. “Just–I was just wondering. Don’t you have a kind of ramyeon you always get?”

“I like to try new kinds.”

Jungkook walks in front of the ramyeon too, looking around. He grabs a package Taehyung has never had before and offers it to him. “This one is my favorite. I’ve never tried the non-spicy kind so I don’t know if it’s any good, but.”

Taehyung takes it from him and looks down at it in his hands. Jungkook remembers that? Something he randomly threw out when they were talking in the google doc? “O-Okay,” he says. “I’ll try it and report back. Thanks.”

Jungkook looks pleased as they continue going down the aisle. Taehyung adds two cans of soup to his basket, then he tries to fit in several boxes of cereal. He should have gotten a cart, but he teased Jungkook for it, so he’s not going to go get one even though Jungkook is making fun of him as he tries to fit all of them in the small basket. Jungkook pushes all of his groceries to the back of the cart, then he takes Taehyung’s basket from him. He sets it in the cart as a divider between their food, then he takes the cereal too and sets it on the other side.

“Thanks,” Taehyung mutters with a blush.

Once Taehyung adds several bags of chips and a box of candy too, Jungkook says, “Hyung, go get a vegetable.”

“Huh?”

“Come on,” he says. He walks away with their cart, so Taehyung has to follow.

“What are we doing?”

“You have so many bags of chips and boxes of cereal. You have to get at least a vegetable, and real food.”

“But–”

“Shush,” Jungkook says, so Taehyung snaps his mouth shut. “I’m your boss. You have to listen to me.”

Taehyung laughs. “I don’t think that applies to things like this.”

“Yes it does,” Jungkook says, and he starts adding things to Taehyung’s side of the cart.

“Now what are you doing?”

“I’m getting you ingredients to make kimchi stir fry. I’ll send you the recipe.”

“But I don’t wanna have to make kimchi, and the store-bought kind is gross,” he whines, dragging his feet.

“I will bring you some kimchi when I make mine,” Jungkook says, continuing to add things to the cart.

“That’s fine, I guess,” Taehyung mutters. “Wait, you probably make yours spicy.”

“I’ll make a separate batch for you.”

“That’s–you don’t have to do that.”

“Shush,” he says again. “I want to.”

They only leave the produce section when Taehyung’s side of the cart is significantly more full. He’s not unhealthy; he did get lots of fruit. He just isn’t a fan of having to make meals, so the premade kind are what he goes for. It seems like he will be making kimchi stir fry soon though with the colorful ingredients in his cart and the kimchi Jungkook makes specially for him.

They walk across the store towards the frozen section now. It really is like they’re the only ones there (except for the annoying high heeled woman, who he’s sure is somewhere). It’s quiet, just the undetectable music the store is playing and their footsteps. Taehyung thinks about how he’s grocery shopping with his boss, and that his boss is Jungkook. This is not a situation he thought he’d ever find himself in.

“Are you looking at popsicles?” he asks as Jungkook peers through the foggy glass.

“Yes,” Jungkook says. Taehyung giggles, and it makes Jungkook smile without looking his way. “Is there an age cutoff where you have to stop eating popsicles?”

“No, it’s just surprising.”

“I think you’re judgmental,” Jungkook says as he walks away, but there’s no real hurt in it.

“I was just kidding! Get popsicles!”

“Your teasing would not deter me from getting popsicles,” Jungkook huffs. “I’m waiting ‘til the end so they don’t melt.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. Then Jungkook grabs a bunch of frozen pizzas and dumps them into the cart. Taehyung makes a gagging sound. “You get yours with peppers and olives?”

“You know what, I’m never going grocery shopping with you again,” Jungkook says. It makes Taehyung giggle again, and he knocks their shoulders together as they continue their shopping.

As Taehyung is picking out which brand of frozen dumplings he wants to get – with lots of commentary from Jungkook – they hear a couple of employees talking. He and Jungkook quiet down so they can listen.

“They usually take non-perishable things,” one of them says. Taehyung wants to lean back to see who they are, but it would definitely draw attention to them. “This time they took produce though, and, like, a lot of it.”

“Yeah, basically all of our pre-packaged fruits and vegetables were stolen, so the fridge there is empty and people keep getting mad at me,” the other employee says. “I don’t know how in the f*ck they did it during the daytime.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure either. I know for a fact that no one here is letting them do this because of what could happen if they get caught, and no one is risking their lives and futures for a stupid grocery store job. So it’s crazy they’ve gotten away, what, five times now?” Their voices fade as their footsteps do the same, and he and Jungkook turn to each other. They look at each other a little blankly, searching the other’s face as they try to connect some separate points in their heads.

There’s not much to say really because they haven’t been able to fit it in with everything else they know so far, so Taehyung commits it to memory for their notes and throws the dumplings in the cart.

After Jungkook has picked out popsicles (a box of tangerine, strawberry, and raspberry, telling him that the tangerine ones are his favorite) they head to the checkout aisles. They load their groceries into the trunk of Taehyung’s car, and he realizes that they can’t linger and talk about what happened because Jungkook has to get his popsicles in the freezer, and Taehyung has his own things too.

They’re silent as they think about everything on the drive to Jungkook’s place, the roads empty. Once they’re pulling up in front of Jungkook’s cozy lantern-lit house, Taehyung asks, “Want me to help carry everything in?”

“No, that’s okay, I’ve got it. Thanks though. Um… we’ll talk?” Taehyung nods, so they say their goodbyes, and Taehyung watches Jungkook walk up the path to his house with his reusable grocery bags in tow. He waits until the front door has shut behind him before he pulls away.

– ♡ –

Jungkook is already in the google doc by the time Taehyung has his groceries put away and is ready to write down his notes. He watches the letters appear on the page as Jungkook fills in new notes, then he hits enter a few times when he sees Taehyung’s initials at the top of the page, notifying him that he has the document open too.

JJK: Hi

KTH: Hello.

JJK: You said no more one word answers with periods 😞

KTH: I said I’ll think about it.

JJK: Sigh. I added everything we heard when we were together but I left some gaps for what happened with just you there

KTH: K.

JJK: 😐

KTH: Kiddinggggg 🙄 The notes look good. I’ll add mine too

JJK: What’s next now?

KTH: We said we’ll go on walks tomorrow, you during the day and me at night. After that, we haven’t done anything with the laundromat lead. I have laundry to do anyway so I guess I can go do that. The girl I saw said it happened in the middle of the night, so maybe I’ll do that tomorrow night

JJK: We have work the next day though!! You shouldn’t be doing that

KTH: You want me to do it during my weekend then? 🤨

JJK: No 😔 You can do it but take off the next day

KTH: Thank you for your kindness, Jungkook-ssi. Thank you for allowing me a day off after I spend the middle of the night, off work hours, doing work. You are such a selfless and considerate boss.

JJK: I’ve said it before but you’re lucky I don’t fire you

KTH: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

JJK: I’ll come with you

KTH: Come with me where?

JJK: To the laundromat

KTH: Should I just assume that we’re going to do every part of this investigation together now?

JJK: Is this your way of saying you want to spend more time with me 😏

KTH: I’m drafting an email to Human Resources. My boss is sexually harassing me.

JJK: ㅋㅋㅋ shush. But yes, I think it’s a good idea if we’re both there. If something happens the other will be there, whether it’s good or bad. Having two people at the ready is good

KTH: If you say so. I’m going to go now

JJK: Night, hyung. Good job tonight. Thanks for your work 🌙

KTH: Thanks. Night

KTH: 🌌

– ♡ –

Taehyung is stationed in front of his camera. He has his usual calm, dim colors projected onto the wall behind him, his humidifier is on, and he moved one of his monsteras in the shot too just to show the silhouette. He really needs to figure out a schedule for recording and posting videos that works with his new work schedule. He used to post twice a week, always on the same days. Now he gets comments asking what happened to that schedule, since he posts so sporadically these days because he usually records late at night when he can fit it in. He’s tired right now, but the sleepy quality to his whispers makes the asmr even nicer, he thinks.

He decides to keep it simple tonight and promises his viewers and himself that he’ll post a proper video soon, instead of a short mid-week one. He’ll just do a head massage tonight and talk about his day. He decides to change his background lights to fit the sleepy mood better, making them a dark blue with his other projector shining little stars onto it, so it reflects the night sky.

He covers his mic with his usual furry mic cover, then he presses record once he’s double checked that his face isn’t in the frame.

“Hi, everybody,” he whispers. “I’m a little sleepy tonight, if you can’t tell by how slow my words are or the fact that I’m in my pajamas. I hope you’re sleepy too, or that I can help you get there.

“It’s been a while since we’ve talked, so I thought I could maybe give you a head massage and tell you about my day.” He reaches his hand out like he’s going to thread his fingers through someone’s hair, then he bends them at the edge of the camera for gentle visual asmr as he softly scratches his mic to give the low scratching sound too.

He does it again, more slowly this time, then again back to its normal speed.

“I’ve been busy with work lately,” he whispers, “so it’s been taking time away from my channel. I record when I can find the time to, and I’ll try to be back to consistently posting on a schedule soon.”

He’s silent for a while, just slowly scratching the mic as he pretends to rub the viewer’s head. He’s always liked doing and watching this trigger. It’s simple and soothing with how repetitive it is, and he’s always liked low noises like his fingers against the fabric of the mic cover. He goes back to running his fingers through their hair, the fingers on his other hand doing the same through the fuzzy mic.

“I’ve been working with someone at work more than usual lately,” he whispers. “I’ve never really liked him very much.” He switches from running his fingers through to scratching their head again. “But… I dunno. I guess I was kind of unfair. He’s just… higher up than me.” He doesn’t want to explicitly say it’s his boss. He doesn’t know if it’d be giving too much information, or he doesn’t want to say something that private, or maybe he’s just embarrassed by what he’ll say. “So I don’t think I have to like him. Especially when everybody else does and thinks of him as their friend. I’ve just never liked it.”

He pulls his arm back and switches to his other one, focusing on the sides of the fake person’s head now.

“He’s not our friend. He makes more money than us. He can tell us what to do. I just have never liked the way everyone thinks it’s normal to be his friend, so I never followed the crowd. But since we’re working together more, I… I think maybe I was wrong.”

He pulls his arm back, and he starts petting down the mic cover with both of his hands. Slowly pressing down all the fibers, making a thunder sound like it’s far off in the sky. His face burns with the admission.

He swallows. “I don’t know,” he says again. “He’s… nice.” Saying it out loud makes a brief expression of disappointment in himself come to his face. Then he remembers the way Jungkook narrowed his eyes at him when he teased him for buying popsicles, and the expression fades before he can even realize it.

“I don’t know,” he says again. “I’ve always liked his eyes, I guess. They’re very big. Really expressive. Round. Almost innocent, in the way he’s unable to control what he’s thinking and feeling.” His voice is almost quieter than a whisper, the words sounding far away as he absentmindedly pets the mic, eyes clouded over like a cotton candy sky. “He’s not too bad to be around. Working closely with someone above me would suck if it were anybody else, so I guess I’m lucky.”

He snaps out of it, blushing off camera when he realizes what he’s been saying. He raises his hand to return to the scratching motion he started with. “Anyway,” he quietly chuckles. “Did you remember to eat today?” he whispers. “What did you have? Today I ate–” He keeps recording for quite a while more before he wishes everyone a good night and leaves with his usual affirmations. That they deserve rest. They deserve this time for themselves, that self-care is filling up the cup they pour from, and there is nothing for them to give to themselves or others if they don’t have enough of themself to do so. That they deserve a good night’s sleep, and they deserve good things, even if maybe they weren’t good today.

He gets into bed with his laptop, editing the video in the darkness with the bright screen shining. He adjusts the audio levels on some parts, changing the lighting to something a little dreamier. He opens his channel and uploads his video, struggling to stay awake as the percentage number rises. Once it’s reached 100% and the video is posted, he closes his laptop, closes his eyes, and falls asleep himself.

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Taehyung is sitting in an uncomfortable, cracking, white plastic chair in front of the wall of dryers. His head is resting against one of the counters meant for folding clothes, and his eyes are glazed over as he watches them tumble. He’s fighting as hard as he can to keep his eyes open, but the warmth from the dryers, the hypnotizing spin of clothes and towels being tossed in a circle behind the glass, and the sound of rain pattering on the big laundromat windows are all trying to lull him to sleep.

He sits up when the bell on the door dings, and he sees Jungkook walking in with a laundry basket. His hair is slightly damp from the rain, making more of his waves come out as the lingering raindrops follow their pattern. He looks so casual and comfortable, wearing black jogger sweatpants and a black sweatshirt, holding a laundry basket with his messy hair. He looks so normal, not like someone who’s his boss.

He looks around the laundromat before his eyes land on Taehyung, and he smiles. Taehyung’s stomach kind of feels like towels being tossed around in the dryer, but he successfully ignores it as Jungkook walks up to him through a row of front-loading washers, getting the burnt orange and eggshell white waxy tile floors wet from the moisture outside.

“Hey, hyung,” he says as he sets the hamper on the counter.

“Hello,” Taehyung says.

“Be right back.”

Jungkook leaves him to go to the girl behind the counter to exchange his money for coins. The laundromat is quite big, a long building, and a rather dated one too. The front counter is actually in the back corner, where the girl he saw in the coffee shop sits. She’s quite short, and her long brown hair falls down her shoulders tonight instead of back in a ponytail like he first saw her. There’s a book open face-down on the counter where she set it when Jungkook walked up, next to her phone and her nintendo switch.

Beside her counter that’s carved out of the wall is a long wall of dryers, stretching the length of the laundromat until reaching a sitting area on the opposite side. There are a few actual chairs there – not like the lint-covered plastic chair he’s sitting in – and the faded fabric on them is a burnt orange. There’s a coffee table with what he’s sure are very old magazines, and two vending machines that are mostly empty. A TV there and hanging above the dryers where Taehyung currently sits are both muted, playing a show so old that he barely recognizes it. The walls of the laundromat are a now-dull yellow, and there’s fake wood paneling between the wall dryers – the wood stickers peeling off in some places. The entire middle is washers, counters, and sinks, and the lighting is somehow warm and bright at the same time. The laundromat is made almost entirely of windows, making the rain outside feel nicer when mixed with the warmth of the dryers and the calming repetition of everyone doing their chores.

Jungkook returns to him with his pocket weighed down with coins. It pulls down that side of his sweatpants slightly, and it shows a small peek of skin where his shirt isn’t falling straight. Enough of a peek to see a v-line disappear beneath the hem of his pants. Taehyung swallows and respectfully looks away.

Jungkook gives him that sweet, small smile as he grabs his laundry basket again, and he walks to the aisle behind them of front-loading washers. Taehyung notices that his laundry is separated into piles within the basket – whites, blacks, and colors, with all of his detergent bottles dividing them. He watches as Jungkook opens the doors of three washers and throws his clothes in each one. He takes one of the bottles from the basket and pours a little bit of bleach in with the whites, then detergent and fabric softener in all of them. He shuts all of the doors and puts in the coins, an unintentional pout on his face as he presses each one into the slot. He puts all of his bottles back in his basket, then he returns to Taehyung.

He takes a seat at the chair across from him, the cheap white plastic looking grey with little flecks of dryer lint that have stuck on after what seems like years of being there, with the way they’re cracked.

“Anything yet?” Jungkook asks, nodding his head to the counter where the young girl sits and reads. Taehyung shakes his head. “We didn’t really have the chance to talk at work today. Did you find anything out on your walk?”

It takes Taehyung a few seconds to catch up. His stomach drops.

He was supposed to go on a walk earlier, past the houses of the people having the affair. Jungkook left work during the day to do his part, and Taehyung was supposed to do it tonight before coming to the laundromat. He squeezes his hands in tight fists to hide the way they shake.

“I, f*ck, I–I totally forgot I was supposed to do that. f*ck, I’m so sorry, Jungkook. I don’t know–it just–I don’t know. It slipped my mind. sh*t, god, I’m so sorry. I’ll go tomorrow night, but it’s probably too late to get any good information. I’m so, so sor–”

“Hey,” Jungkook says. His voice is gentler than Taehyung has ever heard it. It blends in with the rain, the hum of the dryers. Jungkook reaches for him, and Taehyung is too guilt-ridden and disappointed in himself to react.

Jungkook takes his wrists. He sets one of them on his legs, and his hands slowly and carefully uncurl his fingers. He sets his hand down and does the same to the other one. He flips his hand so it’s palm up, and they see the crescent moon shapes carved there from his nails. Jungkook runs his thumb across the night sky on his hand, then back again, like he’s trying to bring him to dawn. The touch is ticklish, makes one of his fingers twitch.

“It’s okay,” Jungkook says. He takes his other hand now. His thumb moves in slow, gentle circles around each mark on his palm. “It’s okay. That wasn’t even really very important. It was just a side quest.”

That makes a laugh bubble out of Taehyung. Jungkook smiles at him. It’s nice to be smiled at by him, he thinks again. “I like side quests,” he mumbles.

“There will be others then. The chances of you walking past their house and happening to hear or see something were low. It’s okay that you forgot. It wasn’t important.”

“It was though,” Taehyung says quietly. “You told me to do it, but I didn’t.”

“You didn’t choose not to,” Jungkook says. “And even if you did, if you told me you don’t want to do that, I would say okay, and that would be that. I can’t be upset with you for simply forgetting something.”

“I should have–I should’ve written it down or something tho–” His fingers start to curl inward again, but then Jungkook’s fingers fit into the spaces between his own. They’re sitting across from each other, so his fingers are laid on top of Jungkook’s hands, Jungkook’s tattooed ones resting on top of his hands. Taehyung's face feels hot, but it did earlier when he realized his mistake, so it’s hiding the way he’s pink-cheeked about something else now. There’s a strange feeling in his stomach, the same one in his chest too. He looks away from their hands and at Jungkook’s face.

Everything about Jungkook is gentle. The way he speaks, the way he smiles, the way he treats others. The way he’s looking at him right now.

Jungkook is his boss. And he doesn’t like bosses, so he doesn’t like Jungkook. But maybe he’s just telling himself that. Maybe he’s been holding onto that for so many years because he knows without it, things would get complicated. When his huffs and eye rolls are taken away, he doesn’t have any armor. Maybe he’s never disliked Jungkook as much as says he does. Because with the way Jungkook is looking at him as he holds his hands so he doesn’t hurt himself again makes him think that maybe the way his bangs move with his eyelashes when he blinks isn’t annoying. Maybe the way he notices the shine of healing cream on his new tattoo and wonders if eraser shavings will stick to it isn’t distracting. Maybe it’s because he notices the way Jungkook says, “No thank you,” every time Hoseok asks everybody in their meeting if they want some hand lotion because he always keeps a jar in his pocket, and the way he cringes when he touches the chalk to write on their meeting board, and the way he immediately rinses his hands every time he touches food in the kitchen, so he knows it would probably be uncomfortable and trigger the hidden sensory stimulants that he has a problem with. Because he notices the way Jungkook reacts to lights. The way he blinked several times when they walked into the grocery store, and the way they have lamps on all of their desks and never any overhead lights. He notices the way Jungkook takes headache pills some days, and they’re always the days Jimin is wearing a certain perfume. He notices the way he always smells his coffee before taking a drink and hums as it pours into his mouth. He notices the way Jungkook very subtly flinches when one of the dryer doors is slammed. When they were at the grocery store and there was a quiet screech of loose cart wheels, and he raised his shoulders like an uncontrollable reaction. When Taehyung walks into his office, and there’s a low hum of brown noise coming from his computer to try to cancel out the sounds of the rest of the office.

Maybe he doesn’t notice all of these things because he’s a journalist and it’s his job to notice things, or because he thinks Jungkook is annoying and frustrating so he can’t help but be distracted by everything he does.

Maybe the reason why he almost started crying earlier when he realized his mistake isn’t because he was slacking at his job, but because it would disappoint Jungkook.

Maybe he was suppressing this, or maybe he truly didn’t realize it until now. But now he realizes he’s been seeing things the wrong way, and it makes him want to rip his arms back and walk out of the laundromat.

But Jungkook doesn’t like touching things with his hands, and he’s holding Taehyung’s hands anyway. So Taehyung leaves them where they are.

“–okay?” he hears Jungkook say, and everything around him comes back. The sound of dryers tumbling and wheeled baskets rolling. The smell of fabric softener lingering in the air, bright, warm lights above them, steady rain around them.

Taehyung blinks several times. “Um, s-sorry, what?”

“I asked if you’re okay,” Jungkook says, sounding worried while his expression shows that too. His eyes – his doe eyes, always with sparkles in them like stars – are roaming around his face, and Taehyung can feel a deeper blush rise to his cheeks.

“Y-Yeah, sorry, I’m okay. Just–was going through the things I have to do in my head so I don’t forget anything.”

Jungkook leans back in his chair, and he slides his hands back to himself. Taehyung wants to whine, but he holds it back. He traps his hands between his legs so he can’t hurt himself again – either by curling them in fists again, or by reaching for Jungkook again. This – whatever this is, whatever Taehyung is feeling – isn’t something that can turn into something else. Jungkook is his boss, and he can’t date his boss. That’s the most basic workplace rule. It would cause drama and accusations and change the way the newspaper staff works together and the way they think of the two of them. There isn’t a the two of them. There’s Taehyung, a journalist, and Jungkook, his boss and the editor-in-chief.

“You have nothing to do,” Jungkook says. “All you have to do is sit here while we wait for our laundry to be done. Okay?”

Taehyung pulls his hands from between his thighs and fidgets with them in his lap. “Okay,” he says, not meeting Jungkook’s eye.

“Is there a reason why you forgot? Is everything okay?”

Taehyung shrugs. “Everything’s okay, I think,” he says. “Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately too, so I guess it’s starting to show now.”

He looks up, and Jungkook nods. “I understand. Trust me.” Taehyung suspected, and his heart aches for Jungkook. He knows how it feels to lay awake, alone in the quiet darkness, unable to get any rest. It seems like that’s normal for Jungkook too. “If you’re ever up late and can’t sleep, you can text me. I might be awake too.”

Taehyung smiles at him. It’s small and tired and nervous, but it’s there. It’s so much more than he’d give Jungkook a month ago, and that scares him. “What do you do when you can’t sleep?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I do crosswords on my phone sometimes.” Taehyung snorts, and Jungkook looks playfully offended. “I know you do crossword puzzles too. I see you doing the daily one in the newspaper every single morning. You’re not allowed to make fun.” Taehyung rolls his eyes, and everything feels normal again. “I do that, or play chess on my phone, but I usually just watch videos. Ones that will help me sleep.”

Taehyung nods. Those are some things he does too. It does sound kind of nice to have someone to not be able to sleep with.

They both relax and settle in more. They try to find a good way to get comfortable, but it’s not easy with the way their chairs crack and creak with every movement. Taehyung wishes he’d worn something comfortable and casual like Jungkook, but he’s washing all of his comfortable and casual clothes, so he’s just wearing what he wore to work today: forest green pants with a brown shirt and his gold, round glasses since it’s nighttime.

He looks around, taking note of who’s with them. The girl who works here in the back corner, still reading her book. There’s a woman at one of the washers, taking out her wet clothes. Artificially bright red hair that looks a little crispy from bleaching and dyeing it. There’s an Indian man sitting in the waiting area, watching the muted TV as he eats an onigiri. There’s a young college-aged girl doing her laundry in the row beside theirs, wearing her pajamas with a very messy bun on the top of her head. None of them look suspicious, just like people doing their laundry late at night. He looks around at the washers and dryers he can see, but the only ones in use seem like they’re all accounted for by the people who are here.

Once he’s watched for a little bit longer, he pulls out his phone to find a way to occupy himself, because they’re in for a long night. He responds to some texts from his friends and his parents. He looks through his personal social media accounts, then he decides to go through the comments of his newest video.

leafsheep: ahhhhhh sweetnight and his boss sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

↳ sweetnight: 😭😭😭 Definitely not but thank you for singing to me 😌

user061313: i love hearing about your life :’) i almost feel like we’re friends after watching your videos for years haha hope that’s not weird 🤐

↳sweetnight: We ARE friends!!! I’m glad you find my boring life interesting ㅋㅋㅋ

jaykay: I LOVE THESE TYPES OF VIDEOS I love the romantic ones too I love all the ones where you talk. Especially getting to hear about your life 🥹 Even though I’m strangely jealous over whoever this guy is 😒 Sorry that’s definitely weird I need to stop watching the lying in bed videos so much

↳sweetnight: Hehe I know what you mean! There’s nothing to be jealous about though ㅋㅋㅋ whether the jealousy is rational or not. I was just rambling and observing

Taehyung hears Jungkook’s phone vibrate on the counter. He grabs it, and Taehyung watches him smile down at whatever the notification is. Taehyung furrows his eyebrows, a drop of cold appearing in his chest. He looks away when his own phone vibrates.

jaykay: Ignore my jealousy it was just very late when I commented that and I was tired 😤 There’s someone for me so you don’t need to worry about my parasocial relationship

↳sweetnight: Oh yay I’m happy for you 🥺 I hope it’s going well 🤎 I don’t know where you are, but if you’re watching videos that are in Korean and commenting in Korean too, you must be in the same time zone, so GO TO SLEEP 💤🌙

Jungkook sets his phone down with that same soft smile that Taehyung hates being directed at something else, even though he doesn’t know what or who it is. It hasn’t even been a half hour of thinking that maybe there’s a possibility that he likes Jungkook (and his eyes and his eyelashes and the way he smiles and the sound of his voice when he speaks to him softly and–), and he hates having watched the way his thoughts and feelings turned into something else so quickly.

“So,” Jungkook says. “What’s your favorite type of juice?”

Taehyung giggles, low and quiet. “Apple juice,” he says. “What’s yours?”

“Pomegranate juice I think.” Taehyung manages to side-eye him while looking at him straight on. “What?”

“Just an odd answer,” Taehyung says. Before Jungkook can pout, he asks, “What's your favorite non-juice drink?”

“I used to be obsessed with banana milk, but I drank it too much so I’m kind of burnt out on it. I really like raspberry-flavored kombucha.” Taehyung makes an extremely disgusted face. “You know, I don’t wanna play this game if you judge all my answers,” he huffs and pouts.

Taehyung giggles again, and the fake pout leaves Jungkook’s face to make room for a smile. “You drink a sour, fermented drink for fun?”

Jungkook huffs again, the roles seemingly reversing between them. “What’s yours then if you have the most elite opinions?”

“Cherry co*ke.”

“That’s a good one,” he mumbles under his breath, and Taehyung giggles again. He needs to get it together. “Where’s your favorite place to go in town?”

“I hadn’t been to the botanical gardens in over a year before Namjoon-hyung and I went last week. I wish I’d been going more often; it’s so beautiful and peaceful. I think I’ll spend a lot more time there, so I think it’s my favorite even though I haven’t been going as much as I wish I would have.”

“The gardens are really nice,” Jungkook says. “I like the koi pond.”

“Yeah, it’s nice.” He wishes there were some reason to have to go there for their investigation. Or maybe he’d just like to see what the gardens are like when Jungkook is lost amongst the trees and flowers and plants, or his curious, innocent doe eyes are watching the koi fish float beneath the water. “What’s your favorite place?”

“There’s this spot I found when I was on one of the hiking trails. When I know Bam and I are the only ones on it because there was no one in the parking lot, I let him off his leash. He ran off and I had to chase him, and we found this meadow. It’s on the other side of the creek the trail is along, and the creek widens into a pond. It goes down the edge of the hill and makes a little waterfall, and there are wildflowers everywhere. I don’t spend a lot of time there, but whenever we go on a hike we take a break there.”

“That sounds nice,” Taehyung says. “Do you go to the trails a lot?”

Jungkook nods. “Usually every Saturday morning until it gets too cold out to go. It’s nice to be surrounded by only nature sometimes.”

Taehyung can’t remember the last time he was on any of the hiking trails, even the easy ones. Maybe he should spend some more time around their town. He moved there for a reason: because it’s beautiful and picturesque and there’s so much to do, but he doesn’t take advantage of that like he should.

The conversation slowly fades from learning each other’s favorite things to learning about each other in general. About their families, their friends, how Yoongi and Jungkook became best friends. Where they moved from, what plans they have for their futures.

It’s… nice. Just like the koi pond, Taehyung almost mourns the time he lost to do this. He wishes he’d spent more time with Jungkook like the others at the office have. He wishes he’d listened to Jimin when he told him so many times how he and Jungkook would get along. Sitting with Jungkook at this laundromat in the middle of the night would have made him gag months ago, but he can’t really think of somewhere else he’d like to be right now.

Jungkook stands to move his laundry to the dryer, and Taehyung remembers that they have laundry here. He gets up as well, and he takes a nearby rolling basket to put in front of his washer. He opens the top, because he chose the top-loading ones across from Jungkook, and starts to load the wet clothes into his basket – which are damp at best from sitting there for so long. He shuts the lid and rolls the basket over to the wall of dryers they were sitting across from. He accidentally bumps into Jungkook’s rolling cart as Jungkook is moving his three separate loads of laundry into it, and Jungkook blinks at him, not saying a word until, “I’m contacting my insurance agent.”

Taehyung doesn’t miss the smile Jungkook gives him when he laughs.

He throws all of his laundry into the dryer and returns back to his seat once it’s tumbling.

He watches Jungkook do the same. The laundry isn’t even heavy, but his biceps still flex when he picks them up and throws them into the dryer. When he does, his shirt rides up again, showing the smallest peek of his waist from the back. Taehyung clears his throat and looks down at his lap, keeping his eyes trained there until Jungkook is in front of him again.

“You’ve never talked about relationships,” Jungkook says. “Or sexuality, I guess. Not that you have to! I just thought of it because you’re doing features on all of the different sexualities in the office at this point.”

Taehyung huffs a laugh. It’s true. After Hoseok’s request, he got Jimin’s and Namjoon’s. He knows Yoongi would never agree to one, as private as he is, and he doesn’t think Jungkook would either as the editor-in-chief. Even though he should have a feature so the people who read the paper know who runs it, whether it highlights his sexuality or not.

“I’m gay,” he says. “I…” He shrugs. “I dunno. I haven’t had an actual serious relationship. I had a couple long relationships in college, but even though they lasted a while, I don’t think they were really ever very serious. And… I guess I haven’t tried to have one since then. Not because I wouldn’t like to, but I’ve never really wanted to search for someone. I’d rather something just… appear, even though that’s kind of asking a lot from the universe.” He looks up from his lap finally. At Jungkook. His eyes, his eyelashes. Maybe it wasn’t asking a lot. Maybe the universe tried to give him something years ago, but he kept pushing it away. Maybe he’s misinterpreting things though, his own feelings, or maybe it’s too late. Or maybe it’s too soon. He’s known Jungkook for years, and everything feels different late at night. They’re in a warm laundromat as it rains outside. He’s tired and they’ve been talking, and they’re here alone. Maybe it’s making everything feel more meaningful than it is. There’s vulnerability late at night, and maybe he’ll laugh to himself in the morning when this realization doesn’t feel as big as it does right now.

He shrugs. “What about you?”

Jungkook fidgets in his seat. Taehyung is pretty certain by now that Jungkook had a bad relationship at some point. He suspects he was cheated on, and he doesn’t like that that’s happened to him. He doesn’t like the discomfort that took over Jungkook when he asked the returning question.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he says. “Really. It’s a personal thing to talk to someone about.”

“No, it’s… it’s okay.” Jungkook sighs. “I’m… yeah, I’ve had a serious relationship. I’m bi, by the way. My boyfriend and I dated for around five years. And around the fourth year, I found out he cheated on me. But when I brought it up, he cried and was sorry and said he was drunk and it would never happen again. And I loved him, and I wanted to believe him, so I did.

“It did happen again. I didn’t find out until the time I broke up with him. It’d been happening for so long with so many people, and I didn’t find out until I found out about it all at once. So we broke up. It was… really horrible for a while. It still is sometimes. It’s been, I dunno, four years since then, but I still have trouble sleeping sometimes. Alone, I mean. Not because I miss him, because I really don’t. I’m extremely over him, and mostly over that happening. But I guess my body is still adjusting to it, so I can’t sleep sometimes. It’s luckily only a few times a week, sometimes less, and it’s frustrating because I’m over it, you know? I don’t feel the absence of someone in my bed. I don’t miss that, or him, but my body won’t let it go.”

He gives a weak shrug. Taehyung’s heart aches. No one should have to go through that, and especially not someone who’s so kind and sweet. He knows for a fact that Jungkook as a boyfriend is that way too, probably even more so.

Taehyung hooks one of his ankles around Jungkook’s. Jungkook looks up from his lap and gives him a weak smile. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“It’s okay,” Jungkook says. “It was years ago. I’ve grown up since then. Got a new job, became more and more important at my job. Feels like it happened to a different person, someone younger and less mature. I’m better now. I’m better because that happened, and because I’m different and have grown, so I’m better equipped to be in a serious relationship.”

Taehyung swallows. “Is there anybody? You know, that’s you’ve gone on dates with or anything?”

Jungkook shakes his head. “Our town isn’t small, but it’s small enough to run into people sometimes. It’d be awkward to go on dates with someone, or date someone and not have it work out, and then have to see each other places.”

“Yeah, makes sense,” Taehyung says quietly.

“What about you?”

Taehyung shakes his head. He looks at Jungkook. They look for a beat too long. Eyes roaming. His nose, his lips, his eyes. His eyes, his eyes, his eyes. Somewhere Taehyung tries to never look at on someone, but somewhere he can’t look away from on Jungkook. They look for two beats too long, his heart beating faster as the seconds move slower. Three beats, almost four before the bell on the laundromat door rings and they snap out of it.

Taehyung looks at who walks in, and it’s one of the guys from the gas station. The younger one, who was staring Jungkook down with judgment. He has a laundry basket in his arms and goes to one of the washers. He throws everything in – laundry of all different types and colors – then pours way too much detergent in its slot and starts it before leaving again.

Makes sense that he’d be here at this hour since they went to the gas station late that one time, so he must work the really late shifts. Still, the coincidence is a little odd, but he doesn’t know in which way, or if it is anything more than a coincidence. Still, it’s worth noting, so he’ll add it to their notes.

He and Jungkook must both be feeling the same tiredness from the late hour after a full workday, because they just look at each other to check that they’re both having similar thoughts, but they don’t say anything.

Taehyung leans his head against the hard counter. He focuses on the hum of the dryers in front of him, trying to listen for when theirs stop. He focuses on the sounds so he doesn’t let himself fully fall asleep. The low purr of the machines. The rain that’s still pattering on the building, the windows, the ground outside. The occasional rolling cart against the waxy, shiny floor. Still, even when picking out each and every sound – the whir of the vending machine as the spiral inside twists before it drops a snack someone chose, someone’s basket of hangers tapping together when they pull out one from the bunch, the sound of someone flicking out their fabric of their laundry to rid it of any wrinkles – he knows he’s more than halfway asleep when the door to the laundromat opens again, and it takes him several seconds to open his eyes and see who came in.

He doesn’t look at who came in though. His eyes land on Jungkook across from him, and Jungkook isn’t looking at who came in either. He’s looking at him. Taehyung blinks slowly because of the way his eyes want to shut. It reminds him of the way he blinks at Seokjin and Namjoon’s cat when he wants to show him that he loves him. The cat never slowly blinks back like people say they do, and Jungkook doesn’t either. But he looks at him with a soft, barely-there smile on his face, and that feels even nicer. To be looked at that way, by those eyes.

After many more moments of quiet staring, Jungkook says quietly, “Go to sleep, hyung. I’ll wake you when our laundry is done.”

Taehyung would normally fight it. He’d normally be embarrassed, and it’d probably come out as being annoyed at either or both of them. He’s too tired for that right now though, so he just slowly nods and lets his eyes fall shut again.

He vaguely hears Jungkook get up and walk to one of the dryers. The laundromat gets just a touch quieter for a second, then the door to the dryer shuts, and the tumbling picks up again. There’s the sound of a few light footsteps, then Taehyung’s head is very gently and slowly lifted front where it was leaning against the counter. A soft, warm folded towel is slid against the edge of it. Taehyung’s head is slowly lowered against it, to use it as a pillow rather than the sharp edge of the counter. It doesn’t smell like his own laundry products. It smells like something softer, warmer, so it must be Jungkook’s.

He feels fingers brush though his hair, just once. Softly. He feels a thumb ghost over his eyebrow. A second later, he falls asleep.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

Taehyung wakes up to the afternoon sunlight he’s not used to seeing in his apartment during a weekday. He can’t remember the last time he slept this late, but they got home from the laundromat later than he’s stayed up for a long time – even as someone who frequently has trouble sleeping.

He rolls over in his bed and grabs his phone. He ignores the several texts and calls from Jimin and opens his chat thread with Jungkook. Once he’s typed “Hi. How are you feeling?” he blinks at his screen when he realizes what he’s doing. He quickly deletes the letters in the typing box and puts his phone to sleep again.

Even though they’ve gotten more familiar with each other lately, Jungkook is his boss. They work in a laid back environment, but taking these roles out of that context and into any other shows that he’s weird. If taken out of the context of their newspaper, Jungkook is basically the CEO. Taehyung is just some random employee. It would be very strange for an employee to casually text the CEO. It’s true even in a lower stakes environment like the grocery store. If one of the cashiers were spending time with the manager or texting him, all of the other employees would definitely side-eye them. This is no different. This is still a workplace. Jungkook is still his boss.

Besides, he doesn’t know how to feel about any of this anyway.

He doesn’t know if all of this has been happening so, so slowly over the course of several years, or if it happened all at once last night. He knows the last couple of times he’s spent time with Jungkook, it’s felt more and more different, so he was adjusting to him in general. But he doesn’t know if… if this new way he’s considering seeing him was slowly making its way to him for so long, or if it snuck up on him all at once when his guard was down.

He doesn't know how he’s feeling about any of it, so he brushes it aside for now. It only works long enough for him to get out of bed and walk to the kitchen, and when he’s making himself a late lunch, it’s back in his head again. He throws all of his bibimbap ingredients into a bowl and sets a pan on the stove to fry up an egg. He watches the way it sizzles and pops, the way the transparent parts start to become white, and he thinks about how he’s feeling.

He’s never had to intellectualize his feelings before. They’ve just… been there. He didn’t need to do anything about it except feel them. Now he has to figure out what they mean. Why they’re there. What he’s going to do about them. He slides his fried egg on top of his food, then he sets the bowl on the kitchen table. He walks to his office and gets a notepad and pencil, then he makes a list while he eats, because that’s the way he deals with anything.

What I Am Feeling

Confused: I have spent three years disliking Jungkook. It has never been true, genuine hatred or anything that dramatic, just passive dislike because he is my boss, and I do not love my boss in the way everyone else weirdly does. But now I don’t think I dislike him anymore, and that’s new.

Nervous: Not knowing what any of this means makes me uneasy. Unfamiliar things make me uneasy. Not knowing what will happen when I figure all of this out makes me scared. If I don’t dislike Jungkook as much as I’ve always said I do, that scares me.

Cold: My AC is on too high, so I opened the windows instead.

Hopeful?: That’s not the right word. I’m a journalist. My job is words, but all of this makes them seem hard to grasp. I’m not hopeful, but I’m looking forward to going in to work tomorrow. Because of the person I will see there. That’s as terrifying as it is… nice, I guess. To have something to look forward to.

Why I Am Having These Feelings

This is all new: It’s new and unfamiliar in so many ways, so my heart or head or body is having trouble calibrating myself. Having any thoughts or feelings about someone is new, and having them about this person specifically is very new.

Forced proximity: Spending time with Jungkook outside of work hours, late at night. Everything feels different at night. I’m not sure if I’d be making these lists if our investigations took place during the day, during work hours. Maybe it’s the vulnerability of nighttime. Maybe I’m lying to myself and it’s not the conditions that have made me start to possibly like Jungkook. Maybe if I just sat in his office with him during the daytime, I’d be making these lists too.

His eyes.

What Am I Going to Do About These Feelings

He sighs. He takes his last bite of food and sits back in his chair. He looks out the window and sees the sunny day. He can feel it whisk through his apartment. He thinks if he’s thinking about all of this during the daytime, it’s enough of an answer to the unspoken, unknown question. He can’t blame it on the feeling of nighttime if it’s followed him to the day. He looks down at his notepad again.

What Am I Going to Do About These Feelings

I don’t know.

He doesn’t want to think about any of it anymore right now.

He does though. When he’s washing the dishes he used. When he’s in the shower, the warm water raining down onto him. When he combs through his wet hair, and when he dresses back in a pair of pajamas that he washed at the laundromat last night. When he gets himself some tea and a snack. When he checks on all of his plants. When he gets cozy on his balcony to finally relax and sees a message on his phone.

Jungkook
Hey hyung 🥸

The smallest smile is on Taehyung’s face when he responds.

Taehyung
Hello

Jungkook
How are you? Did you sleep okay?

Taehyung
I’m fine. I slept okay. You?

Jungkook
Same 😴
Need anything?

Taehyung
Like what?

Jungkook
I don't know
You’ve been having to spend late nights doing stuff for work
Last night was the latest we’ve done anything so I feel bad for making you do this
I can bring you something to eat or coffee or if you need something from the store idk

Taehyung
You’re sweet
No, I don’t need anything, and you’re not making me do anything either
I’m doing it because I want to, and I’m also getting paid more to do it, but I didn’t even care about that before
I enjoy what we’ve been doing

Jungkook
Even though we’ve barely figured anything out yet?

Taehyung
That’s not true
We found out more information on each thing except last night, and last night is probably because the laundromat is open 24 hours so there’s a big range of time that things could take place

He doesn’t mention that he and Jungkook seemed to have forgotten they were even there for a reason last night. They barely glanced at people who walked in, and when they did, it was just the natural response to look over when a door opens, not because they were being journalists. He thinks they forgot they went there for a job, and not because they were doing their laundry together.

Jungkook
Yeah I guess
Just kinda feels like we’ve barely made any progress

Taehyung
We have
You know that too
Just doesn’t feel that way because it was a slow night last night
Besides, just means you get to spend more time with me

Jungkook
🤨 Are you flirting with me

Taehyung’s heart skips a beat. He feels his palms grow damp.

Taehyung
Depends

Jungkook
On what?

Taehyung
Do you like it?

There’s no response for a while.

Well, not a while. Maybe ten seconds, but it feels like hours with the way it’s been one message after the other.

The typing bubble appears. Taehyung holds his breath. It comes out in a laugh when the message delivers.

Jungkook
I’m drafting an email to human resources
My employee is sexually harassing me

Taehyung just laughs and reacts to the message, because he doesn’t know where to go from there now. He wasn’t planning on saying that, so he doesn’t know what to say after it.

He’s saved by his phone vibrating from yet another call from Jimin.

“Hello?” he answers.

“Kim Taehyung,” Jimin says. “Care to tell me why you and your arch nemesis Jeon Jungkook are both out of the office today?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “I've never called him my arch nemesis,” he says. He and Jungkook didn’t talk about what they’d say if people commented on them both being gone – probably because there was no need for a game plan, but they both have underestimated Jimin and his propensity for Taehyung’s love life and insisting he has a crush on Jungkook. “I didn’t get enough sleep, so I stayed home from work.” Finding ways to not technically lie to Jimin is difficult, and he feels horrible because it still all feels like a lie.

“Is Jungkook there with you?”

Taehyung laughs. “No.” Then he half covers the bottom of his phone and turns his head to whisper, “Jungkook, stay quiet, he’ll hear you.”

There’s shrieking on the other end of the phone, and Taehyung starts cackling. “I don’t know what the truth is now. Is Jungkook there with you? Tae, tell me. You have to tell me. I’m your best friend. Is he there? Tell me the truth.”

Taehyung’s cheeks hurt from smiling. “No, Jungkook is not here. Nor am I at Jungkook’s. I’m at home, sitting on my balcony.”

“Slacker.”

Taehyung snorts. “Jungkook isn’t there. You could just leave. Even if he were there, he’d let you leave.”

The line is silent for a while. Taehyung checks if the call is still connected until, “Did you just say something nice about Jungkook?”

Taehyung huffs. “That wasn’t me complimenting him. It was just a fact.”

“So you think it’s a fact that Jungkook is kind and sweet and cute?”

Taehyung throws his head back and laughs. “That was in no way part of this conversation and what I said.”

“It was implied.”

“No it was not.”

“Whatever,” Jimin huffs. “My palms are itching.”

“Not this again,” Taehyung groans with a laugh.

“It’s foolproof. Every single time.”

During one of their late night slumber parties, when the stars and the moon were high in the sky while the rest of the town slept, he and Jimin were lying together in bed, speaking in hushed voices even though they were the only ones there. There was that vulnerability of nighttime that seems to be a recurring theme in Taehyung’s life, but he’s never needed anything to hide behind with Jimin. The special vulnerability of night just feels like any other day with Jimin.

Still, it was there while they stayed up late to whisper and talk. It was one of the first few times they’d ever had a sleepover, so there was still so much to learn and say. There’s still so much to learn and say, but it was still new. Now it’s settled in, and they’ve had more sleepovers than he has creases on his palms.

It was when Jimin brought up his palms. They lied on their sides, whispering to each other about their friendship. How when they met, they knew they were supposed to be best friends.

“Sometimes,” Jimin whispered, “my palms itch, and when they do, it means something is going to happen to you.”

Taehyung blinked at him. His eyes went wide. “What?”

“Not something bad! You’re not going to die or anything. But, like, I felt it when you were in your interview with Jungkook. And, seriously, my palms have never itched before in my life, so I was like, what? And I scratched them and then it was okay. And you were hired a few days later, and I forgot about it. Then it happened again. Then a couple more times. One of them was when the expensive couch you really wanted for forever went on sale, and you finally could get it because it was the cost of a normal couch. The next time was when you got promoted to the leader of Community News, and another time was when you went to the store and discovered the lip balm you thought they discontinued was back.”

Taehyung didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. It was, without a doubt, the cutest and sweetest thing that anybody has ever told him. He doesn’t know if he believes it – definitely not to the extent Jimin does – because he could have an allergy to something that’s around that day, and there’s probably always something that it could be attributed to later on. Whether it’s true or not, it’s been a silly part of their friendship.

“It was just a little itch,” Jimin says. “I just had to scratch one of them once. So whatever’s going to happen is on its way.”

Taehyung chuckles. “Okay. If you say so.”

“I’m excited!” Jimin says. “I love when my palms itch! I get to watch something nice happen to you.”

Taehyung smiles to himself. “I love you, Jimin.”

Jimin’s twinkly laugh tickles his ear. “Love you too. I’ll be waiting. And watching. Very closely. Jungkook too.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes with a smile. “Whatever you say.”

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

“Morning, Tae,” Namjoon says with his nice smile when he walks into the newspaper headquarters. The bottoms of his glasses are fogged up as he sips from his mug of tea. He matches the chai tea he always drinks – wearing different shades of brown.

“Morning, hyung,” Taehyung says, then the same to Hoseok, who’s sitting beside Jimin’s desk to talk to him. Hoseok is wearing all white: quite baggy white pants with an oversized white shirt. His hair is growing out into kind of a curly mullet, and it looks cute on him.

Jimin doesn’t say good morning. He narrows his eyes at him, showing that he’s watching him closely after his itchy palms. Taehyung rolls his eyes and flicks his forehead, pulling out a “hey…” as he rubs the spot. He looks as cute as always. He’s wearing light wash jeans with a white t-shirt with something printed on it that he can’t make out from here, along with a very fuzzy green cardigan. His hair is a little silvery today, meaning he must have toned it last night and overdone it like he tends to do sometimes when he loses track of how long he’s had the toner in his hair.

He himself is wearing black pants with a brown paisley shirt tucked in, his hair maybe a little more intentionally and neatly styled today for no reason at all.

He sets his things on his desk just as Jungkook walks out of his office to set everything up for their daily morning meeting. “Oh, good morning, hyung,” Jungkook says with his kind smile. He looks… quite good today. He’s wearing baggy black pants that have buckles and straps over the legs, paired with a loose shirt that falls down to his upper thighs. It’s paired with his usual black boots, and his hair is more styled today too – parted to the side and pushed back from his forehead rather than in his usual loose curtain waves style. This way it… it really shows off his eyes. His darker features, his eyebrows. The darkness of his eyes, his eyelashes with nothing touching them.

“Good morning,” Taehyung says. He quickly looks down at his bag to unpack it when he feels his cheeks heat up in a blush.

f*ck. Nothing has even happened yet; all Jungkook said was good morning. It’s never been hard for him to blush at anything, and the redness of his cheeks is always noticeable. If he has to sit in a meeting with Jungkook and talk to him, it’ll be obvious to everyone. It’s not fair that his body is making him blush because he’s not even sure how he feels about everything yet. About Jungkook yet. He hasn’t figured out the full scope of what’s going on, and he’s going to give himself away before he gets there.

He’s usually the first one to arrive at their meeting, because he’s the only one who goes on time, but he can’t be alone with Jungkook, because everyone will walk in and see if he blushes again and know what it’s from.

He waits another ten minutes, not really knowing what to do other than sit at his desk and pretend he’s organizing one of the drawers. Once Jimin and Hoseok finally stand to go, Taehyung follows them. He keeps his eyes down as he goes to his usual seat, and he sets his notebook and pen in front of him.

Jimin nudges him with his elbow, and his face isn’t suspicious or playful right now. He has the wide-eyed, concerned, sweet best friend look. “Everything okay?” he asks quietly. He can probably sense how Taehyung is feeling even though he really can’t. Tense, uncomfortable, nervous.

Taehyung just nods with what he hopes is a reassuring smile. Jimin studies him like he knows he’s lying, but he lets it go because Jungkook starts the meeting.

“Morning, everyone,” Jungkook says. Taehyung looks up from his things on the table, and he immediately feels his cheeks heat up again. His heartbeat quickens when Jungkook’s eyes land on him and he gives him a soft smile. Taehyung fidgets with his fingers in his lap, not letting himself look away so no one can see his reaction.

He… can’t believe this is happening. Going from huffing and grunting and rolling his eyes at Jungkook to this. There was a slow change that took place over the course of their investigation, but it feels like it happened all at once. Like he randomly had a revelation in a laundromat in the middle of a rainy night, and now he can’t stop blushing around him with a fluttery heart. He didn’t even get time to adjust or get used to these feelings. (Although maybe the universe has been trying for years to give him time, and he continues to ignore it again and again. Now he’s dealing with it.)

Taehyung watches him as he talks with everyone about the stories they have on deck today. Jimin will be working on a feature about the exhibits coming to their town and neighboring cities’ art museums this month, while Hoseok works on a spread about the most anticipated albums of different genres that will be out soon. Namjoon has been covering the town election, and he’s going over the specific aspects of it that he’ll be writing about today.

Even as they’re talking, Taehyung barely hears it. Even as he’s watching them, his eyes keep darting back to Jungkook.

He sighs to himself and slumps back in his seat. Namjoon and Jungkook pause talking and look at him, as does everyone else. Taehyung curls into himself. “S-Sorry, sorry. I was just taking a breath. I wasn’t sighing at anyone.”

Everyone turns away to continue talking about their stories this week, but Jungkook looks a beat too long. Taehyung looks back, and he sighs to himself when Jungkook looks away.

Whatever. Whatever. He sighs to himself. Whatever. This is just… this is just how it is now. He surrenders. He likes Jungkook. Maybe he’s liked him for years, maybe this is new, he doesn’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. It matters that right now, he’s sitting in a meeting, and he’s looking at Jungkook and the way the morning sunlight is shining gently onto him, lighting up his eyes. He wants to touch his forearm, wants to feel if the skin there is warmed from the golden light. He wants to touch his cheek to feel if it would warm under his touch.

He doesn’t know if Jungkook likes him. Jungkook is kind to everyone. He doesn’t know if he treats him like everyone else, or if maybe he’s feeling something too. He doesn’t know what he wants the answer to that to be, because this can’t happen. Their newspaper is small. It would be one thing if they worked for a huge corporation. They don’t. It’s a small newspaper where everyone works closely together and knows each other. This would affect everything. It would change how the paper is run, how people treat him, and how they respect Jungkook.

But Jungkook glances away from Namjoon and looks over to him. He hasn’t talked or made a noise, nor has anybody on his side of the oval table. But Jungkook looks over and locks eyes with him. Just for a second, two. His face softens so imperceptibly that no one but him would notice. Jungkook looks away and continues talking about story ideas.

Finally the conversation shifts to his area of the newspaper. Or, their area, now that he and Jungkook run it together. He’s had the entire meeting to compose himself, so he doesn’t feel so bare anymore knowing everyone – and Jungkook – is going to be looking at him.

“What’s on today’s agenda for Community News?” Jungkook asks.

“We’re leading Community News together,” Taehyung says, then he raises an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you have your own ideas too? Or are you slacking off?”

“I am reminding you once again that I am still your boss,” he says, nothing but playfulness in his tone.

“So that means I’m running Community News by myself, as you add something here and there sometimes?” Jungkook rolls his eyes, and Taehyung smiles. He looks down at his notebook, at one of his lists. “I’ve been thinking about doing a feature about the fire department. It’s a slow news week, so anything would be fluff pieces, really. We can talk to the fire department, learn about some of them, some of the things they do. Advice on things to do to stay safe. How many cats they’ve gotten out of trees, stuff like that.

“I was thinking about another one of volunteer opportunities this summer. Picking up litter at the beach. Painting some things around town. Planting flowers. Organizing a food drive. Things like that. Students are off for the summer, and I think they get extra credit for volunteer hours, so it’s a win-win.

“And lastly, this is less interesting, but they’re going to start construction on that road that leads out of town. We should notify everyone of that.”

Jungkook nods, scribbling everything down in his notebook. “Yeah, those are good,” he says. “There are also several new places that are opening downtown. An art supply store, a burger restaurant. Uh, I forgot the others because I left the list in my office, but people tend to like lists, so compiling all of those would be good.”

Taehyung nods. “Yeah, that’s a good one. We can do that.”

“We should go around and visit the places. Some aren’t open yet, but I’m positive they’ll let us see the place if they know they’re going to get publicity. When we’re done with whatever work we need to finish this morning, we can go around to the different spots. Maybe after lunchtime?”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow. “Is this your way of trying to spend more time with me?” Jungkook sputters, his face turning red. When Jimin cackles and Yoongi quietly laughs, Taehyung remembers they’re in a meeting with other people.

Jungkook tilts his head to the side and levels his gaze on him. Taehyung swallows, because he knows whatever he’s going to say is going to fluster him even worse in front of everyone. “I could’ve hired more people, you know,” he says. “Trained them on what you do, helped out some of the interns more. Maybe I wanted to have an excuse to be together more often.”

Taehyung feels his entire body break out into a sweat, his face blazing. Jungkook gives him a look that’s between a smirk and a smile. Then he blushes too when Jimin yells, “ARE YOU TWO FLIRTING?!”

Jungkook clears his throat and stands. “Great ideas, everyone,” he says. “Let me know if you need my help with anything. Let’s get to work.”

He leaves the room, and Taehyung immediately stands too, because he’s now alone with everybody. “Where were the eyerolls?!” Jimin says. “Where were the rude comments?!”

Taehyung rushes out of the meeting room, but he bypasses his desk. Everyone is going to crowd him there, so even if it makes the attention on them worse, he walks into Jungkook’s office without knocking on the door and closes it behind him. Jungkook looks up at him – looking much calmer, but still flustered.

“Um, h-hello,” Taehyung says. He sits down across from him on the other side of his desk.

“Hey,” Jungkook says. Jungkook looks at him, and it’s too much, and Taehyung immediately stands again. He leaves Jungkook’s office and closes the door behind him.

He’s fully freaking out, he’s somehow sane enough to observe. He needs to get it together. He sits down at his desk, and he flinches when Jimin rolls his chair over to him – fully around his desk and not just across.

Jimin must be able to sense how… unwell he is though, because he doesn’t mention any of it. He hooks his arm through his own and holds his hand with the other. He rests his head on his shoulder, but then he lifts his head to kiss his cheek before he sets it back down. “Hi, Taetae.”

“Hello,” Taehyung says as he opens his planner to figure out where to start his work for the day. He needs to talk to Jungkook because they didn’t say who’s writing what, but he can’t take any more right now.

He opens his laptop and pulls up his work chat thread with Jungkook.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Hello. I’m going to write about volunteer opportunities, so you can take either of the other two.

He watches the typing bubble appear and disappear a few times. He holds his breath as it keeps going on. It comes out all at once when Jungkook just thumbs up the message. Then he sees Jungkook’s status set to Busy, Do Not Disturb – which it never is, because even when he’s busy, he’s vocal about anybody being allowed to come disturb him if they need him for any reason. Taehyung blinks at the red dot beside his status, but Jimin’s here, so he doesn’t let himself freak out. He closes their chat and opens his notebook to outline his story.

Jimin lets go of him, but just to go to his own desk to grab his tablet to work on the week’s comics. He sits down next to him again. He loops their arms together and starts to draw with his tablet balanced on his knee.

Jimin always seems to know what he needs, and it’s nice. Not that he ever needs the teasing, because he certainly doesn’t, but Jimin knows when to stop. He knows when he just needs a quiet, steady friend beside him, even if he doesn’t know why. He focuses on the warmth of Jimin and his unwavering presence as he finishes the outline.

Community Volunteer Opportunities Outline

I. Introduction

• The importance of community
• Keeping our town clean
• School is out and students get volunteer credit
• These aren’t only for students because volunteering is for everyone

II. Volunteer opportunities

1. Cleaning up litter (different places to organize it based on where needs it the most)
2. Painting things around town (picnic tables, park benches, etc)
3. Planting flowers or taking care of existing plants around town (who does that to begin with? figure it out and contact them)
4. Contact Binna to help out with the monthly food drive (or whatever other thing she’s organizing for the month, get quotes from her)
5. Independent, unorganized volunteering (helping a neighbor, etc)

III. Conclusion

• Tie it back to the introduction

“Kangdae is who waters the flowers and takes care of the plants,” Jimin says. “He’s the gardener at the botanical gardens too.”

“Ah, makes sense,” Taehyung nods. He pencils his name in to remember to contact him to see if it’s something he’d even want help with.

He looks at what Jimin is drawing, and he smiles to himself. The drawing is kept simple to not give away too many details, but Taehyung recognizes his own balcony with part of town in the background. The focal point, though, is a little hummingbird. Taehyung is excited to see it in the paper to see what silly caption Jimin has given it.

Jimin is wrapped around him, so he tries not to tense when Jungkook’s office door opens. He doesn’t look over. He glances up from his notebook to see him walk past. Jungkook’s eyes land on him and Jimin, but only for a moment. He walks just next door to Yoongi’s office and closes the door behind him. No smile, no head nod, nothing.

Taehyung wonders if he overdid it. Him showing his annoyance was familiar. It was accepted and allowed, even if it shouldn’t have been. He knew what he could get away with, and it was normal. It was their everyday life that they were used to.

But this flirting – something he didn’t even mean to do – is different. It’s not normal, and he doesn’t know the boundaries of it, so he doesn’t know if he went too far. Maybe anything is too far, because it’s inappropriate to flirt with his boss. Especially publicly, in front of others they work with.

He focuses on his work and tries to pretend like he isn’t listening for any sound coming from Yoongi’s office. Jungkook stays in there the whole morning, which isn’t off, since Yoongi is both his actual second hand and best friend, but still. Taehyung hasn’t ever been on this high alert pertaining to Jungkook. Jimin would protest that – even he himself would – but he wasn’t aware he was doing it in this way, and it’s so much worse. Before, he’d be annoyed to be distracted by what Jungkook is doing. Annoyance has given way to curiosity and, from the events of this morning, worry. It’s a different kind of awareness, and he thinks he’d rather be annoyed.

“I’m going to eat lunch,” Jimin says after a morning of quietly working together. “Coming?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “I want to finish this since I’m almost done.”

Jimin goes to get his food, and he hears Yoongi’s door finally open. He sees him and Jungkook walk out, then he watches Yoongi walk to the kitchen where Jimin is. He watches Jimin perk up and instantly turn into that sweet, flirty elvish fairy he always is. Then Jungkook’s office door closes when he returns to it.

Taehyung doesn’t know if this would be too much, but he asks anyway. It doesn’t seem like he has much to lose at the moment, if he already lost what little he had.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Hello. I was wondering if you’d like to start our tour of the new businesses around town right now and we can get lunch somewhere in there? Or before? Since we’ll already be out

It takes a while for Jungkook’s typing bubble to appear.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
I won’t be able to go with you to do research for this story. Feel free to go with someone else, or we can scrap this story altogether if it’s too much work.

Taehyung stares at the typing line blinking at him. He almost wants to laugh. He f*cked this up before it even started. He always teases Jungkook, but he supposes he took it too far this time.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Okay. Is it okay if I go tomorrow instead of today then?

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Yes, that’s okay.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Okay. We haven’t made plans for what we’ll do next in the case we’ve been working on. Have you made a decision?

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
We're going to put that one on hold for a while. I’ll update you on when we will continue it.

Taehyung blinks at the screen. He f*cked up.

He doesn’t respond. He just thumbs up the message and gets back to work.

– ♡ –

Taehyung throws himself into his work to push away any thoughts or feelings that could appear. He doesn’t let himself think about it, but he does in the in-between moments. As he’s opening a new word document. As he’s sending an email to Jungkook to approve of his story before it’s sent to the formatting department. When he goes to the kitchen to refill his water bottle.

He knew before this started that there couldn’t be a start. It ended the second he realized he caught feelings. Still, he didn’t think Jungkook would become cold with him. He’s never been that way, even when Taehyung gave him constant attitude. He doesn’t know why Jungkook is acting like this though. If it’s because Taehyung is his employee, or because he just doesn’t like him to begin with. Jimin has told him so many times that he and Jungkook would fit together perfectly – whether it was as friends or something more. He even started to think so too. He remembers sitting in the car together at the gas station, when he still didn’t like him, but it felt comfortable. Then it started to feel more and more comfortable, and even nice. Grocery shopping together and the giggling and teasing. Sitting for hours at the laundromat, not even doing what they went there to do. He started to believe Jimin, thinking that maybe he wishes he didn’t waste so much time when they could have gone grocery shopping together like it was any normal day.

But he supposes that he was wrong, and Jimin was too. He just wishes he could have figured it out earlier.

He sighs and rereads the out of town advice question one more time before he uploads it to their newspaper’s blog. The sender was succinct, which he appreciates, and the situation is eerily similar to his own, he thinks.

– ♡ –

– ♡ –

Taehyung didn't realize how late it had gotten once he’s done with his work for the day. He really did enough work for the week, but he was focused on not thinking about anything, so he got a lot done. He’s the only one left in the office. He realizes it’s gotten dark, and the lamp on the desk is the only lamp that’s on, making the space dark except for his little area of light.

Then he hears the tapping of keyboard keys, and he realizes he isn’t alone. It’s coming from Jungkook’s office. He doesn’t want to be alone with Jungkook – or at work at all, now that he realizes how late it is – so he packs everything up. Just as he’s about to leave, Jungkook walks out of his office. His footsteps falter when he must realize he’s also not the only one here.

“Oh,” he says. His voice sounds off. Nothing like the teasing or amused or even friendly quality it’s always had. “Heading out?”

“Yep,” Taehyung says as he rests his bag on his shoulder.

He turns to go without looking at Jungkook or wishing him a good night. It’s not something he ever did before, and he supposes they’re going back to that relationship dynamic. He doesn’t know if he can be bitter with him anymore in the lighthearted way he once was. He thinks it’s turning into indifference, into just ignoring him.

“Have a good night,” Jungkook says.

“You too,” Taehyung says absently, and he walks out of the office and into the evening.

The sun has just set. A little of its light still clings to the sky as it holds the smallest hints of periwinkle before it’ll fade to a deep indigo. A few people still linger in the park or are taking nighttime walks on the lamp-lit pathways between the trees, but for the most part, all he has is himself and the sound of his footsteps.

He tries not to be unkind to himself as he thinks about things on his short walk home, but he can’t help it. It was stupid to let his guard down enough to let himself have feelings. It’s his own fault that he’s feeling like this, no one else’s. Jungkook doesn’t owe him anything; he’s allowed to not like him. This is all on Taehyung. He knows better than to do something like this with his boss. He knew it every time Jimin (wrongfully, it seems) teased him about him and Jungkook being together, about how perfectly they’d fit together. He always denied it, because he knew then that even if it were true, it wasn’t something to get mixed up in.

Now he is, and now he notices the emptiness of his apartment when he gets home.

He changes out of his work clothes into something more comfortable, and he adjusts the lighting in his office. He doesn’t want to feel alone, doesn’t want to think, so he might as well knock out a few asmr videos.

Even though his last one was the same color palette, he makes his background a dark blue, because it’s how he’s feeling. He adjusts a closer projector so it’ll light him up just enough to be able to see in a slightly lighter shade of blue. He turns on his usual humidifier and doesn’t bother with adding a plant friend.

His last video with him just talking about his life is one of his most viewed videos so far for some reason, and it was posted only recently. He might as well make another one of those, and it’d be nice anyway to be able to talk about this. When he’s ready to get in bed, he could make another one of the romantic roleplay ones too, because people like when he does those with his sleepy voice.

He makes sure all of his trigger toys are in reaching distance on his desk. He triple checks that his face isn’t in view of the camera, and he hits record.

He starts off by just tapping his fingers on top of a book. He always likes the sound of people doing this with fake nails, but people seem to like it with just his fingertips too. It has an earthier sound, he thinks. More grounded, richer.

“Hello, everybody,” he eventually whispers into the mic as he drags his fingertips across the cover of the book. “I hope you don’t mind another one of these videos. I just wanted somebody to talk to, I guess. I made a list of which triggers I get the most comments about, so I thought I could try to fit all of them into this video to make up for the repeat.”

He slowly opens the book he was tapping on, letting the mic pick up on the sound of the crackling and folding of the spine. He drags his finger along the page, in a slow, abstract design. He flattens his palm on it next, circling it around. He slowly turns the page, making sure the crinkling sound is heard before he smooths his hand against it to press down the spine and make it flat. He does that for a few more pages, then he continues whispering.

“In my last video, I talked about someone at my job. About how we started having to work together more, and how I… started to see him differently, I guess.” He huffs a laugh. That’s putting it a little lightly. “I thought that maybe he started to like me too, but… I guess not. Things have been tense at work, and it’s gotten a little awkward. I think maybe he figured out the things I was thinking or feeling and it made him uncomfortable…”

He trails off. He turns a few more pages in the book, then he sets it down. He drapes a hand towel over the mic, then he starts to drag his fingers down it to make a thunder effect, like it’s rumbling far off in the sky.

“I dunno. I think I’ve liked him for longer than I realized, maybe more than I realized. I think if I didn’t, I wouldn’t feel this disappointed.” Disappointed is putting it lightly too, but he doesn’t know if he wants to be vulnerable enough to talk about how hurt he is.

“Anyway, whatever. It is what it is, I guess,” he whispers. “Life goes on and all of that. Have you drank enough water today? You should try to drink some more tomorrow if you haven’t, or as you're watching this right now, if you’re not too tired.”

He records for a while more before he hits the thirty minute mark. He should go to sleep now. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t want to have more thoughts, so he edits the video. Maybe he’ll have some comments to respond to by the time he does get in bed to sleep. He posts the video, then he gets in bed to record again.

He adjusts the lighting so all that’s on are his warm twinkle lights. He fluffs up his pillow and adjusts the camera so it looks like someone is lying on their side across from him, just like he is. He presses record, and he starts making the sound of brushing through someone’s hair by brushing his fingers through the furry mic cover.

“Hi, darling,” he whispers, more quietly than he talked in the video before.

Without being in control of it or being able to stop it, for the very first time, he imagines someone in place of the emptiness across from him.

“You stayed at the office later than usual today. And you were barely responding to my messages,” he whispers, making sure his tone sounds teasing. “I missed you.”

He brushes through their hair some more, imagining dark wavy strands, always looking silky and soft. He imagines how they’d feel slipping through his fingers. He runs his finger along his skin next. He traces his finger in front of the camera while his other hand makes the sound against the microphone. His finger traces over eyebrows, over where he spotted two little dots of a scar. He moves his finger up and down the slope of his nose. “The sweetest round nose,” he whispers. “Such a cute baby.

“We don’t have to talk about work though. You’re here now, that’s all that matters. Are you feeling sleepy? I know you’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. I wish you’d wake me up when you do. I’d feel lucky to be with you if you can’t sleep. I could try to help you too. I know you like when I play with your hair.” He goes back to doing that again. “Or we could just talk. Or I could kiss you like I always want to do.”

For the first time in one of these videos, he leans closer like he’s leaning into someone, and he makes the sound of a kiss. He’s blushing as he settles back, not really sure if that would be cringe to others, but he supposes he’ll see.

“Here, close your eyes. Let me count your pretty eyelashes. Maybe it’ll help you fall asleep.”

His finger raises, as if gently tracing along the shape beneath his eye. “One,” he whispers. He sees long eyelashes framing doe eyes, the ones he’s seen for three years. “Two.” He thinks of them when they were in Jungkook’s car outside of the gas station, when he fell asleep. When the moonlight casted a faint shadow of them on his cheeks. “Three.” He thinks of the way they probably look as his eyes calmly flutter closed, shutting down to rest.

He slowly whispers each number, trying to lull him asleep. When he thinks enough time has passed, he stops counting. “I…” He swallows. His voice turns shaky, as if it’s truly happening. “I, um, I know it hasn’t been very long,” he whispers. “But I just... I just really like you."

He films for a little while more, and his hands are trembling as he edits the video too. He posts this one too, even though he’s never double-posted before. He wants to get them out there and out of his hands, like they’re a confession he can finally let go of. When he sees them on his channel though, he doesn’t feel any different. He still feels the quiet of his apartment, the emptiness of his bed. The feelings inside of him that he doesn’t really want to think about.

Just as he’s about to go to sleep, he realizes he forgot to put his phone on do not disturb, and it’s vibrating nonstop. As soon as he picks it up, his stomach drops.

On his screen are several comments from user j.m. He’d forgotten that Jimin sometimes watches his videos to leave an encouraging comment. He very reluctantly opens the notifications.

j.m: NO WAY
j.m: NO f*ckING WAY
j.m: VJEKNSHFUIEJKRHSGUI43HJT903UWJHF8UEISDHJKXVGJDKG
j.m: I LOVE BEING RIGHT
j.m: MY SKIN IS CLEAR THE BIRDS ARE SINGING THE GROCERY STORE IS IN STOCK OF THE RAMYEON I LIKE AGAIN
j.m: FHUIEWHT89FHUESHFGJRHSTGUEISGHERSIUGHSEU AHHHHHHHHHHHH
j.m: HEHEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEH

Even more reluctantly, Taehyung opens the comments on the romantic roleplay video.

j.m: GENUINELY IM DYING IM ABOUT TO RUN AROUND MY APARTMENT
j.m: I FEEL LIKE I HAVE THE ZOOMIES
j.m: I KNEW IT I f*ckING KNEW IT
j.m: MY PALMS I TOLD YOU MY PALMS WERE ITCHING IT FELT LIKE I HAD A RASH TODAY
j.m: THE f*ckING EYELASHES GOD I f*ckING KNEW IT IM SO HFGUIWEJKH
j.m: HFIGUWHAT893IOFJHESNIUJKDHGNEJRKHGIUJ4KHSEFNIUDJKEHTGJEKHGUI

The comments are marked as private so only Taehyung can see them, because most viewers would be quite alarmed and confused seeing someone yelling at him there.

More comments are coming in from Jimin, but he sees one from a frequent commenter too on the romantic roleplay video, already, even when he posted it not too long ago.

jaykay: I just watched both videos and wow they were so nice. I’m not gonna personal info dump on you but yeah these were especially nice. Thank you for this. Wow these were– yeah ㅋㅋㅋ Okay yeah I’m going to rewatch them because they almost put me right to sleep but I just wanted to let you know first how much I appreciate you. Thank you and I hope you get some rest tonight

Before he can respond to it, his phone vibrates with a call. He sighs and braces himself for screaming as soon as he answers the call.

“KIM TAEHYUNG,” Jimin does indeed scream.

Taehyung sighs. “Yeah. I know.”

“THIS IS–WHAT’S–I CAN’T BELIEVE–”

Taehyung sighs again. Says, quietly, “I know.”

Jimin goes quiet. His voice is quiet too when he speaks. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think he likes me back,” he quietly admits. “After the meeting, he just kind of froze me out. Wouldn’t even really respond to my work messages. I think maybe I made him uncomfortable because our teasing was different, or I was inappropriate, I don’t know. We were supposed to go out today to go to the new places that are opening around town, but he told me to go with someone else.”

“Oh…” Jimin says. The line goes quiet. “That’s… that’s so strange. I seriously would’ve bet my entire bank account that he likes you too.”

“Maybe he did and I ruined it somehow, or maybe he never did. I don’t know.”

“You’re getting your sleepy voice, so you should go to bed. Why don’t we walk around to the new places together tomorrow, yeah? And we can talk about it. And I promise no teasing.”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight, Tae. We’ll figure this out. I love you.”

“I love you too, Chim.”

Taehyung sighs when they hang up. He sets his phone down and he tries to sleep, knowing it won’t come easily tonight.

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

“So, yeah…” Taehyung says once he’s done telling Jimin everything as they walk through town. Well, not everything. Nothing about the secret investigation they’ve been conducting – if they still even are. He just told him he and Jungkook have been spending a lot of time together privately since they’re working together now, and the forced proximity is what started to change everything for him. “And I… I don’t know if I’ve always felt like this, or if it’s new, but I don’t think it really matters. What matters is that I like him, a lot, and it came on so suddenly, and I thought he liked me too, but he just… doesn’t. You saw the way he greeted everyone in the meeting this morning with a smile, and he just nodded his head at me. And my portion of the meeting was just me saying what I planned on working on today with no questions or comments, even though we’re leading this team together.”

They fall into silence as they walk through the park, taking the scenic route to the new restaurant they’re going to have lunch at. They’re walking along the wooden path because Taehyung likes the way the boardwalk sounds beneath their footsteps. They’re walking through the area of wildflowers, the scent in the air fresh and light while the sun is a little bit less than comfortable. Jimin matches the flowers around them, while Taehyung matches the trees and grass.

Jimin keeps shaking his head. “God, I don’t know what that’s about,” he finally says. “Seriously, I was certain that he likes you. Even Yoongi has talked about it to me.”

Taehyung swallows. He’s not sure if he wants to know now that there’s no hope, but he says, “What did he say?”

“We’ve talked about how different Jungkook acts around you. In the office, yeah, but in general too. Yoongi said he’s never even acted like that with his old boyfriend, when they were getting to know each other before they started dating. How playful he is with you, and how he lets you tease him. He’s upbeat and peppy all the time, but it’s in a different way around you, and he said just… calmer too, somehow. He didn’t tell me how, but he’s his best friend, so he knows him as much as I know you. Well, not that much. They’re not soulmates. But you know what I mean.”

Taehyung manages to crack a small smile at that. “Well, maybe he was wrong, or maybe I did something to change the way he feels. Maybe I did something to make him stop liking me.”

Jimin is shaking his head again. “I’m a journalist,” he says. “I’ll figure it out.”

Taehyung snorts. “Good luck with that.”

Jimin’s voice turns quiet and small enough for Taehyung to pick up on it. “Is there a reason why you didn’t tell me?” he asks. “That you like him, I mean? Did I make you not want to tell me because of how much I teased you about it when you didn’t like him?”

Taehyung reaches between them and takes Jimin’s hand. He laces their fingers together and gently squeezes. “No,” he says. “I just… I don’t know. I was just figuring it out and needed to process it, and I guess I was kind of nervous. Or embarrassed. You’d teased me for so long and ended up being right, and I just… I felt like this was over the second I realized I liked him. He’s my boss, and this can’t be anything. It couldn’t go anywhere. I don’t know. I just needed to process it by myself before I said anything. I was going to tell you though. I promise. This was only over the course of, like, a week. Maybe not even that long.”

“I’m sorry I’ve teased you about him so much,” Jimin says quietly.

“Don’t be,” Taehyung says. “I’ve teased you about Yoongi. That’s just how we are. And you were right, so.” He shrugs.

Suddenly, they hear a quick zoom breaking through the air between their heads. It’s followed by a blur of brown and red that disappears before it buzzes by again.

“Oh!” Jimin says. “He knew how you were feeling and wanted to come comfort you.” They hear and see the quick, faster-than-light movement again before it’s gone. Jimin sticks one of his fingers out on the hand that isn’t holding Taehyung’s, and a second later, a little sunset-colored hummingbird perches on his finger. He’s mostly brown, but his feathers have an iridescent orange and yellow tint to them, while the ones on his chest are a beautiful dark red. He perches there very politely, just watching the two of them.

“Hi, little Jasmine,” Taehyung coos. He slowly reaches a finger out and pets his tiny, fragile head just once. “Does Yoongi know about him?” Jimin shakes his head. “Jungkook was amazed when I told him.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” Jimin says. They walk for a little while more with Jasmine, then he takes off again. They see him fly to a flower bush and stick his little beak into the center to drink its nectar.

“Anyway, whatever,” Taehyung sighs. “Whatever will happen will happen. Nothing I can do about it right now. And if nothing happens and I go back to rolling my eyes and huffing at Jungkook, I guess that’s the way it’s supposed to always have been.”

– ♡ –

Taehyung can’t sleep. He’s restless and agitated and has tossed and turned in bed enough to stop pleading with his head to let him sleep and has grown angry and frustrated instead. He’s not up until almost two in the morning because his mind is racing with thoughts, or because he’s sad, but because he can’t sleep for no reason other than to frustrate him.

He throws his blanket off with a growl and stomps out of bed. He stays in his pajamas – black track shorts with an oversized black shirt that is long enough to cover them, since the summer nights are only getting hotter – and slips on his shoes. Their town is a safe place no matter the hour, and he never feels scared to walk at nighttime, but he grabs his pepper spray and clips it to the waistband of his shorts just to be safe.

He locks both of his apartment doors behind him, then he sighs when he feels the nighttime summer air. It’s quite humid, but the thick air feels nice, like he has somebody to walk with.

He heads in the direction of the neighborhood streets because he likes the way they’re lantern-lit, and maybe a few people will still be awake with the lights on so he can nosily peek through their windows from the sidewalk. He turns in the direction of the husband cheating with his wife’s best friend because he might as well try to see if anything is amiss if he’s just walking aimlessly. It’s a nice walk too, seeing all of the big houses.

He walks to the edge of town, the edge of his street that ends with a garden supply store with a cute garden painted on the windows that changes each season. He turns right, crossing the road to enter one of the neighborhood streets.

It’s so quiet out right now. No cars, no other people. There are crickets and cicadas and just his steady footsteps against the sidewalk, nothing more. It feels so peaceful. It was even more silent in his apartment, but this is a kind of quiet that doesn’t feel lonely.

He watches his shadow walk in front of him on the sidewalk, framed by the leaves on the tree branches that arch over him. Everything is orange and amber, hints of green so dark they’re almost black. Warm lights that illuminate people’s landscaping, the warmer lights of the stars above.

It’s peaceful. It’s helping clear his head even more until there’s just… nothing. Nothing but him walking in the middle of the night, down the wealthy neighborhood streets. Just him and his footsteps, the occasional pebble he kicks on the sidewalk, an owl or bat that flies across the clear sky.

He turns a corner, walking beneath a tree with a trunk so big he wouldn’t be able to wrap his arms even halfway around it. The long branches hang low, heavy with endless leaves, wrapping him up safely until he’s out from its arms. When he rounds the corner though, he physically runs into something. Someone.

He screams, the sound loud enough to echo down the quiet, sleeping streets – a sound he didn’t even know he was capable of making. He reaches for his pepper spray and tries to lean out of the man’s arms, because he realizes that it’s a man, and he’s in his clutches. He wasn’t paying enough attention to his surroundings, and his head is too tired to protect himself, and he can’t get his pepper spray– “Hey, hey, stop, it’s me.”

His chest is heaving. His hands are shaking like the rest of his body. Then his eyes focus with the quiet porch lights, and he sees the person he’s been trying to keep out of his head for the entire walk.

“J-Jungkook?” he breathes out, the word trembling as much as the rest of him still. He sees eyes, the night sky in them. Dark, with stars. He smells… he smells fabric softener, which he hadn’t noticed before, but they’ve never been this close. He recognizes it from the night at the laundromat, when he rested Taehyung’s head against one of his towels.

“Yeah,” Jungkook says quietly. His voice is calm. Soothing. Blends in with the night, becoming another warm thing here. “Just me.” Taehyung deeply sighs in relief. His whole body sighs too, and he sinks into Jungkook’s arm. “Oh, it’s okay, Tae,” he says. His voice sounds hurt when he feels the way Taehyung is shaking. Jungkook wraps both arms around him, holding him. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” His hand is running up and down his back, slowly, his palm flat, pulling his shirt up slightly to feel the humid summertime air before smoothing it back down.

Taehyung clutches onto him tight. He squeezes his eyes shut. The adrenaline is slowly draining from his body. He nuzzles his cheek against Jungkook’s collarbone. His nose ghosts against his neck with the movement. He thinks Jungkook’s arms tighten around him even more.

The sounds around them start to slowly come back to him. The symphony of insects, performing just for the two of them. The occasionally rustling of leaves as the breeze tries to cool him off. The movement of Jungkook’s hand against him.

He starts to feel things more too. The warmth of the summer night, how the humidity seems to have gone away to help him breathe easier, and now it’s just like any regular night. He feels more real, more aware now, so he takes a deep breath. He reluctantly steps back. “Um, s-sorry,” he says quietly. He sniffles and wipes his cheeks.

Jungkook doesn’t let him go far though. He rests his hand on his forearm, his grip loose, just there enough to comfort him. “No need to apologize.”

Taehyung realizes the situation he’s in now. That he ran into Jungkook, who is the reason he’s taking a walk in the middle of the night. Jungkook who doesn’t like him, whose arms he embarrassingly collapsed into. He starts to panic. Maybe panic isn’t the right word, but the tired, defeated version of it. “Um, I’ll… see you tomorrow then.”

He doesn’t look at Jungkook. He averts his eyes as he steps around him. His knees feel shaky, and he’s kind of far from home, but he’ll be okay because he has no other choice.

“Wait,” Jungkook says before he can walk too far away. He reaches for Taehyung’s hand. He catches his wrist, and Taehyung stops walking. Without thinking, as if they’ve done this hundreds of times before, or as if the past few days haven’t happened, Taehyung twists his wrist and presses their palms together. He fits his fingers in the spaces between Jungkook’s. “Can I walk you home?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m fine.”

“Please? I want to.”

Taehyung sighs. He doesn’t want to deal with this. He doesn’t want to pretend. It’s so late now, and his hours unslept are catching up to him, and it somehow feels even darker than it did before he left, and he just doesn’t want to do this. “I know you don’t like me, Jungkook,” he says, just giving up. “You don’t have to do this. I’d just… I’d rather be alone, without you being uncomfortable.”

Taehyung is looking down at their hands. His thin, long fingers and Jungkook’s tattooed, bonier ones. His own tan skin, and Jungkook’s that’s just a shade lighter. He thought his hand might look dainty in Jungkook’s, but it doesn’t. They’re the same size.

The silence stretches on. Taehyung finally looks up. He can’t read the expression on Jungkook’s face. There’s a pinch between his eyebrows, different from any kind he’s seen there before. It’s not pensive or confused, because he’s not fidgeting with his lip piercing. Everything else about him is still and normal except for that crease in his skin. He looks like he’s holding his breath.

Taehyung thought he didn’t care. He thought that maybe he was at least getting there, that the groundwork for his acceptance was laid, and he can go back to how he was before he didn’t like Jungkook. He wasn’t prepared for the way it’d hurt when Jungkook says, “Okay,” and lets go of his hand.

Taehyung doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t look at him. He turns and walks in the direction of his apartment, because he needs to put as much space between them as possible right now.

He walks quickly, nearly drunkenly stumbling along the sidewalks, needing to be somewhere safe and familiar. The streets are looking too strange, the houses not something he’s used to. He needs to be in his own environment, because a meltdown in the middle of the night, in the middle of a rich neighborhood is not something that would be very good.

It takes him a while to realize he’s walking to Jimin’s apartment instead of his own. It takes him a while to realize he doesn’t have any thoughts about any of it, not even one, and it’s scarier than if he were spiraling.

He feels terrible because it’s past two in the morning now, but he knocks on Jimin’s door anyway. A minute later, a very sleepy, ruffled Jimin opens the door as he rubs his eyes. “Tae? Is everything okay?”

“S-Sorry for waking you,” he says. “We can talk about it in the morning. But can I sleep here? With you?”

“Of course,” Jimin says, no hesitation or questions asked. He opens the door wider to let him inside, then Taehyung follows him to bed. He gets on his side of Jimin’s bed, and once Jimin joins him, he’s immediately pulled into his arms.

“We’ll take off work tomorrow,” Jimin says. “Talk and spend the day together.”

“Okay,” Taehyung says quietly. “Goodnight. I love you.”

“Love you too, Taetae. Night.”

In the arms of his best friend, he manages to sleep.

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

Taehyung wakes up quite late. It’s still the morning with the sunlight soft, but close to the afternoon with the sun high in the sky. He rolls over in bed and squints against the brightness that always lights up Jimin’s room. Jimin’s room is sweet. It’s quite minimalist, actually, which is always surprising for someone who’s so much in the best, most beautiful way. He has his bed, his dresser, and that’s pretty much it. Any pop of color comes from the floral pattern of his duvet, or the sparse, eclectic art on the walls.

He hears Jimin talking from the kitchen. There are pauses between his sentences, like he’s on the phone.

“Yeah, I’ll have to reschedule tonight,” Jimin says. “I’m sorry.” A few moments of silence. “Oh really? Oh… Do you know why?” He huffs a laugh. “Same thing that Tae did too.” Pause. “Yeah, I don’t think he’d like me to talk about it either.” He sighs, then his voice turns lighter. “We’ve got all the time in the world. We waited this long; we can manage a little bit longer.” Jimin giggles, and Taehyung knows that giggle. He’s talking to Yoongi. “Talk to you soon, hyung. Bye.”

Jimin’s footsteps get closer. When he returns to his room, he finds Taehyung awake in his bed, an eyebrow raised. “So what was all of that about?”

Jimin hops on his bed, bouncing both of them with the movement. He sits with his back against the wall and moves the blanket over himself. He puts his legs over Taehyung’s, and he fidgets with the duvet. Jimin looks so cute when he just wakes up, with his messy blonde hair and his face a little puffy from sleep. “I don’t want to talk about it because of everything going on with you…”

“That’s stupid. Tell me. If something good happened to you I always want to know. I want to know about the bad stuff too. Anything you want to talk about, at any time.”

Jimin shyly smiles at him, his adorable crooked tooth out. “I wasn’t keeping it from you,” he says. “It happened just last night. I texted you, but I don’t think you have your phone on you.” Taehyung realizes he doesn’t, and that taking a walk in the middle of the night without his phone isn’t the best idea. “But, um, well… Yoongi showed up at my apartment. Late at night last night. I didn’t even know he knew where I lived, then he told me he found my address in the employee files.” Taehyung laughs because that definitely sounds like Yoongi – and is definitely not allowed. “He was leaning against the doorframe, and, god, he looked so–” Jimin clears his throat. “Anyway. He–” a nervous laugh, “he looked good. He was wearing a black denim jacket and black pants, and a black beanie with his long hair flipping out under it. It was so–” Another overwhelmed laugh. “Anyway, that is not part of the story. He was there, looking hot and beautiful, and he asked what I’m doing tomorrow. I said nothing, and he said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ My stomach dropped and I was about to cry. Then he said, ‘Not like this. I’m sick of only flirting and teasing at work. I want to hold your hand.’”

Taehyung is trying as hard as he can to hold in a genuine squeal, and he can tell Jimin is too. Jimin lets a loud, twinkly, adorable giggle though, and he collapses onto his bed, rolling over so his and Taehyung’s bodies meld together. His hair smells like cotton candy.

“I thought I was going to melt down to the floor,” Jimin says. “Then Yoongi said he wanted to take me on a date.”

“Chim,” Taehyung says seriously, “if you are not going on a date with Yoongi – after years of teasing each other with it – because of me, then you’re insane. I will literally drag you there myself.”

“First of all,” Jimin says, “you will come first always and forever. You think I’m gonna let a boy take place over you?” He scoffs. “Disgusting. You will always be number one. Secondly, um… Last night, Jungkook showed up at Yoongi’s place. I don’t know what happened since we haven’t talked about it, but, uh, yeah… They’re not going into work today either. So whatever’s going on, it’s the same thing that’s going on with me and you.”

“Oh…” Taehyung says quietly. He doesn’t know why that could be.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He nods, so Jimin settles in. He gets under the covers with him more fully. He lies on his side across from him so they can see each other, and he weaves their bare legs together. “I went on a walk last night. In the middle of the night.” Jimin gives him an unamused stare, which he expected for walking alone in the middle of the night. “I was turning the corner, and I ran into someone. I hadn’t heard them, and I screamed. I was trying to reach for my pepper spray, but then I heard Jungkook’s voice. It was him, and I was scared, but then my relief felt overwhelming, and I kind of collapsed into his arms. And he…” He sniffles and feels his eyes well up. “He held me for a while. Kept telling me I was safe, and that I was okay. Once I calmed down, I put space between us and said I was going home now. He asked if he could walk me home, and I just… didn’t want to deal with that. I didn’t want to walk with him knowing he was only being with me because he was basically just pitying me, because he knew I was scared.

“So I said that I know he doesn’t like me, so I just wanted to go home alone. It was silent for a while, then he eventually just said okay. Didn’t deny it or try to talk about it more or anything. So I walked home, but then I came here.”

It’s quiet for a while as they think about it. Jimin’s eyebrows are furrowed, big lips pouty. Taehyung spots some smudges around his eyes from being lazy with taking his makeup off the night before, like he often is. Then he says, “God, there’s… there’s something we’re missing here. Tae, seriously, I would have bet anything on him liking you. I wouldn’t have teased you about it for years otherwise. And I don’t think, now that you like him too, that there’s anything you could have done to make him stop liking you. If anything, it would have happened during the years where you rolled your eyes at him and were rude.”

“I wasn’t rude,” Taehyung mumbles.

“And on top of all of that,” Jimin ignores him, “he went to his best friend last night after you two ran into each other too. If he’s the one who doesn’t like you, why would he go to Yoongi?”

Taehyung weakly shrugs. “I don’t think it’s some big mystery to solve,” he says. “I don’t think it’s complicated. Maybe he liked me, and maybe me liking him back snapped him out of it or something. In any scenario, he doesn’t like me anymore – if he ever did – which he confirmed last night. I think that’s all there is to it.”

“I disagree on all of this simply because it’s you. I think there is absolutely no way someone could not like you. You’re beautiful and you’re smart and you’re kind and you’re funny and interesting and weird. I think anyone ever would want to be with you. So, yeah, there is something to this mystery, because there’s no way someone wouldn’t want you.”

“Stoppppp,” Taehyung whines. He hides himself under the blankets, feeling better about it all just because Jimin makes everything better.

“We’ll figure it out,” Jimin says. “And whatever happens or however you’re feeling, I’ll be here.”

Taehyung comes out of hiding and snuggles up to Jimin. “I know.”

– ♡ –

He and Jimin are sitting at his kitchen table, eating lunch. Jimin’s kitchen is not minimalist like his bedroom is, but that’s mostly by accident. He has open shelving on his walls rather than normal cabinets, which shows off how much stuff he has. Plates and bowls that don’t match, knick knacks from childhood or ones he’s collected through life hidden on the shelves. Several flower vases on the island, the counters, above the fridge, the windowsill, and the table they sit at.

Taehyung has his legs stretched out with his feet on Jimin’s lap, where his best friend is sitting crisscross applesauce. Jimin made sandwiches and chips for them, with some fruit and glasses of apple juice on the side – the nostalgic meal making him feel better because he feels a little like a kid again.

“How’s your family?” Taehyung asks.

“They're good,” Jimin shrugs. “My eomma keeps trying to lure me to Busan. She keeps telling me to bring you too.”

“I’d like to go,” Taehyung says. “I miss Busan. We could spend a weekend there.”

Jimin nods. “How’s your family?”

“My eomma keeps trying to lure me to Daegu with you too.”

Jimin laughs. “We’ll plan two weekends to go then.” He loudly yawns even though it’s the afternoon and they stayed in bed the whole morning. He and Jimin enable the laziness in each other.

Suddenly, their field of vision is interrupted by a small blur going past them. They see Jasmine perched on the vase on Jimin’s kitchen counter. He’s not feeding from the flowers there, just relaxing. It’s so sweet, and such a Jimin thing. Of course a little hummingbird would become attached to Jimin; that’s barely even a surprising thing to have happened.

They sit at the table, doing nothing more than talking all the way until the sun begins to set – all while Jasmine hangs out with them too.

It’s so nice. Even if nothing with Jungkook happens, and they fade back to the way they were before, and his feelings fade until he forgets the feeling of being a few more smiles or quiet midnights together away from falling in love, he thinks he’ll be okay and perfectly happy with his life as long as there are days where he gets to sit at the kitchen table with Jimin all day, just talking.

The sunset illuminates the apartment with golden light, shining against his walls like just another art piece hanging there. It falls onto Jasmine too, lighting his feathers up, making him look like he’s part of the sunset too.

Once Taehyung has to get up to turn on the lights, they head to the bathroom. They take turns washing their faces, then Jimin makes Taehyung hop up onto the counter. He pushes his hair back with a headband, then Taehyung giggles as Jimin starts to paint the face mask onto his skin. Taehyung recognizes the smell, and he feels quite touched that Jimin is using his expensive pumpkin mask on him.

He watches Jimin’s focused face, the way his lips pout more than usual when he’s focused so they resemble a beak. His eyes are so big too, making sure he’s applying the mask carefully and evenly. It’s sweet to be taken care of like this.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Jimin mumbles with a blush as he dips his brush in the jar again to continue his work.

“You’re cute and I love you,” Taehyung says. “I have to stare.”

Jimin shakes his head with a small laugh. “I love you too,” he says.

They eventually migrate to his couch with orange, autumn-smelling masks on their faces. They match the burnt orange of Jimin’s couch and the warm decor of his living room. All of the lights are off except for the lamps on the side tables. The windows are cracked like they usually are to let Jasmine come and go as he pleases, and it brings in a nice floral-smelling breeze, reminding them that they’re still in summer.

As they settle in and start to talk again, they leave the light topics behind and go back to what usually plagues their minds.

“Maybe he only likes me because he thinks I’m hot…” Jimin says quietly, fidgeting with the blanket that’s thrown over them. They’re each sitting with their backs against the arm rests of the couch, their legs stretched out in front of them, in the spaces between each other’s.

“Well, you’re half right,” Taehyung says. “You’re hot, but that’s not why he likes you.” Jimin snorts, a half-smile for just a second before he looks forlorn again. “One of the reasons, but a very teeny tiny one. Also, I’m glad you know you’re hot.” A smile again, a tiny bit better. “Have you forgotten, within less than twenty-four hours, that when he came over, he said he wanted to hold your hand? He was at your door, at nighttime. He could have said something that suggested he wanted to come in so you guys could have sex. He could have kissed you right then, like a movie cliché. He didn’t do either of those things. If he just thought you were hot, he would’ve come over to sleep with you. He came to ask you on a date. And say that he wanted to hold your hand.”

With every new word, Jimin’s eyes got brighter, as if he’d already forgotten. Taehyung knows he’s not the one who can fully convince Jimin of this. Only Yoongi can, and Taehyung is completely certain that he will do an amazing, incredible job of this – because that’s how Yoongi is, and because this has been years in the making. He’s seen, five days a week for so long, the way Yoongi looks at Jimin. There isn’t any lust there. No desire in that way. Taehyung thinks that maybe Yoongi’s a little further gone than to say he likes Jimin. After three years, he thinks “like” has grown and blossomed into something else, something even lovelier. Something Jimin deserves a lifetime of.

“I understand your anxiety and your unsure thoughts, trust me,” Taehyung continues, “I do it with everything too. But don’t ruin this by overthinking, okay? This is amazing. You’ve both been waiting years for this. You should feel that excitement, not start worrying before it’s even started yet.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Jimin says quietly. “I guess whatever happens will happen.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says, “and what happens will be so incredible. I’m certain of it. I’m not just saying that for your sake. You know Yoongi. You know he’d never do anything but treat you right. He’s a good person.”

“Yeah,” Jimin says. He sounds much better than before. Not quite optimistic yet, but better. Then his mood drops right back down when he looks at him. It looks silly with their face masks on. “Do you want to talk about Jungkook?”

Taehyung halfheartedly snorts. “There really isn’t anything to talk about.” He shrugs. When he looks back at Jimin, there’s a strange look on his face. “What?”

“You’re doing the thing.”

“Doing what thing?”

“You’re shutting yourself off. Shutting yourself out, and everyone else. I can feel it. You’ve done it with me before too: that time we fought about how you were overstimulated at the fair, and I kept saying we should go, and you got mad about it because you said I was treating you like a child. You just completely shut yourself off. It’s like you pulled the blinds shut, because it’s easier for you to deal with stuff if you close yourself off. You’re doing it. I can see you doing it.”

“I’m not doing anything on purpose,” Taehyung weakly says, because that’s even worse.

“This is…” Jimin starts to say, but he sounds unsure and trails off. He darts his eyes to Taehyung, and Taehyung keeps his gaze in his direction soft and inviting. “I think this is kind of how it started, really…”

Taehyung tilts his head to the side. He furrows his eyebrows, but he stops when he feels his drying face mask crackle. “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know you back then, so it took a month or two to kind of learn the way you are. And… okay, I’m just going to be honest, okay? I’m going to sound like an insane person.”

“You tell me all the time that you get previews of my fate through your itchy palms.”

Jimin giggles, and his smile makes laugh lines crackle in his face mask too, the same as it’s doing to his face when the mask is gone. Jimin takes a deep breath. “I don’t know… it was… it was weird. I didn’t know you then, so I couldn’t even compare it to you now, and I still knew it was weird.

“I don’t know if you remember this, but you were sitting in the waiting area at the office, waiting for Jungkook to be ready to interview you. We’d already done our interview,” they pause to giggle at the thought of that, “so we were sitting together and talking.

“Jungkook came out of his office and walked over to us. You were looking at me – or behind me, probably, or at my forehead – and Jungkook was looking out the window. But you both looked over at the same time. Tae, it was… it was so weird. Jungkook had already reached where we were, but it was like he froze. It was like you did too. I was sitting across from you and looking back and forth between the two of you, and neither of you moved. You just looked at each other. It lasted at least five seconds, the both of you just quiet and unblinking. You looked him in the eyes, Tae. And it was almost like you guys recognized each other but you didn’t know from where, and you were trying to figure it out.”

Taehyung swallows. His hands shake, so he hides them beneath the blanket.

He’d forgotten about that. He thinks he forgot about it the second they snapped out of it, like it was a memory he wasn’t allowed to have yet. When Jungkook blinked, it was like he’d already forgotten it too. Taehyung remembers now, and he feels himself start to tremble.

He throws the blanket off of himself and stands. “I’m going to wash my face mask off,” he says. He walks away, doing exactly what Jimin said he was doing: closing himself off. He thinks that’s what Jimin meant by this is how it started. Maybe after that strange moment of staring at Jungkook so openly, of allowing Jungkook to do the same, he’d decided he wasn’t going to figure any of that out, and he slammed the door shut and closed all of the curtains. He can feel himself lock the door right now, sew the fabric together. He washes his face mask off, and he can hear Jimin do the same in the other bathroom.

Jimin is in bed by the time he feels okay enough to return back to him. He slides into bed, and the room is quiet.

“I’ll be okay,” Taehyung says into the dark room. “It’s just… it feels harder right now because I think I’ve been suppressing this for so long, maybe, so it’s had years to build. If it was just the past month of me liking him and getting rejected, I don’t think it would feel like this. So I think this means it’s been building for a long time. It’d be weird if I felt this… heartbroken after having a short crush on him, so maybe this was going on for longer than I’ve known about.

“But I was okay all these years. And I’ll be okay after. Just a strange few months I’ll look back on when life has carried on. I’ll be okay.”

“You will be,” Jimin says. He finds his hand beneath the covers and holds it in his own. “No matter what happens, you’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”

Chapter 14

Chapter Text

“Good morning, Taehyung-hyung,” Jungkook says when Taehyung walks into their morning meeting. Taehyung thought that after a day and night of being cared for by his best friend he would be prepared to see Jungkook again, but he should have known that wouldn’t be the case. He should have expected the pang of hurt in his chest, because after what he now realizes was years of feeling… something for Jungkook, the pain wouldn’t easily disappear.

Taehyung just nods at him, reverting back to how he used to be with his boss. He barely looks at him, both because those are his old ways, and because he doesn’t want to see the way the morning sun kisses his features so delicately. He doesn’t want to see the way it takes his eyes from a brown so dark it’s almost black, to one that looks like it was dipped in golden honey. Doesn’t want to see the way it makes his hair look so softy and silky, or that he seems to have gotten a haircut, and it frames his face in delicate waves. He sits down in his usual spot. He can feel Jungkook’s eyes on him, but everybody comes into the meeting to save him from having to make stilted small talk. He looks at his reflection in the window across from him. Hair cut and styled in a style similar to Jungkook’s, but the rest of his attire more dressed up than his boss’s with his collared shirt and glasses on his face, rather than a simple t-shirt and a light dusting of makeup on his doe eyes.

“Morning, everyone,” Jungkook says, receiving sleepy trickles of “good morning” from everybody else. Once Taehyung snaps out of it, he realizes Yoongi took the seat on the other side of Jimin instead of his usual spot across from them, and Jimin is preening because of it.

Taehyung zones out as they progress through the meeting. He usually stays tuned in, because this is a collaboration time, and he likes offering input and staying up to date on what everyone’s doing. Every time he does focus though, he focuses on Jungkook. He tries to focus on the subject, the details, what they’re saying, but Jungkook is a part of all of that, and he doesn’t want to pay more attention to him than his heart and his head already force him to. So he tunes it all out until the topic shifts over to him. When Jungkook looks at him, Taehyung feels Jimin move just the slightest bit closer: a silent, small, sweet show of support.

“I still get almost daily emails,” Jungkook says, “telling me to tell whoever runs the advice column that they’re doing an amazing job, that they’re happy it’s become a daily part of the paper, that it’s the very first thing they read or they save the best for last. You’re doing a great job, Taehyung.”

Even though he doesn’t want to, he can’t help the way his cheeks turn red. He tries to pretend it’s because he’s getting praise from his boss, but he knows that wouldn’t make him blush if it were someone else. It’s because it’s Jungkook.

“Thanks,” he mumbles shyly, receiving a coo from everyone around the table. When he looks at Jungkook, there’s a soft smile on his face. He almost looks proud.

“We’ve gotten questions from people who are out of town and read things from our website,” Jungkook continues, “asking if there will be more out-of-town questions. Is that something you’d be interested in doing? Writing more for the website?”

Taehyung doesn’t even have to think about it. He shakes his head. “I write things for our town. We only started doing that so we could get more traffic on our website. I’m here because I love the people where we live, so I want to do things for them.”

Jungkook nods. “Thought you’d say that,” he says. Taehyung doesn’t like that. That Jungkook knows him like this and distanced himself. “I’ll let the people who write in know. Now what else is on your agenda for today?”

“I am going to finish the town tour guide, then outline my next articles that will cover the next week.”

“Any ideas about what those will be?”

“No.”

“Do you need some help brainstorming?”

“No.”

Jungkook blinks at him. “We’re leading the team together, you know.”

Taehyung tilts his head to the side. Forces his jaw to unclench. “Are we? Because I’m the only one who’s written community news since we started this arrangement.”

He can’t read Jungkook’s expression. Before this can turn into anything more, Jimin hops into the conversation. “Tae and I already have a brainstorming meeting planned this afternoon. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”

They don’t have a meeting planned, but Taehyung appreciates it anyway. Still, he doesn’t take the bait for letting the conversation simmer, because he’s getting more and more angry with each second. “What was the purpose of any of this, all of these changes, if nothing was ever going to happen because of it?” He thinks Jungkook can tell he’s not strictly talking about their working arrangement. They’ve already spent too much time together if he can see what he’s really talking about without having to say it in direct words.

What was the purpose of getting comfortable, getting closer, feeling like they were settling in if Jungkook was going to push him away, tell him he doesn’t like him? What was the purpose of breaking down his walls if all it meant was that he was going to get the bricks thrown back at him?

The atmosphere of the meeting room is chokingly uncomfortable. All of their friends silently watch the one-sided confrontation boil more and more. Jungkook still isn’t saying a word, those f*cking doe eyes looking too wide and innocent for someone who hurt him. He’s doing the thing he does when he’s nervous and doesn’t know what to do, when he curls his fingers in a fist and straightens them back out, again and again. Taehyung hates that he knows that, he hates how he knows Jungkook’s behaviors, how he can see so much but not know what he’s thinking or feeling when others probably could. He hates that that’s why it took him so long, because he’s not good at things like this. He hates the way he falls short constantly, and he hates the way Jungkook is looking at him.

He wants to growl at the way he can feel tears threatening come to his eyes. He abruptly stands and roughly grabs his notepad. His chair is sent rolling back and hits against the wall. “Whatever,” he says. “I can do it on my own. I seem to be the only one who actually cared, so it’s better if this ends here.” He thinks they all know he’s not really talking about work when he storms out of the room.

– ♡ –

Taehyung has been sitting in the park all morning and afternoon. There are picnic tables and wrought iron tables and benches sprinkled throughout the park, and he’s adopted one of the small wooden ones as his desk for the day. He has his laptop and his notepad, and he’s framed by trees and flowers and singing birds. He leans back in his seat and lets his head fall back, looking up to the blue sky. He watches the way the sunlight outlines the leaves on the trees in gold, trying to weave its way in the spots between them to make its way to him. He closes his eyes and hears the sound of the fountain at the edge of the park, and the sound of children playing on the playground far off on the opposite end. He hears a bell from someone’s bike as they warn a walker that they’re going to pass, and the bell on a dog’s collar as their owner throws the tennis ball they’ve been playing fetch with for the past hour. He takes a deep breath in of the fresh summertime air, then he opens his eyes again.

He doesn’t care about the awkward atmosphere he made the office into. He doesn’t feel embarrassed, and he doesn’t regret his outburst. He’s not going to show respect to his boss if the only reason he should is because he’s his boss with a higher ranking than him. He’s not going to show him respect if he doesn’t deserve it – and he doesn’t if only on the basis that he promised Taehyung help with his job by joining his team, and he hasn’t provided him with any of it.

He just doesn’t want to be in the office because he doesn’t want to be around anybody, not because he feels embarrassed or shut out.

He’s been furiously working on the town tour guide, thankfully lost in his work and not subject to any spiraling thoughts. When he reads one of the paragraphs over though, he knows he should take some time to calm down when it’s full of typos and abrupt staccato sentences.

He sighs and leans his head back again. He closes his eyes again to let them rest.

He’s just… he’s just tired. He’s tired of keeping this mask up. He thinks that’s half of why this hurts so much: because being with Jungkook is the only time he’s started to let it come off – for the first time in his whole life, basically. He knows people have got it down to an art and an act. In public, they pretend and put on a show, and at home, they unmask, the curtain closed, the show over. That has never been him. He’s pretended his whole life, and being around Jungkook made him feel like he doesn’t have to pretend. He felt parts of himself willingly coming out, because he felt like he could be himself. He felt like he could say odd things at random times, or share his sometimes scary observations because of how closely he sees the world. He felt like he could not know things, and it’d be okay. Being around someone who felt like him in a different way felt like he could show someone whoever he is beneath the mask, because even he himself isn’t sure. It’s like he lost so many things before he could fully have them. He never even knew they were an option, something within reach.

He tries not to think about it. Tries to get out of his head, tune back into the world around him. He focuses on the way sunlight blankets him. The air is still warm with summer still a guest in their town, but with some blows of the breeze, he can feel the promise of the coming autumn. He can feel it close by.

He tries to calm down so he can write better, but it’s not easy. He doesn’t regret the things he said because they weren’t lies, but he regrets saying them to Jungkook a little bit. Despite everything, he doesn’t want to hurt him, and he wasn’t angry enough to not have seen the helplessness concealed in his eyes, like he didn’t know what to say. And because Jungkook is Jungkook, he hasn’t been reprimanded for it, and he knows he won’t be. He thinks maybe Jungkook thinks he deserved it, and he doesn’t like that, because no one deserves to be yelled at. Confronted about things when it’s necessary, yes, but not in an aggressive tone. He sighs to himself because he knows he’s going to apologize.

He lifts his head and blinks against the light. He looks back down at his laptop and starts editing the mess he was writing. He tries to make it sound like his voice and something worth reading.

He looks up when he hears footsteps, preparing to give a friendly smile to whoever is strolling through the park. Any suggestion of it drops from his face when he sees who it is.

Jungkook is walking through the trees.

Taehyung didn’t get a good look at him earlier. He’s wearing a boxy black shirt with a black belt, black straight-legged pants that end at his ankles, and Doc Marten oxfords. His wavy hair dances calmly in the breeze, showing off more of his sweet face before settling back on his forehead again. Taehyung looks down at his lip ring, and he notices that he’s talking. Then he notices that he’s not alone.

Taehyung doesn’t recognize the woman he’s with. She definitely doesn’t work for the paper, and Taehyung has never seen her before. She looks slightly older than him, with her straight black hair cut into a bob just above her shoulders. Every time the wind blows it pushes it back, and when the wind recedes, it falls perfectly forward again like nothing ever happened.

He can’t make out most of her features from here, but it looks like she’s wearing subtle, understated makeup, and she has shallow lines around her lips and at the edges of her eyes, like she’s spent so much of her life smiling. She’s wearing black pants similar to Jungkook’s, with a white button up shirt and a black blazer thrown over her arm. She looks like she’s taking a break from work to be with Jungkook, who’s taking a break too.

They’re talking as they slowly walk along the path. Her eyes are glued onto him as he talks, but whenever he glances over, she looks away. Everything clicks into place for Taehyung now.

The woman smiles at whatever Jungkook is saying. Jungkook smiles back. He does his shy, embarrassed chuckle when she says something, holding onto the back of his neck like he always does when he’s flustered.

Taehyung slams his laptop shut. He grabs his things and walks away, back to the office.

Jimin looks overcome with worry when he sees him. Taehyung tries to give him a smile to show that it’s okay, but he’s sure it doesn’t work. He sits down so he can continue his work, but he jumps when he feels someone drape themself around him from behind. He smells lavender, and he knows it’s Hoseok. Hoseok doesn’t say anything, just nuzzles against him for a second before he goes back to his desk. When Namjoon walks past him with his coffee from the kitchen, he ruffles his hair, pulling a weak growl out of him. Jimin rolls his chair over and takes his hand. He squeezes it. “You’re cared about,” he says quietly. “No one’s uncomfortable. They’re worried. You’re loved and supported.”

Taehyung bites his bottom lip to try to keep the tears at bay. He nods just once. Jimin squeezes his hand, then he lets go, but he stays where he is so they can work with the other nearby.

– ♡ –

Taehyung finally looks up when he adds the final period to his document. He sees that the office is empty, and the sky has gone dark. A sticky note that wasn’t there before is placed next to his laptop, but he doesn’t recall it being set down. It’s written in Jimin’s whimsical handwriting.

You refused to look at or acknowledge me when I tried to tell you I was leaving but it better not be dark out by the time you’re reading this!!! Anyway bye I love you so much and you’re welcome to come over on your way home if you’d like ♡

There’s one beside it too, in Hoseok’s handwriting.

Love you Tae!!!!!

Taehyung rubs his burning eyes. He saves his document, then he attaches it to an email and sends it to Jungkook without a message. As soon as he hits send, he hears a chime coming from Jungkook’s office. He didn’t realize he was still here, and he freezes. He gets a reply just a second later.

Taehyung doesn’t respond. He stands to gather his things, and as soon as he’s putting his bag on his shoulder, Jungkook steps out of his office. His steps falter. He asks, “Heading out?”

Taehyung thinks of the woman Jungkook was walking with. Who he was smiling with. He wonders if she’s waiting for him, if she misses him when he stays at work so late.

“Yes,” he says.

Jungkook nods awkwardly. “Have a good night.”

Taehyung doesn’t say anything. He glances at him in acknowledgement, then he turns to leave.

Chapter 15

Chapter Text

Nothing changes over the next week. Or the one after that. The one after that either. The air cools down, some of the leaves very slowly fade into new colors. The world changes, but only beyond the walls of the office.

His daily meeting segments are just him succinctly saying what he’s working on that day before it carries on to the next topic. He and Jungkook don’t speak beyond the ways they have to. Taehyung sees him and the unknown woman walking together in the park every time he sits out there. He stays inside once the days turn colder, and he still notices when Jungkook leaves every day for an hour.

He’s started to hear things around town though.

The owner of the laundromat. Workers at the grocery store.

Everything they were investigating is still going on, and more people are catching on. And if Jungkook halted their extremely important investigation because of personal feelings, then that is not going to slide. There are things happening that they’re not privy to, but many, many others are. If they wait too long, everyone will catch on, and the exact things they were wanting to avoid will happen. All because of whatever petty thing Jungkook has running through his mind.

Taehyung stands up so quickly that everyone glances over. He doesn’t miss their looks at each other when he barrels to Jungkook’s office.

He slams the door behind him – definitely much more violently than he intended – and he tries to keep his voice down because they’re the only ones who know about this.

And it’s not very hard, because he can’t help but soften when he sees Jungkook’s deer in the headlights look. His eyes are wide and round, lips parted and hands frozen above his keyboard.

“If you want to let this case go because of whatever personal justifications you have in your head, then okay. Go ahead. But I’m doing this with or without you. I don’t need your help or your permission, and I’m not giving up. If you don’t care anymore, then whatever, but I do care, and I’m going to continue working on it whether it's a joint effort or not. It’s important, more important than whatever it is about me that made you want to stop working together. So go ahead and give up, but I’m not.”

He throws open the door and storms out of his office. He returns to his desk, jaw clenched and refusing to meet anybody’s eyes. He harshly opens his drawer where he keeps the town’s advice column questions, and he grabs the first one he sees so he can start to write.

Dear Autumn Bear,

I know so many of the questions you get are asking for relationship advice, so I’m sorry to be another one of those if you’re sick of it.

There’s someone I like. I’ve liked him for such a long time. Years. I’ve liked him for years. I’ve wanted him for years, but I was the only one. I was the only one who felt that way, so I settled into that. It was comfortable and familiar, the feeling of one-sided admiration. At first it wasn’t great, but I wasn’t healed yet from a past relationship and had more important things to work through, so it was okay.

Then I got better. Then I became stronger and better and felt okay enough to maybe do something about it. But anytime I tried to get close, nothing happened.

But then something started to happen. I thought that maybe it wasn’t so one-sided. Maybe ever, or maybe not anymore, I don’t know. It didn’t feel like I was the only one there anymore.

And that scared me. I’d spent years in that comfortable, safe, familiar spot of one-sided love – well, maybe love is a little too strong. It felt familiar, and then it became unfamiliar. Then it became scary because it was new and uncharted and terrifying, and I didn’t know what to do when I’d already gotten so used to the way it’s been.

So I ran. Metaphorically speaking. I ran and it ruined something that could have been amazing, something I’d thought about for years. I have too much baggage, too many unresolved problems. Too much that I still haven’t worked through – which is proven if only by the way I ran. There’s too much wrong with me to be ready for him, to be deserving of him. He’s too… he’s too special to have to put up with me.

But after all this time, he started to like me back I think, and now it feels too late, but my feelings are still here, and they hurt. And every day I feel regret and guilt that I was so close and I ruined it, hurting us both. I don’t know what to do. I know this isn’t a question, but I don’t know what to do.

Taehyung sighs. He doesn’t have the emotional capacity for this right now, so he sorts through his other letters to find something easier.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

“Kim Taehyung?!” Hoseok shouts. “Are my eyes deceiving me?!”

Jimin is beaming, and Taehyung is blushing. “I told you guys I’d get him to come one of these days!” Jimin says as they take their seats around the high-top table at the bar in town after a long week of work.

Taehyung takes a look around. He’s never been here before.

It’s quite cozy. It’s not a loud, busy, rowdy bar. It looks to be full of people like them – workers after a week of work, having a drink with friends. The lighting is dim, lit mostly by emerald green banker’s lamps at each table. The walls are made of dark wood paneling, and the rest of the color accents are burgundy. There’s a pool table and a dart board on one end of the room, a big bar in the middle, tables around it, and booths along the windowed walls. The volume of the music playing is low enough for them to have calm conversations without shouting, and there aren’t any offending smells. He can see why Jungook would like it here, despite not being someone who’d normally like bars, he thinks. It’s clean and calm with nice lighting. It’s nice.

“Hi, guys,” he says shyly to Hoseok, Yoongi, and Namjoon. He doesn’t know why he’s shy; he’s known them for years. He just doesn’t like all the attention on him. He looks down at the drink menu to see what he wants to order, and Yoongi raises an eyebrow at him when he orders a sweet, fruity drink. “What?” he says defensively.

Yoongi shrugs. He has a black denim jacket thrown on over his black shirt, his long hair tucked under a black beanie except where it peeks out of the back. “You look like you’d drink, like, plain scotch.”

Taehyung makes a face. “You clearly don’t know my Taetae then,” Jimin says. For once, Jimin and Yoongi match. Now that the weather is getting colder and fall is arriving, Jimin has retired some of his more colorful summer clothes and is wearing a white t-shirt with a grey cardigan, his black jeans matching Yoongi’s while his hair stays its usual platinum blonde.

Taehyung happily hums as the pretty sunset-colored drink is set in front of him, and he wiggles happily when he tastes a sip and doesn’t taste a trace of alcohol. Tonight will be good, he thinks. They’ve all been trying to get him to come to have drinks after work with them since the day he started, and he always turned them down because he wasn’t particularly keen on spending an evening with his boss. Jungkook isn’t here though, and he’s got his friends – shades of blacks, whites, and greys on one side of the table, while he, Namjoon, and Hoseok have translated their autumn attire to match the color instead of the grey skies.

Then he feels Jimin grow tense. He can feel it even when he's on an entirely separate chair, on the opposite side of the table; they just can sense each other that well. He follows where he’s looking, and he sees Jungkook walk inside. They all came straight from the office, and Jungkook wasn’t there when he left, and Jimin confirmed multiple times that he wasn’t coming too. He knows Jimin would never lie about something like that, and the panic on his face further confirms it.

Jungkook is already at their table before Jimin can apologize or ask if he wants to leave, so they’re stuck there. “Hey, guys,” Jungkook says. He avoids Taehyung’s eye. The night is already ruined.

“Wanna switch to a booth?” Hoseok asks. None of them were expecting him to come it seems, since they chose a table with six seats – one of them empty now for Seokjin, who will come once the bakery closes.

They migrate to a big circular booth that can fit seven of them. Taehyung lets everyone slide in first so he can take the end – both because he’s polite and because he doesn’t want to be trapped inside because he will definitely have to pee quite often once the alcohol hits him.

In doing that though, everyone has already scooted all the way down. Yoongi is at the other end of the booth with no space for him, and Jungkook is the last one who went in, meaning Taehyung’s spot would be next to him. He can’t ask everybody to shift a little bit back the other way to make room for him on the opposite side because of several awkward reasons, so he sighs and succumbs to his fate and slides in next to Jungkook – who is tense beside him too.

Taehyung takes a big sip of his fruity drink, draining half of it at once because he’ll need it. Across the booth on the other side of Yoongi, Jimin gives him a sympathetic, apologetic look. Taehyung subtly shakes his head and shrugs, showing that it’s okay. It’ll be fine.

He orders another fruity drink when the server comes to take Jungkook’s order – some kind of beer, which the rest of the table, except for Jimin (who orders wine), orders as well.

“Okay, you all know the rules,” Hoseok says when the server walks away. Taehyung panics, because he very much does not know the rules or what they’re for. “No talking about work this whole time, and we all go around the table to say what our favorite part of the week was.”

Taehyung giggles as he takes a drink, because it’s cute. He thinks he feels Jungkook stiffen beside him, but he’s not sure, and not sure why he would have.

They start with Seokjin who arrives at that moment, having no problem making Yoongi and Jimin get out of the booth so he can get in next to Namjoon, forcing everyone to scoot over to make room for him. Jungkook is closer to him now. He can feel his body heat, the warmth radiating off of him. Their arms are so close they’d touch with one small movement, but both of them stay statue still.

Everybody goes around and takes their turns, saying the best parts of their week. Taehyung, of course, naturally compiles it into a list to store away in his head. They all laugh or coo at everybody’s answers, asking questions about some or teasing about others.

The Best Parts of the Week

• Seokjin woke up to Namjoon walking into their apartment with several bouquets of flowers for no reason at all – just to make him and their new daughter happy.
• Yoongi was doing laundry and had the exact amount of detergent and fabric softener left needed to do his final load. (“Are you serious?” Jungkook asked flatly. “That was the best part of your week?” Hoseok said. Yoongi shrugged. “I’m a simple man.”)
• When Jimin was getting coffee, the person in front of him who had already left the coffee shop paid it forward and he got his coffee for free. (“The actual best part of my week was spending time with Taetae, but that’d be my answer every week, so everyone decided that I’m not allowed to answer with that anymore.” Taehyung’s smile was huge, and everybody cooed at his blush.)
• Namjoon tried to make pancakes with their daughter and made a huge mess in the kitchen, which would normally stress him out, but seeing the smile on their daughter’s face and hearing her laughter made him realize that a messy kitchen really isn’t a big deal at all. (Jimin sniffled.)
• Hoseok was walking home from work when a little maltese dog came running up to him, and they took a walk together to find her owner and was invited inside to have dinner with the family of the dog. (“Of course that happened to you,” Yoongi said, because that would happen to Hoseok.)

Taehyung is on his second drink – soon approaching his third – by the time it’s Jungkook’s turn. He was hoping that the alcohol that was making him feel fuzzy would make him feel happy, but it’s having the opposite effect. He curled into himself a little bit, holding onto his arms and looking down at the table. He sees Jimin looking worriedly at him across the table, so he glances at him every few minutes to let him know he’s okay, even though he doesn’t really feel like it. He kind of wants to go home, but that would make the night awkward, because everyone would know why. Jimin would insist on walking him home, and it’d ruin the night. So he stays quiet and small, sipping his drink that someone should probably take away from him because his limbs are feeling heavy in the way they do when he’s a little more than tipsy.

He’s focused on his feeling of emptiness so much that he didn’t even have to try to tune Jungkook’s answer out – knowing it’d probably have something to do with the woman he spends all of his lunch breaks with. He thought that maybe he was getting over Jungkook, but seeing him here, being so close to him, shows that it wasn’t working. Being with him in a casual setting where he’s just Jungkook and not their boss, where they’re all just friends and not coworkers who are here to work and talk about work, shows that he hasn’t been trying very hard to get over him. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s holding out hope, or if he secretly likes the pain, the romanticism of it.

“Tae,” Jimin says. It snaps him out of his thoughts, and he realizes it’s his turn.

“Oh,” he says. He blinks a few times. He didn’t prepare anything even though he had enough time for six people to go ahead of him. “Um…” He tries to think back on his week, but his head is fuzzy. In the places it’s not fuzzy, he just sees Jungkook.

“Tae has never come to one of these,” Jimin says, “so I think his answer is allowed to be hanging out with me.” He turns sheepish. “I mean, if that could be an answer for you.”

Taehyung giggles. “Of course that’d be my answer.”

“Okay, but next week you can’t answer with that,” Hoseok says. Apparently he has finally been made a regular at their weekly end-of-the-work-week gatherings, despite this being his first. If he can survive this one with Jungkook – and whether he can remains to be seen – he can make it through others. He hopes they’ll stop feeling like something he has to make it through, because his feelings for Jungkook will fade, and he’ll go back to normal.

He goes back to being quiet for now, and no one pushes him. They can tell that something is wrong, but they don’t mention it. When he tries to order another drink though, Jimin cuts him off and says, “He’ll just have a water.” Taehyung rolls his eyes, but it’s probably for the best. He doesn’t have a hard time getting drunk, and he doesn’t have a hard time staying drunk. And fortunately, he isn’t the only one whose alcohol has hit him. It makes him realize that a lot of time must have passed while he sat there curled in on himself, staring at the table.

Hoseok is talking even louder than he normally does, a part of every conversation happening. He’s laughing even louder than he normally does too, while falling into everybody as he does so. Seokjin’s and Jimin’s words are a little bit slurred while Seokjin happily sways and Jimin puts his face very close to everyone he’s talking to. Everybody else seems composed, because they seem to handle their alcohol better.

Taehyung notices that Jungkook hasn’t even finished his single beer, while everyone is on their second or third – or fourth (Hoseok) – drinks. He’s not sure why, or if this is normal. It doesn’t seem to be, because Yoongi gives him a look when he doesn’t order something else every time the server comes over for more rounds of drinks. He doesn’t see what expression is on Jungkook’s face, but Yoongi nods. His eyes dart quickly to Taehyung, then he joins the conversation again.

Taehyung just wants to go home. He’d like being here in any other situation, but not right now. He wishes he came months ago, when he still didn’t like Jungkook. At least then it would be tolerable annoyance, not quiet sadness while everyone leaves him be.

He stands and announces he’s going to go to the bathroom, and he’ll use that as his out when he gets back to the table. But Yoongi says, “I have to go too,” and comes with him.

Taehyung is quite a bit more intoxicated than he thought. Definitely not sloppy drunk, but walking like a sober person is a little difficult. When he stumbles out of the booth, Yoongi is immediately there, catching him by his elbow. Taehyung looks at him to thank him and apologize, but Yoongi is looking over his shoulder instead of at him. At Jungkook. Yoongi just nods once before finally looking at Taehyung, and they walk across the bar.

Once he’s washing his hands after, he realizes Yoongi didn’t even use the bathroom. He’s been leaning against the wall waiting for him. He’d usually be touched that he’d chaperone his drunken self – and he definitely still is – but that doesn’t seem like the only reason Yoongi is there.

“Uh… everything good?” Taehyung asks when he’s drying his hands. He glances at Yoongi and finds his feline eyes on hin. He quickly looks away, back at the paper towel in his hands.

“I should be asking you that,” Yoongi says.

“I’m fine,” Taehyung says, confused.

“Jungkook is worried about you,” Yoongi says. Taehyung furrows his eyebrows. He scoffs. “You’ve been quiet. You’re never quiet. At least not like this.”

Taehyung shrugs. “How I’m feeling is none of his concern. He doesn’t like me, so I don’t see why he’d care.”

“He didn’t say that,” Yoongi says.

“You weren’t there.”

“He didn’t say he doesn’t like you,” Yoongi says. “He’s scared.”

Taehyung snorts. “Scared of me?” he asks, because that’s extremely silly.

But Yoongi says, “Yes.”

“Why would he be scared of me?”

“It’s not my place to say,” Yoongi says. “But trust me, he doesn’t not like you. He was worried about you, wanted me to come with you to the bathroom. He lets you talk to him the way you do in meetings because he thinks it’s funny and entertaining, when he’d reprimand anybody else. He praises you more than he does anybody else.”

“That’s because I’m a better journalist than everybody,” Taehyung mumbles, pulling a snort from Yoongi.

“He praises you when you’re not even there too,” Yoongi says. “For things not even related to work. He asks about you when you’re not there. He’s been worried about you being quiet all night, especially knowing how rowdy you and Jimin would normally get together. The problem isn’t him not liking you. Not at all.”

“What is the problem then?”

“You’re smart, Tae,” Yoongi says. “You’re drunk, but you’re smart. I’m sure you can connect the dots. I’d never say that to you about something else, but you can connect the dots here. Now let’s go back.”

Taehyung follows him. He’s even more confused than he was before. He doesn’t know what the purpose of all of that was, and he doesn’t see any dots to connect. Jungkook is just kind and sweet; he’d be worried about any one of them if they were in this quiet state.

He slides back into the booth. He shrugs weakly at Jimin when he gives him a look. He goes quiet again when he can feel Jungkook’s body heat beside him.

He doesn’t realize that Jungkook has been quiet this entire night too until he turns to him a couple minutes later. His hand moves off of the table, toward himself, then beneath the table. Taehyung can see it and feel it. Jungkook hesitates for a second before resting it on his knee – the touch so light it’s barely there. Still, it feels like it burns. Or maybe it just feels warm.

Taehyung looks up at him from where he’s slumped over. They lock eyes for the first time that night. For the first time in days, really. It’s like the sounds of the bar go quiet, even though he knows it’s as loud as it was. He hasn’t looked at Jungkook’s eyes in so long. They’re so dark. The skin underneath them is too, he notices. He couldn’t tell before. He looks like he hasn’t been getting much sleep. He looks back at his eyes, because he can never look away for long.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. He just looks at him too. Taehyung thinks about what Jimin said, about that time he and Jungkook saw each other for the first time. The way they stared, like they recognized each other. He thinks they’re staring like that now too, letting themselves look after so long. Then he remembers everything, and that he’s the only one having these delusional thoughts and feelings. It’s further confirmed when Jungkook snaps out of it completely, nothing showing on his face.

“Are you okay, hyung?” he asks quietly. Softly. Not because he doesn’t want the others to hear, but because that’s the way he always talks to him. Taehyung silently nods. “Are you sure?”

“I’m okay,” Taehyung says. He gives him a weak, half-hearted smile. It’s more than he’s given him in weeks. More than he would if he were sober. Jungkook searches his face for a few seconds, then he finally nods and looks away. Taehyung manages to hold back his whine at the last second when Jungkook takes his hand back.

With the touch though, he remembers that he is a very clingy person, especially when he’s drunk.

“Yoongiiii,” he whines, Everyone glances over startled at the way Taehyung seems to have come out of his fog for now. “Switch seats with me. W’nna cuddle with Jimin.”

“Yoongi, get,” Jimin says, shoving him until he almost tumbles out of the booth.

Before he can be shooed away like a dog or a fly though, Jungkook wordlessly holds his arm out a few inches from his torso. He doesn’t say anything or even look at him. His eyes are trained across the bar. Taehyung turns and looks at it, then at him, eyes wide. Jungkook still doesn’t look or say anything, but he holds his arm out more – a clear message and invitation.

Very reluctantly, terrified he’s misinterpreting, he leans closer to Jungkook. Just as reluctantly, Jungkook rests his hand on Taehyung’s thigh as Taehyung wraps his arms around Jungkook’s arm. He rests his head on Jungkook’s shoulder, then they both seem to relax all at once. Taehyung sinks into him and happily hums with his eyes closed, trying to scoot closer to him. Jungkook’s hand on his thigh is in an extremely modest spot, but such an unfamiliar feeling courses through him as his thumb brushes back and forth. Taehyung smiles with his eyes closed, nuzzling his cheek against Jungkook’s arm, trying to snuggle closer. He hears Jungkook chuckle, and he looks up at Jungkook just as Jungkook turns his head to look down at him.

They smile at each other. There’s no awkwardness to it. None of the tense, uncomfortable, negative feelings they’ve been holding for weeks, none of the heavy energy that’s suffocated them anytime they’ve had to be close. They just smile at each other. Jungkook’s bunny smile, Taehyung’s boxy one. Taehyung giggles and rests his head back down as Jungkook teasingly squeezes his leg.

Taehyung looks around for the first time in an hour, and there are various looks of surprise and fondness on their friends’ faces. He looks at Jimin, and Jimin looks like he’s going to die. He’s pretty sure he’s vibrating, ready to explode with the happiness he’s trying to contain.

He closes his eyes again, and he doesn’t even hear the things his friends are saying. All he can feel is warmth and calmness and safety because of the position he’s in. The dreamy, barely-there smile is still on his face, and he nuzzles against Jungkook’s shoulder. And then… and then he feels Jungkook’s nose nuzzle into his hair. He cuddles Jungkook’s arm tighter, tries to wiggle even closer to him, but any closer would put him on his lap, and he thinks that’s definitely a little too much. Even this is, and he knows that when he’s sober tomorrow, there are going to be too many emotions and feelings and thoughts for him to be able to deal with. But right now, he basks in the feeling of what it might be like if they were each other’s. Tomorrow can wait. Right now, he moves a couple inches away and holds Jungkook’s arm up so it’s wrapped around his shoulders instead, and his own arm is holding onto Jungkook’s waist. He hears Jungkook chuckle, and he looks up at him again.

“Is this okay?” Taehyung asks.

Jungkook’s smile makes tears feel nearby. Taehyung wants to lean closer and nuzzle their noses together. He’s always loved Jungkook’s nose, he wants to touch it with his own. He wants to be able to stare at Jungkook like this – this openly, this closely – every day. Jungkook just nods, and he pulls him closer. “How are you feeling?” he asks. Taehyung leans in and nuzzles him, then he leans back again. Before he can answer, Jungkook laughs and smiles even bigger, lines in the skin beside his eyes. “You’re like a nuzzly little kitten.”

Taehyung giggles. “I feel really good. How are you feeling?”

“Me too. Do you need anything? Water or something to eat?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “No, but if you do, I’ll get it for you. Are you warm enough? Do you want my cardigan? I don’t need it right now. I’m warm enough like this.”

Jungkook studies his face. His smile falters. Taehyung panics that maybe he said something wrong. But then the smaller smile turns softer. “No, I’m okay. I don’t need anything. I’m warm enough like this too, as long as you stay close.”

Taehyung snuggles closer and nuzzles him again. “That’s no problem for me,” he says. “How have you been? In general? Have you been sleeping okay?”

He and Jungkook haven’t talked in so long. It feels strange to not know these things after having gotten close. Really, it’s strange to know these things after how he was with Jungkook for so many years. Strange to be in the arms of his boss who he’s always held a minor disdain for. Jungkook’s smile strangely falters again, becoming weaker before it returns. It’s closed-lipped now, just one side subtly lifted up. “I’ve been okay,” he says, but even in his slightly intoxicated state, Taehyung can tell that’s not really true. “Sleeping has been the same, I guess. What about you?”

Just like Jungkook, he lies and says the same thing. It’s hard to remember that he hasn’t been feeling that great right now though. He doesn’t think he’s ever really felt like this. Ever. And that really terrifies him, because he knows that after tonight, things will probably go back to how they have been. But he won’t let that ruin the moment; he’ll soak this up for all it’s worth. He scoots closer and nuzzles him again to prove it. Jungkook chuckles. “Little baby kitten,” he says. It’s true; he’d probably be purring right now if he could. “Why’d you come out with everyone tonight? You never come to these.”

Taehyung shrugs. “Just… needed to be with other people, I guess.” The sadness in his tone isn’t hard to miss. Jungkook’s smile dims. Jungkook shows every single emotion on his face, like he hasn’t learned to control it after all these years of being alive. Or maybe he hasn’t tried, because he’s not Taehyung. Other people aren’t afraid to show their vulnerability around everybody. He’s not that way with Jimin at all, only a little bit that way with their other friends. He’s like that with Jungkook though, and it took years to make it go away. He thinks maybe Jungkook was open like this since day one though, and Taehyung just didn’t look hard enough to notice. He wonders if Jimin and Yoongi are right: that Jungkook has always been looking at him this way all of these years, and he was too bothered by him to notice it. He wonders if he ruined this before it even started by taking too long.

Before he can be pulled down by the negative thoughts, the entire table collectively clears their throats. He and Jungkook jump, and Taehyung hits his knee on the underside of the table. Jungkook’s hand travels across his thigh and starts gently massaging it before it can start to hurt. They snap their heads over to everybody. He can tell their friends are trying to have unamused looks on their faces, but the fondness is so strong that it’s not easy to mask.

“This is supposed to be a group event,” Jimin says. Taehyung realizes that he and Jungkook have been in their own little world. He’d like to return to it, but being together in their group of seven feels nice too.

“Sorry,” Taehyung says sheepishly. Jungkook only pulls him closer. Taehyung tries to fight his smile, but he supposes he’s not that great at hiding his feelings anymore when it comes to Jungkook. It feels protective, almost, the way Jungkook’s hold on him tightens when any of their friends – friends, threats in no way – look at or talk to him. Taehyung wishes he could have this for longer than tonight.

– ♡ –

They stay much later than they usually stay, which feels like a celebration for Taehyung’s attendance after so many rejected invitations.

Taehyung tries not to pout – tries not to cry, really – when they finally leave. When Jungkook’s arm slides from around his shoulders. When he knows that this night and everything that happened between him and Jungkook ends now. He got a moment to see what it’d feel like to be his, and that’s all. Just a moment, just an evening. He doesn’t know if this night was lucky or cruel.

They all linger outside the bar, not wanting to part but needing to because of their yawns and heavy eyelids. They stand in the glow of the lights illuminating the bar’s sign, in front of the windows where others sit on the other side at their booths. A few moths dance in the rays of the streetlamps, the occasional cool breeze blowing them out of rhythm before they return to circling around each other.

Everything that happened is finally catching up to him as the drinks have started to wear off. The butterflies from the night start to turn into ash, into nothing, into bitterness and–and anger that this would be teased to him just to have it taken away. He doesn’t know if he’s mad at the universe or at Jungkook or at himself.

“I’m going to head home now,” he announces in the middle of everybody talking. They all glance at him, then at each other, because his tone of voice no longer resembles the giggly, happy one he had in the bar.

“Want me to walk you?” Jimin asks, clearly nervous for his friend. But Yoongi’s hand is in his, and Taehyung wants to be alone anyway, so he declines.

He doesn’t say goodbye to anybody, just turns and walks away.

He only gets a few steps before he hears Jungkook’s voice. “Hey, wait. Want to walk together?”

“I’m barely drunk anymore,” Taehyung says. “I’m fine.”

“I wasn’t asking because you’re drunk,” he says. “Was asking so we could walk together.”

Taehyung swallows. “Okay,” he says.

Despite what he said, he still is slightly drunk. The chilly fall night would feel much colder otherwise, or maybe it’s from the person beside him that he feels so warm. Still, he shivers whenever the cold wind appears and weaves its way through the threads of his cardigan.

The leaves on the trees lining the street rustle in a crispier way than they do in summer, already starting their cycle of changing colors before swaying to the ground before they return next season. It’s Friday night, but they stayed at the bar so late that most of the businesses on his street are already closed. He sees their reflections in the windows of the dark shops, his posture straight and tense while Jungkook’s looks more relaxed somehow, as if things are okay.

“I’m glad you came out tonight,” Jungkook says. Taehyung doesn’t know why he’s being so nice to him. Why he’s walking with him when last time he offered, it was when he confirmed he doesn’t like him. Everything tonight goes against that. Then he remembers the woman from the park too, and it’s just… he holds in his groan. He doesn’t know what’s happening.

But he says, “Yeah, me too. It was nice.”

They descend into silence. Autumn has a special, slightly eerie kind of silence, and it settles between them. He doesn’t think it would feel that way if they were walking together months ago, when things were still okay. All they hear now is the sound of their footsteps. No cars pass them, and more businesses shut down for the night, taking some of the light away. Taehyung shivers with another gust of wind. He looks up to the sky, but it’s a cloudy night, so he can’t see any stars, only the faint shine of the moon behind a thin veil of clouds.

Taehyung’s apartment isn’t far from the bar, so they arrive there after only a few minutes of walking. “Thanks for walking me,” he says. He doesn’t know if he’s sad or shy or both, but either way, he feels uncomfortable.

“Yeah, no problem,” Jungkook says awkwardly. “Have a good rest of your night.”

“You too,” Taehyung says. “Hope you can get some sleep.”

They look at each other. They don’t say anything. They just look. The cold breeze has turned the tip of Jungkook’s nose slightly red. There’s so much in Jungkook’s eyes that he can’t read, his irises as dark as the sky. They’re just as clouded over too, not letting him see the stars, keeping things hidden from him. He’s sure Jungkook is seeing the same thing, but because he doesn’t know what to think or feel. He feels blank and unsure, any thoughts as hard to grab as the autumn wind. Taehyung blinks so he can make their stupor go away, then he just nods once at Jungkook. He turns away, and he unlocks the first door inside his building. He locks it behind him and heads up the stairs, unlocking the next door to his apartment. He doesn’t turn to see Jungkook go, or see if he lingered until he got safe inside.

He doesn’t bother with getting ready for sleep; he just strips down to his boxer briefs and gets in bed with a sigh.

It was a nice night. It was nice to see what it could be like, even though it won’t ever be that way. It was cruel and sad and painful now that he’s on the other side of it, but he’s happy that he got to feel it all, even if only for a night.

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

Taehyung avoids everybody’s eyes when he walks into the office on Monday morning (not that that’s anything new, really, he thinks with a laugh to himself). He can feel their stares: Hoseok vibrating in his seat, needing to know what’s happening; Namjoon who is politely interested simply because he’s his friend and not because he particularly cares about drama or gossip; Yoongi, who looks quite smug as he leans against Jimin’s desk; and Jimin, who looks like he always does – extremely happy to see Taehyung, no matter what happened the weekend before or how long it’s been since he’s seen him. Taehyung quickly glances at Jungkook’s office, knowing everyone will see him looking, and finds that the door is closed.

He didn’t know what to expect when coming into work. He’s not optimistic and delusional enough of a person to think that Jungkook would be standing at his desk, or even in the main area, greeting him a good morning with his sweet smile. If anything, he was just expecting neutrality. Not the door closed.

He holds in his sigh and sits at his desk. He pulls all of his things out of his bag, and he’s just about to get up again to go out and check the mailbox for any new advice column letters when Jungkook’s office door opens.

“Taehyung, can I speak to you, please?” Jungkook asks.

His voice gives nothing away. It’s unsettling, almost, how much it doesn’t give anything away. He sounds like a boss. He sounds like everybody’s boss, the way a boss stereotypically should be. Professional and serious, but aloof.

Taehyung continues to avoid everybody’s eye as he stands again. He smooths down his brown pants and adjusts his burnt orange sweater, pushes up the glasses on his nose that he wears to protect his eyes on windy days. He takes them off and hooks them over the collar of his sweater. He doesn’t want to have to see Jungkook that well.

He doesn’t know what he’s showing on his face, but he’s afraid it might give away traces of the panic he’s feeling.

What if he’s being fired? He was drunk and clinging to his boss, nuzzling him all night. He’s an employee, and Jungkook is his boss, and he was cuddling him. He was being embarrassing and intoxicated and there are so many reasons to be fired. He probably made Jungkook uncomfortable, and maybe he doesn’t feel comfortable working with him anymore. Jungkook is wearing a sweater, he notices. He can’t remember the last time he saw him wear a sweater, if ever. This isn’t the time, he scolds himself for noticing.

Jungkook closes the office door behind them, and he walks around his desk. He sits, and Taehyung sits across from him on the other side. His hands rest on his thighs, and he forces them to stay still. “So,” Jungkook says. Taehyung meets his eye. He doesn’t say anything. He keeps his face blank. “What’s our first plan of action to start up the investigation again? What leads are we going to prioritize? Have you made any progress on your own?”

Taehyung stares at him. He blinks. It takes several seconds for the gears in his head to turn. “What?”

“The investigation we were doing together over the summer. You said you’re going to pick it back up. We started it together, so we’ll continue to do it together. Do you have any updates?”

Taehyung blinks at him. “You’re not firing me?”

Jungkook blinks back. “Uh… no? Why would I–”

Taehyung cuts him off before he has to explain his fireable offense – inappropriately, drunkenly cuddling against his boss in public. “I don’t have any updates on any leads other than that I’ve heard that what he know of is still going on. I haven’t touched the case since the last time we were working on it, so everything is the same on my end. Do you know anything new?” Jungkook shakes his head. “There has to be a lot of updates, more leads. We started it in the middle of summer, and it’s fall now. A lot of time has passed.” Jungkook looks regretful, but he was just pointing it out logistically. He doesn’t ask why he put the case on hold because he didn’t tell him back then, so he’s not going to force him to do it now when he clearly hasn’t wanted to. “I think we should revisit our leads and retrace our steps. It’s not really a surefire productive plan, but we should just, kind of… scope out the area, I guess. We found everything out just from overhearing stuff around town, so I think we’ll have to do some canvassing to hear if we find out anything new. People here love to talk, so I’m sure it won’t be hard to get new information.”

“I’m sure Hoseok-hyung knows so much stuff but doesn’t realize that he knows what he knows,” Jungkook says. “Everybody in town talks to him; he’s probably a wealth of knowledge.”

Taehyung agrees, but, “I’m… not comfortable trying to get information out of him. I’m not comfortable with talking to him and trying to lead the conversation to try to get things out of him without him knowing that’s what I’m doing. It seems unfair and cruel and would make me feel untrustworthy and undeserving of his friendship if we’re just using him without his knowledge.”

“No,” Jungkook says, eyes wide. “No, no, no, I wasn’t suggesting that at all. I was just saying. But honestly, he’s doing something right, because he probably knows so much.”

“Want to try his tactics?” Taehyung says, a teasing smirk on his face. “Stop random strangers on the sidewalk to talk? Sit next to people at the park and strike up a conversation?”

Despite being a journalist, which is quite a social job that requires interaction with people, Taehyung knows that Jungkook is shy. He’s able to put it away and mask it very well, but even in the moments Jungkook has had to interact with people just during their investigations, he could tell that it wasn’t his favorite thing to do. Taehyung makes a mental note to make an effort to be the one who initiates all of their interactions with others so Jungkook can stay comfortably aside, just listening and watching. Jungkook is observant – he would have to be, with those big eyes, Taehyung thinks – and able to pick up details that fill in the gaps of things Taehyung doesn’t notice himself. And– he shakes his head. This is not the point. Thinking about how he wants to be someone Jungkook can shyly stand behind isn’t the point and isn’t helping.

“No I do not,” Jungkook says.

“Why don’t I make us an outline for how we’ll proceed, and I can block out the times in our calendars and get it all organized for us. Does that work for you?”

Jungkook nods. “Do you want help with that?”

He shakes his head. “I remember the way you took notes; we’re better off letting me do it.”

Jungkook huffs. “Whatever,” he mutters. Taehyung stands to return to his desk so he can get started on this. Before he can open the door though, Jungkook asks, “Do you want to work in here?” A few moments of silence, then a fumbling, “Just so–because it’s, you know–we’re both going to be there. So it might be convenient. To talk about it.”

“Y-Yeah, okay,” Taehyung says. “Let me just grab my stuff.”

He opens the office door, and he didn’t realize how stifling it felt in there. It’s like once their productive conversation ended, that awkwardness returned in full force. When Taehyung comes back with his things, Jungkook looks equally as stiff and unsure. He’s fidgeting, and Taehyung can tell because the rhythm of the way he usually clicks his mouse is off from its usual cadence – harsh presses of it rather than soft taps. He thinks about how f*cking stupid he is for not realizing everything sooner when he knows how Jungkook clicks his f*cking mouse. He can hear Jimin yelling at him in his head, agreeing and screaming, “Finally!”

Taehyung opens his laptop and glances up at Jungkook. Jungkook is looking at him, and they both quickly look away. They fidget in their seats, and the air feels a little more solid than usual, but Taehyung gets to work.

Chapter 18

Chapter Text

Plan of Action
I. Go for a walk
Sunday, September 22nd, noon

Taehyung has a grimace on his face the entire time he walks down the neighborhood streets in the direction of Jungkook’s house. Every step makes him almost turn around the closer he gets. They’ve done every part of the investigation together, but since this is new again, he should have said they’ll be taking things on separately now. He doesn’t know how he’s going to survive taking a walk with Jungkook. Just walking together. Side by side. Talking. Or worse, not talking, and walking silently and awkwardly.

Things have been awkward with Jungkook all week to say the least. They didn’t work together in his office again, but every time they ran into each other in the kitchen or when Jungkook went to somebody’s desk to talk to them, they fumbled through greetings before removing themselves from the situation as fast as possible without being obvious – even though it was obvious, to the both of them and the rest of the office.

They never talked about that night at the bar. They never brought up the fact that they – a boss and his employee – cuddled and nuzzled each other. Thankfully none of their friends do either – even though he knows Hoseok and Jimin are trying as hard as they possibly can to not tease them to death. He doesn’t know if acknowledging it and talking about it would make it better or way worse, so neither of them have done so, and they’ll just have to work through the awkwardness because they have no choice.

Taehyung sighs as he approaches Jungkook's house. It looks even cuter in the daytime. He couldn’t tell during the night that he has red poppies planted out front that match the red of his house, or that his red mailbox matches too. The landscaping is neat and tidy, well-manicured like Jungkook takes his time with it. The big tree he has out front is shedding its leaves, creating a beautiful quilt of orange and yellow and red and brown on the grass.

Taehyung walks up the wood steps to the front door. Only the screen door is shut, letting the autumn breeze flow inside. It’s warm during the daytime, perfect for a light sweater, and it’s probably cozy to feel it inside while hearing the rustling of leaves. He can hear Jungkook somewhere in the house, then the sound of paws against the wood floor inside too.

Taehyung lightly knocks on the screen door, and Jungkook appears in front of him right away. “Hey, hyung!” he says. “Give me a second to get Bam’s harness on him and then I’ll be out.”

Taehyung just nods, and he takes a seat on his porch steps. His neighborhood is nice. It’s quiet. On his way here, he passed people walking their dogs or children playing in the streets. The sun feels different here, somehow. It feels like a different place altogether almost, since he’s so used to living downtown. When he looks toward the sky, he notices that Jungkook even has a view of the autumn-colored mountains in the distance. He himself does too, but it’s different.

Just a minute later, he has a big doberman – towering above him from his seated position – licking his face. “Oh, hi,” Taehyung giggles, trying to wiggle away from the kisses as he scratches the dog's un-clipped ears.

“This is Bam,” Jungkook says, “and Bam, this is Taehyung-hyung.”

“Hi, Bammie,” Taehyung says, petting the dog much more calmly now. He giggles again when Bam licks his hand, the dog's butt wiggling with his wagging. He looks up at Jungkook, about to ask if he’s ready to go, but Jungkook is looking down at him. Not at Bam, but at him. The corner of his lips is turned up, just watching him. His eyes have small flecks of gold in them in the sun. Taehyung can feel his cheeks heat up, and he looks back at the dog. “Ready to go?” he asks both of them. He stands and stretches out his back, then they set out on their walk.

Everything about their little mountain town is the pinnacle of fall right now. From the golden sunlight to the golden trees, the people raking their leaves and the autumn decorations adorning their porches. He sees bales of hay and stalks of corn, pumpkins and gourds and chrysanthemums. He loves autumn days like this, when everything is warm and bright and full of color. He dressed perfectly for the weather in his autumn colors and just a light cardigan. Jungkook has always seemed to run hot, so he’s just wearing a t-shirt with black jeans, his usual chunky boots replaced with regular shoes more appropriate for the walk.

He notices that Jungkook goes out of his way to step on all of the crunchy leaves in their path, and it makes Taehyung smile to himself. He stops whenever Bam wants to smell anything too – which is rather often, and he doesn’t seem annoyed by it. It’s such a small character detail that shows so much of who he is. Taehyung always stops too, softly smiling as he watches the dog sniff and explore.

Even though it’s silent and neither of them have had any words to say – or maybe they have too many words to say – it’s not as uncomfortable as he thought it’d be. He still feels weird and doesn’t know what to do with his hands, but watching Bam and watching Jungkook exist in fall is enough of a distraction to make it less awkward than it could be.

They planned out a route ahead of time to make sure they walk past spots that have the possibility of learning something new (while avoiding everywhere their friends live, because they wouldn’t know how to explain this because they can’t give it away). They head toward the rich part of the neighborhood, where the laundry went missing from the clothesline of the woman who had an affair with her best friend and neighbor’s husband.

The houses are still modest for now though, full of so much more character than they’ll have soon. Here, all of the houses are different colors with such distinct personalities. They walk past a white house with a pink door and pink flowers out front, red hearts painted on the windows’ shutters. Its neighbor is a yellow house with daisies in their landscaping, a children’s bike on its side in the yard like its owner ran inside at the call of lunch. When they turn the corner, there’s a white house that’s decked out for autumn with every type of fall decoration imaginable. It looks a little tacky, but in that wonderful, cozy, grandmother-like way.

The sidewalk they walk on is littered with autumn leaves and helicopter seeds where they’ve spiraled down from the trees to join them on the ground. He used to love those as a kid. He reaches down and picks one up. He throws it in the air, watching the wind spin it around and around as it falls to the grass again. He looks over excitedly from the burst of nostalgia, and he sees Jungkook already watching him with a smile on his face. They both quickly look away.

Bam stops them to sniff the post of an interesting mailbox that is shaped like a duck, and they awkwardly stand there.

“So…” Jungkook eventually says.

“So?” Taehyung says. He looks at the golden tree they’re standing under to avoid Jungkook’s eyes. He thinks the leaves are somewhere around #f8b703. He doesn’t realize until he thinks it how long it’s been since he’s noticed anything’s colors.

“H-How are you?”

Taehyung chuckles. He glances at Jungkook and finds Jungkook already looking at him, so he glances away. “I’m okay,” he says. “How are you?”

“Same,” Jungkook says.

A moment of silence. “Okay,” Taehyung says. They start walking again when Bam leads them forward.

“What did you have for breakfast this morning?”

“I had a muffin and tea. What did you have?”

“Gyeran bap.”

Taehyung hums. “Nice.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook says.

God this is so weird. This is so awkward. He thinks it could probably be at least partially solved if they’d just talk about it, but… but he thinks that maybe he’s not doing so because he wants to hold onto hope. He doesn’t want to bring it up just to finally be formally shut down by Jungkook. Even though it’s awkward, this way there’s just a glimmer of hope that maybe that meant more than just a drunken night.

The homes they pass slowly fade from being interesting and modest, to less of both. The paint colors turn into entirely brick and stone, all different shades of brown – the majority of them the same, a sand color. The landscaping becomes overly manicured and sparse while expensive cars are parked in the driveways.

They finally turn onto the street of rich rich houses where Jungkook got one of their first leads, and they both say, “Oh.”

They’re still down the street, but they see a moving truck in front of the house and a team of moving people – because of course they’d hire people; this is the rich part of town – carrying boxes and furniture inside of the house of the woman whose laundry went missing. Meaning she must have moved – probably as a result of the note Jungkook left in her neighbor’s mailbox.

An entire season passed, so it was enough time for drama to blow up, for her to pack up, sell the house, and move. That’s a lot they missed, but it wasn’t really relevant to the case; he’s just nosy and likes the drama.

“She moved,” he says, which is not necessary to say out loud.

“I can see that.”

There’s a quality to Jungkook’s tone though. When he looks over, his jaw is clenched. “Everything okay?” Then, “Do you feel bad for leaving that note?” Because that’s clearly why the woman seems to have left town.

Jungkook glances at him. “No,” he says resolutely. “Not at all. I think whatever happened to her and the husband was more than deserved. I think maybe he left too, because his model car – it was always parked on the street, because he was working on it as a hobby – is gone. I just hope the woman who was cheated on is okay.”

They stop talking as they walk past the house. It’s quite a big house. It’s made of the same sand-beige brick as the others on the street, with big windows and a big porch. There’s a chandelier above the door on the front porch, another in the dining room that he can see through the window, and a third one (and probably not the last) in the big window in the foyer. He can spot a grand spiral staircase through the windows too. The porchlights and front door are a harsh black, and the shrubs and bushes are all perfectly cut and trimmed into various round shapes.

Taehyung offers a friendly smile to one of the movers who’s walking back to the truck for another box. The man returns it, although it might look more like a smirk, then he slowly looks him up and down. Taehyung furrows his eyebrows and suppresses an uncomfortable shiver. Before he can take a subconscious step closer to Jungkook, Jungkook takes an intentional step closer to him. Not enough for them to touch, not even for a message to be clear really. It’s like it was just protective. Taehyung looks down at the sidewalk, forcing his hands to not fidget at his sides.

He feels like he can breathe easier once they’ve passed. Even when they turn onto a completely different street, Jungkook doesn’t put any distance between them.

“Maybe I can bake her something,” he says once they pass the houses. “And get some flowers and leave them on her porch with a note apologizing. Not for telling her, but for what happened. Maybe it’ll make her feel a little better.”

Silence stretches on. Just the sound of the leaves they step on and the tags on Bam’s collar. Taehyung looks over at Jungkook. Jungkook is already looking at him, a soft expression on his face. “Yeah, I think that’d be nice.”

Taehyung looks down at the sidewalk again. “Well, none of that is actually relevant to any of this. I guess it’s a small detail that whoever is doing all of this won’t be swiping clothes from her clothesline anymore, but it seems like they stopped doing that a while ago anyway and moved on to doing it at the laundromat.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook says.

They descend into silent awkwardness again. They reach another corner and turn right, going in the direction of town. They have to walk through town; it’s where the majority of information would be gathered, but they already made a plan of saying they ran into each other on their way to the office because they forgot something there, so they just decided to walk together – in case they run into anyone they know. Taehyung hopes they don’t, because the thought of lying to any of his friends makes him feel sick. Jimin wouldn’t even fall for it, which would add another layer to everything.

But the coast seems clear when they walk onto the main street of downtown. There are people lounging around in the park to soak up the fleeting golden days of autumn. Some are going from store to store, others sitting on the patio outside of the coffee shop. Now that they’re around others, they’ll have to stay quiet so they can listen, which he’s thankful for. He knows this whole plan of just walking around to see if they hear everything is a pretty lazy plan with a small success rate – but they found out all of what they know from simply listening around, and it’s an easy Sunday activity when Taehyung planned on taking a walk anyway to spend some time outside, which Jungkook does every day with Bam too.

As they’re approaching his favorite coffee shop, Taehyung says, “I’m going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?”

“No, I’m okay,” Jungkook says. Taehyung glances over at the tables of people, then at Jungkook, with a message to listen in on them. He giggles by accident when Jungkook rolls his eyes – as if to say yes, obviously, I know.

Taehyung huffs and walks inside the café. He keeps his ears open too as he approaches the ordering counter. He sees a couple employees he doesn’t recognize, and he realizes that school is back in session, so all of the people who worked over the summer are back at school and no longer at their part-time jobs. That’s an interesting new realization, and Taehyung makes a mental note to bring it up when they’re alone. He wonders if the person is maybe in college. They don’t even know the frequency of what’s happening anymore, or even if it is happening. This is an interesting perspective to take into account when they figure out more.

He orders when it’s his turn, and he doesn’t find out anything good by the time he’s walking out. By the look on his face, Jungkook doesn’t seem to have either. Then the look changes when he glances down at Taehyung’s hand, where he’s holding out an iced tea and a blueberry muffin.

“I said I didn’t want anything.”

“I know,” Taehyung says. “I figured something to drink would be nice. Iced tea only has a little caffeine, so it’ll help you not get tired after our walk and it hopefully won’t affect your sleep schedule and make it hard to sleep like coffee would. And at work, you usually get a snack around this time, so I thought you might be hungry or would just want a treat.”

Jungkook slowly takes what he’s holding, not saying a word. There’s an unreadable expression on his face. He continues to stay silent, so Taehyung turns to start walking again. “Wait,” Jungkook finally says when he catches up. “What about your order?”

“I didn’t order anything for myself,” Taehyung says. “I had enough to eat this morning and I’m not thirsty.”

“Then you just… just to… in there… for…”

Taehyung leaves Jungkook to whatever thoughts he’s having. He stays quiet to listen in on anybody, but no one is around except for those who occasionally walk out of shops or past them with their dogs. Eventually, Jungkook says, quietly, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Taehyung says. “Did you hear anything when you were standing outside of the coffee shop?”

“No,” he says. “You?”

“No, but there were two different workers in there from the ones I usually see, and it made me realize that school is back in session.”

“Oh, yeah, true,” Jungkook says around a mouthful of blueberry muffin. He swallows it and takes a sip of his tea. “Good to keep in mind. We can approach it from the perspective of considering if maybe they’re a college student, but I really have no idea. Good to just see it from all sides.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says.

They fall back into silence.

It stays silent for the rest of their walk. No one is around except for the two of them and Bam, but they don’t say a word. It’s even worse because Taehyung thinks they’re both trying to figure out what to say and what to talk about, but neither can find anything. The whole walk feels like a held breath, and it’s suffocating by the time they reach Taehyung’s building. He can’t stop fidgeting, and by the hangnail around Jungkook’s thumb, he thinks it’s the same for him too.

“Sorry nothing came of today,” Jungkook says. “Was kind of a bust.”

Taehyung shrugs. “I didn’t have high expectations. It was nice to get outside at least. Next time will probably give us some information.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

They linger.

They stare.

The autumn breeze rustles the leaves in the park across the street. Jungkook’s eyes are so dark. It’s the only thing Taehyung can focus on sometimes – how warm they are despite the near-black shade. Jungkook shifts his weight to his other foot, and it puts him out from beneath the ice cream shop’s awning and in the sun. His eyes become that beautiful lighter, golden brown shade now.

Taehyung clears his throat.

“Well, um, I’ll see you tomorrow morning at work then.”

“Oh, um, y-yeah, see you then,” Jungkook says.

Then he runs off. Literally runs – a jog. Then he seems to realize what he’s doing, and he returns back to walking speed. Taehyung sees his hands move up to cover his ears the way they do when he’s blushing, even though he’s down the sidewalk from him and there’s no one to hide from. Taehyung laughs to himself and goes up to his apartment.

II. Revisit the grocery store
Wednesday, September 25th, 8 p.m.

“Stop,” Taehyung says, slapping Jungkook’s hand away. Jungkook has an offended look on his face as he cradles his hands to his chest like it hurt. Taehyung grabs a sanitizer wipe from the station of them and wipes down the handle of the cart. “Cart handles are literally so dirty. They have wipes here for a reason. You better start using them.”

“Bossy,” Jungkook mutters.

“Same as last time,” Taehyung reminds him. “Find something out of stock and ask about it, see their reactions. Listen to any employees who might be together.” Jungkook nods, and Taehyung tries not to be bitter thinking of how much further into this they would be if they weren’t having to basically do everything they already did to retrace their steps. But oh well, it is what it is. He needed to go grocery shopping anyway.

They don’t separate this time. It’s unspoken, the decision that they’ll stay together. Last time it was productive to do this apart since they both heard information separately across the big store, but Taehyung stays beside Jungkook as Jungkook pushes the cart.

It feels less awkward than it did when they took their walk too. Maybe it’s because they’ve been around each other at the office and have been forced to talk, or maybe things feel easier at nighttime. Either way, Taehyung isn’t fidgeting with his hands or trying to think of words to say to fill the silence.

They start in the produce section, and Jungkook throws bok choy into the cart. They’re quiet as they shop around. Taehyung stands in front of the strawberries and tries to find the best ones. He wishes he could pick each one himself, because some cartons always have a few that look a little mushy and will spoil the others. He eventually settles on a carton and places it in the cart. “I have to push your things too?” Jungkook sighs with a fake whine. “Forcing physical labor on me.”

Taehyung smiles to himself. “Silly,” he mutters, shoving him lightly.

“And while abusing me.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes with a laugh.

Last time they were here, it took some walking around to be able to get any information. This time, when they haven’t even left the produce section yet, they hear people talk.

They’re standing amongst the pre-packaged fruit, and Taehyung remembers people saying that’s what the person was taking lately, so they haven’t had any for a while. Right now, the fridge is fully stocked, and two workers stand in front of it.

Taehyung takes note of their appearance. They both look high-school aged. One has neon pink hair, the other a brown bob with glasses. The brown-haired one has referred to the neon pink one with “she/her” pronouns, and the other has referred to the one in glasses with “they/them.” Taehyung tries to get a glimpse of their name tags, and he jumps when he feels Jungkook’s breath on his ear when he whispers to him.

“Pink one is named Heran, the one in glasses is Yon.” Taehyung takes out his phone and writes their names in his notes app with quick descriptions that he’ll elaborate on later.

“Thank god,” Heran says. “I literally don’t care enough about anything to steal f*cking fruit from the grocery store. We get a discount anyway, and why would I buy pre-cut fruit? That’s bad for the environment because of all of the plastic, and it’s so much more expensive. If I was gonna steal something, it wouldn’t be from a grocery store. The manager just suspected me because he’s always been pissed about my hair color.”

Yon snorts as they arrange the packages so the ones expiring first are at the front. “Who do you think it was?” they ask.

“Who’s everyone who left again?”

“Yeonjun, Soobin, Chaeyoung, Jihyo, aaaand… I think that’s all.”

“My money’s on Yeonjun,” Heran says. “Especially since he comes home on the weekends sometimes, and that seems to be when it’s still happening, since it barely happens anymore.”

Yon hums as they grab cartons of watermelon from their backroom cart of food boxes to stay shelving too. “Why though? Like why would he do that?”

“I dunno,” Heran says. She’s not even doing work; she’s just leaning against the fridge and talking to her friend, which Taehyung respects. “No one really knows anything about him. Could be for any reason. He’s a little weird too. Harmless, but strange. Really cute though. His style is so nice. And–”

And the conversation shifts into talking about how cute this supposed Yeonjun is. He and Jungkook glance at each other, then they walk away from the two workers and into a different aisle.

“Yeonjun,” Taehyung says. “Do you know him?”

Jungkook nods. “Well, I don’t know him, but his family lives on my street. They have a sticker on their car for the college that I assume Yeonjun goes to, and that car is only at his parents’ house every other weekend. So he is away at college, and he does come back on the weekends. And it was implied that’s when the theft still happens.”

Taehyung smiles, butterflies in his stomach. This is such a good lead. It doesn’t fit into their theory that it might be an unhoused person, but that just adds another layer for them to figure out. “We shouldn’t isolate this though,” Taehyung says. “We shouldn’t proceed as this being who we think it is and brush everything else aside. It’s just an extra variable, not the only one.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jungkook says. “We’ll still continue with everything as usual, maybe just spend some extra time mapping out where we’ll go from here to follow this lead.”

Taehyung nods. “Yes, good,” he says, his head already racing with where they’ll go from here.

Where they’ll really go from here, though, is down the baking aisle, because Jungkook needs flour and sugar. Taehyung is standing at the other end of the aisle, picking out a bag of chocolate chips because maybe he’ll make cookies, when Jungkook comes back to him. But instead of saying something or standing beside him, he wraps his arms around him from behind.

Taehyung jumps so violently that he almost drops the bag of chocolate chips he’s holding. He freezes, his heart hammering in his chest.

“Is this okay?” Jungkook whispers. Taehyung’s hands are almost shaking, but his eyes flutter shut briefly. Jungkook is so warm. He’s holding him so firmly, but still so softly. Before he can stop it, he leans back into his chest. He sighs, letting his head drop back as his eyes finally close. Jungkook holds him tighter. Taehyung’s heart might leap out of his chest, but he feels so, so calm.

“Y-Yeah, this is okay,” he says even though it came out of nowhere and things have been tense and awkward between them and he’s his boss and Taehyung is his employee and he doesn’t know why he’s in Jungkook’s arms at the grocery store.

Taehyung hears footsteps, and he jumps again because he’d been so lost in the feeling of being in Jungkook’s arms that he forgot about anything else. He looks over and sees two police officers walking down the aisle. His heartbeat quickens again for a different reason as his body grows tense. He doesn’t know why, since he didn’t do anything, but they look focused and determined as they walk towards them with purpose. Taehyung tenses even more, and he forces himself to look away back at the bags of chocolate chips in his hands.

Jungkook nuzzles against his neck to whisper, “It’s okay. I’ve got you. Nothing bad is happening.” And it’s not; he knows it’s not, because neither of them have done anything. He just has a general distrust and dislike of cops for many different reasons, so he grows tense anytime he sees any, especially if their sights are set on him. Jungkook’s hand very hesitantly slides beneath his sweater, resting lightly against his bare skin. “It’s okay, baby. We’re okay.” Taehyung jerkily nods. He takes a shaky breath as Jungkook’s thumb moves back and forth against his skin. In the way back of his mind, he hears, baby baby baby baby baby on repeat. “I think you should get dark chocolate chips. The last time you made cookies, they were a little too sweet, and you said you wanted to try it with dark chocolate.”

Taehyung swallows. They’re getting closer. “Y-Yeah,” he says, going along with it. “I forgot.” He sets the bag of milk chocolate chips down in its spot and takes a bag of dark chocolate chips. The police officers stop partway through the aisle and are looking at something too. Taehyung wonders if they’re doing to them what they’re doing to others – which proves why involving the police in this is pointless. If they think they’re doing a good job of investigating them (for some reason) by standing in the baking aisle wearing their full police uniform, pretending to look at boxed cake mix, it just solidifies why their journalism is contained to the newspaper and does not involve outside parties.

Jungkook whispers to him again, “Everything’s okay, baby.” He’s not saying it loud enough for anyone to hear, so he’s not roleplaying. He’s calling him baby.

Taehyung nods. “Okay,” he whispers. Jungkook said it’s okay, and he called him baby too, so it’s okay.

Jungkook’s arms slip from around him, but just to take his hand so they can put the bag in the cart and not linger suspiciously.

Taehyung keeps Jungkook’s hand tight in his as they walk past the cops. He holds his breath, but they make it past them without a word – but definitely with a glance. Taehyung waits until they’re three aisles away to breathe out. “What the f*ck was that about?” he whispers.

Jungkook looks much less composed than he did back there. “No idea,” he says. “Do you want to head out?”

Taehyung takes a few seconds, but he shakes his head. “No, I think that’ll come off as more suspicious, although suspicious of what, I don’t know. We didn’t do anything wrong, so no reason to leave and not finish shopping.”

“Are you sure?” Jungkook asks. “You were shaking.”

Taehyung tries not to blush from embarrassment. “I, uh, had a bad interaction with some cops when I was a kid. Guess I never really got over it even though it was a million years ago. I’m usually fine when I see them. I don’t like them, but I’m not usually… like that.” He doesn’t know why he had that reaction. It hasn’t happened since a few years after the time when he was a child. Maybe it’s because he’s with Jungkook, and he felt like he didn’t have to be brave.

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk about it?”

The answer has always been no. But for some reason, the words come out. He starts walking and looking at things on their shelves so he doesn’t have to look at Jungkook. “There was a guy who lived in our neighborhood. He was a total dick. He was old, and pretty much the movie stereotype of an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn.

“His backyard was against a park. Not a playground or anything, just a field where kids played. He didn’t have a fence, so there wasn’t a barrier of where his yard ended and the park began.

“My parents worked a lot, so I was alone a lot of the time. There was a half day at school, and all of my friends were picked up by grandparents or babysitters, but I just went home because it’s what I was used to. I was walking through the park by myself because there was no one to play with, and I wasn’t even close to the man’s house. But he called the cops, which he hadn’t done before when he yelled at the group of us. I guess I was an easy target to get in trouble, because I was alone and he knew my parents were never home.

“The cops came and took me to the police station, even though my house was on the street and I didn’t do anything. They kept me there for fifteen hours, questioning me about things. I was a kid, so I didn’t know they couldn’t question a child without their parents there. They wouldn’t let me call my family, and they wouldn’t let me go to the bathroom or have anything to eat or drink. They kept me there, in an interrogation room, until daytime the next day. I woke up early the previous day and had school and everything, and I was awake until morning came around, in the same spot, in handcuffs with my arms behind me the entire time. My parents showed up because they were filing a police report since I was missing and they refused to take a report any sooner, and that’s when they learned I was there – even though they’d spoken to the cops on the phone when I went missing. They were about to burn the place down because they couldn’t find their kid and no one told them he was in f*cking police custody.

“The officers were… so mean. Jeering. They were just subtly making fun of me and glancing at each other when I fumbled through answers. And I was, like, seven. So anyway, yeah. That happened. And then a town journalist found out about it and wrote about it in the paper, and it got the cops fired and ran the old man out of town.”

He smiles to himself. Now he’s a journalist too.

Jungkook stops him from walking. He realizes they’ve walked down several aisles, and he hadn’t noticed it. “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” he says. There’s so much… so much feeling in his voice. It sounds so genuine. “That’s so messed up. Little Tae shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

Taehyung huffs a laugh. Little Tae. “It’s okay,” he says. “Big Tae is over it. I haven’t been looked at by cops like that since then though; I’ve just been around them sometimes, so it caught me off guard, I guess.”

“You’re safe now,” Jungkook says. “You’re bigger and older and know the world better. And…” He hesitates. “And I’m here too.”

The corner of Taehyung’s mouth tilts up like the butterflies fluttering in him are pulling it up with them. “Thanks,” he mumbles quietly, averting his eyes. When he looks down, though, he realizes that their hands are still held together. Jungkook sees him looking at it, but he just holds on tighter.

“Are you sure you wanna keep shopping? I don’t mind leaving at all.”

“I’m sure,” Taehyung says. “Thank you though.” He squeezes Jungkook’s hand. “You’re sweet.” Jungkook’s cheeks slowly blush a light pink shade. Before Taehyung even realizes he’s opened his mouth again, he says, “I’m sorry it took me so long to see that. That you’re sweet. Well, I knew it the whole time. But I’m sorry it took me so long to… to appreciate you for who you are. To let myself feel… feel, I don’t know, warmed by you. God that sounds so weird. Just–yeah. You’re sweet, and I feel kind of warm when I’m with you, and–oh god. Okay, anyway. I’m–yeah, let’s continue.” Without another word or a look to Jungkook, Taehyung turns and walks down the aisle. Then he remembers something that he noticed the first time they were here, and he quickly walks back. “The lights in here. They’re bad. You don’t like them. We’re not here to gather any more information and we’re just shopping, so do you want to go to a different grocery store? The one in town has warm lighting – not fluorescent LED like they do here.”

Jungkook steps closer. Taehyung almost wants to take a step back, but he doesn’t. He feels his knees start to shake when Jungkook’s tattooed finger tucks a lock of his hair behind his ear. The light touch on his ear makes him shiver. His heart hammers in his chest like it did before, then Jungkook takes his hand back. Taehyung almost steps closer. He almost takes his hand back so he can rest it on his cheek, nuzzle into his palm, but then he sees movement out of the corner of his eye. He sees the police officers walking away from them – as if they were walking into the aisle, but they saw Jungkook do that, and they turned to walk away seeing that nothing suspicious was happening.

Taehyung looks away, because the crushing feeling in his chest is undoubtedly showing on his face. He clears his throat. “Actually, I–I do want to go home, if that’s okay. Sorry. I just feel like I’m having an adrenaline crash after earlier, and I’d feel more comfortable somewhere familiar.”

“Okay,” Jungkook says. “No problem.”

Taehyung follows him as they empty their cart and put everything back. This situation definitely does make them suspicious to the cops who are – he now realizes – watching everybody shopping at the grocery store, not just them. Taehyung wants to slap some sense into them, honestly. Why would someone who steals large amounts from the stockroom be shopping and stealing? He’s sure whatever notes they have on this investigation would make Jungkook’s notes look award-winning.

They return to Jungkook’s car, and the drive home is quiet. Not awkward or uncomfortable, just silent except for the quiet song playing on the radio.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jungkook asks when he pulls up in front of Taehyung’s apartment.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Taehyung says. And he is; it’s not a lie. Just… a lot of things happened tonight, all with wildly conflicting feelings attached to them. Old memories from seeing the police, the feeling of being in Jungkook’s arms and being called baby. Getting his hair tucked behind his ear, seeing it was just because they were being watched again. Too many different things, and he just needs a night to himself. “Thanks for the ride.”

He opens the door. He turns to get out, but he’s stopped by a hold on his wrist. He turns to look back at Jungkook.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything. His mouth opens and closes a few times, eyes looking around as if to search for words. As he does that and looks lost though, his thumb brushes back and forth against Taehyung’s wrist. It’s like being gentle is something so natural for him that he doesn’t even realize he’s doing the gesture. “H-Have a good night,” he finally says.

Taehyung blinks at him. He can’t control the small giggle that comes out. It makes a smile appear on Jungkook’s face though, his entire demeanor perking up even though he hasn’t moved. “Okay, thanks, you too,” Taehyung says with another giggle. He shakes his head and laughs to himself as he walks inside, not hearing Jungkook drive off until his apartment light turns on.

III. Spend the night at the laundromat
Friday, September 28th, 11 p.m.

Taehyung is grateful that they called off tonight’s stake-out, because he is more tired than he thought he’d be at the end of the week. He’s not sure how he feels about the change in schedule moving to Monday, where they’ll go from work on an hour drive to Suspect: Yeonjun’s college campus and sit around there, but he’s grateful for the change right now, and Future Taehyung will deal with that when it comes.

They planned out the rest of next week too, but Taehyung has been getting obsessive about the case, so he tries to shut it out. He’s one more thought away from a twitchy eye and dedicating a wall to it with evidence and thumb tacks with string wrapped around them connecting different things.

He turns to one of the most reliable ways of shutting his thoughts off, and he grabs his camera. He sets it up on his desk, then he makes the rest of the preparations. He forgoes his blue, purple, and pink colored lights, and he instead turns on only his string lights. It illuminates the camera frame in a warm glow. He lights a candle too to have it flicker in the background, creating an extra burst of cozy light for his viewers to focus on the way the flame sways. He goes to the living room and grabs his heart-leaf philodendron, and he sets it on the shelf behind him so its vines will hang down and trail along the wall.

He sits down and makes sure the camera only shows him from the neck down, and he scoots over to the side so the candlelight will be visible too. He presses record and jumps right into the roleplay.

He grabs the hairbrush off of his desk, and makes head brushing motions in front of the camera and over it with the corresponding sound, because that’s always been a unanimous crowd favorite, and no one seems to ever get tired of it – even if holding his arm out for so long gets a little tiring after a while.

“I’m sorry it’s been a while since we’ve been able to hangout,” he whispers to the imaginary person. He feels terrible because it’s been a while since he posted a video – not since the summer, and they’re almost in October now. “I just… haven’t been feeling great. The person I told you about, the one I work with who I really like, kind of said he didn’t like me back, so I just… couldn’t talk to anyone or do anything while I was still feeling that.”

He sets down the brush and uses both hands to scratch the fuzzy mic like he’s scratching their head. “But… things have felt different again. Maybe it’s just me holding onto every little thing, but I’ll take the happiness and warmth and butterflies over the emptiness, even if it’s misplaced. Can you turn around and face me now?”

He grabs a face mask and a brush, and he twists open the lid. He circles it around the jar a few times to pick up the sound. He dips the brush into the blue mask and swirls it around a few times too to pick up the slightly wet sound he’s never loved, but he knows others enjoy it. He wipes some of the mask along the edge so it won’t drip off the brush, then he holds the brush close to the camera lens. He moves it as if he’s painting their face with it while the other hand brushes the microphone.

He sighs. “Liking someone sucks,” he chuckles. “It’d be different if I could just tell him, but it’s more complicated than that. I haven’t mentioned it before, but he’s my… he’s my boss.” He chuckles again. “I know, right? Stupid. But it just… it feels like he likes me back sometimes. It’s felt like that lately, and it’s been so nice that I feel like I can exist in the world again and hangout with you again. I think he and I would be very good together. I’d be so good to him. I’d be such a good boyfriend, because all I want to do is treat him well. I’d be so good to him, because I think everyone should be. He’s just… I just like him a lot. I don’t know. Whatever. It is what it is.”

He records for a while more, pampering his “friend” with a self care night as he, very embarrassingly, talks about Jungkook the whole time. He doesn’t realize until he is done that it’s the only thing he talked about, but he’s too sleepy to film more parts to add in.

He edits it now so that it’s out of the way, then he gets in bed while it very slowly uploads. As it’s doing so, he gets a text from Jungkook.

Jungkook
Hey! Sorry I’m finding this out so late but I found Yeonjun’s schedule
[image]

Taehyung
His final class tomorrow is when the workday ends
Should we leave work early then?

Jungkook
Yeah that’s what I was thinking
We can watch him come out of his building and follow him and see if it leads us anywhere

Taehyung
Sounds good
Now go to sleep
It’s late

Jungkook
🙄
You too

Taehyung
I will

Jungkook
Goodnight hyung 🌙

Taehyung
Night

Once he’s cozy in bed with a washed face and brushed teeth, he already gets a notification.

jaykay: Hi 🥹 It’s been so long!!! I was worried about you!!! I’m happy to hear you’ve been doing better 🖤 Thank you for the video! I’m going to rewatch it now so I can fall asleep 😴☁️

He smiles to himself and sets his phone down. He turns over in bed to get cozy, and he falls asleep just a few minutes later.

Chapter 19

Chapter Text

Go to the university campus
Monday, October 1st, leave at 4:30 p.m.

Taehyung thinks about the many times he’s been in the car with Jungkook at this point. They all held traces of awkwardness and a feeling of being uncomfortable – even when things were “good” between them. It still felt slightly unnatural and like neither of them could fully relax.

Now, there’s not even a hint or suggestion of that. Taehyung wonders if maybe their time at the grocery store finally got any awkwardness away – even though logically he’d think it’d do the opposite, since Jungkook back hugged him and called him baby and they haven’t spoken about it since. Taehyung wonders if he should feel uneasy or sad because he remembers Jungkook tucking his hair behind his ear just for show, but he just… doesn’t. Maybe it’s self-preservation, his body and his head so sick of feeling sad, or maybe it’s taking into account the time just before that when it wasn’t fully for show. When he whispered baby to him when no one but him could hear.

In any case, the long car ride feels natural. It feels fun, the way they don’t stop talking and sometimes sing to the songs on the radio.

“Do you have a favorite month?” Jungkook asks. “Or season?”

“I love October,” Taehyung says.

“Oh!” Then with the sweetest smile ever, “Happy October.”

Taehyung giggles. Before he can ask him back, his phone vibrates.

Jimin
my palms are itching

Taehyung chuckles to himself and rolls his eyes. “What about you?”

“October’s nice,” Jungkook says. “I love spring too.”

“Spring is nice,” Taehyung says. “Especially after the winter.” Their winters can be quite cold and a little too long since they live in the mountains, so spring and summer feel extra sweet after months of constant snow. The snow is beautiful and their town is the coziest place in the world, but it’s nice to see some colors other than white after a while. “How did you and Yoongi-hyung become friends?”

“We were best friends back in middle school. Then his family moved away, and we lost touch. We ran into each other on our college campus, and we picked back up where we left off. Then I moved away, and we lost touch again. Then we ran into each other in our town and realized that we both live there now. And we picked back up where we left off again, and we’re not going to lose touch again.”

“That’s really nice. Seems like you guys are fated to be friends.”

“I said that too, but Yoongi-hyung just rolled his eyes and huffed.” Taehyung laughs because that definitely sounds like him. “We haven’t gotten to hangout in a while though and have only been talking at work. He’s been busy lately and only has free time on the weekends, so we only see each other every other weekend really.”

“That’s too bad,” Taehyung says sympathetically. That’d suck if it were him and Jimin. “At least you work together and get to see each other there every day.”

“Yeah, I’d probably go crazy otherwise. I think he would too, but he’s much more private with his emotions.”

It’s already getting dark by the time they arrive at the college campus. The days are getting shorter and shorter with the changing of the seasons, and the streetlights flicker on just as they find a spot near Yeonjun’s class’s building. They’re far enough away to not be suspicious but still able to see, and the amber light just barely reaches them – enough to add some warmth to the dark night.

Taehyung checks the clock, and they have about ten more minutes until his class ends. He feels kind of like a creep for this, but he tries to remember that they’re journalists, and this is what they do. Well, not “they” as in their newspaper staff, since their town is not very active or big or – to be honest – interesting from a journalistic standpoint. But “they” as journalists in general, even if it’s not their usual thing personally.

He makes sure he has a clear picture of Yeonjun in his head so they’ll be able to spot him coming out of the building once class is over in five minutes. A wide face, sleepy eyes, big lips, dark choppy hair.

He settles in to wait. The colors of the sunset have already changed the sky, so now all that’s left is a dark purple that gets darker by the second. There are other cars parked along the street and on the opposite side closer to the building – all of them empty. The whole campus is kind of empty, which is to be expected when it’s later in the evening and gets chillier at night. He can’t see much from here, just the building and the fountain in front of it, but it looks like a cozy university. Feels like it too with the amber streetlights on and the autumn trees that keep them hidden in the car.

Taehyung starts to grow impatient even though it hasn't been very long. He’s just full of adrenaline from seeing a potential suspect and following the lead. He starts drumming his fingers against the armrest of the car as they wait. The car, and campus, is so quiet that he doesn’t realize how loud it sounds until Jungkook shifts in his seat.

Taehyung stops and looks over, about to apologize for being annoying and restless, but Jungkook is very slowly blinking. Taehyung watches him, and he starts drumming his fingers again. He does it much more gently and slowly, more like tapping instead. Jungkook’s gaze is far away. He slowly blinks again, almost looking like he’s about to fall asleep.

Taehyung knows what this means. It’s like asmr in real life, and Jungkook seems to be sensitive to it. Which makes sense, since he’s sensitive to everything in his surrounding environment. Here, it’s dark, only a gentle orange light (a kind of light that doesn’t make Jungkook wince, Taehyung has noticed long ago), and it’s quiet except for the gentle tapping. The car is warm too, with the heat still lingering in the space even after turning the car off. It’s all a good environment to put anyone to sleep – but especially Jungkook, who this particular setting seems perfect for.

Even though he wishes he could keep doing it so Jungkook can get some rest, Taehyung stops when the building’s doors open and students start to file out. He clears his throat, and it snaps Jungkook out of it. He blinks a few times, then they both silently look out the window, trying to spot the student they’re here for.

There’s a girl in a university sweatshirt with half brown half blonde hair, an older woman in a grey pantsuit who might be a professor, a short boy with a skateboard under his arm. Taehyung profiles each and every person, brushing them aside when they’re not who he’s searching for.

Then he thinks he sees him. He’s rather tall, taller than the other students around him. He’s dressed kind of like a combination of the two people in the car – pants that Jungkook would wear, a sweater that Taehyung would wear. His hair is a little shaggy, and even from here, Taehyung can tell he has the sleepy-looking eyes that were previously mentioned.

“Is that him?” he whispers to Jungkook, even though they’re in a car and no one would be able to see him if he talked like normal. It’s just dark and they’re hiding, so he feels like he has to be discreet.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything though.

“Do you see him?” Taehyung whispers. “Is that him?”

Jungkook still doesn’t say anything. Taehyung turns away from the window and looks at him in the driver's seat. Jungkook is staring at him. Gaping, almost, his eyes wide and face both void of emotion and full of more than Taehyung can recognize. “What?” Taehyung says as Jungkook continues to stare.

Instead of answering, Jungkook takes his hands. Taehyung makes a noise of surprise while getting butterflies too. Jungkook is studying his hands, inspecting his fingers, looking at his palms and then flipping them over to see the tops. Taehyung doesn’t know what’s going on.

“What?” Taehyung says again, feeling more and more unnerved by his silence.

Jungkook looks up at him again, searching his face. He looks down at his neck, his torso. Back to his hands, then his eyes. “Are you…” he finally says. “You’re… you’re sweetnight.”

The car goes silent. Any thoughts of why they’re here leave Taehyung’s head as the students on campus file away back to their dorms. The car is dead silent. It’s so dark that all he can see are parts of Jungkook’s face illuminated in the amber light while the rest remains in shadows.

“What…” Taehyung whispers.

Jungkook’s eyes go wider. “You are. Your whispering. Your hands. You’re sweetnight.”

Amidst his endless swirling thoughts, he spots a single one.

Jaykay. JayKay. Jay Kay. JK. Jung Kook. Jungkook.

“You’re jaykay,” he says.

Jungkook nods.

Then Taehyung starts to panic. If Jungkook just found his channel, that’s one thing. It’d be a little embarrassing, but Jungkook likes his videos, so that’s fine.

But he’s talked about Jungkook. A lot. In several videos. Many videos, where he’s yearned and pined and mourned and daydreamed.

They seem to remember the same thing at the same time.

“Your…” Jungkook says. “Your… in the… your videos. Me? It’s… was it me? About me? Your… you said… boss. And–and working together, and I’m–I’m your boss. That’s… me?”

“Um,” Taehyung says. The word sounds like he’s on the verge of tears, and he didn’t realize that he is. “Um, y-yeah… You.”

Jungkook stares at him. His lips are parted, dark eyes searching all over his face. Then Taehyung’s stomach drops and his heart shatters when Jungkook says, “Get out of the car.”

Taehyung doesn’t even fight it. He gets out, not even responding or thinking about how he’s going to get home. This is worse than the absolute worst response that he could have imagined. He steps out into the chilly night, into the darkness of the quiet campus.

Once the door closes though, he hears another car door slam. He looks over, and Jungkook is out of the car too. Taehyung doesn’t have time to think about what he’s doing or if he’s going to tell him off, because Jungkook rounds the car. He steps into the amber light. It brightens his dark eyes, where something Taehyung can’t place is.

He’s pulled into Jungkook’s arms, and suddenly the night isn’t so cold. Suddenly it’s warmer than summer, cozier than winter. Suddenly the orange streetlight is a gentle, quiet light that only they can see, there to shine only on them on the empty, quiet campus. They’re standing in the middle of the street, and no one is around. No people, no birds, no squirrels or chipmunks, maybe a few moths dancing in the light as they gaze down upon them.

It’s just the two of them. One arm is wrapped around him, and the other raises to rest a tattooed hand on his face. His palm on his cheek, fingers on the back of his neck. Then he’s pulled in while Jungkook comes closer to him. Taehyung barely has a second to think of anything other than warmth and safety before Jungkook’s lips are pressed against his.

He doesn’t make a noise of surprise. He doesn’t have a thought of confusion. One of his hands goes to the back of Jungkook’s neck. The other rests on his cheek, keeping him there, not letting him get away. He kisses him back, his hammering heart slowing down to a gentle beating, moths like butterflies fluttering through him like he’s a ray of light. Their lips part, and they breathe against each other’s mouths. They lean in again at the same time. Their lips slot together, and Taehyung is just slightly more lucid, and he can think about what’s happening rather than only feel it. He whimpers against Jungkook’s lips. Jungkook sighs against his lips, and Taehyung is pulled in closer, even though the fronts of their bodies are so close he thinks maybe they’ve molded together.

The kiss ends, and he’s panting against Jungkook’s lips. They breathe in each other’s exhales, then they’re kissing again. And again and again and again, in the middle of the empty street, in the amber streetlight. Taehyung can feel Jungkook’s lip ring against his lips, and he never thought about it as something he’d feel if he kissed him. It doesn’t take any of the softness away; it reminds him that he’s kissing Jungkook, and that makes it even softer.

Their foreheads press together when they feel like they’re running out of breath. Taehyung has never felt Jungkook this close. Close enough to feel his eyelashes – those eyelashes he’s thought about for so long – tickle against his own when he blinks. Jungkook’s hand on his cheek is subtly trembling, and Taehyung’s chest is doing the same. He doesn’t think either thing is worrying though. It’s like their bodies are saying finally, letting out all of this yearning and wishing at once.

“I–” Jungkook says. He sounds like he’s been running for miles when the only thing that’s been moving are their lips together. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”

Taehyung squeezes his eyes shut. He’s afraid his knees might collapse, but he knows Jungkook is holding him tightly enough that it’d be okay if they gave out. Taehyung swallows. Tears threaten to appear. “I think I’ve wanted you for a really long time too,” he whispers. The next words come out as just a breath. “I’ll be so good to you.”

Jungkook’s breath turns shakier. Taehyung holds him tighter so he knows he’s safe in his arms too. He nudges their noses together. Noses at his cheek too. Kisses his lips, so softly and gently it can barely be called a kiss.

They stay like that, in the middle of the quiet, empty street, sharing little kisses or just resting their foreheads together. They do it for so long that when Taehyung sees light through his eyelids, he thinks they’ve made it to morning. But when he opens his eyes, it’s still nighttime, and a car is down the street. Still far away, but its headlights cut through the darkness.

Taehyung takes Jungkook’s hand and walks them off the street. They stand on the sidewalk on the opposite side of Jungkook’s car, but Taehyung doesn’t want to leave yet. He doesn’t want this moment to end. Doesn’t want this night to end. So he asks, “Want to take a walk?” They have a whole college campus, the leaves filled with autumn colors and the sidewalk lamps to match. It’s a little eerie in the way fall nights can be, but with Jungkook’s hand in his, it’s mostly just warm. Jungkook nods. “Are you warm enough? Do you want my jacket? I’m wearing a sweater so I’ll be fine without it.”

Jungkook studies him. It’s dark, but there’s enough light to see the stars in Jungkook’s eyes that always seem to be there. “I’m warm enough,” he finally says. His voice is so quiet and unsure in a way Taehyung’s never heard it. Taehyung is a journalist, and that’s not even a relevant, valid excuse anymore – and maybe it never was. He’s Taehyung, and Jungkook is Jungkook, and Taehyung has spent years noticing every little thing about Jungkook. He knows what little fidgets mean, different types of silences, his blinking patterns, what his different kinds of spacing out look like. It shouldn’t have taken him years to hold his hand, but they’re here now, and that’s what matters.

And because he’s spent years with his eyes on Jungkook, he thinks he knows what the weak quality of his voice is.

He takes Jungkook’s hands, and he rests them on his cheeks. He places his hands over them and looks into his eyes. “There’s nothing to be scared of,” he says softly. “Nothing to be unsure about. It’s just me. You know me.” He turns his head and kisses Jungkook’s palm, keeping their eyes locked together. “We’ll talk about it. Want to walk around and talk?” Jungkook nods. Taehyung steps closer. He nuzzles the tips of their noses together, and Jungkook finally relaxes a little bit when he smiles at the action. Taehyung kisses that smile. “It’s just me.” He knows that’s not a great consolation when he’s been who he is to Jungkook for years, but he hopes their time together has shown him that he’s nothing to be afraid of.

He doesn’t stop giving Jungkook kiss after small kiss until he nods. He takes his hand again, and they start their aimless walk.

They step beneath the arch of trees, onto the campus. The sidewalks are wide, and they walk right down the middle. Their hands swing gently between them. It’s empty on campus, even the lights off in the buildings, like classes don’t run very late here. The only light comes from the streetlights that look like they belong in an old vintage film, and the tone of their light feels that way too. There are so many mature trees around the space, so many leaves from them that have fallen into the grass. The ivy leaves crawling up the brick buildings still cling to their vines, and the air is warm enough to walk and cool enough to remind them what a cozy season they’re in.

“I don’t… I don’t know how to start,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung’s heart aches. Jungkook was so confident earlier, just pulling him in and kissing him. He isn’t that way now.

“Want me to ask some questions?” Taehyung says. Jungkook nods. “Which tattoo of yours is your favorite?”

Jungkook giggles, and the sweet sound dances through the quiet of the night. “I like the orange lily.”

Taehyung hums. “I love that one too. I think it’s my favorite as well. Did you know I liked you?”

He hears the click of Jungkook’s throat when he swallows. “I, um… I suspected. Over the summer. When we started to spend more time together and got closer. I thought maybe you might like me.”

“I thought the same of you too,” Taehyung says. “Then you… got distant, and everything went back to how it first was. Worse, really, because at least back then we interacted. This time there was just nothing.”

Jungkook takes a shaky breath. “Yeah,” he says. It goes quiet for a while. Jungkook seems like he has something to say, but he doesn’t. Taehyung doesn’t know if he should ask him about it or ask another question or just wait. He honestly can’t believe that he’s the more confident and sure one here when he’s the one who took forever in this.

Jungkook sighs finally. “I think it’s… I think it’s because maybe you were so different.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

They arrive at the fountain that stands proudly in the middle of the campus. It’s quite big, but even as it’s on, it isn’t loud. There’s just the sound of gentle water droplets. They walk around it, continuing their way across campus. Jungkook goes slightly out of his way to step on certain leaves in his path like he did when they went on their walk together, and it makes Taehyung smile.

“My ex-boyfriend,” Jungkook finally says. “He was this person to me. He was Wonshik, and he was always Wonshik, and I knew him. I thought I knew who he was, because he was always the same with me. But then when we broke up, and even before, when I found out he was cheating the first time and I thought it was just one time and it ended there, I realized that I didn’t really know him. He was two wildly different people, the one I knew and the one others knew. And I think it… it kind of morphed into that with you. Like for years you were how you were – rolling your eyes, huffing, being cute even though you weren’t intending to be, because you didn’t like me. And then all of a sudden you were different, and I think I panicked because it was like seeing two different people again, and I felt like I didn’t actually know you, and it was happening again. It felt like I was being, I dunno, tricked or something. I was being too easy because I easily fell for both sides of you, like I was gullible. And it just… made me panic, I guess, because I realized I liked you more than a normal work crush. And I didn’t want to be hurt again, so I just… pushed you away. And that was unfair of me; I hurt you because I did that. And–”

Taehyung cuts him off before he can apologize for something that doesn’t need an apology at all. “That’s a very rational reaction,” he tells him. Maybe not the way Jungkook went about it – just cutting him off completely out of nowhere – but it makes perfect sense that he’d connect those things in his head. “If I’d gone through what you have, I would probably think the same thing.” He grows shy, but he wants to assure Jungkook how much he likes him even if it’s a lot. Jungkook was vulnerable with him, so he can do it too. “I, um…” He sighs. “I’ve kind of… always noticed everything about you. Like, I notice the way you blink, and the rhythm you type on the keyboard, and what times of the day you eat and drink something, and when you didn’t get a lot of sleep because then the lights and sounds and smells affect you more than they usually do because you’re sensitive to it, and–and what your mood is depending on if you walk to work or drive your car, and what all of your different types of fidgeting mean – like you mess with your earrings when you’re shy or embarrassed, and you draw circles on your leg with your finger when you’re thinking about something, and you tug your lip right pretty hard with you’re annoyed and it always makes me worried that it hurts or you’re going to rip it out, but you also mess with it with your tongue or bite it with your lips when you’re focusing on something someone is saying to you, and you push your tongue into your cheek or bite the inside of your cheek when you’re mad about something, and–” He abruptly cuts himself off when he finally hears what he’s saying and realizes what a f*cking creep he sounds like. He clears his throat and nervously chuckles, feeling like he wants to die a little. “S-So, um, I think me always watching you and being aware of you wasn’t because I was annoyed with you and distracted by you like I thought for years. I think it’s because I’ve liked you for a really long time – longer than I thought. It–it wasn’t a new thing that started when we started working together more; that’s just when I realized that me being aware of you at all times was because I liked you and liked looking at you. And when I didn’t like you, it was because everyone loves you and I was annoyed by it because you’re our boss, and you’re not supposed to be close friends with your boss, because you’re in charge of us and can fire us and tell us what to do and you make more money than us and–”

“I don’t make more money than you,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung stops walking and turns to him. He’d been so lost in thinking about Jungkook that he forgot where they are, and they’re standing on a brick path that winds through the trees between one ivy-covered building and the next. “What do you mean? Yes you do. You’re the editor-in-chief.”

Jungkook shakes his head. “We all do an equal amount of work. I don’t do more than you or Namjoon-hyung or Jimin or any of the other team leads. Honestly, I would even argue that you guys do more than I do. We all contribute the same amount of time and energy and effort and work, and I’m not going to pay myself more just because my title is higher-ranking than yours. We make the same amount. Actually, you might even make more than I do because you got a raise recently.”

“What?” Taehyung breathes.

Jungkook chuckles. “I’m the editor-in-chief, and you’re the head of Community News and the advice column. My title is higher, but we do the same amount of work. I’m not going to base anybody’s pay off of their title, but the amount of work they do and how well they do it.”

“But… But you’re the boss.”

Jungkook snorts. “Yes, I know. We make the same amount of money.”

Taehyung looks away from him, unseeing across the campus. He should have seen this from the beginning. Not this specific detail, because there’d be no way to know that, but that Jungkook is this type of person. That he’s good. That there’s a reason everybody loves him. In the back of his head, a quiet voice whispers, The same reasons you’re starting to too.

He knows more reasons than others do though. Others don’t get spoken to like this, in the soft voice Jungkook uses with him. Others don’t know the feeling of his hands, his arms, his lips. Others don’t know the things he does for him, to comfort him. He doesn’t want anybody else to know these things. He doesn’t want anybody to ever get to be with Jungkook this way. He doesn’t know if he’s deserving of it – especially after years of brushing him off – but he’ll do everything he possibly can to be deserving of him, if Jungkook lets him. If that’s what he wants.

He jumps when he feels fingertips trail from his temple, down the roundness of his cheeks, to his jaw. “What are you thinking about?” Jungkook whispers.

Jungkook was vulnerable with him, and then he was vulnerable too – maybe a little too much – but he doesn’t think they have to keep score. It’s not a give and take; it’s a this is who I am, and I am not hiding, and all of my thoughts and feelings are yours to have, because I am yours to have.

“I don’t want to be too much too soon,” Taehyung whispers, feeling scared as he looks at Jungkook.

“Nothing about you could ever be too much,” Jungkook says just as quietly.

Taehyung swallows. “I want you. And I don’t want you to be anybody else’s.”

Jungkook tucks a lot of hair behind his ear, just like he did at the grocery store. And maybe before, the timing just lined up unintentionally. Maybe he was doing it in the same way he is right now, because it feels the same as it did before. He presses his lips to his forehead, and Taehyung’s heart flutters. “I’ve wanted you for three years,” he says. “I’ve never wanted to be anybody else’s but yours.”

Taehyung’s grip on Jungkook’s hand tightens like he needs something to ground him. “Do you think we’re moving too fast?” he asks.

Jungkook shrugs. “Let’s slow down then,” he says. “I want to be slow with you. Want to take my time.” He leans in to kiss his lips so softly that Taehyung feels like he can’t breathe. “I’m not going to stop kissing you though.”

Taehyung giggles. He wraps his arms around his neck. “Just have to kiss really slowly then,” he says. And when Jungkook does that, Taehyung is left breathless. Their lips slot together, the press gentle. Taehyung kisses Jungkook’s top lip. He takes his time to kiss the bottom one, the metal of his lip piercing making him suppress a shiver. He lets Jungkook kiss him with the same pattern, each kiss lasting seconds.

“Can I bring you on a date?” Jungkook whispers.

His fingers that were brushing through Taehyung’s hair falter when he shakes his head. “I’m bringing you on a date.”

He kisses Jungkook’s smile when he laughs. “No, I’m taking you on a date,” Jungkook says.

“Nuh uh,” Taehyung says. “I’m taking you. I’m refusing your date offer.”

“You can’t refuse,” Jungkook says. Taehyung giggles and tries to squirm away from him when fingers tickle his ribs.

“I can,” Taehyung says, barely able to speak through his laughter as he tries to escape. “I’m a free person. I do not accept your date.” He finally frees himself, and he takes off running before Jungkook can pull him back.

Jungkook makes the cutest, sweetest noise of surprise, then he runs after him. “You can’t refuse!” he says again. “I’m taking you on a date whether you like it or not!”

“I won’t show up!” Taehyung says. He weaves through the trees, the lamp posts watching them laugh and run through the empty college campus as fallen leaves kick up in a flurry behind them.

“I’ll drag you out of your apartment!” Jungkook says.

Taehyung turns around the corner of a building, and he sees a strange ivy-covered arch up ahead. Wherever it leads to is cut off from view by hedges. He runs faster to it when he hears Jungkook gain on him. “I won’t let you inside!”

He takes off toward it and runs beneath it. It’s several steps long, like walking through a tunnel, before his feet his cobblestone, and he’s welcomed into a garden. He slows down when he sees where he is. To his left is a vegetable patch growing tomatoes, peppers, perilla leaves, squash. To his right is a fruit garden with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries – some of their spots empty as their final harvest was gathered for the season. There are flowers everywhere: chrysanthemums and asters and goldenrods and pansies and more than he can name – all autumn flowers, like they were planted at the end of summer. He spots ivy and pothos plants, others that are usually houseplants but somehow grown in a perfect enough condition that they can exist in their natural habitat outside.

He feels Jungkook beside him, and he looks as awed as he feels. There are a few lanterns nestled around the gardens, lighting the plants up and making it feel like a fairytale.

Taehyung follows a cobblestone path to see where it leads him, and he arrives at a wooden bench, hidden like a secret by the tree branches above it. Across from it is a koi pond. Lily pads float on the top while the water ripples with the fish gliding around together beneath it. There’s a lantern beside the pond, letting him see the colorful fish swimming beneath the moonlight.

Taehyung sits down on the bench, trying to catch his breath after the exercise. Jungkook silently sits beside him too. Taehyung looks around the garden. He looks at the lantern lights dancing in the ripples of the pond. He looks at Jungkook, the lantern lights in his eyes. He looks around again, at the moss crawling along the ground surrounding the pond.

It’s like… it’s like there’s something in him. Two hands outstretched, reaching out, but he doesn’t know for what. He looks around again, and he feels a pang of… of something. An odd sense of familiarity. Not déja vu, but… but something else. Jungkook is watching the pond. He looks like he’s zoning out, but Taehyung knows he’s not. His finger isn’t trailing across something again and again in the way it almost always does when he’s spacing out. He looks like he’s thinking and feeling the same thing too. It’s odd and it’s strange and there’s a strange hint of warmth to it, but he stops thinking about it. He stops focusing on the strain of something reaching for each other – maybe the hands wanting to join to make him see why there’s this sense of familiarity. He ignores it, because he’s here with Jungkook. In this hidden, secret, lantern-lit garden. Sitting beside him in the quiet of the night, letting it hold them like a secret.

He moves closer to Jungkook. He raises his arm, and he wraps it around Jungkook’s shoulders. Jungkook is the same height as him, even a little wider with his shoulders and chest and muscles, but he somehow manages to make himself small when he tucks himself under his arm. Taehyung feels like there are koi fish slowly and lazily circling around inside of him, his tummy never quite feeling settled when it’s involving Jungkook.

“What if we take each other on a date?” he says quietly. It feels like talking too loud wouldn’t be okay, like it’d upset the sleepy garden. “You get the first half and I get the second half.”

Jungkook’s head is tucked into his neck, and Taehyung feels the movement of his cheek against his collarbone when he smiles. “Yeah, I like that,” he says. “My date is gonna be so much better than yours.”

Taehyung keeps his giggle quiet. “We’ll see,” he says. “We missed the lead. Following Yeonjun.”

“Oh yeah,” Jungkook says. “If it was for this reason though, I could not care less.”

Taehyung nuzzles his nose into Jungkook’s hair. Places a kiss there. “Me neither.” Kisses him there again. “Nothing else matters except this right now.”

Jungkook tilts his head up. Taehyung leans down to connect their lips. Nothing else exists right now. Nothing beyond the hedges of this secret garden where they share kiss after slow kiss. Koi fish float and drift through their home, autumn leaves fall from their trees. The moon shines and the stars sparkle, in the sky and in Jungkook’s eyes. They kiss and kiss until it all disappears, and it’s only just the two of them.

Chapter 20

Chapter Text

Taehyung tries to act as casual and normal as possible when he walks into the paper’s headquarters. Amidst the exciting newness of it all, he and Jungkook forgot to discuss how they will proceed with everything given he is his – and everybody around them’s – boss. So he walks into the office like nothing is amiss. It’s just any old Tuesday with Normal Taehyung, where nothing big has happened in his life. Just any other day of the week. He’s wearing a normal outfit – brown pants and a cream-colored shirt – with his normal hairstyle, except a little longer and wavier than usual, so it falls slightly more onto his forehead and flips out from his neck in curls and waves. Still, he looks like Normal Taehyung.

The exact second he walks into the headquarters and Jimin looks at him though, he knows something is up. Jimin narrows his eyes at him, watching him like a hawk as he walks to his desk and sets his bag on top of it. Jimin is studying his face, trying to pinpoint what is going on, even though Taehyung has been here for five seconds and hasn’t said a word. Honestly, maybe Jimin really is a fairy or a fairy witch with the way he can sense things and apparently see the future.

Before Jimin can question it – like he’s just about to because he opens his mouth – he hears Jungkook’s voice behind him say, “Taehyung-hyung, can you come to my office after you’ve settled in?”

He turns to Jungkook, and he’s surprised by how well neither of them are giving anything away. He looks like Normal Jungkook too (so he looks breathtakingly beautiful, so gorgeous that Taehyung can’t even find the words to describe it). He’s wearing black pants with a black t-shirt and a black cardigan, his hair in his usual style curtaining his forehead while his many earrings hang from his ears. Normal Jungkook and Normal Taehyung. “Sure,” Normal Taehyung says.

But when he turns back and sees Jimin (who also looks like Normal Jimin, meaning he looks like a cute ray of light with his light hair and his white shirt and his sky blue cardigan and his pink lips), he is not fooled by this. He’s still studying Taehyung’s face. Taehyung is glad for once that he can’t hold anyone’s eye contact, because it gives him an out from being scrutinized so closely. He quickly unpacks his bag, grabs his laptop and his notebook, and he heads to Jungkook’s office just a few steps away.

Once he’s inside, he closes the door – catching Jimin’s eye again as it shuts. As soon as the door is closed – all of the shades pulled down too – arms wrap around his waist from behind. Jungkook nuzzles his nose against his neck, and Taehyung giggles and tilts his head to the side to receive the little kisses he presses there.

“Missed you,” Jungkook says quietly. Butterflies almost overpower Taehyung, almost make him float and just carry him away. They arrived back in town late last night, so only a handful of sleeping hours stood between them then and now. Still, Taehyung thinks he missed him in his dreams too.

“Me too,” he says sincerely. He turns around in his arms and wraps his own around his neck. He studies his face for a few seconds, thinking about how long it took him to see Jungkook’s beauty in this way. “Kookie.” One arm slides from around him to rest a hand on his cheek. “You’re so pretty, Kookie,” he whispers. “So beautiful.”

Jungkook’s cheeks bloom with a soft pink shade despite it being autumn, and his blinks are slow, taking their time. He leans forward and rests their forehead together. Taehyung feels those eyelashes against when own his eyes close. “God, your voice,” Jungkook whispers. Taehyung remembers then that Jungkook watches his videos. That Jungkook is his favorite viewer, in fact, which is something he’ll really need to think about later. The serendipity of it all.

It makes perfect sense that Jungkook would watch asmr videos, because of all of the things he’s observed about him over the years. It just feels like… a lot that Jungkook would find enough safety in his videos to be able to fall asleep to them, knowing how hard of a time he has finding sleep for the reasons that he does.

“Sweet, precious Kookie,” Taehyung whispers. He runs his finger over the shell of his ear, his touch light and slow. “I’ll hold you in my arms and whisper to you for hours and hours if you’d let me.”

“Seriously, Tae,” Jungkook breathes out. “That’s so–I can’t believe it’s you. And that I get to hear you like this. Not through my headphones.”

Taehyung hums. “Maybe I can play with your hair too,” he whispers. “All those videos of me brushing through someone’s hair. Lying in bed, whispering to the camera. I get to do that with you now.”

Jungkook takes a shaky breath. He tilts his head up, and he softly connects their lips. Then he takes a step back, because Taehyung can feel themselves getting carried away even though they’ve done nothing more than whisper between a few gentle kisses.

Taehyung mostly doesn’t think about anything when he’s doing asmr. It’s relaxing for him to do it the same way as it is for others to watch, but when he’s doing the romantic roleplay ones, he’s mostly just thinking about filming the video. The last time he did, though, and he found himself imagining it was Jungkook, it made him really feel the absence of someone there. He realized he was lying in bed alone, talking to himself. The other side of his bed was empty as he imagined someone there for the first time. And now, if he can somehow manage to not mess this up, that other side of his bed will be used. The pillow will become slowly molded overtime by Jungkook’s beautiful head as he drifts and dreams.

But he’s getting carried away again, and he forces himself to come back to the moment. And the moment – simply standing in Jungkook’s office, not doing or saying anything – is wonderful.

A quiet bell jingles from Jungkook’s laptop, and they both remember that they’re at work, and they have a meeting to get to. The meeting room is a ten step walk away, and everyone mostly just gets there when they feel like it rather than see the meeting time as a time for the meeting to start, so they indulge themselves with a few more kisses. Only a few though, because they have to compose themselves to walk out of the office and act normal.

Taehyung takes a deep breath, and he starts fanning his cheeks that he’s certain hold the faint traces of a blush. Jungkook just laughs at him as he gathers his things, but even he looks a bit too giddy to just have been talking to his employee in his office.

They don’t talk about what to do or how to act, because Jungkook just goes for it. He quickly pecks his cheek, then he opens his office door without another word. Taehyung blinks at him, and the blankness of his expression as he leaves his office is at least consistent with how he usually is around Jungkook.

They walk into the meeting room, which, of course, is empty, because they’re the only two who are ever on time. As they set up and settle down, everyone starts to slowly trickle in. At first it’s just Hoseok talking animatedly with Yoongi, then Namjoon and Jimin arrive a minute later.

Once everyone is sat – with Taehyung avoiding Jimin’s eye because he can’t hide from him and they need to not have Jimin’s revelatory moment in the middle of the meeting, because Jimin also can’t hide from anybody – the meeting starts.

Instead of jumping right into it like usual, Jungkook says, “The meeting starts at 9:15 every morning. Not 9:18. Not 9:22. It’s been in everybody’s calendars for 9:15 since the start of everyone’s job. That’s because the morning meeting starts at 9:15. So when it’s 9:15, that means that everyone will be in here, sat at their seats, ready to start, okay?”

His voice isn’t harsh in the slightest. Not even professional or authoritative, really. He just sounds like Jungkook, like the kind boss who’s everyone’s friend too. But remembering that Jungkook is his boss – that he can tell everybody what to do, that he can reprimand them (and that he does it so gently that it barely feels that way) – is making Taehyung’s face heat up. He digs his nails into his palms to focus on the sting of that rather than blushing when it would be clear that it’s because he feels heated that Jungkook is being the boss.

Different noises of acknowledgement and a mumbled, “Sorry,” from Jimin sound around the table.

“I’ve been saying this for years,” Namjoon says.

“Oh, please,” Hoseok says, then he bursts out laughing. He’s sparkly today, and it matches the sound of his laughter. The area around his eyes is shimmering in gold, and it goes along with his burgundy sequined top – matching the season while staying true to himself. His hair is a proper curly mullet now, and it looks wonderful on him.

“What?!” Namjoon says. Taehyung finds it charming how Namjoon is able to dress plainly but wear it so well. He kind of matches Hoseok minus the shimmers, and it’s paired with his usual khaki-colored pants. Warm colors were made for Namjoon, both because of his complexion and because of who he is.

“Hyung, you’re the last one in here ninety-nine percent of the time,” Jimin says. Namjoon sputters. Before he can defend himself, Jimin says, “It doesn’t matter why you’re late. I’m late because I like talking to Yoongi. You’re late because of any of the millions of things that make your morning hectic – even though what really makes your morning hectic is you – but that doesn’t matter because none of us are in the room on time.”

“Except me,” Taehyung pipes in.

“That is true,” Jungkook says. “Taehyung-hyung is always on time.”

“Oh, please,” Jimin says this time. “That’s just because you want to stare at Jungkook for longer.”

Taehyung sputters this time. “Um?! That’s–I don’t even know how that’s–that is not even–” He just shuts up because it’s making Jimin cackle and the rest of them laugh. Taehyung huffs. “I don’t know why I’m getting attacked for being the only one who’s on time.”

He huffs again and crosses his arms, pouting as he turns away from all of them. When he turns away though, he looks at Jungkook at the head of the table. Jungkook is watching him, a soft smile on his face. Much too soft and personal for a boss to be looking at his employee – or, more importantly, for the Jungkook and Taehyung that they’ve always been to others. Even though he thinks maybe they’ve never been fooling everybody as much as they thought they were.

Jungkook, being the kind, sweet person he is, moves the topic away from him and says, “Okay, let’s get started. Twelve minutes past when the meeting is supposed to start. You know, we work for a newspaper. Everything we do is on a pretty tight deadline, so when the meetings start late, that gives you an even tighter deadline than y–”

“Start the meeting, Jungkook,” Taehyung says, his voice flat in the way it always is with his boss. He wonders if the fond, exasperated, unmistakably endeared huff he receives is new, or if this display of endearment has always been there. When he looks around the table and everyone looks the way they always do, and not like they’re discovering something new, Taehyung thinks that maybe Jungkook has always been like this around him.

“Hoseok-hyung,” Jungkook says. “What’s on your agenda for today?”

“Well,” Hoseok says in his flamboyant manner when it denotes him starting his topic. “My dear friend Jimin and I have managed to score something for all of us. It’s only partially related to the paper.” Jungkook blinks at him. Taehyung holds back his laugh because of how hard it always is for Jungkook to start a meeting. “As you may have heard, an entertainment center is being built just outside of town.” Taehyung does recall that. Their town is quite big, so “just outside” in that direction is about forty-five minutes from where they are right now. Which is good, because a big entertainment center would probably be an eye-sore for their picturesque mountain town. “They completed it last week, and they’re doing a soft launch of it this Saturday and it’s invite-only.” Taehyung holds in his laugh again at how this sounds like an exclusive club invitation and not a place that’s mostly marketed toward children. “Jimin-ssi and I got eight tickets to go, and we’ll all be there on Saturday. It’s free. The bowling lanes, the arcade, the roller rink, the food. All of it is free because they’re using us for publicity, but in the same way we’re using them for free fun. So we’ll go, and Jimin and I will write about it.”

There are various levels of excitement in the room. Hoseok with a big smile and Jimin bouncing in his seat. Yoongi looking like Yoongi, but with a small smile on his face as he watches Jimin. Namjoon who looks confused, but he always kind of looks like that. And sweet Jungkook whose eyes are sparkling because of course this is something he’d love. Jungkook’s childlike joy seems to never have left him, and it’s so sweet to watch.

“Wait, why eight tickets?” Taehyung asks. “There are only six of us.”

“One ticket for Seokjin and another for Minji,” Jimin says.

Now Namjoon looks just as excited as everyone else. Taehyung too, because he’s extra excited now to meet their daughter.

“Can we go?” Jimin asks Jungkook, his eyes big.

“Why are you asking my permission?” Jungkook laughs. “It’s on a Saturday and you got tickets. You don’t need my go-ahead.”

“Will you go though?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jungkook scoffs. “It’ll be fun.” He looks around the table. “You’re all required to go.”

Taehyung snorts. “It’s on a Saturday. You can’t force me to do something for work on a Saturday night.”

“If you’re not there, you will be fired,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung snorts again. “Good luck with that,” he says.

“Are you really not going to go, Tae?” Jimin asks, voice quiet and upset.

“Of course I’ll go,” Taehyung says, and Jimin brightens back up. He looks back at Jungkook. “But because I want to go, not because it’s an order.”

Before he and Jungkook can go back and forth like they normally would, Hoseok says, “So other than that, I have a list of upcoming shows coming to town. Concerts, what’s coming to the theatre, stuff like that. So I’ll be working on what’s worth it to write about and contacting the people running those things so I can get in. Jimin and I will be doing that together, obviously, since we’re a team.” Jimin nods, looking proud to be Hoseok’s abiding partner.

Jungkook nods. “Sounds good. Let me know if you need any help with anything. Namjoon-hyung?”

“Well,” Namjoon says, fidgeting in his seat. “This isn’t really political or world event-related. Well, political, but not in the way I write for our paper. But since adopting Minji, I was kind of thinking of maybe doing a feature on adoption stories in town? That’s a political act in itself, and I’d make it more outward for the article. But I mostly want the feature to be on adoption stories. What the process was like for other people, how life was before and after the events. Things like that.”

Taehyung’s stomach flips at the smile Jungkook gives Namjoon. He smiles at everyone like this every meeting when they present their good ideas, so how did it take him this long to feel it? Before, he’d huff or scowl to himself at Kind, Good Boss Jungkook Who Everyone Loves for Some Reason. Now, he wishes they were sitting closer to each other so he could take his hand beneath the table.

“I think that’s an incredible idea, hyung,” Jungkook says. Everyone around the table nods in agreement.

“I know a few people around town who have adopted children or have been adopted,” Yoongi says. “I can give you their names to reach out.”

Namjoon nods. “Yeah, that would be helpful. I didn’t really think about how I’d go about this. Seokjin-hyung said I should stand on a street corner with a cardboard sign that says ‘WERE YOU ADOPTED?’.”

Taehyung can’t help the huge smile that comes to his face seeing the way Jungkook laughs. He smiles because Seokjin is funny sometimes, but mostly because watching Jungkook be happy makes him happy.

They talk about it for a while more before it turns to Jimin. Ever the dramatic one, Jimin groans and melts down into his chair. “I’m having artblock,” he says. “I have no idea what to draw, and even worse, it has to have a meaning behind it. I can’t draw anything, and I don’t know what to draw and how to make it meaningful and important and what words to put under it. And–”

Before he can go on further – because he will continue to go on until someone stops him, which has taken many minutes before – Taehyung interrupts, “Why don’t we do a ‘caption this’ thing?” He shrinks down in his seat when they all look at him. “Like, you can draw something, and maybe we can use this as a way to get website traffic too? Every day you can post a new illustration on the website, and we’ll put in a little write-in box below it and people can caption it themselves. And then you can pick one, and we’ll publish it with that the next day and credit whoever came up with it. The town really likes to be involved in things – hence the success of the advice column – so I think everyone would really be–”

“That’s not why people love it,” Jungkook says. “The advice column. Not because everyone likes to be included in something, although that’s definitely a part of it. People love it because of how thoughtful and caring you are with it.”

Taehyung blinks at him just once before the entire table coos because of the blush rising to his cheeks. “Stop it, stop it, shut up,” Taehyung says to them. “It’s not even my turn yet. It’s Jimin’s turn. We’re talking about Jimin.”

“Shy little Taehyungie,” Jimin coos at him. “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea!” Everyone agrees too. “Let’s do a few practice ones so I can get a feel of how to make drawings vague enough to have a range of captions.”

He stands and walks to the chalkboard, which is right behind Jungkook’s chair. “Wait,” Taehyung says. He remembers the way chalk against the board sounds – especially when up so close. “Do the dry erase board. It’ll be easier to make changes because we can have suggestions of how to make an illustration more broad in interpretation.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Jimin says. He turns and walks to the dry erase board on the other side of the room. They all turn their chairs, and Taehyung jumps when Jimin’s seat beside him is taken by Jungkook.

“Oh,” Taehyung says quietly. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Jungkook says. He moves his chair closer, pretending like he wants a better view of the board where Jimin is drawing something now, when it’s really to take Taehyung’s hand under the table like he thought about himself. Taehyung bites his lip to try to keep his smile away as their fingers fit perfectly in the spaces between each other’s. Their palms press together, fingertips on the top of the other’s hand. He feels Jungkook’s thumb slowly stroke back and forth. Taehyung tries to stop having thoughts about how long it took him to see Jungkook this way, but he mourns the time they lost when they could have been doing this.

But they’re doing this now, and that’s what matters. They can’t do anything about the times they weren’t doing this, and he chooses to think of this as a “finally.” It’s not something he’s going to spend his time regretting; he’ll think of it as their foundation. Their story was being established, their roles in each others’ lives. How they interact with their friends and coworkers. So much time spent learning about each other – so many intricate, intimate little details that he never could have known without time. All of this was just teaching him how to love Jungkook the right way, in the way he needs it.

He jumps when he feels lips press against his cheekbone. His eyes dart around the table – then out into the office, because the meeting room is made of windows with a view of the rest of everybody out there, who can look in too. No one is looking their way, and he knows Jungkook wouldn’t have kissed him unless he was sure, but still.

Everything in him wants to turn and kiss Jungkook’s lips, but they haven’t talked about any of this yet, so he can’t. He really wants to though. He turns to him, and he looks down at his lips. He really, really wants to. He almost does it. He almost just leans in because all thoughts of anything except kissing him have left his head. All he can see is Jungkook, with his big, round eyes and a face dotted with piercings, both things so at odds with being the boss, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper.

He jumps again when Jimin says, “Okay,” loudly to announce he’s completed his illustration. “I’m going to pass around slips of paper and I want everybody to write a caption for this.” Jimin walks around and gives everyone a piece of paper, and they all stare at the illustration like they’re spectators at an art museum contemplating the meaning and skill behind an artist’s work.

The drawing is perfect for the concept. Vague enough that it can be interpreted different ways, specific enough that it stays firm in one theme or category.

His mind is a beautiful mess right now, and he can’t think of a clever caption as easily as he’d normally be able to. All he wants to do is lean over and kiss Jungkook. He wants to go back to his office and be in each other’s arms again. He wants to look at Jungkook, and that’s it. Just look at him, just stare.

Everybody is folding their pieces of paper back up, and Taehyung panics because he hasn’t thought of anything yet. Then he holds in a cackle as he quickly scribbles something down and folds it up to hand to Jimin when he comes by to collect them.

Jimin stands in front of the dry erase board again as he reads each one. He doesn’t say them out loud, but he cackles at one, giggles at another, huffs at the next one, rolls his eyes at the one after that. While Jimin is still giggling because Yoongi said, “I know the one he rolled his eyes at is mine,” the smile drops from his face comically fast when he reads the next one. He goes frozen, his expression dropping as he reads the paper. Then he nervously laughs and fidgets on the spot and folds it back up, clearly trying to suppress all of his thoughts and feelings as hard as he can. Taehyung is about to burst with him because of how badly he wants to laugh.

On the paper that Jimin now stuffs into his pocket is written:

Jungkook and I kissed. You can’t tell anybody.

“Um, what were we doing?” Jimin asks, his voice higher-pitched than normal as he tries to appear less frantic. “Oh yeah, haha, um, here’s the winner.” He turns and writes down the caption he chose, which – to no one’s surprise – was Jungkook’s. When Taehyung turns to look at him, Jungkook is already looking at him. Almost like he wants his praise over something so silly.

“Good job, baby,” Taehyung whispers with a squeeze to his hand. Jungkook darts his eyes around, then he raises their joined hand and leaves a kiss on top of Taehyung’s.

“Thanks,” Jungkook whispers back, his voice bashful in the most adorable way.

“Okay, let’s move on!” Jimin says with a loud clap. “Gotta get through the meeting. Much work to be done. Deadlines and all that.” His forced laugh makes Taehyung finally laugh.

“Weren’t you going to do two m–”

“Nope, that was just for practice, and I’ve got it down,” Jimin says. “Gotta get to work, you know? Thing to draw, articles to write. Never a dull day at the newspaper. Jungkook, shoo.” He physically shoves Jungkook away back to his seat, and they both manage to hold back a whine at the same time when their hands come apart.

Everyone in the room is staring at each other, eyes darting around. Except for two of them. Taehyung and Jungkook are just looking at each other, soft smiles on their faces. Before it can become obvious, Taehyung looks away so they can carry on. He yelps when he feels a hard pinch on his leg beneath the table, and he slaps Jimin’s hand away.

“Taehyung-hyung,” Jungkook says. “Community news. What’s on our agenda?”

“Our agenda, huh?” Taehyung says, head tilted to the side. Jungkook sighs, already geared up for Taehyung to say something. Just because they’re… whatever they are now, Taehyung is not going to stop his attitude toward his boss. Not because he wants to keep up the act, but because it’s fun to tease him. “Are you going to start actually helping?”

“I have been helping.”

Taehyung blinks at him. “Out of the months’ worth of articles that have been published in the Community News section of the paper, your name is on two of them. Maybe three.”

“I help you do your part though,” Jungkook says. “I organize interviews for you, and keep you up to date on things happening around town.”

Taehyung brushes it off. “I’m going to start assigning you one story a week,” he says. “You should be having a story every day of the week like I do since we supposedly run this team together, but we’ll start with one so you can get reacquainted with how it feels to be a commonperson.”

Jungkook is clearly holding back his laughter. He wonders if it’s always been like this and he was too exasperated to notice. If he’s always been like this and he had noticed, it would have made him even more annoyed. “You’re going to assign me work?” Jungkook asks. Taehyung nods. “I’m your boss, you know.”

“Not on this team,” Taehyung says. “I’m your boss here. I’ve been doing it longer. You joined my section of the paper. You don’t get to come and take it over.”

“I’m not doing that,” Jungkook says. “I’ve said many times that we co-run it.”

“Yeah, and that would imply that we do an equal amount of work. Once we do contribute the same amount of articles, then we can revisit this ‘co’-run discussion. But for now, you work for me. And here’s what’s on deck this week. Let me know if there’s anything you want to cover.”

They go over Taehyung’s rough plan for the week, some of the articles loose and not very important just in case something more pressing comes around. He tells him his solid plans for today too, but nothing is too dire. It hasn’t been for a while. It hasn’t been ever, really. He mostly has to search for ideas of what to write about rather than something being necessary and time-sensitive, but he doesn’t mind. It allows him to be creative and make this part of the paper his own rather than a generic news section.

They decide that Jungkook will write a feature about the best places to experience autumn in their town – where the most stunning foliage is, which coffee shops have the best fall drinks, the activities they can do at the pumpkin patch and apple orchard.

“Do you know the activities at the pumpkin patch and apple orchard?” Taehyung asks.

“No,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung giggles, and Jungkook smiles at him. “Silly boy,” he says. “Don’t you think you should probably figure that out before writing about it?”

“Probably,” Jungkook says. “Want to come with me? You know, for newspaper purposes.”

“Hmmm,” Taehyung hums. “Depends.”

Jungkook rests his chin on his hand, tilts his head with a sweet – and maybe a little flirty – smile. “On what? Tell me and I’ll do it.”

Taehyung giggles again. “Are you gonna pay for my ticket?”

“Of course,” Jungkook scoffs.

“And my apple cider.”

“Easy.”

“And a donut.”

“I was going to do that anyway.”

“And an apple and pumpkin. And you have to carry my pumpkin to the car for me.”

“Is that all? You’re not even giving me anything I wouldn’t do already.”

“And I get to pick out your outfit so it’s a cozy fall outfit.”

“No problem. You’ll have to come over to look through my closet.”

“And I get to steal one of your sweaters.”

“Not stealing if I give it to you.”

“And–”

“Um…” he hears Hoseok say. It makes Taehyung physically jump when he remembers where they are, and that they’re surrounded by everyone – who were absolutely still and silent this whole time. Well, he thinks they were. He was too focused on Jungkook to notice. Too focused on flirting with Jungkook. In front of everybody. Taehyung who supposedly is perpetually annoyed with his boss, talking about stealing one of his sweaters and about what, to everybody and themselves, is clearly a date. “So, uh… What’s all this?”

Taehyung casually shrugs. “Planning out newspaper business.”

He looks over, and they’re all glancing at each other. He looks back at Jungkook and finds him softly smiling at him. He returns it.

Namjoon clears his throat. “Are you guys done? With… whatever this is?”

“Yep,” Taehyung says. “Unless you have anything else you want to talk about, Jungkook-ssi?”

Jungkook snorts. “Nope, that covers it. Good ideas, everyone. Let’s get to work. Let me know if you need anything.”

They all don’t move from their spots around the table – shocked and expecting an explanation. They don’t get one, because Jungkook stands and walks out, and Taehyung follows him.

Taehyung wants to go into his office again so he can kiss him a million times, but he goes back to his desk instead. He has work he needs to get done because they do have deadlines as Jungkook and frantic Jimin said, and they’re meeting went on for much longer than it usually does.

He avoids everyone’s stares as he opens his laptop and his notebook, ready to outline today’s – or tomorrow’s, technically – article.

Before he can even start, a notification flashes from another app at the bottom of his laptop screen. He opens their work chat and sees a message from Jungkook.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaae
Come to my office and kiss me 😠😞

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Can’t
Lots of work to be done
Deadlines and whatnot

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Pleeeeeeeease
Pretty please

Kim Taehyung, Community News
All of your pleases are pretty because you’re saying them

He hears a giggle come from Jungkook’s office, and he could break down sobbing honestly.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
We co-run the team though

Jungkook is still typing, but Taehyung responds.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
*You’re on my team

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
🙄
We co-run the team so it wouldn’t even be suspicious if you came to my office to work

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I think we’ve gone waaaay past the point of being suspicious

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Yeah flirting with your boss in a meeting smh 😤 Inappropriate 😤

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I can’t help but to tease my baby when he’s being so cute

Taehyung hears another noise from his office, maybe something close to a whimper.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Your baby?

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Oh um
I mean um yeah
Right?
I mean we haven’t talked about it but like
That’s… how this is going right?
You’re my baby
?

It takes a while for the typing bubble to appear, and it disappears and reappears a few times before a message comes through.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
What does that make you then?

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I’m your baby too

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Please come to my office

Taehyung shuts his laptop and stands with it, then he walks to Jungkook’s office and closes the door. As soon as he sets his things down, Jungkook is in front of him, his lips on his own.

Taehyung sighs, his whole body sighing too so Jungkook will hold him up.

“We’re going slow,” Jungkook reminds him. “We’re taking this slow.”

Taehyung groans, remembering they decided to take their time settling into this. He nuzzles his face into Jungkook’s neck. “Wanna be yours though.”

“Do you have a line of suitors waiting for you?”

Taehyung giggles. He lifts his head and bites the apple of Jungkook’s cheek. Jungkook makes a confused, surprised noise, but when he smiles, it just gives Taehyung more of his cheek to bite. He kisses it right after.

Jungkook’s arms tighten around him, and it feels so nice. It’s such a nice feeling. To be in Jungkook’s arms.

Jungkook hums, and Taehyung can feel it against his own chest. He doesn’t realize that he’s leaving tiny little kisses up and down the side of Jungkook’s face, because kissing him feels like the natural thing to do. “I don’t think it’s too fast to call you mine,” Jungkook says, his arms holding him closer. “As long as I get to be yours too.”

“I’ll think about it,” Taehyung says. The way Jungkook’s cheeks rise when he smiles is too tempting. He nibbles on it just a little bit. “Not sure if it’s appropriate for me to be dating my employee.” He leans back because he wants to see the smile that accompanies Jungkook’s loud laugh. Those bunny teeth, the lines beside his eyes.

“Maybe this just cancels out then,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung’s fingers tangle through the hair at Jungkook’s nape. He scratches his head, and none of this really feels unfamiliar. None of this feels particularly new. The excitement is there, the butterflies, everything that accompanies the beginning steps of a relationship. But it feels like he has always scratched at Jungkook’s nape. He’s always kissed his cheek. He’s always been in his arms. It all feels so familiar, and he thinks if he weren’t so happy, that would terrify him.

“Even if it didn’t,” Taehyung says, “I want this.”

“Me too,” Jungkook says. His eyes are roaming around his face. Taehyung lets him stare. He would have never let Jungkook look at him for so long a few seasons ago, but now he’d let Jungkook do anything. “Can I think about it?”

Taehyung tilts his head to the side. “Think about what?”

“How we’re going to do all of this. In the office, I mean. Like, if we’ll tell the office or keep it to just our friends.”

“Of course,” Taehyung says. “I’m okay with whatever you choose. All that matters is I get to have you. The rest is just details.”

Jungkook’s hand glides up his side so it can rest against his cheek. His thumb brushes back and forth beneath his eye, and Taehyung nuzzles into his palm. “Who knew this sweet baby is the same Kim Taehyung I’ve known for so long? The one who mumbled under his breath when I said something and rolled his eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking. Who knew that he’s this cute, nuzzly baby?”

Taehyung giggles. “You’re a cute baby. Not nuzzly though. I’m the nuzzly one. Get your own hobby.”

Jungkook’s smile falters, but only because his expression turns a little more serious as his eyes continue to roam his face. “I’ve always had a crush on you,” he says. “I’ve always thought you were so smart, and talented, and creative. You’re…” He shakes his head. “‘Beautiful’ isn’t even enough of a word.” Taehyung bites his lip and feels his cheeks heat up, but he doesn’t hide away. “‘Beautiful’ can’t even compare to what you are. And I’ve always thought that you’re funny. I’ve always been entertained by your attitude towards me. I thought it was adorable. And I knew you were kind and thoughtful. You’d go on coffee runs if you thought anybody needed it – you even brought me certain foods when you knew I was having trouble eating, because you experience the same thing too. You always offered to take some articles from someone so they wouldn’t have so much work to do. You run the advice column, where I read every day how kind and thoughtful you are.

“But still, I never truly knew you. All of these things, I kind of experienced them from the outside. There was always so much space between us, so I never really daydreamed about you very much, because I didn’t know you enough to imagine what it’d be like. Every once in a while I thought about it, but I could never really see anything… solid. Anything that felt like it could be real.

“But this…” Jungkook shakes his head. “You. You’re a daydream. I feel like I’m in another world when I’m with you. Like we’ve left the normal one for a little while, because it doesn’t feel like this could exist in a normal world. Like you could exist. It’s just… this is just so…” He shakes his head again. “God, I’m not making any sense. I don’t know. Something about this – something about you – just… feels like it’s… it’s more. And–”

There’s a knock on Jungkook’s office door before the handle starts to turn. They spring apart and put on poker faces just in time for Jimin to walk into the office.

Jungkook looks at Jimin. There’s not a very happy look on his face – almost eerie because of the way he was looking at Taehyung so softly just a second ago. The tone of his voice is different too, as if he wasn’t just talking to him in the gentlest, kindest voice he’s ever heard. “If my office door is closed, that means you knock and wait for me to open it or say come in. It doesn’t mean you barely knock and then walk in yourself without an invitation.”

Taehyung forces himself not to make a whimpering sound. Before, it made him vaguely annoyed that Jungkook was his boss. Now… what he’s feeling would certainly not be called annoyance.

He is right though. This time they were holding each other and kissing – which is definitely the reason Jimin barged in, because he wanted to catch them – but any other time it’s been because they’re working on the case no one knows about.

“Sorry,” Jimin says, quiet and sheepish.

“Did you need something?”

Jimin fidgets on the spot. “I did, but I forgot because you yelled at me.”

Jungkook snorts. “I didn’t yell at you. If you remember, you can come back and knock before you tell me.”

Jimin just salutes, gives them both a narrow-eyed look, and closes the door behind him. He doesn’t know why he was trying to catch them when Taehyung already told him that they kissed; there was nothing to try to catch because he already knows it’s happening – not a secret to him.

As soon as the door shuts, Taehyung’s arms are around Jungkook again. “I have work to do,” he says, “but I can spare time for a few more kisses if you can too.”

Jungkook hums. “I’ll always find ways to fit kissing you into my schedule.” Jungkook kisses his smile.

Once they’ve surpassed “a few,” Taehyung uses all of his willpower to step out of Jungkook’s arms. “I’m going to go back to my desk,” he says. Jungkook immediately whines. “I can’t get any work done if you’re near me. It was hard to do it before we even kissed.”

“Maybe you should work on that then,” Jungkook says, trying to pull him back into his arms. “I don’t know why I’m being punished because you can’t focus.”

Taehyung doesn’t rise to the bait. He takes Jungkook’s hand and kisses the top of it, then he turns to go. As soon as the door opens, Jimin’s head snaps over to him. Taehyung just rolls his eyes and sits at his desk. Immediately, his screen flashes with a message from their work chat.

Park Jimin, Illustrations and Entertainment
KIM TAEHYUNG
HOW COULD YOU
HOW COUDL YOU NOT TELL ME
IVE WANTED THIS FOR YEARS

Kim Taehyung, Community News
It happened just last night
When I got home I passed out and then came to work
I told you as soon as I could

Park Jimin, Illustrations and Entertainment
I BETTER RECEIVE EVERY SINGLE TINY LITTLE DETAIL ABOUT IT DURING OUR LUNCH BREAK
IM SERIOUS I WANT A NOVEL’S WORTH OF DESCRIPTIONS A DETAILED PLAY BY PLAY

Kim Taehyung, Community News
🙄🙄🙄
Yes sir 🫡

Taehyung giggles to himself when he remembers something, and Jimin whips his head over.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I just remembered a detail that’s gonna send you reeling hehehehehehehe

Park Jimin, Illustrations and Entertainment
TAE.

He sighs because when he’s finally about to start work, he gets another notification. He honestly has no idea how anyone gets anything done around here, because they’re all like this with each other all the time.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Come kiss me
Boss’s orders

Taehyung tries to hold in his giggle because he knows Jimin will stomp over and come look at his screen.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Sexual harassment, blackmail, and bribery

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Pleeeeeease

Kim Taehyung, Community News
No 😡
I have work to get done 😩

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
I can’t get work done because I need you to kiss me first
Then it’ll get out of my head
Otherwise I’ll just be thinking about it and can’t focus on anything else

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I’m sure you’ll manage

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
I really can’t

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I’m silencing notifications
Do your job

He clicks on do not disturb, then he finally gets started on today’s to-do list. But before he can even open up a blank document, he hears Jungkook say from the doorway of his office, “Taehyung-hyung, can you come to my office? There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

Taehyung spins his chair around to look at him. He gives him a very unamused, blank stare. “No,” he says. He spins his chair back around.

“Hyung, I’m your boss, you have to follow my orders.”

“No I don’t. Go away. I have work to do.” He hears various snickers throughout the office because this isn’t anything new.

“But–”

“I’m tuning you out. Stop bothering me. Go away.”

He hears Jungkook sigh in defeat and walk back into his office. He joins in the quiet laughter for a second and finally, thankfully, starts in on his work for today.

He starts easy with the advice column to get into the swing of things before he ends the day with the same task – a nice note to start and end the day with.

He looks at the questions he picked out for tomorrow, and he remembers one he got a while ago that he was too emotionally tired to answer. He rereads it, and with every new word, another butterfly flutters inside of him as tears threaten to spring to his eyes.

Dear Autumn Bear,

I know so many of the questions you get are asking for relationship advice, so I’m sorry to be another one of those if you’re sick of it.

There’s someone I like. I’ve liked him for such a long time. Years. I’ve liked him for years. I’ve wanted him for years, but I was the only one. I was the only one who felt that way, so I settled into that. It was comfortable and familiar, the feeling of one-sided admiration. At first it wasn’t great, but I wasn’t healed yet from a past relationship, so it was okay.

Then I got better. Then I became stronger and better and felt okay enough to maybe do something about it. But anytime I tried to get close, nothing happened.

But then something started to happen. I thought that maybe it wasn’t so one-sided. Maybe ever, or maybe not anymore. It didn’t feel like I was the only one there.

And that scared me. I’d spent years in that comfortable, safe, familiar spot of one-sided love – well, maybe love is a little too strong. It felt familiar, and then it became unfamiliar. Then it became scary because it was new and uncharted and terrifying, and I didn’t know what to do when I’d already gotten so used to the way it’s been.

So I ran. Metaphorically speaking. I ran and it ruined something that could have been amazing, something I’d thought about for years.

And now it feels too late, but my feelings are still here, and they hurt. And every day I feel regret and guilt that I was so close and I ruined it, hurting us both. I don’t know what to do. I know this isn’t a question, but I don’t know what to do.

He stands, and he walks to Jungkook’s office. Jungkook perks up in a way that almost makes the tears fall, looking so happy and excited just to see him. Taehyung quietly closes the door, then he rounds his desk. He rests his hands on Jungkook’s cheeks and tilts his head up. He kisses him. It’s maddeningly slow, deep and gentle all at once.

“My Kookie,” he whispers against his lips. “I’m so happy I get to be yours now.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “M-Me too.”

“I’ll come kiss you whenever you want, but you better not abuse it.”

Jungkook nuzzles their noses together. “I’ll try my hardest.”

Taehyung knows he’s not going to try very hard. If he had a private office he could call Jungkook to, he knows he’d be doing the same thing. He kisses between Jungkook’s eyebrows. He kisses his temple, then his cheek. “Okay, I have work to do now.” He kisses his lips. Then again. Then one more time because he can’t resist. “Love kissing you.” One more kiss, then he leaves before he gets too lost in it and forgets about everything else.

Before he can open the door, Jungkook says, “Tae?”

“Hm?”

“I think you’re really beautiful.”

Taehyung rests his hands on his cheeks to try to cool them off. “I think you’re beautiful too, baby,” he says, then he escapes so he doesn’t go kiss him again.

He sits down at his desk again and rereads the question again, his breathing shaky.

A: I think he probably wants to run too, so I think you should run to each other.

– ♡ –

It’s still nice enough to sit outside in the park on their lunch breaks, and he hopes this nice weather lasts for a little longer. The sunlight is warm just like the leaves around them, a slight chill in the breeze to cool them off and weave through the threads of his sweater.

He and Jimin are sitting on their usual bench. It would be much easier to eat at one of the tables placed around the park, but they’ve already established this as their spot, so it’d feel wrong to sit anywhere else.

Taehyung just finished telling Jimin about what happened in as much detail as he can spare – which isn’t much. It was just such a… such a beautiful, warm night they spent together that he doesn’t want to give any of it away to anybody. It’s theirs, and he wants to keep it as only theirs.

“And,” Taehyung says, but he cuts himself off with a giggle thinking about Jimin’s reaction. “So, you know the person who always comments on my videos? Jaykay?”

“Yeah,” Jimin says, eyebrows furrowed at the seemingly random mention. Taehyung looks at him. They look at each other – Jimin at his eyes, Taehyung at his lips as he chews. Taehyung doesn’t say anything, and Jimin looks more and more confused at the staring at the random mention. Many, many seconds later, Jimin’s eyes go wide. His lips part. Then he stands up and walks away.

Taehyung makes a noise of surprise and confusion. He watches Jimin walk down the brick path that weaves through the park, getting lost in the trees. Taehyung watches his journey, his fast pace as he walks through the park. He arrives back at him several minutes later and sits down, bringing his food to his lap again.

When Jimin realized he liked Jungkook in one of his videos and commented saying he was going to have the zoomies around his apartment, it seems that he wasn’t lying, because he needed to take a break to cool off and process everything.

“Are you for real?” he asks.

He didn’t tell Jimin what actually finally got them to kiss yet, because he wanted to save this reveal for last. “I whispered something and he recognized my voice.” He wraps his hand around Jimin’s forearm before he can get up and take another lap, which he was intending to do.

“This is so much more than I even imagined,” Jimin says, which is hilarious because it implies that he’s imagined it extensively – and with his investment in all of this, Taehyung wouldn’t be surprised.

“Yeah, it’s kinda crazy how everything is connected.”

“Have you guys talked about what you’ll do next?”

Taehyung takes a bite of his kimbap because he’s been so focused on excitedly telling Jimin everything that he hasn’t been eating. “He said he wants to think about it. Since he’s everybody’s boss and everything.”

“Yeah,” Jimin says, taking a bite of Taehyung’s kimbap. “That’s tricky. Oh well. If you guys decide not to hide it from the office, anyone who has a problem with it – for literally no reason – can’t go complain to anybody since Jungkook’s the highest-ranking person at work. It’s not like either of you can get fired since Jungkook’s the one who fires people.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says. “It would just suck if everyone whispers about me or gives me dirty looks.”

“I think anybody who would do that would be doing it out of jealousy that you’re dating Jungkook, not because they’re upset about office politics. And all of those people don’t matter, and we barely even see them since they have their own part of the office that you can’t even see from our section. You don’t even have a team anymore, so you don’t interact with anybody. And the rest of us are your guys’ friends, and we obviously couldn’t care less. Not even that, I’m sure everybody would freak the f*ck out. In a very good way.”

“Yeah, probably.” He wonders, when they go to the entertainment center next weekend, if he and Jungkook will go together for everyone to see. He hopes they will. He doesn’t want to hide this. Hiding it at the office is no problem, because that’s just being professional. He’s not going to make out with Jungkook in the middle of the kitchen (even though he’d like to), because that’s just basic workplace etiquette. But to hide it outside of work and with their friends, that would kind of hurt. “Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about you and Yoongi-hyung.”

Before Jimin can start, they see Jungkook. He’s walking through the park, and Taehyung forgot this is something he’s been doing for a while now, during every lunch hour. And like all those other times, he’s walking with a woman. He forgot about her too. Before, he thought maybe she and Jungkook were together and that’s why Jungkook didn’t like him. Now he doesn’t know who she is.

He’s not at all threatened or jealous by it anymore. He knows Jungkook likes him – a lot. He’s not worried or anxious, just curious. He’ll ask him later when they’re all back from lunch.

“Our date is this weekend,” Jimin says, a smile on his face from just the thought of it. “I told him we don’t have to wait for the weekend and I’d love to just have dinner together after work one day, but he’s been busy lately and doesn’t have time ‘til the weekend anyway, so it’s okay. We’ve waited forever; a few more days won’t hurt.”

“Isn’t it crazy how this is happening for the both of us at the same time? It’s been building for so long – well, I didn’t know that until recently for myself, but it has been – and the bubble finally popped or the spark finally lit at the same time.”

“Yeah, that’s really nice,” Jimin says. He scoots closer to him and rests his head on his shoulder. “Meant to be friends.” Taehyung smiles to himself thinking of him saying the same thing to Jungkook about him and Yoongi. Maybe this is all more woven together than he thought. He thinks of the flower bracelets he used to make as a kid, the way he wove the stems gently enough so they wouldn’t break, but firmly enough that they’d stay tied with the others. It’s like they were flowers plucked and braided together, or stars placed beside each other to form a constellation. It all just feels a little too… a little too intentional, or destined for this to just be something that happened one day. It feels like it started before they even knew each other, like this was all waiting to happen.

But that’s really getting ahead of himself. Still, it’s been a faint, fluttering whisper in him that he’s felt since they kissed under the amber streetlight on the college campus. This just doesn’t feel new. It has the beautiful, fluttery excitement of being something new, but something about it is familiar and worn-in.

He shakes his head to clear away the thoughts. He’ll think about it some other time. For now, he’s in the park with his best friend, having lunch amidst the autumn colors, and he doesn’t want to waste time with someone he loves by being anywhere but here.

They talk for a while more and only finally go in when the air starts to feel a little chilly – not because they even pay attention to the time to make sure they don’t take a longer lunch break than they’re allotted. Taehyung shivers when he steps into the warmth of the office again, and he walks to the kitchen to make himself a warm drink. He realizes that the sun has become covered by grey clouds, and that it might rain.

Rainy days at the paper’s headquarters are always so cozy. The office is already cozy and atmospheric and moody as it is, so adding rain makes it an even nicer place to be. Before he can turn the water kettle on, Jungkook appears and stops him. “Come with me,” he says.

Confused (and sleepy, because the darker sky and promise of rain instantly makes him want to get curled up), he follows Jungkook. Jungkook leads him to his office and closes the door behind them, but Taehyung doesn’t even notice that because of what he sees.

Jungkook’s office is not very big or elaborate. It’s just a desk with two chairs on the other side, a loveseat against one wall, and a bookshelf beside it. The art and shelves on the wall make it feel a little more closed in in a nice way.

He’s never really looked around too much because it’s most just been… an office. Nothing special to him because Jungkook was nothing special to him, especially when it wasn’t until rather recently that Jungkook started closing his door or blinds.

Now, it still looks warmer because he can see traces of Jungkook around it, and right now there are warm lights draped around the walls. The window is open, so Taehyung can see the dark sky and the rain that’s now falling, the gentle pattering in the office with them. There’s a candle on Jungkook’s desk – vanilla-scented, which Taehyung takes note of, because he’s surprised Jungkook would have a scented candle.

On the loveseat is a wonderful-looking soft, fuzzy blanket that Taehyung wants to bury himself under. On the small table beside it, he sees a cup of tea. And beside that is Taehyung’s own laptop and notebook.

“If you’d rather work at your desk, that’s more than okay,” Jungkook says after a while. “I promise. It’s just raining and dark and cozy, and I–I want to be cozy with you.” Taehyung looks at him because he knows there will be a warm blush on his cheeks (and there is). “I won’t bother you. We both have work to do. I just… want to be in the same space as you.”

Taehyung’s heart aches. He rests his hand on Jungkook’s cheek. “Whatever you want from me, you’ll get. Especially when I want it too. Of course I want to work in here with you. The sweetest boy in the world, aren’t you?”

Jungkook blushes further and nuzzles into his palm. Maybe he’s a nuzzly one too. Taehyung doesn’t mind sharing the title if it’s this cute.

“Just want to be good to you,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung steps closer. He kisses him. “I don’t think you’re capable of being anything but that,” he says. “You’re good without even trying.”

“So are you,” Jungkook says. “Even if you have a sassy attitude.” Taehyung laughs and gently tugs on the hair at his nape in punishment. “See?” He rolls his eyes, and it’s just proving Jungkook’s point further. He kisses his lips again to put an end to it.

“Okay, let’s get to work,” he forces himself to say after a few more kisses. “It’s already after lunchtime and I’ve barely gotten anything done.”

“Fine,” Jungkook mumbles. Taehyung doesn’t know why he’s the one who keeps having to tell them to get to work and not his actual boss.

Taehyung walks to the loveseat, and he holds back his giggle as he wraps the blanket around himself and settles in. He feels so warm right now. It’s all so comfortable. But when Jungkook sits down at his desk, Taehyung becomes less comfortable. “What are you doing?” Jungkook looks at him. “Why aren’t you sitting here with me?”

“Well, the couch is small, and I didn’t know if you’d want me to be that close in case it would bother you. You can get kind of snappy when people bother you at your desk.”

“Of course I want you close to me. You could never be a bother.”

Jungkook stands and gathers his laptop and other things he needs as he says, “Literally this morning you told me to go away and stop bothering you.”

“Well you’re not bothering me now,” Taehyung says, because that is definitely something that happened – many times before this morning too.

Jungkook sits beside him on the loveseat, and Taehyung really wants to tuck himself into Jungkook’s side, but he has to work. He turns his body so his back is against the arm of the couch, then he takes his shoes off and throws his legs over Jungkook’s lap.

Jungkook just laughs and holds his arms back, letting him wiggle around and kick him and do what he needs to settle in and get comfy. Once he’s gone still, Jungkook grabs his laptop and rests it on top of Taehyung’s legs. “Is this okay?” he asks.

Taehyung nods. The heat from the laptop makes this feel even nicer. He looks around the office again at the warm lights and the flickering candle – the only illumination in the office as rain falls outside. Looks at Jungkook who’s somehow already focused, because he’s the editor-in-chief for a reason and has an incredible work ethic, even if he keeps interrupting Taehyung’s work and his own.

There’s a cute furrow between his eyebrows, a slight pout on his lips. The typing on his keyboard is soft against the rain sounds. His bangs move with his eyelashes every time he blinks, and it’s lovely.

“Oh yeah,” Taehyung says when he remembers something. This time Jungkook gives him what he wants to be a blank stare, but he could never really accomplish that. He shows too many of his thoughts and emotions on his face, and the gentleness that’s there when he looks at Taehyung is always the primary expression.

“Who’s the one being distracting now, hm?” He teasingly squeezes above Taehyung’s knee, making him kick his leg out with a giggle. “‘Oh yeah’ what, sweetheart?”

Taehyung quickly swallows because a squeak was on its way up his throat.

Sweetheart.

His heart flutters. He likes the way that word makes him feel.

“In the park. You were walking with a woman. And you have been for a really long time.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Jungkook says. If it were anybody else, Taehyung would be anxious by Jungkook’s clear nervousness, but he’s not. It’s making him want to comfort Jungkook more than demand to know what’s going on. “That’s Sanghee. She’s my, uh, therapist.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says, surprised. “That’s great.” He means it sincerely. The process of seeking out a therapist and continuing to go to them is already incredibly brave and caring to himself, but it’s especially wonderful when it’s someone as shy as Jungkook.

“Her office is down the street, but I was always too nervous to just sit and talk to her. To have to look at her and tell her my problems and my thoughts and feelings and stuff. She could tell I always wanted to pace around the office or face the wall, so she suggested we go on walks through the park for our sessions. It helped so much. So once a week we take a walk and talk about things.”

“She sounds very kind if that’s something she suggested for you,” Taehyung says. “Do you like her?”

“Y-Yeah, she’s really great. Um, the reason I even started seeing her was because of, um… you.” Taehyung’s stomach drops. Has he been that bad to Jungkook that he’d make him need therapy? “It was when my crush on you started to be something that could actually become real, and I was scared that I wouldn’t be ready for whatever it might become. I still felt some really specific types of panic and some spiraling thoughts because of my last relationship, so I knew I needed someone else’s help to get through that. It made me realize that I wasn’t as moved on as I thought I was. Some things were still sticking to me, and I just wanted to let it all go. So, y-yeah, she’s been helping me. Trying to… I don’t know, psyche me up to maybe one day ask you out.” He chuckles.

“Oh,” Taehyung says quietly. He first saw them together an entire season ago. Jungkook was preparing for this for that long.

He doesn’t know what to say. He puts his laptop on the coffee table, and he takes Jungkook’s from his legs and does the same. He adjusts his body so he’s next to Jungkook, curled into a ball and tucked into his side. The office is so cozy and warm and it feels that way in Jungkook’s arms too. “I don’t know how we’re going to ever get any work done since we both work at the same place.”

“What if I said we don’t have to today?”

Taehyung blinks at him, unamused. “Yes we do. We don’t have a job where we can just take a day off unprepared.”

“We are prepared though,” Jungkook says. “Nothing we planned on writing today is time-sensitive – mostly just fluff pieces. We almost always just write fluff pieces, so I, um… Since we started co-running this team–”

“Since you joined my team as my subordinate.”

Jungkook snorts. “Since we started co-running this team, I started writing a bunch of articles. Not for this specific reason, but, I dunno. If you were having a bad day, you could have the day off without any stress. Or you wouldn’t have to work on sick days. Or if you just couldn’t write well that day, you didn’t have to push yourself and frustrate yourself. So I have a bunch of articles prepared just in case. You can pick one and look it over since it’s been a while since I’ve written anything, but I think they’re pretty good.”

Taehyung stares at him, lips parted. “What?” he whispers after a while.

Jungkook pulls him closer. He nuzzles his nose in his hair and leaves a kiss there, and Taehyung thinks that’s his favorite thing that’s ever happened to him. “We don’t have to work today and can just spend the rainy day cuddling if you want, because I already have things that can go in tomorrow’s issue."

“Why did you let me say things multiple times – joking and not – about how you don’t do anything?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I thought it was funny. Well, not that one time where I could tell you weren’t just talking about community news and were talking about us. But all the other times it was funny because I knew you weren’t actually upset. I thought everything was always funny. How you were with me basically from the time you started working here ‘til this summer. I know you’re upset about it; I can tell that it’s been bothering you that you had that attitude about me and we could’ve been doing this instead.” He kisses his forehead. He holds him closer. “But I thought it was cute and it made me like you more and more because it was so cute. So you have nothing to feel bad about. It never made me feel bad. I promise.”

Taehyung has been feeling bad about that, and he doesn’t know how Jungkook is able to tell. He’s been told by basically everyone that Jungkook was obviously entertained by it because he would’ve scolded anybody else and put them in their place, but he almost instigated it with him instead. Still, he feels bad, and he knows he will for a while, but he takes Jungkook’s word for it.

“Do you want to spend the day doing nothing?”

“If it’s with you, of course. I’d do anything with you.” He tilts his head up to look at him. He was going to ask him a question, but Jungkook looks down at him, and all that’s in his head is the way the fairy lights are like stars in his eyes. Jungkook is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, he thinks. Not even just the way he looks too; it’s like his kindness and his gentleness and how good he is shows on the outside too. He just looks safe. Before he can even register what he’s saying, too lost in his eyes to know of anything else, he says, quietly, “I think I’ve been falling in love with you for a while.”

Jungkook blinks at him. The lights in his eyes are like twinkling stars when he does. “Oh,” he finally says. “Me too. From the very first time I saw you I think.”

Taehyung wants to tell him about what Jimin told him. That moment of strange recognition they seemed to have before snapping out of it. He wants to ask if this doesn’t feel new to him either; if this doesn’t feel like a discovery, but just meeting again, maybe. He wants to ask if this feels like a settled, worn in, comfortable love, and not something they are learning for the first time.

But that’s a lot much too soon, even after their admission. So he’ll save it for some other time, and he rests his head back down in the crook of his neck.

Love was never something he thought much about. It was never really on his radar; he never felt like actively searching for it. Now that he has something close to love, now that he’s being held and talked to gently with kind words, he doesn’t know how this isn’t something he sought out. He thinks that maybe if he had searched for it, it would’ve led to Jungkook anyway. He knows everything he’s thinking is so much for this to be technically only day two of being together, but it’s just… it’s just strange. The things he’s feeling. This just feels like it existed before they even knew each other, and no matter the route it took him on, his path would’ve led to Jungkook one way or another.

He really does push the thoughts away this time, because these thoughts are insane for so early on. He wonders if Jungkook feels this way too. Then he forces himself to stop wondering, because he’s here with Jungkook right now, and he wants to be here with him.

“Do you want anything?” he asks. “A drink or something to eat?”

Jungkook nuzzles into his hair again. Taehyung really likes when he does that, especially when he presses a kiss there right after too. “No, I’m okay right now,” he says. “I’ll get you something if you want it though.”

Taehyung tilts his head up again. “A kiss?” he asks.

That bunny smile, those sparkly eyes. Taehyung wants to look at him forever, but he closes his eyes when Jungkook presses his lips to his own. It’s a strange sensation to feel his lip ring against his lips, but he thinks he likes it. It reminds him that bad boy-looking Jungkook kisses him so softly.

He loses track of how long they kiss. All he feels is the warmth of Jungkook’s arms, the faint vanilla-scented candle, the sound of the rain in the small, cozy, warmly-lit room with him. The kisses never speed up, never turn deeper. Taehyung still doesn’t know what Jungkook’s tongue feels like, just his soft sighs into his open-mouthed kisses. He finds himself moving at the same time that Jungkook guides him with hands on his hips. He finds himself seated in Jungkook’s lap, straddling him, towering above him just slightly, only enough for him to have to tilt Jungkook’s head up with a hold on his jaw. Jungkook’s hands are on his hips, his thumbs ghosting beneath his sweater to draw slow, ticklish circles on his bare skin as he lets him lead the kiss.

Taehyung’s other hand brushes through Jungkook’s hair. Jungkook hums into the kiss, so Taehyung presses down a little harder, uses his short nails. Jungkook’s movement on his hips stops as he gets lost in the feeling, in the nonstop kisses.

Taehyung remembers that Jungkook watches his asmr videos. He remembers how sensitive he is to things – a fact even further confirmed by being his top-viewer on his channel. He kisses the side of Jungkook’s lips. His cheek, the spot just in front of his ear. Then he whispers, his voice low and quiet, “My baby Kookie.” He keeps brushing through his hair, and Jungkook takes a shaky breath. He kisses his ear. “So sweet to me. I love kissing you. You’re so soft with me. My sweet baby Kookie.” He kisses his cheek again, then his lips. Jungkook barely kisses back though. Taehyung leans back, and he inhales a short gasp because of the look in Jungkook’s eyes. They’re dilated, but they’re so hazy and sleepy too. He looks like he’s just on the verge of falling asleep. He didn’t know he had this much of an effect on him when he does his videos, and experiencing it in real life while getting to finally feel his fingers through his hair is probably a lot.

Taehyung cups his hands just below his jaw, his eyes roaming all over his face. “What a pretty boy,” he whispers. Jungkook’s blinks are slow, taking his time to close and open his eyes. He leans in and nudges the tips of their noses together. “Would you like to take a nap together?” Jungkook very slowly nods. “Have you been having trouble sleeping still?”

Jungkook nods slowly again. “It’s been… it’s been better lately, but still not great.”

“Let’s nap then. And if you ever have problems falling asleep, you can call me and I’ll whisper to you until you fall asleep.”

He reluctantly gets off of Jungkook’s lap to go lock his door. Jungkook grabs a pillow from the chair beside the couch, and he adjusts so he’s lying down. Taehyung comes back to him, but he pulls Jungkook out of his comfortable laying position. “Hey…” Jungkook says sadly.

Taehyung just moves him out of the way, then he lies down like Jungkook was. Then he tugs Jungkook down so he’s lying mostly on top of him, tucked into his side between his body and the couch like it’s a warm little spot just for him. “Are you comfortable?” he asks. Jungkook gets cozy, cuddles closer and tucks his head in the crook of his neck. Taehyung wraps his arms around him and keeps him close. Jungkook nods. “Okay, just let yourself fall asleep,” he whispers. His fingers go back to Jungkook’s hair, brushing through the soft strands and dragging lightly against his scalp. When he starts to whisper, he thinks about how these are exactly like the types of videos he makes, but now there’s something here. He’s not just talking to a camera; now there’s someone to fill the empty space. And it wouldn’t feel like this if it were just anyone; it’s because it’s Jungkook, like that spot where no one was was shaped just for him.

“I’m so happy with you,” he whispers. “I can’t wait to see again and again how perfectly you fit into my life. Can’t wait for you to come over to my apartment, and I can see how it feels like you’re supposed to be there. Wanna show you all of my plants. Wanna sit on the balcony with you and just spend the night talking. Wanna see your cute house too. See how it feels like you, learn what it means for something to feel like you. Wanna take Bam on walks and hold hands. Wanna kiss you in my apartment, and in your home, and in every spot around town. Wanna show you how good I’ll treat you, so you never, ever, ever have to be scared. Not of me, not of being in a relationship again. You’ll never have to wait for something bad to happen. Wanna show you how you can settle in and relax, because I’d never hurt you. I’ll always be good to you. My baby.” He hears Jungkook sniffle and take a trembling breath, but just a second later he’s asleep, like he was desperately holding onto staying awake to hear Taehyung whisper for longer.

Taehyung’s heart is beating so hard he’s afraid it might wake Jungkook up. He’s just… he’s falling in love with this sweetheart in his arms. He wants to do everything he can to keep him safe and keep him as his. He lifts his head to kiss Jungkook’s forehead, then he falls asleep with him to the sound of the rain.

– ♡ –

Taehyung wakes up before Jungkook does. He’s glad he does, because it means Jungkook is getting a lot of rest. He’s nervous this will make it even harder to fall asleep at night, but Jungkook responded to his whispering so quickly, so he’ll call him tonight to whisper again.

It’s still raining out. The sky is dark from the storm and not from the late hour, so they must have a few hours of work still left. He feels kind of bad that he’s waking up from a nap in his boss’s cozy office while everyone works on the other side of the door, but – not to praise himself or make it a competition – he thinks he works harder than almost anybody in the office, so he thinks he deserves a lazy day. Not that everyone else doesn’t work hard and put in so much effort, because they do. Everyone else just has priorities that are more important to them than work – as they should – so they go home when the day ends and don’t work in their free time like Taehyung does, since he really has nothing else to do.

He think that’s changed now. And the reason for it makes little sniffling noises when he wakes up, and it’s a new discovery that could melt Taehyung’s heart. Taehyung starts running his hand up and down Jungkook’s back to help gently guide him out of sleep. “Hi, baby,” he says, just above a whisper.

Jungkook nuzzles his face into his neck, and he supposes they really are both nuzzly ones. Jungkook’s adorable nose presses against his skin, then his lips do the same right after. “Hi,” Jungkook says quietly and sleepily.

“How are you feeling?”

Jungkook somehow manages to move even closer, almost lying on top of him on the not-very-big couch. “Cuddly.”

Taehyung hums and holds him tighter. “You feel cuddly too.” Jungkook’s body is warm from sleep, and everything is so nice. He silently laughs to himself over how unconventional every part of their relationship has been – from how they met and used to interact to how they got together, doing so because Taehyung whispered during an investigation. And now they’re napping in his boss’s office. He supposes being boss and employee is unconventional in itself, so there aren’t any rules to follow really. “Can I get you anything?”

“A forehead kiss.”

Taehyung giggles and kisses Jungkook’s forehead, then a couple more times after that too. “You’re not allowed to let me in your office tomorrow. Okay?”

Jungkook sighs, because he knows they’ll never get work done if he keeps coming in. “What if we practice? Like you come in a few times a day just for one kiss and you leave, or we don’t close the door at all so we can’t kiss.”

Taehyung laughs. Jungkook is really trying to get his daily kisses. “I’m too weak for you,” Taehyung says. “But I’ll practice restraint. We really are going to have to figure it out. We see each other five days a week minimum.” Then he starts to get a little nervous.

His silence must hold a different quality to it, because Jungkook says, “What are you thinking about?”

Taehyung runs his nails up and down Jungkook’s back because he can’t nervously fidget right now with an entire person on top of him. “What if you get sick of me?” he asks quietly (being mindful that his voice is just quiet, not a whisper). “We see each other forty hours a week – sometimes more. On top of us spending a Saturday or Sunday together here and there. That’s a lot of time. A lot of time. You’re going to see me so much, and–”

“Hey,” Jungkook says with a squeeze to his side. It has a slightest hint of Boss Jungkook in the tone that he’s heard spoken to others, but never him. “Are you going to get sick of seeing me so much?”

“Of course not. I don’t think we’ll see each other enough, in fact.”

The feeling of Jungkook laughing on top of him is so nice. “That’s how I feel too. I’ll never get sick of you.” He tilts his head up and kisses his jaw.

Again, he thinks about how this is all a lot quite soon – but he’s not put off by it in the slightest. And maybe not too soon, since they’ve known each other for so long anyway, and Taehyung’s (finally acknowledged) romantic feelings have been there for months. It’s like they were already here, but when their lips touched, it unlocked the words trapped there and let them finally talk about it.

It’s like he can’t control the words he speaks around Jungkook; they just demand to be said after so long. So before he realizes what he’s doing, he’s tilting Jungkook’s head up to look at him. Jungkook looks so sleepy and sweet, his hair a little fluffy and his cheek red from being pressed against his chest for so long. “Will you be my boyfriend?” he asks quietly.

Jungkook’s lips part. He searches his face, then he lays his head back down. “No.”

It’s silent for a few seconds, just the sound of the rain. Taehyung looks unseeing around the room. “What?”

Jungkook giggles. “No. I was going to ask you on our date this weekend.”

“Kookie,” Taehyung whines. He pokes him in the ribs. “Be my boyfriend.”

“Nope.”

“Jungkook.”

Jungkook giggles again. “No. I’m rejecting you.”

Taehyung would normally joke that he’s going to go out there and ask one of their random interns on a date since Jungkook won’t be his boyfriend, but he doesn’t think that’d go over well at all considering Jungkook’s previous relationship. So he doesn’t say that and kisses his forehead instead. “I’m rejecting you on our date then.”

“No you won’t.”

“Yes I will,” Taehyung says. He holds Jungkook closer because he just feels so light and happy right now.

“I’m firing you if you do.”

Taehyung giggles this time. “No you won’t. Then you have no one to kiss at work.”

Jungkook tilts his head up. He connects their lips and hums. “Yeah, I don’t think I can come here without kissing you anymore.” Jungkook kisses his smile.

Taehyung wraps his arms around Jungkook tighter. He guides his head to his neck again, one hand cradling the back of it. He closes his eyes, and he doesn’t even feel the soft upward curve of his lips as he feels Jungkook on top of him as the raindrops patter outside.

He likes this so much.

He doesn’t know how much time passes where they lie in soft silence, but they eventually start to hear everyone moving on the other side of the door, meaning the work day must be ending. When they finally get up, it feels strange to have a body that’s not pressed against Jungkook’s. He wonders if this is how it’ll feel now, an absence.

“Can I walk you home?” Jungkook asks.

“Of course.” Taehyung leaves his cozy office to go pack up his things after a grueling, extremely productive day. No one else is there besides him, the office empty as he gathers all of his things in his bag. Jungkook comes out of his office right as he’s finished. In the foyer of their building, they have an umbrella holder with tons of umbrellas that just stay there in case it rains and people aren’t prepared. It’s such a small, sweet detail that Jungkook set up, and even when he was annoyed with his boss, he acknowledged how sweet of an overlooked gesture it was.

Jungkook picks the biggest umbrella they have there, and Taehyung hooks his arm through Jungkook’s as they step out of the office. He locks the door behind him, then he opens the big umbrella. The falling of raindrops is gentle against the nylon umbrella cover. The black material makes the day feel even darker and moodier, feels like they’re hidden and secret as they walk through the rain. It’s cozy. Everything about today is cozy. It’s been such a nice day.

It’s chilly out, and he doesn’t even really feel that. Not when he’s sharing Jungkook’s body heat. “Kookie?” he asks as they’re standing at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change so it’s their turn to cross. He realizes that he just started calling Jungkook by that nickname like it’s something he’s always done.

“Hm?”

Taehyung stands in front of him. They’re basically the same height, so their faces are aligned when they stand like this, eye to eye, nose to nose, lips to lips. “I really like you.”

The corner of Jungkook’s lips tilt up. “So do I,” he says. He takes his hand with the one that’s not holding the umbrella, and he kisses the top of it. “Never would’ve thought that the Taehyung I knew a while ago would be such a sweetheart like this.”

Taehyung huffs. He has a point though. He’s not even like this this much with anybody else. It’s new, and it’s because of Jungkook. It’s not something he’s even doing intentionally; all he can do is be sweet to him. “Just for you,” he says. He wraps his arms around him in a hug and he nuzzles their cheeks together. Beneath his closed eyelids, he can see the colors of the stoplight changing, meaning they can cross. They stay just like this though. Taehyung nuzzles into his neck and leaves a kiss there, then he leans back to leave a kiss on his lips too.

He hooks his arm through Jungkook’s again and rests his head on his shoulder as they wait for their turn again.

He wants to be sweet to Jungkook. He wants to be good. He wants to do a good job of this. He knows it’s probably scary for Jungkook – the first relationship after a cruel, traumatizing one. He really doesn’t want to mess this up. He wants Jungkook to feel safe with him.

They finally cross the street when the light changes. Car lights and streetlights and stoplights are reflected on the wet pavement, looking like colors melting together. Raindrops cause ripples in the puddles gathering on the curbs and sidewalk and a gentle tapping on their umbrella. They’re the only ones out for a rainy walk.

Taehyung doesn’t live far from the headquarters, so it’s only a few minutes later that they arrive at his apartment. He turns to Jungkook and his rep-tipped nose. It’s quite cold out now that the sun is setting, even more so with the rain. “Do you want to come up?” he asks. “I could make us some tea. Warm up a little bit, or I can drive you home.”

“No, that’s okay,” Jungkook says. “I have to go take care of Bam, and it’s a short distance to drive so it’d be silly. It’s not too far.”

“Are you sure? It’s getting cold out.”

“Come kiss me then and I’ll warm right up.”

Taehyung giggles and steps closer to him. “Only because I don’t want you to freeze on your walk.”

“Yeah, that’s why,” Jungkook teases.

“Mhm,” Taehyung says. “No other reason.” Then he kisses him, and they’re both smiling into it.

He wraps both arms around Jungkook’s neck and presses the fronts of their bodies together, trying to give him some of his body heat to walk home with. Taehyung warms right up too with the kisses. His arms slither from around Jungkook’s neck to rest his hands on his cheeks, trying to keep them warm for him.

“Text me when you’re home safe, okay?” he says.

“Okay,” Jungkook says quietly, eyes roaming all over his face in the way they always tend to do. “I liked spending today with you.”

Taehyung strokes his thumb back and forth beneath Jungkook’s eye. “So did I, baby. I really like being with you.”

Jungkook nods. “I’ll text you soon and see you tomorrow.”

Taehyung nods. He kisses him again, long and lingering. “Bye, Kookie.”

“Bye, sweetheart.” Taehyung’s cheeks heat up from the pet name, then he opens the door to his apartment and watches Jungkook go.

He sighs when he walks into his apartment. It was a nice day. He really did absolutely nothing today, and he feels a little guilty about it. He thinks it’s deserved though. He works hard every day and he has for years. This is such a wonderful new thing in his life, and he thinks it’s okay to take a day to fully bask in it.

He hangs up his coat and brings his bag to his office, then he goes to his bedroom to change out of his work clothes and into something comfier. The whole time he putters around, he hears the sound of rain peeking into his apartment. He walks to the thermostat and turns the heat up a couple degrees, then he starts to visit all of his plants.

He begins with the ones on the windowsills to make sure it’s not too cold for them to be there now that the season is getting chillier. He’ll have to start preparing the areas for the winter soon to make sure they stay warm while so close to the window, but they’re fine for now. He goes out to his balcony to grab the bucket he always keeps out there and he brings it inside. He pours the rainwater into his watering can, then he brings the empty bucket back out to collect more.

He waters the plants that need it, then he starts arranging them because the way the sunlight enters his apartment is different with the season, so he wants all of them to get what they need. As he’s pruning the older, dying leaves off one of his plants so that new ones can grow, his phone vibrates.

Jungkook
I’m home 🖤

Taehyung
Okay 🤎
Will you be my boyfriend?

Jungkook
Nope

Taehyung
Pleeeeeeeeease

Jungkook
No 😌

Taehyung
😒
Do you wanna see the new leaf that’s coming on my favorite plant?

Jungkook
Um duh
Of course

Taehyung was mostly being silly, but now his cheeks are an embarrassing shade of pink – even more embarrassing because it’s over nothing. It’s just… unexpected. The way it feels for someone to be interested in something like this. He’s never had someone to show his new plants’ leaves to. He takes a shaky breath, and he really needs to get it together. He was just very blindsided by this feeling. With cheeks the color of the philodendron pink princess beside him, he opens his camera app. He snaps a photo, making sure the angle is good and the light shows all of the details.

Taehyung
[image]

Jungkook
Woooooooah 😧
It has spots on the leaves!!!
What’s it called??

Taehyung honestly thinks he might tear up, and he’s so embarrassed of himself right now.

Taehyung
It’s a monstera thai constellation 🌌
They’re pretty rare and always really expensive but I managed to find one cheap a little while ago and now every new leaf makes me wanna cry

Jungkook
Oh the pattern on the leaves are like stars in a constellation!! ✨

Taehyung
Hehe yeah

Jungkook
Do you like plants? Do you have a lot of them?

Taehyung
Yes and yes
I think I have close to 70-ish

Jungkook
😧
70 plants??

Taehyung
Yeah

Jungkook
What in the
How do you even take care of all of those??

Taehyung
I like doing it so I never see it as a chore or something I have to do to keep them alive
It’s nice and calming to take care of them and spend time with them
Even nicer when they feel loved and supported enough to grow new leaves 🌱

Jungkook
Uuuuuugh Taaaaaaae
You’re so cute f*ck
So cute

Taehyung
Hehe
Cute enough to be my boyfriend?

Jungkook
Mmm now you’re pushin it I think

Taehyung
🙄
Do you have any plants?

Jungkook
No :(
I’ve never been good at taking care of them
I like taking care of my landscaping in the spring and summer though and planting flowers
I’ve never had any houseplants though

Taehyung
Your house is really cute
I’ve only seen it from the outside but both times I’ve seen it it’s really cute

Jungkook
Hehe thanks
Do you like your apartment?

Taehyung
I do
It’s cozy

Jungkook
I don’t doubt that since it’s yours
Oh wait
……
I just got so shy because I was gonna ask an asmr question and then I Really remembered you’re sweetnight

Taehyung
Hehehe
My baby’s the cute one now

Jungkook
I’ve been watching your videos for literally so long
Which you obviously know since you’ve seen me in your comments for that long

Taehyung
Yeah
You’ve always been the sweetest in all the ways I’ve known you 🤎🖤

Jungkook
You should make an asmr video of you taking care of your plants
It’d be different from what you usually do
Sunnier and more colorful than the usual dark room and purple and blue colors
Your hands are so pretty and watching them is one of my favorite parts of your videos and the videos with plants would be so slow and relaxing
Probably even more so because it’s you taking care of something, which is kind of what you do with your viewers
So it’d just be seeing your care in a different way
Oh wait sh*t
Is that annoying of me
I’m not trying to force ideas on you or make you do something
I’m sure you have a lot of your own ideas and you did not ask for suggestions
I see you in the comments sometimes when people are like “make a video of you doing x next.” and you get annoyed
I’m not trying to do that I was just thinking

Taehyung
Shush silly boy
It’s not annoying
And I actually have been low on ideas and I feel like my channel has gotten boring
So this is nice
I think I’ll do it

Jungkook
First of all your channel has NOT gotten boring
You could upload the same type of video ten times in a row and it’d never get boring
But before you do this I require a personal plant tour otherwise I’m copywriting my idea and you can’t use it

Taehyung
Kookie I really like you

Jungkook
Oh
I really like you too Taetae

Taetae. Taehyung might die.

Taehyung
I will give you a plant tour
And anything else you ever want

Jungkook
A plant tour and a kiss between each plant you show me and tell me about
So that’s around 70ish kisses

Taehyung
Might as well just round it up to a hundred

Taehyung forces himself to continue checking in on his plants because he realizes he’s just been standing in the middle of his kitchen looking down at his phone for the past fifteen minutes. Between each plant he checks in on, he takes a break to check his phone – practice for later when he gives Jungkook a kiss between each one.

Once he sees that all of his plants are happy and healthy, he cozies up on the couch under his favorite blanket. He and Jungkook are still – an hour later – texting nonstop. Their messages are barely sent before a typing bubble appears again, meaning Jungkook must be doing exactly what he himself is doing right now.

Taehyung thinks that if every day is like today – just a simple day with bits of lovely, ordinary magic woven throughout – then that’s a really wonderful life.

Chapter 21

Chapter Text

Taehyung wakes up for work early the next day, feeling more well-rested than he has in months. He went to bed around the same time as usual – later than he’d like to – and got the same amount of sleep, but he felt like he slept for years. He doesn’t know if he can credit it to Jungkook since he didn’t sleep with Jungkook last night, but he thinks maybe it’s still his doing. Just knowing he’s his and that he’ll get to see him in the morning was enough to make him sleep soundly.

He takes his time in the shower and checks on the maidenhair fern he has hanging there because it likes the extra humidity, then he does the same with all of his other bathroom plants when he gets out.

He flicks through the clothes in his closet for something warm since the temperatures drop in the evening when he walks home. He settles on a brown cable knit sweater with brown pants that are a few shades darker – not much different from his usual outfits. He dries his hair so it’s wavy and falls just a little bit in his eyes, then he finishes the look with gold-rimmed glasses since the evenings are darker and he needs the extra help sometimes.

It’s still quite early, but he gathers his things to leave for work. He likes the early mornings at the office sometimes when no one is there yet, and it means he can take a stroll to work rather than a walk.

He heads out, and the air smells of last night’s rain still. The puddles on the sidewalks and the streets have dried up, but the grass still holds droplets of the shower it was given. The town is waking up along with him, the signs hanging on some doors switching from closed to open, the grocery store rolling out carts of fruit, the coffee shop bringing out the chalkboard where they write the daily special drinks. Almost everyone he passes on the sidewalks gives him a smile, and he thinks about how if he were Hoseok, he would’ve been stopped to talk the second he walked out of his apartment. He has no idea how Hoseok even makes it to work on time.

He unlocks the door when he gets to the headquarters, and he sighs when he smells the familiar scent of newspaper that he thinks is probably part of the building’s foundation by now. He goes around and turns on the lamps on everybody’s desk, then he sets his bag on his own. He goes to the kitchen and makes a pot of coffee for everyone, then he grabs today’s edition of the newspaper while it brews.

He pours some coffee for himself – and adds a lot of cream and flavored syrup (something his boss used to comment on, making Taehyung scowl at him every time). He brings it back to his desk and opens the newspaper to today’s crossword puzzle and works on it as he sips his coffee.

He’s nearly done with it except for a few that he can’t figure out by the time the door to the office opens. He looks up as Jungkook walks in, looking as beautiful as ever. He’s dressed similar to him but with shades of black (of course). It must’ve started drizzling once he got here, because Jungkook’s hair is a little damp, making the waves in it come out more. He looks gorgeous. Jungkook looks up from his phone, and Taehyung’s heart beats faster when he sees him. He wonders if Jungkook’s does too.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he says, his voice so soft as he walks over to him.

“Hi, baby,” Taehyung says back. His head is tilted up with a finger beneath his chin, then Jungkook connects their lips, easy and simple. Jungkook tucks a lock of hair behind his ear, then he kisses him again.

“I missed you,” he says against his lips.

“Me too.” He holds onto the wrist of the hand cupping his cheek and nuzzles against his palm. He turns his head and kisses it too.

“I’m gonna go get settled in then I’ll come back for more kisses.”

No one has arrived to work yet except for them, so they’ve gotta squeeze in as many as they can because everyone will definitely catch on to how many times Taehyung goes to his office throughout the day. These slow mornings are nice when no one else is there, when the sleepy sunlight warms the space and spends the quiet hours with them. Usually it only takes its time waking with Taehyung as he sips his coffee and does his daily crossword puzzle, but he thinks those things are much better when there are kisses from his not-quite-yet boyfriend woven through the sunrays or given between answers penciled in on his puzzle or between sips of sweet coffee that they can taste on each other’s lips. He’s thought it before and he thinks about it now: that the sunlight and the moonlight love Jungkook as much as he’s starting to, because the way it falls onto him and lights up his eyes is so natural, so gentle that it looks like he’s being admired in adoration, the sun and the moon and all of the stars trying to get closer to this beautiful, kind person.

Taehyung giggles, the sound sleepy with the morning sun too. “Hurry please. I’m deprived.”

Jungkook giggles too, the sound like the birds outside chirping from their autumn-colored trees. Then Jungkook leaves peck after peck on his lips, so many in a row that Taehyung can barely get his smile away to let himself be kissed. He’s a giggly mess by the time Jungkook leans back. “That should hold you over ‘til then.”

Taehyung scoffs. “That was nothing. You have to do better than that.”

“My Taetae is never gonna lose this attitude with me, is he?”

“Maybe you can kiss it out of me,” Taehyung says, his voice familiarly challenging like it’s been with his boss for years. He receives dozens of more pecks on his lips, some long and lingering, others short and sweet. “You’ll never do it at this rate.” Jungkook sprinkles kisses all over his face – on each beauty mark he was given, on all of his smile and laugh lines that he formed himself, on every inch of his golden skin – until Taehyung squirms away from the ticklishness of it.

“I like my baby’s attitude,” Jungkook says, “so I’m not trying very hard.”

“If you say so,” Taehyung says, then Jungkook finally leaves him after a few more kisses.

Taehyung gets up and grabs his wallet. He leaves the headquarters and goes to the coffee shop next door. He returns a couple minutes later and heads to the kitchen, pouring a mug of coffee and making it just like he knows Jungkook likes it after years of watching him. Before, he was annoyed that Jungkook always came in the kitchen when he was in there (and now he knows why, and that it was definitely intentional), so he always watched him and how he made his coffee. He goes to Jungkook’s office with a drink and a breakfast pastry for him. “Oh…” Jungkook says quietly when he sets them down on his desk. “Thank you.”

Taehyung tilts his head up this time. “Anything for my baby.” Then he kisses him too. He huffs when he hears the door to the headquarters open as someone arrives much earlier than they should, considering it’s still quite early before work hours. They both have to prepare for this morning’s meeting, so he reluctantly leaves Jungkook’s office after a final kiss.

He returns just a minute later though and leans against the doorframe. “Hey.”

“Hm?” Jungkook says without looking away from whatever he’s typing on his laptop.

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

A mix between a laugh and a giggle bubbles out of Jungkook. “Nope.”

Taehyung huffs and returns back to his desk.

Their morning meeting starts three minutes after their scheduled time – which Jungkook gently scolds the others for (never him because he’s always on time, but even if he weren’t, he thinks he’d be excluded from the boss’s reprimanding).

Nothing of note happens, just the usual going through everybody’s daily agenda (with some new flirting thrown in). When it’s Taehyung’s turn, he smirks to himself. Everybody already suspects them (and at least two of them know, meaning there are only two left), and he loves teasing Jungkook. So when Jungkook turns to him, expecting to hear what’s on his schedule for today, Taehyung says, “Will you be my boyfriend?”

Jungkook sputters for several seconds, his face turning red while Jimin cackles, Yoongi silently laughs, Hoseok also sputters, and Namjoon says, “Wait, what?”

Taehyung giggles as Jungkook covers his face. “So this is finally a thing?!” Hoseok asks. Taehyung nods. “I f*cking knew it. God, I wish we had people we could’ve bet with, but we all knew this was gonna happen at some point so there was no one to bet against.”

Taehyung doesn’t even mind the teasing from everyone; nothing could ever be bad because he has Jungkook. But, as expected – even in front of everyone – Jungkook says, “No, I will not be your boyfriend.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes and says, “Anyway, today I was going to–”

“Wait,” Namjoon says. “So is this… not a thing?”

“No, it definitely is,” Taehyung says, “but he refuses to be my boyfriend.”

“Jungkook,” Jimin gasps. “If you’re playing Taehyung, I’m serious, I’ll go to the government and get you fired.”

“What would the government do?” Yoongi laughs.

“I don’t know, but Jungkook is the boss, so there’s no one to fire him. I’ll lie and tell the government you did something bad so you get fired for a workplace violation.”

“No, I’m not playing Taehyung,” Jungkook huffs. “You guys clearly know I’ve liked him since forever.” Now it’s Taehyung’s turn to blush. “I said I was going to ask him to be my boyfriend on our date this weekend, but he wants to be the one to ask, so now he won’t stop harassing me.”

Taehyung throws his head back and laughs. He really, really, really likes his sweet, silly Jungkookie. His boss who he didn’t like forever is slowly but surely taking over all of his thoughts. But he realizes that he always did, so this is nothing new really.

After a while more of questioning from their friends, the meeting finally carries on so Taehyung can tell his boss what he plans on doing today. Once he has his approval (with a few good suggestions thrown in, because even back then, Taehyung has known Jungkook is a good boss), they finally end the meeting so they can go work on what they discussed.

Taehyung ignores Jungkook’s whining and begging to come to his office to kiss him and sits at his own desk. They can’t do a repeat of yesterday, and he knows it’ll happen if he goes into his office. Their relationship is new and exciting (and he kind of thinks it’ll never stop feeling that way), so they have to get through this stage so they can finally be professional at work and can fight the constant tug towards each other.

Taehyung goes out to the mailbox to gather the advice column questions they received overnight, and thankfully there’s not very many since it rained all last night and no one seems to have wanted to go out into the storm to drop anything off. “Thankfully” because he’s getting back into the swing of work after yesterday, not because he doesn’t want to answer peoples’ questions.

He reads all of them, chooses some more pressing ones for tomorrow’s issue, and saves the others for some quieter days. Then he opens the email inbox so he can choose tomorrow’s out of town question, because that always takes a little longer to add to their website because he runs the website himself (and adds everyone’s articles there) rather than just sending everything off to the Formatting and Printing team.

He reads everyone’s questions too before deciding on one he feels drawn to.

– ♡ –

– ♡ –

Once Taehyung uploads it onto their website, he thinks about his and Jungkook’s own date. He wonders what Jungkook has planned. Even if it doesn’t align with what he answers, he hopes he knows he’ll love it just because it means they’ll get to be together. He thinks about what his part of the date will be, and even though it’s an activity, the activity doesn’t draw them away from each other. The whole time they’ll be close and able to talk, which is what he thinks is important about a date.

He answers a few more questions that will go in their physical newspaper for the people in their community, and the next time he checks the clock, it’s time for lunch. Jimin comes in with a bag of food from their usual café, then he takes his hand on the walk to the park across the street.

They wipe away a few water droplets that are still sitting on their bench, and they sit there instead. Jimin’s roots are growing out, a touch of black hair amidst the bright blonde. Somehow, he’s able to pull it off rather than looking like he needs to get his hair done, but Jimin is so beautiful that he can pull anything off, really. He’s wearing a white sweater with jeans, looking comfortable and cute.

The sun has come out from its brief time behind the clouds during the morning’s short drizzle. Now it sparkles off all the rain puddles and what clings to the autumn leaves. People are back outside now that the day has cleared, walking along the trails or playing on the playground on the other end of the park. He swears he can smell fresh bread from Seokjin’s bakery across the street. He turns to look, and the violet door is open, allowing the scent to travel through the rain-thick air, all the way to them. He’s certain it’s succeeded in luring tons of customers inside.

“I feel like we haven’t talked in ages,” Jimin pouts as he takes their food out of the bag.

They do see each other every day, but it does feel like it’s been a while since they’ve really spent time with each other. “Yeah, it feels that way for me too. I have a date with Jungkook on Saturday, but are you still coming over on Sunday?”

“Of course,” Jimin says. “What are you doing on your date?”

“It’s actually going to be the whole day because I wanted to bring Jungkook on a date and he wanted to bring me on a date, and neither of us would accept it because of that, so the first half of the day is Jungkook’s, and the second half is mine.”

Jimin laughs through his bite of food. “I’m excited to hear about it. I think Yoongi and I are finally going on our date this weekend.”

Taehyung chuckles. “If you say so.” It’s been weeks since they agreed to go on a date. “He better not be standing you up again.”

“He’s not standing me up. We just never made a formal plan, and he’s been busy lately.” He shrugs. “I’m going to demand we finally go on a date. We’ve still been seeing each other and grabbing lunch or hanging out at home, so I guess those are like little dates too. We’ve been getting closer, just haven’t gone on an official date. I dunno. Our relationship is weird and has been from the beginning. Yours and Jungkook’s too.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says. “It makes for a fun story. It also makes us finally being like this so much better because it’s been building for years.”

“Yeah, I think so too,” Jimin says, smiling into the next bite of food.

They stay outside in the park definitely past their lunch hour, but they know Jungkook doesn’t care – especially now that he and Taehyung are together. The weather is beautiful out, warm in the way autumn can be warm while still having a cool breeze, and they want to savor this October while they still can before winter arrives.

Only once Jimin’s phone chimes with a meeting reminder to meet with his team do they finally get up and reluctantly migrate back inside. Reluctantly only because they like to be together, not because work is ever something they dread.

When Taehyung returns to his desk and opens his laptop, the bottom of the screen flashes with a notification.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Come to my office

Kim Taehyung, Community News
😐

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
For work reasons 🙄
I’m serious

Taehyung doesn’t believe him, but he walks to his office a few steps away with his laptop in his arms.

“Close the door,” Jungkook says. Once Taehyung does, Jungkook says, “Kiss,” waiting expectantly. Taehyung gives him an unamused look. “I’m serious, I do have a work thing to talk to you about. But I need a kiss first.”

Taehyung’s blank stare falters because of the smile that comes to his lips. He rounds Jungkook’s desk and kisses him for the first time since this morning, and it feels like much too long.

“So,” Jungkook says once he sits on the other side of his desk, “the secret investigation. I found out something new.”

Taehyung keeps completely forgetting about their investigation, because all that’s in his head is Jungkook. “Oh,” he says, perking up excitedly. “What is it?”

“I stopped by the hair salon in town during my lunch break because I rain out of shampoo and conditioner, and–”

Taehyung can't even focus on scoring a new lead. He says, “Wait. You get your hair products from the hair salon?” Jungkook nods. “Not from the store?” He shakes his head, and he grows defensive when Taehyung is clearly holding back a laugh.

“What?”

Taehyung shrugs. “It’s just funny. All the stuff there is expensive and, like, brand name and high quality.”

“Yeah, so? I like to take care of myself.”

“Do you get the rest of your products from the spa on the rich side of town?” He’s just teasing him, but his mouth drops open from Jungkook’s silence. “Oh my god.” He starts laughing, and Jungkook gets more defensive.

“Stop! I like having good self-care products! I know you go out of your way to get stuff from the earthy, vegetarian, handmade store.”

That is very true. He likes it there because he likes products that are made from natural ingredients, but he doesn’t know how Jungkook knows that. “How do you know that?”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway–” Taehyung lets him have this and doesn’t press him further, especially because he knows some very embarrassingly specific things about Jungkook that a normal person would not know. “I was there picking up some things, and I heard one of the people who work at the front desk make an annoyed sound as she was doing inventory. I asked the other front desk worker if I could get the shampoo and conditioner I usually use, and the one doing the inventory had kind of an attitude when she said, ‘We don’t have that right now.’ Her attitude wasn’t with me really,” which Taehyung is glad to hear, because he was going to stomp over there and speak to her, “and she said they don’t have a lot of their normal stock. She didn’t say it outright, but her attitude with it and what we’ve heard mentioned before kind of points to someone stealing it. She said they ran out last night, and it’s a weekday. We have Yeonjun’s schedule – and we were just following him on a whim, really, because someone said he was weird – so we know he has class, and I went by their house too when I walked Bam and his car wasn’t there. So I think he’s ruled out as a suspect.”

“So they’re probably not a college student…” Taehyung says to himself. “It’s strange then, the fact that they only do it on the weekends now except for this one stray thing. Especially when that’s a busier time everywhere since people are off work. And I just don’t think it’s a student in general – of any age. I know we should keep it open as a possibility, but I just don’t think that’s it.”

“Yeah, I don’t either,” Jungkook says. “Want to update our notes with what we found out?”

Taehyung nods and opens his laptop, immediately getting to work. He also notices that he’s in Jungkook’s office, across from the person he wants to kiss at all times, and he’s not doing anything about it. “Tell me everything you heard,” he says. “Names, descriptions, all of that. Or just add it to the document as I’m typing.”

V. Lead #5: The Hair Salon

• Date:the night of October 2nd and unknown dates prior to that, information gathered on the 3rd of October
• Location: Beauty Boutique (referred to herein as “the hair salon”) (KTH: Jungkook I can’t believe you go and buy stuff from a place called the beauty boutique) (JJK: STOP.)
• Sources:
  • Hayoon: female, 30s, receptionist with long black hair, a beauty mark above her lip
  • Hyunae: female, 20s, receptionist taking inventory, platinum blonde hair with neon pink underneath
• Information gathered: Inventory at the hair salon has gone missing, similar to the grocery store. Confirmed products are the expensive shampoo and conditioner Jungkook uses, even though we supposedly make the same amount of money (JJK: 😐). Other products taken are unknown. This been confirmed to have taken place during a weekday.
• Additional notes: KTH: Jungkook will you be my boyfriend
  • JJK: No

“That’s so random,” Taehyung says. “The salon of all places too. Not any other store where they could steal hair products.”

“Yeah, I know. It’d probably be much easier to steal from a department store too. I mean, the people who work at the salon are kind of rude, but still. If it’s a homeless person – sorry, unhoused – you’d think they’d just take what they could get. But I’m honestly glad they’re not settling. Everyone deserves good products, so good for them.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says absently. It’s all just so strange. So many random things that definitely connect, but not in a way he can figure out. This keeps fading to the background when they have other stuff to focus on too, but he wants to keep working on it – for himself, if anything. He wants to figure it out because it’ll keep appearing in his head again and again. They’ll need to come up with a plan of action. He opens a document to start making a list again, but he doesn’t even know where to start. He wishes they could do something more than just observe. “Maybe you should go around town and smell everyone’s hair,” he says while formatting a list.

Jungkook snorts, and the corners of Taehyung’s lips tilt up. Jungkook stands from his desk, and Taehyung can see out of the corner of his eye as he walks over. He sits beside him, then Taehyung’s head is turned by fingers on his cheek. Taehyung blinks a few times to focus on him and not his computer screen. “You’re so pretty in glasses.”

Taehyung wonders if there will ever come a time where Jungkook doesn’t make him blush. “Thanks,” he says quietly. “I think you’re pretty too.”

Jungkook leans in and nuzzles the tips of their noses together, making him giggle before he kisses his lips. It’s slow, lasts several seconds. He likes Jungkook so much.

Before they can get carried away, they both lean back. Taehyung is proud, and he thinks again about how Jungkook is the boss, but he definitely doesn’t act like it. “I’m gonna go back to my desk to get work done. I’ll let you know any plans or if I think of anything.”

“‘kay,” Jungkook says. Taehyung stands, and Jungkook tilts his head up himself for another kiss. They both smile into it.

“Sweet boy,” he says, then kisses him one more time. He leaves Jungkook's office noticing the blush on his baby’s cheeks.

He works nonstop straight through the afternoon, not even noticing the time ticking away – and surprisingly without any messages from Jungkook telling him to come to his office. Before he knows it, the work day has ended, and everyone says their goodbyes as they slowly trickle out. He’s just wrapping up when Jungkook comes out of his office, and he sees they’re the only two left.

“Can I walk you home?” he asks, leaning against the doorframe like a bad boy heartthrob in a movie.

Taehyung hurries up and wraps everything up because he wants to hold Jungkook’s hand on their walk. But when they step outside and lock the door behind them, he hesitates. “Can I hold your hand?” he asks.

“Of course,” Jungkook says. “I’d be sad if you didn’t.”

Taehyung laces their fingers together, and they start their walk home. “Just, we might see someone who works in the office and I don’t know how you want to handle that yet.”

“What you want to do is just as important, but I was thinking that… I don’t want to keep it a secret. I don’t want to be obvious about it, and I just mean I wouldn’t do that at work even if you didn’t work there. But I don’t want it to be a secret or keep it hidden. If you want to kiss me on our lunch breaks you can, even if people are around, and I want to be able to stop at your desk to talk and touch you if I want to. But–but if you don’t want to be like that at work and you want to keep our relationship private, that’s more than okay with me.”

Taehyung breathes a sigh of relief. He didn’t realize how much he didn’t want to hide until Jungkook said he doesn’t want to either. “Yeah, I like that,” he says. “Especially because all of the interns are obsessed with you, so now they’ll know you’re taken, and that you’re mine.”

Jungkook snorts. “They are not obsessed with me.”

“They very much are,” Taehyung insists. “You just somehow never notice. Even when they’ve flirted with you before.”

Jungkook lets go of his hand and wraps his arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “Too busy looking at you,” he says. “You’re all I can notice.”

Taehyung bites his lip to keep his smile away, but it’s set free when Jungkook kisses his temple.

They walk past all the different shops on his streets, some of them turning in for the day as well. Taehyung catches glimpses of them in the windows, and they look nice together. The same height, contrasting styles. Jungkook steers him out of the water of puddles that still linger on the sidewalk, and Taehyung pulls him from some water droplets that drip from some of the awnings. It’s a bit chilly now that the sun has mostly set, and they’re there to see the streetlights flicker awake. They both brighten up too, clearly never having seen them come on before. They’re lit in a warm glow now that accompanies them the rest of the way home.

They get to Taehyung’s apartment sooner than he’d like. He’d invite Jungkook up again, but, “I’m going to go live on my channel tonight.”

Jungkook’s eyes go wide, and he literally lights up too. “Really?”

Taehyung chuckles. “Yeah.”

“I’ve never watched your videos since knowing who you are. It’s going to be so weird to watch you live and know that’s my Tae.”

“It’ll be weird for me too. No one knows it’s me except for Jimin. You’re going to watch then?”

Jungkook scoffs. “Of course. I’m sweetnight’s biggest fan.”

Taehyung wraps his arms around Jungkook’s neck and nuzzles the tips of their noses together. “Then I’ll see you later. Well, you’ll see me later. A part of me.”

“See you later, sweetheart.” He kisses him. “My Tae.” A kiss. “Such a sweetheart.” A kiss. “I like you so much.”

Taehyung hides his face in Jungkook’s neck, too flustered right now. “I like you too,” he says. He leans back and kisses his lips. “My sweet baby.” After a few more kisses, Taehyung goes up to his apartment, and Jungkook continues his walk home.

Taehyung checks the clock and makes sure he’ll start the live once Jungkook is home and settled in, then he opens his phone to add an announcement to his instagram story.

He takes off his work clothes and changes into something more comfortable, then he pulls out all of his props that he’ll use during tonight’s stream, keeping others within reach in case they’re requested. Usually, he’ll put the option of three different triggers in a poll on his live, and people can send in tips toward the trigger they want before the voting time of five minutes is up. He always feels a little bad and weird opening up the option to be sent money, but sometimes it’s a lot of work, and paying him is never required; it’s just if people are feeling a little generous or extra thankful because of the comfort he’s somehow able to bring them.

He fills his water bottle and makes sure his phone is charged, and he eats a snack while he sets everything up. He makes the lighting warmer tonight rather than colorful: his string lights in the background, casting the rest of the room in a quiet illumination. He makes his plant’s vines trail down the wall again, and he lights another candle. It matches the feeling of his instagram story, a warm and comforting autumn.

He sits at his desk and watches the clock as he finishes his apples and peanut butter. He supposes it won’t hurt to start a little early since he’s just sitting here, so he puts on his headphones. He sets up his phone so it shows only his hands and his torso, and he goes live.

The exact second the broadcast is live, user jaykay is there with him. It’s so sudden that a laugh startles out of him – not the quiet whisper of a laugh he does for asmr when a comment is funny. “Jaykay, are you stalking me?” he whispers while he starts to absentmindedly pets the mic.

He has to press mute when he reads the next comment because others are in the room now and not here to hear a loud, full-bodied laugh.

Once he’s gathered himself, he unmutes the mic. “Did you go search for fonts to copy and paste?” he whispers.

God, he always thinks Jungkook is the cutest thing in the world, but he somehow manages to become even cuter.

Other people start joining the live, and he almost wants to kick them out. It feels like they’re unwelcome guests invading his and Jungkook’s personal time, but that is very much not the case. He has hundreds of thousands of subscribers on his channel and several thousand who come to watch his lives, and up until very recently, Jungkook was just one of the faceless, unknown many.

“Hello, everybody,” he whispers. “How is everyone feeling? Have you drank enough water today?” The comments are coming faster and faster, so he turns off his view of any comments from people who aren’t subscribers, and then it’s much more manageable (and he can see any comments Jungkook might send better).

Taehyung chuckles. “Should I think of a name so you guys can call me something?” As he thinks about it and reads the comments, he very slowly cracks the knuckles in his fingers one by one so the mic picks up the popping sound.

Many of the responses are (not to be mean) quite stupid, ranging from kitschy to just random real person names. Then he sees a comment that seems like it might be okay.

Taehyung hums. He grabs his stress ball that’s shaped like a blue jellyfish, and he squeezes it next to the mic, slowly releasing it so they can hear the almost fizzy sound of it expanding back to its normal shape. “V,” he says. “Hm. I might like that. What do you guys think?”

He sees comments agreeing that the name suits him, a flood of peace sign emojis, and lost amongst that:

jaykay: V stands for very beautiful

He can’t help himself; he grabs his phone that he’s not using to record while he starts dragging his fingertips across the mic with his other hand.

Taehyung
You’re so cheesy

Jungkook
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒸𝓀 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑒

Taehyung
I don’t think I chose you

Jungkook
ʰᵉʸ :(

Taehyung
Not like that
Never mind
Not right now
I’m literally live to thousands of people

Jungkook
ꌩꂦꀎ ꌗ꓄ꍏꋪ꓄ꍟꀸ ꀤ꓄

They really shouldn’t be talking about this right now – both because he is live to thousands of people and because they’re very early into their relationship – but he doesn’t want Jungkook to overthink because of how vague his message was and how it can be interpreted meanly.

Taehyung
I just mean that…..idk
I chose you
But I feel like maybe we were born knowing the way to find each other
And we didn’t know that’s what every decision we were making was doing

That’s… so much. He locks his phone and immediately puts it down, returning back to the live. “Sorry, guys,” he whispers. “I had to text my boyfriend really quick.”

There’s a wall of comments freaking out, demanding to know more, asking if it’s the guy he’s talked about before. Then lost in all of that is:

“It is the person I’ve been talking about, Daisy,” he whispers in reply to calicodaisy’s comment. “He’s…” He sighs. “He’s just really, really wonderful. He’s so kind and sweet. Being around him just… makes me feel good. Makes the world feel like a different place. I just really like him. He’s very… He’s just very special. He’s very important. I like him a lot. I’m happy with him.”

He blinks a few times, zoning back in to read the flood of comments. He laughs when he sees:

He’s trying to keep an eye out for a comment from Jungkook, but they’re coming too fast. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his phone light up.

Jungkook
I feel that way too
Your previous messages and everything you just said
You’re just
God
You’re everything I’ve ever wanted

Taehyung sniffles and sets his phone down, expecting the comments that start coming now.

“It’s just allergies, everyone,” he lies with a chuckle. “Okay, now what trigger should I do next? I’ll put up a poll and everyone can vote.”

Chapter 22

Chapter Text

Taehyung wasn’t up very late at all, and every single part of his life is good right now. But despite those two things, he woke up feeling a little off. Not bad, but just a bit overwhelmed for no real reason – especially when work has never been a tough part of his life. Maybe overstimulated is a better word, which doesn’t make sense either when he lives in a quiet apartment with just himself there. Even so, turning on the bathroom light made him wince, and he flinched when his phone vibrated with a text from Jimin. He knows that it wouldn’t be a great idea if he went into the office today even though their office is a cozy, calm place, so he texts Jungkook.

Taehyung
Hi Kookie
I’m texting boss Jungkook right now though
Would it be okay if I worked from home today?

Jungkook
Good morning sweetheart
And hello, Taehyung.

Taehyung giggles quietly because even the sound of his own voice might be too much.

Jungkook
Of course
Is everything okay?

Taehyung
Yeah, everything’s fine
Just feeling a little off today I guess
Wanna be somewhere quiet

Jungkook
Yeah I understand
You can take the day off you know
I’m more than happy to take on the articles you planned on writing today

Taehyung
No that’s okay
I think the familiar routine will make me feel more grounded

Jungkook
Okay
Let me know if you need anything, yeah?

Taehyung
Okay
Thank you baby 🤎

Jungkook
Anything for my sweet Tae 🖤
And for my responsible, hardworking employee.

Taehyung
Silly boy 🤎

Taehyung sets his phone down and makes a light breakfast. He knows he’ll have to force himself to eat and drink anything today because the textures of anything he tries are making him a little queasy, but he sets reminders on his phone every hour to drink water and to eat food during lunchtime and a snack in the afternoon. He already feels a little better knowing he gets to stay somewhere safe and familiar, even though the headquarters feels like both of those things too.

He sits at the kitchen table beside the window. The day is partly cloudy, as if the sky is trying to be easier on him too. He eats his toast with strawberry jam on top (which was homemade by Jimin) and sips on some tea so too much caffeine in coffee doesn’t have the possibility of making him shaky.

He rinses his plate, sets it in the dishwasher, and gathers the crumbs from the table to keep the space clean and calm, then he goes to his office to grab his work bag. He brings his laptop and other work supplies to the living room, then he lights a fire in his fireplace so the ambient crackling breaks up the silence that he knows will eventually end up feeling too loud. He grabs his favorite fuzzy white throw blanket, because running his hands along the material is a feeling that almost hypnotizes him in the way it makes him calm. He switches on the lights he has woven through the plants above the kitchen cabinets so the light is calmer than the lamp on the table beside the couch would be.

He opens his laptop when the clock hits nine, and he winces again when it immediately chimes with a message. He turns the sound off and turns the brightness down, then he plans out his schedule for the day hour by hour like he usually does – even more necessary today so he doesn’t get lost in the thin fog that’s looming near him. Once he has a plan to follow, he checks his work chat and email.

Park Jimin, Illustrations and Entertainment
hi taetae!!!
let me know if you need anything today
i’ll miss you

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Okay 🤎 Thank you
I’ll miss you too 🤍

He clicks on his next notification.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Hi sweetheart
Sorry to already bother you
You’re not in the meeting so can you send me your agenda for today?
Just so I know what I should be working on today

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Never a bother baby 🤎🖤
Here ya go:

9:00 - 10:00 / One or two advice column answers
10:00 - 10:30 / Reach out to retiring teachers for interviews
10:30 - 11:00 / Text Jungkookie and tell him how cute he is
11:00 - 12:00 / National Coming Out Day article for October 11th
12:00 - 1:00 / Lunch
1:00 - 1:30 / Remaining advice column answers until I have 3 ready to go
1:30 - 2:30 / Favorite family autumn recipes article submitted by community neighbors
2:30 - 3:00 / Snack break
3:00 - 3:30 / Send written articles to my Jungkookie for review so I can send them to Yoongi-hyung for photos and then to the formatting team
3:30 - 4:00 / Outline tomorrow’s schedule and brainstorm future articles to pitch
4:00 - 4:30 / Reach out to Jimin, Hoseok-hyung, and Namjoon-hyung for possible collaboration pieces
4:30 - 5:00 / Respond to emails

Taehyung takes a few envelopes from his bag of advice column submissions that he set aside for a rainy day because they were just going to be fillers if more pressing questions didn’t come, and he’s glad he did because he has them with him right now. He opens the first one, and he has to squint to read it. Sometimes people type and print their letter, but sometimes he gets handwritten ones too. He loves the handwritten ones; he thinks they’re very charming and even more intimate to see another part of whoever is asking him something. Some of them do not have great handwriting though, and it’s extra work to read it and transcribe it so it’s typed up on his laptop. He’s just barely made it through their scrawled handwriting when he sees a notification on his laptop.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Tae
This is your schedule for the day?

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Yes?

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Can you send me one of your previous schedules too?

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Uh sure

Confused, he finds his one from yesterday and copies and pastes it.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Taehyung.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
???
I only answer to sweetheart if it’s from you or Tae at the very least

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Sweetheart.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
And I do not accept periods

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Sweetheart 💖
Tae
These schedules are insane

Kim Taehyung, Community News
? What do you mean

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Almost everybody’s schedule consists of writing a couple articles a day at most, and that’s with an entire team to assist them too
You’re just one person and you have FIVE, counting your advice column answers
On top of setting up interviews and planning
And SEVEN yesterday
Are you insane

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I don’t know?? I’m just doing my job

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
It is NOT your job to work this hard
And this isn’t even counting our side investigation too
You’re an extremely hard worker and more than talented at what you do
There’s a very clear difference in the quality of the paper before and after you joined us, and everyone knows how valuable you are, especially me
I’ve always been impressed by your work and your work ethic, and how seriously you take the job
You’re an incredible member of our team, an incredible journalist, and an incredible person
I don’t want you to think I’m not appreciating your work, because I really, really am
But this is too much
I don’t know how you haven’t burnt out yet
You are overworking yourself way way too much
I want you to send me your schedule every morning from now on or every evening when you plan it out, and I’ll adjust it to reflect the amount of work you SHOULD be doing

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I’m just doing my job though
I shouldn’t be doing LESS work

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Your job is not to basically carry the entire newspaper on your back
I’m not saying any of this because I’m your not-boyfriend
I’m saying it as your boss
Send me your schedule every day, okay?

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Fine.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Don’t get all sulky with me
You know I already find your attitude cute and have for years
It’s going to have the opposite effect you want

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I don’t have an attitude.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
You being upset about having to do LESS work is very crazy you know

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Whatever.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
If you were here you would’ve been covered in a million kisses right now and you wouldn’t be mad anymore

Kim Taehyung, Community News
You better make up for it tomorrow then

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
I’ll put it into your schedule

Taehyung huffs, but he smiles to himself.

Before he can get started, he goes through his other notifications.

Jung Hoseok, Pop Culture and Entertainment
hey taehyung-ah!!! ❣️🤩💖☀️🫧🥳
soooo we talked a little bit about collaborating and i think we should do something similar to things you’ve done like things to do around town!! people eat up the list-icles ㅋㅋㅋ and i’m sure there’s a really easy way to merge our teams for one

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Yeah that’s a great idea!! We can brainstorm and meet about it in on friday if that works for you?

Jung Hoseok, Pop Culture and Entertainment
i can always fit taehyungie into my schedule 😚🩷💜💙🩶🖤🤍💜✨❤️🧡💛💚🩵💜🩷🥰

He doesn’t have a similar message from Namjoon, which he expected, because he always has so much on his mind that Taehyung usually has to reach out first. He’ll do it when he has ideas on how they can collaborate and lets him live in whatever state of semi-peace he’s in for a while more.

Finally, which is a thought he has a lot at work, he gets started on his job. He was given the names of some of the beloved teachers who are retiring after this school year, so he drafts up emails reaching out to them to see if they’d like to set up an interview for a feature. He’s sure that the students of these teachers have organized a going-away surprise for them, so he reaches out to the principals too so he and Yoongi can be there those days to take notes and pictures for the feature.

Like he always does with work, he gets in the zone and doesn’t really notice the time passing. It was a good idea to stay home, because if he had to work on top of being around so many sounds and people, he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to do anything without crying or yelling at someone.

Once a bell chimes to alert him that it’s time to move on to his next part of his schedule, he gets a message notification at the very same exact second.

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
You’re late

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
Late for what?

Jeon Jungkook, Editor-in-Chief
Check your schedule

Taehyung pulls up his schedule again and giggles when he sees what’s written there.

10:30 - 11:00 / Text Jungkookie and tell him how cute he is

He mostly did it to make Jungkook giggle and had something else planned for that spot, but he supposes he can do what he planned for.

He grabs his phone because it feels more personal than their work chat, and he opens his and Jungkook’s messages.

Taehyung
Hi pretty baby

Jungkook
Hi Taetae ☺️

Taehyung
Have I told you lately how cute you are?

Jungkook
Mmmmm not that I recall
You can jog my memory though

Taehyung
Well my Jungkookie is the cutest little creature who’s ever been on this earth
You have those big, sweet eyes. Doe eyes, but they kind of remind me of insect eyes sometimes too

Jungkook
Um?????

Taehyung
I mean it as a compliment
They make you look even more interesting
And they’re so dark, always twinkling with light
You have the most adorable nose in the world
I can’t believe I haven’t kissed it yet
And your beauty mark beneath your lips
Ugh
You’re just so interesting looking
Which is said with so much admiration and adoration
Can’t believe the cutest sweetest boy in the world is mine
Out of everyone who exists I’m somehow the one who gets to hold you so I must have been born with all of the luck in the universe

Jungkook
Tae 😞
I feel so good with you

Taehyung
Good 🤎🖤
That’s how you Should feel with the person who’s yours
I only ever wanna make you feel good
Always want you to know how lovely and important and special you are

Jungkook
Just wait for our date
You will never have heard so many nice words at the same time in your whole life
I’m busy with work today so I can’t tell you how much I like you right now so I’ll make up for it on our date and every single day after that

Taehyung
Hehe I’m not keeping score 🤎
Go do your job
Let me know if you need anything

Jungkook
You too hyung 🖤
I’m sending you a kiss

Taehyung
I just received it
I’m putting it in my pocket for later

Jungkook
No that one was for right now!!!

Taehyung
Too late it’s already stored away

Jungkook
I just sent another one

Taehyung
It’s in my other pocket

Jungkook
😡😡😡!!!!!!
I just sent five

Taehyung
I set them on my plant shelf so I can grab them when I need them

Jungkook
You’ll always have kisses from me when you need them!!! That’s why these are supposed to be for right now

Taehyung
Fine 🙄
Send another one 🙄

Jungkook
Okay I just did and it’s a really good one

Taehyung
Where should I put it

Jungkook
On your cheek

Taehyung
Okay I just did

Jungkook
Did you really
Or did you put it in your kitchen or something

Taehyung
I did 🙄
Send another one so my other cheek gets one too

Jungkook
Okay I have to focus to make it really good
🧘🏻
Okay it’s on its way

Taehyung
Woah that one slammed right into my cheek I didn’t even get to grab it

Jungkook
Good because it was supposed to be a really big one
I bit your cheek after like you’ve done to me too did you feel it

Taehyung
I did
Thank you

Jungkook
You’re welcome

God they’re so f*cking cheesy and silly and embarrassing, but he can’t stop giggling down at his phone.

He sets it down and pulls up his schedule again. He has to write the article for national coming out day, which he’s wanted to do for years, but he was always a little afraid. They don’t live in a small town, but they don’t live in a city either, so when he first moved here, it was hard to get a feel for how the people here feel about some things. In some parts of the country, writing an article about National Coming Out Day could result in protesters showing up at their headquarters – or worse. But he should’ve known that if Hoseok and Jimin live here (and Namjoon and Seokjin and Yoongi and Jungkook, but especially Hoseok and Jimin) then they definitely live in a safe and supportive town. Finally realizing that has really affected the way he writes his articles. The language he uses, the tone that definitely has a bias to it, but a bias that everyone agrees with because to say things any other way would raise some eyebrows about him. Now he goes out of his way to write things that represent all of their community members. People want to see themselves in things, and because of that (and in addition to his advice column), he thinks (not to give himself more credit than he deserves) he really made their newspaper much more popular. They all did, but when he figured out he didn’t have to hide some things or suppress some stories to be more palatable to certain audiences, it definitely added more life to the paper.

So he’s excited to write the article about National Coming Out Day, and all of the future holidays that celebrate other sexualities and things outside of sexualities, since that’s only a small part of what makes a person special.

He drafts up some questions and sends them off to his friends to see if any of them want to be quoted in the paper, then he gets to work.

– ♡ –

He adds the final period to his article just as his phone chimes to tell him he’s used up all of his allotted time for this article, and it was the exact amount of time he needed. He sets his laptop aside for now to go make lunch so he can proofread it while he eats.

He opens his fridge and looks through what he has there. Kimchi that will probably go bad soon, and not much else. He remembers the first time he and Jungkook went to the grocery store together, when he still (mostly) (not really) didn’t like him, and Jungkook made him buy vegetables and said he would make kimchi for him (which he did later that week and brought it into work, and he blamed his blush on Jimin cooing at the gesture and not the gesture itself).

He pulls his significantly less good store-bought kimchi out of the fridge and sets it on the counter, then he opens his cabinet to grab his bag of rice. He takes the container out of his rice cooker and pours some rice into it, then he brings it to the sink. He washes his hands, then he washes the rice. He already eats a lot of rice as it is – as does everyone here, obviously – but he thinks he probably eats it a little more simply because he loves washing it. He loves swirling his hand around in the water until it becomes cloudy then carefully dumping it out without any rice escaping. He loves watching the water become clearer and the way the wet rice grains feel in his hands as it drifts through his fingers.

Once the water is mostly clear, he pops it back into his rice cooker and turns it on. People always say it’s better to make fried rice with day-old rice, but he’s never noticed a difference really, nor does he ever have any leftover because he rarely cooks as it is.

While that’s cooking, he cuts up some green onions and crumbles up a sheet of gim in his hands because he likes the way it feels. He thinks of Jungkook, because he thinks he always is to some extent, and how he doesn’t like anything touching his hands. The two of them are quite similar in the way they respond to different things, but very opposite in that way. If it wouldn’t burn him, he’d grab handfuls of rice from the rice cooker and stir the kimchi himself too.

Once that’s done, he heats up some oil in a pan and adds in a cup of kimchi that he can smell is definitely sour and well-fermented. He throws in some sugar with it and doesn’t know how that’ll work out, but oh well. His rice is done right when he needs to add it to the pan, and he sighs when he uses a rice paddle to scoop it out instead of the perfectly good rice paddles he was born with on the ends of his arms.

He adds it to the pan along with some extra kimchi juice and gochujang – but only a little bit because he doesn’t want his mouth to be on fire for the rest of the day. He adds a little bit of sesame oil, then when it seems like it’s probably done, he adds his green onions, gim, and sesame seeds. He sits at the table with a pleased feeling from cooking a full meal himself for lunch – not even for dinner – even if it’s an easy one. It’s not that he’s exactly bad at cooking or that he doesn’t like it; there are just many other things he’d rather be doing, especially when he can order delivery and have someone else cook for him.

He reads through his document as he eats and fixes a few typos and grammatical errors, restructures a few sentences and moves a couple quotes around, then he closes his laptop when he’s done to focus on his lunch and the quiet, still moment.

He looks out the window and still sees a partly cloudy day, just a bit of sunlight peeking through the puffs of white and grey when it can manage it. His phone vibrates, and he sees Jimin’s name on the screen.

Jimin
hello my lovely perfect amazing beautiful best friend
can we talk? 🥺

Taehyung
Of course
Is something wrong?

Jimin
nope!
it’s just our lunch break and it feels weird not talking while i’m eating and i miss you :(

Taehyung
Oh hehe
I miss you too
Always
How are you?

Jimin
i’m okay!!!
seems like everyone’s in a bit of a quieter mood today too
it’s been really calm here
everyone mostly just focusing on their work

Taehyung
Are you trying to lure me there
Because I don’t think that’s true

Jimin
ㅋㅋㅋ
i know right
it’s true though
i think everyone just want to go home

Taehyung
I’m sure Jungkookie would let you

Jimin
JUNGKOOKIE
god
how am i more excited about you and jungkook finally going out than i am about me and yoongi finally going out
and i’m very very VERY excited that yoongi and i finally doing something about our feelings
so that should mean a lot

Taehyung
I’m really excited too
He’s just. really good

Jimin
i’ve been trying to tell you that for three years 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

He and Jimin talk through the rest of their lunch break like they do when they’re together, then they move their conversation from their phones to their work chat on their laptops since they’ll have to talk while working now.

He doesn’t hear from Jungkook for the rest of the workday. It’s a little strange, but Jungkook did say he’s busy with work today. Still, it’s surprising for him to not reach out just to say hi or say something silly.

Once the clock hits five and he’s about to close his laptop, he checks his work chat and email just to make sure there isn’t anything from Jungkook. And there’s not. Once he puts all of his work things away, he checks his phone to find no notifications from him there either. He lets him be and lets him do his work so hopefully he can wrap it up soon since it’s past five o’clock now.

By the time he gets out of the shower and is dressed in his pajamas – even though it’s still a little early for that – there’s nothing on his phone. He slides into bed, feeling sleepy from the day. It was a productive day even though not much happened, and he doesn’t need an excuse to need some extra rest anyway. It’s eight o’clock too, so not ridiculously early. But it is ridiculously late for Jungkook to not have texted him since this morning.

Without thinking about it – because he doesn’t think it’s something to even think about; there’s no reason to overthink anything when he feels so safe with the person who that word was invented for – he clicks on Jungkook’s contact and calls him. It rings for a few seconds before Jungkook’s voice that he’s missed so much (when it’s only been a day) answers, “Hello?”

“Hi, baby,” Taehyung says quietly, his voice low to blend in with the dark room where he’s cozy in bed with the amber streetlight gently shining. “What are you up to?”

“Oh… Um, I just got out of the shower after my workout. What are you up to?”

“Layin’ in bed. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I dunno. You just haven’t reached out in a while.”

“Oh…” he says again. Taehyung hears some shuffling over the line that he’s certain is Jungkook’s nervous fidgeting. “I just… You were having a day where you wanted to be alone, so I–I didn’t want to bother you and upset you. Didn’t want to be clingy and annoying.”

It’s the first time Jungkook has called himself clingy in that tone. Clingy isn’t a bad thing to him at all, but it has a much different implication to Jungkook, it seems, when he says it about himself in that slightly bitter voice. Almost as if he’s grown to mimic the way someone might have once said it about him.

“You could never bother me or upset me, and I could never, ever find you annoying. I want you to be clingy as long as it’s not uncomfortable for you. Me wanting to stay home from work doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk to you all day. I always want to talk to you. I’ve been thinking about you all day. Missed you.”

“Oh…” Jungkook says again. “I, um. Okay. Yeah. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. I’m sorry you were feeling like I might’ve been annoyed by you. Those are just your mean thoughts though, because that could never be true.”

“Okay,” Jungkook says quietly.

“Do you have anything else to do tonight?”

“No, not really.”

“Why don’t you get in bed too then, hm? We can lay in bed together and talk.”

“Okay,” Jungkook says. He still sounds a little unsure, but more like himself.

“Tell me what you’re doing,” Taehyung says. “Wanna pretend like I’m there.”

Jungkook’s giggle is definitely more like himself. “Right now I’m changing Bam’s water for the night,” he says. Taehyung can hear the sound of water splashing down the sink, then the faucet turning on. Once there’s the sound of a bowl being set down, he says, “Now I’m going to make sure the doors are locked.” When Jungkook walks, Taehyung can’t hear the wood floors creak like he can when he walks in his own apartment since everything is quite charmingly old. He wonders if Jungkook’s floors are newer, or if he walks lightly, or if he has carpet. It’s something silly to wonder because it doesn’t matter, but he remembers before, back on a stakeout when he still thought he didn’t like Jungkook, he was wondering about some things but wouldn’t ask.

Now, though, he asks, even if it’s the most random, unimportant question there is. “Do you have carpet in your house?”

He hears the sound of a lock turning. “I have carpet in my bedroom, the guest room, and my office. There’s tile floor in my kitchen and the bathrooms, and my living room has wood floors.”

For some reason, the fact that Jungkook does not even question it and ask why he’s asking such a random question makes Taehyung want to sob. The fact that this – asking if Jungkook has f*cking carpet in his house – is what made him completely, unwaveringly, wholly certain that Jungkook is it for him is something that he will not share with anybody else.

“Now I’m making sure there’s water in my water bottle. There is, which is good because for no reason, I hate refilling my water bottle. It’s not like it’s hard or anything. It’s the same way everyone else fills up their water bottle, but there’s just something about it that annoys me so much. I hate doing it. It ruins my night when I have to do it. Okay, that’s dramatic. But I do get a little annoyed. Now I’m walking to my bedroom, and now I just set my water on my nightstand. Do you want me to turn off my lights?”

“Yeah. It’ll feel closer. Knowing we’re doing the same thing in different spaces. I wish we were together, but… I dunno, I can’t explain it well, but knowing you’re just a walking distance away makes this feel even nicer. Cozier somehow. Just knowing you’re close by.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Jungkook says, his voice soft.

There’s the sound of some shuffling fabric. Sheets moving, the duvet covering him, pillows being adjusted. At least that’s what he thinks it is; he isn’t told and he isn’t there, but it’s nice to imagine it in his head.

“Okay, I’m in bed now.”

“Are you laying on your back or on your side?”

“My right side. How are you laying?”

“My left side.”

“Are we facing each other?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like we’re laying together, talking quietly.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung says, quietly just like he said. Softly.

“Do you have a window beside your bed that you’re facing?”

“Mhm. The window faces the direction of your house, actually. There are orange streetlights that flicker on when the sun sets like we saw the other day, and they’re far enough away from my window that the light doesn’t bother me. I barely notice it anymore at all. It’s just kind of become part of the night. Do you have a window you’re looking out of?”

“Mhm,” Jungkook says this time. “It faces your direction too.” Taehyung smiles to himself, heart softly pounding, the two opposite things somehow able to happen at once. “It’s dark here though. My neighbors turn off the lights on the outside of their house at night, so it’s always dark. I can see the stars sometimes, mostly only in winter though once the trees lose their leaves.”

“Do you turn your house lights off at night?”

“Yeah, but only because my neighbors do, so I feel peer pressure.” Taehyung giggles, the quiet, breathy sound returned by his Jungkookie across town. “I never know if you’re supposed to do that or not anyway, so I don’t really care.” Taehyung hums in acknowledgment, then they fall silent for a few seconds. Taehyung wonders if Jungkook sleeps with the windows open in the summer, and if he can hear crickets and cicadas since he lives on the neighborhood streets where there’s more grass and bushes and trees than there are around him. He’s just about to ask, because he doesn’t have to wonder things for longer than he has the first thought, when Jungkook says, even more quietly than they’ve been speaking already, “I really want to kiss you right now.”

A flutter in Taehyung’s stomach, faint and sleepy. “Me too, Kookie. I wanna hold your hand too.”

“I really like you, Tae,” Jungkook says. His voice somehow goes even quieter, so much that Taehyung is surprised he can still hear it. “I think I like you more than I should for how long we’ve been together.”

Taehyung bites his bottom lip. Blinks a few times to keep the tears back. “I’ve been feeling that way too,” he admits quietly too. He thinks that... that maybe finding someone like him makes this so much more. After a lifetime of feeling alone in this way, like no one can understand these parts of himself that are so masked he doesn't know what they're like when set free, he finally found someone who he can see, who sees him in return. He thinks they're just... they're meant for each other in so many big and small ways. He thinks they're here to help each other figure out who they are, and love each other throughout it all.

He remembers things he’s been thinking about lately. He didn’t want to say them because of how little time they’ve been together, but Jungkook just said he’s feeling how Taehyung has been feeling, and it’s nighttime, and it’s dark, and they’re speaking just above a whisper to each other, and the night always feels more intimate and more kind, vulnerable words not feeling so scary to say when they’re held by the moonlight. “Do you ever feel like… does this… do you believe in, um… I don’t know. Fate isn’t the word that feels right. Do you ever feel like some things are meant to happen for you? Not everything, not like your whole entire life is planned out before you’ve even started. But just… some things were always meant to happen, no matter what.”

It’s silent for a few seconds. He hears Jungkook swallow. “I… A few years ago, I would have said no. But now… now I don’t know how else I could even begin to explain… this, then.” Every word got quieter and quieter until Taehyung could just barely hear the final one.

He takes a shaky breath. Jungkook does too.

“It just… feels like… like something more. I can’t explain it well. It feels bigger than just this. Bigger than something that started when we kissed, or like it existed even before the day we first met. It’s just–god, I don’t know–” Taehyung understands. He can’t find the right words for it either. “It feels like it’s our turn finally.”

Taehyung thinks that that’s the most accurate, beautiful way he could think of to describe this. Like it already existed – this… he doesn’t want to call it love yet, because that would be insane. It’s early, and he thinks they’re not quite there yet. They’ll be there at some point though; he’s certain of it. It feels like this love already existed somehow, and it was just watching them from the clouds, waiting until it was their turn finally. It feels like something that has always been there.

“But that’s… that’s crazy, right? I mean, w-we just kissed a few days ago, even though we’ve been close to this since the summer, and we’ve liked each other for longer than that. But us finally being like this is so new, so it’s crazy to think something like that. Right? We–there’s so much we don’t know about each other still, and–” There’s a near-frantic edge to Jungkook’s voice, and he misses the soft roundness of it that’s always there – soft as in the volume he speaks at, like it lingers just beneath his vocal cords, but soft as in the way it sounds too. Like the letters have eroded a little bit, the consonants rounded, the vowels smooth. It’s not like that right now: it’s coming out harshly, with points at the edges of each syllable like it’s hurting him to get them out.

“Hey, baby, darling,” Taehyung says softly. “Calm down for me, beautiful. It’s okay. I know you have a lot of thoughts in that lovely head of yours, but you don’t have to think them all at once. We can take our time talking about things, yeah? No need to get stressed. We’re taking our time. Taking it slow. Remember? We’re being slow with each other.”

“That’s what I mean though…” Jungkook says. “This doesn’t feel like slow.”

“Does that scare you?” Taehyung asks.

“N-No, but… It’s just–” He takes a breath so he doesn’t get worked up again. “We’re saying things like this when we still have so much to learn about each other. About being together. There’s so much stuff I still don’t know about you. Like do you ever peel apples when you eat them, or do you put the volume on the tv on even or odd numbers, or do all the hangers in your closet match, or what clubs were you in in high school, or do you brush your teeth right when you wake up or after you eat breakfast, or–”

“My grandmother used to peel my apples for me when I was a kid, when I was pickier about things like that with food. She never used a peeler; she had a small knife that I’d only ever seen her use to peel apples for me. She’d do it so perfectly that the skin was in one long spiral when she was done. Now I just eat them as they are, but I always wonder if I’d be able to peel them in the cool way she did. And–”

“I usually have an apple before I go to bed every night. Will you peel an apple for me?”

Taehyung’s hands tremble for a few seconds. “Y-Yeah, I will,” he says. He takes a few seconds to gather himself, then a few more to remember what else Jungkook said. “I keep the volume of things on odd numbers. I do that with the temperature in my apartment too. All of the hangers in my closet match, but because I wanted to get the wooden ones that make your closet look nice, but they’re so big and bulky that I wish I just had normal ones. In school I was in art club, and I liked painting. I brush my teeth right when I wake up, and I usually brush them again whenever I leave my apartment.

“Now you know these things. And yeah, we have a lot to learn still, but we can learn them knowing that we’re… that we’re… this is… this is kind of… permanent. We’re learning more about our person. We’re doing it the opposite way. People learn more about someone before they choose them, and we’re learning about the person we’ve chosen – or that… that s-something h-has chosen for us.

“God, I sound so insane. Just… I–I don’t want you to be scared. We’re both feeling the same things. I want us to feel them together, not hide it from each other.” It’s quiet for a while. Long enough that Taehyung checks that the call is still running. Long enough he thinks Jungkook might have fallen asleep. Long enough that he spirals more and more. “Did I scare you away?” he asks quietly.

“No,” Jungkook says, just as quiet. “But I’m scared because of how much this will hurt if you leave.”

As quietly and as slowly as he can, Taehyung gets out of bed. “How could I ever leave you, Kookie?” he asks. Just as carefully, he slips on a pair of shoes and grabs a jacket. “I think you’re so, so lovely. You’re mine.”

He waits until Jungkook is talking to open the door and go slowly down the creaking stairs. “Y-Yeah, but m-my ex-boyfriend Wonshik, he thought that about me at first too. Even though he’s not a good person, he did feel that way about me in the beginning. He liked me in the beginning, and I really liked him, and things were okay for a while, and then our relationship ended. He left long before we broke up. H-He cheated on me because s-something about me w-wasn’t enough to him to only want me, and–”

“Jungkook,” Taehyung says, his voice firm. He’s walking as quickly as he can without it changing the way he breathes or talks. He can see his breath in front of him because it’s a cold autumn night, the sky a cloudy indigo rather than a more purple one. The clouds are covering the starlight, but there are still occasional glimpses of the moon. “The only reason someone cheats is because they’re a bad person. That’s it. There’s literally nothing more to it than that. It’s not because there’s something wrong with you, it’s not because you’re not enough or because you’re too much. It has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with him. There’s nothing you could have done, or could have not done, to make him be different, because he’s a bad person, plain and simple.”

He reaches the end of their downtown road and enters the neighborhood streets. It’s dark, because, like Jungkook said, mostly everyone turns their outside lights off when they sleep. He remembers walking in the summer and more of them were on before, but he supposes it’s an autumn thing. He can’t see the shades of the colorful houses or the little decorations in their yard, but he walks past them as quickly as he can anyway while his breath creates a cloud in front of him as he continues to talk.

“I know that it’s because of him and not you because I cannot imagine ever, ever, wanting anything but a life with you. There’s no one in the entire world who could make me even look away from you. I know this is a lot and kind of soon, but I know that I could never want anyone but you. I haven’t this entire time, before we finally happened. Even when you were just my boss who annoyed me, you were on my mind constantly. The whole time I was at work, the whole time I walked home, the majority of the time at home. From the second we met you’ve been on my mind – and we weren’t even together that whole time, so imagine what it’s like now. Oh, baby, why are you crying? Did I say something bad? Is it because we talked about your ex-boyfriend?”

Jungkook sniffles again with a choked back sob. Taehyung finally reaches Jungkook’s street. He sees his red house in the distance, and he walks faster, his nose and his cheeks stinging from the cold.

“N-No, you’re not–it’s not you. It is you, b-but n-not bad. I just–” The words cut off with a sob and Taehyung’s heart aches, but it comes at just the right time.

“Hey, Kookie, baby? Can you hear me, love?”

“Y-Yeah,” Jungkook says, the word hard to hear.

“Do you keep a key to your house hidden in your landscaping somewhere?”

There are several confused seconds, still spent sobbing, before, “What?”

“Do you keep a key somewhere? Hidden under a rock or something?”

“T-Taped under my m-mailbox.”

Taehyung walks back down the path to his house, to the red mailbox in the grass in front of the street, and he feels a key taped under it. “Silly spot to put it,” he says. “Don’t be scared, okay? It’s just me.”

Jungkook is just about to ask what he means when he stops at the sound of the door unlocking. He opens it as quietly and gently as he can so he doesn’t interrupt the peace of the night or make Bam start barking. But surprisingly, the big, scary doberman doesn’t run at him ready to attack like the guard dog they’re usually made to be. Instead, he trots up to him with his tail wagging. Taehyung leans down to let him sniff his hand so he can make sure that he’s okay, and he seems to be approved of when Bam licks his hand.

Now that Taehyung is in Jungkook’s house, he realizes he doesn’t know where anything is. He can’t see anything either since it’s completely dark, so he asks, “Can you bring me to our Jungkookie, Bammie?”

Surprisingly, Bam does walk away towards what Taehyung hopes is Jungkook’s bedroom, and he quickly takes off his shoes and jacket to follow him. He realizes belatedly that the call has gone silent, and he can’t hear any sniffles now that he’s here either. But when Bam leads them to Jungkook’s bedroom, he sees the shape of him lying on his side in bed, his phone held to his ear.

Taehyung ends the call and sets his phone on the nightstand, then he gently takes Jungkook’s from him and does the same. He wonders if he should ask for an invitation, but he can see the tear tracks on Jungkook’s cheeks glisten in the returning moonlight, so he pulls the covers back and slides in bed beside him.

He lies on his side like Jungkook is so they’re facing each other, just like they were doing earlier when they were across town from each other. Taehyung reaches a hand out and tucks a piece of hair behind Jungkook’s ear. Jungkook’s big, beautiful eyes are round like the moon, the drying tears on his cheeks like stars. Taehyung rests his hand on his cheek and wipes the starlight away because it only belongs in his eyes and in the sky.

“Am I dreaming right now?” Jungkook asks quietly.

Taehyung moves closer beneath the blanket until their noses almost touch. He trails his hand down his cheek to take a loose, gentle hold of his chin. He tilts his head up just slightly, then he touches his lips with his own. The kiss is salty and soft, the moonlight controlling the ocean’s tides. Their lips stay pressed together before a breath passes between them. Their lips slot together one more time, slow and lingering. Taehyung lies his head on his pillow, and he finds Jungkook’s hand under the blanket. He takes it in his own and cuddles it to his chest. “You’re not dreaming,” he says quietly.

“How are you here?”

“I walked.”

“Why?”

“My baby was sad and having some silly doubts so I needed to do something about it.”

“You walked here?”

“Mhm,” Taehyung nods.

“In the dark? In the cold?”

Taehyung huffs a quiet chuckle. “There are street lights in town, and some lights on people’s houses. And it’s not that cold.”

That’s a lie. It was quite cold, which makes being in Jungkook’s bed with him even warmer.

“You got out of bed and walked to my house?”

Taehyung laughs. “I did, yes.”

“In the cold? For me?”

Taehyung laughs again. He rolls onto his back and pulls Jungkook with him. Jungkook cuddles into his side as easily as if he’s done it thousands of times before. His head takes its spot tucked into the crook of his neck, and his arm and leg go over him. Taehyung wraps both arms around him, one hand resting on the back of his neck. His eyes close, and his whole body silently sighs. He’s in bed with Jungkook for the first time, and it’s the safest, most comforting, peaceful thing he’s ever felt. Their bodies should always be this close, wrapped together. He should always be holding Jungkook.

“Do you want to talk some more, or do you want to sleep?” he asks.

“Will you whisper to me until I fall asleep?”

“Of course,” Taehyung says. He drops his voice to a whisper. “Now that I’m in bed with you and I get to hold you ‘til we fall asleep, I don’t know how I’m going to ever be able to sleep again without doing this.”

“Guess you’ll just have to sleep over every day,” Jungkook mumbles, already sounding on the verge of falling asleep just from a few whispered words.

Taehyung chuckles. “You’re gonna get sick of me.”

“Never.”

Taehyung smiles into the darkness. “I wonder how Taehyung from a year ago would react if I told him that next fall, I’d be in my boss’s bed, holding him. My annoying, frustrating boss.” Jungkook grunts, a weak growl. “I think I’d make a gagging sound or something, but I think the thought would get stuck in the back of my mind. Even if someone didn’t tell me this was gonna happen and they just said, ‘Think about laying in bed with Jungkook.’ I’d be like, ‘Um, excuse me?’ And then I’d secretly think about it obsessively.”

“I think you were a little obsessed with me.”

“Oh, I definitely was. You don’t even know.”

Jungkook sleepily giggles. “You have to stay that way.”

“You have absolutely nothing to worry about with that. You’ve been all I think about for three years. It’s just part of me at this point. Even worse now that I get you like this.” He holds Jungkook a little closer. His voice drops to below a whisper, barely able to be heard. “Even from the beginning, you’ve felt familiar to me. I think it confused me, and I always tried to figure it out without acknowledging it. It just turned into me pretending – and really thinking – I don’t like you, because I was too scared of what might happen if I thought about it again. It still does scare me, but I don’t mind being a little scared if it means we get to hold each other.”

He hears Jungkook swallow. “I don’t think I can even feel truly scared if you’re holding me like this.”

“You don’t have to be,” Taehyung whispers. He kisses the top of Jungkook’s head.

“Wonshik never held me,” Jungkook whispers.

Silence for a few seconds. “What?”

Jungkook’s voice doesn’t hold any of the same sadness as before. Maybe it’s because he’s sleepy, or maybe it’s because Taehyung’s holding him. He doesn’t really mind what it is, as long as Jungkook is no longer sad. “Our whole relationship, I can’t remember a time he ever held me. I… I think it was maybe because of the way I look. He was shorter than me, his style was a little more… I dunno… the opposite of mine, I guess. I have muscles and tattoos and piercings, and I think the way I look meant that I’m the holder; I’m not the one who should be held.”

Taehyung is speechless. He thinks it takes an entire minute just for him to say, “What?” Jungkook just shrugs. “Jungkook, that’s… that’s insane, and so terrible, and selfish. How could he not want to hold you? I–I feel calm when you’re in my arms, because you’re safe. You’re safe here, and nothing can hurt you, because I’ve got you. Didn’t he want to protect you? Didn’t he want you to feel like this? The way it feels to be held?”

Jungkook just weakly shrugs again. “I don’t think so, really.”

Taehyung scoffs. It’s hard for him to even find the words. “I’m so happy you’re mine now. You deserve to be held. You should be held and covered in kisses, and watched after, and protected, and cared for.” And loved, but he doesn’t say that right now. “I wanna hold you always.”

Jungkook snuggles closer even though he’s halfway lying on top of him. “I promise I’ll hold you too,” he says. “Just feels new like this. Feels nice. Wanna stay like this for a little while longer.”

Taehyung presses his lips against Jungkook’s forehead, long and lingering. “You’re gonna have to fight me to give up holding you,” he says. He smiles at the way Jungkook’s body shakes against his with his silent laughter.

“I’d win easily.”

“Are you calling me weak just because I don’t have big muscles like you?”

“No,” Jungkook says. “I don’t need to overpower you. I have my ways.”

“What are your ways?”

“I know you like my eyes.”

“That’s true,” Taehyung says. “My baby has the prettiest eyes. Can they shoot lasers or something?”

Jungkook’s silent laughter is given to Taehyung too. Jungkook tilts his head up and kisses his jaw before relaxing back down again. “No, but imagine what they’re like when I use them as a weapon.”

“Do you have the power of hypnosis?”

Jungkook huffs. He lifts his head. Taehyung looks at him, and there’s just enough moonlight to illuminate his face. Those big eyes, the night sky hidden in them. “Taetae?” Jungkook asks quietly. His voice is soft, so gently sweet. His eyes are round too, looking right into his own. Owl eyes, maybe, or doe eyes like always. Jungkook’s eyes.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Can I please hold you?” The inner edges of his eyebrows are pulled up just slightly as he softly asks. “Wanna cuddle my baby.” His eyes are wide, long eyelashes blinking. Taehyung wonders if he could count them like he did in his video when he pretended it was Jungkook he was talking to. They’re sparkling somehow, even when the light in the room is faint.

“Of course, baby,” Taehyung says. “Anything for you.”

Jungkook’s eyebrows return to their usual spot. He blinks, and his eyes are still so big and round – much more than a normal person’s – but big and round in the way they always are. There’s not a smirk on his lips, but he looks quite pleased.

Taehyung’s expression drops. He lets go of Jungkook, and he crosses his arms and turns onto his side, facing away from him. He hears Jungkook snicker, and he pouts further. The pout falters though when Jungkook turns onto his side too, and he fits his body perfectly behind his own. Chest to back, arm around his waist, their legs bent in the same shape. “Don’t get all sulky on me,” he says. It works immediately, because he could never be anything but perfectly, utterly content if Jungkook is this close, speaking softly into his ear. He can even feel the vibration of his chest when he speaks, and there’s a familiarity to this feeling of safety, but now that he knows that they both feel this strange sense of knowing each other before they ever met, he doesn’t feel like he has to think about it so much every time he feels it. He can just sink into it, this comfort, this recognition.

“We should get some sleep if we don’t want to be zombies at work tomorrow,” Jungkook says. “Can I put my hand under your shirt?”

“If you want to.”

Jungkook’s hand slowly and carefully slides beneath the fabric of his shirt. His hand is warm where he rests it on his stomach. He doesn’t have abs like Jungkook. There aren’t any ridges, not even any firmness. He thinks Jungkook might like it, because every other time his thumb strokes back and forth against his skin, he pushes it down just slightly, into the softness of his tummy. His hand is warm, but the touch gives him goosebumps.

“Let’s sleep then,” he says. He doesn’t want to. Wants to stay up cuddling with Jungkook in the protective darkness, but he knows he’ll be upset with himself in the morning for staying up so late, even though it was more than worth it.

“Can I whisper to you ‘til you fall asleep this time instead?”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. His heart beats a touch harder. “Y-Yeah, if you want to.”

Jungkook’s voice grows quieter, his vocal cords resting, his breath warm against his ear. “I think I could talk for hours and hours and hours,” Jungkook whispers, “days, months, years without stopping, every word about how absolutely beautiful you are, and I’d still never get to all the different ways you are. You’re just such a beautiful person, Tae. So kind. To me, to everybody who meets you. So patient and understanding, even though the patient part is new to me.” Taehyung sleepily laughs, but he’s not sure if the sound comes out because of the instant effect Jungkook’s words and the quiet way he says them are making it tough to even focus because of the way his mind wanders towards rest. He doesn’t think his own voice could have nearly the same effect on Jungkook that this has on himself right now.

“You feel so perfect in my arms. I don’t mind fighting dirty if it means this is what I win. I think you belong here. I think time should stop so we can stay like this for as long as we want. I wonder if I’ll dream of you. I wonder if somehow, being held so close like this, we could wander into each other’s dreams. Although I don’t know how I’d know if that worked because of us, because you always managed to wander into my head no matter what I was doing.”

Taehyung doesn’t know how many more words it takes, but between one sweet, kind word and the next, he falls asleep in his Jungkook’s arms for the very first time.

– ♡ –

And for the very first time, Taehyung wakes up in bed with Jungkook. His eyes slowly open when he feels fingers brushing through his hair so softly that he’s gently guided out of sleep. When he sees the golden morning sunlight shining onto Jungkook, he doesn’t want to fall back asleep like he always does every morning. He wants to stay right here, looking at the boy he’s falling in love with.

Jungkook’s hair is a little fluffy from a night spent dreaming, a pillow crease on his cheek that he wants to kiss. He’s sure Jungkook is seeing his puffy morning face that always comes from a night of sleep, his hair equally as messy. He doesn’t even care, because Jungkook is looking at him like he’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

“Morning, sweetheart,” Jungkook says, his voice a little gravelly from sleep. He wiggles closer and moves his hair aside, then he kisses his forehead. His lips stay pressed there for several seconds before he lays his head back down. Taehyung feels like all of the warm sunlight is coming from him.

“Good morning,” Taehyung says quietly, feeling too touched by the morning to speak any louder. He gently pushes Jungkook so he’s lying on his back, then Taehyung clings to him. His head goes on his chest, his arm and leg over him. Jungkook’s arms wrap around him.

He’s known this for a while. He’s known it since the summer, and it’s felt even heavier in the fall. But this is the closest he’s ever felt, that he’s falling in love. It feels like it’s just days away. A few more days, or a handful of kisses, or a soft gaze or two, and he’ll be in love with this kind, sweet boy who he always thought was maddening, but he thinks that’s just because he knew with any less distance between them, he’d fall in love like he is right now.

“I don’t wanna go to work,” he mumbles as he nuzzles his cheek against Jungkook’s chest.

“We’ve been so lazy with work this week,” Jungkook chuckles, which isn’t entirely true, but they haven’t been up to their usual standards, which is throwing their routines off.

“Let’s quit. I don’t want to get out of bed with you.”

Jungkook’s chest rises and falls with his laugh. “It’s the middle of the week, so how about we take the rest of the week slow, then next week we get back to normal? We get a break this week since this is all brand new, then next week we settle back in.”

“So we can skip today?”

“No,” Jungkook says, “but we can stay in bed a little longer and go in a bit late.”

“Fine,” Taehyung mumbles, because it’s better than nothing. Then he giggles. “You’re my boss.”

Jungkook chuckles. “I am.”

“I’m in bed with my boss.” He cuddles closer to him.

“Mhm,” Jungkook hums. “Do you feel weird about it?”

Taehyung scoffs. “Absolutely not. If anything, it’s hot.”

Jungkook snorts, but he says, “I kinda think so too.”

Taehyung giggles. Silly. “Tell me more about how you liked me for forever.” Jungkook snorts again, body shaking with his laughter. Taehyung smiles. He wants this always. Before Jungkook can say anything, Taehyung says, “I want this always.”

“Oh…” Jungkook says. Even though Taehyung knows he knows, he asks, “You want what always?”

“You,” Taehyung says easily. “Me and you. Waking up together. Making each other laugh in bed. Seeing each other every day, or talking on days where we don’t. Even on days where we don’t really talk, just knowing that it’s okay. Knowing nothing has changed, that we’ll still be okay and each other’s even if we don’t see each other on a weekend or something. Not doubting anything because of how good we are together. Little moments like holding each other before we have to go to work, or a couple kisses throughout the work day, or walking each other home. Just… anything as long as you’re mine.”

He hears Jungkook swallow. He thinks he feels the hand on his arm tremble just slightly. “I…” he finally says. “I feel the same. I’ve wanted this for a really long time, and now that I have it, I’m never going to let you go.”

Taehyung hums. Nuzzles against him. Tilts his head up to bite his jaw. “You better not.”

“I promise,” Jungkook says, the smile back in his voice. Maybe it’s too soon to be making promises, but they feel nice nonetheless. “Well,” he starts, and the storytelling quality of his voice makes Taehyung giggle. “One day, I received a resumé from someone in my email. It was the perfect time, because I was looking for someone to run the Community News team, because the team of interns were not doing a great job. His resumé was impressive and his email was professional – although that changed a few months in when it turned to one word answers without bothering to delete the iPhone signature it comes with.” Taehyung giggles and tilts his head up to kiss the corner of Jungkook’s mouth.

“I set up an interview for him, and all of the other team leads who interviewed him first told me about how much they loved him – as a future colleague and a regular person. Especially Jimin, who talked my ear off about it for days and said he’s quitting unless I hire this Kim Taehyung person.” Taehyung giggles even more. He didn’t know about that part, but that’s definitely Jimin.

“And then it was our turn to interview, and I saw this Taehyung person for the first time, sitting in the waiting area with Jimin, wearing his cozy, warm outfits like always. I should have been taking note of your appearance in a professional way, watching your mannerisms, the way you interact since those things are important in the hiring process. But all I could think of was how beautiful you are. I almost stopped in my tracks, and I did for a second when you looked over at me. And from then on, I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance.

“And I was expecting for us to be like how I am with everyone else. Friends, casually chatting, talking like two normal people. But that’s definitely not what ended up happening. Once he got more comfortable to know he could get away with it, he got this adorable, entertaining attitude. I think he knew I found it entertaining, and it made his attitude even stronger. Instead of the opposite happening, with each eye roll and muttered ‘whatever,’ I just liked him more and more.

“He was always just out of reach though. He sat right outside of my office, and I kept my office door open just in case, but he never walked through the door.” Before Taehyung can get sad like Jungkook can probably sense he will, he fast forwards and says, “And now that beautiful, warm boy that I met so long ago who would mumble and mutter and huff is this sweet, cuddly, adorable boy in my arms – just how I wanted him for so long.”

Taehyung smiles to himself and manages to snuggle even closer. “I’ll try to make the wait worth it,” he says.

“You already have,” Jungkook says. “Every single second, from the very moment we kissed.”

– ♡ –

“Aren’t we going to stop at your place so you can pick up your laptop and everything?” Jungkook asks as Taehyung flicks through his closet.

“Mhm,” he says as he feels the fabric of a black sweater to see if it’s soft enough – but it’s Jungkook, so of course anything in here would feel nice on his skin if it’s good enough for Jungkook.

“So you could get dressed since you’ll already be in your apartment.”

“Yep,” Taehyung says, pulling out a black turtleneck that he’d really like to see on Jungkook because of how tight it looks, but it suits himself too, so he sets it aside before walking over to his dresser to look through his pants. Everything in Jungkook’s house he’s seen, from his closet and his dresser to his bathroom cabinets and his kitchen fridge, is impeccably, perfectly organized. He knew Jungkook was neat and organized from how he’s seen him as a boss, but seeing little things like this in his personal life that will come with closeness and time is nice. It’s sweet to learn such little specific things about him, like he organizes his closet by color, or he gets their newspaper delivered to his porch every morning despite being able to take the morning’s edition before leaving work the previous day, or he unpacks his boxes of different kinds of tea because he has personally handmade storage containers for them, with the names of the kinds of tea engraved in their personal spots.

Before Taehyung can grab a pair of pants that would match and fit him, he’s tugged into Jungkook’s arms. He yelps at the quick movement but almost purrs when he’s held by his not-boyfriend. Which reminds him, “Will you be my boyfriend?”

A big grin, bunny teeth and lines beside his eyes and all, spreads across his face. “No I won’t, but I think you’re adorable.”

“Adorable enough to be my boyfriend?”

“Mmm,” he hums like he’s thinking, “I need some time to decide. I’ll probably need to think until our date on Saturday.”

Taehyung huffs, but he pulls Jungkook in by his hand on the back of his neck, fingers tangled in his hair there. Their lips meet again like they have all morning, kissing so maddeningly slowly in the autumn sunlight. Jungkook’s hand on the small of his back feels so nice, even more when Jungkook makes a sound into his mouth when he pulls him closer and it causes Taehyung’s back to arch.

Even though he wants to stay right here, doing this until the morning passes, he leans back because they have responsibilities to get to. He hates that they have to be adults and go to work, but he supposes it could be much, much worse, and he feels so lucky that he gets to see his almost-boyfriend throughout his entire work day. He doesn’t think he could deal with any separation this early on, so this is good for them.

“Can I wear your clothes, baby?” Taehyung asks, fingers scratching at his nape.

“You can do anything you want,” Jungkook says. He leaves him to get dressed after a peck on his cheek.

A few minutes later, Taehyung walks out dressed in Jungkook’s clothes. Being the same height and roughly the same build is very good news to him, because he plans to slowly acquire at least half of Jungkook’s wardrobe simply because it’s his and he can dress in his not-boyfriend’s clothes, because that’s just how relationships work, in his opinion.

He’s wearing a black turtleneck that he’d still very much like to see on Jungkook since it’s tight even on him. It’s tucked into black pants with a black belt with a subtle gold buckle around his waist. It matches his gold wire-rimmed glasses, and he thinks he looks quite good for wearing clothes that aren’t his own. Jungkook helped style his hair this morning, so it’s parted down the middle with sophisticated looking waves – while Jungkook’s are always a little messier and looser to fit his own style.

Jungkook seems to have the same opinion as Taehyung, because when he turns at the sound of him to ask if he’s ready to go, the soft smile drops from his face. His eyes slowly run up and down him from head to toe with something Taehyung hasn’t seen in his gaze before. When he looks at him again, Taehyung thinks that maybe it’s… possessiveness. Jungkook reaches a hand out, and Taehyung takes it just to be pulled right into his arms again. “You look so beautiful, sweetheart,” Jungkook says against his lips.

They kiss so easily. It’s like they’ve always done this. There’s nothing to think about; it’s like a kiss is just theirs to take. This is Jungkook, his boss. It’s Jungkook, his sweet, kind, lovely, lovely, lovely boyfriend even if they say he’s not.

“So do you, baby,” Taehyung says, because he does. They’re matching in their all-black outfits for the first time. Jungkook is wearing black straight-legged pants, with a black t-shirt and a black and grey flannel, paired with his favorite chunky boots.

They look similar but different in their own specific ways, and seeing them beside each other like this almost makes Taehyung’s head spin. Once Jungkook locks the door behind them, he takes Taehyung’s hand, and they step onto the sidewalk to start their slow stroll to work. There’s five minutes until what would normally be their morning meeting (that has been canceled per Jungkook’s message in their work chat, which received several all-caps messages from their friends because they know exactly why it was canceled), and they still have around a fifteen minute walk, with stopping at Taehyung’s apartment along the way. Taehyung thinks he can probably stretch this into thirty more minutes if they walk slowly and stop for a coffee like he wants to do.

Their hands gently swing between them like tree branches bowing to the breeze. This is our first time going on a walk, holding hands, Taehyung thinks. Our first time walking in the sunlight together as who we are now. Our first autumn day together like this. Our first morning going to work together.

He’s still thinking about it in his head – his first time noticing the red leaves on the trees with Jungkook’s hand in his, their first time turning this corner while holding hands, the first time he notices their shadows together, little things that mean nothing but seem like they don’t just mean nothing because it’s Jungkook and him together – when Jungkook says, “Hey.”

Taehyung looks over. It’s his first time looking over at Jungkook in the morning sunlight when Jungkook says “hey.” “Hm?” he says.

“I want this always too.”

Everything in Taehyung’s softens. “Good,” he says. “Because this is how it’s always going to be.”

They walk in silence for a while more, just enjoying the slow, golden morning together. It’s a beautiful autumn day: warm in so many different ways. It’s just cold enough to feel good in a sweater, and leaves still cling to their branches in their final burst of color before they sleep for the next season to come. Taehyung wonders what winter with Jungkook will be like. He always looks forward to winter. He loves being cozy inside while it’s cold outside, watching the snow from his window or walking home from work as it falls (as long as it’s doing so gently).

“What are you working on at work today?” he asks Jungkook. The journalists always talk about what they’re doing every day, but Jungkook never says what he’s doing. Not because it’s a big secret; it just usually doesn’t concern any of the others, so there’s no reason to bring it up.

“Hmm. Well, I have to meet with Yoongi-hyung to go over the photos that will be in tomorrow’s issue, deciding which ones fit the features the best. That’s mostly just in my daily calendar though because it’s time for Yoongi-hyung and I to talk, because he doesn’t actually need my opinion or approval. Neither do any of the rest of you; you’re all independent and trustworthy and could run the paper without me there.”

“Hey,” Taehyung says, his voice a little sad even though it wasn’t said self-deprecatingly at all. “You’re extremely important to the paper. It wouldn’t be like it is without you. There’s proof of that from how it was before you were the editor-in-chief. We could run it without you there, but it wouldn’t be what it is now, because of you.”

Jungkook kisses his cheek. “Sweet Tae. I just mean that you guys sending me your articles for approval is just, like, protocol. I have a few edits to make sometimes, but if you all just sent things straight to Formatting, I know the paper would still have the same quality as it does with my approval. So, anyway, Yoongi-hyung and I meet for that, but it’s not an actual meeting usually.

“Then I have a meeting with the interns to go over their performance, since we do seasonal check-ins. I have a lot of articles to review from everyone else’s team employees, because all the other leads have been busy with their own things to write and don’t really have actual time for reading and approving their staff’s writing. I never mind doing it anyway; I’m always happy to help. Then I have to kiss my Tae for a while or else I’ll never be able to survive the second half of the day, and–” He cuts himself off at the sound of Taehyung’s giggles. God Jungkook makes him so giggly, it’s almost embarrassing.

Then Taehyung’s giggles cut off, because he huffs. Meeting with the interns. He tries to hold back his scowl because it’s extremely petty, but it doesn’t work.

“What’s going on in my pouty Tae’s head?”

Taehyung huffs again. “Chinmae. The intern. He likes you.”

“No he doesn’t.”

“He very much does,” Taehyung says, his voice annoyed. Not at Jungkook, because he could never be annoyed with Jungkook – at least not anymore. “He always has. He’d always walk past your office a million times like he somehow had so many things to do on our side of the office. It was distracting because it’s right next to my desk. And every once in a while you’d look up at him, and I’d watch him beam, and it was even more distracting, because now there were two of you, but more importantly, there was you, and I was just trying to do my work. More than half the time you’d look up at him when he walked past, so he kept doing it.”

Jungkook lets go of his hand when they reach his apartment, but he wraps his arms around Taehyung so he can’t go up to get his things yet. “Your desk is next to my office,” he says.

“Trust me, I am aware of that fact.”

“I can never really see you sitting there, but whenever you write for a while, you take a break and stretch your back out in your chair with your arms up to stretch your shoulders too. When you lean back like that, I can see you from my desk. Whenever I looked up when he walked by, it was me looking up because I could hear the sound you make when you stretch out, and it means I’d get a glimpse of you for a few seconds.”

Taehyung’s heart thuds in his chest. “What?”

Jungkook tucks a lock of hair behind his ear. Taehyung doesn’t know if he deserves Jungkook looking at him so softly, but he’ll do everything he can to be deserving. “Everything always leads back to you, sweetheart.”

Taehyung swallows. He feels overwhelmed. “I… I don’t want you to think it’s not the same for me too. Everything I thought about you, it was never with hate or even dislike. I’d think about how kind you are. How sweet you are, how beautiful your eyes are, your eyelashes. Every thought I had about you was about how lovely you are; I just needed to change the way I thought about it, because if I thought about how I want your beautiful eyes to look at only me, if I thought about how I wanted to be close enough to count your eyelashes, if I thought about how I want to comfort you when things might be too much for you, I think it would break me, because I thought I could never have you.”

“That’s so silly, Tae,” Jungkook chuckles. “You’ve had me from the moment we met.”

Taehyung hides his face in Jungkook’s neck because it’s too much. He leaves a kiss there, and he lets himself be held for a little while more before he goes up to his apartment to grab his things. He invites Jungkook to come with him, but they both know that if he did, they wouldn’t leave, so he refuses. Taehyung grabs his things and returns back to Jungkook, because any distance away feels like it’s very dramatically draining the life from him.

He takes his hand as soon as he returns, and Jungkook gives him a fond smile. “I want this always,” Taehyung says again, and he’s given an even bigger fond smile. “I always want you to smile at me this way.”

Jungkook brings his hand to his lips to kiss. “I will,” he says with certainty, and they continue their slow walk.

They’re in town now, walking past businesses and people and not on the quieter neighborhood streets, empty of others strolling unless they’re on their way to work just like them. In town, it’s always bustling as much as a not-quite-small-but-not-very-big-either town does. They walk slower than everybody else does, not in a rush to get somewhere where they’ll have to let each other’s hands go to be able to work.

They stop in the coffee shop to get something to drink and a snack, then they sigh as they approach the newspaper’s headquarters. But to Taehyung’s surprise, Jungkook doesn’t let go of his hand as they walk inside. Their friends look at them with various expressions on their faces – Namjoon genuinely fond; Hoseok playfully, impishly fond; Yoongi calmly fond; and Jimin violently, passionately happy. Then a few other journalists and interns who Taehyung normally doesn’t see every day sees them too, and their expressions range from surprised to unreadable, nothing like their friends.

Then Taehyung fights back a smirk as hard as he can, because Chinmae sees them – probably on his way to check if Jungkook is here yet for what is probably not the first time this morning. He glares at Taehyung, not even trying to hide it. Taehyung is sure everyone is surprised because everyone knows how he (allegedly) thought about Jungkook, and he’s sure that makes Chinmae’s anger even stronger. Taehyung’s smirk is just about to be set free when his head is turned by Jungkook’s fingers against his cheek. As soon as he looks at him, he gets lost in his eyes, and the entire office disappears. Then he thinks he’s gone to somewhere else entirely when Jungkook kisses him so, so softly, in front of everyone.

“Let me know if you need anything, sweetheart,” Jungkook says. He nudges their noses together to make him giggle. Taehyung nods, then Jungkook leaves him with one more kiss. But then he comes back for one more, both of them smiling and giggling into it.

Taehyung sits at his desk with burning cheeks, and they turn even darker when Jimin loudly giggles and stomps his feet like he was the one who was kissed by the boss in front of everyone. Taehyung puts his hands on his cheeks to try to cool them, squeezing his eyes shut because he’s shy, but a huge smile is on his face too. Only once he feels like he can face everyone does he finally look up at his friends, and they look as happy as he does.

Chapter 23

Chapter Text

When Jungkook picks Taehyung up for his date, Taehyung just stares. Not because he’s speechless over how beautiful Jungkook is – although he is always that too – but because he is in no way dressed in the same type of outfit Taehyung is.

Taehyung is wearing a burgundy sweater with dark brown pants, a light jacket on his lap in case he needs it. Jungkook, on the other hand, is wearing black sweatpants and a clearly quite old black t-shirt – pajamas, really. Taehyung is confused, and he’s even more confused when the short drive leads them back to Jungkook’s house. He knows they’re going somewhere for the first part of the date, not having a stay at home date (even though he’d love that too). It’s been silent this whole time, the amusem*nt apparent on Jungkook’s side of it.

Jungkook leads them inside and walks him to his closet. “We’re not doing this for work,” he says. “I promise I only said it to try to figure out how you’d feel about it for our date. Now pick out my outfit.”

There’s a deep furrow between Taehyung’s eyebrows. He has no idea what Jungkook is talking about. Then it clicks, and he lights up. “Are we going to the apple orchard?” Jungkook nods, and Taehyung bursts with excitement. He turns back to the closet and picks out Jungkook's outfit, which he demanded before that he’d be allowed to do.

Jungkook has a limited range of color options, but Taehyung manages to find a dark green sweater, almost bordering on black. He goes to his dresser and searches for the pants he has in mind that he saw when he was dressing himself in Jungkook’s clothes. When he pulls out the pants though, he returns the sweater back to his closet and grabs the famous (to him) black turtleneck. He sets them on the bed and says, “Okay. Get dressed.”

Before Taehyung can leave, Jungkook grabs him by the waist and kisses him. The feeling of his hands holding him there while kissing him makes Taehyung quickly escape after so Jungkook doesn’t sense the thoughts he’s having.

Taehyung didn’t get the chance to look around the night he slept over, so he does now. Jungkook’s home is sweet and just as tidy and he thought it’d be after seeing only little glimpses of his life. There are a few art pieces on his walls – only enough so that there’s character to the space, nothing like Taehyung’s gallery wall that’s almost overflowing at this point.

His furniture is all dark wood, and his couch is black velvet. He has a big TV with every gaming console there is on the black TV stand. Despite the darker palette, there are pops of color in the art and through different decor, like his patterned rug and blue-cushioned kitchen island stools.

His cabinets are dark as well with white countertops, and he has a small dining area with three chairs. He wanders through the rest of his house, peeking into a guest bedroom with a perfectly made bed and lighter furniture. He sees Jungkook’s organized and soothing office. The guest bathroom has light blue walls and is immaculately clean, and he knows his bedroom is too, where he has a big bed with flannel sheets and a nice bathroom. His house has quite a few windows and adds some light to the space to try to balance out the darker furniture – not enough light to have thriving plants because of the direction of most of his windows, but Jungkook doesn’t have any anyway. It’s still bright enough to feel like a calming and welcoming home.

The thoughts he tried to keep from having when Jungkook touched his waist come right back when Jungkook comes to the living room. He’s wearing the tight turtleneck, and Taehyung doesn’t think he prepared himself enough for it – mostly because he’s never actually seen Jungkook’s exact body shape in his work clothes.

The turtleneck clings to his waist in the same way Taehyung wants to. He doesn’t know if he’s just imagining it, but he thinks he might see subtle ridges of abs. It wouldn’t be surprising considering the way his biceps are much more prominent than they usually are, the broadness of his shoulders and the muscles of his chest too. Of course Jungkook would have abs when the rest of his body is so carefully toned.

It’s all even worse because, to contrast with the tight top, his pants are baggy. It accentuates the curve of his waist, the valleys and hills of his upper body when he can’t see his lower half in as much detail. The pants are just black, but the tight shirt with the not tight pants is just– it’s a lot. Taehyung clears his throat. When he looks at Jungkook’s eyes, there is a hint of a smirk on his face, but he mostly looks shy, and Taehyung could die.

“You look so gorgeous, baby,” he says so sincerely. Jungkook's shyness comes out in full force.

“Thanks…” he says quietly. Taehyung reaches a hand out to beckon him closer. When he finally wraps his arms around Jungkook’s waist and pulls him close, Jungkook’s back arches, and he kisses him a little more passionately than he intended. Jungkook responds to it immediately, kissing him back just as deeply.

“Let’s get going, or else I’m gonna stay right here and kiss you for hours.”

“That doesn’t sound like a problem to me,” Jungkook says. He kisses from his cheek to his jaw, down to his neck. His teeth lightly drag across the sensitive skin there, and it makes him shiver. He tilts his head to the side, ready to give in and abandon their date in favor of doing this, but Jungkook steps back.

Taehyung blinks a few times to come back to himself, then he scowls seeing the smirk that is definitely now on Jungkook’s face. He lightly pushes his shoulder, then he pulls him back before he can stumble. He kisses Jungkook’s cheek, then he lightly bites it. He pecks him one more time when he smiles, then they finally leave to start their long, sweet day.

– ♡ –

Taehyung has never been to the apple orchard. He means to go every season, but then autumn slips away from him every year somehow, and before he knows it, it’s winter.

But this year, there’s autumn. There are warm-colored leaves. There’s golden sunlight, a cool breeze. An apple orchard, a pumpkin patch, the scent of cider and donuts in the air. Autumn isn’t slipping through his fingers; it’s holding his hand because Jungkook is too.

“Do you want to get apple cider first or walk through the orchard?” Jungkook asks when they step onto the adorable, sprawling apple and pumpkin farm.

There’s a big barn stationed at the front. Taehyung can tell it was initially painted red, but after years of weather and seasons passing around it, the paint has mostly chipped to show the aged wood beneath it. There’s a chimney at the top where smoke is coming out, where they must make the donuts. People are filing in and out, and with every jingle of the bell when the door opens, Taehyung can smell the fresh donuts even from here. His mouth waters, and he thinks about how warm they’ll be, especially when paired with his drink.

“Apple orchard first,” he says, “then apple cider and donuts when we’ve been outside for longer and want something warm.”

“‘kay,” Jungkook says, easily agreeing. “Will you hold my hand the whole time?”

Taehyung giggles and squeezes his hand as an answer. He’s so happy. Their hands swing between them as they set off towards the sprawling acres of trees.

It’s busy, but not unbearably so. It’s nice to see other people – some holding hands just like them, others with their family, some with their friends – and hear them talk and laugh and enjoy the sunny day. The orchard is so huge that it doesn’t feel crowded at all, so they get the feeling of being a part of something and not the overwhelming bits of feeling too close to it all.

“How are you?” Taehyung asks as they step through the wooden gate that welcomes them onto the orchard.

Jungkook looks over at him, and he’s just… he’s so gorgeous. The warm sunlight must worship him because of the way he looks beneath it. “I’m happy,” he says. “So happy I’m with you.”

Taehyung bumps their shoulders together. “I feel the same,” he says.

Jungkook lets go of his hand even though it was his request, and before he can wrap his arm around his shoulders like he was intending to, Taehyung beats him to it and wraps his arm around his shoulders instead. He pulls Jungkook into his side, and he hears a small, “O-Oh.”

“Is this okay, love?” Taehyung asks. He nuzzles his nose into his hair. He presses a kiss there too.

“Yeah…” Jungkook says, but he doesn’t sound too sure. Still, his arm goes around Taehyung’s waist and he keeps him close. Taehyung remembers Jungkook saying his (horrible, terrible, disgusting, disgraceful, undeserving) ex-boyfriend never held him before. There’s probably so much that Jungkook has never been on the receiving end of in a relationship, and it makes Taehyung’s heart ache.

But he’s here now, and he’ll give Jungkook everything. He’ll show him that he can be the one being taken care of. He’ll show him that it’s not one or the other – that one of them is the carer, the other the cared for. They’re both. Both of them are both things, because that’s how a relationship works when it’s not with someone undeserving of him.

He forces those thoughts away though. He’ll think of it some other time. Right now, he’s at an apple orchard on a beautiful autumn day with his beautiful, beautiful boy, and it’s not the time to think deeply about things. It’s the time to feel the sunlight and look at the apples lounging on their branches and kiss this sweet, kind, incredible person who deserves every single good thing in the world.

So when they choose a row to walk down between the apple trees, Taehyung stops him. He steps in front of him, his arms around him. He nudges the tips of their noses together, and the kiss is more of a smile than a kiss, because the touch of their noses seems to always make the both of them giggly.

He rests his hand on Jungkook’s cheek. Brushes his thumb back and forth beneath his eye. “So, so beautiful,” he says quietly. “My beautiful Kookie.” He can feel Jungkook’s cheek grow warmer in his palm, and it makes himself grow warmer too. He wants this to be good. He wants to be what Jungkook needs. He wants to be good at this. At loving him, because he feels it growing so near.

Jungkook nuzzles against his palm. They’re just two nuzzly people who are falling in love, he supposes. Jungkook turns his head and kisses his palm. “I’m so happy I’m with you,” he says quietly. Taehyung can’t believe that just a few months ago, he thought he didn’t like this person. Now he’s trying to soften all of his hard edges to make himself worthy of being held by him, to make sure he won’t hurt him.

He kisses him. Short and soft. “So am I,” he says just as quietly, then he steps back. He wants to focus on having fun on their date (even though what they were doing was really fun too) because they can talk about deep, important things in quiet voices whenever night falls. For now, the sky is a light blue and the birds are awake and eavesdropping on their conversations, so it should be as light and airy as the sky they fly in.

“How is your brother doing?” he asks as they slowly stroll down the rows of trees. They’re looking around at the apples on their branches, searching for ones that should go home with them. “Where did he and his wife go on their honeymoon?”

It’s so strange that he’s known Jungkook for so long. He knows so much about him, but he learned it because he was his boss, not because he was his Jungkook. This is a first date, but they’ve known each other for years. They have so much to learn and discover, but they’ve learned and discovered so much already too. “He’s okay. They went to Japan for their honeymoon. His wife is pregnant.” Then, “With his baby, by the way.”

Taehyung’s laughter strolls through the apple trees with them. “That’s so nice,” he says. “You’re going to be Uncle Kookie.”

“Yeah,” he says. His voice already sounds fond at the thought of it. “I’m excited. Do you want kids?”

Maybe they should’ve gotten these things out of the way before that waded in so deep, but it’s too late to swim back. “Not particularly. I’ve never been against it, but it’s not something I ever really wanted. I don’t think I should have kids unless it’s something I really want, not something I’m neutral on.” He shrugs. “That could change though. I started to want and stop wanting a lot of things all the time as I just grew up more. What about you?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I’m the same too. It could be nice to have kids, and could be nice to keep not having them. I still feel like a kid myself though, so.”

Taehyung wants to say that they’ll revisit it in the future. That if it comes up again, they’ll talk about it, and talk about how they feel about it again. If it happens, then it happens, and it’ll be however it’s meant to be.

But maybe he shouldn’t talk about having a family with Jungkook on their first date, so he doesn’t. “What was your childhood like?” he asks instead. They’re not even actually searching the trees for apples anymore, instead just taking a stroll together – exactly what Taehyung says he values in dates, and he knows Jungkook isn’t doing this just for him, because he seems to be like this too. He can hear the grass beneath their feet, the way it sways in a sea as the leaves around them do the same whenever the autumn breeze appears. The sunlight is dappled through the leaves, but shining proudly onto them as they walk between the trees.

“It was nice,” Jungkook says, a nostalgic smile coming to his face as he remembers. “I grew up in Busan, on the beach. Not too far from Jimin-hyung, but we didn’t know each other way back then. It was a lot of just exploring with my brother. Playing on the beach. Finding secret spots around Busan. I always want to go back and see if they’re still there or if they were discovered by others and turned into something else. I’m not sure if they were even secret, just felt that way because I was a kid. I never really go to Busan just to stay though. I usually just go to see my family and then I leave.”

“You should go,” Taehyung says. “You should go back to your old spots you used to love, the non-secret ones too. I think it’d be nice to revisit everything.”

“Maybe you can come and I can show you.”

“But they’re your secret spots. That’s not something you can just show anyone.”

“I’m not showing just anyone,” Jungkook says. “And I’m not suggesting we already do the meet-the-parents thing because this is our first date,” he chuckles, “even though it doesn’t really feel like it, but my family will love you. They hated Wonshik so you will already be loved, but even more because they’ll see how amazing you are.”

Taehyung blushes an apple red. He looks at the grass they’re walking on instead of Jungkook or the trees, too shy for either to see him. “My family will love you too.”

“Tell me about your childhood,” he says.

Taehyung hums, fond memories already appearing like they always do at the mention of it. “I was born in a neighborhood in Daegu, but that’s not the part that comes to mind when I think about my childhood. I think of being with my family at my grandparents’ house, so I really grew up on a strawberry farm. And–”

“A strawberry farm?” Jungkook says, stopping in his tracks.

“Yeah?”

Jungkook is staring at him, pierced lips parted, eyes a warm brown in the light.

“God, you’re just so cute,” Jungkook says, then they start walking again.

“I didn’t even do anything,” Taehyung says. “I didn’t make the farm.”

“Still, it’s just so cute. Of course you grew up on a strawberry farm.”

“Growing up on the beach is just as cute, and it suits you too. Anyway, I didn’t live there every day of the year, but I did every summer and school break, and always asked to be brought there whenever I could. My parents worked a lot, like I said in the story about the cops, so I was equally as raised by my grandparents. The place I lived with my parents was cute – our house, our neighborhood. It’s just not what I associate with my childhood.

“The farm is really big, and rural too, so I could always run around everywhere and even in the forest without my grandparents worrying about me. I don’t know, I just associate that time with freedom kind of, even though childhood isn’t really the time people would apply that word to.

“And my family will love you too. It’s impossible not to love you.” It’s quiet for a few seconds. Taehyung realizes what he said, so he clears his throat and quickly moves on. He looks around them and remembers they’re at an apple orchard, and just as he does, he sees an apple that looks perfect.

Jungkook spots it at the same time though and reaches out for it. He looks over and sees Taehyung doing the same, and they both lunge for it. They both miss it because of the fast jerky movement, and Taehyung shoves Jungkook aside to try to reach it. He shrieks with giggles when he’s picked up by arms around his waist and physically moved aside, and Jungkook almost has it, but Taehyung yanks him back. He steps in front of him, and he crashes their lips together.

Jungkook immediately responds, and the kiss isn’t fast and messy like they both were expecting it to be. It’s faster than they’ve ever kissed before, but it’s sweet and soft, because he thinks they’re really only capable of those things. His fingers are tangled in Jungkook’s hair, and he reaches his arm slowly back for the apple. When he does, it collides with Jungkook’s arm too. They realize what they’re both doing, and they laugh into the kiss, but neither of them stop. They continue to kiss as they try to knock each other’s arms away, but then Taehyung forces Jungkook to use both arms when he jumps and wraps his legs around him. Jungkook makes a noise of surprise and immediately holds him up.

Taehyung doesn’t use this position like he intended to though. He wraps his arms around Jungkook’s neck, one hand still tangled in his hair. He feels flustered that Jungkook can hold him up as if he weighs nothing. He’s not even getting turned on exactly; it mostly feels nice to be held like this. Jungkook walks them between the trees, then his back is against one of the tree trunks, hidden in the thin autumn forest.

Taehyung kisses him slower, deeper, and he takes a shaky breath when Jungkook parts his lips for him, an invitation. Tentatively, on the next kiss, his tongue swipes across his bottom lip. Jungkook’s breathing turns shaky too. Just as tentatively, he does the same, and their tongues meet in the middle. They touch for the first time, and Taehyung’s head spins. On the next kiss, they press together more firmly, and Jungkook quietly whimpers. The sound almost makes Taehyung turn feral, but he controls it so he can kiss him slowly and not get carried away. This isn’t the time for that, and he doesn’t think Jungkook would like that anyway.

They continue these slow kisses. Tongues brushing and tangling, teeth occasionally teasing Jungkook’s bottom lip to hear the way he tries to suppress his quiet noises. “Sweet little Kookie,” Taehyung whispers between kisses. Jungkook whimpers again, this time louder, and it’s not the reaction Taehyung expected. He wasn’t expecting any reaction really, but not this. He thinks about what Jungkook said before about how his previous (disgusting, embarrassing, sad excuse of a) boyfriend never held him, never showed him that he can be taken care of, so maybe Jungkook was never allowed to feel like this. Never allowed to feel small, in the way maybe he’s wanted to. Even though Jungkook is holding him up, he’s not leading the kiss. He’s following Taehyung’s lead. Even though he has muscles and tattoos and piercings and is pressing Taehyung’s back against a tree, his breath is shaky when Taehyung says, “Such a sweet boy, aren’t you? The prettiest.” His hands travel down Jungkook’s arms, feeling his biceps and the way they’re flexed as he holds him up so easily. “So strong. So cute.”

Jungkook rests their foreheads together. “I don’t ever want to not be yours,” he says in barely a whisper.

“O-Oh,” Taehyung says. He feels tears spring to his eyes at the unexpected admission. “I feel the same, baby. You won’t be. Never. I’ve got you forever.”

Jungkook nods. Taehyung kisses Jungkook’s cheek, lips lingering. He’ll be good for Jungkook. He’ll be good to Jungkook. He doesn’t know how anybody couldn’t be. Doesn’t know how anyone could have kissed him like he isn’t soft and gentle and someone who should be held.

Jungkook sets him down and rests his hands on his waist to steady him. Taehyung thinks he loves him.

He takes his hand, and they walk out from the trees, making themselves seen again. When they walk past the branch, Taehyung intends to let Jungkook have the apple, but it’s not there anymore. They turn and look down the grassy aisle they’re in, and they see a family that must have walked by while they were hidden. There’s a little girl with braids and red ribbons on the ends, and she’s throwing an apple up in the air and catching it again and again. They smile at her back, then at each other, and they continue their walk through the orchard.

After walking through several more rows with several different conversations passing between them, they each find an apple – not needing to fight over it, because different ones call to them.

With the apples tucked in Taehyung’s bag, they head back to the front of the orchard where the big barn is, where the apple cider and fresh donuts are waiting for them. They both sigh in happiness at the warmth of the barn and the scents that flood it. Taehyung glances over at Jungkook, nervous that maybe the smell might be too much for him, but he looks equally as blissed out as Taehyung feels.

They walk through the little shop at the front that sells homemade candy and little knick knacks and mementos, then they head to the back to order. As they wait in line, Taehyung looks around.

The ceilings are tall in the way barns always are, and there are skylights at the top that fill the space with more light than the big hanging lights do. People are puttering around, shopping for souvenirs as they eat their treats.

Taehyung lets Jungkook pull him forward in line. He sees the girl at the register looking at Jungkook, even as she helps the customer in front of them. Taehyung rolls his eyes to himself. He looks over at Jungkook to ask what he’s getting, or maybe make a petty show of possession, but his words and actions leave him when he finds Jungkook already looking at him.

Taehyung blushes and feels his body heat up, like the barn got several degrees warmer. Even more when Jungkook tucks a lock of wavy hair behind his ear. He trails his fingertips down his cheek to take a loose hold of his chin. He keeps him in place when he leans in and kisses him. It lingers for several seconds, then Jungkook steps forward so they can order.

Taehyung stands there, dazed, several steps behind him. He only jumps into action when Jungkook looks behind him, and he doesn’t even care about the look the cashier is giving them.

They order two apple ciders, a pumpkin donut, and an apple donut. It’s all so warm when it’s handed to them, and they step off to the side to rip the donuts in half. They hand each half to each other so they both can have part of each donut. They both moan as they take a bite of each one, giggling at the sounds they made, even more when they both make pained sounds as they sip their too-hot drinks.

They venture back outside, and they walk across the acres to the pumpkin patch. They have to stop for a minute on their way when a small train that’s several cars long full of children drives past them on their tour of the expansive property, and Jungkook pouts. “I don’t know why only children get to do that,” he mutters.

They reach the pumpkin patch and take a slow stroll through, getting acquainted with all of them before they look for any to take home. They sip their warm drinks and eat their warm snacks as they look at the different shapes and sizes of orange pumpkins. He thinks they’re both trying not to be obvious in how fast they’re eating because they both want to be able to hold hands again.

They finally throw away their snack wrappers and have only their drinks in hand, so they can happily use the other for hand holding. They join the patches of dirt again, strolling through the pumpkin patch surrounded by autumn trees.

“I’ve been saying the same thing for years too,” Taehyung laughs, shaking his head.

“We were all just tangled up,” Jungkook says. They both knew already, but their best friends were both teasing them about liking the other, then feeding intel to each other to tell their best friends. And they were telling Jimin and Yoongi that they should ask each other out for just as long. The universe seemed to finally snap and get angry at them and forcibly made it all finally happen at once.

“I think I want this one,” Taehyung says, pointing down at what he thinks is the perfect pumpkin. It’s round and well-proportioned, and he would like to take it home.

Jungkook picks it up like Taehyung demanded he would back at the office, and he sets it aside for them. Before Jungkook goes in search of one of his own though, he takes Taehyung’s hand and leads him a few feet away behind an old wooden windmill that circles the wonderful scents from the barn around the property.

“Taetae?” Jungkook asks softly as he tucks a lock of hair behind his ear. The nickname is so cute, and it was adopted so easily.

“Yeah?” Taehyung says, his breath hitching because of the way Jungkook looks at him.

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

Taehyung rests his hand on Jungkook’s cheeks. He looks into his eyes, warm brown in the sun, just like his own. His hands are a shade darker against Jungkook’s cheeks, the tip of his baby’s nose the same color as his lips. He can tell Jungkook is holding his breath, so Taehyung leans in and kisses him so he can breathe out. Then he says, “No.”

Jungkook deflates and rolls his eyes in the cutest way. “You’re the worst,” he mutters, sounding like he doesn’t mean it at all.

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

“Nope,” Jungkook says with a smile, then he takes his hand and leads him back to the pumpkins.

A little while later when they’re back in the car with their pumpkins and apples in the backseat, Jungkook cracks the windows and turns the radio on low, letting them both soak up the golden afternoon for all it’s worth.

The next part of the date isn’t for a couple of hours, so they drive around for a while in search of a place to have lunch. They drive through the hilly mountains that look like an autumn painting even from up close, and Taehyung feels like he’s in one, because life feels so beautiful that he has a hard time believing it could actually be real.

– ♡ –

Their hands swing between them as they walk up to the second part of their date. It’s hard to tell what it is from the outside. The building is nondescript, just a plain brick building sitting on a corner. The front is made of windows, but all it shows are the plants decorated in them. There’s no sign, and no people either, but the lights are on just for them.

Taehyung opens the door for Jungkook, and they walk inside. Immediately, he’s comforted by the smell of canvas, paint, clay – things he hasn’t really smelled since his college days, but now that he knows an art studio is relatively close to where they live, he thinks this won’t be his only visit there.

The halls are empty and quiet as Taehyung leads them through. It’s a little eerie, but when he looks at the art on the walls and Jungkook as his side, the emptiness starts to feel intimate rather than unsettling.

He leads a quiet Jungkook through the studio until they reach the pottery room. It’s not too big of a space – just two rows of tables, six total, that each seat two people. The lighting is warm (something Taehyung personally checked on by visiting the place prior to choosing this as their date). The walls are beige where they aren’t an exposed brick, with warm string lights draped around, looking more like they’re in an outside courtyard rather than inside.

There are twelve pottery wheels, six on each wall. The walls are covered in art and windows, and shelves of bowls and plates and other creations are sprinkled around. It smells like clay. It’s a gentle, earthy smell, not an overly perfumed one that he thinks would cause a headache for Jungkook.

Already there for them are two bags of clay on one of the shelves. Taehyung takes them. They’re quite heavy, but he carries them towards a table beside the window. Jungkook reaches out and says, “Here, I’ll get it for you.”

Taehyung yanks his arms away. “I can carry it myself.” This is his part of the date, so he’s doing things for Jungkook.

Jungkook holds his hands up in the air to show he’s backing off and means no offense, looking silly as he does as if Taehyung will attack him. “Didn’t think you couldn’t. I just wanted to help,” he says with a fake pout.

Taehyung sets the bags of clay on the table with a relieved sigh. Before he can do anything else, he’s tugged into Jungkook’s arms. His hands steady himself on Jungkook’s chest as he giggles, falling into his arms like a damsel in distress.

Jungkook nudges the tips of their noses together – something that seems to have become one of their things. He kisses the corner of his lips, then his cheek. “I’m so happy I’m with you,” he says.

Taehyung blushes a vivid shade, but he doesn’t hide away. “Me too,” he says quietly. “I like you so much.” He thinks again about how this is his boss Jungkook who he didn’t like for so long, and he doesn’t know how he kept that up for years. How he was able to stay away from this sweet boy, how he ever existed as someone who wasn’t held in his arms.

“I’m falling in love with you,” Jungkook says. It isn’t the first time they’ve said that, but Taehyung feels faint because of the feeling it gives him.

He rests his hand on Jungkook’s cheek. Brushes his thumb back and forth. Looks into his sparkling eyes. “Me too, baby,” he says quietly. The look on Jungkook’s face is so soft it almost hurts. “I’m going to love you so much.”

“I’m gonna love you more.”

Taehyung laughs and rolls his eyes, pushing Jungkook away. Jungkook just laughs and walks around him to stand at the table. Taehyung walks away and plugs his phone into a speaker at the front of the room, and quiet music fills the space. He stops at the aprons hanging on the wall and finds two clean ones, then he returns back to Jungkook.

He drapes one over Jungkook’s neck, then he reaches around him in a hug to tie it. He ends it with an actual hug, and a kiss too.

Their table is beside a window, and he can see that on the other side of it, the sky has turned cloudy with a hint that rain might be coming. That sounds like a wonderful addition to their date after a sunny day outside. Taehyung puts his own apron on as he walks over to the window to let the sounds in whenever it comes, then he returns back to Jungkook. He looks cute in his green apron, waiting patiently for whatever Taehyung has planned.

“We’re doing pottery,” he says.

“I can see that.”

“Have you ever done it before?” Jungkook shakes his head. “Okay, I’ll walk you through it. I thought we could make something for each other.” Taehyung would do anything in the world for that smile.

“I like that,” Jungkook says. “I’m gonna make you a mug so you can use it at work.”

Taehyung giggles. “I’ll do the same. Okay, first.” He opens the bag of clay, and Jungkook does the same. “Cut off a block of clay.” He grabs the fishing wire on the table and cuts some off, then Jungkook does the same to get the same amount he did. “Then we have to wedge it. This gets all the air bubbles out and makes it softer and easier for us to throw it on the wheel.” Taehyung starts working the clay, wedging it in the same motions he would for kneading bread dough. He pushes the soft clay down with his palms, then folds it over and does the same. Rotates it and keeps kneading it as he feels it become softer, smoother, and more moldable.

Jungkook follows suit when he sees what to do, working in tandem with him. “This was a fun idea,” he says with a smile down at the clay.

Taehyung was a little nervous that Jungkook wouldn’t like it, because he doesn’t like things to get on his hands. He’s noticed from years of embarrassingly watching him with an intense focus, though, that he cringes at some things but others are okay – and even nice. He doesn’t like lotion, or when the sauce from something he’s eating gets on his hands, or anything wet, really. He thought that something more solid and soft would be fine, especially when paired with a repetitive motion or careful focus that he’s learned that Jungkook likes through asmr. And Jungkook seems quite calm and mesmerized, so maybe it’s more than fine. The pottery wheel might be another story since a lot of water is required and makes the clay quite wet, but he brought along gloves just in case, and it’s just as easy to make a mug without the pottery wheel and just by hand. It’d be a little messy, but Taehyung would still use it and cherish it like it’s the most precious thing he owns.

“Do you know what Yoongi-hyung and Jimin are doing on their date today?” Jungkook asks.

Taehyung completely forgot that the two of them also have their date today. He and Jimin are going to have a lot to talk about tomorrow. “No, do you?”

Jungkook shakes his head. His hair falls into eyes, weaving through his long eyelashes. “It’s about time they got together. It was insane watching them flirt with each other every day without doing anything about it.”

He’s sure everybody feels the same about them, but even worse since Taehyung claimed he didn’t like Jungkook. “I know,” he chuckles. “I don’t know how they’ll even be able to talk on their date because Jimin can never stop giggling around him.”

Jungkook laughs. “Yoongi-hyung has never been interested in dating anyone the whole time I’ve known him, like he never asked anyone out or even commented on the way someone looks, so I really had nothing to go off of for what kind of person he would like. But even so, I would not have expected Jimin. And he really, really likes Jimin.”

It makes Taehyung smile. Jimin deserves someone to really, really like him. “Jimin’s impossible not to love,” he says. The hum Jungkook does in agreement makes Taehyung fall even harder. “Okay, I think we’ve wedged it enough. Do you want to use the pottery wheel or do it by hand? If we do the wheel it’s kind of wet, so I don’t know if that’s okay with you.”

“Um…” Jungkook says. He looks down at his hands, which are still dry, then over at the pottery wheel. “Can I watch you do it first?”

Taehyung leads them to the pottery wheel, where everything is already set up. The bucket of water, the sponge, the trimming tool. Jungkook sits on the opposite side of the wheel from him, watching everything he does intently. Taehyung throws the clay onto the plate so it’s stuck securely on, then he dips the sponge in water and wrings it out over the clay. He gets his own hands wet too, then he cups them around the formless ball of clay. “Your hands need to be wet so you can shape the clay more easily,” he says. Jungkook nods, very focused. Taehyung leans forward and rests his elbows on his thighs, and he presses on the pedal that spins the wheel.

He forms the clay so it’s tall like a vase, then he pushes it down with his palm so it’s short and wide again, shaping it and getting the both of them used to the process. “Wooooah,” Jungkook says quietly, watching as the clay follows his lead. Taehyung doesn’t start working on the mug itself, because if Jungkook decides he wants to do it by hand, he will too. He just gets the clay more flexible and malleable, sending it up and down and back again.

He glances up at Jungkook to ask what he thinks, but the words die on his lips. Jungkook looks absolutely mesmerized. His pierced lips are parted, his eyes in deep focus but also not truly seeing.

“Why don’t you try putting your hands on top of mine?” Taehyung says. It snaps Jungkook out of his stupor, and he looks at him. He looks unsure. “You can control what my hands do and see if you like the way it feels. You won’t actually be touching it yet. You don’t have to if you don’t want to though, and we can go back to our table.”

Jungkook hesitantly raises his hands and hovers them over Taehyung’s. Taehyung presses the pedal back and slows the wheel to a stop. He waits for Jungkook to psyche himself up, trying to make himself look as encouraging as he can without saying any words that might come off as pressuring. He just waits patiently. Then he gives him a proud smile when he rests his hands on top of his own. Jungkook perks up at it.

Taehyung slowly presses forward on the pedal, making the wheel spin again. Jungkook pushes down on his hands just slightly, and the clay changes its shape because of it. Jungkook makes another entranced noise, and Taehyung can’t help but giggle. He raises one of Taehyung’s hands so it’s on the top of the clay, then he pushes down on it, making the figure short and wide again. He does it a few more times, making it taller then shorter then taller again, before he says, “I think it would make me kind of squeamish and tingly in a bad way if I were to do it myself, but I like it when we’re doing it like this. Um, I know it’ll be harder, but I still want to make your mug doing this instead of by hand so it’ll be neater, s-so maybe we can do it like this?”

Taehyung wishes he could rest his hands on Jungkook’s cheek and feel the warmth of them, but his hands are painted with wet clay. So he says, “Come give me a kiss.” Jungkook giggles and leans in, and they meet in the middle over the pottery wheel. “Such a sweet baby,” he says, nudging their noses together. “Of course we can do that.”

They get back in position, and Taehyung slowly turns on the wheel. It’s strange to be making the mug, but not really be doing it. Jungkook is working through him, his hands so gentle on top of his own even when he’s pushing them down firmly.

“Can you put your thumbs in the middle to make the inside?” Jungkook asks. He takes his hands away and watches Taehyung do it.

“Just tell me when to stop,” he says. He creates a well in the middle of the mug, making it wider then pressing his hands down to make the walls thicker at Jungkook’s direction.

“Okay, that’s good,” Jungkook says. “Um, c-can you hold it steady while I trim the top?” Taehyung does what he says while Jungkook takes one of the tools and sets it on the rim of the mug, trimming the top away to make it even and the height he wants it to be. Taehyung smiles to himself when the mug is the same shape of the ones he likes to use at the office. It’s different from a normal generic coffee cup that’s more narrow and tall; this one is almost like a small bowl, shorter and wider.

Once it’s the way Jungkook likes, Taehyung turns off the wheel and says, “You’ll have to make a handle to put on it, but that part is done by hand.”

“Can I let it dry a little bit before I do that and watch you make my mug?”

His eyes are a little wider than usual when he asks it, as if Taehyung could ever deny him anything. “Of course, baby,” he says. “Can you come closer though?” Jungkook leans in again, confused, and Taehyung nuzzles their noses together, because it always makes Jungkook giggle. “I like you so much.” He kisses his lips. “So, so much.”

Jungkook kisses him this time, then once more. “I really, really like you too, Taetae.” Taetae. Taehyung’s heart squeezes. He doesn’t know if he loves that or sweetheart more, and he feels so lucky he gets to be with Jungkook and hear both.

Just like Jungkook knew what types of mugs he likes, he knows what kinds Jungkook likes too. The mug he uses is the diameter of a normal mug he’d get at a diner or tourist spot, but about double the height. He’s never said it, but Taehyung knows it’s because both of his hands can wrap around it. He puts one on top of the other because he likes the warmth that transfers to his skin. He wonders how much Jungkook knows about him in this way too.

“Your hands are really pretty,” Jungkook says as he watches him form the new lump of clay into something that will soon resemble a mug for his boss. “I like them.”

Taehyung smiles down at the clay, still focused but letting the butterflies get to him. “Sweet baby,” he says. “I really like your hands too. Your tattoos and the width of your knuckles.”

Jungkook snorts. Taehyung blushes when he belatedly realizes that’s a strange thing to say, because people shouldn’t really notice such minute intricacies on someone like how wide or narrow their knuckles are.

“Do you like to do any types of art?” he asks. He knows so many little things about Jungkook – like the width of his knuckles and what kind of coffee mugs he prefers and why, among other things – but some of the big things he still doesn’t know. He thinks he could guess based on the little things he does know. He thinks Jungkook probably enjoys, or would enjoy, painting, because the sound of a brush gliding across canvas makes a gentle sound that translates into a physical feeling too. He thinks Jungkook probably would like the process of mixing colors too, watching the way they fade together and getting to control the shades they turn, making little tweaks until it’s the way he wants and figuring out how to get there.

“I really like drawing and painting,” Jungkook says. “I think I’m pretty good at them too. I like painting a lot, but I usually have to plan a day for it and make that the purpose of the day so I can really focus on it. It’s relaxing, so I like having a free, quiet day to do it. What about you? You’re really good at this, and I think you’d be good at things you do with your hands. Like instruments.”

Taehyung grabs the tool Jungkook used to trim the top of the mug, and he does the same to the one he’s working on. “I do like playing instruments, and I think I’m good at them. I’m good at the saxophone, and I used to like the piano a lot. I haven’t played in a while though, and I was never formally taught anyway. I’m relatively good at the guitar too and can usually have an easy time picking things up. I like music.”

Taehyung leans back to survey his work. He leans back more to stretch out his back, the notches of his spine cracking with the movement and his neck doing the same when he twists his head around. “I like when you do that,” Jungkook says.

“Do what?”

“You’ve cracked your knuckles before sometimes on your channel. I like that sound.”

Every time Taehyung remembers Jungkook watches his videos, it makes him have to hold back a giggle. It’s also just a little embarrassing, but only because it feels vulnerable to have it be known he makes videos. “I’ll do it more often then,” he says. “Kiss?”

Jungkook presses their lips together, then again and again and again because Taehyung can’t do anything but take it with his clay-wet hands. Several minutes later, they carefully carry their creations back to their table, then they get to work on making the handles. Taehyung loves this and is having fun, but he can’t wait to have his hands clean and free of any clay, because being so close to Jungkook and not being able to touch him is a huge struggle.

“Once the handle is how you want it to be,” he says, “you’ll have to score it. So on each end and where you’ll attach it to the mug, you have to make little crosshatching lines so it’s not smooth. Then you’ll apply some slip to attach it on the outside and smooth it out. It’s this clay and water mixture here.” He points to the bucket where the slimy-looking material is. “It feels weird, so I can do that part for you if you want?”

He looks over when Jungkook is silent. Jungkook just looks at him for a few seconds, then he walks away. Taehyung panics that maybe that offended him, then he panics even more when Jungkook goes to wash his hands, thinking maybe he’s leaving him. His stomach drops as he dries his hands, then walks back to the table maybe to grab his things. He probably shouldn’t say things like that, assume things like that, because maybe it does come off horribly when that’s not his intention. He opens his mouth to apologize, but then Jungkook’s hands are on his cheeks, and he’s pulled into such a gentle kiss.

He makes a noise of surprise, but he kisses back just as softly. His stomach flutters back up when Jungkook kisses him again, then his knees almost give out when Jungkook’s hand goes to the back of his neck, just resting there. Two of the fingers on his other hand are resting just behind his ear, and Taehyung can’t help the quiet, barely-there moan that escapes his lips when his finger traces the shell of his ear. At the sound, the hand on the back of his neck tightens just the slightest bit. His whole body feels tingly. He wishes he could pull Jungkook closer or touch him too, but his hands are covered in wet clay, so he has to follow Jungkook’s lead and let himself be kissed. He parts his lips, hoping he’ll get what he wants, and they both quietly whimper into the kiss at the tentative brush of their tongues. He steps closer to Jungkook and shifts them so his back is against the table, caging him in. He rests his clay-covered hands on the table on each side of him, trapping him further, and Jungkook doesn’t seem like he has any problem with being stuck like this. The hand on his neck slides down to rest on the small of his back, making Taehyung arch it so he’s closer. The fronts of their bodies are pressed together, from their stomachs and further down. It’s a suggestive way to stand together, but neither of them make it into anything more than trying to get closer to each other.

Taehyung is… he’s so close to being in love. It’s in reach, it could be his if he weren’t so shy about reaching out to grab it. But it’s there, it’s hidden between a few more kisses, between Jungkook’s lips, so close. He can feel it getting closer, the warmth of it, the comfort, the way it wants to be with him in the way he wants to be with Jungkook forever. He can taste it, he can feel it, it’s one more kiss away.

Then Jungkook leans back with the dreamiest sigh he’s ever heard. He rests their foreheads together, his breath warm against his lips, the love that’s his, that’s theirs. He tilts his head up and nudges their noses together, their smiles just centimeters apart. “You’re so nice to me,” Jungkook says quietly.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Taehyung says, matching the strength of his voice. “You’re the loveliest person I’ve ever met. I want to be someone you feel good with.”

Jungkook’s nose presses against his cheek. He kisses him there. “I do,” Jungkook whispers. “Do you feel good with me?”

Taehyung wants to tell him that every second he spends with him is the warmest he’s ever felt. He wants to tell him that the world feels like a new place since he started to live in a world where Jungkook is his. He wants to tell him that he thinks he might love him, that he’s so easy to love that it barely took any time at all.

“I’ve never felt as good as I do with you,” he says instead, with all of the other things hidden in that sentence, he hopes. He kisses Jungkook’s cheek, then he steps back to free him.

They continue making their mugs, because by now the sky has gone dark and he’s sure the studio will close relatively soon. They continue talking about every topic that comes into their heads as they put the finishing touches on their mugs, making sure the handles are perfect before moving on to the rest of the design. They’re both creating little things out of clay that they’re sticking onto the mugs while carving other parts into it, but neither of them look to spoil the surprise of the end result. They finish by smoothing out any imperfections they can. Taehyung doesn’t think they could ever be absolutely perfect when done by hand, and that’s what makes them perfect.

They set them on the shelf with other people’s creations for the studio to fire them, both clearly fighting against stealing a peek. They’ll have to come back another day to glaze them before they’re fired once more and finally done, but he doesn’t think that’s a problem for either of them.

They wash their hands and clean up their stations. Taehyung wishes there were a third part to their date, but he can tell they’re both sleepy from the full day of activities. Their hands find each other’s when they step out into the dark, quiet night. The rain had stopped at some point, but the smell and feeling of it is still thick in the air. It feels like no one is out except for them, only the orange streetlights to watch over them like they did when they shared their first kiss.

“I liked this a lot,” Jungkook says, their hands gently swinging between them.

“I liked your part of the date too,” Taehyung says. “It was just a really nice day. I like spending time with you.”

“So do I,” Jungkook says quietly, shyly.

“Where are we going?” Jungkook asks when they turn a corner away from the direction of town.

“I’m walking you home,” he says.

“Oh…”

Taehyung is confused by the quiet quality to Jungkook’s voice. When he looks over, a blush makes its way through the darkness, as if Jungkook wasn’t expecting that Taehyung would do this.

They don’t say much on their walk. They just enjoy the quiet night, the stars twinkling above as their hands are safely held together. Sometimes autumn nights have an eerie quality to them that he’s noticed before, but there’s no trace of that right now. All there is is overwhelming warmth.

They approach Jungkook’s cute red house sooner than he would have liked. He can tell Jungkook is tired though, so he wants him to get in bed so hopefully sleep will come easy to him.

Taehyung’s arms go around Jungkook’s waist, and Jungkook’s wrap around his neck. “I really love being with you,” Taehyung says again.

Jungkook’s smile is shy. If he hadn’t met Jungkook through work, it would be impossible for him to imagine that this sweet, shy baby is a boss, that he leads an entire newspaper.

“Me too,” Jungkook says. He leans in, but just to hug him. He holds Taehyung close, and Taehyung closes his eyes when he hugs him back. They hold each other like that in the middle of the empty sidewalk, bodies pressed together, warm breath on his neck when Jungkook buries his face there. He wants to hold this sweet, soft, gentle person forever. When Jungkook asks, “Will you be my boyfriend?” he almost gives in.

Partially because he wants to be stubborn, but mostly because he knows the giggle he’ll get to hear from Jungkook, he says, “No.” Feeling the giggle against him, the rise and fall of his chest and the breath against his neck, makes him feel the happiest he thinks he’s ever felt. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

Jungkook leans back to look at him, smile big and eyes sparkly. “Nope.”

“What are we going to do about this then?”

Jungkook shrugs. “Wait ‘til someone caves, but it won’t be me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Taehyung says. Jungkook’s blinks get slower, and it’s like watching a puppy try not to fall asleep. “Go inside and get some sleep.”

“I need several more kisses first.”

Taehyung giggles before the first kiss. Jungkook giggles into the second, then they smile into the third. The fourth gets a little sleepy, and the fifth is slow and lingering. “Goodnight, Jungkookie,” Taehyung says against his lips.

Jungkook noses at his cheek like he’s done before. “Goodnight, sweetheart. Text me when you get home?”

“Okay.” With several more kisses Jungkook reluctantly walks inside, and Taehyung starts his walk home.

As he walks down Jungkook’s street, he thinks that if he were to look back, there would be a trail of butterflies fluttering behind him because there are too many to fit inside of him. A small smile is on his face that he can’t seem to get away, as permanent, it seems, as the moon in the night sky that he looks at while thinking about Jungkook.

He’s just…. He’s just so happy. He can’t believe all of this was waiting for him, that this would be at the end of days upon days upon months upon years. He can’t believe he saw Jungkook five days a week for years, but it was never like this. He can’t believe he could ever have been around Jungkook and not feel this way, that he and Jungkook were just boss and employee, interacting and working together not knowing this was awaiting them.

He doesn’t know what else awaits them, but he knows without a doubt that it will be a lifetime full of feeling this soft happiness.

Chapter 24

Chapter Text

Taehyung and Jimin are on Taehyung’s balcony, enjoying their Sunday in the golden autumn weather. They have a lot to catch up on, but the morning has been slow and nice as they take their time just enjoying being with each other before they remind themselves that others exist.

Jimin is drinking tea while Taehyung does some plant maintenance that he’s been putting off. They’re both wearing Home Clothes, as Jimin calls them, meaning they look lazy. Jimin got his roots touched up, and he toned his hair from platinum down to a sweet honey blonde. He gave Taehyung a haircut when he came over too, so his hair is no longer tickling his neck in an uncomfortable way and instead is neat and tidy with his usual parted wavy bangs.

His golden pothos sits on his outdoor table – the plant he’s had the longest out of all his others, mostly because they’re so easy to take care of. The vines are trailing all around the patio, long enough that they’re probably the length of several Taehyungs stacked on top of each other. The vines are getting leggy though, the leaves more sparse than they should be compared to the top, so he’s cutting those vines off and will add them to propagation jars so they’ll look healthier and bushier as they continue to grow.

Once it’s as he likes it, he brings it inside and lies the cut vines on the counter to add to water with all the other ones he ends up cutting. He carries out his alocasia frydek to re-pot it with new soil, because the soil is old enough that all of its nutrients have been depleted by the plant. Jimin oooohs when he carries it out. The strange velvety leaves are quite big, definitely larger than his head, and they nod and bow with the movement he makes. He sets it on the table beside his container of potting soil that he mixed together himself to make sure it’s exactly the type that’d make his plant happy, then he gets to work as Jimin finally tells him about his date with Yoongi.

“He picked me up in the evening, and he told me to wear comfortable clothes. I was confused about that, because I was like, ‘Are we just hanging out at home again?’ Which I would be more than happy about, because I’d like doing anything with him, but still. He showed up in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and he just looked so cute and normal. That sounds weird, like he’s a celebrity or something and it’s strange to see him looking like a normal person, but I dunno. I feel like he has this mysterious bad boy persona at work, and I kind of fall for it sometimes I think, so seeing him just look normal and comfortable and… I don’t know… vulnerable, I guess, was nice. Even though he was literally just wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt and it’s not that deep.”

Taehyung snorts. “I think you are the only one who falls for his bad boy alter ego because you’ve been infatuated with him for years so everything he does makes you giggle and swoon. Everyone else knows he’s just a sweet grandpa.”

Jimin huffs because he knows it’s true. Taehyung gets kind of… nervous, though, or sad, maybe, that maybe Jimin has built him up in his head so much that he’s almost started to see him as something other than just a normal human being. He hopes that they’ll settle into this domesticity quickly though and see that Yoongi is the flirty person that teases Jimin at work, but to everyone else he’s just sweet, kind, steady Yoongi. He knows Jimin knows that too, and he could really be basing this on assumptions, but nevertheless, he’s so happy Jimin will get to be domestic and simple with Yoongi after teasing the possibility for so long. He feels like he’s probably underestimating Jimin though and instantly feels bad about it, so he pushes the thought away and lets them both find it silly to see Yoongi in sweatpants and a sweatshirt for the first time.

“I wore a similar outfit, then he held my hand as we were walking to the car.” There’s a giggle in Jimin’s tone that he’s trying really hard to suppress. “We drove for a little while, just talking during the car ride, and it was so easy. There’s no reason it shouldn’t have been, because we’ve known each other for so long, but still. We talked the whole time, then we pulled up to a drive-in movie theatre. And when we drove up, and even when we were on our way there, Yoongi was so nervous. Not anxious or uncomfortable, but shy, and, god, it was the cutest f*cking thing ever. He’s always so confident at work, but he was so shy and nervous and, ugh, it was cute.”

Taehyung looks up from his plant, where he’s now just gently patting the new soil down into the pot. He sees the smile he knew would be on Jimin’s face. His eyes are trained on his mug of tea, and he’s smiling so self-indulgently, just to himself. Taehyung has always seen through Yoongi’s confidence at work – just as he’s sure everyone else but Jimin has too. He’s seen how much he wanted Jimin to like him, and it’s been so sweet. He’s glad Jimin sees it now too.

“He said he wanted to go there because we could watch a movie together, but it wouldn’t be like a normal dinner-and-a-movie date because we’d be by ourselves in the car and we could talk all we wanted, which we wouldn’t be able to do in a theatre.

“He opened the trunk of his car, and the seats were pushed down and there were blankets and pillows and a whole bunch of snacks. And we got comfy back there, and Yoongi took my hand at any chance he could get. He blushed every time, and I had to hold myself back from breaking down over it, and it was… ugh, it was just such a nice date. We got to be almost cuddled up together, but I think we were too nervous to really go for it yet. We talked through most of the movie, and it was perfect.

“And then, we went to a convenience store afterwards for some ramyeon, and we ended up sitting there for hours, just talking. We literally sat in a convenience store in the middle of the night, eating cheap ramyeon and trying out a bunch of different ice cup drinks, and just talked for hours. And it was just… it was more than I ever let myself imagine. It was such a normal, simple date – kind of strange during the second half – and it was perfect.”

“That sounds so amazing, Chim,” Taehyung says as he feels the velvety leaves on his plant. “It really shows how much he likes you too, how much he knows you, that he knows it’d be a date that you’d love. I think it’s a mix of that and it being something he’d love too, which just shows how great you two are together.”

Jimin’s smile makes his eyes disappear, and he curls his shoulders in like he’s shy. “Yeah…” he says, a dreamy quality to his voice that Taehyung hopes he’ll hear all the time. “He’s just really great. I like him so much.”

He studies Jimin’s face because it’s not often that he gets to stare at someone, at their happiness, so unabashedly without them looking back at him. But then Jimin looks up and meets his eyes for a second, and Taehyung quickly looks away, hiding it by taking his plant inside.

He puts another kettle of tea on the stove, then he walks out to grab Jimin’s mug from him. He leans against the kitchen counter while he waits for it to whistle, and there’s a soft smile on his face too as he thinks about how nice life is right now. He’s surprised that the flutter inside of him doesn’t have a single hint of dread to it. He thinks maybe at any other time or in any other situation, he’d think that if something is this wonderful, something would be coming to take it away. A storm would be on its way to ruin it all somehow.

But he doesn’t feel that way at all. He feels secure. He doesn’t even really feel hopeful, because he has nothing to hope for. He’s incredibly happy in the moment that he doesn’t need to daydream about a future with more happiness that he knows is there for them. He’s just happy, and he knows things will always be this lovely, and he doesn’t have to wait for it to be taken away. It feels like now that this has finally started, it will stay.

As if he could feel the thoughts he has about him as he waits for the tea kettle to whistle, Jungkook’s name appears on his phone screen.

Jungkook
Hi pretty taetae 🪴🖤
How are you!!
I miss you

Taehyung
Hi pretty kookie ✨🤎
Jimin is here and I’m hearing all about his date with Yoongi
And I am missing you too of course
How are you 🍂

Jungkook
Hehe Yoongi is here and I’m hearing all about his date with Jimin

Taehyung
My turn to tell Jimin about ours is next and once I start talking about you he’s going to be here til nighttime because I won’t be able to stop

Jungkook
🥹🤧🖤
And what are you going to tell him

Taehyung
Hmmm
I’ll tell him about how this kind, sweet, thoughtful, gorgeous gorgeous boy somehow wanted to go on a date with ME and he was the cutest, nicest baby the whole entire time
I had so much fun with you
Wanna be with you always

Jungkook
I really really really feel the same
I’m not gonna ever let you go
You’re stuck with me

The tea kettle sings, so Taehyung puts his phone away and makes some more tea for Jimin and him. He sets their mugs on the table outside, then he goes back inside for another plant since it’s his turn to talk and he’ll need somewhere to look and something to do with his hands.

He takes his philodendron white knight and grabs a new pot from his storage closet. This plant has been getting overcrowded in its pot because it recently grew a pup from the main plant, so now there are two plants in one pot. He’s been meaning to take the plant out and separate the pup from the mother plant, but it’s a tedious job to try to untangle their roots from each other. He always feels a little bad doing it too, so he’ll put both pots next to each other, and this way they’ll both be more relaxed in their own pots and can grow bigger, beautiful leaves.

He sets them down on the table outside again, then he gently removes the plant from its pot to get started. “I like Yoongi’s upper lip,” he says. “It’s just slightly plumper than his bottom lip. I like it.”

He looks up when Jimin snorts. “I love the things you say,” he says. It makes Taehyung’s stomach flip as he smiles back down at his plant.

He knows he says strange things, and he doesn’t really realize how strange they are until the person he’s talking to reacts to it. Jimin’s reactions have always been sweet, never making him feel weird or strange or bad. He’s mostly always endeared, and it feels nice.

“Now please tell me about your date with our annoying, frustrating, distracting boss Jeon Jungkook.”

Taehyung huffs, but the teasing could never keep his smile away. “It was… really nice,” he says shyly.

He tells Jimin about their time at the apple orchard. Strolling through the trees, drinking warm cider. Eating homemade donuts, picking out pumpkins. He assures Jimin that this was not a work trip, that they were not knocking out two windows with one stone so they could go on a date while also doing something for work.

“I know,” Jimin says. Taehyung raises an eyebrow at him. “He asked me about it. If it would be something you liked. Well, he didn’t ask, because I didn’t know about you guys then yet – even though I’d obviously known for ages. He asked me how I felt about the apple orchard and all of that, then he asked if you and I had ever gone. I knew right away what he was asking and why.” They both laugh to themselves. “I said you’d love it, but I guess he wanted a second opinion from you just to be sure.” He rolls his eyes. “Kind of ruined the surprise, but oh well. It's sweet that he wanted to be extra sure.”

Sweet Jungkookie. He could tell how nervous Jungkook was about the date, like he was scared he wouldn’t like it. He hopes Jungkook will realize that he doesn’t need to overthink with him, because what they’re doing isn’t as important as that they’re doing it together.

Taehyung tells him about the second half of their date at the art studio. He keeps some details to himself, both because they’re sweet and personal, and because he’s sure that no one has noticed Jungkook’s sensitivities the way he has, or even at all. So he doesn’t tell him about how Jungkook worked through him at the pottery wheel, or how nervous he was about the date idea too because of how tactile it was, but how he thought Jungkook would like playing with the drier clay if not the wet kind.

Taehyung has carefully untangled the two plants while keeping most of the roots intact, so he sets each plant in their own pot and starts filling it with soil again.

“You guys are boyfriends then?” Jimin asks, eyes shining because it’s finally this way.

“No,” Taehyung shakes his head.

“What? Why?”

Taehyung shrugs. “He asked me and I said no, and I asked him and he said no. So.” He shrugs again.

The smile is off of Jimin’s face and the light is gone from his eyes. He loudly groans and puts his forehead on his folded arms on the table. “You guys are so…” He doesn’t even finish the sentence. Taehyung just snickers and keeps planting his plant. Jimin sits back up and still looks exasperated, but says, “Can Yoongi and I come when you guys go back to the studio? I think he’d really like doing that. He’s good at doing things with his hands and I think he likes it a lot, and I think it’d be fun too.”

“Of course,” Taehyung says. That’d be such a cute double date idea. It wouldn’t even really feel like a double date, just friends hanging out. “We’ll make a group chat and figure out a day and time.”

Once his plants are finished, he brings them inside and washes his hands because he’s done enough for the day. He pulls out his phone and opens his messages with Jungkook.

Taehyung
Will you be my boyfriend

Jungkook
No 🖤
Will you be MY boyfriend 🥺

Taehyung
No 🌿

Jungkook
We’re just gonna be not boyfriends forever then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Taehyung
As long as you’re still mine that’s okay with me

Jungkook
Taaaaae 🤧🖤
Be my boyfriend 😠

Taehyung
Nope 😌

Jungkook
You’re so lucky you’re cute

Taehyung
Hehe

Taehyung returns back to Jimin on the balcony. The weather is so nice. The sunlight is warm but the air has a hint of a chill to it, and their hands around their mugs of tea warm them right up. He has the string lights on his balcony turned on, ready to protect them against the eventual darkening sky. Most of his plants out here are inside for the season, so they’re replaced with fake plants that look as authentic as possible – which were quite expensive, but his balcony feels bleak without them. Now it still feels like a little oasis as they watch the goings on around town.

“We’ve been saying we want to go to the new wine bar in town for months now,” Taehyung says. “It’s not even new anymore at this point. Do you want to go this week? If we don’t set a day we’ll never do it because we end up doing other things. Or nothing, usually, like sitting on my balcony.”

“Yeah! Do you want to go on Thursday night after work? We can’t do Friday because we’re going to the entertainment center on Saturday, and there’s not an unlikely chance that we’ll be hungover.”

“We do have work on Friday though,” Taehyung says, an eyebrow raised. “That’s a bit more important to not be hungover for than hanging out with our friends.”

“Well it just so happens that my best friend is dating our boss, and I don’t think he’d tell you no if you asked if we could take Friday off.”

Taehyung chuckles. “He wouldn’t say no to you either because he always wants people to take days off occasionally. But I’ll text him.”

Taehyung
Jungkook-ssi?

Jungkook
Yes, Taehyung-hyung?

Taehyung
Something came up, and my colleague Jimin and I would like to request Friday of the upcoming week off.

Jungkook
Request approved.
(Is everything okay?)

Taehyung
Thank you.
(Yeah we’re gonna go to the wine bar in town on Thursday evening so Jimin said to ask you for the next day off)

Jungkook
(Oh nice that’ll be a nice time for you two 🖤🍷)
You’re very welcome. Thank you for your hard work.

“He said yes,” Taehyung says when he puts his phone down.

“This is gonna be so fun,” Jimin says, wiggling excitedly in his seat. “Feels like forever since we hung out.”

Taehyung laughs. They’re hanging out right now, on top of every lunch break they have together five days a week. Six days a week are spent with Jimin, but still, he knows what he means. They settled into the domesticity of their friendship pretty much in the first month they met, so this is all normal. They haven’t done anything in a while, and it’ll be nice to spend some time with Jimin in a different setting.

“We should take a cooking class together,” Jimin says.

Taehyung laughs again. “Yeah?”

Jimin nods. “It’d be cute, wouldn’t it? At the studio you and Jungkook went to, they have cooking and baking classes. I’ve heard of the pasta making class, and I think there’s a pastry one too? It’d be a cute activity. Ooh! We could take the pasta one during the winter time! And ooh again!” Taehyung’s stomach is full of giggly butterflies because of how happy being with Jimin makes him. “Yes! That’ll be so nice! A cooking class when it’s all snowy out, and then we can make homemade pasta at home and it’ll make the heavy meal extra comforting.”

Even if Taehyung wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to say no both because Jimin has already planned this out and scheduled it in his head as something that will happen, and because he likes seeing Jimin this excited.

“Yeah, that’d be fun,” he says. He and Jimin are both average cooks, so he thinks it’ll be nice as a learning experience too – not just as another way to spend time together. “I love you, Jimin.”

“Oh,” Jimin says, the smile dropping off his face to make room for a look of surprise before it comes back full force. “I love you too, Taetae.”

“We should make plans for the upcoming seasons from now on,” Taehyung says. “It’s autumn now, so we should make a little bucket list for winter and do that every season.”

“Yes!” Jimin says because he’s always speaking in exclamation points. “My Taehyungie and his lists. Yeah, let’s brainstorm.”

It’s so strange to have someone know him so deeply, and to see that as something beautiful, and not terrifying. The random, strange compliments. The eye contact, the lists. If anyone else were to be able to see the way these odd idiosyncrasies have a thread running through them to connect them all, he thinks he might panic. For no reason other than that it’s a little scary to be figured out rather than to tell someone something about himself, not because he thinks anything about him is a shameful secret – not the way he could close his eyes and tap exactly where the beauty marks are on Jimin’s forehead, his cheek, his neck, and his collarbone, because details like that are noticed and considered so deeply to be able to know where they are without seeing; and not the way he can only drink insanely sweet wine, and even sweeter coffee (something they’ll definitely get side-eyed for when they go out later this week); and the way he feels it in his entire body if someone locks eyes with him, the way he shivers and has to look away, sometimes leave the room. Nothing is a secret, but to be noticed rather than to tell makes it feel like anything about him is a secret sometimes.

But in the first week of knowing each other, Jimin noticed. He noticed these little things about him and that they’re not all very isolated, and because Jimin noticed him first – because Jimin is so kind and sweet and gentle with him – it didn’t feel as terrifying as it would have when Jungkook noticed parts of him too. It doesn’t feel as terrifying as it might when they’re all more… there. He kept these things to himself as much as he could, but being with Jungkook, they’re there. They’re not so hidden; they’re all there and uncovering themselves more and more. He doesn’t even really realize it, not until Jimin giggles at the strange compliment or when he has to hide behind a plant to avoid the eye contact. He recognizes parts of Jungkook, his own version of these “odd” behaviors, and it makes him feel safe and relaxed enough for his own qualities to come out. It feels like such a relief to not try so hard to keep a mask up. He’s starting to be himself so naturally.

When Taehyung returns with a notebook and pencil and they start to brainstorm, they find that they’re having more ideas than there are lines on the piece of paper, so they take the time to really consider if they want to add it to the list.

It takes another round of tea and a plate of yakgwa before they have their official list, which is then decorated by Jimin with sweet winter drawings to make it pretty in the way Jimin does with everything in life simply by being alive.

❅ Jimin & Tae’s Winter Adventures ❅

• Take a cooking and baking class
• Take a walk on a snowy night
• Make hot cocoa, toss some blankets in the dryer, and have a warm and cozy movie night
• Go to a ski lodge with our friends for a weekend trip
• Make winter-themed origami and paper snowflakes to leave on everyone’s desks
• Convince Jungkook to let us have a pajama day at work
• Learn how to knit or crochet and make something for each other if successful
• Set up a secret scavenger hunt around town during schools’ winter break and write about it in the newspaper
• Volunteer at the soup kitchen
• Make soup for our friends
• Be nice to ourselves if we want to have more lazy days than productive ones and don’t manage to complete everything on the list by the time winter ends

“Perfect,” Jimin says when he sits back and surveys their work. “I’m so excited to get started.” Taehyung’s smile makes Jimin’s wider.

“It’s nice having something to look forward to,” he says. “Especially when it’s with my best friend.”

Jimin giggles and carefully takes their list inside to set it aside safely until winter arrives. While he’s inside he makes yet another round of tea for them because it’s spending time with them on the autumn day too, making it even nicer. When Jimin returns and Taehyung has his hands wrapped around the mug, when he sees the yellow and orange and red and brown trees in the park, when he sees his sweet best friend across from him, when he remembers he has his Jungkook, who’s spending time with his own best friend too, he thinks this might be the warmest he’s ever felt.

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

Taehyung is almost skipping as he walks into the newspaper’s headquarters on Monday morning. He’s never minded coming into work really. It’s cozy there, he loves writing, and he works with all of his friends. It’s never seemed much like a job, so it’s never been something he groans and whines about. But now, knowing his Jungkookie is there, or will be there, he looks forward to it.

And he knows his Jungkook is there, because his own desk has a cup of coffee on it and today’s newspaper so he doesn’t have to get either thing himself. And just a second later, his Jungkook is there too.

Maybe Taehyung walks a little faster, and maybe what he does is more like throwing himself into Jungkook’s arms rather than hugging him in greeting.

Jungkook’s arms go around his waist, and Taehyung nuzzles into his neck. “Hi, baby,” he says, leaving a tiny kiss there.

“Morning, sweetheart.”

“Missed you.”

Jungkook squeezes him tighter. “I missed you too.”

Taehyung leans back, and he presses their lips together in a soft, warm good morning kiss. Taehyung rests his hand on his cheek, looks into his sparkling eyes that he feels like he’s missed for ages. “Pretty Kookie,” he says. “So beautiful.”

Jungkook blushes and nuzzles into his palm. The sound of a chime comes from Jungkook’s office, so they leave each other with one final kiss so Jungkook can deal with the notification and Taehyung can unpack and settle in.

He takes out his laptop and his notebook, and he arranges everything neatly on his desk to start the day.

He takes a tentative sip of the coffee, and it tastes exactly how he makes it – the flavored syrup and cream and sugar all perfect. He doesn’t know how Jungkook knows how he likes his coffee, but Taehyung decides he should stop wondering things like that since he knows an extreme number of details about Jungkook. He knows Jungkook takes his coffee with just a little vanilla syrup, and on quieter days when he feels stressed out (which only shows through his subtle fidgeting that no one notices) he drinks lavender tea. But more than both things, he likes matcha lattes – iced in the warmer weather. And those are just the morning drinks. His wealth of Jungkook knowledge could fill a library, so he doesn’t question how Jungkook knows things too.

He picks up the pencil next to today’s paper – a pencil because Jungkook knows it’s what he prefers to use – and the newspaper is open to the crossword puzzle, which he knows too.

He sips on his coffee as he does the puzzle, the golden morning sunlight falling across his desk. The rays are being soaked up by the heart-leaf philodendron, the string of hearts, and the baby alocasia that live on his desk. He makes it halfway through today’s puzzle before he freezes. He rereads the clue again.

7 across

___, will you please be my boyfriend?

He studies the puzzle, and the number of spaces for that answer to go in fits what answer he thought could go there. But that’s crazy. He blinks at the puzzle, and he ignores the question, moving onto the others and letting it answer itself when he pencils the rest in.

But when the puzzle is finished just a few minutes later, written in is exactly what he thought.

Tae, will you please be my boyfriend?

Taehyung doesn’t even feel real with the amount of butterflies and glitter and sunlight inside of him right now. He knows his cheeks are probably a deep shade of pink because they feel sun-warmed from his blush, and he forces himself to not bite through his lip and lets his smile free instead. He stands with shaky knees, forcing himself to walk calmly to Jungkook’s office a few steps away.

Jungkook looks at him, and the smile on his face is equally as big. Taehyung walks around his desk, and Jungkook rolls his chair back. Taehyung takes his hand and tugs him so he’s standing too, then Taehyung’s arms wrap around his neck again while Jungkook’s go around his waist.

Jungkook looks beautiful with the sunlight outlining his features, lighting up his dark eyes. The rays make their way through his eyelashes, glint off his piercings. Taehyung leans in and kisses his cheekbone, right on top of the beauty mark there. He leans back and says, simply, “Yes.”

Jungkook’s smile stretches across his face, his bunny teeth peeking out, beautiful lines getting marked further into his face to leave a permanent memory. “I knew I’d get you to cave,” he says. Taehyung giggles and kisses him, but Jungkook is giggling too, so they’re just smiling against each other’s mouths with their foreheads resting together.

“Everyone is going to be so confused when they do the crossword puzzle.”

Jungkook just giggles, shrugs, and kisses him again. Taehyung loses track of how long they kiss for. All he can feel is Jungkook’s lips against his own and the morning autumn sunlight against his skin. They only pull away when they hear others start to come in for the work day.

Still, even though the door to Jungkook’s office is open and people occasionally walk past, he doesn’t step out of his arms. He rests his hand on Jungkook’s cheek, his thumb stroking back and forth. “My sweet baby,” he says quietly. “Can I get you anything? A drink or something for breakfast?”

Jungkook nuzzles into his palm, not seeming to mind being in view of everyone either. “I’m okay. I got myself something when I made your coffee.”

“You’ll let me know if you want or need anything, yeah?”

Jungkook nods. “I’m the boss, you know,” he says.

Taehyung chuckles. “Trust me, I know that,” he huffs, considering he spent years disliking Jungkook for that very reason. “But you’re my boyfriend and my baby too. You’re those things first, so I’ll always be here for anything you need.”

Jungkook’s cheeks blush, and he just says, “Okay.” A kiss against his lips. “Me too.”

“I know,” Taehyung says. Then very reluctantly, because he can hear that Jimin has arrived and he is certainly going to come to Jungkook’s specifically to catch them in the act of doing exactly this and say something about it for everyone to hear, Taehyung steps out from his arms and leaves his office.

He greets all of their friends and indulges in a few minutes of talking, then they make their way to the meeting room for their daily morning meeting.

Surprisingly, everyone behaves. Their friends only tease them a few times, and he and Jungkook manage to keep the flirting and fondness at bay and just talk about everyone’s schedule for the day. Still, they get catcalled at the end of the meeting when he pecks Jungkook’s lips before returning back to his desk. He rolls his eyes with a laugh, then he pulls up his schedule to adjust it with what they spoke about in the meeting.

9:15 - 10:00 / Morning meeting
10:00 - 10:30 / Meet with Yoongi-hyung about new photo spreads
10:30 - 11:00 / Meet with the formatting team
11:00 - 12:00 / Article about everybody’s cozy autumn reading recommendations
12:00 - 1:00 / Lunch
1:00 - 1:30 / Advice column
1:30 - 2:30 / Advice column
2:30 - 3:00 / Meet with Namjoon-hyung about article on volunteering at the polling places this town election
3:00 - 3:30 / Write above article
3:30 - 4:00 / Send articles and advice column answers to Jungkook for review
4:00 - 4:30 / Outline tomorrow’s schedule and brainstorm future articles to pitch
4:30 - 5:00 / Respond to emails

Taehyung reads over his schedule, then he huffs when he remembers he has to send it to Jungkook for review every day. He opens his email and copies and pastes it into the text box.

Taehyung reads over his schedule and feels himself smile. Where he once had meeting with Namjoon and writing the article they discussed, it was replaced with:

2:30 - 3:00 / Take a break after answering advice column questions and using your emotional energy for 2.5 hours (suggested idea: go to Jungkook’s office to kiss)
3:00 - 3:30 / (If you’re not already there even though you should be) Go to Jungkook’s office so we can outline seasonal news stories so we have a game plan

Taehyung opens their work chat to message Jungkook.

Kim Taehyung, Community News
I will come to your office for kisses if you’re a good boy today and we both get work done

The typing bubble appears and disappears and reappears for almost an entire minute. Taehyung has no idea what to make of that, and he leans back in his seat to peek into Jungkook’s office. Taehyung furrows his eyebrows in confusion when he sees a vivid blush on his cheeks. Taehyung has no idea what that could be about, and he glances back at his screen to see if Jungkook said anything. The typing bubble is still going, and he rereads his own message.

And oh.

He starts to blush too. He has no idea if this could be it, but it’s all he can think of. He types out several messages, deleting them all with a blush as deep as Jungkook's, before he just closes his laptop and goes to Jungkook’s office.

Jungkook’s own blush is still there when he looks up. Taehyung closes the door, because talking to Jungkook feels easier than typing the words out. When he looks at Jungkook’s sweet face, into his deep eyes, he doesn’t feel shy to say, “You’re going to be good today, aren’t you?” Immediately, Jungkook nods. He looks almost hypnotized, and Taehyung feels the same. He rests a hand on Jungkook’s cheek, looking into his eyes. “My baby is so good and sweet that he doesn’t even have to try.” He can feel the warmth of Jungkook’s blush under his hand. Jungkook looks terribly shy right now, and Taehyung wants to put him at ease. “But you never have to deserve kisses. They’re all yours always.” Then he starts to sprinkle kisses all over Jungkook’s face. His cheeks, his nose, his forehead, his eyelids, his lips, his jaw, every inch of him until they’re both giggling too much to keep going.

Jungkook looks much more relaxed now, less like he’s holding his breath. “You spend all day praising people and complimenting them and telling them when they’re doing a good job, but no one ever praises the boss, do they?” Jungkook doesn’t have to shake his head for Taehyung to know. “Well, I’m here now, and all I want to do is praise you. Tell you how sweet you are, how hardworking, how smart, how kind, how beautiful, how lovely, how talented, how good. I’ll be here to shower you in love always, because you deserve nothing less.” He tucks a lock of hair behind Jungkook’s ear, brushes his thumb over his eyebrow. “Such a sweetheart.”

Jungkook’s eyes flutter. “No, you’re the sweetheart.”

“What does that make you then?” he says, teasingly pinching Jungkook’s cheek to just be swatted away with a whine. “Because I know for a fact that you’re the sweetest person who exists.”

Jungkook kisses his lips, and it feels like much too long since they’ve done that. “You’re my sweetheart, and I’m your baby.”

“Deal." Taehyung says. He reluctantly hops off Jungkook’s desk and leaves him with a dozen more kisses, then he gets to work.

– ♡ –

After a morning of working and a lunch spent with all of their friends (something that takes place inside now that it’s too chilly to sit in the park), Taehyung walks to the mailbox outside to gather the weekend’s advice column submissions.

He brings the box back to his desk and neatly organizes them before opening each one. He sorts them into categories: relationship advice, family advice, friend advice, work advice, and personal advice, so that he can choose one from each category so it’s never the same.

He grabs another envelope and opens it, but he freezes when he reads what’s inside. He starts to sweat.

Telling himself he needs to be subtle but not succeeding (or trying) whatsoever, he jerkily looks around the main headquarters area, eyes darting around him before looking back down at the letter in his hand. He abruptly stands, not even bothering to lock away the open letters on his desk. He marches to Jungkook’s office. He slams the door shut much more loudly than he intended to, and it makes Jungkook violently jump. Then his hands are on his cheeks as he whispers in the same whisper he uses on his channel, “Sorry, baby,” trying to soothe him from the loud, unexpected noise.

Jungkook seems okay though, and he picks up on the franticness to Taehyung. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Taehyung just sets the letter on the desk without saying a word. Jungkook takes it, then his eyes go wide, lips parting. He looks up at Taehyung, and they both look freaked out and confused.

On the paper in Jungkook’s hand is typed:

You two were getting so close to figuring things out. Have you given up on me already?

“This is…” Jungkook says.

“It’s them, right?”

Jungkook rereads the two sentences again. He looks around his office, then at Taehyung. “It has to be.”

“But how does…” His mind is racing. “How do they know?”

“No idea,” Jungkook says, looking and sounding just as frantic.

“We were never sloppy with anything,” Taehyung says, “because we haven’t interacted with people much. Just the gas station workers and the grocery store workers, and we were subtle with it. Most of the things we learned have been through casual observation, and we’ve never acted suspicious. And we haven’t even done anything with it in ages.” He honestly had completely forgotten about any of it because he’s been too wrapped up in Jungkook. They’ve been trying to catch this person, meanwhile this person was watching them.

“Are you nervous?” Jungkook asks.

He’s a little freaked out, but not nervous or scared. “No,” he shakes his head. “If anything, this makes it into a game, almost if the person is taunting us. Are you nervous?”

“Same,” he says. Then he watches something in Jungkook shift and change. “Now we really have to get started.”

Taehyung watched his mindset shift, seeing this as a competition now, working to be the winner more than just figuring something out to help the person, or people, doing this. Maybe they don’t need help since this person is provoking them, seeing it as a game too. But still, what’s the motive? Why continue this for months, with something new and strange happening every couple of weeks?

“Where do we even start though?” he asks. “We’ve been so lazy and inconsistent because of our personal lives, so there isn’t anywhere to pick back up, especially because it seems like it’s progressing. It used to be easy and minor, like taking clothes off clotheslines. Things have gotten bigger and more frequent since then, and probably have since the last time we worked on this. I don’t even know where we’d start.”

Jungkook sighs. “Yeah, me neither. Go grab your laptop and whatever else you use and come back in here. We can figure out how to get started.”

Taehyung nods and avoids everyone’s eyes as he walks back out. He grabs his things and the remaining advice column submissions too just in case the person dropped more than one thing in the box, but he doubts it. He turns to barrel back into Jungkook’s office, but he physically runs into Namjoon. They both make an oof sound, and Namjoon stumbles. Taehyung looks at Namjoon to apologize, but Namjoon isn’t looking at him. He’s looking at Hoseok, then he finally looks at Taehyung.

“Sorry,” he says sheepishly.

Taehyung studies him. He doesn’t say anything, and he walks into Jungkook’s office. He closes the door and sits on the couch with his laptop on his lap.

As expected, the rest of the envelopes are just from normal people asking questions. He feels bad that he’s ignoring them, and even worse because Jungkook says, “I think we should make the advice column only a weekend feature again, at least for a little while as we work on this.”

Taehyung thought he might say that, and he mostly agrees. Still, “This is becoming a personal case rather than a really necessary one. Before, our motive was to help. Now it doesn’t seem this person really needs help if they almost want to get caught, like this is for fun and the thrill of outwitting us more than anything. Isn’t it irresponsible, and maybe even selfish, to ignore the paper and our community to work on a case for reasons that aren’t really anything more than pride?”

“I thought you might say something like that,” Jungkook chuckles. “I think this is still important though. This is an added layer and something to figure out just to catch the other person, but I don’t think their motive for doing any of this isn’t because they don’t need help. I think maybe there’s something we aren’t noticing. Still, I think what you said is important. So how about we split up our days? The first half of the day will be for normal work, and the last half will be dedicated to this.” Taehyung nods. “I’ll make a schedule for you so you know how I want you to prioritize things.”

He’s Boss Jungkook right now, not boyfriend Jungkook who scolds him for doing too much. This is his boss who’s telling him what to do and advising him, giving him a method of how to work. Normally Taehyung would scoff and refuse – not even because he didn’t like Jungkook, but because he’d take it as Jungkook thinking he’s incapable of being productive and efficient himself, or because the boss is trying to dictate what he does.

Now, though, he feels a little heated at the reminder that Jungkook is his boss and is telling him what to do. Jungkook raises an eyebrow at him, noticing his reaction. Taehyung clears his throat and looks down at his laptop to read over their notes. He gets an email notification from Jungkook not too long later.

Taehyung stands because he has to obey his boss, after all. He rounds Jungkook’s desk, and Jungkook rolls his seat back. Taehyung sits on his desk, legs spread on either side of Jungkook. He tilts Jungkook’s head up with a finger beneath his chin, and he kisses him.

His hand goes to Jungkook’s cheek, finger lightly tracing the edge of his ear. It makes Jungkook shiver. Every reaction Jungkook has to him, he stores it away in his head because he finds it very interesting, and very sweet, something to remember. He wonders what it’d be like in contexts outside of exchanging a few innocent kisses in his office.

He kisses Jungkook’s forehead, then between his eyebrows, then the bridge of his nose. “Do you need anything? Can I get you anything?” When he feels a gentle squeeze on his thighs, he realizes Jungkook’s hands are there.

“I’m okay,” he says. “Do you need anything?”

Taehyung brushes a lock of hair behind Jungkook’s ear. He gently traces it again, almost teasingly. “I’m okay, baby.”

Jungkook bites his lip piercing at the pet name, looking a little flustered. He doesn’t want to think about it during such a sweet moment, but Taehyung can’t help but wonder more about Jungkook’s past relationship. He wonders what it was like if silly little pet names pull out such a shy response from him. He himself definitely is affected by the names he’s called, but something about it is just different from Jungkook’s end. He wants to ask about it to learn more about him, to learn more about how he needs to be treated and taken care of, but he just kisses Jungkook’s forehead one more time and returns to his spot on the couch to get to work.

He looks over their notes, but he basically has them memorized already. He already knows every detail of every lead, and they’ve been pursuing it as if the person is stealing for their necessity. That’s the only reason he can think of, the only thread he can see through all of it. The person is taunting them, but everything is too specific – and large-scale – for someone to be stealing just for fun because they’re a kleptomaniac. Stealing lots of groceries, clothes from the laundromat, gas. It’s all so strange, and there's a clear motive they have yet to figure out, so he doesn’t know why the person wants to get caught. Maybe they don’t actually want it. Maybe they’re very co*cky and think they’ll continue to get away with everything, but he doesn’t think they’d interfere at all if they wanted to remain a permanent secret.

He somehow barely notices the rest of the day passing. He hasn’t made any progress whatsoever; he kind of thinks he just dissociated and receded into his mind to try to figure this out. Before he knows it, the sky outside of Jungkook’s office is dark since the sun sets so early now that they’re deep in autumn with winter nearby.

Jungkook stands and stretches his back, looking quite sexy when his sweater rises with the motion. He starts to pack up, so Taehyung does the same. “Can I walk you home?” Jungkook asks.

Taehyung takes his hand. “Sure,” he says, knocking their shoulders together. He knows his apartment is on Jungkook’s way home, but it’s still sweet. It’ll be too cold to walk to work soon – for Jungkook at least, since Taehyung doesn’t live very far – so maybe they can carpool since it’s on the way.

The office has cleared out when they step out of Jungkook’s office, which makes sense because he thinks they worked later than normal hours. It’s chilly when they walk outside, so Taehyung huddles closer to Jungkook’s warmth. “How are you?” he asks. He and Jungkook spent the whole day together, but they haven’t really talked.

Jungkook lets go of his hand, and Taehyung pouts for a second until Jungkook’s arm goes around his shoulders and he’s pulled into his side. “I’m good,” he says. “Tired. Wanna put on pajamas and lay down. How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Taehyung hums. It feels nice to be warm in this way, safe from the cold rather than in the summer heat. “I feel the same.”

Taehyung thinks to himself about how he and Jungkook never had an awkward talking stage, never a time to have to wade through to get to the comfortable familiarity, and he thinks it's because they had years of that. All the discomfort took place long ago, and even then, it was more teasing than Taehyung would have admitted before. They’ve known each other for so long, and they went through years of an awkward stage. It was definitely uncomfortable at the beginning of their investigations when they were just boss and employee. It was more than worth it because they get to be like this now. Because he gets to be tucked into Jungkook’s side as his boyfriend walks him home.

He wraps his arms around Jungkook’s neck when they reach his building. “Would you like to stay?” he asks hopefully. The first time they slept together was on his office couch, the second time when Jungkook was crying. He’d like to just sleep together, in a bed, both of them feeling okay.

But Jungkook says, “No, I have to get home to Bam.” Taehyung’s shoulders droop, but he understands. “But,” he says, “Namjoon-hyung and Seokjin-hyung’s daughter loves Bam, so I’m sure they’d like to have him for a night. I could sleep over tomorrow night? If the offer is still on the table.” Jungkook tucks a lock of hair behind Taehyung’s ear, leaving butterflies to flutter inside of him.

He nuzzles into his palm when it rests on his cheek. “The offer is always on the table, every single day.”

“Then I’ll pack a bag to bring to work tomorrow. Wanna cuddle my Tae to sleep again.”

Taehyung wraps his arms around Jungkook tighter and buries his face in his neck. “I’ll let you go in a second since it’s cold, but I want this for a little longer.”

The kiss pressed against his temple has a smile to it. “For as long as you want.”

He does let him go soon because he wants him to get warm and safe in his home, but only after enough kisses that he loses count.

He sighs when he gets into his apartment, the warmth of it kissing his cheeks where Jungkook did just a few moments ago. He drops his bag onto the couch and immediately changes from his work clothes into his pajamas. Before he can plop down on the couch and wither away for the rest of the evening, he grabs his camera and his mic so he can record another video. He’s been good about keeping up his consistent posting schedule, and he wants to knock this out before he spends the rest of his time inevitably texting Jungkook until it’s time to sleep.

He turns off almost all of the lights in his bedroom, only leaving on the dim lamp in the background. He sets his camera and his mic on the bed, then he gets in beside it. As soon as he presses record, it’s like he can see Jungkook there.

He starts brushing his fingers against the fuzzy mic cover, pretending he’s combing through his silky hair. “My pretty baby,” he whispers. It fizzles off into a yawn, adding to the whole bedtime effect. “We had a long day today, didn’t we? The day is over now though, and it’s just us, and we have nothing to do but this.”

He leans in closer, and he makes a quick kissing sound – only the second time he’s done that (still feeling a little cringe for it) but imagining Jungkook again. He knows what it feels like to kiss him this time. He never thought he’d get that.

“I thought about you the whole entire day,” he says. “You’re all I think about. Now that I know how it feels to lay in bed with you, to kiss you, I’m not going to be able to think of anything else. Now that I know how it feels to fall asleep with you in my arms, I’m going to become greedy.”

He films for a little while more. He’s never had a hard time recording, but it’s never felt so easy now that he has someone to imagine on the other side. Someone who’s actually his this time.

Once he’s finished editing the video and has it queued up to post in a couple hours, he starts in on cleaning. Tomorrow will be the first time Jungkook is in his apartment and he wants to make a good impression for any new guest, but more importantly, he wants to make sure it’s comfortable for him – not to impress him. He washes all of his bedding with the more mild detergent and fabric softener he bought, and he finds his softest towel and sets it out for him. He makes sure his sink and shower are clean, that there are no toothpaste marks and shampoo or conditioner puddles that look like they have an uncomfortable gooey consistency. He puts away his scented candles so their smell can’t linger even if they’re not lit, and sets out two mugs for tomorrow morning. When everything is perfect, he gets in bed and grabs his laptop and his phone.

Taehyung
Goodnight baby

Jungkook
Goodnight sweetheart

Once he makes sure his video is uploaded, he closes his laptop and gets comfy in bed. He falls asleep a moment later.

Chapter 26

Chapter Text

Just like the day before, Taehyung is nearly skipping as he walks into the newspaper’s headquarters. He wanted to get here before Jungkook so he could leave him a drink and breakfast on his desk, but Jungkook is already there when he arrives – and he’s not complaining about seeing him sooner.

“Hi, baby,” he says as he prances into his office. He forces Jungkook’s chair back, then he sits on his desk in front of him to connect their lips for the first time that day. Jungkook smiles at him softly like he always does, but it’s… a little different. Almost imperceptibly so, but after unintentionally studying Jungkook so closely for so many years, he catches it. “Everything okay?”

Jungkook’s hands go to his thighs. He squeezes them. He nods. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows. He studies him further. “Are you sure?” Jungkook nods. “Okay…” he says reluctantly. “I’m gonna go get settled in.” Jungkook just nods again. Taehyung kisses him and leaves his office.

He doesn’t believe Jungkook, but Jungkook has off days sometimes. This seems like one of them, so he’ll let him exist in peace. He unpacks all of his things and prepares everything he’ll need for their morning meeting, then he goes to the kitchen to make coffee. He grabs another mug for Jungkook, and he remembers he and Jungkook still have to glaze the mugs they made. He pulls out his phone as the coffee is brewing, and he creates a group chat with him, Jungkook, Jimin, and Yoongi.

Taehyung
Tomorrow we’re all going to the art studio
We’ll go together after work

Jimin
YAAAAAY

Yoongi
Sir yes sir

Taehyung brings Jungkook’s coffee with him as his own is still brewing, and he sets it on his desk. “Coffee for my baby.”

Jungkook’s smile is soft and sweet. Still a little off, but it wraps Taehyung in warmth all the same.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Jungkook says. Taehyung giggles when he’s pulled into his arms and several kisses are placed on his cheek.

“Sweet Kookie,” he says. Jungkook lets him go when they hear people start to arrive, meaning the work day will be starting.

He brings his own coffee back to his desk, and he greets his friends as they come in before they all migrate to the meeting room together – on time, since his boss scolded them before.

The meeting goes how it always does, but still, Taehyung can tell something is a little off with Jungkook. He’s not doing any of his usual fidgeting or tics, so he can’t read him. The fact that he’s not doing any of those things and is just sitting still is a tell in itself.

Even though they’re in a work meeting in front of all of their friends, Taehyung reaches towards Jungkook, perpendicular to him at the end of the table. He takes his hand. Jungkook looks over as Namjoon continues talking, but Taehyung just gives him a soft smile and laces their fingers together. He sets their hands on his knee. Most of their friends definitely saw, but Taehyung couldn’t care less, especially when he can see a little bit of the strange mood lift from Jungkook.

Once the meeting is over, Taehyung follows Jungkook to his office instead of sitting at his desk. He closes the door behind him, and he makes Jungkook sit on the edge of the desk. He stands between his spread legs, hands gliding down his neck to his shoulders, then back up again. Jungkook’s hands don’t reach for him, and it’s another strange tell.

Taehyung’s hands go to his jaw. He tilts his he’s up to make him look at him. Jungkook’s eyes look vulnerable and nervous, and he doesn’t know what could have made him this way in the few hours since they’ve seen each other. He leans in and he nuzzles the tips of their noses together. His thumbs brush back and forth against his cheekbones as he looks into his dark eyes. “Will you tell me what’s bothering you, baby?” he whispers. When Jungkook’s eyes very slowly blink, Taehyung remembers Jungkook likes his whispering voice. Some of the anxiousness leaves his eyes, and he’s glad for it. His right hand travels up, and his finger traces over the edge of his ear, making Jungkook’s blinks even slower. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. It’s okay. But if it’s something having to do with us, I’d like to talk about it. I’d never, ever get mad at you or make you feel bad about something you’re feeling. If it’s something I did though, I want to fix it so I can keep you as mine forever and ever.”

The corner of Jungkook’s lips quirk up for a moment. “It’s silly,” he says quietly.

“It’s not,” Taehyung says. “Especially if it’s making you feel bad. You don’t have to tell me though. But if you do, I want to kiss it better.”

Jungkook’s finger is scratching back and forth against his pants, the way he does when he’s feeling unsure – different from the circles he draws there when he’s thinking about something. “I… don’t want you to make videos like that anymore, but that’s an unfair thing to ask and a silly thing to feel.”

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows. He blinks a few times, trying to place what he’s talking about. “Oh,” he says, remembering he posted a video last night. “You mean the one from last night? The roleplaying one?” Jungkook nods, not looking at him. “Okay.”

Jungkook looks at him. He furrows his eyebrows. “What?”

Taehyung shrugs. “Okay. I won't post videos like that anymore.”

“But… but you don’t have to do that.”

“I know,” Taehyung says. “I want to. If it’ll make you feel better and not feel like this, then I don’t want to post videos like that.”

Jungkook searches his face. Taehyung lets him until the need to kiss him gets too strong. The kiss is tentative from Jungkook’s side, like he’s just asked him to cut off a limb or move out of the country.

“Can I ask why you don’t want me to post those?”

Jungkook’s nervous fidgeting is back, but Taehyung thinks that’s better than it not being there at all. “I just… I know how it felt to watch those. Before I knew it was you, before I had you. That feeling of imagining you were talking to me because we were together, even though you were just the anonymous asmr person. I just… I don’t want you to make someone else feel that way.”

Taehyung’s fingers tangle in the hair at Jungkook’s nape, gently scratching the spot. “I’m sorry, Kookie. I wish I’d thought of that sooner.”

Jungkook gives him a half-hearted angry look. “Don’t apologize. It’s not something you should have had to think about because it’s so silly.”

Taehyung gently tugs on his hair. “Don’t say that. If the roles were reversed and you were whispering to someone and telling them nice things, even if I knew you were just talking to a camera, I wouldn’t like it either.” He tucks a lock of hair behind Jungkook’s ear. “You know I was pretending it was you the whole time, right?”

Jungkook’s bashful smile is back. It’s one of Taehyung’s favorite versions of his smile. “I know,” he says shyly.

“When I get home from work, I’ll take down all those videos and I won’t post any of those kind anymore.”

Jungkook’s eyes go wide. “No, no, you don’t have to do all of that.”

“I don’t mind,” Taehyung shrugs. “You’re more important to me than my channel. Unless you want me to keep them so you can watch them sometimes still?” Jungkook doesn’t answer for a while as he thinks about it. “How ‘bout I delete them from my channel, then I’ll send you the video files and you can save them on your phone?”

Jungkook’s eyes flit up to him. “You’d do all this for me?”

Taehyung tilts his head to the side. “Of course. I’d do anything for you.” It’s a bigger admission than he intended to come out, but it’s true, and he hopes it doesn’t freak Jungkook out.

With the way he’s looking at him though, he doesn’t think it’s a problem. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

Taehyung kisses him. Just one long, sweet kiss. “Not even a little bit. You’re my baby, Jungkookie. I’d do anything that would make you feel better in our relationship, especially something so easy.”

“Okay,” Jungkook mumbles quietly.

“Thank you for telling me. I always wanna know what my baby is thinking and feeling. I’m glad we talked about it.” Jungkook just nods. “Anything else on your mind?”

“I–I don’t know… Not really… Just that–any time I brought things up to my ex-boyfriend, he was just… kind of mean about it always, so I just stopped bringing things up eventually. S-So I was nervous to say anything. And it’s just–it’s just kind of surprising that you were so nice about it…”

Taehyung’s jaw ticks. He takes a slow breath so his hands on Jungkook stay soft. “He didn’t deserve to know you, let alone get to have you for so many years. It really shows what kind of person he is simply from not treating you like you’re everything good in the world, and then all of the other stuff on top of that. You’re so special, Jungkook. You’re so lovely. So… just so incredible. I would never, ever, ever get upset with you for bringing up how you’re feeling. I’d never get mad at you for any of your thoughts or emotions. Never. Okay? I feel lucky to be able to hear those things, even if they’re about you having a problem with me. Even if we had an actually difficult conversation, I’d feel lucky that I get to be half of that conversation when the other half is you. Okay? Every part of yourself you give to me – no matter how small, no matter if it’s a heavy emotion or a problem or anything else – I cherish. Because they’re yours. Because you’re you. Because you’re mine. Now stop trying to bite through your lip and kiss me instead.”

Jungkook is trying to hold back tears by biting on his bottom lip hard enough to turn the pink skin into a white line. Taehyung kisses the color back into it. He feels something slide down his cheek, then the kiss tastes salty with Jungkook’s tears. There are only a couple, and Taehyung wipes them away as they fall, as he kisses him through it.

“Thank you,” Jungkook says quietly.

Taehyung wants to keep telling him. Wants to tell him for hours how incredible he is, how his ex-boyfriend doesn’t even deserve to exist on the same earth as him, but he remembers that they are at work. He’d surrender to being a bad newspaper contributor if it meant he could hold Jungkook again and talk to him for hours, but he senses that Jungkook might like some alone time. He’s sure that after a morning of carrying some unpleasant emotions, he’d like some time to recalibrate.

“Would you still like to sleep over?”

Jungkook nods. “Can I?”

Taehyung tucks a lock of hair behind Jungkook’s ear just so he can brush over the curve of it like he seems to like. “Of course. I’ll get to hold you while we’re all warm in bed, and I’m going to keep telling you how beautiful and special and wonderful you are. How much I love your big insect eyes.”

He didn't say that to make Jungkook laugh, but he's glad it did. "If anyone else said that to me I wouldn't know how to feel about it, but it's you, and I know how you are and that you mean it as a compliment."

"Good," Taehyung says. "Because it's a compliment." He kisses him. "I’ll let the big editor-in-chief get to work now.”

“Thank you, Tae,” he says, voice small again.

“You don’t have to thank me, angel. We’re still settling in. We’re new to this, and I’ll show you over and over again that I love hearing what’s going on inside of you. I’ll always do anything I can to make our relationship feel like something safe.” He can tell Jungkook is feeling overwhelmed, so he kisses his forehead once more and says, “Let me know if you need anything.”

“You too, sweetheart,” Jungkook says, and they go back to their jobs with the feeling of a kiss on their lips.

Surprisingly, none of their friends try to talk to him when he gets back to his desk – nor are they talking to each other. When he walks outside to open the mailbox full of advice column submissions, he understands. It’s going to rain, and cloudy days with the promise of rain really do something to the office – or at least to the six of them. They’re usually their most productive days, when the cozy office with its comforting mood lighting is accompanied with the gloomy sky and sounds of raindrops. It rained rather recently and he knows it’s going to rain towards the end of the week too, and he hopes a rainy autumn will mean a snowy winter soon once the temperatures drop more and more.

The submission box only has a few things in it, which he is thankful for since he’ll have to start being more selective with what he chooses since it’s moving into just a weekend feature for the time being.

Once he’s back at his desk, he copies and pastes his schedule into an email with Jungkook since he needs his boss’s guidance and approval to start his work day.

Taehyung just giggles and closes the email because he knows if he responds, this is what they’ll do all day. So he opens a blank document and gets to work.

– ♡ –

Right at two o’clock, Taehyung goes to Jungkook’s office so they can work on their extracurricular activity. Which could be an innuendo for something not work related, but unfortunately, it is not. Still, he makes sure he gets a bunch of kisses in before he sits down.

“Anything new you found out or figured out?” Jungkook asks. Taehyung shakes his head. Jungkook sighs. “Me neither.”

Taehyung sighs too. “I don’t even know where to start. When we’ve gone to the sites of different leads, we have heard new information, but we can’t just keep doing that forever. We need to do something proactive. Get ahead of it rather than finding something out days or weeks later.”

“It’s raining today, but how ‘bout we go out on the field tomorrow?” Jungkook suggests. “Maybe being out and to different places will spark next steps. We could go to the back of the grocery store outside and see what the loading entrance looks like. How easy it is to slip inside, where cameras might be located. We can do physical investigations rather than only listening for information.”

Taehyung nods. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. It could help to see how fast or undetected the person needs to be based on the location, or if these things are possible with only one person. I’ll make a plan for what we’ll do tomorrow.”

Jungkook nods. “I’ll go over the notes and make a rough outline of next steps we can take.”

Taehyung nods, and they get to work.

They work quietly and productively for the next hour. It surprises Taehyung, but it’s nice. Just being here together, doing their work, not needing to talk or kiss – although Taehyung would love to do both too. At some point they would have to force themselves to be professional, but it seems like it settled in just fine without their help.

Once Taehyung finishes up their plan of what they’ll do tomorrow, he stands to stretch his legs and his back. Jungkook looks up from his computer screen and gives him a soft smile, then he goes back to what he’s working on. It’s nice. It’s simple and it’s domestic and it’s nice.

Taehyung walks around Jungkook’s desk, and he pulls his chair back. Jungkook lets him without protest, then Taehyung seats himself in his lap. “Break time,” he says. Jungkook’s arms wrap around him, then he’s kissed by him too. Just a gentle press of lips. When Taehyung leans back to look at him, and he sees the soft expression on his face that’s always there, he realizes that he loves him. This sweet, kind person who he’s known for so many years. He loves him. He loves him so much.

He wants to tell him. He wants to let him know. He wants Jungkook to know that he’s loved, but he doesn’t want to say it for the first time when they’re at work. But then Jungkook says, “Baby? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” His eyes are wide and worried, hands on his cheeks to brush the tears away.

Taehyung sniffles. He nuzzles into his palm. He closes his eyes and lets himself be cared for in such a small way. “I’m just really happy with you.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says with a relieved sigh. “Me too, Tae. Really, really happy.”

Taehyung snuggles up to him and closes his eyes. He’s sitting sideways on Jungkook’s lap, and Jungkook almost cradles him, keeping him close. It feels so nice. He wants this forever. Maybe not being held by his boss in his office, but a lifetime of Jungkook. With Jungkook. Being with him every day. Knowing he’s his, that they’re each other’s. He loves him.

“Do you have anything else to work on?” Jungkook asks.

Taehyung shakes his head. “I already sent my articles for tomorrow’s issue to the formatting team.”

“Why don’t we head out early then, hm?”

Taehyung should probably scold him, tell him that they can’t keep slacking off. But he is done with his work for the day, and his boss has told him he needs to stop doing so much every day. So he just nuzzles against Jungkook and says, “‘kay.”

Jungkook presses his lips against his temple, then Taehyung reluctantly stands. He looks at Jungkook as Jungkook starts to pack up his things, and, god, he just f*cking loves him. His heart feels like it’s beating harder, like it’s going to beat out of his chest. Jungkook looks up at him and subtly raises an eyebrow with his shy smile when he sees him watching him, and Taehyung just really, really loves him.

Jungkook stands beside his desk as he gathers his own things. “If you guys already have everything turned in for tomorrow’s issue, you’re welcome to head out early too.” Their friends thank him and get back to their work, typing much more quickly now that they know they can go home. Taehyung looks at all of them just to see what they’re doing as he packs up his things. Jimin is working on a comic with ink all over his hands. Hoseok is making a playlist, which could be newspaper businesses because of what team he leads, but he’s not too sure. Namjoon is hunched over his computer, but when Taehyung glances at the screen, he quickly closes the website. He pulls up a blank document and just stares at it.

Taehyung takes note of it, but he focuses on gathering his things because he wants to go home. He expects Jungkook to go tell the other lower-level employees the same, but he stays by his side. Once Taehyung is ready to go, Jungkook takes his hand, and they walk to the other part of the office. Where everyone else is. As they’re holding hands.

“Everybody,” Jungkook says to call their attention. Their eyes land on the two of them, and their relationship basically becomes officially public. Everybody looks at them with varying levels of interest – some confused and some entertained (both because they know how the two of them were), and quite a few with annoyance or disdain because Taehyung told Jungkook how many people liked him. But then he’s surprised, because some of those people are looking at Jungkook with envy, like they’re mad at him for being with Taehyung and not the other way around. Like maybe some people in the office liked him. Not that he would have ever noticed or known, because his eyes have been on Jungkook for a very long time.

“Once you've turned in tomorrow’s articles to your supervisors and have gotten approval, you’re free to go home if you’d like.”

Some thank him and others nod, some don’t do anything but watch them go. Taehyung can feel their eyes on them as they walk away, as Jungkook lets go of his hand and wraps his arm around him, kisses his temple as they walk to the door. Taehyung closes his eyes, relishing in the warmth, the feeling of Jungkook’s lips on him, the subtle show of possession in front of everyone. When he opens his eyes, he sees Jimin looking at him. The smile on Jimin’s face is so, so soft, and Taehyung knows that Jimin knows he loves Jungkook. Then Jimin’s attention is taken away by Yoongi walking up to his desk, and the look on Jimin’s face as he looks at Yoongi is familiar too, similar to the one on his own.

Taehyung grabs an umbrella by the door, and he holds it over him and Jungkook when they step out into the rain. He knows it’ll progress into a full thunderstorm soon, but for now it’s still gentle. The sidewalks are empty from both the end-of-autumn cold and the possibility of the chilly rain to make them colder, so it feels like it’s just them. The lights from the small businesses they pass cast the sidewalks in a shadow of light as they walk past the people inside, so many of them watching them pass because they’re watching the rain too.

The sky is already dark, but a cloudy grey rather than a deep blue. Even though it’s been such a beautiful season, Taehyung is ready for winter’s arrival. So many of the trees have lost their leaves, and his puff of breath in front of him only expands and grows denser as the days go on. He’s not a fan of the end of autumn when it’s just cold without much visual beauty left, so he’s ready for the snow to join them.

They’re quiet as they walk, just enjoying the stroll beneath the pattering rain. Just existing with Jungkook is nice. It’s what they’ve been doing the majority of the day, and it’s been so wonderful. He thinks if every day we’re like today, then that’s a pretty good life.

“Anything on your mind?” Taehyung asks after a while.

Jungkook is quiet for a few steps. Then, “Yeah, actually…” Taehyung feels a fleeting pang of panic, but he doesn’t let it show. Jungkook stops them from walking, and he turns to him. He looks as nervous as Taehyung is starting to feel, and Taehyung has no idea what to make of it. They’re standing outside the flower shop, the windows fogged up but clear enough to let the flowers inside take a peak at them in the rain.

“You can tell me anything,” Taehyung says softly when the silence stretches on.

“I just…” Jungkook says quietly. He sighs, and Taehyung can feel the warmth of it against his lips. “Tae, I just… I love you, Tae. I can’t not say it anymore.” Taehyung’s hold on the umbrella loosens, his lips parting. “I know it’s early, sweetheart, and you don’t have to say anything. I just needed you to know.”

Taehyung lets the umbrella fall out of his hand, and raindrops start to patter down onto them. Jungkook makes a noise of surprise at the sudden wetness, then an even louder one when he’s pulled into a kiss. He melts into it, arms wrapping around Taehyung’s waist as Taehyung holds him by his cheeks, keeping him there so he can kiss him again and again and again. “I love you, Kookie,” he says, his voice blending in with the rain but close enough for Jungkook to hear the words, to feel them on his lips. “So much, Jungkook. I really, really love you.”

“You do?” Jungkook says. His eyes are sparkling, like raindrops rippling in a puddle. Taehyung nods. “Are you sure?”

Taehyung throws his head back and laughs. It soars up to the sky and into the clouds, pattering back down onto them with the rain. “Yeah, I’m very sure.”

“f*ck, Tae,” Jungkook says. He’s pulled into his arms, wrapped in a tight hug. “I love you. I love you.”

Taehyung’s face might crack with the strength of his smile. “I love you, baby.” He holds Jungkook until he feels him shiver, then he remembers that they’re teetering on the edge of winter, and they’re standing in the cold, pouring rain, letting it soak them.

“f*ck, Jungkook, you’re shivering, c’mon.” He forces himself to leave the warmth of Jungkook’s arms, and they run the rest of the short way home as they giddily giggle.

They both sigh in relief as they enter Taehyung’s building, trudging up the stairs with heavy clothes weighing them down. It’s even nicer when they enter his heated apartment. Jungkook slowly looks around, but Taehyung takes him by the shoulders and steers him to the bathroom. “Get in the shower and warm up,” he says. “I’ll put the clothes in your bag in the dryer and find some you can wear in the meantime.”

He’s already walking away when Jungkook grabs his wrist. “Wait, but what about you?”

“I’ll change my clothes and dry my hair. It’s okay.”

“No,” Jungkook says, a deep furrow between his eyebrows. “You need to warm up too. Your teeth are almost chattering. I don’t want you to get sick. We could, um… o-only if you’re comfortable with it, but we could sh-shower together? Maybe?”

Taehyung twists his wrist so their fingers are woven together. “Are you comfortable with that?” he asks.

“I’m… ‘m, um, a little shy,” he says, and Taehyung could die, “but not uncomfortable.”

“Okay,” Taehyung says softly. He kisses Jungkook’s lips as gently as he can to try to soothe him, even though he himself is shy and nervous too. That almost completely leaves him when he feels how cold Jungkook’s lips are. “No time for shyness right now. Get out of your wet clothes. You’re freezing.” He turns away and turns on the shower, checking the temperature and adjusting it a few times as he hears the wet slop of Jungkook’s soaked clothes dropping to the floor.

He looks over just as Jungkook bends down to pick his clothes up, and he sees his body for the first time. He can’t look away. He’s so… gorgeous. His legs look so much longer like this, being able to see the full length of them. He follows the length of them, and he sees that Jungkook has cute feet. He never knew Jungkook had cute feet. It feels like the biggest discovery in the world.

His eyes trail up his thick thighs, to his hips. Taehyung thought they might be bony since Jungkook is so fit, but they’re not. They look soft to grab onto, and what’s in front of and behind them is very– He quickly looks away. His eyes travel up to his abs that are flexing as he straightens back up with the wet clothes in his hands, then they fade off into his sculpted chest that Taehyung really, really wants to squeeze. He has so many more tattoos than he ever knew of too, and seeing them on full display like this is very… yeah, it’s very much a lot. It’s a lot. Very much so.

Jungkook drops his wet clothes in the sink so the water has somewhere to go, then he turns and sees Taehyung watching him. His cheeks turn a bright red, but then his shyness leaves too when he realizes Taehyung is still in his wet clothes. He immediately starts quickly undressing him. It’s not romantic or sensual or even teasing, it’s fast and messy as he tries to get the heavy, wet fabric to unstick to his skin until he’s left bare just like Jungkook is.

Jungkook’s eyes start to slowly travel up and down his body, but Taehyung says, “We can look at each other in the shower,” and he pulls him into the stall with him. They both sigh and moan in deep relief as the hot water pours onto them. Their arms wrap around each other, the fronts of their bodies touching as they stay close so they can both warm up – from the water and from each other.

Jungkook nuzzles into his neck, his cold nose pressing against his slowly warming skin. Taehyung does the same, burrowing closer to him. He presses a soft kiss to his neck, and he feels Jungkook’s smile against his own skin. “I love you,” Taehyung says quietly, expecting the sound to get swallowed up by the shower, just needing to say it out loud.

But they’re so close that Jungkook hears. His arms around him tighten. One hand travels up his back slowly, making him shiver. He feels him against his neck, then his fingers bury themselves in his hair. He holds onto the back of his, and it’s the most comforting thing Taehyung has ever felt. His head supported, keeping it resting against Jungkook’s neck. The immediate care and safety he feels is so all-consuming that he feels like he’s never felt a moment or cold or loneliness or fear or anything bad in his entire life. “I love you, Tae.”

“I love you, Jungkook,” he says again, feeling heavy with it.

“I love you too, Taehyung.”

Jungkook leans back, and Taehyung presses their lips together. It’s slow. It’s sweet and warm just like the moment feels, the steam from the shower swirling around them. “I’m sorry I didn’t like you for so long.”

Jungkook quietly laughs. “It’s okay. It just made me like you more.”

“Maybe you should talk to your therapist about that.” He giggles with Jungkook and holds him closer.

“You’re naked.”

Taehyung giggles even more. “I am. So are you.”

Jungkook hums and nods. Nuzzles their cheeks together. “Feels nice being this close.”

Taehyung closes his eyes to feel the closeness even more. Their chests pressing together, hearts beating there. Jungkook’s toned stomach, Taehyung’s softer one. Their soft co*cks and their hips. His legs are spread out so Jungkook can stand between them with his cute feet.

“I think so too.” He still feels very shy, but that’s barely on his mind right now. “Will you let me wash you?”

“Yeah…” Jungkook says so quietly, sounding just as shy as Taehyung feels.

Taehyung steps back, but he keeps his hand on Jungkook’s arm because even a couple feet away feels like too much right now. He grabs his bottle of shampoo, then he tilts Jungkook’s head back to make sure it’s evenly wet. He pours some shampoo onto his hands and lathers it up, then he buries his fingers in Jungkook’s hair.

Jungkook immediately leans against the wall to stay standing as Taehyung scratches his head. Taehyung’s giggles echo around the bathroom. He should’ve known Jungkook would be sensitive to this. “Cute baby.”

Jungkook just barely hums. His lips are parted as he softly breathes through his mouth, his face relaxed. His hair is getting longer lately, almost long enough to wear some of it up in a ponytail if he wants to. “Your hair is getting long.”

Jungkook hums and nods. “I keep forgetting to get a haircut.”

“I like it. It looks nice on you.” He wonders if being able to feel it on his neck triggers him in a bad way, but he doesn’t ask him in case he hadn’t noticed it.

His face looks so relaxed right now. He really has the babiest face ever sometimes. His round cheeks and round nose, those pouty lips and innocent eyes that are closed in a deep state of bliss right now.

Taehyung redirects him back under the water. He tilts his head back and rinses all of the shampoo out. He grabs his bottle of conditioner and starts to comb it through his long strands. Jungkook looks so at peace right now. Taehyung wants a life of taking care of Jungkook like this. Little ways and big ways and everything in between.

He reaches for his towel outside of the shower, and he takes a half step out of the stall before he’s stopped. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

“Going to grab your face cleanser from your bag.”

“That’s–I’ll–you don’t have to–”

“Shush,” Taehyung says, then he leaves Jungkook with a peck on the cheek.

He quickly makes his way through the apartment to Jungkook’s bag, dripping more water on the floor with each step. He rustles through his bag to find the bottle. He shivers as he quickly makes his way back to the bathroom, then he drops the towel and steps back inside.

“I feel bad…” Jungkook says. “I want to take care of you too.”

“Okay,” Taehyung says. “You can once I’m done. Now close your eyes.” He lathers up some of Jungkook’s cleanser in his hands, then he starts to gently move his fingers in circles around his cheeks. “You know you don’t have to though, right? We don’t have to be completely equal all the time, like I do something for you, so you have to do something for me. I’d never keep score like that. I just want to take care of you. I don’t expect anything back in return.” Jungkook is uncharacteristically quiet, and his eyes are closed, so Taehyung can’t read his thoughts. He finishes massaging the cleanser in, then he lets Jungkook wash it off so none of it gets in his eyes. He thinks what he said maybe struck a chord, so he asks, “Will you tell me more about your last relationship? Only if you want to though.” He turns away to grab his body wash to finish cleaning Jungkook, but he’s directed under the water this time, his head tilted back because it seems to be his turn now.

“Do you get jealous?” Jungkook asks instead.

“If it has to do with you, yes, definitely.” He smiles as Jungkook giggles, then he hums as fingers are buried in his hair, gently massaging his scalp just like he did to his baby a few minutes ago. “I don’t like the thought of you with someone else, but any jealousy here would just be petty, and mostly annoyed that someone couldn’t see how amazing you are and wouldn’t want to give you the world. I’d never let jealousy get in the way of wanting to know more about you anyway. Especially if it made you who you are, or helps me learn how to make our relationship feel better for you.”

“I don’t know,” Jungkook says with a sigh. “I don’t think there’s much more to tell you than what I already have. The way our relationship was, I didn’t see anything wrong with it until after the fact, when I found out he was cheating on me with everyone who’s ever existed.” Taehyung huffs an annoyed laugh, then it turns into a smile when Jungkook’s lips are on his own. Then his head is tilted back so Jungkook can wash the shampoo out. “I honestly didn’t even see so many of the things wrong with it until you.”

Taehyung opens his eyes when Jungkook starts to comb through his hair with conditioner. “Until me?”

Jungkook nods. “When… I dunno, when you’d hug me, or hold me. When you’ve brought me something to drink in the morning or the afternoon – even before we were together. Just little things you’ve done for me that he never did. It’s not something I thought about until it happened with you, and it made me realize how one-sided our relationship was. It was me doing things for him, and him never really doing anything for me. I didn’t realize he wasn’t doing anything for me, because he just kind of… made me believe that his presence was what he was contributing to the relationship, so I had to be the one to do little things like that in return.”

Jungkook looks nervous when he finally meets his eyes. “Jungkook,” Taehyung says. “You know that’s horrible, right?”

Jungkook chuckles self-deprecatingly. “Yeah, I see that now. Close your eyes for me.”

Taehyung closes his eyes as Jungkook starts to rub his cleanser onto his skin for him. He does it so gently and carefully, first massaging circles into his cheeks. He moves up to his temples, then his forehead, then down his nose and on each side of it before doing the same to his chin and jawline next. “He really was nice when we were together. He was never that mean to me. Would just kind of get annoyed sometimes, but he was never outwardly cruel. That mostly came through in his actions that I didn’t know about, but while we were together, things felt okay and normal.”

“I have no idea how he could have been with you for years and didn’t want to spend every second of it taking care of you. And loving you. And doing everything he could to make you happy.”

He can hear Jungkook shrug. “Oh well. He’s gone. All of that is over.”

Taehyung turns and washes his face off so he can hug Jungkook again. He leans in and nuzzles their squeaky clean cheeks together, then he places a kiss there. “Now I’ve got you,” he says. “And I’ll do everything I can to always make sure you’re happy.”

“Me too, Tae,” Jungkook says softly. He brushes some of his wet hair away. He’s so cute but he’s so sexy too. His piercings and his jawline are at their full effect when he brushes his hair back, but his eyes remain so pure. “I’m not even sure if I really ever loved him, because it didn’t feel anything like this. Not even close.”

Taehyung’s chest feels heavy. “I love you, Kookie.”

“I love you, Tae.”

Taehyung grabs his body wash, and forgoes a loofah or a cloth and pours it onto his hands instead. He stands behind Jungkook to start where he can’t see him to get him used to it, because even Taehyung is shy to wash him. He can see Jungkook’s fingers twitch, the stutter of his breath when he presses his palms flat on his shoulders. He kneads into them as he steps closer. He whispers in Jungkook’s ear, “Relax, baby. It’s just me. I think you’re beautiful.”

He watches the way Jungkook’s body relaxes the second he starts whispering. He glides his hands up and down Jungkook’s back, leaving a trail of bubbles behind. His hands run over his shoulders, then down his arms and back up. He feels Jungkook’s stomach twitch when his hands move up and down his sides, then he steps around him so they’re in front of each other.

He rests his hands on Jungkook’s chest. He meant to move them down to clean him like he was a moment ago, but before he can help it, his eyes look down as his hands squeeze his pecs. Jungkook’s chest moves when he laughs, but Taehyung barely even notices it. He just sees the way his pecs fill his hands, the muscle giving beneath his fingers as he kneads it. “f*ck,” he mutters under his breath.

His hands travel down, and he doesn’t start to feel any calmer when they go over each ridge of his abs. They flex when Jungkook continues to quietly laugh, defining the hills and valleys even more. The laughter stops though when Taehyung’s hands glide back up, and his fingers brush across his nipples. Jungkook’s breath is quick, almost a gasp. Taehyung glances up at him. Jungkook is staring at him, eyes too dark to tell if they’re dilated or not. Hesitantly, Taehyung brushes his thumb across his nipple, and Jungkook’s lips part silently.

Taehyung’s other hand trails down, and as he flicks over his nipple again, his other hand gently takes the other between his finger and thumb. He carefully rolls it between his fingers, and the quietest of moans comes from Jungkook. It affects Taehyung as much as if he’d moaned loud enough to echo.

More surely, he pinches Jungkook’s nipple, then massages around it. He does the same with the other too, watching every reaction on Jungkook’s gorgeous face. “My baby seems sensitive,” he whispers. Jungkook’s eyelids immediately start to flutter, his head lolling back for a second before he catches himself.

Slowly, to give him time to step away, Taehyung glides his hand down his torso. He teases the area just below his belly button as his other hand gently tugs on his nipple, and it finally pulls out a real moan from Jungkook. It sets something alight in Taehyung, his entire world focusing and narrowing down until Jungkook is the only thing that exists. He looks down between their bodies, and he sees Jungkook’s co*ck. It’s half hard just from getting his nipples played with. He can’t tell the length of it right now, but he can tell that it’s thick. Very thick, enough to stretch him out or feel it down his throat. He wants to feel it, wants to feel the weight of it in his hand, wants to feel it grow because of his touch.

He looks up at Jungkook. Jungkook is already looking at him. His eyes look so hazy, half-lidded. He’s so beautiful. He hears a moan just as beautiful when he finally takes his co*ck in his hand. He wraps his fingers around it, feeling the warmth, the weight, the softness even as it gets harder. He slowly glides his hand down, tightens it as it glides back up. He presses his thumb against the head, circling it around the tip in slow, deliberate circles.

Jungkook is making the most beautiful noises he’s ever heard, some of them deep, others higher-pitched. “You sound so pretty, baby,” Taehyung says quietly. He leans in and kisses Jungkook’s cheek. His jaw, down his neck, slow, lingering kisses.

“Can I–c-can I touch you too?” he asks.

Taehyung hums. He noses at his cheek. Leaves a kiss there. A lick, a teasing bite. “You can do whatever you want, baby. I’m yours.” He leans back, and Jungkook looks down between them too.

Taehyung is also on his way to getting hard, and he feels himself get that much closer when Jungkook takes his co*ck into his hand too. “f*ck,” Jungkook sighs. Taehyung does the same as Jungkook’s hand moves on his co*ck, stroking it only to feel it, not to get him off. “You’re big.”

Taehyung looks down between them, their co*cks in each other’s hands. His own co*ck is longer than Jungkook’s, but Jungkook’s is thicker. His is a shade darker than Jungkook’s, a deeper tan, while the tan of Jungkook’s has traces of pink to it. Just like the palms of his hands, Taehyung thinks. His lips. His cheeks.

“Sweetheart?” Jungkook says.

“Hm?” Taehyung says, too busy pressing kisses against his neck to say anything more.

“Can I suck you off?”

Taehyung moans just at the thought of it. He rests his free hand on Jungkook’s cheek, the other still moving up and down his co*ck. “Anything you want, baby.”

Jungkook kisses him. It’s so soft that it takes Taehyung’s breath away. Then the breath does get knocked out of him when Jungkook sinks down onto his knees. He looks up at him with those huge, round eyes, and Taehyung thinks everything in him melts. His hand goes to Jungkook’s hair. He brushes some of it off his forehead. “So, so pretty. So beautiful.”

Jungkook nuzzles against his palm with a shy curve to his lips. He holds eye contact with him as he moves his head closer, and he presses his tongue against the head of his co*ck. Taehyung’s shudders as Jungkook licks the tip, swirling his tongue around. Jungkook never looks away from him as he does it. He moves his head to press his tongue against the base, then he licks up the shaft back to the tip. He does it against and again and again, making sure no part has been untouched by his tongue.

He takes the head of his co*ck into his mouth. He doesn’t take any more of it than that right now, just licks it inside of his mouth, quietly moaning as a drop of precum slides onto his tongue.

He looks f*cking gorgeous right now. His wet, wavy hair, his tattoos, his muscles and piercings. He looks so adorable too, his big eyes, parts of his skin pink from the warm water, his toes showing in the back as he sits back on his heels. Jungkook is just made up of so many different things, and Taehyung loves every single part of him.

Jungkook starts to bob his head on his co*ck, taking more of it down his throat each time. Taehyung keeps his hand buried in Jungkook’s hair. Not tugging him or guiding him, just needing to feel him closer. “Will you hold my hand?” he asks quietly. The look Jungkook gives him almost makes him fall to his knees.

One of Jungkook’s hands slides up his thigh, and their fingers tangle together. Jungkook slowly takes more of his co*ck. Taehyung feels it slide down his throat until Jungkook’s nose is against the sparse hair below his belly button, nuzzling there as he swallows around his co*ck. It feels so f*ckinggood.

“f*ck, Jungkook,” Taehyung shakily swears. Jungkook’s other hand slides down from the base of his co*ck, between his legs. He cups his hand around his balls, kneading them in his palm, lightly squeezing. Taehyung can barely breathe through his moans. Jungkook’s throat is so tight and warm, his head bobbing so fluidly, tongue pressed against the underside to slide against the shaft.

It’s Jungkook, on top of him somehow knowing exactly how to suck his co*ck, so he doesn’t even feel embarrassed by how close his org*sm already feels. He hasn't been touched anywhere in ages, not even by himself, so he has no stamina at the moment, but that doesn't even matter because he wouldn't be able to last long anyway with how Jungkook is looking at him, how he looks on his knees, how good he's making his co*ck feel. Taehyung squeezes his hand, looks at his pretty lips wrapped around his co*ck, the vibration of his moan against it sending a shiver through Taehyung.

“So good, baby.” Taehyung says, lightly scratching Jungkook’s head. “You’re so good, baby, f*ck. Making me feel so good. You look – mm – so beautiful too, angel. So gorgeous. I love you.” Jungkook whimpers, eye squeezing shut at the praise. “My Kookie. Such a sweet baby.” Jungkook moans, and him loving the praise makes Taehyung’s heart flutter faster. “I’m so close, love. Gonna c-come soon.” Jungkook works around him faster, squeezes his balls tighter. Taehyung weakly moves his hips, never f*cking into his mouth or forcing his pace, just unable to stay still as his org*sm creeps closer and closer. “f*ck, I’m close. P-Pull off if you don’t w-want me to come in your mouth.” Jungkook doesn’t pull off though. He doesn’t even bury his co*ck down his throat so he’ll come there; he rests the head on his tongue and opens his mouth, stroking the length and watching Taehyung as Taehyung watches himself come in Jungkook’s mouth.

It pools on his tongue, sliding down his throat as Jungkook milks it out of him. Taehyung feels it coursing through his body, feeling like electricity as his body twitches, more of himself releasing into Jungkook’s mouth. Jungkook only lets go once he starts to whimper, then he closes his mouth. Taehyung watches his throat bob as he swallows, then he places a kiss where his tongue just was. He nuzzles against his softening co*ck, looking up at him with his sweet, kind eyes.

Taehyung sighs and very carefully sinks to the shower floor. Jungkook laughs as he collapses into his arms, holding him close as the warm water steams around them. Taehyung nuzzles against his collarbone as Jungkook nuzzles into his hair. It’s such a nice life.

He takes a few more moments to gather himself once he feels Jungkook’s still-hard co*ck against his leg. He tilts his head up and kisses Jungkook’s jaw as his hand travels down, fingers wrapping around the length. “Can I suck your co*ck too, baby?” he whispers as he strokes it.

He feels Jungkook’s shaky breath across his skin. “C-Could you, um…” Taehyung kisses his cheek in encouragement. “I-I want you to be able to, um, t-to t-talk to me. Or–or whisper.”

Taehyung bites his lip to hold back his coo. He slides his hand off of his co*ck to cup his cheeks and make him look at him. “You never have to be shy to ask me for things, baby,” he says softly. “Never. I’ll give you anything.”

“I just… don’t want you to think I’m… I dunno, like… exploiting you, or just using you as my personal asmr person.”

“I don’t think that, silly. And I don’t think about any of that at all. When you say you like my whispering, I don’t even think about my channel or that you’re jaykay or anything. I just think about how it’s nice that you like my voice.” He drops his voice to a whisper. “If you want me to whisper to you, all you have to do is ask.” He tucks a lock of hair behind Jungkook’s ear, drags his finger over the shell of it to watch him shiver. “Here, how ‘bout we do this?”

He sits down so that his back is against the wall, his legs spread out in front of him. He spreads his legs apart and taps the space between them. Jungkook perks up and moves to sit between them, his back against Taehyung’s chest. Taehyung wraps his arms around him and just hugs him close. “How’s this?” he asks.

Jungkook relaxes back against him. “So good,” he says quietly and dreamily, and they haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.

Keeping one hand on his stomach, Taehyung takes his hard co*ck with the other. Jungkook seems to have completely forgotten about that part of him, because he lets out a surprised moan. His head lolls back against Taehyung’s shoulder, and his eyes close.

Taehyung smiles. Nuzzles against him like always. “Such a sweet boy,” he whispers right next to his ear. It pulls out a sound from Jungkook that’s almost like a sob. Taehyung’s eyes go wide. He almost wants to cry too. He’s going to love this boy forever and ever. He hums so Jungkook will be able to feel the vibration of it against his body too. “You feel so warm, baby. So perfect in my arms. Right where you should be.” He shouldn’t be thinking about anything else but this moment they’re in, but he thinks it’ll take a while to stop thinking about how Jungkook’s previous boyfriend never held him.

He starts to press kisses against his skin, up and down his neck as he slowly strokes his co*ck. Long kisses, long strokes, nothing else to do, nowhere else to be. He presses his tongue flat against his neck, then he drags it up his skin to behind his ear. He takes Jungkook’s earlobe between his teeth and teasingly tugs, smiling at the way he shivers and moans.

Taehyung tightens his hand. “I love you, baby,” he whispers, and Jungkook does sob this time. He doesn’t know what kind of sob it is – from his co*ck being stroked, from being held, from being told he’s loved during both things – and it makes Taehyung a little nervous, but Jungkook is completely relaxed in his arms, so he doesn’t worry about it. “My baby Kookie. So, so perfect for me.” He pauses his hand near the head, and he circles his thumb around the wet slit. “Your co*ck is so big, darling. So thick. So heavy in my hand. It’s so pretty too, baby. So pretty just like the rest of you. I really like your co*ck.” He doesn't realize that's a bit of an awkward thing to say until Jungkook weakly laughs, too sunken into the pleasure to do more than that.

His hand trails down between his legs, and he cups his balls in his hand. He peeks more over Jungkook’s shoulder, seeing them rest in his palm. “Even pretty here,” he says, thumb stroking back and forth across his balls. He gently squeezes them, kneading them in his palm. “So soft. So pretty. Pretty balls for a pretty boy, soft skin here for a soft boy.” Jungkook does that weak, endeared laugh again.

Taehyung takes his co*ck in his hand and starts to stroke him again, a touch faster and harder than before. He could do this for hours, just slowly moving his hand on his co*ck while he whispers to him, but the hot water in his shower is going to run out eventually, and he doesn’t want it to happen while Jungkook is still hard.

“I wish I could keep you like this for hours and hours,” he whispers. “Just slowly playing with your co*ck, whispering to you how much I love you. Making you come so, so slowly.” He hums. “It would probably feel so good, wouldn’t it? To feel it build for hours.” Jungkook just barely nods, almost like he’s barely even there.

Taehyung moves his free hand up Jungkook’s chest, and he takes his nipple and rolls it between his fingers. “I’m going to make you come now, baby. Is that okay with you? Wanna get out of the shower so I can cuddle you in bed.” Jungkook barely nods again. Taehyung speeds his hand up as he massages his nipple, moaning along with Jungkook because of how lovely the sounds he makes are. The sound of his hand moving against his co*ck is wet and loud in the echoey shower, and when it’s mixed with his baby’s moans and whimpers, it’s so incredibly beautiful.

“My baby makes the prettiest sounds,” Taehyung whispers, properly jerking him off now as he plays with his nipple. “I want to listen to you forever. And I’m going to. I’m never gonna let you go. I want to hear your beautiful voice every single day. I want to kiss you good morning and good night for the rest of my life. I’m going to love you forever, Kookie. I will. I promise. I’m going to be in love with you forever.”

Jungkook comes with a sob. He shudders and shakes, leg twitching as he shoots cum from his co*ck. “There we go,” Taehyung whispers. “Such a good boy. You came so much, darling. So beautiful. Do you feel good, baby?” Jungkook whimpers and nods as Taehyung keeps milking more cum out of his co*ck until there’s nothing left. He only lets go once he starts to soften in his hand, and Taehyung gently rests it against his stomach. His hand runs up and down his inner thigh, the other holding him close. “My baby boy,” he whispers.

He doesn’t realize what he said until he feels Jungkook react to it. The stutter of his chest, the small intake of breath. The way his hand curls into a fist and then relaxes. The way his eyebrows furrow before his face goes peaceful again.

Taehyung smiles to himself as he nuzzles into Jungkook’s neck. “My sweet Kookie.” He kisses him there, several more after that too. After several minutes, he reluctantly says, “We should finish showering because we should really get out of the water. We’re not going to have any skin left soon.”

Jungkook half-heartedly whines, but he stands when Taehyung does. They quickly finish showering, and they’re soon stepping out wrapped in fluffy towels. When Jungkook adorably yawns, they decide to skip drying their hair and just immediately go to Taehyung’s bed, not bothering to put pajamas on now that they’ve breached this new thing together.

Jungkook gets in bed first, wiggling around to get cozy. Taehyung wants to see this every night. He gets in once Jungkook has relaxed, then he’s pulled into Jungkook’s arms. Taehyung happily hums, closing his eyes to sink into the closeness. His ear is right against Jungkook’s heartbeat, his arm and leg thrown over his body. Both of Jungkook’s arms are wrapped around him, and it’s all skin on skin, warm from the shower, warm from who they both are.

It’s raining outside still, droplets of water racing down the windows before dripping off to join the puddles down below.

“I love you, Tae,” Jungkook says quietly.

Taehyung smiles softly into the darkness. “I love you too, Kookie,” he says.

“That was… really nice.”

“I liked it too.”

“It’s never felt like that before. For me.”

Taehyung knows what he means, because it was the same for him too. “Me neither. It almost feels like everything with us is the first time. Holding your hand. Kissing you. Everything that happened in the shower. Cuddling with you right now. It feels like it’s my first time because it’s never felt this way before.”

“Yeah,” is all Jungkook says, because Taehyung knows he probably feels just as overwhelmed by the feeling. Taehyung tilts his head up, and he kisses Jungkook’s cheek. He keeps his lips pressed there for several seconds, then a short kiss after, then one more. Jungkook turns his head, and he kisses his lips just as slowly. He rests his head back down and burrows into his neck, wiggling closer to him until he’s almost lying on top of him. Jungkook just tugs him the rest of the way, the both of them giggling as Taehyung lies completely on top of him, using him as his own mattress. “Wanna hold you forever,” Jungkook says.

“You can, but only for half of the time. I get to hold you for the other half of forever.”

“Hmm. You can get forty percent. I get sixty.”

“Nuh uh,” Taehyung says. “Forty percent isn’t nearly enough. I was being generous with saying half. I think you should get forty percent.”

“Nope,” Jungkook shakes his head. “I get to hold you more.” Taehyung tries to roll off of Jungkook so he can take him into his arms, but Jungkook just holds on tighter. Taehyung laughs as he tries to wiggle out of his arms and free himself, but Jungkook just wraps his legs around him too, keeping him trapped as he wraps around him like an octopus. They both giggle, bodies shaking against the mattress until Taehyung gives up. He supposes he doesn’t mind Jungkook winning on this one.

“I like being with you,” Taehyung says.

Jungkook kisses the top of his head. “So do I, sweetheart. I’m so happy when I’m with you.”

“Me too,” Taehyung says.

“You sound sleepy.” Taehyung just hums. He feels so soothed by Jungkook’s body moving beneath his own as he breathes. His heart beating against his own chest. The rain falling outside. Jungkook’s hand started trailing up and down his back, fingertips dragging along his spine. “My warm Tae. I love you, sweetheart. Can’t believe you went from my sassy employee to this cuddly little angel in my arms.” Taehyung is too sleepy to do anything but huff, feeling just on the verge of sleep. “Still my sassy employee though. But just one that I’m lucky enough to get to kiss now.” Taehyung feels a kiss on the top of his head again. “I didn’t know I was missing something until I got to do this. It’s like I always felt restless, like there was something missing, and it became whole and made sense when I wrapped my arms around you. It’s like half of myself was carved out, and now you’re snuggled right in, filling in that shape that was made just for you.”

Taehyung tries as hard as he can to stay awake so he can keep hearing the sweet, loving words Jungkook whispers to him. But when he remembers he doesn’t have to stay awake to not miss out, because he’ll be able to hear this for the rest of his life, he falls asleep to the sound of his love’s voice, and he thinks the kind words follow him to his dreams too.

Chapter 27

Chapter Text

Just like the two other times this has happened – once on the couch in Jungkook’s office, the other in Jungkook’s bed – the first thought Taehyung has in his head when he wakes up is that he wants to wake up to this every single day.

Jungkook is already awake when he opens his eyes. He’s watching him with the softest look he’s ever seen as his fingertips glide up and down his spine. “Morning,” he says quietly as his eyes roam around his face.

“Hi,” Taehyung says as he cuddles back up to Jungkook. “I like waking up to you.”

A kiss on his hairline, a hand flat on his back to pull him closer. “So do I, sweetheart.”

“I like when you call me pet names.”

The next kiss has a smile to it. “Well you are my sweetheart and my angel and my love and my Taetae. I like when you call me them too.”

Taehyung cuddles closer. “I like how warm your body is in the morning. Don’t wanna get out of bed.”

“I’d say we can skip work or go in late, but we’ve already done that before and left early yesterday even though our work was finished, so we really should be normal, punctual, present journalists from now on.”

Taehyung weakly whines. “We should quit our jobs so we can keep doing this.”

Jungkook hums. “We can each buy a lottery ticket on our way to work to see if we can.”

Taehyung giggles. “Deal.”

Only when he absolutely has to does Taehyung roll off of Jungkook so they can get out of bed. He reaches his arms above his head to stretch out, and he laughs when Jungkook’s arms wrap around his torso in a hug. Taehyung kisses his cheek and says, “Why don’t you get ready while I make us breakfast?”

“No,” Jungkook says. “You get ready and I’ll make us breakfast.”

Both because he remembers that Jungkook is good at cooking and because he feels warm at the gesture, Taehyung immediately relents. They put on pajamas and go to the bathroom to brush their teeth, then after a dozen kisses, Taehyung stays in the bathroom to do his skincare while Jungkook goes to the kitchen to start on breakfast.

Taehyung takes his time doing his routine so he can still be in his pajamas when he eats with Jungkook. His skin is so puffy every morning, and it’s almost a little embarrassing that Jungkook sees him like this. It makes him look youthful though. His cheeks are round and his lips are pouty, and his eyes are always a little squinty for a while before fully wakes up, but he supposes he’s cute. His skin is a nice warm tan, and his many beauty marks blend into his skin a bit until some of the blood leaves his face and he looks more like a grown adult.

He walks out with a headband keeping his hair back so his skin products can soak in, still dressed in pajamas. Jungkook is setting plates on the table just in time, and Taehyung takes his spot across from him. Their ankles hook together beneath the table, and Taehyung wiggles happily in place because of how good the food smells.

Jungkook made porridge for them with egg bread on the side, and it looks amazing. “Thank you, baby,” Taehyung says. He hasn’t had a full breakfast in so long, usually just toast or a pastry from the coffee shop, and it’s such a lovely start to the day that he wonders if he should start making more of an effort for himself. If he was so ready to cook breakfast for Jungkook, he should treat himself with that same love and attention.

He hums in happiness when he tries the porridge, and only then does Jungkook start eating too.

“How are you?” Jungkook asks. “Did you sleep well?”

Taehyung nods. “Sleeping with you is really nice.”

Jungkook takes his hand across the table. Kisses the top of it. “I think so too. It hasn’t been that easy for me to fall asleep in so long.”

“You’re welcome to sleepover whenever you want, or you can demand that I come to your house too.”

They linger much too long at the sunny table, so they have to rush to finish getting ready to get to work on time. It wouldn’t look very good if Jungkook, the boss who scolded everyone for not arriving to their meeting on time, were late – even though no one would care and he’d just have to put up with some teasing.

Taehyung is still picking out his outfit when Jungkook walks into the bedroom already dressed, so Taehyung giggles to himself as he picks out his clothes and lays them out on the bed.

Not feeling an ounce of shyness since they showered together and did a little more, Taehyung starts to undress. Jungkook leans against the doorframe, arms crossed as he very obviously watches. Taehyung sets his shirt aside and takes off his pajama shorts and boxers all at once. Jungkook’s eyes trail up and down his body, taking in every inch – spending a particularly long time on his thighs and his stomach. He slowly walks over, and his hands rest on his sides. “You’re so beautiful, Tae,” he whispers. “So, so beautiful.”

Taehyung blushes shyly and steps back so he can finish getting dressed. Jungkook watches him as he slides his boxer briefs on, when he reaches inside to adjust his co*ck and balls comfortably too. Taehyung puts on his sweater, then he tucks the front of it into his pants. Jungkook looks at his outfit, then down at his own, then he raises an eyebrow with a smile. Jungkook is wearing a grey sweater with black pants, and Taehyung is wearing the same – his only grey piece of clothing in his closet. Taehyung puts on a pair of his black-framed glasses, then he fixes his hair in the mirror so it falls wavy and mysterious over his forehead. He smiles at his reflection when Jungkook wraps around him from behind in a back hug. “You look gorgeous, sweetheart,” he says quietly.

Taehyung hums. He tilts his head to the side so Jungkook will kiss his neck, those light and teasing kisses he does. “So do you, baby. We look pretty together.”

Jungkook smiles into the next kiss, then gently bites down to make Taehyung giggle. “We do,” he agrees, then he reluctantly lets him go because they know they have to leave for work now.

Taehyung gathers his things and puts his bag over his shoulder, but as soon as he does, Jungkook takes it from him and puts it over his own shoulder instead. Taehyung smiles at him when he isn't looking. He thinks they have a nice relationship. So far it’s just made of little kindness, little moments of caring for each other. In Taehyung’s former brief relationships, and definitely in Jungkook’s too, it’s always felt like even if they did things for each other, one person was more of the carer, the other the one to soak it up. It felt almost like there were gender roles sometimes, like they fell into a stereotype and a defined dynamic. That couldn’t feel further from the truth with him and Jungkook though. Taehyung took care of Jungkook in the shower, then Jungkook held him as they fell asleep. Taehyung spent the morning kissing and holding and cuddling Jungkook, then Jungkook made them breakfast and carries his bag on their way to work. Taehyung calls Jungkook baby, and Jungkook calls him sweetheart. It just feels like they’re two people who love each other, two people who want to care for each other with no expectations, no keeping track or keeping score.

They step out into the chilly autumn morning, and they can feel the hint of winter in the air even more than before. It still smells like last night’s thunderstorm. The sidewalk is still wet in some places, some moisture still clinging to what autumn-colored foliage is left at the end of the season. It’s rather cold, but Jungkook’s hand is in his, and he’s still left warm from the sweet morning, so he barely even feels it at all.

Everybody is already there when they arrive, and he thought they’d be teased for arriving later than usual (but still on time) and together, but everyone just gives them sweet smiles when they see their hands held together.

“I’ll see you soon,” Jungkook says, then he leaves so they can both get settled in.

As soon as he’s gone, Jimin rolls his chair over. “Hi, Taetae,” he says.

Taehyung smiles at him and pats the top of his head before he starts to unpack his bag. “Hi, Chimmy,” he says.

“You look happy.”

Taehyung can’t keep the shy smile off of his face, and Jimin’s is huge when he looks at him. “I am,” he says. “You look happy too.”

“I am,” Jimin says. “I love Yoongi.”

Taehyung’s eyebrows go up. His smile stretches wider. “You do?” Jimin just nods, pink dusting his cheeks. “I love Jungkookie.”

“I know,” Jimin giggles.

Life is so nice right now. He looks away from Jimin at the rest of their friends, all of them talking to each other, smiling and laughing, looking happy to be here too. Then he hears Jungkook come out of his office, and a kiss is pressed onto his cheek just before Jungkook’s fingers teasingly tickle his side. Taehyung giggles, and they both escape from each other before they can retaliate. He watches Jungkook walk off to the meeting room, a soft smile on his face.

“I’m excited for later.”

Taehyung feels even happier, because he’d forgotten about their plans. He and Jungkook haven’t hung out with Jimin and Yoongi as people who finally have admitted their feelings to each other, and it’ll be so nice to feel in love while watching the same feelings happen for the two of them. He feels a little bad that he and Jimin are still not visiting the wine bar in town, but this feels like an even nicer plan for the evening.

Taehyung is just about to respond, but then Jungkook peeks his head out of the meeting room and says, “You all have forty-five seconds to get here before you’re late.”

Everyone shoots out of their chairs and pushes each other aside to get to the meeting room on time, and they’re all sat in their usual seats just as the clock hits 9:15. Jungkook gives them all an unamused stare, but they just serenely smile at him.

“In our defense,” Hoseok says, “you arrived much later than we’re used to, so we thought we had more time before the meeting started.”

“Yeah,” Jimin says, “so technically it’s your fault.”

Jungkook snorts and rolls his eyes. “Let’s get started.”

– ♡ –

At ten o’clock, Taehyung goes out to the mailbox to collect yesterday’s advice column submissions. There are only a handful, so he doesn’t have much to read through when he gets back to his desk.

As usual, they’re mostly asking for relationship advice, but he doesn’t get tired of answering those. They’re all so different even if the problems are similar. The way the person writes or describes the other person makes them all different from the others and changes the way he answers, so it never feels repetitive.

He grabs the last envelope, and gets déja vu back to a few days ago. His stomach drops, and he glances around to make sure no one is looking his way. He walks to Jungkook’s office and closes the door behind him, then he slams the paper down in front of him. Jungkook picks up the letter, and he doesn’t look the slightest bit surprised as he reads it and sees there’s another note left to them by the person they’re trying to catch.

Taehyung tilts his head to the side, studying him. Jungkook looks back up at him, still not looking very shocked despite being teased by this person again.

How long will you sit around and try to solve this from the comfort of your desks? You will not learn anything new if you don’t go out to try to find the truth yourselves.

They conveniently got it on the day they did decide to go out for their investigation, and go to the places these events have taken place at. Taehyung narrows his eyes at Jungkook, assessing him.

Jungkook gets his deer in the headlights look, finally showing an expression. “What?” he asks.

Taehyung studies him further. Jungkook stays wide-eyed. His finger starts to tap against his desk gently, quietly. A fidget, a tell maybe. “Nothing,” Taehyung finally says, looking away. He stores it all away in his head. “We have another note.”

Jungkook snorts. “I can see that.”

“Should we set up a camera outside to point at the mailbox?” Taehyung asks. He keeps his eyes zeroed in on every reaction from Jungkook.

“No,” Jungkook says. His eyes flit away from him for a second. “That would breach the privacy and anonymity of the advice column. It would reveal who some of the people are, which goes against what it stands for, and would make people feel less safe in their vulnerability if they spotted a camera.”

Taehyung hums. That is true, but it was a quick answer from Jungkook. Jungkook is more of a slow and careful thinker, taking his time to decide on an answer once he’s thought through the possibilities. That one came more readily than others do.

“Shall we go out and follow our plan for the investigation today?” Taehyung asks.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jungkook says. He stands and closes his laptop. He takes a small notepad and a pen and tucks it into his pocket, then he puts the letter in a drawer. He stops when he looks back up. “Everything okay?”

Taehyung looks at him a few beats too long, making Jungkook furrow his eyebrows at him. “Mhm,” Taehyung says. “Everything’s good.” He turns and walks out of the office to gather his own things.

Even though he doesn’t want to because he’s suspicious of his boyfriend, he can’t help the small smile that comes to his face when he feels a kiss on his cheek. “Tae and I are going out to do Community News work,” Jungkook says to their friends. “Text either of us if you need anything.”

Everyone distractedly mumbles or nods, not looking away from their work.

“Where to first?” Jungkook asks when they step out onto the town street.

Taehyung already had a plan in mind, but he asks, “Where do you think we should start?” to see what he says. To see if he tries to lead them to or away from somewhere.

Jungkook hums. “Want to stop by my house to get my car first? It’s a little cold, and we can cover more ground.”

Taehyung doesn’t see how that could be a suspicious answer, so he agrees. “We can take mine since it’s closer.”

His mind is working in overdrive as they walk to his apartment. He’s setting up a series of events that can fall into action depending on certain things he asks and certain ways Jungkook could answer. He makes a list in his head of things to remember to say or do. This is a turn of events that he hadn’t considered, and now he’s watching Jungkook’s every move. He’s watching every minute change to his expression, his intonation, his breathing pattern. He supposes he can thank Past Taehyung for being who he is and making it so it’s not weird to be watching Jungkook this closely.

“Now where to?” Taehyung asks once they’re in his car. He turns it on and blasts the heat since they were walking in the cold.

Jungkook hums. “The hair salon?” he asks.

Taehyung studies him. “During the day? While it’s still open? It’s a small place. Visible to people from wherever we are, in the front or in the alley. Why not the grocery store? Where things have taken place during the day, during open hours.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jungkook concedes without a fight. “It’s just closer, so I figured we could stop there first.”

Taehyung hums. “We’ll go once it’s darker out,” he says.

He pulls onto the road and heads in the direction of the expensive grocery store on the rich side of town. He glances at Jungkook out of the corner of his eye occasionally, but he just sees him looking out the window. He quickly looks forward when Jungkook looks toward him, then one of his hands is taken off the steering wheel, palm pressed against Jungkook’s, fingers laced together.

“Are you okay?” Jungkook asks. “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m not acting like anything,” Taehyung says. “I’m driving.”

He sees Jungkook raise an eyebrow. “See? You’re acting weird.”

“I’m not,” he chuckles, forcing himself to calm down. “Just thinking through the investigation.”

Jungkook just hums and goes back to looking out the window.

So many of the trees they drive past are barren now, just branches waiting for snow. He sees the fireplace on in one house they pass, another with holiday lights already lining their windows. He’s not the only one ready for the next season to start.

Soon they’re pulling up to the grocery store, looking as big and grey and commercial and corporate as the other times they were here. He drives around it, intending to pull into the alley where he assumed a loading truck would pull up. Except there isn’t an alley. What would be the alley forms a valley, the road sinking into the ground to create a space for a truck to back into, making it level with the ground so no steps are required to unload the inventory from the truck.

It’s not created in a way where Taehyung could comfortably get his car down there, let alone get it out if they have to do a fast escape. He can see the loading dock, the employee door. He can see where to get into the back room, but they’re not accessible if he were to pull his car up. Now only that, but there’s a chain link fence in front of it with a locked gate.

He looks over at Jungkook, about to ask how this person could be stealing so much inventory at once when he remembers. He narrows his eyes at Jungkook, then he forces himself to look normal again. Jungkook is blinking at the building, and Taehyung can see the gears in his head turning.

“How do you think they manage to take things from the stockroom if they’re not able to quickly load it into their car and drive away?”

Jungkook looks at him, then he looks back at the building. “I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe they drive a motorcycle or something?” Taehyung blinks at him incredulously. Is it… is the person really Jungkook? Is he just getting sloppy? Wanting Taehyung to figure it out?

“Maybe they drive a motorcycle?” he parrots. “Motorcycles are loud. Very loud, and this person manages to be undetected. Not only that, but a motorcycle is not an effective way to be able to take groceries in bulk, all at once.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry. Yeah.”

Still, even though Taehyung is extremely, immensely suspicious, he brings Jungkook’s hand to his lips and kisses the top of it. “Don’t apologize. Sorry if I sounded mean.”

Jungkook’s smile is soft. “You didn’t. I just wasn’t thinking clearly. You’re right, that wouldn’t be possible. How do you think they’re able to do it then?”

Taehyung runs his thumb back and forth against Jungkook’s hand to try to soothe him. He’s acting so strangely. Is it really Jungkook? Does he know he’s being found out? “Hey, look at me,” Taehyung says gently. Jungkook looks over, and Taehyung rests his hands on his cheeks. He kisses his lips. Just once, softly, the click of their lips making a sound in the quiet car. “I love you, baby.”

Jungkook seems to calm down. Still not acting normal, but not like before. “I love you, sweetheart,” he says.

“I don’t know how they’re doing it,” he says, looking back at the building. “Let’s go investigate though.”

He opens the car door, but Jungkook says, “Wait! You heard them say they have cameras out here. If someone is looking at their door, they’re gonna notice and be suspicious.”

Taehyung shrugs. “There’s no other way to look at how the person might be doing it. I’m not doing anything wrong, so there’s nothing I can get in trouble for.”

He gets out of the car and walks around to his trunk. He rustles around in there, and he pulls out an umbrella. He drops the umbrella, then he kicks it away, down into the loading ditch. He watches it tumble and roll down the pavement until it comes to a stop, right where the door to the building should be, because he can’t tell from here.

“What are you doing?!” Jungkook whisper-yells.

Taehyung just walks past him, toward the ramp. A security light comes on as Taehyung hops the fence, and he takes note of it in his head. Jungkook would hate that, especially at nighttime, which could prompt him into making a quick escape once he has what he came for. He looks all around him as he walks down the ramp, committing everything he sees to memory. The number of doors, the entrances from the outside, the signs on the building.

He jumps when the back door slams open and hits against the stone exterior of the building. “You!” a man says as he charges out. Taehyung recognizes him from their prior interactions and descriptions. He’s the manager of the store, who gave him kind of an attitude when he asked about the ramyeon that was sold out. His buzzcut has grown out slightly, and he somehow looks even older now than he did before, for his still-young age.

Before Taehyung can respond, the manager's hand is wrapped around his wrist, squeezing tight. Taehyung makes a whimpering sound, not expecting the clutch on him. It’s tight enough to bruise to try to keep him from getting away.

Before Taehyung can say something or shake him off, he hears Jungkook yell, “HEY!” Faster than Taehyung did, faster than he thought anyone could, Jungkook hops the fence with ease. Maybe a little too much ease, almost soundlessly too. Before either of them know it, Jungkook has the manager pushed back against the brick wall, his forearm against his throat to keep him back. “You think you can f*cking touch him like that?”

Taehyung’s eyes go wide, but it’s no comparison to the look on the manager’s face. The color has drained from it in fear, from being at the mercy of a muscular, tattooed, pierced man who is radiating anger. “Jungk–baby,” Taehyung says, thinking he shouldn’t let the man know his name, but he seems like he can’t even hear him from the way he’s trembling. Taehyung makes his voice softer and gently rests his hand on Jungkook’s forearm. “Baby, it’s okay. I’m okay.”

He sees Jungkook’s jaw unclench. He lets his boyfriend pull him away from the man. The manager takes a deep breath when he’s freed, as if he was getting suffocated and not only held in place. Taehyung completely ignores him, just runs his hand up and down Jungkook’s forearm. “It’s okay, angel. I’m okay.” Jungkook’s eyes roam all over him, assessing him. He looks at his wrist, which is a little red, but otherwise okay. After several seconds, Jungkook nods. He doesn’t look happy and he doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t look like he’s ready to attack someone.

The manager seems to have gotten his confidence back though, because he takes a determined step closer to them, ready to say something. When Jungkook straightens his posture though, watching the man silently, he freezes. Still, he speaks. “What do you two think you’re doing?”

As calmly as he can, Taehyung explains, “I was looking in the trunk of my car to find all of my reusable grocery bags. My umbrella accidentally fell out and tumbled over here, so I came to retrieve it.” He nods his head down at the black umbrella that’s on the ground right between the three of them. The manager doesn’t say anything. He just looks down at the umbrella. As the silence stretches on though, this time Taehyung starts to get angry. He takes a step closer to the man. “Is there a reason why you think you can lay a hand on me?” he asks, eerily calm.

“There have been–” the manager starts to say, then he swallows and clears his throat, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Taehyung almost feels bad; he’s sure it doesn’t feel great being in an alley with two other men, one of which looks like Jungkook, the other with a deep, intimidating voice that’s clearly masking hidden anger. “There have been break-ins. If there is someone who is suspiciously near the place the break-ins have occurred, anyone would come to the same conclusion.”

Taehyung tit* his head to the side, assessing him to watch the way he squirms. “Surely as a store manager, you know that it’s against the law to follow a customer out of the store if you suspect them of stealing, let alone lay a hand on them, right?”

“Well, y-yes, but–”

“Let’s go, Tae,” Jungkook says gently.

The manager is clearly getting overwhelmed, and there’s nothing else to be said or done here. It’s not worth staying just to see how much more intimidated he can get, not when he and Jungkook both know they need to calm down themselves. Taehyung just scoffs at the man and follows Jungkook back to the car. Jungkook hops the fence with ease, then he holds out a hand to help Taehyung. “I can do it,” Taehyung mumbles and slaps the hand away. Before they get in the car, Taehyung turns and sees that the manager is nowhere in sight. He just shakes his head in annoyance and gets in the car.

As soon as the doors are shut, his arm is in Jungkook’s hand, his wrist being inspected. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” Taehyung mumbles, mostly just irritated now. “Just annoyed.”

“Do you want to just call it a day and go home?” Jungkook asks. His thumb brushes back and forth against his wrist, where his skin is back to its natural tan color.

“No,” he says. “I’m okay. I really am mostly just pissed off. Not shaken up. If you want to go home though, that’s okay.”

“No, I’m okay too,” Jungkook says. His jaw ticks. “Don’t like someone trying to hurt you.”

Taehyung turns in his seat to face Jungkook fully. “No one can hurt me. I’m tough. And I have my tough, scary Jungkookie by my side to help protect me too.” Jungkook just huffs. Some of the tension leaves him as he keeps gently brushing against his wrist. “Kookie?”

“Hm?”

Taehyung carefully chooses his words. He speaks slowly and calmly. “You know that if we didn’t work together, I would still spend all my free time with you, right? Even if we lived across town and worked somewhere far away, it wouldn’t change anything. I’d be yours no matter what. I’d think of you the whole time we’re apart.”

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. He looks away from him, then looks back. “Um, o-okay? Uh, thanks? Me too…”

Taehyung holds back his laugh. He keeps his voice even. “And if you… if you needed an excuse for us to spend more time together before, and it worked, and you told me about it, I would not be upset whatsoever. I’d think it was cute and sweet, and I’d still be glued to your side at work no matter what.”

Jungkook blinks at him. His eyes are blank, the gears in his head trying to turn but with nothing to latch onto.”What are you–” Then it seems to click. Jungkook throws his head back and laughs, his bunny smile huge on his face. “Are you insinuating that I organized all of this just to have a reason to spend time with you?”

“I’m just saying, that if that’s something that you did do, I’d be very, very endeared, and I’d still come work in your office for half the day even if we had nothing to work on together.”

Jungkook giggles nonstop. He brings Taehyung’s hand to his lips to kiss his palm. “I did not make all of this up just so I’d have an excuse to spend private time with you. Although, if someone told me a couple years ago that this is all it took to get all of this,” he emphasizes what he means with a kiss on his wrist, “I definitely would have. I’m flattered that you think I’m capable of setting all of this up. Why do you think it’s me?”

“You were acting weird earlier. You didn’t even care about us getting another note, and all of the things you’ve said and suggestions you’ve made have been very stupid and suspicious.” Jungkook snorts, teasingly squeezing his arm. “And earlier, you jumped the fence so easily without making a sound.”

Jungkook goes quiet now, and Taehyung is surprised his gaze doesn’t burn holes into him with how closely he’s watching him. Jungkook starts fidgeting with each of Taehyung’s fingers. He holds onto his pointer finger and bends it at each knuckle. He trails his finger over the length of it before fidgeting with his middle finger next. He glances up at Taehyung and sees how intensely he’s watching him, and he whines and sinks back into his seat. “It’s just–I’ve been distracted all day, because all I can think about is how nice last night and this morning was. Just, being with you and spending time together doing simple things, or doing nothing, is just so nice. And I was just distracted by that all day. Because it’s just stuck with me, that nice feeling, so it’s been making me distracted.”

“Kookie,” Taehyung whines.

“Taaaaaae,” Jungkook whines back, and Taehyung can’t stop his giggles.

“My precious baby Kookie. f*ck, you’re so sweet. You could’ve told me, silly, and I would’ve come kissed you a bunch.”

“I can’t keep being distracted at work,” Jungkook whines as he melts back in his seat.

“Guess we’ll have to have more sleepovers so the time we have to be separated by a few meters won’t feel like torture.”

“I don’t know how normal couples who don’t work together do it,” Jungkook says.

“Me either,” Taehyung says. “Speaking of getting distracted though, we should really keep going since we have plans in the evening with Jimin and Yoongi-hyung.”

“Oh yeah!” Jungkook says, perking back up with sparkles in his eyes.

Taehyung groans. The way Jungkook’s eyes go wide and confused while his lips part makes Taehyung want to sob. He takes Jungkook’s cheeks in his hands and nuzzles the tips of their noses together. “You’re so cute, Jungkookie,” Taehyung says, nuzzling their noses together again. “The cutest baby boy.”

Jungkook drops their foreheads together with another whine, this one quieter. “You’re nice to me.”

Taehyung’s heart aches, but he doesn’t let it show. “Why wouldn’t I be? You’re my baby and I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jungkook says. “My sweetheart. My love. My Tae.”

They tilt their heads up at the same time. They share a slow, simple kiss before they lean back again, because they know they have work to do. They buckle their seatbelts, and Taehyung starts the car. “I promise I wouldn’t be upset if you did all of this,” he says as they pull onto the road.

Jungkook just laughs. “I promise it isn’t me, Tae. I swear.”

Taehyung believes him, and he knows Jungkook knows that too, so he’s just teasing when he mutters, “If you say so.”

“Where are we going now?”

“I think we should go to the hair salon once it gets darker out, but I need to get gas, and if we go there and act suspicious, maybe we can figure something out. That first happened ages ago, so who knows if anything is still happening there.” They found out about it during the summer, and it’s just a couple weeks until winter. “Y’know, maybe you should take some initiative with this case.”

“I know…” Jungkook says quietly. “I’ve just been busy lately. One of the women on the formatting team is out on maternity leave, so I’ve been filling in for her, and I’ve been giving the interns more projects to test their abilities and make them feel more active in the paper, so I’ve been working with them to develop their stories and show them how to improve, so I’ve just been busy with other things and haven’t been paying attention to this as much as I should be. Especially when I cleared out half of your schedule to take it on, so I should be doing just as much with it as you are, and–”

“Kookie,” Taehyung says, silencing him with a hand on his thigh. “I was just teasing you, silly. You literally run the entire newspaper, and this case has nothing to do with work. Your job is very important and time-consuming and should always have your full attention. I was just teasing. If you ever want a break from this, we can put it aside again, or I can do some things on my own. I don’t want this to take more out of you.”

“It doesn’t,” Jungkook assures him. “Maybe if I were doing it with someone else it would, but it’s you, so it doesn’t even feel like it requires any effort or work. It’s just more time I get to spend with you.”

They pull up to the same gas station pump from all those months ago, one that’s partially hidden from view of the attendants inside – something that’ll work in their favor if they’re acting suspicious on purpose.

Despite their acting, the gas station attendants don’t even notice them. Or maybe they did and just saw Taehyung laughing with the most lovesick smile on his face when Jungkook kept peeking around the gas pump to look inside the building across the lot. Still, Taehyung takes their disinterest as a win, thinking maybe it means the suspect hasn’t been there for long enough for the attendants to not have their guards up anymore.

“Wanna stop for coffee?” Jungkook asks when Taehyung yawns on the drive back towards town.

“Yeah, ‘m getting sleepy,” Taehyung says.

“Wanna go home and take a nap?”

“You’re still my boss, you know,” Taehyung laughs. “You should be telling me to get more sleep so it doesn’t interfere with my work performance.”

“If it were affecting your work performance, I would also be to blame since we spent the night together.”

Taehyung bites his lip, keeping his eyes on the road. This is not the time to think about last night. That part of last night. He’s been so wrapped up in Jungkook, then work, then Jungkook again that he hasn’t been able to revisit that yet, and right now is really not the time.

Still, he says, “Last night was nice. It feels good to be with you. In so many different ways.”

Jungkook kisses his hand, the place he’s been kissing over and over again since it’s all he can do as his boyfriend drives. “I feel the same.”

– ♡ –

“Hey, guys,” Jungkook says as they rush past everyone. Taehyung doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even look at them, just speeds into his office and closes (slams, accidentally) the door behind them.

He sits down on the couch and nearly breaks his laptop in half with how harshly he opens it, then he starts furiously typing, seeing Jungkook in the document do the same as well.

Ten minutes of key tapping later, the two sit back with a sigh. They crack their knuckles and stretch out their necks and backs.

VI. Lead #6: The Coffee Shop

• Date:activity has taken place on various, seemingly random days of the week since the start of October with time of day equally as random
• Location: Drip Coffee (referred to herein as “the coffee shop”)
• Sources:
  • Duri: male, 20s, barista, overly-gelled silver hair, unsmiling face
  • Bitgaram: male, late 20s, barista, wearing a grey beret, hair color unknown, no defining facial features or behaviors
  • Yunhee: female, 30s, barista and manager, black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, square jawline
• Information gathered: Since the start of October, similar to the grocery store, inventory has gone missing. Several bags of every type of coffee have been stolen (presumed), along with their boxes of teabags. As a small coffee shop, anything stolen is noticed, so large quantities going missing (and hindering their ability to serve customers) is taken note of immediately.
• Additional notes: Duri, who seemed to have a rather pretentious personality, kept telling Yunhee that his appa is a cop, and he would do something about this right away. Before either of us could start to panic that they would weasel into the investigation, Duri spoke about how he does not speak to his father, so it seemed as if he just wanted to brag or something of the sort to make himself seem protected.

VII. Lead #7: The Skincare Store

• Date:activity has taken place on random days of the week, but generally (believed to be) in the early mornings before the store has been opened
• Location: Airbrush Skincare (referred to herein as “the skincare store”)
• Sources:
  • Byeol: female, late 40s, long black hair with grey roots, black-framed glasses, possibly the owner
• Information gathered: Like all of our other leads, there have been large amounts of stock miraculously missing. The target of the theft has been moisturizers and lotions, with the occasional face mask.
• Additional notes: Information was gathered as we walked past the shop and Byeol was speaking on her cellphone out front. She went inside before we could linger when someone in the store called for her.
• ☆Possible suspect description:
  • Based on what Byeol observed when arriving one morning and seeing someone run from the backroom, they looked to be a female. She observed a glimpse of long black hair, but nothing more than that.
  • Age, height, facial features are unknown.

Additional notes on the laundromat lead:

• In the middle of the night (a theme consistent through the laundromat case, while other times of activity in other leads vary wildly), the suspect visited the laundromat. The still-unnamed laundromat worker only became aware of their presence when she noticed their exit. They seemed to be in a hurry that night (night unknown due to overheard details), because when running out, they dropped many articles of laundry in their haste to leave, such as two blankets, a sweatshirt, and possibly more, as the source walked out of hearing range.
• ☆Possible suspect description:
  • The source might have seen a glimpse of black hair, but that is not very helpful when nearly everyone in the vicinity his black hair.
  • The source said based on the hair and the lithe way the possible suspect moved, it seemed like it might have been a young woman (whatever that means).

Taehyung reads over their new notes, then halfway through something connects.

“They’ve been stealing based on the seasons,” he says. “In the summer, it was the clothes from clotheslines and produce from the grocery store. In the fall, heavier things from the laundromat and more packaged food. And now it’s winter, so they’re stealing blankets, skin care products for the cold, coffee and tea – which aren’t really a necessity and just nice to have in the winter, but we’ve seen that the person doesn’t take the bare minimum and still treats themself since they don’t take just drugstore hair and skin products.”

“That’s such an easy connection. How didn’t we make it until just now?” Jungkook whines.

“We aren’t detectives,” Taehyung reminds him. “We’re not even investigative journalists. We’ve never done this before, no need to feel bad about it. We just picked up the case extracurricularly. If it were for the paper, then yeah, we’d suck.” Jungkook chuckles. “This is just a civilian investigation, and we’re doing our best in something we’re not qualified for.”

Jungkook sighs. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“And even if we’re making slow progress, it’s still progress. We’re not going to do a better job if we’re mean to ourselves about it. Since whoever is doing this has no problem taunting us and is almost waiting for us to catch them – her? – it’s not dire.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook mumbles with a pout. Taehyung understands though. It feels like they’re lazy and not trying very hard. Which holds some partial truth. He’s sure that this would go much more smoothly if someone else were half of the investigation, or if it were two new people altogether. Not a boss and his employee who had a weird relationship, and not two boyfriends now. If he gets distracted by Jungkook though, or the other way around, or something comes up having to do with them – that comes first. This is extra curricular, and Jungkook and their relationship is his first priority. If the options are to make a breakthrough or kiss Jungkook just to see him smile, he’ll always choose the latter.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Jungkook shakes his head. “How ‘bout we get a bunch of blankets and sweaters and whatnot from the thrift store and bring them to the laundromat to wash and leave there, then we can watch from the car to see if someone comes to take them.” They tried something similar to that before, but they have more information now – the things they take, a vague description of the possible suspect.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” There’s a knock on Jungkook’s office door, and Taehyung quickly closes their notes on his laptop. “Come in.” Jimin walks in, his eyes narrowing at the two of them suspiciously. He probably wasn’t expecting them to be doing actual work, sitting in different places and not close. “Do you need something?”

“Yeah, work day’s over. Time to go to the art studio.” He’s rocking back and forth on his heels, clearly very excited, and Taehyung is too.

They all go to pack up their things, then they’re soon all piling into Taehyung’s car – with Jimin in the passenger seat, banishing Jungkook to the back.

Taehyung chose another open studio day to come with their friends, meaning there are no classes that day and it’s a space just for them to use. They’re the only ones there, and when Jimin connects his phone to the speakers to play music, it starts to rain too. Taehyung smiles as he looks around at their friends. Jimin, Yoongi, and Jungkook are all talking about what the other pair of boyfriends are going to make. Jimin is talking animatedly while Yoongi has his chin in his hand, looking around the room and thinking. Jungkook responds to them excitedly as he talks with hand movements. Rain patters outside, its sound heard from inside the studio, and music plays softly in the background. The studio smells like a mix of clay and rain, and his friends and his love glow in the warm light. It’s a nice life.

He heads to the section of glazes to pick out what he wants, carefully inspecting each color to find the exact shades he’s envisioning. He wants this mug to be perfect because he knows Jungkook is going to use it for the rest of his life – just like he knows he’s going to use the mug Jungkook made for him and never anything else.

He already had a vision for Jungkook’s mug the second his hands met the clay all that time ago, so he knows exactly what colors to pick. He even knows the different exact shades, because long ago his brain decided he’d latch onto color and fixate on their codes, so he knows exactly what he’s looking for and how to mix some of the colors to create what he wants.

He takes the bottles he needs, along with a few cups to pour the colors into, and some paint brushes. He carries everything back to their table, where Jimin has taken the spot beside him.

Taehyung sets everything down on the table and organizes it just how he wants it so he’ll be the most productive. He looks over at the sound of footsteps, and the other two walk in.

He has a… strange feeling, watching them walk in together. He stares at them, trying to figure it out.

Yoongi is shorter than Jungkook, about Jimin’s height. He has black hair that’s rather long, almost brushing against his shoulders in the back. He’s wearing baggy light-washed jeans, a white t-shirt, and a brown short-sleeved button up that he keeps unbuttoned. He has beautiful, sharp eyes that disappear for a moment when he pulls his black apron over his head before tying it around his waist when they pass the hook of them. Jungkook grabs one too, taking the same one he wore before.

He’s always thought Yoongi’s eyes were beautiful and interesting, and with those things being true, he doesn’t know how he’d even come close to describing Jungkook’s. They’re wide, round, dark. Almost black from afar, but not in a cold, menacing way. They’re so warm. They’re looking at everyone and everything with curiosity and interest, and Taehyung can see the lights around them reflected in them. He’s sure Jimin would use just as kind, admiring, adoring words to describe Yoongi’s too.

Jungkook is taller than Yoongi, and made even taller by his thick black boots. He’s wearing all black as usual, his grey sweater taken off to just have on the black t-shirt underneath, and all of his clothes look a size or two too big – hiding the shape of his body and making him look comfortable and relaxed. Taehyung starts to blush when he thinks about how he knows the shape of Jungkook’s body now.

He’s covered in tattoos, taking up the entire length of one of his arms along with some sprinkled onto his hand – looking almost as if he was doodling on his hand when he was bored. Taehyung has always found it so sweet and charming, even when he wasn’t particularly a fan of Jungkook.

He pulls his eyes away from his tattoos back to his face and sees his lip rings, his many earrings, the subtle scar on his eyebrow where something was once pierced through, the scar on his cheek too. The way he presents himself is such a contrast to everything else about him. A rounded nose, soft cheeks. Sweet, welcoming eyes and what looks like a permanent soft smile.

The strange feeling is almost like déja vu, maybe, but different. He thinks about that time when they were in the hidden garden at the university, the night they first kissed. The way it felt like something inside of him had its hand outstretched, reaching. He doesn’t know if it’s reaching for something else inside of him, or something out in the universe. It’s like he’d be able to figure it out – this strange, déja vu-like feeling – if the hands connected. He’d understand why he has these odd appearances of familiarity.

Before he can figure it out, the feeling is whisked away to make room for the tiny-winged butterflies that appear when Jungkook comes to kiss his cheek. More join the kaleidoscope when he says, “Pretty Tae,” then kisses him there again. Taehyung just giggles as he watches him go grab his own mug from the shelf. He sees Jimin looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and he turns to him. Jimin’s smile is so, so soft, and it gives Taehyung butterflies too. Then his eyes go a little wide when Yoongi comes up to Jimin and kisses his temple.

Taehyung hasn’t been around Jimin and Yoongi as boyfriends yet. He doesn’t really know how he envisioned them to be, but he doesn’t think he was expecting Yoongi to be so casual with displays of affection. It’s just around his best friend and his boyfriend’s best friend, so there’s no reason to be modest, but still, it’s Yoongi.

And still, because it’s Yoongi, he goes shy after kissing Jimin. Jimin turns to him with a smile, and Yoongi glances at him with a smile before immediately looking away again. Jimin seems to find it as endearing as he does, because he just giggles and lets him be. He leaves again to go grab his own things that they’ll need, and their boyfriends soon come back and set their things on the table. Jungkook says, “Jimin, switch sides with me.”

Jimin gives him an angry look. “Why? Just because Taehyung’s your boyfriend doesn’t mean you come first over me automatically. He’s still my best friend. I’m allowed to be in the spot next to him and be close to him and spend time with him just as much as you are. In fact, I think I deserve it more because we’ve been best friends for much longer than you two have been dating. I’m the best friend and you’re new here, and I want to be next to Tae, so you can–”

“It’s because I don’t want Tae and I to see what we’re each doing, and it’s easier to not look if we’re beside each other instead of across from each other,” Jungkook interrupts, because they all know Jimin could have kept going on for quite a while more.

“Oh,” Jimin says. He looks around at their table setup, assessing it. If they switch spots, Jungkook will be beside him while Jimin and Yoongi are across from him, two on each of the long sides of the rectangular table. “Fine. But just because I want it to be a surprise for Tae. Not because I’ll just bend to the whims of his boyfriend who thinks he has more power over me.”

Taehyung can’t stop laughing. “I do not think I have more power over you,” Jungkook says as he brings all of his things to his new side of the table.

“Good,” Jimin says. “Because you–” Clearly ready to go on another monologue, Yoongi silences him with another kiss on his temple. Jimin stops talking to give a happy hum, then he turns his head to kiss Yoongi’s lips. Jimin smiles wide at Yoongi’s obvious blush and obvious shyness and the way he tries to disguise both by opening his bag of clay. Taehyung and Jungkook smile at each other because it’s nice to see the people they love loving each other.

Taehyung gets started on glazing Jungkook’s mug. He keeps his body slightly angled away so Jungkook won’t see, but Jungkook is extremely focused on his own creation that he doesn’t even notice. Even if he saw, the mugs will look extremely different once they’re fired again and the color of the painted-on glazes will change. They just look like weak pastels right now, going on matte and looking a little dusty with the dried clay beneath it. He’s always liked the process of glazing because of how much of a surprise it is when they’re done. Some of the glazes go on as a completely different color from the final product. The color of gold he’s using as an accent is painted on as a red color, and when he was browsing the others available, one of the pink colors (not being used on his project) would be painted on as green but come out as pink when the final product is complete. It’s always been extra fun doing pottery because of it.

He starts by mixing black, blue, and purple together to create a deep, dark indigo – all their own natural colors, which makes it easier to get the shade he wants, but he still has to be mindful because they’ll still change a bit when fired again. Once it’s how he thinks will be perfect, he starts to paint it onto the background of the mug.

“How is everybody?” Jungkook asks.

“I’m good!” Jimin says. Taehyung smiles as he evenly spreads the glaze onto the dried clay. “I’m really happy. Right now, and in general. A little sleepy since it’s rainy out, but a nice kind of sleepy. How are you?”

“I feel the same,” Jungkook says. “I’m happy.” Taehyung thinks his heart might beat out of his chest. “Yoongi-hyung?”

“I’m happy too.” Yoongi says, a gentle smile down at the clay he’s wedging against the table. Taehyung’s full of butterflies, feeling like he’s the luckiest person in the world. “Tae?”

Taehyung smiles as he grabs another brush, this one smaller for details. He dips it into a gold glaze – currently red. “I’m really happy too.”

“Good,” Yoongi says.

“So what did everybody eat today?” Jimin asks.

Taehyung remembers Jimin saying over the summer that the four of them would make great friends. He said it many times before that too. It was always said with the insinuation that it would be just like this – as Taehyung with Jungkook, and Jimin with Yoongi, together in this way and not as four separate friends. Taehyung just rolled his eyes and brushed it off, saying he does not want to be friends with his boss.

Now, he sees that Jimin was completely correct. They exist together so easily, talk so easily, laugh so easily. They’re all focused on their projects but on each other too. Sometimes Jungkook is shy around others, and sometimes Taehyung is uncomfortable. Yoongi struggles with eye contact just like him, and he’s naturally on the quieter side. (Jimin is upbeat and peppy at all times, so he can fit perfectly into any situation.) Still, even with their little things that could make it hard to be around others, they all fit perfectly together.

Taehyung should have known that Jimin was right, because no one has ever known him as much as Jimin.

Now, he thinks, he shares that spot with someone else.

It’s such a nice evening. Rain falls from the sky, pattering against the closed windows and bringing in its sound and scent through the open ones. Soft music plays in the background, accompanying their own soft voices as they talk or quietly sing or hum as they work. All four of them are focused on their creations for each other while focused completely on each other too. Their words never stop but never get too rowdy, no talking over each other or overly loud voices, just a nonstop flow of topics ranging from light-hearted and silly to deeper and philosophical.

They only realize how much time has passed from the way their backs crack when they stretch them out after being so closely focused on their projects for so long. They set their creations on the shelves with other projects waiting to be fired in the kiln, and they all promise they won’t peek at what they each made. They clean up their messes and make sure the only mark they’ve left on the studio is their art on their shelves, because they want to be respectful guests.

They laugh as they run from the building to Taehyung’s car. They get soaked with cold rain in the process, leaving them to sigh in relief when Taehyung turns the heat on full blast. He starts to drive to Jimin’s apartment to drop him and Yoongi off. Rain melts along the windshield, sliding away with the movement of his wipers. No one is really out but them, opting to spend the cold, rainy night inside.

He’s getting properly sleepy now after a long day, but it’s a nice kind of tired.

Once they’ve said their goodbyes (with a half-meant apology from Jimin to Jungkook for implying that he’s more important), it just leaves the two of them. Taehyung would like to spend the night with Jungkook again, but he thinks Jungkook might appreciate the alone time after being around other people the entire day. He’d like to think he wouldn’t be another factor on Jungkook’s social battery, but even if he is, that’s okay. He knows how it can be for Jungkook sometimes. He doesn’t want to assume that Jungkook might need the alone time, as if he knows what’s best for him, but he doesn’t want him to feel pressured by the invitation to stay. Taehyung could use the alone time too, he supposes, even though being with Jungkook feels like being alone too. It feels so natural and quiet that it helps him come back to himself, even when someone else is there.

The drive to Jungkook’s house is cozy. They drive through their sleeping town, where stoplights change even when no one is there, their colors reflected in the puddles on the ground. The lights in the businesses are off, leaving just their headlights, the redlight they’re under, and the streetlights around them. When the light turns green, Taehyung carefully drives along, out of town and onto the neighborhood streets. It’s darker here, where only the lights of the homes they pass guide their way.

“Tonight was nice,” Jungkook says.

“I thought so too. Life is nice.”

“It is,” Jungkook agrees.

Soon they’re pulling up in front of Jungkook’s cozy red house. Taehyung really doesn't want to say goodbye, even though he knows he’ll see him again in less than twelve hours – most of which will be spent asleep. Jungkook unbuckles his seatbelt with a sigh. He sounds like he’s feeling the same way.

“I’m happy with you,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung brushes his thumb back and forth against Jungkook’s hand. “So am I, baby.”

“Tonight just felt like hanging out with a friend, you know? Whenever we’re together, it feels like I’m hanging out with my friend.”

It’s such a small thing to get misty-eyed over, but he thinks he is. “I know what you mean,” he says, because he feels that way too. So many people have such defined, different relationships in their life. They’re all expected to be different and rank differently. It doesn’t feel that way for him. So much more importance is placed on romantic relationships above all others, but he thinks the love he feels for Jimin and the love he feels in their friendship is just as big and beautiful and important as his love with Jungkook. And hanging out with Jungkook is just as normal and casual and fun as hanging out with a friend. It’s like he finds every type of love in every person he loves, and he gets everything in his relationship with Jungkook. The friendship, the souldeep romantic love, the nurturing kind that reminds him of being cared for as a child, the kind that he saw but never felt when seeing his friends interact with their brothers as an only child, the kind he never imagined as being the one to care for something fragile and precious. It’s all here, in this love with Jungkook.

“Goodnight, Tae,” Jungkook says.

“Night, Kookie.”

“I love you, sweetheart. Text me when you get home?”

So much warmth, so much love. Taehyung nods. “I love you, baby.” He’s pulled into the slowest kiss he thinks has ever existed, then he watches Jungkook run through the rain and into his house. He dreamily sighs and starts his drive home.

As he’s changing into pajamas, he opens his and Jungkook’s messages.

Taehyung
I’m home love

Jungkook
🖤
I can’t wait to see you tomorrow

Taehyung
Neither can I
I already feel deprived of kisses

Jungkook
Cute little angel
I promise I’ll make up for it

Taehyung
You better
Goodnight my baby boy
I love you

Jungkook
Goodnight my sweetheart
I love you so much

Taehyung
🤎

Jungkook
🖤

Chapter 28

Chapter Text

“What are you doing?” Jungkook asks when they walk out of the laundromat and back into the cold night, looking down at the blanket in his arms. Taehyung can see the words in the foggy cloud in front of Jungkook, can see the way the chilly night is already turning their skin pink.

Taehyung doesn’t say anything, he just hurries through the cold back to the car. Once they’re inside, Taehyung in the driver’s seat and Jungkook the passenger’s, Taehyung throws the blanket over them. He tossed it in the dryer when they were moving the thrift store’s laundry from the washer to the dryer, so it’s warm from the cycle.

“Oh,” Jungkook happily hums when he’s enveloped in warmth. Taehyung wants to try not to have his car running while they’re just sitting there, so this will hold them over for a while. It’s not terribly cold in the car, but there's frost over the windows, and they can see their breath outside as winter approaches quickly. For now though, they’re wrapped in the warm blanket as they keep their eyes on the laundromat, waiting.

“Oh!” he says, remembering something as he grabs his bag. He pulls out two thermoses and hands one to Jungkook. “I made hot chocolate for us.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says quietly, their third “oh” that’s joined them in the car. “Thank you…”

“Have to make sure my baby doesn’t get cold.”

“I think my lips are a little cold right now,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung giggles. “I know just the trick.” They both smile into the kiss, Jungkook laughing when Taehyung playfully bites his bottom lip before kissing it again. “How was your day today?” He cups his hands around the heated thermos, feeling more warmth surge through him as he takes a sip. He made the drink himself with expensive chocolate and the fancy milk that comes in the glass bottles, because his baby deserves the very best.

“It was okay,” Jungkook says. “Busy. It’s just going to get busier until the end of the month, but then it’ll be back to normal. My pretty boyfriend could always sense exactly when I needed a short break though, so that was nice.”

“My Jungkook Senses always tell me when you need a kiss.”

“Are they telling you that right now?”

“No, so I think you’re just being greedy.” He’s pulled into a kiss anyway. “You can always ask me for anything, you know. For actual work-related things. If you ever need me to do anything, I’d be happy to take some of the load off of you.”

“I’m not going to give you more work than you already do.”

“I do less work than I have for years because of you. I don’t mind at all. I wouldn’t even if you were just my boss, but you’re my Kookie too, so I want to help.”

“I’m okay for now, but I’ll let you know if it gets too much. Now no more work talk outside of work.”

“Are you excited for tomorrow?”

Jungkook enthusiastically nods. “Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to it. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, I’ve been so excited to meet Minji too.”

“Ugh, she’s so, so sweet.”

“Hey! Wait! What? You’ve met her already?”

“Yeah, I told you she loves Bam, so he goes to their house a lot.”

“Oh yeah,” Taehyung says, realizing he just didn’t fully connect the dots. He pouts. “Lucky.”

“She’s going to love you. She’ll love everyone, but definitely you specifically.”

“Oh, well I don’t know about all that…” he says shyly.

Jungkook reaches across the center console and takes his hand, just holding it in his own as they sip their warm drinks.

“How has therapy been going?”

“It’s been good,” Jungkook says. “It’s been nice. It’s nice to feel… I dunno, comfortable in a relationship, I guess? In my last one, I didn’t know the bad things he was doing until I broke up with him when I found out, so it’s not as if I knew he was cheating and I was always worried, because I didn’t know, so I wasn’t. But with you, and talking about it in therapy, I realized that I just never felt… I don’t know, fully settled in I guess? It’s not something I realized or could feel, I can only see that now because of how it feels to be with you. When I had nothing to compare it to, being with him just felt like a normal relationship. But now that you and I are in a relationship, I don’t even know what to call what he and I had. Or maybe he and I did have a normal relationship, and what you and I have is just… something else. Maybe we discovered something new.”

“Oh…” Taehyung says. His hands tremble a little bit. Jungkook holds the one he has tighter. “I’m… well, I’m glad that you feel good with me. I want our relationship to feel safe for you.”

“It does,” Jungkook says softly. “Does it feel that way for you too?”

“It really does,” Taehyung says. They already talked about this, and it still is very early, but he says, “This feels permanent. I don’t have to worry about the future or desperately cling to you. It’s just certain that we’ll be together forever. Well, it’s not guaranteed, of course. That sounds like I could treat you like sh*t and I know you’ll stay. You could always leave, but I’ll always love you and try to give you anything you could need, and I’d never hurt you, so if we’re both good to each other, then we’ll always be together.” He shrugs, because it really is that simple. He’ll be good to Jungkook, Jungkook will be good to him, and they’ll get to love each other forever.

Before, their talk like this overwhelmed Jungkook a little bit because it was such a drastic change from his previous relationship. Now, he’s just looking at him softly. “Yeah,” he says. “I feel that way too.”

“Did you have any feelings like this before all of this? When I first started, or a year ago, or anytime before we were together?” It goes without saying that he, of course, did not, although right now he thinks subconsciously something in him knew; it’s like all these years of watching Jungkook so closely were just to prepare him for how to love him the way he needs to be loved.

Jungkook shakes his head. “It’d be romantic to say I always knew, but no. I thought you were funny and endearing and so, so beautiful, and I always had a crush on you, but there wasn’t anything more to it really.”

Taehyung hums. “That’s nice too though. That we knew each other for so long, not knowing that this is who we would become.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook says softly. It’s silly to think about how they used to interact before all of this, having no idea how in love they’d grow to be.

Before Taehyung knows it, over an hour, maybe two, has passed. He thinks if there’s ever been a marker of love, it’s that he could sit in a cold, dark car with his boyfriend and not even feel any of the bad parts, feeling just as cozy and happy as any other time.

However, since time got away from them so easily, they realize they haven’t so much as glanced at the laundromat since they got back in the car.

“Oh,” Jungkook says, lips forming an “o” shape when he realizes.

“We’re horrible at this,” Taehyung laughs, melting back in his seat. “One of us needs to be replaced with someone else or else we’re never going to make any progress.”

“We’ll be better on Monday.”

“We keep saying we’re finally going to get it together and then we never do.”

“Yeah, but I really mean it this time,” Jungkook says. “In a boss way.”

“If you say so,” Taehyung says.

They step out of the car and into the biting cold, rushing into the warmth of the laundromat. It’s the same one they went to before, with the waxy burnt orange and eggshell white floors, the faded yellow paint on the walls, and the fake wood paneling stickered on. The TV is playing infomercials right now, the sound still on mute, and all of the windows are fogged up where the dryer-warmed inside meets the almost-winter outside.

Jungkook takes an armful of the laundry that was in the dryer and sets it on the same folding counter they sat at in the summer the first time they were here. Taehyung looks at it though, his eyes narrowed. He thinks the pile seems considerably smaller. As Jungkook folds everything, Taehyung pulls up his notes in his phone which lists everything they included in the laundry – since they are organized and committed sometimes (but really only because of Taehyung’s obsession with lists, which has been set free much more since being with Jungkook, he hasn’t failed to notice).

“Wait,” he says. He glances from the pile to his phone and then back again. “There’s a bunch missing, Jungkook.”

Jungkook freezes when he’s folding a navy blue sweatshirt. “What?”

“The blankets. They’re gone.”

Jungkook looks down at the pile and realizes. “So they came and took stuff while we were just outside?” he whisper-yells. “Where we were supposed to be watching from the car? They did it right in front of us?”

Taehyung can’t help but laugh. It’s loud, gets tossed around in the dryer, becomes the soundtrack to the infomercials. He scrubs his hands down his face, shaking his head. “We really do suck at this,” he giggles.

Jungkook sighs and resumes folding the laundry that’s left. “We’ll be better on Monday,” he says again even though they both know they’ll get distracted as long as they’re together.

“Did you notice anyone who was here at any point? A single person, a single identifier or descriptor?”

“No,” Jungkook says with certainty. They were looking at each other the whole time in the car, never glancing away. “I can’t believe they did it right in front of us.”

Taehyung jumps and looks up when a dryer door down the aisle slams shut. He sees someone quickly hurrying down the aisle. They open the door to the laundromat with its usual ding of a bell and quickly disappear into the night. The laundromat is so bright inside that all they can see in the windows is their own reflections looking back at them – nothing of the dark night on the other side of the glass.

The bell dings again with the same person’s arrival, making Taehyung jump again, because he couldn’t see them walk back inside.

They keep their head down as they walk back inside to another dryer. They’re wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, but some curls of black hair are peeking out from the fabric. Taehyung sees them pick through another dryer barrel, taking some things and leaving others. His eyes go wide, and Jungkook’s do too.

They can’t just tackle the person, but they never discussed what to do if they do see them. Taehyung goes and walks down the aisle, the opposite direction the person is going. When they get close, Taehyung takes a half step to the side so their shoulders hit each other. The person jerks back, surprised, and looks up. Taehyung’s lips part with a silent gasp, his eyes wide.

“Tae!” Hoseok says. A big smile comes to his face as his eyes light up. “What are you doing at a laundromat at this hour?” Taehyung glances at the dusty, cracked clock on the wall. It shows that it’s past midnight, but it looks so old that it might even be slow.

Taehyung doesn’t say anything. He stares at Hoseok. He looks at him from head to toe, finding him wearing all black comfortable clothes (that he can move fast in) with his hoodie keeping his head partially hidden. He’s holding a laundry basket in his arms, half full. The smile is gone from Hoseok’s face by the time Taehyung looks back at him. His face shows confusion now, a little bit of unease. “Why are you here?” Taehyung asks.

“The washing machine at my house broke, so I had to come here to do my laundry. The dryer’s here suck though and I keep having to pick out my dry clothes from the wet ones so nothing shrinks, and I’m tired and just want to go home,” he whines at the end.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

Hoseok furrows his eyebrows. “Okay, mean?” he says. “It’s late and I’m doing laundry.”

“Why is your hood pulled up?”

Hoseok blinks at him. “It’s cold, and I’m trying not to let anyone here see me because then I’ll be pulled into a million conversations, and I just want to do my laundry and go home.”

Taehyung doesn’t say anything. He studies him closely. Before Hoseok can do or say anything more – looking extremely uncomfortable as time ticks on – Jungkook joins them. “Hey, hyung,” he says, sounding completely normal and sweet as always.

“Um… hey…” Hoseok says. He only keeps his eyes off of Taehyung for a second at a time, like he’s waiting for him to attack. “Is he okay?” He points at him.

“Yeah, he’s just Taehyung.”

“Oh, yeah, true,” Hoseok says. He breathes a sigh of relief like he’d forgotten, before giving Taehyung a gentle smile. But forgotten what, Taehyung doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what that explanation means, or why it calms Hoseok. “Why are you two here?”

“Laundry,” Jungkook says.

“Ah,” Hoseok nods, as if that isn’t the obvious answer. He still keeps glancing at Taehyung, and Taehyung doesn’t look away.

“Well, we’re going to finish up so we can get home,” Jungkook says.

“Yeah, me too.” He glances at Taehyung again. “Uh. Night, Tae. Night, Jungkook.”

“Goodnight, hyung,” Jungkook says. Taehyung just nods, not looking away from him until Jungkook pulls him away. Their laundry is already folded and back in its basket, so Jungkook carries it out to the car while Taehyung follows.

Once they’re in the car, they look at each other. “What does, ‘He’s just Taehyung,’ mean?”

“Oh,” Jungkook says. “Just, you know.”

Taehyung blinks at him. “No, I don’t know.”

“Sometimes you’re just very… direct. You are with most people until you soften the way you talk. Which you didn’t start doing with me until we got together. Do you know what I mean?”

“Oh,” Taehyung says quietly. He looks down at his lap. “Yeah, I know.”

“Hey,” Jungkook says. His head is tilted up by a tattooed finger beneath his chin. “What are you thinking about, sweetheart?”

Taehyung weakly shrugs. “It’s just kind of always been a thing,” he says. “Teachers used to talk about it, people I used to be friends with, people on dates. They all took it as me not having good social skills or being weird, so I have to make an effort sometimes to, I dunno, talk like a normal person. Sometimes it slips, I guess.”

“Hey,” Jungkook says, eyebrows furrowed. “This isn’t a bad thing. It’s something that makes you you. You have me and all of our friends, and we don’t think you’re weird in a bad way.” The asterisk of clarification makes Taehyung snort. “You saw the look Hoseok-hyung gave you when he remembered it’s just you. You know I have tons of weird things about me like that. I’ve known this one about you since we first met, and I’ve always thought it was endearing. You don’t have to soften yourself around others unless it’s something you want to do. And you being so direct when asking things makes a lot of sense, considering we saw someone who could have been who we’ve been chasing all this time.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Taehyung says quietly.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Jungkook says. “All of your weird little things about you, all of the different ways you talk. How you’re not scared to be forward and direct. You say you have to soften yourself, but I know that’s not true. It’s not something you have to try to do around all of us, around me, and it makes you even more lovely, that there are so many sides to you and I get to see them all.” Taehyung shyly smiles, looking down at their laps again. “Now let’s go home so we can get comfy in bed.”

“Oh, we?” Taehyung says, an eyebrow raised. “Are you inviting yourself over?”

“Mhm,” Jungkook hums as he buckles his seatbelt.

“So… what are you thinking?” Taehyung asks as they pull onto the road.

“I’m thinking about how much I love you and how I hope you have ramyeon at your apartment.”

Taehyung laughs. “I love you too, and I do. But I meant about Hoseok-hyung being at the laundromat, late at night, acting suspiciously, looking suspicious, doing suspicious things on the night when we had laundry taken.”

Jungkook sighs in thought. “I mean… he’s definitely a suspect by definition, but I just… I don’t know. I don’t think it’s him.”

“Based on what though? Everything lines up!”

“No, this one thing lines up. We haven’t thought through everything else yet and how logically Hoseok-hyung would fit into these different scenarios. He’s hardly a reliable suspect because he’s in all places at all times.”

Taehyung glances at him out of the corner of his eye, then he looks back at the road. The car is silent. “Yeah,” he says evenly. “I guess you’re right.”

Jungkook just laughs again. The sound is so happy and bright that Taehyung can’t help but smile. “Stop suspecting me, hyung. It’s literally not me.”

“Sounds like something a guilty person would say.”

Taehyung can see their breath in front of them as he unlocks the first door to his building, his fingers already cold as he lines the key up to the lock. They trudge up the stairs, the sound of Jungkook rubbing his hands together as Taehyung unlocks the second door into his apartment. He sighs in relief feeling the warmth and comfort from being back home, somewhere familiar and quiet. Somewhere even nicer to be now that he has his boyfriend hugging him from behind, pressing his cold nose into his neck as he leaves little kisses there.

Taehyung tilts his head to the side, giving Jungkook more room to kiss. “Let’s put our pajamas on and I’ll make some ramyeon for my baby.”

“No,” Jungkook says between kisses. “Wanna kiss you for a while.”

Taehyung giggles. “You can, but I wanna take off this heavy jacket and my shoes.”

“Fine,” Jungkook grumbles. He removes himself with a sigh.

They leave their shoes at the door and hang up their coats on the coat hook, then they go to Taehyung’s room to change into pajamas. Before Taehyung can even open his dresser though, he’s (gently) pushed onto his bed. He falls onto his back, then he soon has a beautiful boy crawling over him and connecting their lips. He wants to get Jungkook warm and fed, but he supposes there are other ways to get warm, and the ramyeon will always be there for later.

He hums into the kiss. His hands go to Jungkook’s hips, then they glide under his shirt to hold onto his bare waist. He feels Jungkook shiver under the touch, a soft moan against his lips. It gives Taehyung the chance to slide his tongue inside, and he gets another beautiful moan when their tongues brush.

“You sound so pretty, baby,” Taehyung says when Jungkook kisses down his jaw, his neck. He sighs when he feels Jungkook’s tongue against his skin, his teeth, the warmth of his mouth as he leaves a mark behind on his neck, high enough that anyone can see. Jungkook kisses the spot he left, then he starts to leave one just a couple inches over, marking his neck with bruises. Taehyung moans at the slight sting of each one, the way it’s soothed by his tongue, the warmth of his breath, a gentle kiss.

One of his hands travels up Jungkook’s side, feeling his abs contract on the path, until he can brush his thumb over one of his nipples. He feels the vibration of Jungkook’s moan as he sucks on his skin, even more when he starts to roll his nipple between his thumb and his finger. Jungkook has such a visceral reaction to it every time, and Taehyung wonders if maybe this is new for him. He knows he should stop analyzing him, but as someone who has a degree in Jeon Jungkook, he thinks that maybe it aligns with what Jungkook has told him: how he was the carer in his past relationship. Maybe there are some parts of sex that Jungkook didn’t experience. He doesn’t want to think about anything other than the two of them in this moment though, so he ignores it for now and focuses all of his attention on making Jungkook feel good.

He flips them around with a surprised sound from Jungkook when he’s suddenly the one on his back now. Taehyung’s hands run up and down his sides. “How’d I get lucky enough to have such a beautiful boy under me, hm?” The way Jungkook smiles up at him might be Taehyung’s favorite thing he’s ever experienced in his life so far. “Can I take off your shirt, pretty?”

“Only if you take yours off too.”

Taehyung giggles. “Deal.” He uses his hands on Jungkook’s waist to slowly slide his shirt up, revealing more and more smooth skin beneath it.

They’ve seen each other naked before – quite intimately too, when it was while washing each other in the shower. Now, though, it just feels different somehow. Seeing Jungkook shirtless on his bed is a different experience. Taehyung runs his hands up his tattooed forearms, his art-covered biceps. He presses his hands flat on his chest, taking an indulgent squeeze of his pecs before trailing down his waist, fingers ghosting over his abs.

Jungkook’s body is so beautiful. Not because he has muscles, not because of its shape or size. But because it’s Jungkook’s. Because he has little beauty marks sprinkled all around, one right on his right pec, one on his collarbone, his side. Because he has scars here and there, a few stretch marks, his skin uneven in some spots. Because there’s art embedded into his skin, pieces he chose that reflect who he is enough to put on his body forever – whether they were who he was when he was eighteen or who he is now, because he’s made up of every version of himself. He’s Jungkook, and he’s gorgeous.

Jungkook starts to pull on his sweater too so he’ll take it off, but Taehyung gets shy now. His and Jungkook’s bodies are different. Their stomachs, their arms, their imperfections – especially when he’s on top of him, not lying down where everything would be smoothed out. His stomach looks softer like this, his thighs spread out. He’s not muscular or toned in the intentional, hardworking way Jungkook is; the muscle he has is just from what he’d developed as someone who uses his body in the way he does. He’s not scrawny or skinny, but he’s not like Jungkook.

Jungkook has seen me naked before, he reminds himself. And even if he hadn’t, it’s just Jungkook. He’s the last person he should ever be shy or insecure around; he’s the embodiment of safety and comfort. He tries to tell himself that as he pulls his sweater off and sets it aside, leaving himself shirtless too.

Jungkook sighs. He looks at every inch of uncovered skin. He takes an extra long time on his stomach, the area looking even softer now when he leans over, hands keeping him steady on Jungkook’s chest. “Tae,” Jungkook says quietly. He holds onto his sides. One hand travels up, smoothing over his chest. He glides over his collarbone, down his arm, while the thumb on his other hand gently pushes into the softness of his stomach. Jungkook’s eyes flit up to his for just a second before going back to looking him over. He opens and closes his mouth a few times. “I keep forgetting what I want to say because you’re just so beautiful.” Taehyung blushes from his chest all the way up to the tips of his ears. “I don’t even–you’re just–god, you’re so perfect. How are you mine?”

“Kookie,” he whimpers quietly. His thumbs brush back and forth against his collarbones.

“I can–I can tell you’re self-conscious right now but, f*ck, sweetheart, you don’t have to be. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And I’m not saying that just because I’m insanely in love with you, or because I want you to feel more comfortable. I really, truly mean it. You’re… gorgeous. I don’t even have the right word.”

“God, Kookie, stop,” Taehyung says with an overwhelmed whine as he collapses down onto him, nuzzling into his neck to hide. His body shakes with Jungkook’s silent laughter. Feeling Jungkook’s arms wrap around him like this – their bodies partially bare, warm arms around his exposed torso – is euphoric.

Before he gets lost in it though and stay exactly like this for the rest of the night, he starts kissing his neck. His hand comes up to toy with Jungkook’s ear, relishing in the shiver he receives. “My baby boy is the gorgeous one,” he whispers in Jungkook’s ear. The shuddering whimper he receives in response sets something alight in him. It snaps him out of his insecurities and back into how he felt before, like he wants to give Jungkook the world in this way. Or maybe create their own world and share it together. It’s their first time, and he wants this to be theirs. No expectations, no old behaviors, no predispositions. They’re making something new together, something that’s only theirs.

In his head, as he kisses from Jungkook’s neck up to his lips, he rustles around to find one of his many Jeon Jungkook Lists that he made without knowing it, logging something new on it every time they’re together in certain ways. He reads it over so he’s prepared.

• Jungkook likes to be praised.
• Jungkook likes being called baby boy.
• Jungkook likes when I whisper to him.
• Jungkook likes when I touch his ears.
• Jungkook likes when his nipples are played with.
• Jungkook likes to be talked to during intimate acts.
• Jungkook likes extra hazelnut syrup in his coffee now that it’s gotten colder out How did this get here
  • Re-file under Small Things to Give to Jungkook to Make Him Feel Good
• Jungkook likes to be held while I whisper to him.
• Jungkook likes to be teased and touched lightly and gently.
• Jungkook likes to be treated softly.
• Jungkook likes me.

As he licks inside of Jungkook’s mouth, he unbuttons and unzips his pants. Jungkook lifts his hips and takes them off himself, and Taehyung wraps his hand around his co*ck. It’s only half hard, but he feels it grow in his hand as he strokes it. Then he realizes that the feeling of the fabric of his pants against Jungkook’s bare skin might not be a nice feeling, so he takes the rest of his own clothes off too. He notices the lights too then. He looks around them to see how they might feel from Jungkook’s perspective. He leans over and turns off the lamp on his bedside table, encasing the two of them in darkness for a moment until he grabs a remote and turns on the string lights in his room. They’re draped above his bed and across the window beside it, paper stars with a warm glow. They illuminate the room enough to see, but dim enough that they’re gentle on the eyes and warm on the senses. They highlight Jungkook’s features beautifully, illuminating some parts and casting the others in shadows, like he’s a deliberate, perfect drawing.

“Is that better?” he asks quietly.

Jungkook doesn’t say a word for a while. He just looks at him. He swallows. “Yeah, this is nice.”

Taehyung kisses him again, slow and deep, tongues pressing together, breath shared between them. One hand brushes through Jungkook’s hair again and again while the other stays pressed flat against the side of his face. The way Jungkook kisses him almost makes it hard to breathe. It’s not a fight for dominance, nor is it one of them leading the kiss and the other following. They’re just kissing each other. Giving and taking at the same time, kissing without trying to make it how they want it; they’re just letting it become what it is.

Taehyung starts to gently grind down onto Jungkook. His co*ck slides against Jungkook’s stomach while Jungkook’s does the same against his torso, the spaces between kisses turning into shared moans. Taehyung feels his skin growing wetter, precum making the slide smoother. He presses down harder so their co*cks are sliding together, and the hard warmth is maddening.

“Baby boy,” Taehyung breathes against his lips. “Feels so good with you.”

Jungkook holds onto him tighter, hands shaky. He starts tilting his hips up with every press down against him, sliding his co*ck along too. Taehyung reaches between their bodies and wraps his hand around both of their co*cks, the sizes pressed together making it so he can barely get a grip on both. It’s enough for both of them though as they moan together. He slides his hand up and down, shivering on top of Jungkook as Jungkook shudders beneath him. “Tae,” he moans, “sweetheart.”

Taehyung kisses his lips, then he starts to kiss down his body too. He lets go of his own co*ck so he can just make Jungkook feel good as he starts to swirl his tongue around his nipple. He gently bites on the pebbled bud, then he sucks on it as he moves his hand faster, jerking him off. Jungkook throws his head back and moans, hands fisting the blanket beneath him, back arching.

Taehyung kisses down his stomach, kisses the sparse hair above his co*ck too. Nuzzles against it, then he takes the head of Jungkook’s co*ck into his mouth. He moans at the taste of his precum on his tongue. The vibration of it forces a sob out of Jungkook. He wants to suck his co*ck, wants to take him down his throat, wants to swallow around him, feel the way he stretches his jaw. But more than that, he wants to tell Jungkook how special he is. So he rests his cheek on his thigh and looks up at him as he strokes his co*ck. Jungkook moves up onto his forearms, looking down at him.

“I love you, Jungkook,” Taehyung says quietly, reverently. He turns his head and kisses right where his leg meets his pelvis. He sucks on that spot too, making Jungkook’s legs shake with a whimper before he can respond. He kisses the side of his co*ck, a long press of his lips. He nuzzles against his balls, kisses there too. He sucks one of them into his mouth, leaving his tongue over it before doing the same to the other. He kisses his co*ck again, never looking away from his eyes. He’s going to make Jungkook feel so good. He’s going to be so good to him, take his time, make him feel the devoted, devout, worshiped love behind every action.

“Could you reach over and hand me the lube in the drawer on the nightstand?” he asks before he licks up and down his co*ck, pressing kisses all over it.

Just as he’s about to push Jungkook’s legs to his chest so he can kiss over his hole too, he’s tugged up and rolled over so he’s on his back. He makes a surprised oof sound, a little disoriented to find himself suddenly looking up at the ceiling.

“Gonna finger you open,” Jungkook says. Before Taehyung can say a word, he finds his arms above his head. He finds his wrists in Jungkook’s hand as they’re pressed against the mattress, restrained. He feels his heart pound, part of his mind regressing back to the child version of himself, when he spent hours in handcuffs and couldn’t move his arms. Jungkook looks down at him with a different look in his eyes than before.

“W-Wait, no, no, I don’t like this,” Taehyung says, trying to get rid of Jungkook’s hold on his wrists.

Immediately, as if he’d been burned, Jungkook removes his hands and leans back. Taehyung pulls his arms down and to his chest, keeping them close to help him feel like they’re his own and that he controls them as he tries to control his breathing too.

“T-Tae?” Jungkook says quietly, like he’s scared or like he doesn’t want to scare him off. There are tears swimming in his eyes as he looks at him.

“Hey, it’s okay, baby,” Taehyung says, a hand resting on his thigh. “Just something I don’t like.”

“I’m–I’m so sorry,” Jungkook says, looking horrified.

“Kookie, it’s okay, baby. It’s our first time. We don’t know each other like this yet. We’re learning things as we go.”

“I–I shouldn’t have–I’m s-so, f*ck, I’m so sorry.”

Taehyung sits up and kneels in front of Jungkook, matching his position. “Can you look at me, pretty?” he asks. Jungkook listens, and the tears resting along his waterline finally slide down his cheeks. “Oh, don’t cry, you silly boy.” He rests his hands on his cheeks, wiping the tears away as they come. “Why are you so upset, hm? Nothing bad happened. We’ve never done this before. There’s nothing to be so upset over. C’mere, baby.” He pulls him into his arms, and Jungkook falls willingly. He wraps around Jungkook, one arm wrapping around his head to keep him held. He pets Jungkook’s hair as he lowly hums, just enough for Jungkook to feel the vibration of his chest. “I know my baby boy wants to be perfect at everything, but this isn’t something you should expect to be that way with. There are things you wouldn’t know about me that wouldn’t come up until they happen, just like this. You can’t be perfect at something we haven’t done before, something you don’t know. We don’t know each other in this way yet, and we’re learning together. And you stopped the second I said so. There’s nothing to beat yourself up over, baby. I’m sure I’ll do things you don’t like too. What you did is such a common thing to do in bed; it’s not something you would have known I don’t like unless I thought to say so.”

He should have realized that maybe they should’ve talked about this all a bit more first. It’d be good for him to have everything laid out, so he can become as much of a Jungkook expert as he can be. He can have clearer rules to follow and navigate, and for Jungkook too so they don’t get in situations like this. He knows Jungkook wants to do everything he can to make him feel as good as possible too. It’s definitely a little bit of a mood killer to take a pause and have a discussion, but he doesn’t care. He can get back in the mood in a second because it’s Jungkook, and this will just make every time even better.

With fingers buried in the hair at his nape as he gently scratches there, he figures he should just jump into the discussion. “I shouldn’t have assumed this,” he says, then adds, “see? I did something too. Now we know to ask beforehand. I shouldn’t have assumed, but I thought you were going to bottom. Did you not want to bottom?”

“I’m a top,” Jungkook says quietly, more of a mumble.

Taehyung’s hand in his hair falters. His eyebrows furrow. “Oh.” He wasn’t expecting that. Everything he’s known of Jungkook so far has just felt like he’s a bottom. Not because he’s stereotyped the things he likes, but because he just… kind of felt like Jungkook would bottom more in their relationship. He definitely thought they’d switch, but with Jungkook being the bottom more than not. “You don’t ever bottom?” Jungkook shakes his head. “Oh,” he says again. He blinks into the dim light. It’s very surprising to him. Shocking. Doesn’t really align with how closely he’s watched Jungkook for years, how much he’s learned, the lists and observations he has in his head. “Have you ever bottomed before?” Jungkook shakes his head. “Because you don’t want to? Or…?”

“I’m a top,” is all Jungkook says.

That doesn’t answer his question though. “Do you not want to bottom?”

“I’m a top,” he says again. He can tell it’s supposed to hold a finality, an authority. It comes off a little more as petulance though.

Taehyung pulls Jungkook from his neck, ignoring the whine so they have to lock eyes. Again, he asks, “Do you not want to bottom?”

And again, Jungkook says, “I’m a top.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Jungkook,” he says. The tone of his voice makes Jungkook’s eyes widen a fraction. Lips parting, an intake of breath. Taehyung doesn’t know what that reaction means, so he leans in to kiss his cheek to soothe him if it’s what he needs. He presses his lips there for several seconds.

He makes an effort to soften his voice, but before he can ask again, Jungkook hastily answers, “I’ve n-never bottomed before.”

Taehyung cups his cheeks. He brushes his thumb back and forth against his cheekbone. “I know, baby boy,” he says gently. “It’s something new I learned about my sweet Kookie. I love learning new things about you.” Jungkook nuzzles against his palm. “Sometimes I’m not the best at reading people’s tone, or figuring out things that are being unsaid. I can tell you’re feeling uncomfortable or unsure though, because I do know my Kookie so well in some ways.” The way he’s moving his finger up and down his thigh, drawing an invisible, absentminded line. His other hand is fidgeting with one of his earring in his ears too, the way he does when he’s shy or embarrassed. “I don’t want to make you more uncomfortable, but will you please tell me why you’re avoiding my question? I promise that all I can ever do is be sweet to you. You never have to feel nervous to tell me anything. I’ll give you ten kisses as a reward too.”

A tiny giggle escapes past Jungkook’s lips. He drops their eye contact to look down at their laps, and that’s okay. Taehyung takes his hand from his cheek to put it their laps, and Jungkook immediately takes it and fidgets with his fingers. Bends each of his knuckles, draws circles against his palm. Jungkook swallows, and his voice comes out so quiet. “I… I told you about how in my last relationship, w-we kind of had… I dunno, like, roles sort of? I was this way,” he vaguely motions at himself with his hand that still holds Taehyung’s, “so that’s who I was in our relationship. So I never topped, because that’s just not the way it was. I shouldn’t be bottoming, I should be topping, that’s just the natural thing to do. It just kind of… was never an option. He never said it like that, but it was just kind of unspoken.”

Every new thing he learns about Jungkook’s old relationship makes him feel so– he doesn’t even have a word for it. It still doesn’t answer his question, and he wasn’t going to push, but Jungkook answers anyway. “I’ve always been, um, curious about bottoming, I guess? But I just assumed I would top. And that would be okay with me; I enjoy it, especially would if it’s with you. But, y-yeah, I dunno, I guess I just thought I’d top, and, um, the arms – that j-just kind of went with it. A-Acting that way, I mean.” He looks up at him finally. “Is there one position you only do?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “I usually just naturally top,” he chuckles. “Not because I hate bottoming, because I really don’t. It just ends up being the more default role for me. And you’re my sweet baby boy.” He tucks some of Jungkook’s hair behind his ear, cups his cheek. “I just thought I’d take care of you that way. I can take care of you this way too though. And because we’re us, and because we are in this equally, and because we love each other, you’ll take care of me too. This is never one-sided. We’re doing both things at the same time, caring and being cared for. It’ll never be one-sided for you ever again.”

“I really like you, Tae,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung's heart skips a beat. “I really like you too. You cutie. I might even say I love you.”

Jungkook giggles. “I love you too.”

“Do you want to keep going?” Jungkook nods. “Will you top me?”

“I know I just said–but y-you can–”

“Shh,” Taehyung shushes him. “I want you to. We’ll work our way up to you bottoming. I know it can feel intimidating, especially if you’ve never done it before. I want to make it so good for you, ease you into it. Don’t wanna just jump in right away, especially after our talk. And I really, really want you to top me.” He brushes his knuckles down his cheek. “Want to feel my baby boy inside of me. You’re going to f*ck your hyung so well, aren’t you?”

Jungkook nods, wide-eyed. “I will,” he says, imploring.

“Such a sweet boy,” Taehyung says, hand on his cheek again.

“I want my ten reward kisses,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung giggles, then he tackles Jungkook down onto the bed, pressing kiss after kiss against his smiling lips, way more than ten. “Do you want me to finger myself?” he asks. “I can’t imagine you’d like the feeling of lube very much.”

Jungkook stares up at him, doe eyes unreadable. “But that’s–you shouldn’t have to–”

“Shh,” Taehyung gently shushes him again. “Get rid of all of those ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ thoughts you have in your pretty head. All we should be doing is what we want, what works for us. There’s nothing to compare anything to, nothing we should or shouldn’t be doing. It’s just us here. If you don’t like the feeling of lube, you don’t have to touch it. I’d love you to watch me finger myself. This doesn’t make you a bad boyfriend. Not in the slightest. I don’t want you to have to do something that would make this any less good for you. And me fingering myself doesn’t make this any less good for me. I promise. Oh, no, my baby boy, why are you crying, love?”

“You’re just–” He cuts himself off with a sob, and Taehyung’s heart aches. “You’re s-so nice to me.”

“Oh, Kookie,” Taehyung says. He wants to cry and laugh at the same time, but he doesn’t do either. “You’re my love; of course I’m nice to you. You’re nice to me too. Want to watch as I get myself ready for you?” Jungkook sniffles and nods, and it’s just so cute. Just so Jungkook feels like he’s doing something important (and he is), Taehyung asks, “Will you touch me while I do it? And talk to me? Touch me anywhere, you don’t have to stroke my co*ck. I just want to feel you.”

“Y-Yeah, I can, I want to.”

Taehyung looks at the bed and how they’re arranged on it. It might be a silly position, but it sounds like a nice one, so he directs Jungkook to sit with his back against the wall, his legs stretched out across the width of the bed. Taehyung adjusts so he’s lying down with his head on Jungkook’s thigh, and he brings Jungkook’s hand to his hair to pet him. Jungkook giggles and looks down at him, so much unmistakable love in his eyes. Taehyung grabs the bottle of lube and pours some onto his fingers, then he brings his hand between his legs. He’s strangely a little nervous. Not because Jungkook is watching him, because he finds that he loves it before they’ve even started. It’s just been a long time since he’s bottomed, even just by himself. He tries not to jolt when he starts to circle his fingers around his hole, and he’s immediately soothed by Jungkook’s fingers combing through his hair.

“You’re so beautiful, Tae,” Jungkook says, his thumb tracing his eyebrow. It feels nice, little touches like this. It gives him the courage to push the tip of his finger inside, and his eyes fall shut. His lips part for shallow breaths, already lost in the pleasure of it when he’s barely felt anything yet. He opens his eyes when he pushes the rest of his finger inside, and he sees Jungkook looking from his face, over to where his finger is buried inside himself, then back at his eyes again. Taehyung pulls his finger almost all the way out before pushing it back in again, unable to keep his eyes open or focus on anything but the slide, the small stretch. “Do you feel good?” Taehyung nods, turns his head to nuzzle his cheek against his thigh. “Such a sweetheart. So cute.”

Hearing how fond Jungkook sounds, Taehyung slips a second finger inside, wanting to show him, wanting him to see. “I l-love you,” he breathes out. Without waiting, he adds a third finger. There’s a slight sting, but it goes away almost immediately when he starts to push his fingers in and out.

“I love you,” Jungkook says back. “You look so, f*ck, you look so beautiful, Tae. So gorgeous. Can’t take my eyes off you. You’re going to look so pretty on my co*ck.”

Taehyung whimpers, eyebrows furrowing in pleasure, in anticipation. “I want it,” he says. “Want it.”

“One more finger, sweetheart,” Jungkook says. “You can take it. You’ll look so pretty stretched out. Will you show me?”

Taehyung nods. He fits his pinky inside, then he spreads all of his fingers apart, stretching himself for Jungkook’s co*ck. He wants him inside right now, needs him, but he knows Jungkook is thick and he needs all the stretching he can get. He avoids his prostate every time he pushes his fingers in, wanting to feel that for the first time when it’s Jungkook doing it, when it’s his co*ck pushing against it. Jungkook’s hand in his hair never stops, his sweet words neither.

“Do you think you’re ready for me?” Taehyung immediately nods repeatedly, slipping his fingers out to show he wants it now. He whimpers at the emptiness, but he quickly scrambles into Jungkook’s lap. “O-Oh.” Jungkook’s hands go hesitantly to his hips.

“Can I ride you?”

“But I–that’s not–”

“No ‘should’s or ‘shouldn’t’s, darling,” Taehyung reminds him. “Just because you’re topping doesn’t mean you do all the work, or that you can’t be taken care of. Sometimes it can mean you’re doing all the work and doing whatever you want with me, but not right now. Right now, I want to take care of my baby boy. Will you let me?” Jungkook shakily nods. “Do we have to use a condom, pretty? Or do you want to use one?”

“I, u-um, I got tested, for, you know, um, STDs and all of that.” Taehyung tries not to giggle at the clarification that that’s what his testing was for. “I got blood work done and everything too. I-I got tested in all of the ways, for all of the things. S-So, I’m clean.”

God, Taehyung thinks he might die. What a sweet boy. “I’m clean too, baby, and I haven’t been with anyone in ages. Do you still want to use a condom though? I know some people just prefer to anyway.” Especially when Jungkook doesn’t like the feel of lube. He knows most things about Jungkook are just when things are on his hands, but he’s not sure about this.

“I’d like to not use one,” he says quietly. “Unless you want to, then that’s more than okay with me.”

Taehyung nuzzles the tips of their noses together to feel the way Jungkook’s scrunches in the way he always does. “I want to feel all of you,” he says against his lips. He reaches for the bottle of lube, then he reaches into his night stand drawer for a pack of wet wipes too. He pours some lube onto his hand, then he slowly spreads it up and down on Jungkook’s co*ck. Jungkook moans so beautifully at the feeling. He throbs in Taehyung’s hand, feeling heavy and hot. Taehyung could do this for hours, wouldn’t even notice or mind that he himself isn’t feeling anything physically. He wants to feel Jungkook inside of him though, wants to feel them get as close as they can be, so he straddles him more comfortably and aligns his co*ck with his entrance. He rubs it back and forth, stimulating the head of Jungkook’s co*ck while he teases himself.

He steadies himself with his clean hand against Jungkook’s chest, and he slowly sinks down. Already, a sob bubbles out of him at the stretch, but that’s not even all of it. It’s because his body is spreading apart so his love can nestle inside of it. He’s opening himself up, then being filled by his love, carving out a space, making it his.

Taehyung slowly takes more, centimeter by centimeter. He wants to watch Jungkook’s reaction, wants to take in every beautiful expression, but it’s too much. Jungkook's eyes are closed because he seems lost in it too, and Taehyung’s head drops forward to take his place in the crook of Jungkook’s neck. They lose themselves to each other as Taehyung keeps taking more and more, the slide feeling never ending.

Finally, after what feels like ages, Taehyung is seated in Jungkook’s lap, his co*ck reaching as deep as it can go. It feels hard to breathe, being stretched apart this much, feeling Jungkook so deep inside of him. He takes several deep breaths, focusing on coming back to himself so he can check in on Jungkook. When he thinks he can tolerate the distance, he leans back. He grabs the pack of wet wipes, and he thoroughly cleans his hands of any lube, then he dries them off against his sheets. He rests his hands on Jungkook’s neck, just looking at him. Jungkook’s cheeks are flushed. His eyes are dilated, his gaze so focused on him that he wouldn’t be able to hide anything even if he wanted to.

But before he can ask, Jungkook does. “How are you feeling?” he says softly. His hand is warm on his bare side, and the one that comes to his cheek now is too. “You’re so tight. Do you need to be stretched more?”

Taehyung nuzzles into Jungkook’s neck again. Not because he wants to hide, but because he wants to be closer. He gets what he wants when Jungkook’s arms wrap around him, keeping him close. “No, it feels good. I wanna be tight for you.”

“You feel so good, Tae. So warm inside.”

Taehyung tries to nuzzle and burrow closer. “Can we just stay like this for a little while longer?”

“For as long as you want, sweetheart.” His hand glides up and down his back. Taehyung feels a kiss on his temple. “You feel so good in my arms.”

Taehyung smiles to himself, eyes falling shut to focus on the warmth of the moment. “Wanna be in your arms forever.”

Jungkook hums. “That can be arranged, as long as you promise we’ll be together forever.”

“I promise,” Taehyung says with complete certainty. He’d never make a promise he can’t keep, but this one is easy, doesn’t even need to be said. “Never letting go of my Kookie.”

“Me neither,” Jungkook says, another kiss on his temple.

Taehyung takes a deep breath. He uses all of his strength to lean back just a few inches, out of Jungkook’s arms. He holds onto his neck again, and he looks into his eyes as he slowly grinds back and forth on his co*ck, getting himself used to the feeling. It’s really been years since he’s bottomed. It feels almost like the first time again, and he’s happy it’s a feeling he gets with Jungkook.

Jungkook keeps a firm grip on his hips, helping him rise up onto his knees and keep him steady. Then Taehyung slides back down. Their foreheads drop together, breath passing between them. “f*ck,” Jungkook mutters. All Taehyung can do is nod. He hasn’t even fully ridden him yet, and it’s overwhelming. Not even because of the way it physically feels; it’s just… it’s so much to be this close to Jungkook, to this boy he’s going to love forever.

He takes another breath and leans back. Jungkook helps him rise onto his knees again, then he keeps him steady as he sits back down. He does it again, again and again and again, keeping an even pace, letting them feel every inch of each other. He starts to go faster, bouncing on his co*ck until they can hear the sound of their skin slapping together mixing with their moans. Taehyung takes a deep breath, and he adjusts himself the half inch he knows he needs to aim Jungkook’s co*ck at his prostate. With the first touch of the two together, tears come to his eyes. It’s a feeling he didn’t know he’s missed, and it flips a switch inside of him.

He rides his co*ck faster, hitting his prostate over and over again without any pause. It makes his head spin, shooting stars in his vision even with his eyes open. His eyes are locked on Jungkook, so maybe those stars he’s seeing are what’s in Jungkook's eyes. Jungkook who is looking at him with awe. Taehyung kisses him, and their tongues immediately push into each other's mouths. There are whimpers and moans and sobs as he rides him, tongues tangling, teeth biting, saliva passing between them. His legs start to burn, but he ignores it and keeps riding him desperately. It’s like Jungkook can somehow tell though, and he finds them flipped over so he’s on his back with his boyfriend hovering over him.

Jungkook pushes his legs to his chest, exposing him further, and he starts to thrust into him. Taehyung can feel his balls slap against his ass with the fast motion, every thrust aimed at his prostate, making the tears in his eyes slide down his temples.

“So beautiful,” Jungkook says, sounding entranced. “So, so beautiful. f*ck, how are you even real, Tae? How are you real?”

Taehyung sobs, and Jungkook adjusts so he can wipe his tears away while still moving his hips, his co*ck sliding in and out of him. Taehyung can’t take it much longer. The nonstop stimulation on his prostate, the fluid slide of his co*ck, Jungkook's words, the way he looks at him. His org*sm is building, getting closer, in reach. He thinks Jungkook is close too, the way he’s getting desperate, kisses getting sloppier.

“F-f*ck, Jungkook, I’m–I’m so–” He cries when a hand wraps around his co*ck, matching the pace of his thrusts.

“Come for me, sweetheart,” Jungkook says. “f*ck, come for me, love. You’ll make me come too. Come on.”

Taehyung tightens around Jungkook’s co*ck, wanting to make him feel even better. When Jungkook brushes his thumb over the tip of his co*ck, when he whispers, “I love you,” to him, Taehyung throws his head back and comes with a sob of his name. His back arches off the bed, cum shooting across his chest. At the same time, he can feel it inside of him too. Jungkook pulls him closer and holds him tighter as they come together. They shake and tremble. They try to tell each other how much they love each other, how good they feel, how beautiful they are, but all that manages to come out are moans and whimpers of the other’s name. Jungkook rides out his org*sm, smearing his cum inside, milking every last drop.

Instead of collapsing down onto him like Taehyung expected, Jungkook easily rolls them over so he’s on his back with Taehyung on his chest – his co*ck still inside as it slowly softens. Their breathing is heavy, skin sticky with sweat, bodies warm from exertion. They don’t say anything, and Taehyung doesn’t think he could even if he tried. He wants to nuzzle closer, but he can’t find the energy for it. It’s like Jungkook somehow knows though, because he’s held tighter.

The window beside his bed is frosted and foggy where the warmth of his room meets the cold of outside, and it makes this moment even nicer. Freezing outside, warm in Jungkook’s arms.

“‘m gonna love you forever,” he manages to whisper when he can find his voice.

“I know,” Jungkook says. A kiss on his forehead. “I will too.”

“I know,” Taehyung says. His eyes slowly flutter shut, and he falls asleep.

– ♡ –

When Taehyung wakes up again, the sky is still dark. The moon is high in the sky, the stars twinkling around it. The window is still foggy, meaning the night is still cold. Then his eyes refocus on something, and he sees part of the bottom of the window isn’t fogged up. Right at his eye-level with his head on the pillow, written through the frosted glass is “I love you,” the letters traced out of the condensation. Taehyung feels like he could sob. It’s sweet enough to keep his pout away from waking up to an empty bed.

He can hear noise out in the rest of his apartment, and he slowly rises. He winces at the way his lower back and below it aches. When he stands, he realizes that nothing is running out of him, and nothing is uncomfortably dried inside. Meaning Jungkook must have cleaned him up as he slept, doing so so gently that he didn’t even wake. That with the sweet message that he could have easily missed makes him want to cry even more.

He looks around his room, and he grabs Jungkook’s sweater. He throws it on and doesn’t bother with anything else since it’s long enough to cover everything. Not that he cares; he just doesn’t want to get cold.

He ventures out of his bedroom, going in search of his boyfriend. He finds him in the kitchen, all of the lights in the apartment off except for the warm, dim pendant lighting hanging over his island. Jungkook stands at the stove, wearing a pair of sweatpants and nothing else, stirring whatever is in the pot there.

Taehyung just leans against the wall, watching him.

He loves him.

He really, really loves him.

As if it was too much for his body to contain that it came bursting out, Jungkook senses him and looks over. The way his face softens upon seeing him almost makes Taehyung want to sink to the floor. “Hi, sweetheart,” Jungkook says. He reaches an arm out, and Taehyung scurries over and tucks himself beneath it. “I was just finishing up making food for us since we didn’t eat dinner. How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?”

Taehyung closes his eyes, lets himself sink into the feeling of getting little kisses. “No, just a little sore.” He grows shy. “Thank you for cleaning me…”

“No need to thank me,” Jungkook says. He gives him one final kiss before letting go to serve their food.

He made ramyeon as Taehyung suspected, but he didn’t just make it out of the packet and call it a night. He grilled up some meat, cut up some vegetables, added extra seasoning to the broth, and even made some tteokbokki to put in it. There are bowls of additional toppings set at the table too. All just for a middle of the night ramyeon snack.

“Thank you, Kookie,” Taehyung says again, voice heavy with feeling as Jungkook sets a bowl in front of him.

Jungkook kisses his cheek from behind, then the top of his head. “Just taking care of my Tae,” he says. Taehyung moans to himself as he takes his first mouthful of noodles. It’s amazing. There are so many different flavors and textures, just spicy enough to get the flavor of it but not be too much for him to handle. As he’s blowing on his next bite, he sees Jungkook dump a bowl of dark red spices into his own bowl and mix them in.

“This is amazing, baby,” Taehyung says, almost not wanting to pause his eating to say the words.

Jungkook just fondly watches him eat. Taehyung really, really likes this little life of his. Sitting in his dark apartment, only a dim light illuminating the table, eating ramyeon in the middle of the night with his boyfriend. Warm soup while it’s freezing outside, his ankles wrapped around Jungkook’s beneath the table when his feet get cold. Jungkook nearly shrieking when Taehyung presses his cold toes against him, making Taehyung almost choke on the tteokbokki in his mouth. It’s quiet and it’s simple and it’s perfect. He doesn’t want anything more than this.

“Isn’t it funny that we’ve already met each other’s parents?” Jungkook asks.

Taehyung giggles, swirling the noodles around in his bowl. “Yeah,” he says. “They had no idea who they were actually meeting. But neither did we.” They’ve met mostly everyone’s parents during times the parents would come to town to visit their children, so he’s met his boss’s parents a couple times. They’re sweet, just like his Jungkookie.

“Do they know about me?” Jungkook asks hesitantly. “About us, I mean?”

Taehyung shakes his head. He’s nervous it’ll make Jungkook feel bad. “Not because I wasn’t telling them or anything. We just haven’t talked on the phone or seen each other, just texts here and there. I’d love for them to meet you again though, as who you are now, and not my boss Jungkook.”

“Yeah, I’d like that too,” Jungkook says. A burst of warmth rushes through Taehyung when he realizes that their families will become family too. And they will become a family too.

Taehyung forces Jungkook to let him help clean up in his kitchen, and it doesn’t take very long until they’re back in bed and cozied up together. They’re lying on their sides facing each other, hands held together between their chests, legs tangled together beneath the blanket. “I really like being together,” Taehyung says quietly, voice low in the dark room.

Jungkook wiggles closer and taps the tips of their noses together so adorably, doing nothing more than that. “So do I,” he says. His voice is just as quiet, like they’re sharing a secret that no one else can hear.

“I really liked having sex with you too,” he says. Jungkook drops their foreheads together, shoulders shaking as he laughs. “What! I mean it!”

“I know you do,” Jungkook says. “You’re just cute when you say things.” Jungkook kisses him, and Taehyung can’t believe there was ever a time that he was around Jungkook and wasn’t able to kiss him – that there was a time where he didn’t even want to (although if the idea were planted in his head, he’s sure it would have become an invasive plant they grew over all of his other thoughts). Then, even though he sounded certain and said as much, Jungkook asks a little insecurely, “Did you? Even though it… didn’t really go how you thought it would?”

“I absolutely loved it,” he says. “I wouldn’t have changed a single thing. As long as there's a you and a me, it’ll be perfect. And it was. I didn’t even think it would go a certain way. I shouldn’t have made assumptions. They weren’t anything more than that; it wasn’t what I wanted us to do. I loved it. You made me feel so good, baby.”

“Can I… c-can I ask why you, um, thought I would bottom?” Jungkook asks quietly, looking down at his lips instead of his eyes. “Just… you thinking that is kind of the exact opposite of what I think everyone would assume…”

“Did that upset you?” Taehyung asks softly, combing his fingers through Jungkook’s hair.

“No,” Jungkook says, eyes widening as he shakes his head. “No, not at all.”

Taehyung chooses his words carefully. “When I thought that you would bottom, I wasn’t thinking you would only bottom, or that you are a bottom. I always just thought we’d switch at times, because, I dunno, that just feels like us. Neither of us seem like we’re only one way, and that we only want the other to be one way. Locking you into being a top by itself is… something, and especially doing so based on your appearance is so…” He tries to keep the growl out of his voice. “It’s just basically pushing gender roles on you, bringing gender roles into a relationship that doesn’t have them. It’s like you have to be the man of the relationship, because the relationship still somehow needs a man and a woman even though neither of us are a woman, and I don’t even think of our genders at all. It’s just… me and you. Taehyung and Jungkook. Not a top and a bottom, not a manly man and a baby boy, not a carer and cared for. It just strips the relationship of us when someone tries to put you or me in a box. We just become those roles. Okay, ugh, I’m getting off topic.” He huffs, annoyed at the subject and himself. When he looks at Jungkook though, the furrow between his eyebrows disappears with his annoyance when he sees how endeared and entertained he looks.

“I forgot what I was even talking about,” Taehyung mutters, going through everything in his head again. “So, anyway, I was only thinking you’d bottom right now, in that moment. Because it just… I don’t know, it felt that way. That was just the feeling that the night held. You do kind of feel like you’d bottom more often, if we weren’t keeping score to make sure we’re always perfectly even in taking turns. Maybe it’s because of how your past relationship was, how he never just… took care of you in any way. Ugh, that’s so–how couldn’t he see what a baby boy you are? The fact that anyone could push this persona on you without seeing that you’re just a sweet little baby Kookie. I’m getting off topic again, god, f*ck.” He whines at himself, smiling through it when Jungkook presses kisses all over his face. “I just think that maybe other people couldn’t see you the way I do. They just see your muscles and your tattoos and your piercings and think you’re one way, and they don’t dig any further. They don’t see the way you perk up like a puppy when someone compliments you on something you’re doing. They don’t see the way you wiggle in your seat when you eat or drink something good. They don’t see the way your eyes are always wide and curious and sparkling and caring, giving everybody and everything your full attention. They just see a hot boy wearing all black and think you should be the one f*cking someone, never the one lying spread out looking all pretty on the bed, letting me take care of you, kiss you everywhere, tell you how lovely and soft and gentle you are – all of the parts of you that are overlooked by others. And you can be lovely and soft and gentle and all the things you are and be a strict top, because other people are the ones who stereotype. I just… there are parts of you that I think haven’t been loved yet in the way they should’ve been, and I want to love you in those ways. I want to show you how things can feel in those ways. I want to take care of you, whether you’re bottoming or topping. I just… want to take care of you. In every way. In bed, when we sleep, when we wake up. When we have to eat, or shower. When you get too hot or too cold, or when you’re sick, or when you’re bored. And when you’re happy and content and calm too. I’ll take care of you when you’re happy, when there’s nothing you need. I just–”

“Tae,” Jungkook laughs, but the word and the sound are gentle, a little choked up. “Why are you the one crying?!”

“I just–” A sob bubbles out of him, and he’s pulled into Jungkook’s arms with a coo. “I j-just love you so much.”

“Tae,” Jungkook says. He holds him tighter, one hand cradling the back of his head, the other running up and down his back. “Such a little angel. So sweet. My sweetheart. I love you, Tae. I want to tell you for hours, want to tell you every little thing I love about you, because I’ve always seen you as much as you've seen me. But I can tell that you’re feeling the middle of the night catch up to us now, and I am too, so I want us to sleep so my Tae can wake up well-rested tomorrow and will have gotten all the sleep he needs.”

“Okay,” Taehyung says quietly, not even putting up a fight. He’s held in Jungkook’s arms, snuggled right into him, and he could never be anything but completely content, to the point of getting sleepier and sleepier. He knows that they have a lifetime of nights ahead of them that will be full of Jungkook telling him sweet words, so he can spare one of those to get some extra rest. His eyes are already fluttering shut, soothed by Jungkook feeling so real beneath him, so certain.

“I love you, Taetae,” Jungkook whispers, petting his hair to lull him to sleep. Taehyung thinks he says he loves him back, but he can’t be too sure, because he drifts off so easily, carried away on a cloud of sweet words whispered by his love.

Chapter 29

Chapter Text

Something sweet that Taehyung never thought to think about is arriving places with Jungkook. It’s so simple and probably something no one thinks about, but something about it warms his heart. Everyone is at the entertainment center when they arrive, and they arrive together. Because they’re together, they’re boyfriends, and when they’re invited to something, they’re invited with those things in mind. And when Hoseok says, “They’re here!” and they’re part of a “they” and everyone turns, expecting to see them walking up, hand in hand, it just makes Taehyung very, very happy.

Walking up to the entertainment center, they both wooooahed. It is big. A bit ugly from the outside, but only because of how bright and colorful it is – not something that would fit into their pretty town. Still, it looked fun even from the outside, and it was confirmed walking in.

It’s big. Just ahead of them was the arcade, full of more games than Taehyung even knew existed. Racing games, air hockey, skeeball, basketball, dance games, many more that he didn’t recognize because it’s been a while since he’s been to an arcade. Everything is neon colors and flashing lights, people playing and enjoying their time together. To the left is the bowling alley with several lanes, and from the music playing and the disco ball dotting the space around them, the back is the rollerskating rink. The entire middle is the bar and food area, and their friends stood in a group in front of the arcade, waiting for their arrival.

They all look perfectly dressed for the occasion. Jimin is wearing light-washed jeans with a white shirt, and Taehyung laughs to himself when he sees that Yoongi is wearing the same thing – definitely Jimin’s doing. Jimin’s blonde hair reflects the colorful lights around them, while Yoongi’s long hair is half up in a bun that looks quite nice on him.

Seokjin’s violet hair matches the space even more, and it’s paired with a darker purple t-shirt and black jeans. Namjoon’s buzzcut is growing out a little bit in a kind of silly way, and he’s wearing a dark blue shirt with his ever-present khaki pants.

Hoseok has on quite a stylish outfit of a sky blue crop top with baggy black pants, and his mullet looks especially curly and carefree right now – as carefree as his heart-shaped smile.

Taehyung himself is wearing high-waisted mom jeans with a black shirt tucked in – same as Jungkook, but with Jungkook in all black. Jungkook’s hair is getting quite long these days, and half of it is up in a ponytail to keep it out of his face. Taehyung’s hair air dried today, so its waves are curlier and fluffier than usual. He often observes that it’s fluffier than usual though, so maybe this is just its natural state.

“Hi, guys,” Jungkook says. He lets go of Taehyung’s hand, but just to wrap his arm around his shoulders and keep him close. The innocent public displays of affection are really, really affecting him in a wonderful way. He realizes that he and Jungkook have been to a few places together, just their dates that were only half-public. They mostly see each other at work, so this feels new and exciting. He wants everyone to see him with Jungkook, wants everyone to see that such a beautiful boy loves him.

He listens to everyone tell them what their plans are and what activities smaller groups of them want to do first, but he turns to Jungkook. Jungkook looks over at him, and his face so drastically softens. Taehyung feels overwhelmed with love and affection for Jungkook tonight. He always is, but never to this extent. Maybe it’s because they had sex, or because they’re out in public, or because they’ve been together for a little while now. Whatever reason it may be, he feels like it’s going to come bursting out of him.

“I love you,” he says, quiet enough that it’s only for him to hear.

“My sweetheart,” Jungkook says. He kisses him. “I love you too. Want to go rollerskating with Jimin and Yoongi-hyung first?”

At that, Jimin bursts out cackling. Taehyung looks over and glares at him. He wants to glare at Jungkook for the suggestion too even though he doesn’t know that, “Taehyung cannot skate,” as Jimin tells him. “We tried to go ice skating a few winters ago, and–” He cuts himself off by cackling again.

“Stoppppp,” Taehyung whines, even stomps one of his feet.

“I want to go rollerskating,” Jungkook says definitively.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung says. “You’re so mean.” Jungkook just cackles too, and Taehyung huffs. “You have to hold my hand. And catch me when I fall. And don’t say something sappy right now.”

He begrudgingly follows after his best friend, through the arcade with its neon lights and flashing screens and loud children and adults playing the games. It’s almost hypnotizing, all of the colored lights, and he can feel everybody’s joy become his own. Then when there’s the sound of someone loudly cheering, adding more noise to the space, he quickly looks over at Jungkook.

He studies him. He looks at his body language, how he reacts to the lights and the sounds and the movement. This place is honestly the definition of overstimulating. But Jungkook looks completely at ease. The colorful lights flash in his dark eyes, and Taehyung can see him perk up at some of the machines they pass, taking note of the ones he wants to play. Then Jungkook looks at him and softly smiles, and he seems okay. More than okay, he seems happy. It makes Taehyung happy too. He thinks tonight will be fun. And if it gets to be too much, the night they’ll have at home will be fun too.

They make their way through the crowd and arrive at the roller rink. It’s big, the waxy floor reflecting the silver dots of the disco ball, the spinning colorful lights. People are skating around in circles, talking and laughing, some holding hands, some speeding past others. He notes with relief that there are some people skating around the perimeter too, holding onto the railings. Happy pop music plays through the speakers, and the atmosphere is so nice that he’s dreading it a little less.

They walk to the counter and exchange their shoes for skates in their sizes, and Taehyung sighs when they sit down on a bench to put them on. “I’m serious, Kookie, you have to hold my hand. No showing off.”

Jungkook snorts. “How and why would I show off?”

“Because you’re good at everything you do, and I’m sure you’re good at skating. But I am not, and you’re my boyfriend, so that’s a boyfriend sacrifice you have to make for your boyfriend duty.”

“I take my boyfriend duties very seriously,” Jungkook says as he laces up his skates. Once they’re tied, he stands up like it’s nothing. He looks at Taehyung expectantly, and he’s really overestimating how this particular activity will go. Taehyung holds out his arms. Jungkook takes his hands to pull him up, but even that is enough to make him slip and almost fall back on the bench again. Jungkook makes a panicked noise and holds onto his hips to keep him from falling. Then he bursts out laughing, along with Jimin and quiet chuckles from Yoongi. Taehyung lightly slaps Jungkook’s chest with a huff, but he can’t even skate away and leave him behind, so he just crosses his arm to show that he is not entertained.

Jungkook takes his hand, and they slowly make their way across the patterned carpet over to the rink where everyone is skating. “You’re not even skating,” Jungkook says. “You’re trying to walk with skates on. Keep them on the ground and don’t lift them.” It feels unnatural, but Taehyung listens to what he says and makes a little bit of skillful progress by gliding along instead of walking. The movement is shaky and unsteady, but he’s doing it. When they’re right at the precipice, Taehyung stays on the carpet while Jungkook stands on the rink. “C’mon, sweetheart, you can do it.” He’s being sweet, but Taehyung can hear the laughter he’s trying to hide in his voice.

He hesitates, but not for long, because Jimin comes behind him and pushes him onto the rink. Taehyung screams, but he just rolls into Jungkook’s waiting arms. Jungkook is laughing, the sound right next to his ear and felt against his chest, so he can’t even be mad. And he can’t skate over to Jimin for revenge, because he and Yoongi are already partway down the rink.

“I’ve got you, angel,” Jungkook says. He lets go of him, and he takes his hand. He gently pulls him along, keeping Taehyung along the wall so he has another thing to hold onto. And very, very slowly, they skate on the rink to an energetic pop song.

Before they’ve barely made any progress, Jimin and Yoongi have made their way around the rink and are back at them. Taehyung freezes and clings to Jungkook. “I won’t push you again,” Jimin giggles. “It was just the only way you’d do it.” With Taehyung in Jungkook’s arms and not against the wall, it leaves space on the other side of him. It’s filled by Yoongi, who takes his hand. Taehyung looks over with surprise, and he threads their fingers together happily. Jungkook does the same to the other side, and Jimin goes behind him and holds onto his hips. “Let’s go.”

Jimin skates forward, which pushes him forward. He’s moved further along by Jungkook and Yoongi, and kept stable by all of them. And then they’re skating for real, going the speed of everyone else. Taehyung giggles, even moves his legs himself to keep them going. Jimin lets go but keeps his hands hovering over his hips, and Jungkook and Yoongi’s hold on him becomes more casual rather than protective, their hands swinging between them rather than all of them being stiff and sturdy.

Taehyung giggles to himself again, and then Yoongi’s spot beside him is replaced with Jimin, moving them further away from the wall and into the main part of the rink. Taehyung turns to look at Jungkook with a big smile, and Jungkook returns it, looking proud.

They skate along, singing to the songs that play beneath the disco ball and rainbow lights that dance around the waxy floors. They roll their eyes at Jungkook when he does, in fact, try to show off by skating backwards (successfully). Taehyung smiles to himself seeing Jimin and Yoongi kiss, then he turns to Jungkook expecting a kiss too.

Jungkook overestimates his skills once again though, because the kiss has more force to it than he’s steady for. It was as soft and gentle as any other kiss, but a gust of wind would have blown him over, so the kiss does too. He slips back with a shriek and finds himself on the floor. Jimin is dying of laughter, so much that he almost falls himself, and Jungkook and Yoongi are trying very hard to conceal their own. The two help him up while Jimin keeps laughing to himself, and Taehyung huffs. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Jungkook asks, amusem*nt in his voice.

“I’m fine,” Taehyung grumbles. That gave him the reassurance he needed though. He already fell, and it kind of hurt, but he got that out of the way so now he doesn’t have to be so afraid, and he skates with a little more confidence.

Three songs later, they’ve finally made it around the entire rink, and Taehyung turns to Jungkook with a wide smile. Just as he was hoping, Jungkook gives him a sweet kiss that’s soft enough to not make him fall. He says, “You’re so talented. I’m so proud.” Taehyung can tell he’s half joking, but he half means it too, so he lets it slide.

Around a half hour later with only one and a half more falls, they roll off the rink. Taehyung breathes a deep sigh of relief when his shoes are back on and he’s steady on the ground. He still takes Jungkook’s hand in his though, just because he likes it there. Jimin and Yoongi go off in search of Hoseok, and it’s sweet that they all get to find each other during different points of the night, spending part of their time together and making memories before doing the same with others.

“Want to go find Seokjin-hyung and Namjoon-hyung?” Taehyung asks.

“Yes, but first…” Jungkook pulls him along until they find a more private spot. He pulls him along to a hallway that leads to an employees only door, meaning no one will come over here. It’s dark and secluded, and he’s backed against the wall.

“I need to kiss my love,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung giggles into the kiss when Jungkook’s lips are on his own. Jungkook smiles into it too, kissing him so sweetly. Taehyung’s arms wrap around his neck while Jungkook’s hands hold onto his hips, and even five kisses in, ten, fifteen, each one has a smile and a giggle. They stay slow and sweet, never a suggestion of anything hotter or deeper. It feels like they haven’t kissed in ages. There are children all around them so they can’t do it much, so doing nothing but kissing in a stolen, hidden moment feels even sweeter.

After much longer than he thinks they both planned, they walk back through the arcade, searching for their friends. And just in time it seems, because he spots Seokjin and Namjoon entering their names on the screen at one of the bowling lanes. They’re not yet finished because, Taehyung had completely forgotten (because she must have been shyly hiding behind her parents when they got there), they’re doing it with their daughter too. Taehyung has seen photos of her, but they didn't even fully do her justice, because Minji is the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

The bowling alley has a disco ball too, and is mostly lit up by neon lights and black lights that make Seokjin’s purple hair vibrantly glow. Every other lane is being used, and the nostalgic sound of pins knocking over mixes nicely with the music playing. Taehyung can smell greasy food wafting over from the bar too, and he feels almost like a kid again.

“Hey, guys!” Jungkook says. “Mind if we join you?”

“The more the merrier,” Namjoon says with a kind dimpled smile.

“Minji,” Seokjin says. His hand is on the shy girl’s head as she stands slightly behind him. He crouches down so he’s at her level and motions at Taehyung, still keeping himself between them and focusing his attention on her. “This is Taehyung. He’s our friend, and he’s Jungkookie’s boyfriend too. And you love Jungkookie-oppa, right? You said he’s your favorite, and since Jungkookie loves Tae, you’ll love Tae too, so there’s no reason to be shy. Would you like to meet him?”

Taehyung gives her a sweet smile and a small wave, but he stays back until she’s ready. She’s looking at Seokjin wide-eyed, and she finally nods. Taehyung takes a slow step forward and squats down so he’s short enough to be eye level to a four year old too. “Hi, Minji. I’m Taehyung, but you can call me Tae if you’d like.” He bows to her and sticks out his hand for a handshake, hoping it’d make her giggle and break out of her shyness, and he was right.

“H-Hi, Taetae,” she says. Taetae. She hesitantly puts her tiny hand in his and shakes it. She is the cutest little thing ever. Her black hair is in two french braids that her dads must have done themselves, and she’s wearing a dark blue dress with sequined stars on it. She has such sweet eyes that are looking at him so shyly.

“Are you having fun?” Once Seokjin sees that their daughter is okay, he leaves them to go talk to Jungkook and his husband. She nods wordlessly. “Have you picked out a bowling ball for yourself yet?” She shakes her head. “Want to pick out one together?” She nods, and he stands back at his normal height. “Is it okay if she and I go look for bowling balls to use?” he asks her parents.

“Yeah, of course,” Namjoon says. “Stay close, Minji.”

She nods, and she hesitantly reaches her hand out, looking up at Taehyung. Taehyung thinks he’s going to melt and die, and he takes her little hand in his. As they’re walking away, he hears Jungkook whine to their friends, “Come onnnnn, it took me days to get her to open up to me! Of course she likes Tae instantly.” Taehyung doesn’t need to turn to know there’s a pout on his face. He just giggles to himself and walks to the racks of bowling balls with her.

The children’s bowling balls are near the bottom where they can reach them, and he goes to the section where the light ones are that she’d be able to carry comfortably. “What’s your favorite color?” he asks her.

“I–I like blue,” she says.

“Hmm, I see a blue one that I think would be perfect for you.” She follows his gaze and perks up when she sees one that’s blue and sparkly (the blue part being around #013892, he thinks). “Wanna go grab it to see if you like it?” She nods, but she doesn’t let go of his hand as she walks the few steps and bends down to take it. “Not too heavy?” She shakes her head. “Looks like it was just waiting for you then. Now which one should I choose myself, hmmm. Want to help me pick mine out?” She perks up again, nodding excitedly, wide-eyed.

“W-What’s your favorite color?”

“I like green,” he says. She pulls him along, looking at all of the bowling balls to find one that’s perfect for him. She points to a shiny metallic green one (#296e01, he thinks), and Taehyung grabs it off the shelf and sees that it feels good. Then he goes to pick up her ball off the floor, and he makes an overdramatic, pained grunting sound. He straightens up as he heavily breathes and holds onto his lower back. “How can you carry that?! It’s so heavy!” He tries again and pretends that he’s struggling and can’t even lift it off the ground. Minji is dying of laughter and giggles, and it makes Taehyung laugh and giggle too.

“It’s not even heavy, see?!” she says, and she picks it up off the ground mostly with ease.

“What in the world…” Taehyung says. “Well, you’re much stronger than me.” He picks up his own ball, and they make their way back over to everybody – Minji swinging their hands between them because she seems to have come out of her shell now with the way she’s almost skipping.

When they get back to their lane, Jungkook is looking at him with more softness than he’s ever seen. Taehyung sets their balls down in their spot and returns to him, eyebrows furrowed. Then he’s pulled into Jungkook’s arms in a hug. “Oh,” Taehyung giggles, hugging him back. It only lasts a few seconds rather than a whole minute like usual since they’re in public.

“You’re so, so cute,” Jungkook says. “I hadn’t seen you interacting with kids before, and it was so–f*ck, you’re so cute.”

“Well, I heard you’re the favorite, so…” Before either of them can respond, Taehyung feels a tug on his pants. He looks down and sees Minji looking up at him. “Hm?” She takes his hand and drags him over to the colorful plastic seats built into the floor. She makes him sit, then she climbs into his lap to sit there. She starts to talk to him, and he can see the way all of their friends are looking at the both of them so fondly.

The two of them are so lost in their conversation about Minji’s top three favorite plushies of hers that he forgot they were even at a bowling alley until Seokjin says, “It’s your turn, honey.”

“Oh, okay,” Taehyung says as he gets up.

Seokjin begrudgingly laughs. “Not you,” he says as Taehyung giggles, pushing him back down.

“Jungkookie? Will you show me how?” Minji asks.

Already set up in front of the lane is a little slope-type-thing for children, where they set the ball on top to roll it down if they wouldn’t be able to throw it with enough force to make it down the aisle yet.

Taehyung understands what Jungkook meant, because watching Jungkook with her is melting his heart. Jungkook always feels like a kid himself, still so sweet and curious and pure, so watching those things directed at her is just so, so sweet. He helps her push the ball down the slope, and they watch as it slowly rolls down the aisle and knocks down four pins. They both cheer and high-five each other, Jungkook’s bunny smile big and Minji’s eyes almost closed with her own smile. After doing it once more and knocking down two more pins, Minji holds her arms up. Jungkook leans down and picks her up, balancing her on his hip as they walk back over to everyone. They all cheer and coo and tell her what a good job she did, then Jungkook sits beside him with the two of them.

“Jungkookie,” Taehyung hears Minji whisper.

“Yeah?” Jungkook whispers back.

“I like Taetae,” she whispers even more quietly, but she’s just a kid, so it’s not really whispering.

Taehyung bites his lip to keep his smile away so she doesn’t know he could hear. “Yeah?” Jungkook whispers. Minji nods. “I like Taetae too.”

“Are y-you guys like daddy and appa?”

There’s a lot to that question. Seokjin and Namjoon are married, have been together for a decade, live together, have their lives intertwined so deeply. Jungkook doesn’t know how to answer that either, because he hesitates. “Sort of,” he finally whispers back. “We will be, I think.”

Taehyung lets his smile loose, looking down at his fidgeting hands in his lap. He reaches over and squeezes Jungkook’s leg so he knows he feels the same.

Soon, the screen shows that it’s taetae<3’s turn, so he takes his metallic green ball from its spot. He walks carefully on the waxy floor and stands at the beginning of the lane. He sends the ball rolling down, watches as it stays in the middle and doesn’t hit the bumpers that are blocking the gutter (for Minji’s sake). He knocks down half of the pins and hears cheers behind them. On the next turn, he successfully knocks them all down.

Minji is in Namjoon’s lap this time, leaving Taehyung to get all of his praising kisses from Jungkook. They are sprinkled all over his face as Jungkook says, “Talented Taetae. Would you like anything to eat or drink?”

Taehyung hums, letting himself be pulled into Jungkook’s side and kissed on his temple over and over again. “Yeah, ‘m a little hungry.”

“I’ll go get us something then,” Jungkook says. Before he goes, he stands in front of Taehyung and kisses his forehead. “I love you.”

“Silly. I love you too.”

He smiles to himself as he watches Seokjin and Namjoon both bowl with overdramatic, flamboyant flourishes to make their daughter laugh. It’s sweet to watch. And it’s sweet to watch Seokjin watching Namjoon with love in his eyes when Namjoon is doing something with her, and it’s sweet to watch Namjoon do the same to Seokjin. It’s like he can see them falling in love with each other more when they watch them with their daughter.

Even though it hasn’t even been an entire minute, Taehyung stands and goes to the concessions bar to find his love, because it’s making him miss him. He sees Jungkook leaning against it waiting for their food, watching the workers do their job. Taehyung wraps his arms around him from behind, and Jungkook hums and leans back against his chest. “You didn’t even look at me,” Taehyung says. “You’d react like this to a stranger?” He bites Jungkook’s neck.

Jungkook laughs, and Taehyung lets him go with a kiss on his neck when he’s reminded again that they’re in public, around more than just their friends. “I knew it was you,” Jungkook says. “Could feel you walking over without even looking to check.”

“If you say so,” Taehyung grumbles.

“Did you want something alcoholic to drink? Jimin came over and he… definitely has had at least one.”

Taehyung snorts because that definitely checks out. “Sure,” he says, smiling to himself thinking about the last time he drank alcohol. When he looks at Jungkook, he can tell Jungkook was thinking about it too.

“I got to experience my sweet cuddly Tae before he was even my sweet cuddly Tae.” Taehyung nuzzles against him, wanting to be held tight and close. “Still the little baby kitten you were back then too.” It’s true, because when Jungkook pets his hair, Taehyung hums like it’s a purr.

Once their food is ready, Taehyung brings it back to their lane while Jungkook orders drinks for them. Minji perks up seeing everything he’s carrying over, and when Jungkook returns (with a beer for himself and something red and fruity-smelling for Taehyung) they all dig in as they take turns bowling. The food is amazing and greasy and kind of disgusting in the wonderful way bowling alley food is. He watches Jungkook pick up his pizza with a napkin so he doesn’t have to touch it with his hands, and he thinks about something he thought about with himself. How since being with Jungkook, certain aspects of himself have come out more. The way he talks to people, the lists he makes in his head, some of his interests. Parts of himself that he’s gotten so tired of unknowingly hiding are hesitantly stepping out from behind their locked doors.

He can see the same happening with Jungkook too. How he responds to different parts of his senses being stimulated, and not trying to pretend like they don’t affect him. Going off on tangents about things, letting himself free. It’s like they know they’re safe together, because they’re understood.

Despite Jungkook whining that he was Minji’s favorite and she warmed up to Taehyung so easily, he is clearly still Minji’s favorite – and that’s more than okay with Taehyung, because watching them interact is so, so adorable. He thinks maybe they were wrong though, because when they hear Hoseok’s voice getting closer, Minji shoots up off her chair and runs to him.

Taehyung watches her leap into his arms, and Hoseok spins them around. It makes him feel so warm inside thinking about how she was alone and needed a family, and she was adopted by the most loving parents out there and gets so many more people to love her too.

Now that Minji is preoccupied with who they can all see is her real favorite person, Taehyung and Jungkook head off to the arcade when the screen above their lane announces that Minji had won. Taehyung is definitely a little more giggly than usual, definitely leaning on Jungkook more than usual. Nowhere near drunk or wasted, just feeling happy and light. Alcohol doesn’t seem to affect Jungkook as much as it does him, but even he seems a little looser and freer. This is such a fun night. He’s so happy Hoseok organized this for them. This was supposed to technically be a work event – taking note of the location, the things to do, the people here – but he knows no one is focused on anything other than having fun with each other.

It’s even better when Taehyung realizes that none of the arcade machines require coins to play; they’re all free for tonight while also giving out tickets to redeem for prizes. Jungkook pulls him to the basketball game where two basketball nets are beside each other, and the game releases little basketballs when Jungkook presses the button to play.

Taheyung quickly grabs one from his side and throws it into the hoop, sinking it in while Jungkook misses the first one when he hits it off the rim. Taehyung laughs jeeringly as he quickly takes another ball and throws it into the hoop successfully, followed by Jungkook finally doing the same on his side. They quickly grab ball after ball, shooting them as quickly as they can to win rather than focusing on accuracy like they should be. Jungkook’s score is catching up to his own, and just as they’re about to tie when the time is running out, Taehyung elbows Jungkook in the ribs, making him whine as he flinches away, allowing Taehyung to throw his ball, declaring him as the winner as the machine rolls out tickets.

Taehyung cackles while Jungkook has a blank, unamused look on his face. He slowly stalks forward, but Taehyung can’t escape because he’s still waiting for the machine to give him all of his tickets. He screeches when Jungkook’s fingers tickle his sides, the arcade loud enough that it swallows up the sound. “Jungkookie!” Taehyung yells and laughs, trying to wiggle away just to be picked up by Jungkook and spun around, then set back on the ground. Taehyung turns around and wraps his arms around his neck, kiss after laughter-filled kiss sprinkled all around his face.

“You’re a cheater,” Jungkook says, unable to keep holding onto his pout.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Taehyung says. He nudges his nose against Jungkook’s cheek, bites it when Jungkook smiles. “I’m faithful to my Kookie. Forever and ever and ever.”

Jungkook laughs. Taehyung bites his cheek again, his jaw, his neck. “What do you want to play next?” Jungkook asks when Taehyung takes all of his tickets.

Taehyung looks around them. There are so many people having fun and playing games together. He sees one game free up and says, “Racing game!” pulling Jungkook to it. Right when they get there, someone slides into the third open chair beside them and perks up when they see them.

“Oh, hey, guys!” Hoseok says, a big heart-shaped smile on his face. Standing to the side is Seokjin, trying to wrestle Jungkook out of the only other open racing chair. Seokjin wins, forcing Jungkook to stand off to the side and wait his turn. Taehyung gets out of the seat and directs Jungkook to it instead.

“You don’t have to–”

“Shush,” Taehyung says, forcing him into it. He leans over the back and wraps his arms around Jungkook’s neck, his chin on top of his head to watch the three of them race against each other. Jungkook, of course, is in the lead with Seokjin smack talking him the whole time and trying to cut his car off, with Hoseok just bouncing in his seat and having fun driving and playing with his friends.

Jungkook is announced as the winner with Seokjin complaining that he cheated. The whole time they’re arguing, Hoseok is blending himself into the background and so easily steals his tickets when they’re distracted. He sneaks away before they can notice.

When Jungkook goes to grab them and sees they’re not there though, he says, “Hey!” and sees Hoseok running away. Before Jungkook can do something about it, they’re yanked away by Jimin who has appeared out of nowhere. They’re tugged in the direction of a photo booth, with Yoongi’s hand in Jimin’s free one so they’re making their way toward it like a chain linked together.

“Hey!” Jungkook says again when he’s shoved into the photobooth by Jimin. Taehyung takes his spot in Jungkook’s lap, then Jimin tugs Tae into his lap on the bench beside him while Yoongi is forced onto Jungkook’s lap.

They laugh as they flick through the borders that will be on the printed photos, eventually settling on one with strange little characters: an angry-looking pink bunny, a heart-shaped creature with a big head and a little body, a mischievous-looking little cookie-shaped guy with bold eyebrows and one tooth, and what may be a white dog who’s sweet-looking and wearing a yellow hoodie.

The screen starts counting down, and Jimin wraps his arms around everyone and squeezes them all in a tight, close hug. Taehyung giggles while Jimin smiles big enough that his eyes disappear, Yoongi looks minorly uncomfortable – but he’s looking at Jimin so there’s softness in his eyes – while Jungkook is laughing at them all being so close. The next photo, Jimin cuddles Taehyung, who closes his eyes and rests his cheek against Jimin’s head – not noticing what Jungkook and Yoongi do.

“Taetae, kiss me,” Jimin says before the next one.

“Oh, that’s–I don’t–” He’d do it under different circ*mstances (the different circ*mstances being not dating Jungkook), but when he looks at Jungkook, Jungkook just rolls his eyes with a smile and nods at Jimin, silently telling him to do it.

Taehyung still hesitates, but then Jungkook says, “Yoongi-hyung, kiss me.”

Taehyung and Jimin burst out laughing, and another photo is taken of them like that when Yoongi says, “Absolutely not.”

“Yoongiiiiiii, kiss me!” Yoongi tries to wrestle Jungkook away, and the next photo is of their scuffle while Jimin and Taehyung almost press their lips together in what’s barely a kiss because they can’t stop laughing, so it’s mostly just their foreheads together with their smiles close. The next one is the two of them laughing again while Jungkook kisses Yoongi’s cheek with his begrudging permission.

They stumble out of the photobooth, laughing as they look down at their photos. They tuck them safely in their pockets, then Jimin and Yoongi disappear again – Jimin who’s definitely drunk. Taehyung turns to Jungkook, nervous about what happened even though Jungkook said to do it while also trying to kiss his best friend. Jungkook looks the same as ever though: happy and soft.

He must read his thoughts too, because Jungkook chuckles and wraps his arms around his waist, his back against the photo booth. “It’s just Jimin,” he says. “And we were being silly. If it were a stranger, that’d be different, but it’s Jimin who’s your best friend and one of mine, who’s dating my best friend, and who has probably tried to kiss all of our friends at some point because he’s silly and flirty. And you’re my Tae, and I feel safe with you, and I know you’d never, ever hurt me or cheat on me. It’s not even something I have to be insecure or worried about because I can’t even picture it, because it’s so out of the realm of possibility. I feel safe and secure with you. I don’t have to worry about anything.”

“You don’t,” Taehyung says. “Never. I love you so much, and I’ll only ever love you. Everyone else is disgusting to me.”

Jungkook leans his head back and laughs. “You don’t have to go that far.”

Taehyung just giggles, and they walk further into the arcade to find something to play next.

At least an hour later, after playing at least half the games there with pockets full of tickets that they give to Minji when they see her again, they head back to the bar to get some more snacks. When they’re looking over the menu though, Taehyung feels Jungkook go tense beside him.

“Everything okay?” he asks when he looks over. Jungkook’s eyes are trained over his shoulder. Taehyung follows his gaze, but he doesn’t see anything. Just other people having fun in the same space as them. “Kookie?” Jungkook still doesn’t look at him, but then he does, and there’s a look in his eyes he hasn’t seen before. They’re desperately locked on his, refusing to look away, and the hand in his grows clammy. Taehyung steps closer, his hand on his cheek. “Baby, what’s wrong? What’s going on? Talk to me, darling.”

Before Jungkook can answer, someone says, “Hey there, Jungkookie.” Taehyung looks over and sees a man he doesn’t recognize. He’s wearing blue contacts, which is always a little eerie to see on person, and they make his eyes look very sharp. His hair is bright blonde, somehow brighter than even Jimin’s once was, and it’s parted to the side with it pushed back off his forehead. He’s wearing a normal outfit of a t-shirt and jeans, with colorful earrings in his ears. He’s shorter than the two of them, and his smile is a little off. His eyes turn to Taehyung, and his smile becomes more forced, a mix of amused and judgmental. “Oh? Who’s this?”

“Who are you?” Taehyung asks, a bit harshly because Jungkook still hasn’t said anything to him.

“Oh, has Jungkookie not told you about me?” Taehyung furrows his eyebrows, but then it clicks. He doesn’t show any reaction. “My name is Wonshik.”

Taehyung, of course, has heard a lot about him. But he says, “Oh, I don’t recognize that name. Must not be important enough to–oh wait.” He laughs, trying to sound condescending and amused, like Jungkook told him something embarrassing about him. “Yeah, I definitely have heard of you. Good to be able to put a face to the name.” He looks at him from head to toe, giggling to himself to try to make him feel bad. Wonshik has his jaw clenched, looking slightly enraged, slightly embarrassed. “Um, anyway, did you come over here for a reason, orrr…” Taehyung didn’t even know he had this in him, the ability to put on this mean girl persona. He almost feels powerful because of how embarrassed and angry he’s making this man – especially when he’s just acting. Wonshik still doesn’t say anything, staring daggers at the both of them. “Uh, well, okay, my Jungkookie and I have other things to focus on. Let’s go find our friends, baby,” he says to Jungkook. He gently pulls him away, then he looks over his shoulder and says, “Nice to–” a giggle, “meet you finally.” He walks away with Jungkook, leaving Wonshik – and who he now sees is another man with him, holding his hand – behind.

Taehyung stays looking casual and normal like nothing important even happened, but as soon as they’re out of sight, he quickly walks Jungkook out of the building. Jungkook who’s still quiet, still with his sweaty hand in his own. It’s thankfully quite cold when they get outside, hopefully helping him calm down. Taehyung backs Jungkook up against the wall of the building, his hands going on his cheeks. “Hey,” he says softly. Jungkook looks at him with an unreadable expression in his doe eyes. Taehyung has never not been able to read Jungkook. Almost everyone else who’s ever existed, yes, but not his Jungkook. “Hi, pretty baby. What’s on your mind, love, hm?” Jungkook swallows and just shakes his head. “Okay, that’s okay, angel. We don’t have to talk. Why don’t we go home, and I’ll take such good care of my baby? Get you in comfy clothes, get some food in you, make you a warm drink, play with your pretty hair? Does that sound good?” Jungkook silently nods. “Okay, let’s go then.”

He takes his hand again as they walk to the car. When he shivers he realizes they both left their coats with the coat check, so he quickly texts Jimin to ask him to get them for him before they all leave.

He opens Jungkook’s door for him, then he takes his hand right away when he gets in the driver's side. Taehyung lets Jungkook sit in silence on the drive home, not pushing him to talk or force him to hear him talk. He just brushes his thumb back and forth against his hand so he doesn’t stop feeling him.

It’s a bit of a drive back to their town, and it’s quiet the whole time. Even though he’d like to get home as fast as possible, he takes the rural roads rather than the highway. This way, the only light comes from their headlights that illuminate the barren trees, rather than the endless carlights and streetlights on the fast highway.

He holds Jungkook’s hand as they walk up the stairs to his apartment. He drops to his knees and unlaces his shoes for him, then he lets Jungkook use his shoulder to balance himself when he takes them off. He pulls Jungkook to his bedroom and directs him to sit down on the bed. He goes through his dresser and pulls out his favorite pajama pants and his most comfy oversized shirt. He suspects Jungkook might want some alone time, so he sets them beside him instead of undressing and dressing him like he’d like to do. He rests his hands on his cheeks though, and he tilts his head up to look at him. Jungkook just looks small and sad, and it breaks Taehyung’s heart. “My sweet baby Kookie,” he says. He nuzzles the tips of their noses together. “You’re my world.” He kisses his lips, soft and slow. “I’m going to go start on making food for us. Take your time, okay? And if you’d rather just go to bed or want me to leave you alone, don’t feel bad to tell me. I promise it’s okay. I’ll do whatever you’d like.”

Jungkook just nods. He holds onto Taehyung’s wrist to keep his hand there, then he adorably nuzzles against his palm. “I love you,” he finally says after an hour of not talking.

“I love you too, angel. So much.” Jungkook nods. Taehyung kisses him once more, then he closes the door behind him when he leaves.

He sighs as he looks through his fridge and his cabinets for something to make for them. He hates that Wonshik ruined their night. At least it was toward the end when they felt like they were getting tired anyway. Still, he hates that this might taint the sweet memories they made tonight. Taehyung will just have to do everything he can to try to make this seem like a short bad thing that happened amidst such a wonderful night.

He is not as good of a cook as Jungkook is, but he tries his hardest. He finds some mandu in the freezer that his eomma made for him last time he went home, and he confirms that he has all of the ingredients to make his favorite mandu soup.

It isn’t until he’s finally filling bowls for each of them that Jungkook comes out, looking adorable in his comfy pajamas with his bare feet. “Hi, pretty,” Taehyung says softly. Once he’s set their bowls on the table, he walks over to Jungkook, who’s standing shy and quiet in the kitchen. “How are you feeling, baby boy?” Taehyung counts it as a win that Jungkook blushes at the pet name. Even more when the sweet baby nuzzles into his neck when he wraps him in a hug.

“‘m okay,” he says quietly.

“Are you?” Taehyung asks. “You don’t have to be. It’s okay if you’re not.”

“No, I’m–I’m okay,” Jungkook says. It’s small, but he sounds sure. “Just… I hadn’t seen him since we broke up, and he was with one of the people he cheated on me with, so… I dunno. I do not have any feelings for him, nothing whatsoever, so it was… a strange feeling. It’s like it felt like I was catching him cheating on me again, so there was… there was that feeling you get when you see that, but it was without anything personal to it. No betrayal, no sadness that someone I love was cheating on me. Just… I don’t know. It was weird, and I didn’t like it, but I’m okay now.”

“I’m sorry that happened,” Taehyung says.

“It’s okay,” he says. “I’m over it. Just feels like it’s clinging to me a little, but I’ll be okay.” Taehyung turns his head and kisses Jungkook’s temple. He’d do anything to protect this sweet boy.

Then Jungkook giggles, and Taehyung’s heart soars. “What’s my silly boy giggling about?” he asks.

Jungkook leans back and giggles again. “Remembering everything you said to him.” Taehyung laughs too. “You don’t know him so you weren’t able to tell, but I’ve never seen him with that expression before – and him being silent too. You really, really got to him. It’s like you knew exactly what to do and say.”

Taehyung smiles. He’d do anything for the smile on Jungkook’s face. “Good,” he says. “I hope he feels embarrassed and insecure.”

Jungkook keeps giggling to himself. “That was so funny.” When they sit down to eat their soup, Jungkook seems mostly normal again. Still a sag to his shoulders, still looking a little small, but closer to the Jungkookie he usually is. “Tonight was fun.”

Taehyung holds in his sigh of relief, but it probably comes through in the way his posture and his whole demeanor sighs. “It was,” he says. “All seven of us need to hangout more.”

As they eat, Jungkook starts to grow quiet again. He doesn’t seem like he’s down about what happened anymore, or there’s any residual feelings from seeing his ex-boyfriend. Maybe it’s from talking. Taehyung knows what it’s like to have to push through his tiredness to find a way to speak, so he thinks he sees Jungkook retreating back into himself. Not in a worrisome way, but in a familiar way he’s felt himself, like he just needs to emotionally rest and sit with how he’s feeling.

Once they’re warm and full from soup on the freezing night, Taehyung leads Jungkook to his bedroom. “Stay here,” he says. Jungkook furrows his eyebrows, but he sits down patiently. “Good boy.” Jungkook blushes and looks down at his lap, making Taehyung giggle.

He leaves his bedroom and goes to his office one door over. He sets everything up, making it perfect and definitely recognizable, then he goes to retrieve Jungkook – who’s still waiting patiently. He takes Jungkook’s hand, and Jungkook makes a noise of surprise when he’s walked out of the bedroom. Then Taehyung hears a quiet “woooah” when they walk into his office.

He’s sure it’s strange to see it from this side, and Jungkook definitely agrees because of the way his eyes are wide as he slowly looks around.

Taehyung’s office is lit in a dark purple and blue glow, while quiet ambient music plays in the background. His humidifier is on, and he’s burning a scentless candle so the mist is illuminated.

He directs Jungkook to the chair he usually sits in, then he stands behind him. He rests his hands on his shoulders, and his fingers trail up and down the slope of his neck. He leans down and whispers right beside Jungkook’s ear, “Is it okay if I play with your hair, baby boy?”

Jungkook takes a shaky breath when he realizes what’s happening. That he’ll be experiencing a sweetnight video in real life, no roleplaying or imagining. All he does is nod. Before he can start though, Jungkook asks, “Do you want to go live?”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. “No, I wasn’t doing this for my channel. Just for you.”

“But… w-what if I want you to?”

“Oh,” he says again. “Okay. Can I ask why?”

“Um… I-I don’t know. I kind of… like the thought of others seeing that you’re doing these things to someone. To me. And I used to watch your lives, but now I’d be in one. And it’d just… feel nice to have everyone see that you have someone. And–”

“It’s okay, Kookie,” Taehyung says, cutting him off so he doesn’t have to keep figuring out how to articulate his thoughts, especially when he’s tired and words are harder to find than usual. He gets what he means anyway. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t feel like I had to be getting something out of it. Especially since I am; I get to take care of you. Lemme get everything set up then.”

He can feel Jungkook’s eyes on him as he watches him go around to get everything ready. He’s only ever seen the final product through a screen, never knowing what happens behind the scenes. It’s not interesting, but Jungkook is making it seem like it is.

He grabs his phone to post on his instagram story that he’ll be going live soon, and he giggles when as soon as it posts, Jungkook’s phone lights up with a notification for it. He sets up his phone to make sure it’ll only show the back of Jungkook’s head with himself standing behind him, then he adjusts his mic and clips one to his shirt.

“Do you want a mic too?” he asks. “Not to talk, although you’re allowed to say something if you’d like to. It’d just be so it can pick up the sounds from down there.”

“What if I moan?” Taehyung has to hold onto the desk to catch himself so he doesn’t fall with how hard he laughs. “I’m serious! If you’re whispering to me and scratching my head, it’s probably going to end up happening. Will you get banned from going live or something?”

“Are you going to be, like, moaning uncontrollably and sounding like you’re coming or something?”

“No,” Jungkook says. “It just might be a stray one here and there.”

“Then that’s okay,” Taehyung chuckles. “The mic probably wouldn’t even pick up on it.” He clips a mic to the collar of Jungkook’s shirt, near the back so it’s not so close to his mouth in case he does moan. He makes sure they’re all on and tests the sensitivity levels. “You’re allowed to speak or ask for things or respond to comments or do anything you want. You don’t have to stay silent and still. If you do speak though, try to remember to whisper. If you forget though, that’s okay.” Jungkook nods. Taehyung tilts Jungkook’s head back so he’s looking up at him, then Taehyung bends in half to connect their lips in an upside down kiss. “Sweet boy. Ready?”

Jungkook nods, so Taehyung opens the app. He double checks that everything looks okay, then he presses the live button. As soon as it’s filming, jaykay joins the live, watching from his phone in front of him.

Taehyung tries to laugh as quietly as he can. He bends down and makes sure he’s not in the camera when he kisses Jungkook’s forehead. “God I love you,” he whispers, then he straightens back up as people start to join the live. “Hi, jaykay,” he says.

He starts to gently pet Jungkook’s hair, the same way he usually does to his furry mic cover. He chuckles to himself as he reads the incoming comments, hearing quiet giggles from Jungkook too.

“Hi, everybody,” he whispers, combing through Jungkook’s hair with his fingers. “Yes, I’m standing, and no, this is not a mannequin. This is my boyfriend, and I thought we could just do some head scratching asmr, some other things to give you some tingles.” As he says “tingles,” he crawls his fingers up Jungkook’s neck, making Jungkook dramatically shiver. Taehyung giggles, and the mic picks up an embarrassed whine from Jungkook.

Taehyung chuckles, then he ignores the camera and the comments and everything except for Jungkook. “How are you feeling, baby boy?” he whispers to him as he tilts his head back just slightly, enough to check in on him as his fingers trace over his eyebrows. In front of him, he can see the comments on Jungkook’s screen blowing up.

“I’m okay,” Jungkook whispers.

“Let me know if you need anything.” Jungkook nods. Taehyung leans down and kisses Jungkook’s forehead. Even in the blue and purple light, he can see Jungkook’s blush. He straightens back up and runs his hands up and down Jungkook’s neck. “I’m gonna focus on my baby now,” he whispers, directed at the viewers. “So I won’t be reading comments. But I hope you enjoy the live.”

He looks down at Jungkook and smiles to himself. “Hi, baby,” he whispers.

He sees Jungkook smile too. “Hi, sweetheart.” He can’t help but look at the comments, and he tells himself this will be the last time.

Taehyung can’t help himself. He leans Jungkook’s head back just enough to kiss his lips. He goes back to brushing through Jungkook’s hair again, taking the time to glide through each tress and strand. “Your hair’s so soft. It’s getting long too. It looks so pretty on you.” Taehyung sees that his eyes are closed. He scratches at his scalp, and his other hand reaches around to run his finger up and down the slope of his nose. “Such a pretty boy. So sweet.” He smiles at Jungkook’s shy smile. “I love you, darling.” He leans down and wraps his arms around Jungkook’s neck, draping himself over him. He nuzzles their cheeks together, eyes closed to feel the closeness. He turns his head to kiss his cheek.

“I love you,” Jungkook whispers back.

“Stop distracting me so I can keep doing the live.” He straightens back up and goes back to scratching his head.

“I’m not even doing anything!” Jungkook whispers with a laugh.

“It’s hard to have you here and not hug and kiss you. That would turn this into a different kind of live, and there’s a different app for that.” Jungkook snickers, and Taehyung giggles.

“Oh, I think it’s raining,” Jungkook whispers. When Taehyung focuses, he can hear the gentle pattering.

“Do you want me to open the window to let the rain sounds in? I can get my space heater so you won’t get cold. I can get it anyway too if you want. You’re not wearing socks, so I don’t want your cute feet to get cold.”

“It’s okay,” Jungkook says quietly. “I’m warm, and I like it as background noise for now. I like your voice more.”

Taehyung kisses the top of Jungkook’s head, and Jungkook tilts his head back this time. He does it all the way, definitely giving the camera a glimpse of him. Taehyung doesn’t even care if they see sweetnight for a moment; he has to kiss his baby when he’s asking for one so cutely. He kisses him upside down, his hair mostly shielding them from view. If not though, he doesn’t mind, and he kisses him again, then once more.

He straightens back up, because he’s pretty certain kissing is not allowed on lives. He’s not quite sure really, because he never bothered reading the rules like that, because it’s not like he’d ever be in a situation where kissing were involved.

He keeps brushing through Jungkook’s hair with his fingers since that’s most beloved asmr sound, but he uses his other hand to push his thumb in the spot where his hair meets his neck, moving it in gentle circles. He thinks about what happened earlier tonight, how small and dejected Jungkook looked, and his heart aches.

“I love you,” he whispers. “So, so much. You’re so loved. By me, by our friends, by your family. You’re so incredible, so kind, so sweet, that people who are good can’t do anything but be good to you. And people who haven’t are not good people, and that’s a reflection on them. Not you. It could never be a reflection on you, because you’re impossible not to love. It’s impossible to not want to give you the world, so anyone who doesn’t has something wrong with them.” He switches hands so his other one is scratching his head while the other messages his neck.

“But enough about other people. Just wanna think about us.” He smooths his hands up and down Jungkook’s neck again, down his shoulders and back up, slowly so the mic picks up the sound of skin on skin, his hands on the fabric of his shirt. “I can’t wait to have more nights like this with you. Not doing an asmr live, necessarily,” he chuckles, “but just… quiet moments with you. We’ve been in so many different situations together – somewhere fun and exciting with our friends, doing things at work together, going on dates – but moments like this are my favorite. Moments where nothing is happening, and we’re just together. When it’s quiet, and I’m touching you, or you’re touching me, and we’re together, and I can feel the both of us here, in this moment. Spending time together knowing that we’ll go to bed together when we get tired, and you hold me, or I hold you. And it’s… just a sure, promised moment. So settled in. So worn in.” His finger starts tracing over the shell of his ear, ghosting over his ear lobe, then traveling down his jaw and back up. His hands comb through his hair again. He starts at the crown of Jungkook’s head, and he divides his hair up into sections. Slowly and carefully, he starts to braid his hair. He makes sure the camera can see, and that the sensitive mic is picking up the sound of his fingers against his silky hair.

“I really like nighttime with you. I love mornings with you too. The hours where it’s just us and the rest of the world doesn’t exist yet, only me and you. I love the days and evenings with you too though, seeing you at work, knowing you’re close by. Watching you with others. I just really, really like living as someone who’s yours. I really like the life I have knowing you’re mine. The world just feels different, because it all feels different when I started to love you.”

He reaches the end of his hair, and he lets the braid fall free. He glides his fingers through Jungkook’s hair, gently digging his fingers into the scalp for a few moments. He starts to braid his hair again, this time in two French braids. He starts on his left side, making it tight enough to hold its shape when he lets go, but loose enough to not be uncomfortable for him.

“In the fall when I walked home from work and there were leaves on the sidewalk, whenever I stepped on a crunchy one, I’d think, ‘My K–baby would have liked that.’ At the grocery store, when you’re not even there with me, if I’m searching for apples and they’re all disheveled with the stickers facing in all different ways, I’d find myself fixing them so the stickers are all facing out, looking neat and perfect because I know you like it that way, because I’ve seen you do things like that when we’re at work or at home. The way you make sure the markers for the dry erase board all have the logos and colors facing out. The way you line up your shoes so neatly at home. The way you organize my cabinets when you come over and make food, or when you straighten the bottles in the shower.

“And it doesn’t even really matter if I fix all the apples, because you’re not there. And if you somehow happened to go to the grocery store after me, they’d probably all be messed up again by other people looking for unbruised apples, but that doesn’t even matter to me, because I just want to create a world you’d like to exist in. Or when it’s stormy out like right now, and I’m getting in bed and trying to get cozy to enjoy it more, I’ll go put my blanket in the dryer for a little while so it’ll be nice and warm, because it’s something I’d do for you, so I do it for myself too. Because I deserve to treat myself with as much love and kindness as I try to treat you with. The world is just different now, because I live as someone who loves you. Someone who gets to be loved by you.”

Taehyung reaches around and brushes away the tears he can see on Jungkook’s cheeks. His fingers loosen his two braids, and his hands go back to brushing through his hair. He recognizes the different quality to his voice when he speaks again, the special softness to it gone for now when he addresses his viewers he’d forgotten about instead of his baby. “And now,” he whispers, directed into his mic, “my baby and I are going to get all cozy and warm in bed. I hope you’re cozy and warm in bed too, and I hope you know that you’re loved so much too. That there are people you know – whether they’re your partners, your friends, your family, even a stranger you had a random sweet encounter with – whose world is different because of you. You’re not insignificant. You’re loved when you’re there, and you’re loved when you’re not there at all. You’re loved when someone sees you, and you’re loved when time has passed away from you.

“My world is different because of you, and I’m just some random asmr person, so imagine the ways you’ve changed the lives of people you actually know, whether they’re a passing acquaintance or a stranger on the train, or your best friend or the person you love – even if it’s only because you told the stranger on the train that their hair is pretty, of an acquaintance that you like their outfit. And if you insist people don’t love you, because sometimes it’s hard to believe, if you try to treat yourself with the love and care you give to others, you’ll see the way others love you too when it’s something you practice with yourself. I love you, and I hope you take the time to rest and be soft with yourself. You’re loved by me if you’re a name I recognize in the chat, and you’re loved by me when you’re just a number in my viewer count. I love you, and I want you to love yourself too, and I want you to rest. Goodnight.”

He does his signature v-sign to the camera as he clicks the button to end the live. He unclips the mic from his shirt, then he reaches around and does the same to Jungkook’s. He steps around in front of him, and the look in Jungkook’s eyes when he looks up at him almost makes him fall to his knees.

“Let’s go to bed, my love,” he says softly. He takes Jungkook’s hand, and they stop at his laundry room. He grabs his blanket from the dryer, where it was tossing around to warm up for them. When they get in bed with the warm blanket over them, when he’s in Jungkook’s arms, Taehyung doesn’t think he’s ever felt so content before. That peacefulness, that acceptance and gratitude for life, becomes even deeper when he looks out the window and says, “Oh, look.”

Jungkook turns his head, and the first snowflakes of the season are drifting from the sky on the other side of the frosted glass. They dance through the quiet beams of the amber-toned streetlights, joining their friends to dust the sidewalks and roads in an untouched quilt of white.

“It’s good luck to see the first snowfall with someone you love,” Taehyung says. He nuzzles against Jungkook’s chest, watching it float down from the sky. Jungkook doesn’t say anything, but that’s okay. It’ll never upset him when Jungkook goes quiet. He knows that sometimes, after a long day – or even a short day, or just a morning, because there never has to be a justification for it – it’s sometimes a lot to have to talk. He’ll feel it himself every once in a while, so he knows it probably feels tiresome for Jungkook sometimes. It doesn’t bother him, nor would he ever force him. Just being around him is enough. Jungkook wanting to be with him even when he can’t talk much means everything. He cuddles closer, and the way Jungkook holds him tighter and kisses his forehead says enough.

The warmth all around him while watching the snowfall is making him sleepier and sleepier, his blinks lasting longer until his eyelids don’t open at all.

“I love you, Kookie,” Taehyung mumbles. Jungkook doesn’t say anything, but Taehyung feels three loving kisses pressed against his forehead. It’s more than enough, always.

Chapter 30

Chapter Text

Weeks pass, temperatures drop, and snow piles and piles up. The changing of seasons – especially from autumn to winter and winter to spring – is always a busy time at the newspaper, so their outside investigation has been pushed to the background again. It seems like no matter what they do, whether it’s their fault or not, their investigation doesn’t stay on track. Their half-day meetings to go over it change to thirty minutes or an hour on a good day, and no matter how they rearrange their schedules or organize their stories for the paper, it just can’t take precedence.

But, thankfully, it seems like the person or people they’re searching for have slowed down as well. They still check in with their leads once or twice a week when they can manage it, most parts of the investigation taking place separately rather than together, and they only hear about something happening once a week, sometimes less than that. He doesn’t know if it means that this person is slowing to a stop, but he hopes not, because he knows it’ll eat away at Jungkook for forever if they don’t have a resolution to this.

Taehyung thinks about it when he’s at home one night after a long day at work. He looks over his notes that have sat untouched in his documents for a while, and they show that Jungkook hasn’t been in the document either for two weeks. Taehyung realizes that that’s the last time they really got to spend time together, and it was to work on something – not just for the two of them. Taehyung hasn’t been working in Jungkook’s office with him, and they only really kiss each other when arriving or leaving. Most of their interaction takes place in their daily morning meetings, and even then, it’s about work. This is something they experience every single year, but now that Jungkook is his boyfriend, the busyness affects him in a way it didn’t before.

Before, he enjoyed it, because he loves doing what he does and he loves keeping busy. He still enjoys it, but now it’s bittersweet. Now he misses Jungkook. He misses sneaking in kisses throughout the day, spending their lunch breaks together, spending their lunch breaks with their friends too. Now they all eat at their desks or briefly talk in the kitchen when getting a coffee refill.

He misses Jungkook. And right now, when he’s alone and cozy in his apartment, he misses him even more. The quiet feels too loud right now, even more when it’s snowing outside, swallowing up any sound. He realizes that he’s lonely, and that he’s sad too. Jungkook has barely been in the office all week because he’s had off-site meetings. He was still gone by the time Taehyung left, so he didn’t even get to kiss him goodbye. He’s not upset with Jungkook in the slightest, because this is their job, and he’s just as busy. Still, he misses him, and he feels lonely.

He thinks about calling or texting him, but when he glances at the clock, he realizes it’s gotten late. He hopes he’s asleep by now, so he doesn’t bother him. It just feels like ages since he’s been with Jungkook. Since they’ve had a slow, quiet moment together. Since he’s gotten to sink into the feeling of touching him, their hands held together, someone nuzzling into the other’s neck. The feeling of being close, the way it feels like they’re the only two that exist. It feels like ages since he’s gotten to kiss him, more than just a peck – and even those are few and far between.

He doesn’t think Jungkook is being a bad boyfriend, because if he is, then he himself is too. They’re just busy, and he misses him, and the busy season will pass. And he’s being silly anyway, because he’ll see him tomorrow at work, and he’ll get his kisses then.

– ♡ –

Except tomorrow at work, he sees him even less than usual. Even when he does make an effort to try to get him alone, it never works. Other people need the editor-in-chief for actual, important reasons, and Jungkook keeps getting pulled in different directions, and if Jungkook isn't Taehyung is. Jungkook is helping the staff writers, meeting with people both in and out of the newspaper, meeting with each individual team about their winter goals, intentions, and focuses. Taehyung is on endless fieldwork missions in between finding time to write the articles he's been speaking with people about, on top of having his own meetings at the office. Jungkook’s days are even busier than his own, and he doesn’t want to give him extra stress by pulling him away from his work for silly reasons when it suits his own schedule. Still, he does try to give him a kiss or maybe bring him a warm drink, but he’s never around for it, or he’s busy with someone else in his office.

It’s starting to feel like a little more than loneliness right now. Not doubt, not insecurity. Just… a little empty. He doesn’t bother him, because it’s silly, so he just stays at his desk and does his job.

He glances at the clock and realizes it’s past five o’clock, so he starts to pack up to go home. He glances into Jungkook’s office and finds that he isn’t there. He left a few hours ago for a meeting, and Taehyung knows he didn’t come back and leave without saying goodbye. He must not have gotten back yet, because his things are still here.

He checks his phone and doesn’t find any messages from him, so he starts his walk home. He walks as quickly as he can without slipping and sliding, wanting to get out of the biting cold. He doesn’t drive to work because it seems silly when the office is on the same street he lives on, so he just deals with the cold when walking to and from work every day.

It takes longer than usual on the icy sidewalks tonight, and he’s shivering with a red nose and red cheeks by the time he gets home. And the quiet emptiness of his apartment feels even more profound today. He tries to ignore it when he takes off his outside clothes. Tries to ignore it when he gets in the shower to warm up. Tries to ignore it as he eats dinner, as he cares for his plants, as he sits on the couch. He brightens up when his phone vibrates, but the loneliness returns just a second later when he sees it’s his eomma and not Jungkook. He doesn’t respond because he’s sure she’d be able to sense how he’s feeling even through text, so he reminds himself to respond tomorrow, and he gets in bed. It takes a long time for him to fall asleep.

– ♡ –

“Hey, is everything okay?” Jimin asks after their morning meeting – which took place without Jungkook, because he had other duties to fulfill and they’re capable of running the meeting themselves.

Taehyung nods. “Yeah, ‘m fine,” he says quietly. Jimin gives him a worried look, and he sees their other friends glance at each other too.

He understands. He stayed quiet in the meeting, his voice barely there when he did speak. He doesn’t look very good physically either, just tired and a little beaten down. It’s silly because nothing has even happened and they're all equally as busy, so he doesn’t burden them with it. He just gets to work, feeling lucky that he's just spending the day writing today and not running around or in meetings.

He doesn’t work for long though, because his method of tuning it out is working the opposite way. He can hear the click of everybody’s keyboard keys. He can hear the quiet din of vague voices on the other side of the office where the staff writers are. He can hear the whistle of the drafty window in the kitchen, even when it’s far away. The office feels a little colder than usual too, and he lent Hoseok his blanket that he keeps in his drawer.

He misses Jungkook. He misses his full attention being on him. He misses his arms and his kisses and feeling like they’re them and not just an employee and his boss who don’t interact beyond the ways they need to. He knows Jungkook isn’t avoiding him or brushing him aside, same as Taehyung isn't when they're simply busy, but that doesn’t make it any better.

He starts to pack up his things, receiving another worried look from Jimin. “I’m going to finish the rest of the day at home,” he tells him. Jimin just nods, watching him go.

It’s too quiet and still when he gets outside. It’s snowing like it always seems to be, making the world even quieter. There are no footprints except his own on the sidewalk, and no one is out on the roads either. It feels like it’s just him. When he reaches his apartment, it feels that way too.

He takes off his work clothes to put on something a little more comfortable, and he lights a fire in his fireplace. He sighs when he sits down on the couch, then he opens his laptop to get to work.

– ♡ –

– ♡ –

Taehyung crosses out the advice column on his long list of things to do. He looks at what he has up next, and there are several lines of things left to be done. He sighs to himself. Not because he doesn't want to do work, but because he just needs to breathe out some of the heaviness. He stands to stretch his body, and he goes to make some tea because it’s always nice to make and have, something that makes him feel a little less lonely.

He leans against the counter and watches the snow fall as he waits for the kettle to boil. There are no tire marks in the road, and his own footprints in the snow have already been covered like he was never there at all. The kettle whistles, and he adds extra sugar to his tea just because it might be nice. He brings his laptop to the kitchen table, and he warms his hands around his mug. He looks around his apartment. All of his plants, looking happy and healthy despite the darker season and his darker mood. Everything is as clean and tidy as always too, even if his head feels like a mess. Everything seems normal here, but not in the place where it matters most.

He warms his hands around his mug for a minute more before getting to work again.

– ♡ –

Before he’s finished with his article, his doorbell rings.

He freezes.

He checks his phone, thinking maybe he’d been so out of it that he forgot he ordered food, but the delivery apps don’t show anything on its way. He doesn’t have any texts from Jimin either, and his availability status on their work chat shows that he’s still at the office.

He sits at the table, and the doorbell rings again.

He slowly gets up. He can’t see his outside front door from his windows, and he doesn’t have any cameras to check. He reluctantly opens the first door to his apartment and heads down the stairs. He goes down even faster when he sees who it is through the foggy glass.

He opens the door, blinking at his beautiful baby. “W-What are you doing here?” he asks. He notices the redness on Jungkook's face from the freezing temperatures, and he quickly pulls him inside. Jungkook follows him up the stairs, and he sighs when they step into his fireplace-warmed apartment. Jungkook stomps the snow off of his boots, then he unwraps his scarf and hangs up his coat.

Then Jungkook sits on the couch, and Taehyung is pulled into his lap. He straddles him, and Jungkook finally talks. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling okay?” he asks quietly. He looks at every part of his face. He sees him map out each beauty mark, the shape of his lips, his eyebrows. There’s sadness in his eyes.

Taehyung’s gaze drops to Jungkook’s lips, his finger twirling the hair at Jungkook’s nape. “Because it’s not a big deal,” he says quietly. “It’s just a bad day.”

“It is a big deal, Tae. And… and it’s not just a bad day. It’s been a bad week, and I didn’t even know.” There’s sadness in his voice too, guilt and disappointment. “I got back from my meeting earlier and was pushed into my office to be yelled at by Jimin. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t even notice it was affecting you.”

Taehyung inwardly laughs at Jimin. “It’s okay,” he says. “We were both busy. I didn’t want to bother you with something silly.”

“Tae, the way you’re feeling isn’t ‘something silly,’ especially if they’re bad feelings. Our relationship isn’t something silly. You’re the most important thing in the world to me. More than the paper, more than anything I’m ever doing. We just… haven’t been together during the busy season yet, so I guess I just am not used to paying attention to other things. I’m so, so sorry, sweetheart. f*ck, I’m so sorry that you were feeling lonely and I didn’t even notice. I’m so sorry.”

“Hey,” Taehyung says softly, finally looking at him just to find such profound sadness on his face. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s okay. We’ve been together for a while now, but we’re still new to this. We’ve never been with each other before. We’re still learning. I should’ve said something. If it’s anyone’s fault, then it’s my fault too.”

Jungkook pulls him closer, guiding his head to the crook of his neck. Taehyung closes his eyes, and his entire body relaxes. A soft smile comes to his face, finally feeling okay after longer than just the past week.

“I missed you,” Jungkook says. “I thought about you when I was in bed every night and when I woke up every morning. I was always missing you, but I didn’t realize how much until now. Until you’re in my arms again.”

“I missed you too,” Taehyung says, nuzzling against his chest.

“How ‘bout we start and end our work days together from now on, and try to have lunch together when we can? Every morning we can have coffee together before the day starts, and we’ll always kiss each other goodbye. Everyone has mostly been taking lunch when they feel like eating, but at least you and I should try to have a proper lunch together. I need Tae Time in my days, otherwise they just feel like a blur and I’m exhausted when I get home.”

Taehyung smiles to himself. “Sounds like a good idea. I think you should be sending me your schedule from now on. You’re busy the whole entire day.”

Jungkook sighs. “Yeah,” he says. “It’s only for another week or so though. You know how it is.” Taehyung hums, because he knows. It’s the same schedule every year; it’s just different now that the boss is the love of his life.

“We should plan something to do once everything is bad to normal,” Taehyung says. “All seven of us. Or eight, if Minji is included.”

Jungkook hums. The vibration is so nice when felt against his own chest. His hand travels up and down his back, just touching him, keeping him close and warm, letting him know that he’s here. “Like what?”

“Hmm,” Taehyung thinks. “Oh! Jimin and I made a little bucket list of things we want to do this winter. What if we go to a ski lodge?”

He can hear the eyebrow raise in Jungkook’s tone. “You ski? Or snowboard?”

“No, but I do sit in front of cozy fireplaces and stay warm while it snows outside and I read my book. Or at least I would do that and have just as much fun as everybody skiing or snowboarding.” He nuzzles closer to Jungkook when he laughs. “I think that would be nice. We can hangout together, make dinner together. Just spend time together. Recharge after a stressful few weeks without having to do very much.” A low-stakes way to spend time together that doesn’t require much activity or interaction.

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Jungkook says, a dreamy quality to his voice as he envisions it too. “Will you ski or snowboard with me? At least once?”

Taehyung huffs. They were both there when he attempted roller skating, and this is not going to turn out much different from that. “I will consider it, just because I love you very, very much.” Jungkook kisses his head, and Taehyung can feel the smile to it. He sighs. “I should get back to work…”

Jungkook’s arms tighten around him. “No.”

Taehyung chuckles because Jungkook is the boss. “Yes.”

“What things have you written today?” Taehyung tells him about the advice column questions and the article for tomorrow. “Then send those to Formatting and you’re done for the day.”

“No, I still have the one about–”

“Shh,” Jungkook shushes him. “We’ll get one of the staff writers to fill something in that slot. No more working today. For either of us.”

“Well, I’d never argue with my boss, so…” He tries to snuggle closer because of the way Jungkook laughs.

“Yeah, you’d never talk back to your boss.”

Taehyung giggles. “Nope.” He feels like he hasn’t giggled in ages, and each one rids him of more and more of the heavy loneliness until there’s none there at all. “Do you want to go over the investiga–”

“Nope,” Jungkook cuts him off. “Nothing having to do with work or journalism or investigations. The newspaper or the investigation do not exist right now. Erase them from your head.”

Taehyung giggles again. It’s all he can ever do around Jungkook. “I’ll try.”

“Are you hungry?” Taehyung nods, his nose dragging against Jungkook’s neck with the motion. “Do you have ingredients to make food here?” Jungkook huffs because he was expecting that he’d shake his head. “Let’s order some food for dinner, and then tomorrow morning we’re going to go to my house and stay there for the day.”

“But what about–”

“We can work from home. I’ll let everyone know that we all have the option to work from home tomorrow.”

“You’re so sweet,” Taehyung says. He leans back out of the cocoon of Jungkook’s arms because he’s barely looked at him since he got here. He mostly just sunk into his cuddles because he’s missed being held. His hand goes to his cheek, thumb brushing back and forth. Jungkook looks as beautiful as ever, if a little tired. His hair is shorter now, still long in the front but no longer reaching down his neck in the back. He has a touch of purple beneath his doe eyes from the tiring season, and Taehyung knows they match his own. He’s biting on his lip piercing as he lets Taehyung take his time looking at him.

“My baby boy. I missed you.”

Jungkook looks sad and guilty, but he nuzzles against his palm. He turns his head to kiss there too. “I missed you too, sweetheart. Let’s order food because I want my love to be fed and healthy, and then we can kiss and cuddle a bunch.”

Taehyung supposes he can manage that. He stands and physically moves Jungkook’s body the way he wants it, so his back is against the arm rest, his legs stretched out across the length of the couch. Taehyung spreads them apart, then he seats himself between them. He wiggles around to get comfortable, then he leans back with his back to Jungkook’s chest. Jungkook’s arms go around his torso, and he kisses behind his ear while Taehyung opens the delivery app. “Let me know if you see anything you’re in the mood for.”

They eventually decide on hot pot, which Jungkook complains about because it’s basically the same as getting groceries delivered and making it themselves because they’ll send all the meat and vegetables separately and have them do it themselves. Taehyung just ignores him because he doesn’t want to prepare the ingredients, and he wants soup on the cold day. Once it’s ordered, they talk about what dates they should plan their trip for and where they’ll go, then he texts the groupchat with all seven of them to plan it out further.

Hoseok stop changing the name of the groupchat

Taehyung
Hey guys!!
Soooo Jungkookie and I had an idea
Well actually Jimin and I had the idea

Jimin
YAYAYAY I KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING
EVERYONE HAS TO SAY YES OR YOURE FIRED
IM FRIENDS WITH THE BOSS

Hoseok
jimin knows the boss personally 😱
everybody be on your best behavior 😰

Taehyung
You’re making Jungkookie very giggly and it’s very cute
Oh yeah a message from the boss first
He said you can all work from home tomorrow if you want
Tell your teams
But anyway soooooo once the busy period is over soon we were thinking about all of us taking a trip together!!
How would you guys feel about going to the mountains and spending the week at a ski lodge? We can rent rooms and go skiing and snowboarding and just spend the snowy days together

Yoongi
Please tell me that you’ll be skiing and snowboarding too

Jimin
HAHAHAHAHAH

Taehyung
I’m not entertaining your teasing
Minji is also invited of course
If you guys are in just let us know the dates and we’ll plan it ☺️

Their hot pot order is soon delivered, and Taehyung starts setting up the actual hot pot he has while Jungkook unpacks the bag. When Taehyung reaches for the containers to start preparing it all, his hand is brushed aside and he’s guided to sit. “No,” Jungkook says. “I’m taking care of my love today.” Taehyung watches fondly as he gets everything prepared, because he’s not going to argue with that.

Jungkook has a pout when he does anything, and when it’s paired with a furrow between his eyebrows when he’s focused, he looks like the cutest little thing in the world. When he turns his head to grab a pair of chopsticks, Taehyung sees his sexy jawline and his ear full of piercings and edgy earrings, then he sees his cute nose and those pouty lips when he turns forward again.

He watches him carefully pour the broth into the pot, his tattooed arm outstretched. He drops everything into the broth gently so it doesn’t splash. Taehyung’s eyes focus on his own reflection in the windows behind Jungkook. He doesn’t look very great. He looks tired, and like he needs a good meal. He supposes the long work days and the nights without his love have started to wear on him more than he thought.

His hair is a bit of a mess from running his fingers through his curls, but it makes him look fluffy rather than like he just woke up from an intense nap. His skin is still his usual tan color, but a half shade lighter now that they’re in winter. He’s been biting on his lips more than usual lately, so the places where the skin is growing back make his lips look darker. He’s wearing his favorite brown plaid pajama set that he saves only for special occasions – this one being that he needed the extra comfort.

He doesn’t really think he needed it today though, because Jungkook is sitting across the table from him now, stirring around the soup as they wait for it all to warm up.

“How are you feeling about our relationship right now?” Jungkook asks, his gaze set on the swirling soup.

Taehyung tilts his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Just in general. How does our relationship feel to you? How do you feel being half of it?”

Taehyung wraps their ankles around each other beneath the table. “Things feel good with you. I feel good with you. Our relationship feels comforting, and… strong. It doesn’t feel loose or wobbly, or like I’m not sure where we stand or what the future will be like. Even despite these past few weeks, things still feel okay, and I never doubted you or us. Just missed you.”

“Is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

Taehyung hums as he thinks. “Not that I can think of. How do you feel about our relationship?”

“The same,” Jungkook says, smiling to himself as he fills their bowls with soup. “It feels nice to feel so certain. To not have any doubts about anything. Before we were together or even close to being together, I thought that whatever my next relationship after my last one would be would be hard. I thought I’d always feel anxious and paranoid. But I don’t feel that way. At all.”

Taehyung reaches across the table and takes his hand. He brushes his thumb back and forth before he lets go so they can eat. “Good. You have nothing to be worried about, ever. I promise. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” Jungkook shakes his head. “Are you sure? No questions, comments, concerns, complaints?”

Jungkook laughs as he blows on his spoonful of soup. “Nope. I just wanted to give you the opportunity to talk about something that you wouldn’t want to bring up out of nowhere.”

Sweet Kookie. Taehyung has no idea how anyone could let this boy go. Even though he wishes it were done much differently, Taehyung is grateful for it, because now Jungkook will have a lifetime of being loved.

They eat their soup as it snows outside, talking about everything and nothing. He hopes everyone gets to have a relationship like this (or at least those that are deserving of it) if it’s something they want. One where eating soup together inside on a snowy day feels like the most important, special thing in the world.

“Tell me something about yourself,” Jungkook says. “Something I might not know.”

“Hmm…” Taehyung stirs his soup around as he thinks. He looks up when Jungkook stands, then his bowl is filled with more sweet potatoes because Jungkook knows he likes them. “I’m ambidextrous.”

“I knew that.”

Taehyung furrows his eyebrows at him. “How did you know that?”

“Because I’ve had a crush on you for years. I’ve watched you enough to notice that you use both hands to write sometimes.”

Taehyung hides his pleased smile by taking another spoonful of soup. “My hair was blue before I started working at the paper. I dyed it a few days before the interview so I’d look more professional.”

“I also knew that.”

“No you didn’t,” Taehyung says. “I don’t think Jimin even knows because it never came up.”

“Well, I didn’t know, but I suspected.”

“How?”

“Again, I’ve watched you closely for a while, and when you were under certain lights, the black color of your hair had a really subtle blue tint to it.”

Taehyung narrows his eyes at him. He’ll think of something Jungkook doesn’t know. “I’m afraid of lizards a little bit.” He sees Jungkook’s reaction and says, “You did not know that.”

“I did,” Jungkook laughs. “Namjoon-hyung was doing a feature once about the town’s ecosystems and wildlife. We were going over photos of it, and Yoongi-hyung took a photo of a lizard on the pebbles around the koi pond. You made a face when you saw it.”

Taehyung pouts. “You tell me something I don’t know. You’ll never beat me on this.”

“Yeah, because you’ve been watching me like a stalker for years.”

Taehyung nods. “Exactly.”

Jungkook laughs. He hums as he thinks, organizing the ingredients in his bowl by color. “The first tattoos I got were–”

“Your hand tattoos, because if you were wearing long sleeves in the winter and it covered any tattoos on your arms, people would still know you’re cool.”

Jungkook blinks at him. “How did you even know that? I’ve never–”

“Don't worry about it. Next question.”

Jungkook drums his fingers slowly against the table as he flicks through his brain. “I don’t like lemon-flavored things very much.”

“I know. I think it’s probably because it’s a very strong flavor, and you’re sensitive to things like that, so you have to be in the mood for it. Like that one time there were donuts at work, and you didn’t know one of them had a lemon filling and you reacted like you’d been shot when you bit into it.”

Jungkook laughs. Taehyung smiles. “Yeah, that was so gross. Hmm…” Taehyung stands and starts to clear the table, but then he’s guided back into his seat as Jungkook cleans everything up. “I sleep on the left side of the bed at home, but I sleep on the right side of the bed here.”

“I know,” Taehyung says. “I think it’s because the right side of my bed is closer to the door, so if anybody came in, you’d be between us. And that’s not something you have to be conscious of at your house, and I think you’d probably naturally like the left side of the bed.”

“I have literally never spoken that out loud,” Jungkook says. “How do you know that?”

Taehyung smiles as he pulls his knees to his chest, watching Jungkook resume cleaning up again after staring at him incredulously. He empties the leftovers in a tupperware container that he puts in the fridge, then he rinses all of the dirty dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.

“I watch you,” Taehyung says, “and I know you, and when you do something, my brain figures it out itself based on everything we’ve seen and learned.”

“You’re so…” Jungkook just shakes his head, not knowing what to say. Once everything is cleaned up, Taehyung is pulled to standing. Jungkook’s arms go around his neck, Taehyung’s hands around his waist. “Do you know that I love you?”

“I do definitely know that,” he says.

“Good.” Jungkook nudges the tips of their noses together just to be able to kiss his smile.

They migrate back to the couch, and Taehyung is pulled into Jungkook’s arms again. He sits sideways between his legs and leans against his body. Jungkook holds him, almost cradling him as he receives several nuzzles and kisses.

“Are you feeling any better?” Jungkook asks quietly.

Taehyung takes a moment to remember what he’s talking about, because he can’t ever remember feeling anything but this warm, safe calmness. “I felt better the second I saw you, before the food and the cuddling. So now I’m feeling much, much better.”

“Good,” Jungkook says. “What can I do to make you feel much, much, much better?”

“I think a few kisses could do it.”

He feels Jungkook’s hands on his cheeks, then his head is tilted up. Jungkook just looks at him, the subtlest of smiles on his lips, his doe eyes sparkling. Taehyung just looks back, certain there’s a look of equally-as-devastating softness on his face too. He feels Jungkook’s thumb brush back and forth against his cheekbone, and he watches Jungkook’s eyes. The way they look at the beauty mark on his waterline, to the one on the tip of his nose, down to his lips like he always does. He looks back up to his eyes. “I love you, sweetheart. You’re so beautiful.”

Taehyung closes his eyes. He lets the love wash over him. He nuzzles his cheek against Jungkook’s palm. “I love you, darling,” he says quietly. He sighs in contentment when Jungkook’s lips finally press against his own. It’s so soft that it makes tears spring to his eyes. He squeezes his eyes shut to keep them away as every kiss is the same. So soft and gentle, so loving and adoring that it takes his breath away.

The next kiss has another sigh to it that borders on a moan. Jungkook isn’t doing anything but kissing him, holding him with an arm around his back, his other hand still on his cheek, kissing him as gently as anyone has ever been kissed. Taehyung moans again. He tries to kiss him deeper, but Jungkook holds him back. He swipes his tongue against his bottom lip though, and Taehyung immediately parts them for him. The way Jungkook licks into his mouth is so slow that Taehyung can’t focus on anything else but that. He lets out a stuttering, shaky moan when he feels Jungkook’s hand on his thigh, sliding closer and closer to the area between them. He whimpers when Jungkook’s hand settles over his crotch, gently squeezing what’s covered there.

Taehyung is adjusted so he’s lying on his back on the couch, being kissed the entire time. Jungkook’s touch and warmth leave him, but he’s back in the blink of an eye holding a bottle of lube.

Jungkook settles between his spread legs, and he looks at him for permission when he hooks his fingers over the waistband of his pants. Taehyung lifts his hips, and Jungkook slides his pants and boxer briefs down and sets them aside, his shirt following after. His mostly soft co*ck rests against his lower stomach, and it twitches when Jungkook’s hand travels slowly up his inner thigh.

“So beautiful,” Jungkook whispers. His eyes travel up and down his body. “You can’t be a real person. You’re an angel.” Taehyung blushes. His entire body warms up. He remembers what Jungkook said to him before, the first time they were doing this. f*ck, how are you even real, Tae? How are you real?

Taehyung wants to hide away. He wants to cry too, but he doesn’t. He stays exactly how he is, letting Jungkook look wherever he wants, as long as he wants. The tip of Jungkook’s finger glides up and down the length of his co*ck, the touch so teasing and light that it makes it twitch again. Taehyung wants to whimper and beg, but he won’t, because he’s good and he’ll take whatever Jungkook gives him, because he trusts Jungkook and knows he’ll make him feel good.

He sighs in relief when Jungkook wraps his hand around his co*ck, slowly stroking it as his thumb circles around the head. Taehyung whimpers when his thumb pushes into the slit, his back arching off the couch for a moment because he can’t stay still. He realizes his eyes were closed when he opens them at the sound of the lube bottle opening. The touch leaves him as Jungkook pours lube onto his fingers, then he rubs them together as he warms it up, his touch back on his co*ck.

Somehow, Taehyung is lucid enough to notice that Jungkook has plastic gloves on. They’re latex, the kind he keeps in his kitchen drawer that Jungkook must have seen one of the times he was making food for them. He knows it’s because of Jungkook’s sensory sensitivities, but something about the thought of it… that he’s going to finger him and stroke his co*ck with latex gloves on, it makes Taehyung’s co*ck leak.

“Can you pull your legs back for me, sweetheart? You can do just one if you’re more comfortable that way.” Taehyung moves his right leg back to his chest, keeping it there with his hand hooked beneath his knee. “Good boy.” Taehyung’s entire body breaks out into goosebumps, visibly shivering at the words. He watches Jungkook smile, his eyes lighting up. He hums. “Looks like I’m not the only one who likes to be a good boy, am I?” Taehyung shakes his head, too shy to say anything. All words leave him anyway when Jungkook’s fingers start to circle around his entrance, his other hand gliding up and down his co*ck, the movement slow but his grip firm. “If you tell me you’re a good boy I’ll put my fingers inside of you.”

Taehyung breaks out in an intense blush, biting his lip to keep the whimpers away. “I–I’m a good boy…”

Jungkook hums. “You are, sweetheart.” He finally whimpers when Jungkook’s finger slides inside – the sensation so strangely, so amazingly different with the glove on. “Whose good boy are you?”

“Yours,” Taehyung moans. The slide of his finger is so maddeningly slowly. “Kookie’s. I–I’m J-Jungkookie’s good boy.”

He opens his eyes to see Jungkook’s fond, proud smile. “Am I a good boy too?” Taehyung immediately nods over and over again. “Will you tell me?”

Taehyung almost wants to cry. “You’re a good boy too, love. My b-baby boy. Whose good boy are you?”

Jungkook leans down so he’s hovering over him. He kisses his lips as he slips a second finger inside. “I’m my sweetheart’s good baby boy,” he says.

Taehyung hums and smiles into the kiss, because it’s true. A moan breaks through both things when Jungkook aims his fingers just where Taehyung wants them. “R-Right there, please, please,” he whimpers. His back arches off the couch again as his head falls back.

“You’re so sweet, Tae,” Jungkook says. He focuses all of his attention on his prostate, massaging it in circles. “So polite. I’ll give you anything when you ask so sweetly.”

Taehyung cries when Jungkook adds a third finger without any warning. It stretches him out so well, making the touch on his prostate even firmer. He moves his hand on his co*ck faster too, both things making Taehyung sob as Jungkook continues to tell him such loving words.

“I’m so lucky,” he says. His voice sounds reverent, worshiping. Taehyung can feel precum drip onto his stomach, and he notices the slide on his co*ck is wetter, like he’s been leaking onto Jungkook’s hand too. The sensation of the latex against his co*ck is so good, so different, so Jungkook. He thinks maybe it’d feel impersonal to someone else, to not be touched directly, but it doesn’t feel that way. It reminds him even more that this is Jungkook who’s doing it, Jungkook who loves him, Jungkook who’s touching him. “So lucky that I get to see you like this. That I get to be the one to make you feel good.”

“Only–” Taehyung cuts himself off with a moan as tears slide down his temples when Jungkook circles the head of his co*ck again. “O-Only you. Feel–f-feel so good with you. Never with anyone else. Only y-you. Kookie–” Jungkook starts massaging his prostate more thoroughly, moving his hand on his co*ck faster. He sobs when Jungkook moves closer and he can feel his hard co*ck against his leg, covered by his pants but visible when he can manage to open his eyes. Then they stay open because of the way Jungkook looks down at him. His eyes are dilated with so much desire behind them, but so much love and devotion that Taehyung feels like his heart might leap out of his chest. “Love you, love you, I love you,” he babbles as his org*sm gets closer and closer.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Jungkook says sweetly. He massages his thumb on the sensitive spot beneath the head of his co*ck, making his body twitch. He’s so close, he can feel it building and building. When Jungkook starts rubbing his clothed co*ck on his leg, feeling how hard and hot it is even through the layers of fabric, it makes his org*sm just within reach. “Come for me, Tae. Show me how beautiful you are when you come. I love you, angel, just let go. I love you.”

Taehyung’s back arches off the couch so much that Jungkook's fingers almost slip out of him. Jungkook just follows after him though, keeps stimulating his prostate, making his body tremble and jolt as he shoots streak after streak of cum across his chest. Taehyung moans and mutters and whimpers incoherently, his body floating and shaking as Jungkook makes his org*sm feel neverending.

Only once he thinks he might pass out from not being able to catch his breath does it finally fizzle out. Taehyung's chest heaves as he slumps against the couch, completely spent. He tries to reach for Jungkook, but he can barely lift his arm. He manages to smile when he hears Jungkook chuckle.

“Can I get you cleaned up, sweetheart? I’ll do it quickly and then come right back to cuddle?” Taehyung manages to make some sort of sound in agreement, then he hears Jungkook leave. He’s back just a second later. Taehyung opens his eyes to watch him as he carefully cleans off his chest.

As he’s wiping the lube from around his sensitive hole, Taehyung asks, wide-eyed, “Wait, what about you?”

“Oh, I came in my pants, so I’m good,” Jungkook says so casually. Taehyung breaks out into giggles. Jungkook glances up from where he’s cleaning him to smile at him, laughing at himself too. Jungkook gets off the couch and kisses his forehead. “Gonna get changed and then ‘m gonna hold you for hours.”

“Do it quickly.”

Jungkook sprints away and disappears into his bedroom. Taehyung smiles to himself and closes his eyes. He’s just so… he’s so happy. Everything feels so good. Everything didn’t feel so good for a few days, but then Jungkook made him feel better, because that’s who they are. This is their first time loving each other, at least in this little world of theirs, so they’re learning, just like he said. Jungkook didn’t know Taehyung felt lonely, and Taehyung didn’t tell him that he was. And now Jungkook will be more careful and attentive and make sure he’s checking on Taehyung even when they’re both busy, and Taehyung will tell Jungkook if he needs a little extra love and attention.

And when Jungkook returns, Taehyung holds his arms out and makes grabby hands at him. “I need extra love and attention,” he says.

Jungkook brightens up. “Oh! This is the best day ever.” Taehyung giggles as Jungkook joins him on the couch and gathers him in his arms. Taehyung is still very naked, and he notices that Jungkook now is too so they’re both the same. A blanket is thrown over them, but Taehyung doesn’t even need it when he’s in Jungkook’s arms. They lie on their sides so they’re facing each other, Taehyung sandwiched between Jungkook’s body and the couch so Jungkook is the one who has to be partially on the edge. One of Jungkook’s arms is around his waist to keep him close, and the other is holding his hand with their arms held against his chest. “How are you feeling?”

Taehyung snuggles closer. He throws a leg over Jungkook’s. “So, so, so good. How’s my baby boy feeling?”

Jungkook blushes at the pet name as if he didn’t have his fingers buried in his ass a few minutes ago. “I feel the same,” he says. “Is there anything you need?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “I’m okay. I’ll get you something though if you’d like anything.”

Jungkook shakes his head. “I’m happy just like this.” Taehyung feels such calm, utter peace when Jungkook kisses him. “Is there anything new going on in your life?”

Taehyung laughs. “It’s not like it's been months since we’ve talked to each other. Just a few days.”

“Still,” Jungkook pouts. “Feels like ages now that I realize it's been a while.”

Taehyung hums. He reaches a hand up to settle on the back of Junkook’s neck, twirling the hair there around his finger. “Nothing new going on really. Just been busy with work like you. One of my favorite plants grew a new leaf.”

“Oh! Will you show me?”

Butterflies flutter all through Taehyung. “I will later,” he says. “Need more cuddle time.”

“You can have as much cuddle time as you want,” Jungkook says. He rolls onto his back, and Taehyung is pulled into him. His head goes to Jungkook’s chest, and he closes his eyes to hear the way the sound of his heartbeat mingles with the crackling of the fireplace.

“Do you have a fireplace at your house?” he asks.

“Aha! Something you don’t know about me.”

Taehyung snorts. “That’s not about you; it’s about your house. I’ve barely spent any time at your house, mostly at nighttime, and I didn’t notice a fireplace. You looked excited when you got here and saw my fireplace is lit. So I think the answer is no, because you’ve never mentioned one either.”

He hears the pout when Jungkook mutters, “No, I don’t have a fireplace,” because they know Taehyung really can’t be told something he hasn’t already figured out himself or can figure out when asked for the answer if he hadn’t thought about it beforehand.

A thought pops into Taehyung’s head, and he manages to keep it there when it was just on the verge of coming out. We’ll find somewhere with a fireplace whenever we move in together then.

They’ve already talked about being together forever, and they’re both quite certain in that. Still, talking about actual next steps and milestones seems too soon when they’re only in their second season together. He thinks he’ll wait at least until he and Jungkook get to see what it’s like to love each other in the spring before he brings it up. Not because he thinks it’ll be any different, because if anything, it’ll just be even more. But because maybe bringing it up in the first couple months is a bit too much, even if they’re sure of each other.

“Do you know when my brother’s birthday is?” Jungkook asks.

Taehyung looks up at him and furrows his eyebrows at the random question. He lays his head back down. “Not exactly, but I know you tend to take a week or so off work in the summer to go be with your family. The first time it happened, I thought something was wrong, but then you did it the next year too, and every year after that. You said during different times when your parents were coming here for their birthdays, so I knew it wasn’t that, so I just figured it was for your brother’s birthday. I think it was sometime in June, but the week that you’d go sometimes varied so I don’t know which date in June.”

Once he’s said it all, he realizes Jungkook is testing what he thought of earlier. That even if he doesn’t know the answer, he’d be able to form an answer in his head based on things he’s observed. He leans back to look at him again, and Jungkook nods, looking amazed and resigned. “Yeah, it’s in June,” he says, then confirms that it’s the date in the general range Taehyung assumed.

To prove that Jungkook is just as attentive with him and could find his own answers too, he asks, “Do you know my moon sign?”

Immediately, despite them never talking about this ever, Jungkook answers, “Aries.”

“And how do you know that?”

“When Hoseok wanted to add a horoscope section to the paper, he read everyone’s birth charts. When he saw mine, he said, ‘Tae and Namjoon-hyung both have fire moons too.’ I figured that if any of us had the same moon signs, he would’ve said any of us matched, but he didn’t. When he was explaining all my signs to me and went over the fire moons, I thought Aries would suit you more than Sagittarius. Then it was confirmed when Seokjin-hyung came in to bring something for Namjoon-hyung and insisted Hoseok-hyung read his chart too so he wasn't left out, then he said you two had the same fire moon, which is Aries.” Taehyung smiles and nuzzles closer. “Do you know mine?”

“Of course. Well, kind of. You could be a Leo moon or a Virgo moon, but you’ve never said if you asked your mom if the time you were born was for AM or PM, because all you were shown was the time on a wall clock. I assume it was AM though and that you’re a Leo moon.”

“Our moons are fiery.”

Taehyung giggles. “Yeah, we’re full of fire and passion.” He nuzzles against Jungkook’s chest. He feels his love’s hand run up and down his spine so gently as snow falls outside and the fireplace crackles in the quiet stillness of his apartment, where they’re cuddled close together on the couch, speaking in hushed voices. He rests his chin on Jungkook’s chest to look up at him. “Should we be having more sex?”

Jungkook’s face goes adorably confused. “What?”

“Sex is more connected to your mars sign, even though your moon definitely is part of it too, but it still made me think of it. Your mars sign is Scorpio, by the way. But just… do you think we’re having enough sex? That was our third time doing something, and we’ve only had penetrative sex once. Should we be having more sex?”

Jungkook blinks at him. “Do you want to be having more sex?”

Taehyung shrugs weakly. “I don’t want or not want to.”

“Then we’re fine like this. Right?” Taehyung hates how unsure of himself he sounds now. But then Jungkook’s eyebrows furrow more deeply and he looks at him with resolve. “You told me to get rid of all of the ‘should’s and ‘shouldn’t’s in my head. Now you’re doing what I did.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

“Do you think we don’t have enough sex? Do you think that? Not based on other people’s relationships. Do you think we don’t? Is it not enough for you? Do you want to have sex more often?”

“Well… I mean, like, I said I don’t want or not want to. I’m not opposed to having more sex, obviously, but I’m also not yearning for it or anything. If we have more sex, then yay, and if not and it’s like how it is right now, then yippee, and if we have less sex, then woohoo. I’m happy now matter how we are.”

“Godddd,” Jungkook loudly groans, his head falling back against the pillow. “You’re so cute, f*ck.” He lifts his head back up and sighs a dreamy sigh. “If we want to have sex, then we’ll have sex. And if we don’t, then we won’t. We shouldn’t be keeping count.” He gives Taehyung an amused look, and Taehyung turns sheepish. “It’ll happen if it happens.” He shrugs. “Sex wouldn’t be as fun if we did it just because we realized we hadn’t in a while. If we realized we hadn’t in a while and we wanted to have sex, then that’s good. But not because we think we’re not doing it enough. And also, we haven’t been together very long, sweetheart. It’s been a while, but it’s not like we haven’t had sex in months. We’ve only been together for months.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Taehyung says quietly. He shyly hides away by nuzzling his face into Jungkook’s neck and cuddling closer. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, silly Tae.”

“I’m afraid that that explanation might’ve sounded like me saying I don’t want to have more sex with you.”

Taehyung’s body moves with Jungkook’s gentle laugh. “It didn’t. I know what you meant. I don’t particularly want to have sex right now, and that’s not because I don’t want to have sex with you.” Taehyung relaxes seeing that Jungkook knows what he meant.

Despite being wrapped in Jungkook’s arms, beneath the blanket, near the fireplace, Taehyung shivers. It still is winter, and he’s naked. Jungkook holds him closer, somehow making his arms warmer, and says, “Why don’t we get dressed in some warm pajamas, and I can make us tea?”

“Don’t wanna get out of your arms,” Taehyung mumbles sadly.

“Well I don’t want my Tae to be cold, and there’s only so much I can do from here.”

“Fine,” Taehyung pouts. He uses all of his willpower to leave the warmth and comfort of Jungkook’s arms, but it’s not too painful because he feels those same things as he simply looks down at him. He rests his hand on Jungkook’s cheek. “Such a pretty baby boy. So sweet.”

Once they’re dressed in Taehyung’s coziest pajamas, Taehyung takes a peek at some of his plants as Jungkook makes tea for them. As he’s checking on one of the plants on his fireplace mantle, he listens to the sounds of Jungkook in the kitchen. He looks over and sees him there, setting out two mugs for them as the kettle boils. It’s such a nice, simple thing. Seeing them live their lives beside each other, hearing the ordinary, everyday sounds of Jungkook puttering around the kitchen. The opening and closing of a cabinet, the pouring of a little bit of cream in the bottom of one of the mugs, the dropping of a sugar cube into the other. Then Jungkook glances over, just to check in on him, and Taehyung has never felt so loved before. He laughs to himself, because of all the things Jungkook has ever done for him, this one somehow touches him the most: Jungkook just looking up from making tea to see where Taehyung is, to see what he’s doing, to see if he’s okay. Jungkook just gently smiles at him, then he turns when the kettle starts to whistle. Taehyung’s heart feels heavy with the amount of love he carries there.

“It’s here to cool down until you’re ready,” Jungkook says as he sets their mugs on the small kitchen table. He sits at one of the chairs and rests his chin on his hand, watching him. “What are you doing?”

“Checking on my plants.”

“Will you show me the new leaf that your plant grew?”

Taehyung bites his lip to try to keep his shy smile away. “Yeah, sure,” he says quietly, and he goes and retrieves it from beside his balcony door. He carries it over to the table, and with the new leaf it grew, it went from being a small plant to definitely medium-sized – big enough that it’s not very easy to carry. He sets it on the table and twists the pot so the new leaf is facing Jungkook.

“Oh, is this the one plant you texted me a photo of that one time?”

“They’re similar, but they’re a little different. One second, I’ll show you.” He goes and retrieves the other plant from his office and sets it on the table beside the other. “This one that I sent a photo of to you is a monstera Thai constellation. The parts on leaves that aren’t green are called variegation, and you can see that the variegation here is more cream-colored, and it’s mostly in splashes. Whereas this one with the new leaf is a monstera albo, and you can see that the variegation is white rather than a little yellow-ey, and it’s much more… mmm…”

He searches for the word, and Jungkook says, “Painted on, rather than speckled? The constellation one kind of looks like someone was flinging a paintbrush at the leaves, but this one looks like someone painted the leaves more intentionally.”

Taehyung brushes his fingers through Jungkook’s hair, brushes his thumb over his eyebrow. Looks at him so softly while Jungkook looks up at him with doe eyes, ready to hear whatever he’ll teach him next. “Yeah, that’s a good way to put it, baby.” He kisses Jungkook’s forehead. “And this is the new leaf on my monstera albo. It’s still new, so it’s fragile and will grow darker and stronger soon, but it just unfurled itself.”

“Ooooh,” Jungkook says. He carefully feels the thin, waxy leaf. “It has a lot of white on it.”

“Yeah, these ones can get a lot of white on their leaves. Sometimes people call those leaves by the moon phases – half moons and full moons. The full moon ones aren’t good though, because if they’re all white and there’s no green on them, there’s no chlorophyll so they can’t get any energy from the sun because there’s nothing on it to absorb the light.”

“Oh,” Jungkook says, his soldiers sagging. “That’s sad. They probably look so pretty.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung pouts. “You usually have to cut them off because they’ll burn from the sunlight anyway, and they just take energy away from the leaves that won’t die. If I ever get any full moons, I’ll show you so you can see them.”

“Yeah,” Jungkook nods, his eyes wide like full moons too.

“Anyway,” he says shyly, realizing he spoke a lot about something Jungkook probably doesn’t care about when all he asked was to see the new leaf. “Um, yeah, that’s the new leaf.”

“I like it,” Jungkook says. When Taehyung takes the Thai constellation in his arms to carry back to his office, Jungkook stands and so slowly and carefully takes the other in his arms and brings it back to his spot beside the balcony before he sits back down. “Will you tell me about the other plants you’re checking on right now?”

“You don’t have to–that’s–it’s probably boring. You don’t have to–”

“It’s not boring,” Jungkook says. When Taehyung looks over at him, there’s the deepest furrow between his eyebrows that Taehyung thinks he’s ever seen, looking at him both angrily and confused. “I care because you care. And it’s nice learning something new. I don’t know anything at all about plants really, so I’m learning, and it’s especially interesting because it’s something you love and I get to hear about it from you. And I love your voice. It’s not boring. I want to learn more.”

Taehyung turns away, cheeks bright pink as he feels the dark red velvety leaves of the philodendron micans on his fireplace mantle. “O-Okay, y-yeah, sure, I’ll tell you.”

As Taehyung checks in on each new plant, he tells Jungkook about which plant it is, little interesting things about it or where he got it. He shows him when there’s something new it’s grown, and Jungkook watches and listens like it’s the most interesting thing he’s ever been a part of. Every time Taehyung looks away from the soil he’s inspecting or the vines he’s untangling, Jungkook is still always watching him, completely focused and sipping on his tea.

It reminds Taehyung about his own tea, and he goes over to grab it. He finds that it’s the perfect temperature when he wraps his fingers around the mug, and it’s made perfectly too when he takes a sip and tastes the sweetness of it. He doesn’t know how Jungkook knows exactly how to make his tea, but they’ve established that they know so much about each other in ways the other will never know about unless they go through every little thing, so he just lets it fill him with warmth instead. But then it reminds him, “Hey! We have to go get our mugs!”

“Oh yeah,” Jungkook says, doe eyes wide because he’d forgotten too. “I was thinking if you’re up for it, maybe we can take a walk in the snow later? It’s not too cold out, and the snow is calm so it might be nice?”

“Yeah, that sounds nice. The studio doesn’t close until eleven, so we have time. Good idea, baby.”

“Thanks…” Jungkook mutters shyly as he fidgets with his mug on the table. Getting bashful over just that makes Taehyung want to sob. God, Jungkook is so cute.

Taehyung goes back to watering his plants. They’re all ones that Jungkook has heard about already, so Jungkook opens his laptop and asks, “Do you have any ideas where you’d like to go on the trip with everybody, or do you want me to do some research?”

“I’m not set on it, but I was thinking about that one lodge in the mountains an hour or so away?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard that place is nice. I’ll look it up.”

Same as Jungkook making tea, the sounds of him typing on the keyboard, the clicking of the trackpad, his occasional humming to himself is such a nice sound when paired with Taehyung watering his plants. He hopes he doesn’t ever stop feeling like ordinary moments with Jungkook hold a magic to them.

“Yeah, this place looks fun,” Jungkook says. “We can rent rooms at their ski lodge, or they have some cabins set a mile or so away in the forest?”

“Ooh, the cabins.”

Jungkook hums, muttering, “Okay, lemme see.” Taehyung has one of his string of hearts plants stationed on the top of his bookshelves, but that bookshelf is beside the door. Meaning the small gust of air that appears with the movement of the door rustles the fragile vines, and they’re all tangled up. It wouldn’t be a problem on more mature plants with tons of vines, but his isn’t to that stage yet, so the mess is obvious. He decides tonight is a nice night to tackle untangling those, so he moves it to the other bookcase that’s on the other side of his fireplace, and he starts to carefully untangle the fragile vines. He glances over at Jungkook and smiles to himself, finding him focused on his computer screen, a pinch between his eyebrows as he focuses.

Taehyung abandons his project for a moment and goes to Jungkook. As he steps closer, Jungkook looks up and his face smooths out, goes softer. “Hi, pretty,” he says.

“Hi, baby,” Taehyung says back. His hand goes to Jungkook’s cheek, and he kisses him. He kisses him a few more times, then between his eyebrows, then he walks back over to continue untangling the vines.

“Okay, yay, it looks like there are three cabins available, all in their own pod next to each other and away from the other groups of cabins, so that seems perfect.”

“Are there enough rooms for everyone?”

“Yeah, it looks like it. Two cabins have two bedrooms, and one cabin has one bedroom. So if Minji is going, the three of them can have one of the two bedroom cabins, and then we can figure out who will be in the others.”

“I think since we’re the ones planning it, we get a cabin to ourselves.”

Jungkook smiles as he starts to book the reservation. “It’s not like it’ll matter anyway; everyone’s always going to be together and will probably have sleepovers at each other’s cabins.”

Taehyung feels butterflies of excitement. “It’s like sleepaway camp.”

A couple minutes later, when Taehyung is almost done untangling the fragile plant vines (with a few heart-shaped leaves sadly fallen to the ground in the process), Jungkook leans away from his computer and cracks his back. “‘kay, our cabins are rented. I’ll text the group chat, and next week we can coordinate who will drive and everything. Skis and snowboards can be rented at the main lodge, and I’m sending a link to everyone where they can add food they want to a grocery cart and it’ll be there for us when we get there.”

Taehyung goes to Jungkook and takes a seat in his lap. “Thank you for planning it for all of us,” he says. “Very Boss Jungkook of you.”

Jungkook snorts. “You’re welcome. I’m excited now.”

“Me too,” Taehyung says. It’ll be so nice. Just like he and Jungkook haven’t gotten much time together, they all haven’t gotten much time with their friends either. It’ll be nice to reconnect and have some fun.

“I also maaaay have booked the cabin for us that has a hot tub outside.”

Taehyung lights up. “I f*cking love hot tubs. In the winter in the woods too, that’ll be so nice.”

After a little while more of talking about their excitement, they get up to get ready to go on their walk. They figure they might as well just go to Jungkook’s house at the end of the walk since they’ll already be out and they’re spending the day there tomorrow, so Taehyung packs a bag with just the things he’ll need to work from home and a few toiletries, because he intends on wearing Jungkook’s clothes the whole time he’s there.

When they leave Taehyung’s apartment and step out into the night, Jungkook takes the backpack from Taehyung and puts it over his own shoulder. Taehyung thinks again, just like last time this happened but with even more proof of it now, how their relationship is made up of so many little things, little kindnesses that are never thought of, and he thinks that’s why it feels so safe. There are the big things that are important, but the little things matter just as much. He remembers sitting at the koi pond with Namjoon when his sweet friend said that life is mostly made up of little ordinary moments. Now that he has Jungkook, he really sees how much magic and love are in those little ordinary moments.

It’s cold out, but they’re wrapped in layers of clothes, and they’re walking close together, sharing body heat. More warmth is passed through their clasped hands too, so Taehyung doesn’t even feel the chill.

It’s snowing. It’s gentle, the flakes falling so slowly and lazily through the rays of the orange streetlights that line the empty town. There are no tire or foot tracks in any of the snow around them except for theirs. It’s quiet too. The whole town is asleep, and if anyone is awake as they are, the snow absorbs it all to make it seem like it’s just them under the night sky.

It’s still so silly and strange to think about how he’s on a walk in the snow with his Jungkook. His boss. He’s holding hands with his boss, the person who he insisted he disliked for so long. That Jungkook who caused him so much annoyance is now the center of his world. His boss who he always huffed at, who he begrudgingly spoke to when he had to, is now walking beside him, and they’re each other’s. He looks over, and Jungkook looks over too. They lock eyes and share a quiet smile, their cheeks pink from the cold, their breath visible in front of them. Neither of them say anything to break the quiet moment, but Jungkook brings their hands to his lips and kisses the top of Taehyung’s as they walk.

They pass the grocery store (where the normal, non-rich people in their community shop). They pass Seokjin’s bakery, a pet groomer. A dry cleaner, a candle shop, the stationary store – the windows fogged up, the snow smooth and undisturbed in front of them until they leave their prints behind just to be covered again as more snow falls.

They finally come upon the studio, the windows lit in a soft yellow light that mingles with the amber streetlights. Taehyung sighs in relief when they step inside. The warmth kisses their cheeks as they kick the snow off their boots.

They venture inside and to the pottery room, and Taehyung perks up when he spots their finally-finished mugs on the shelf. He rushes over to them and takes the one he made, inspecting it with glee. It turned out just as he imagined. Then he turns to Jungkook and says, “For my baby boy.”

“For my sweetheart,” Jungkook says as he holds out the mug he made too.

He gently takes it, holding it as if it’s the most precious thing he’s ever held – and it is (second to the person who made it for him).

And it’s so perfect. It’s so lovely. It’s so… so him. Just that fact alone, that Jungkook could make something that reflects him so much, is almost too much.

In his hands is the wide mug that Jungkook made through him at the pottery wheel, shaped like a handheld version of a soup bowl. It’s glazed a beautiful warm brown with some earthy-looking speckles in it. It shines under the light, and carved into the surface of it are leaves. There are swirling vines glazed different shades of dark green, with touches of gold in some spots that look like the sun shining onto them. The colors, the theme, the size of it – everything is just perfect. It’s so perfect.

“Kookie…” Taehyung says breathlessly. “This is so beautiful.” He almost doesn’t want to look away. He only does because he wants to see Jungkook’s reaction too.

Jungkook is still looking down at the mug. He’s looking at every side of it, slowly twisting it in his hand. When he looks up at Taehyung, stars are twinkling in his eyes just like they are in his hands too.

Jungkook’s mug is glazed an indigo so dark it’s nearly black. It shimmers. When it catches the light, they can see the way it mingles with it, dancing like twinkling stars. And there are stars in it too. There are different clusters carved out, dotted on, smoothed on. A few stick out to add some texture to the mug – in spots Jungkook wouldn’t naturally touch, so he’s never unexpectedly in contact with a change in feeling. The stars are subtle, different shades of blue or purple with some flecks of white, some outlined in silver or gold. He’s really proud of how it turned out, and he thinks it suits Jungkook too.

“I love this so much,” Jungkook says. There’s so much sincerity in his tone. “This is so perfect. It’s so beautiful. I love it. I’m gonna use it forever.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Taehyung says with relief. “Mine is so perfect too, angel. I love it so, so much. I think we did a good job.”

Jungkook smiles as he looks back down at his mug, moving it to watch it shimmer beneath the light. “I think so too.”

They wrap up their mugs with the protective paper wrapping set aside in the studio – wrapping it way more times than they should, definitely wasting some of it in the process. They don’t want to take any chances though, and they carefully slide the mugs into Taehyung’s backpack. “Jungkook, leave your scarf on,” Taehyung laughs when he insists on taking it off to give them another layer of protection.

With Jungkook’s scarf still around his neck, they walk back into the winter night, heading towards Jungkook’s house where they’ll end the lovely day. They walk back towards town since the studio is in the opposite direction of where they’re going, and Taehyung sees that the footsteps they left in the snow before have already been covered as it continues to drift down from the sky. Being in town when no one else there feels nice. It feels like it really is only him and Jungkook, like this life is theirs. The lights in the businesses are off while the stop lights slowly cycle through colors. The snow absorbs any sounds except for the crunch of it under their boots.

“Hey,” Jungkook says – their first words outside in the quiet tonight.

“Hm?” Taehyung hums. Jungkook stops him in the middle of the sidewalk. His arms wrap around his waist, pulling him closer – as close as he can with their puffy coats between them. “Oh, hello,” Taehyung giggles. His arms snake around Jungkook’s neck, fingers traveling beneath his beanie to tangle in his hair.

“I’m happy,” Jungkook says quietly. The words are warm against his lips.

“I’m happy too,” he says back.

“I want to make you happy always. For the rest of our lives.”

“You will,” Taehyung says with certainty. “I know it.”

“I want you forever.”

“You can have me forever,” Taehyung whispers, the word holding shape in the cold between them. “I’m yours. Always.” Snowflakes sprinkle down and melt in their hair. “I’ll never leave you, and I’ll never do anything that would make you want to leave me. We’ll have so many nights like this. Every single night after this one will be a night where I’m yours.”

“I really love you,” Jungkook says heavily.

“I really love you, Kookie. You’re everything.” He kisses him, his lips warm and the night cold. Snow falls from the sky, settling on the tops of their heads, their shoulders. Their lips move slowly together like they’ve got all the time in the world, and it really feels like it when they’re the only ones here.

“Wanna kiss you here forever,” Jungkook says, “but I want to get you out of the cold, so we should keep walking.”

“Fine,” Taehyung grumbles unhappily. He takes Jungkook’s hand again after a few more pecks.

They continue their walk, their hands slowly swinging between them. Taehyung watches the sky. He watches the colors of the stoplights tinting the snow. He sees their reflection in the widows they pass.

As they venture further into town, Taehyung glances at the ground to make sure there isn’t any ice for them to slip on. When he does, he notices–

“Footprints,” Jungkook says, surprised.

“Weird,” Taehyung says. “Did you hear or see anyone?” Jungkook shakes his head.

As they get closer to them, they see that they’re coming from the stationary store. It’s a small little place, selling so many types of paper, writing utensils, cute office supplies, scrapbooking materials, letter-sending embellishments – anything having to do with paper or cute organization, it’s there.

The door to the store is open. The lights are off and the sign on the front is flipped to “close,” and no one seems to be inside from where they can see through the windows. The door isn’t wide open, just a few inches that they most likely wouldn’t have even noticed if not for the footprints in the untouched snow. The footsteps come from the front door, then they round the corner into the alley. The snow on the street is still perfectly unblemished, as is the sidewalk apart from the marks he and Jungkook made. These ones just go from the front door to the alley, and Taehyung is not sure to where from there.

“Huh,” he says. “That’s strange.”

“I don’t hear anyone. And I don’t see any tire tracks in the alley from here either. Should we… close the door?” He sounds unsure, but Taehyung has had thoughts swirling in his head the whole time.

“Do you think it… could be them?” he says quietly.

Jungkook goes quiet and still, like he hadn’t thought of it until now. Which makes sense, considering this is a strange place to break into, but the places were getting progressively odder until they basically abandoned the case when work got too busy.

“I don’t know,” Jungkook says, matching the volume of his voice. “But… if it were the owner or a worker, they wouldn’t have left the door open, even if they were running in or taking trips from inside to their car. If someone were running in or doing after hours work, wouldn’t they just park out front? I don’t see or hear a car anywhere either, and what we can see of the alley, it’s only footsteps. Should we go check it out?”

Jungkook lets go of his hand and takes a step towards the alley. There isn’t any light back there, only what reaches from the streetlights in the main town strip where they’re standing. The path to the back is dim, but it turns darker the farther they’d go. He doesn’t know what’s around the corner of the building, and he knows it’s fully dark back there.

“Wait,” he says. His hand darts out to grab Jungkook’s wrist. “What if it’s dangerous?” It’s nearing midnight. The door left open is strange, and they haven’t seen or heard anyone – the entire time they’ve been walking, or the entire time they’ve been standing here, whispering in front of the dark store and open door. It’s deadly quiet too, making the town feel abandoned more than just asleep. He wouldn’t want Jungkook to go into an alley at midnight during normal circ*mstances, so this makes him even more uneasy.

“We could figure something out though,” Jungkook says. He looks restless, like he wants to check before whoever broke in could get away.

“But–but–that would be the stupidest reason to lose you.”

“Hey, wait, what?” Jungkook says. His tone immediately turns soft with obvious confusion in it too. “What do you mean?”

“It just, it seems shady. I feel weird, and I know this could be valuable, but I don’t–I don’t know.”

“That’s okay, sweetheart. C’mon, let’s go. I don’t need to go check. We can do some investigating tomorrow. There will be more information then I’m sure. Besides, this is no-work time. Let’s get out of the cold so we can cuddle in bed. We’ll look into it tomorrow.”

Taehyung feels bad as they walk away. He knows this could be such a breakthrough, but he doesn’t want to risk Jungkook for it. It could not be the person they’re searching for. Whoever that is seems teasing and harmless, but if it’s not them, it could be bad. Or it could be the owner, which doesn’t seem likely, but whoever it is, he doesn’t want Jungkook to disappear into the night to pursue something potentially dangerous.

“I’m sorry…” he says quietly as they turn a corner away from town and onto the neighborhood streets.

“Don’t be sorry,” Jungkook says like it’s genuinely no big deal. “Everything that exists in the world comes after our relationship. A silly investigation doesn’t even come close. Now that I’m out of the moment, I’d be scared to go into a dark alley right now.”

At least headstrong, impulsive Jungkook does have some self-preservation in him sometimes.

The unsettling eeriness of their quiet, empty town turns back to the way it was before – feeling like a secret little world they’ve found themselves in, even though it’s no different from the one when they’re awake.

The walk to Jungkook’s house is nice. Many houses they pass have holiday lights up, and it makes their walk even nicer. It’s sweet to see the effort people put into making life nice. The only reason behind putting decorations up, really, is to give people something pretty to look at – and it achieves what they set out to do when the pair ooh and ahh at what they see. Lights twinkle around them, snowmen greet them from the yards, snow sprinkles from the sky to cover their footprints they leave behind. It’s quite cold and they can see their breath in front of them, but Taehyung is in no hurry to get out of it when this time with Jungkook is so lovely.

It isn’t long before Jungkook’s cute red house comes into view though. He has the outside porch lights on, so Taehyung assumes he must have settled on keeping them on at night after not knowing if he’s supposed to do that or not. It looks sweet like this, inviting and warm.

They walk up the unshoveled path onto the porch, and Jungkook unlocks the door for them and welcomes Taehyung inside first. Another small, simple gesture that keeps their relationship so loving and sweet.

Taehyung knocks the snow off his boots, then they enter the warm house. He unwraps his scarf and takes off his jacket and boots, then he perks up when a big dog walks up to him. His tail wags so fast that Taehyung can barely see it. “Oh, hi, Bammie!” he coos excitedly. He’d forgotten about him. He crouches down so they’re eye-level and he scratches his head, giggling when the big doberman licks his cheek.

He looks up when Jungkook brushes his fingers through his hair, finding him watching them fondly. After many more pets and scratches, he stands and follows Jungkook to the bedroom. They dress in pajamas, which for Jungkook consists of sweatpants and no shirt, and for Taehyung a big t-shirt and no pants. They slide into bed, sighing at the feeling after long walks in the cold. Taehyung really likes this clothing arrangement when he can lay his head on Jungkook’s bare chest, feel the warmth of his skin when he holds onto his side. Jungkook seems to feel the same too, because when Taehyung hooks his leg over his torso, Jungkook’s hand goes to his bare thigh, brushing his thumb back and forth, occasionally squeezing the softness of it.

“I like this,” Taehyung says quietly. “Cuddling with you before we sleep.”

“Me too,” Jungkook says. “I love holding you.”

“I love it too,” Taehyung says.

His eyelids start to grow heavier and heavier as sleep tries to lure him closer. He doesn’t want to succumb because he wants to stay with this safe feeling for longer, but he lets himself drift off knowing he’ll get to wake up to this too.

Chapter 31

Chapter Text

“Wait, sh*t, look at this,” Jungkook says.

Taehyung quickly finishes updating their notes with the new information they know, just in case it really does apply to their investigation. He stands from Jungkook’s kitchen island and walks to where he sits on the couch with his laptop on his lap. While Jungkook is still looking at his laptop, he reaches his arm around Taehyung’s shoulders and pulls him closer. Taehyung doesn’t even know if Jungkook realizes he did it, as if it’s the natural thing to do – that if Taehyung is sitting beside him, of course he’d pull him closer.

Jungkook’s house is sweet in the mornings. He’s only been here in the mornings briefly before heading to work, so he never got to really admire it. It’s sunnier than he thought it’d be, especially in the winter, giving Bam plenty of beams of light to take a nap in. He has a doggy door in the kitchen too, which is an adorable addition to the house, so he’s occasionally gone out to play in the snow before coming back in and giving Jungkook a wet mess to mop up (and Jungkook never seems to care because he’s a loving dog dad, despite it happening multiple times).

Taehyung woke up to breakfast and coffee, and they took their time enjoying both in their pajamas at his kitchen table where a vase of daisies sat. A little while after the work day is scheduled to start, they finally began theirs. Still in their pajamas, Taehyung made the kitchen island his workstation because the stools were warmed from the sun, while Jungkook took up the space on the couch and coffee table. It’s been a productive morning.

“Hm?” Taehyung asks.

“I was looking on the community message boards just to see if there’s anything new there.”

“That’s such a good idea.”

“Thanks,” Jungkook mumbles shyly. “Look what I found.” He angles the laptop towards Taehyung so he can read.

The rest of the messages after that are more discussions (and a few snappy comments), so Taehyung turns to Jungkook.

“Teachers never have school supplies,” he says. It’s well known that schools and teachers are underfunded and never able to provide most of the supplies needed. To have a surplus of supplies that are usually provided by the parents is a sudden, interesting change. Especially when paired with “due to undisclosed circ*mstances, most school supplies will not be available in the area until further notice,” along with what they saw last night.

“Yeah,” Jungkook says. “Gone from the stationary store and the grocery store, and I’m sure other stores that would sell them.”

“That’s a lot of supplies,” Taehyung says. “And it seems like it happened overnight, since another parent said they got theirs the day before yesterday. Do you think it could be a teacher? She, since that's the suspect descriptions we've gotten?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I don’t know. That feels impossible to track down since it looks like they were distributed among the teachers.”

“Should we go check it out? We can look up which schools the children of these parents go to. Hopefully they’re the same one, and we can go see what’s going on there. We can say we’re writing something unrelated for the newspaper so it doesn’t seem weird.”

Jungkook nods. “I have a meeting in a few minutes, then we should gather our notes and make a plan so we’re prepared, and then we can head over there.”

Taehyung nods. “Okay, I’ll get started.” Before he can jump into action though, he’s easily pulled into Jungkook’s lap. “Oh, hi,” he says, straddling him. Jungkook’s hands slide under his shirt, making him shiver when they run up and down his sides. His touch is too light to be anything other than intentionally teasing. Taehyung kisses him. He parts his lips right at the start to lick into Jungkook’s mouth, because there’s a lot he can do within a few minutes. He smirks into the kiss, because maybe he doesn’t have to stop when Jungkook’s meeting starts.

He tightens his hold on Jungkook’s hair, licks deeper into his mouth to rile him up. It works, because Jungkook sighs against his lips and matches the intensity of the kiss perfectly. Taehyung wastes no time in starting to grind down onto his lap. He drags his soft co*ck against Jungkook’s torso while moving his ass along the one beneath him. Jungkook groans against his lips, and it’s followed by a noise of surprise when Taehyung reaches down and slides his hand beneath the waistband of his pants, wrapping his fingers around his soft co*ck.

“What’s–um–you’re–the meeting–”

Taehyung silences his rambling with a kiss as he keeps moving his hand up and down his co*ck, feeling it fill out in his hand. “So carry me to your office,” he says, his voice low and deep. Then more softly, “Only if you’re comfortable with it though.”

Jungkook doesn’t even reply; he just easily stands with him in his arms and very enthusiastically carries him to his office. Taehyung giggles and nuzzles into his neck. “Very interesting,” he says teasingly.

“Stop,” Jungkook mutters, a bit embarrassed.

He sets Taehyung down on the desk and leaves to quickly retrieve his laptop. Taehyung can hear his cute bare feet padding across the hardwood floor as he races across the house in his pajamas. Taehyung looks around because he’s never been in here before.

It’s pretty. His desk is in the middle of the room, looking more like a table with drawers rather than a closed off desk so it fits the room's arrangement. It’s a dark wood, toning down the off-white walls and the sunny windows. There’s a couch on the opposite wall, a red that matches the Persian rug beneath him with a coffee table that matches the wood of the rest of the furniture. There’s a bookcase and art on the walls, and it’s a cozy, sunny little space to get work done in.

“f*ck,” Jungkook swears when he gets back and sees Taehyung on his knees in front of his chair. “Here, put this under you.”

Out of everything that’s happening right now, Taehyung blushes when Jungkook hands him a pillow to put under his knees so they’re not against the hard floor. He gets comfortable as Jungkook sets everything up for the meeting, and as soon as he’s ready, Taehyung wastes no time in pulling his pajama pants and boxers down. He starts stroking his co*ck again, feeling his own co*ck twitch when Jungkook tilts his head back and sighs with his eyes closed. He looks f*cking good from this angle. Taehyung tightens his grip and feels him slowly fill out in his hand as Jungkook lets himself get lost in the feeling.

He moves closer between his legs, and he licks his co*ck from the base all the way to the tip. Jungkook loudly moans at the sudden feeling. He moans even louder when Taehyung takes the head into his mouth and sucks. He swirls his tongue around it, watching Jungkook’s every expression. His pouty lips parted for his short breaths, his eyebrows furrowed while his jaw clenches. Taehyung starts to bob his head, drooling on his co*ck to make it wet. He rests his hands on his toned stomach though, beside his co*ck to make sure any of his spit goes onto his hands and not Jungkook’s skin in case the feeling would bother him.

Jungkook’s laptop chimes with the familiar sound of someone starting the meeting, and the look of panic on his face makes Taehyung have to take his co*ck out of his mouth to laugh. “Do you want me to stop?” he asks.

“No,” Jungkook says immediately.

Taehyung laughs again, as he continues slowly stroking his co*ck. “You’ll have to pay attention.”

Jungkook takes a breath to try to steady himself. When he looks at the screen of the preview of his camera, he whines. “My face is blushing so much!”

Taehyung giggles and shrugs, and he takes his co*ck into his mouth again. He laughs as much as he can with a co*ck in his mouth when Jungkook takes several deep breaths, then he finally signs on to the meeting.

Taehyung is nice for now. He very slowly bobs his head so Jungkook can get into the swing of the meeting and get comfortable with it, just feeling manageable pleasure on his co*ck and not something too mind-melting (not that Taehyung thinks that highly of his blowj*b skills, but Jungkook does seem to respond that way).

“Morning, everyone,” Jungkook says. He sounds pretty normal – his voice a little higher than usual, but he’s sure it sounds okay when through a call. “So let me just pull up the agenda and I’ll share my screen.”

Jungkook absentmindedly hums as he pulls up everything he needs on his laptop. Taehyung feels tears spring to his eyes when Jungkook’s other hand goes to his head, gently petting his hair as he sucks him off. Taehyung takes his co*ck out of his mouth and kisses it, then he turns his head to kiss Jungkook’s palm. Jungkook glances down briefly so it’s not suspicious, but long enough to give him a soft smile. Taehyung returns it, then he returns his co*ck to his mouth.

He wanted to tease Jungkook. He wanted to make it hard for him to be in the meeting because of how good he’s making him feel. Maybe he’ll do that later, but he feels so calm like this right now. The thick co*ck in his mouth, slowly moving it down his throat, licking the soft length of it – it feels so calming. Jungkook is being so sweet to him too, the way he’s gently petting his head. Without really meaning to, he rests his cheek on Jungkook’s thigh and leaves his co*ck buried in his throat, just gently suckling on it as his eyes flutter shut. He’s not sleepy, although he could fall asleep; he just feels so relaxed like this. Even more when Jungkook’s hand brushes through his hair a little harder against his scalp. When someone on the computer starts talking, he hears a click with a familiar sound, like Jungkook muted his mic, then Jungkook looks down.

“Sweet Taetae,” he says gently. “You like being my co*ckwarmer?” Taehyung’s eyes flutter. He nods. “You’re being so good for me. You feel so good too.” Taehyung's eyes close fully, the words rushing over him.

Someone in the meeting says something to Jungkook, so Jungkook looks back up and unmutes his mic to respond. Taehyung doesn’t even really hear it, too lost in a floaty haze as Jungkook keeps petting him. It all just feels so nice. Jungkook’s co*ck feels comforting down his throat, and it’s just thick enough to make his own co*ck hard but not hurt his jaw or make him struggle to breathe.

He thinks he does fall asleep for a little while, because he wakes up with a sniffle. He thinks it was probably just a minute or so, but it might have been longer because Jungkook looks down at him with such a sweet look in his eyes when he lifts his head.

He’s still in the meeting and seems like he adjusted comfortably to being co*ckwarmed while he’s in editor-in-chief mode. Taehyung almost dies laughing when Jungkook makes a loud noise of surprise, because his boyfriend suddenly bobs his head on his co*ck again, taking him roughly down his throat out of nowhere where it was previously just comfortably enveloped.

“Jungkook-ssi?” Taehyung hears someone say from the computer. “You good?”

One of Jungkook’s hands has a white-knuckled grip on the desk, but the other that’s buried in his hair is still so soft. “Y-Yeah, sorry, it was, um, Bam. One second.”

Taehyung hears him click around on his computer. He must have turned off his camera and muted his mic, because he looks down at him with lust and desire in his eyes.

And love. So much love.

“My sweetheart is such a tease,” Jungkook says with a teasing tug on his hair. Taehyung pulls off his co*ck to giggle, his forehead on Jungkook’s thigh as he laughs, and Jungkook laughs too. “Taaaae, that was so mean,” he whines now.

Taehyung keeps laughing and says, “Sorry,” definitely not sounding very sorry. He bats his eyelashes when he looks up at him. He makes his eyes even bigger from the angle. Jungkook almost falls into a trance looking at him. “You’ll have to be quiet and good for me, baby. We can’t have everyone know that your employee is sucking off his boss under the desk, can we?” Jungkook swallows and shakes his head wordlessly. “I know you can be a good boy for me.” Jungkook nods. “My baby’s so good. Take a few more seconds to breathe, and then sign back onto your meeting.”

“O-Okay,” Jungkook says. He starts taking deep breaths to calm down.

“Tug on my hair if you want me to stop, okay?” Jungkook nods again. “You’ll make me so proud, angel. I’ll make you feel so good.”

Jungkook rolls back his chair just enough to rest his hand on Taehyung’s cheek. “You already do,” he says against his lips just before he kisses them.

When he moves closer again, Taehyung takes his co*ck into his mouth and starts bobbing his head right away, letting him adjust to the feeling before joining his meeting again. He rests one hand on Jungkook’s thigh, the other holding the base of his co*ck as he pulls off to lick the head. He does it over and over again, taking every bead of precum he’s given, little kittenish licks and harder, broader ones. His eyes stay trained on Jungkook, the way he bites his lip every time Taehyung digs his tongue into the slit, the furrow between his eyebrows when he swirls it around.

Taehyung tilts his head to the side to lick the side of his co*ck, pressing wet, messy kisses to it. He sees the corner of Jungkook’s lips twitch as he kisses his co*ck, the other hand in his hair gently scratching his scalp – telling him he’s being cute and sweet when he can’t say it right now.

Taehyung swallows Jungkook’s co*ck whole, taking it all the way down his throat as he nuzzles his nose against the hair at the base of it. He pulls off of it to lick at the tip, then he takes it all the way down his throat again. Tears spring to his eyes from what he’s putting his throat through, but he keeps going because it feels so f*cking good, and because Jungkook’s voice cracks in the meeting when he answers someone’s question and he thinks it’s funny.

But he decides to be nice and pulls off his co*ck again. He takes it into his hand, slowly stroking it as he moves his head further down to suck on his balls. He thought he was being nice and letting him calm down, but it has the opposite effect, because Jungkook seems to love having his balls played with. He actually moans this time, loud enough to be heard by the others in the meeting. Everyone goes silent, because it was loud enough to be unmistakably a moan. Then just a half second later, Jungkook hits his elbow on the desk hard and holds it to him with a whimper, saying, “Sorry, I hit my funny bone.” They both sigh in relief when the meeting picks back up. Taehyung kisses Jungkook’s thigh again and again, apologizing for making him have to hurt himself.

Still, he’s not that sorry, because he takes one of his balls fully into his mouth. He sucks on it like a piece of candy, laving his tongue over it, sucking his lips in to make the suction tight as he leans back so it’s being pulled. Jungkook takes a dramatic breath, his chest nearly heaving. Taehyung takes his other ball into his mouth, doing the same thing as he keeps leisurely stroking his co*ck. He spreads Jungkook’s legs a little bit more, and he takes both of his balls into his mouth. He plays with them with his tongue, tugging them away from his co*ck, sucking on them and trying to hold back his own moan at the feeling of his mouth full of Jungkook's balls. He hears the sound of what he knows is Jungkook’s computer mouse creaking with how hard he must be squeezing it – all while the hand resting on his head still gently brushes through his hair.

“What do you think of that, Jungkook-ssi?” someone in the meeting asks. Taehyung doesn’t recognize their voice, and they’re speaking to him formally, so it’s not anyone who works at the headquarters. He knows he sometimes has meetings with the editors-in-chief of other newspapers in the general area, so this must be one of those.

“Y-Yeah, I think that’s a great idea,” Jungkook says. Taehyung can feel the moan building in Jungkook’s chest when he swallows around his balls, making his mouth tighter for them, but he clears his throat and keeps it down. “We can probably manage a one-page spread, as long as it’s kept–” a cough when Taehyung lets go of his balls and kisses each one, “–succinct enough to fit on one page. I’m sure y-you can’t give up up more space than that on your respective papers too, nor should you, since our communities are who we write for.”

Taehyung kisses Jungkook’s co*ck to try to show that he’s proud of him. He thinks Jungkook gets the message because the hand in his hair travels down his face, cupping his cheek before sliding back up so he can grab something off his desk. “Yeah, exactly,” he continues talking to the others in the meeting. “I have an example I put together here to show you, and I’ll s-send–” he clears his throat and glances down when Taehyung starts to spread his thighs more, “–you the file as well.” Taehyung hears the very familiar sound of newspaper pages being flipped, and when he knows Jungkook’s face will be covered by them until he finds the page he’s looking for, Taehyung takes a chance and licks the area below his balls, laving his tongue over his perineum.

He’s glad he waited, because he has to nearly bite through his lip to hide the way he wants to laugh because of how wide Jungkook’s eyes go. He looks down at him, his eyes like dark new moons. “Is this okay?” Taehyung mouths, his thumb brushing back and forth against Jungkook’s thigh to try to tell him he can say no.

Jungkook doesn’t even hesitate though. He looks a little unsure because it’s something new, but he nods right away. Taehyung kisses his thigh and mouths, “I love you.”

Jungkook softens. “I love you too, sweetheart,” he mouths back. Then with his normal voice, he clears his throat and says, “Right here is where I cleared up space. If there’s a different position you’d like to format your sections, I’m open to changing it, same as you’ve done for my paper.”

Taehyung keeps his eyes on Jungkook when he starts to lick his perineum again. Jungkook has to clear his throat again to cover the strange sound he makes – one even Taehyung couldn’t identify.

There’s only so much he can do with Jungkook sitting down, so he tries to move Jungkook’s leg aside more. Jungkook glances down at him, double checking that it’s what Taehyung wants, then he very slowly and subtly spreads his legs enough to hook one over the arm of the chair – out of view of the camera. He leans back as well so that he can give Taehyung more access to what he wants.

Taehyung smiles to himself as he looks between Jungkook’s legs. There’s not much he can see right now, but it feels… sweet, almost, to see Jungkook’s hole for the first time. That’s such an embarrassing thing to think, but it is. Seeing somewhere so vulnerable and intimate on Jungkook for the first time feels like a big deal.

The new position gives him better access to his hole, and he doesn’t waste any time licking it. Jungkook jolts, but Taehyung keeps him in place by a firm hand on his hip and thigh. He feels it flutter beneath his tongue, clearly unsure about the new sensation. Taehyung flattens his tongue against it. He licks up and down, then he swirls it around the rim. He huffs a laugh against it when someone asks, “Are you sure you’re okay, Jungkook-ssi? If you need to leave the meeting, that’s okay.”

“N-No, no,” Jungkook says, “that won’t be necessary. Sorry, I might be coming down with a cold, but I’m okay. Anyway, as I was saying, I didn’t intend for this to be something that was sponsored. It doesn’t seem very logical for you to pay me for my place on your paper, then for me to pay you too. It just equals zero if we just pass money back and forth.”

Once Jungkook is okay again, Taehyung very hesitantly pushes just the tip of his tongue inside. It’s Jungkook’s first time having something inside of him though, so even that has a much bigger reaction than he’d think it’d have on other people who’ve never been in this situation.

Enough of a reaction that Jungkook says, “S-Sorry, everybody, I have another meeting in a couple minutes, so I’ll have to e-end my part here. I’ll email you everything I’ve compiled, and we can–” clears his throat, “–we can talk soon. Have a nice week.”

Jungkook slams his laptop shut, and he leans back and lets himself finally, fully moan. It’s such a f*cking beautiful sound it almost makes Taehyung lightheaded. “Stand up,” he says. “Bend over the desk.”

Jungkook obeys before he’s even finished his sentence. He kicks his pants away and leans over with his forearms on the desk, waiting for him. He even arches his back for him, and it makes Taehyung’s mouth water. Jungkook doesn’t even look shy either; he just looks trusting and excited.

Taehyung takes his seat in Jungkook’s chair, making his face perfectly eye level to Jungkook’s ass. He takes each cheek into his hand, gratuitously squeezing them, kneading them in his palms. He moans along with Jungkook at the feeling. He spreads them apart, and Jungkook’s hole continues to flutter so cutely. “You’re so pretty here, Kookie,” Taehyung says, and he truly means it. He brushes his finger over it, watching it move so adorably beneath his touch. “And you were so good in the meeting, darling. So good. Such a good boy.”

“Tae,” Jungkook whimpers, a little impatiently.

“What would you like, baby boy?” he asks, even though he knows. “I’ll give you anything in the entire world, love. Anything. You just have to tell me.”

“Want you to–w-want you to t-tell me you love me.”

Taehyung’s heart stops. Tears come to his eyes. He thinks he melts and has to pull himself back together. This sweet, perfect boy. “Oh, my angel,” he says softly, the words feeling heavy. “I love you, Jungkook. So, so much. More than anything in the world. My precious boy. So special to me. I really love you, darling. You’re everything. I love you so much. Can I take care of you, baby?” Jungkook nods, shaky breaths coming from him in anticipation. “I’ll make you feel so good, angel.”

“I know,” Jungkook says quietly.

“No need to be shy, pretty. It’s just me. Just your Tae.” Taehyung spreads Jungkook’s cheeks again, and he dives in. Jungkook collapses down so his forehead is on his forearms, broken moans falling from his lips when Taehyung has barely done anything yet. He leaves long, broad licks over his balls, all the way up to the start of his back. He does it again, then once more before he flicks his tongue against his entrance. Jungkook’s moans and cries make his stomach flip, make his cheeks heat up and his pride soar.

He spreads his cheeks apart more as he starts trying to wiggle his tongue inside, but Jungkook is so tight that he can’t. He leans back, massaging his cheeks as he says, “Can you relax for me, my love?” Jungkook takes another steadying breath. Taehyung watches his entrance unclench. “Yeah, just like that, baby. Such a good boy, darling. You’re so, so good. Listen so well. Sound so sweet.”

Jungkook tries to say something, but it cuts off with another cry when Taheyung manages to push his tongue inside of his hole farther. He moves both of his thumbs inward, pressing them in the space above and below his hole as he continues to eat him out like he’s the best thing he’s ever tasted.

Taehyung licks against his walls, feeling on his tongue how beautifully Jungkook opens up for him. He leans back to watch the way his entrance shines with his saliva while massaging around it. “Wish we had lube so I could finger you,” Taehyung says. “I think you’d love it, baby. You sound so pretty right now, can’t even imagine how you’ll sound when you’ve got something inside of you. You’re so beautiful here, love. So perfect.” He could go get lube, but he will not leave this moment for even a second.

Without straightening up or even looking, Jungkook blindly reaches behind himself and opens one of his desk drawers. He noisily feels around until he finds a bottle and hands it to his boyfriend.

“Oh,” Taehyung says with a chuckle, looking down at the lube in his hand. He notices that it’s been opened though, nearly halfway empty. Did… Jungkook use this with someone? It’s in his office, not the bedroom. Did he have sex with someone, or multiple someones, in his office before? He can’t be upset about that, because they weren’t together and he can’t change what’s in the past, and he didn’t do anything wrong or bad. But seeing it right here, in the moment, his stomach hurts.

“T-Tae?” Jungkook says. He looks behind him at Taehyung when the silence stretches on and Taehyung doesn’t do anything with the bottle. Jungkook furrows his eyebrows when he sees him. “Tae?” he says again.

Taehyung shakes his head, trying to whisk it all away. “Sorry, just got distracted,” he says, giving him a weak smile as he uncaps the bottle.

Jungkook studies him, then his eyes go wide while his cheeks also blush. “No, that’s–that’s not why I have lube in here. f*ck,” he groans, hiding his face in his hands, “I’ve jacked off in here a few times before, so that’s why it’s here. I’m the only one who’s used it.”

He sees in the drawer too that there’s a box of disposable plastic gloves, just like he fingered him with yesterday. He realizes Jungkook wears those when he masturbat*s too so he doesn’t have to touch the lube, which is the most adorable thing ever.

“Sorry,” Taehyung mutters, feeling embarrassed.

“Don’t apologize,” Jungkook says, but it fizzles off when Taehyung licks across his hole again. He giggles as he pours lube onto his fingers now.

“Are you ready?” he asks, trying to be as gentle as possible since it’s Jungkook’s first time. Jungkook shakily nods.

With his free hand that’s massaging his cheek, he pulls it aside and circles around his hole with his slicked up fingers. Taehyung already had his tongue inside of him, so he doesn’t waste any time and presses the tip of his finger inside.

“Tae,” Jungkook whimpers quietly. Immediately, “More, more, p-please.”

Taehyung’s certain his smile is huge, feeling giddy that Jungkook is liking this. He pushes the rest of his finger inside until it’s buried, the rest of his knuckles pressed against his ass. “How’s that, angel?” Taehyung asks softly. Jungkook doesn’t say anything. He just jerkily nods. Taehyung giggles to himself and pulls his finger almost all the way out before sinking it inside again, watching it disappear.

“More,” Jungkook says. Taehyung’s eyebrows shoot up. He suspected Jungkook would love it, but he didn’t know he would this much. Then, quietly, “Please,” even though Taehyung would give him anything even if he demanded it.

Taehyung presses a second finger against his entrance and immediately pushes it as far as he can go, two fingers stretching him open now. He can see Jungkook’s stuttering breaths, the way the muscles in his back twitch. He hasn’t even found his prostate yet, so him being like this simply from having two fingers stretching him almost makes Taehyung have the same response.

He starts to slowly finger him, angling his fingers in different directions to try to find what he’s looking for. He knows he’s found it when he has to quickly hook his arm around Jungkook’s hips to keep him standing when his knees give out.

Taehyung giggles, a big smile on his face as he presses against his prostate again and again. He crooks his fingers, flicking against it. “You have to stay standing for me, silly boy,” he says. Jungkook weakly locks his knees again. Taehyung grasps onto his co*ck since his hand is already there, and it’s f*cking dripping wet, throbbing in his hand. “f*ck, Kookie,” he nearly growls. Jungkook really f*cking loves this.

“T-Tae, Tae, I’m–’m already close,” he warns desperately.

“Guess I’ll just have to make my baby boy come then, won’t I?” he says. He leans down closer, then while one hand strokes Jungkook’s pulsing, wet co*ck and the other massages his prostate, he takes Jungkook’s balls into his mouth.

Jungkook wails, his legs shaking as Taehyung presses down harder on his prostate, strokes faster, sucks on his balls as tight as he can as he tugs them away from his body. Jungkook is mindlessly babbling, no words coherent, his voice making his throat raw because of the volume of his sobs, never a break between his cries and his lost words.

Taehyung squeezes his hand tighter and massages in bigger circles inside of him, and he can feel when Jungkook is about to come because he has his balls in his mouth. He can feel them retracting, drawing close to his body, and he can feel them empty when he comes. Jungkook’s cum shoots onto the floor, his body jerking and shaking with every burst of it. Taehyung doesn’t let up until the long streaks of cum turn into little dribbles that slide down onto his fingers.

As carefully as he can, he pulls his fingers out and leans back. He massages around his hole as he stands, trying to gently close it back up so he doesn’t feel like he’s been left gaping.

“Come here, my love, just a few steps,” he says, helping Jungkook walk the few feet away to the red couch in his office. Jungkook collapses down onto it, completely spent. Taehyung sits beside him and immediately pulls him in. He wraps both arms around him, and Jungkook cuddles close, his head hidden in the crook of his neck.

“My baby boy,” Taehyung says softly. “My sweet Kookie. You were so good, my angel. You sounded so beautiful, and you were so sweet too. ‘m so happy I get to make you feel good. You’re the best boy, so special. My good baby boy. I love you, darling, I love you.” He keeps whispering to Jungkook as he holds him, trying to help him calm down and relax. He thinks it works, because just a minute later, Jungkook’s body is slumped against him, giving himself to Taehyung to take care of. Taehyung nuzzles into his sweaty hair. “You cutie pie. I love you. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?”

Jungkook shakes his head. “No. Don’t need anything. Love you.”

“I love you too, baby. So much. Did you like that?”

Despite his nonexistent energy, Jungkook finds some so he can loudly snort. “‘Like’ does not even cover it. Yes, I liked it. f*ck, I can’t believe I haven’t been doing that for forever.”

“Me either,” Taehyung says, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “I’m glad it was good for you though. Always want you to feel good.”

“Feel so good with you.” He nuzzles into him. Tilts his head up to place a kiss on his jaw, then keeps his head there when Taehyung turns to look at him. They lock eyes, and Taehyung feels more adored than he ever has. Jungkook’s cheeks are still flushed, his hairline damp, and his eyes so sweet and trusting. Then his eyes go wide and he says, “Wait, what about you?”

It takes a moment for Taehyung to realize what he means, then he glances down and sees a wet spot on his pants. “Oh, I came in my pants, so I’m good,” he says casually, just like Jungkook did yesterday. They laugh with their foreheads pressed together, their smiles so close before they turn into kisses. Taehyung doesn’t even really remember coming; all of his focus was on Jungkook that he didn’t even really feel what he’s sure was an intense untouched org*sm. “Why don’t we get in the shower to clean up, then we can have some lunch?”

Jungkook hums. “Sounds good.” He rests his head back down though and snuggles closer. “Just wanna stay like this for a little longer though.”

“As long as you’d like,” Taehyung says with a kiss on the top of his head.

– ♡ –

“Hi there,” Jungkook says, leaning against the front desk. Taehyung raises an eyebrow at his tone of voice and crooked smile. “I’m Jeon Jungkook, the editor-in-chief of the town paper, and this is–”

“Taehyung!” the secretary says when she spots him. “How are you, dear? We haven’t seen you in ages!”

“Hi, Sooah-ssi,” Taehyung says kindly, bowing at her. The older woman has her glasses hooked onto her necklace that hangs down her chest, and she puts them on to see her visitor better. Her grey hair has a style only achieved through rollers, and he’s always found it charming that she does her hair that way. She has a bit of lipstick on her teeth as always, with a sweater he thinks she knitted herself. “Sorry, the paper’s just been busy and we haven’t run any articles about the school really, so…”

“Well you know you don’t need an excuse to come see us,” Asami says when she appears at her side of the front desk. She’s a bit younger than her coworker, but probably only by a few years. Her long black hair is in its usual braid that sits on her shoulder, where her dark orange fuzzy cardigan is that he’s never seen her without, because it’s usually a little chilly in the front office. He’s never seen her wearing makeup – a stark contrast to Sooah, who wears a lot of it – nor is she right now, and he’s always thought it’s nice.

“I’ll try to come by more often,” he chuckles. “I can bring you two some snacks since you always work so hard.”

“Oh, Taehyung,” Asami says, looking like she wants to erupt into giggles.

“We’re here for a story, so do you mind if we go on in?”

“No, no, not at all,” Sooah says. “Go right ahead. Make sure to grab a visitor badge.”

Taehyung nods. “It was nice seeing you again,” he says to both of them with a bow, laughing when they coo at him because they very obviously have a soft spot for the charming boy.

He grabs a visitor lanyard and puts it around his neck, then he takes one for Jungkook too. He puts it on for him, and he laughs at Jungkook’s pout. “Oh, stop it, silly. They’re, like, sixty, and I’m gay. And most importantly, I’m yours.”

“You didn’t have to flirt with them,” Jungkook mutters, but Taehyung can tell that he’s not really upset.

“I didn’t flirt with them,” Taehyung laughs. “You didn’t have to approach them like you’re trying to be sly to be let into an underground club. We’re at an elementary school. Were you gonna slide her some money next?”

“Well I don’t know!”

“Maybe if the big editor-in-chief did some groundwork like the lowly journalists do you’d know how to do things like this.”

“Shut up,” Jungkook laughs.

Taehyung wants to reach for Jungkook’s hand as they walk. His hand feels empty when Jungkook is right beside him, but they’re at a children’s school. Even though the hallway is empty, they have to be professional right now.

He’s always liked the nostalgic feeling of being back in schools. The colorful lockers, the bulletin boards lovingly decorated by teachers and filled with art by students. They pass the gym where children are playing red light green light, laughing and jumping excitedly when a few of their classmates are disqualified. They pass the cafeteria with its round tables and lunch workers at the back, working with their hair nets on to feed the children when the hour hits noon. He peeks through the windows or open doors of a few classrooms to find teachers in front of their chalkboard or children with hands raised to answer a question. He remembers all of these things as if he were experiencing them just yesterday, and it’s always a strange but kind of nice feeling to just be an observer now.

He knows the way to the classroom they’re after since he’s been here so many times. He goes over his notes and questions in his head, because sometimes people are less receptive to talking if they see him writing things down, no matter what it’s about. Something about it makes some people nervous, and he understands – even if they’re not being investigated about something and just merely interviewed or asked for a quote.

Taehyung knocks on the open door of an empty classroom – the students probably at the library or the gym or the art room for the special subjects. The teacher looks up from where she was organizing a stack of papers on her desk to prepare for when the students return. She’s quite tall and has an innocent, sweet face, looking exactly like a school teacher in a movie would. She’s dressed casually in high waisted jeans and a t-shirt with the school’s logo on it. Something he’s always liked about this school is that the teachers have no formal dress code – as it should be if they have to wrangle young children all day.

“Hi there,” Taehyung says. “I’m Taehyung, and this is Jungkook. We work for the town’s newspaper. Do you have a moment to talk?”

“Yeah, sure,” she says with a kind smile and a bit of a high-pitched voice. “I have to go pick my student up from the library in a few minutes, but I have time. I’m Tzuyu. Or Miss Chou, or really Miss Chou Chou, as the kids call me,” which Taehyung thinks is absolutely adorable.

While Jungkook takes over and asks her questions unrelated to why they’re there – how she got into teaching, what her favorite part of the job is, what her least favorite part is – Taehyung takes a look around. Her classroom is cute. It's magic forest themed, with drawings of mushrooms and fairies on the walls, different figurines of woodland creatures on the students’ desks for them to fidget with, and a reading area with a rug that looks like moss and pillows that are shaped like leaves.

In the corner, where all of the classroom’s supplies are, he sees a big stack of poster boards, along with glue sticks, markers, and other supplies. He wanders back to his boyfriend and the teacher, and Jungkook wraps up his questions because he can sense Taehyung wants to jump in. They already work so well together; it was a good idea that Jungkook brought him on in this investigation (even if they get distracted more times than they make any progress).

“Are your students working on any projects at the moment?” Taehyung asks. “You have a lot of supplies laid out over there, looks like it’d be for something creative. Based on the look of your whole classroom, it seems like you value creativity and art, and it’s really lovely.”

“Oh!” she says, brightening up. “No, we don’t have any projects planned right now, but some of the teachers and I just got so many supplies that I’ve been trying to think of something I can add to our curriculum before winter break starts.”

“Oh, is the school board finally allocating their money how they should be?” Taehyung says, making his tone of voice jovial so she knows he’s trustworthy because he also dislikes how the school board handles things.

She laughs, hiding her smile behind her hand like she’s trying not to. “No, they’re not,” she says. “To no one’s surprise. One of the teachers here, Mina Myoi, gave a whole bunch to me. I don’t know where she got them, but it was so nice of her and such a big help.”

They wrap up their conversation when the teacher has to go pick her students up, and he and Jungkook quickly make their way through the school, trying to find Mina Myoi’s name on the door to her classroom. And this sets off a chase that seems to have no end in sight.

Mina Myoi was given the supplies by Sana Minatozaki, who was given the supplies by Im Nayeon, who was given the supplies by Kim Dahyun, who was given the supplies by Yoo Jeongyeon, who was given the supplies by Momo Hirai, who was given the supplies by Hwang Hyunjin.

“Are they f*cking with us?” Jungkook says as they make another lap around the school, searching for Hyunjin’s art classroom. “Because this is insane.”

“I don’t think so,” Taehyung says, but he’s unsure. They all seemed so nice and genuine, and he doubts they’ve all communicated about this. “If this is another ‘talk to this teacher’ situation, then we can just call it quits.”

They finally find the art teacher’s classroom. Taehyung is hit with another comforting burst of nostalgia when he walks in. It smells like paint and clay and paper. The walls are decorated with art – varying in skill level, presumably from the lower grades and higher ones as the children get older. There are wrinkled sheets of finger paintings, canvases of acrylic paintings. Drawings that seem to be gifts for the teacher rather than projects. There are clay creations on different shelves, air dried and painted rather than glazed and fired, because an elementary school doesn’t seem like someplace funds would be given for a kiln. Everything is warm colors and warm lighting and a little bit messy, and it feels just like an art room should.

Hwang Hyunjin, Taehyung assumes, looks up when they walk in. He’s standing at one of the art tables, tidying up the paintbrushes there that are strewn about. Taehyung almost wants to stumble back because of how pretty he is. It honestly scares him a little bit.

He’s wearing an outfit that’s a mix of his and Jungkook’s – edgy looking clothes, but in warm colors. He has a paint-stained apron on, and his hair is in a messy half-up ponytail. He looks a little bit as chaotic as his classroom, which makes complete sense when considering he drives and inspires the creative process of messy, energetic children. He has full lips and sharp eyes, made even sharper by the dusting of makeup he has on.

Taehyung is about to greet him and introduce the two of them, but he notices that Hyunjin doesn’t even spare a glance at him. His eyes are set on Jungkook. He watches Hyunjin look Jungkook up and down – not disrespectfully, but taking him in like he’s the artist’s subject.

“Hello,” Hyunjin says in a soft, coy voice. He leans against the table and crosses his arms, looking casual and cool. “Are you here to be my muse?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes so hard he’s surprised they don’t get stuck back there. He looks over at Jungkook to share the same reaction, but then he spots a blush on Jungkook’s cheeks. He stares, his face blank while Jungkook’s face stays towards Hyunjin. “H-Hi,” Jungkook stutters. Taehyung’s lips part as he watches him grow shy. “We’re from the town’s newspaper. Would it be okay if we ask you a few questions?”

It’s different from all of Jungkook’s previous interactions with the other teachers. The introduction, not introducing them by name, not making friendly small talk first.

“You can ask me whatever you’d like,” Hyunjin says. His voice sounds so smooth as he tilts his head to the side with the corner of his lips curved up, a few locks of hair straying from his ponytail to frame his face – somehow looking even more beautiful rather than messy or unkempt.

Taehyung watches Jungkook for his reaction, and Jungkook at least doesn’t show one this time. He does clear his throat though, like he’ll stutter again if he doesn’t.

He stays silent as he watches them talk. As he watches Hyunjin very obviously flirt with Jungkook – needlessly complimenting him in a conversation that shouldn’t even really prompt compliments, but he seems so charming that he could make flirting sound natural and genuine even when talking about school politics.

Jungkook, at least, doesn’t return any of the flirting whatsoever, but his blush is enough to encourage Hyunjin more. Encouraging him to flirt, because Jungkook doesn’t shut it down. He doesn’t introduce Taehyung or even spare him a glance, and neither does Hyunjin. Taehyung just stands to the side, watching them talk – watching Hyunjin fluster his boyfriend.

They get the information they need, but the conversation doesn’t end there. It leads away from newspaper business into regular topics, about themselves, about their lives. Taehyung isn’t really interested in watching his boyfriend blush as he gets flirted with, so he interrupts and says, “Well, I have what I need, so I’ll leave you two to it.” Hyunjin finally looks over at him, like he hadn’t even noticed he was there.

Taehyung glances at Jungkook before he goes. He sees his wide eyes with a confused expression on his face. Taehyung just walks out and turns in the direction of the front office so he can leave. When he turns another corner in the hall and doesn’t hear Jungkook’s footsteps, he figures he can just walk home because it’s not that far.

He doesn’t even know what he’s upset about. He does, because he’s upset about watching Jungkook get shy as he lets someone flirt with him. But he doesn’t know if he’s upset because he’s insecure, or because he’s angry. He doesn’t know which form his jealousy is manifesting in, or even if he’s jealous at all, or just upset.

“Wait, Tae,” he hears, then finally the sound of nearing footsteps jogging to him. Jungkook moves in front of him, making him stop. “Sweetheart?” His eyes are so wide and worried as they search his face.

Taehyung just steps around him because he doesn’t want to talk about it. He definitely does not want to talk about it in an elementary school, but Jungkook takes his wrist and pulls him away. He spots a teachers lounge, which is thankfully empty. Jungkook locks the door behind them just in case, then he turns to him. He hesitantly slides his hand down from his wrist to hold his hand instead.

“Tae?” he asks, sounding unsure.

Taehyung stares at him, just blinking. He wants to stare at him until he grows uncomfortable and squirms. He wants to ask, “Really? Do you really not know what’s wrong?” Wants to ask him if he’s dense, if he somehow didn’t notice Hyunjin flirting with him.

But those things are mean. He told Jungkook that he sometimes has a hard time picking up on tone or reading between the lines, and Jungkook was sweet about it. Even if Jungkook doesn’t have those same problems, he wouldn’t treat him that way. He could never be mean to Jungkook, especially when he’s looking at him like this, like he’s scared.

He sighs. “Hyunjin was flirting with you, and you were blushing,” he says. “And ignoring me. And he’s just… very pretty, like way prettier than me, and he was making you flustered, and I–”

Jungkook cuts him off. “Tae,” he scoffs. Taehyung looks up at him, realizing he dropped his eyes to look at their hands so he didn’t have to look at Jungkook. Jungkook looks angry, looking at him like he’s insane. Taehyung’s stomach drops, thinking Jungkook is mad at him for getting jealous and being immature. “What’s–how are you–are you–what is wrong with you?” Taehyung’s lips part, and tears spring to his eyes. His hands shake, and he tries to pull them from Jungkook’s. Jungkook lets him go, but he puts his hands on his face instead. “Tae, you are the most beautiful thing that has ever existed. How could you say that about yourself? And how could you actually think that? No one in the world comes close to you. You’re unreal, Tae. I have no idea how I got you. You’re never allowed to say someone’s prettier than you ever again, or I’m going to be really mad.”

Taehyung halfheartedly laughs. “You’re much prettier than me,” he says weakly.

Jungkook scoffs again, but it’s much lighter this time. “Never,” he says. “You’re way out of my league. Secondly, you silly little angel, I wasn’t actually flustered or blushing. I thought you knew that.”

Taehyung blinks at him. “What?”

“I thought maybe we’d caught who we’ve been searching for all this time, so I was leaning into it to try to get to him more. I thought you knew.”

Taehyung goes quiet. He searches his face as he replays all of it in his head.

With each new thought, his own face becomes flushed as he grows more embarrassed.

When Jungkook actually blushes and is flustered, he:

• Covers his ears with his hands
• Shifts his weight from foot to foot
  • Before usually leaning on his left foot once he realizes he’s doing it
• Fidgets with his ear piercings
  • Usually the right side, and only when wearing hoops
• Looks at the ground
• Tries to cool his cheeks with his knuckles

With Hyunjin, Jungkook was standing still. He wasn’t fidgeting, and he looked right at his face the whole time.

Taehyung should have known. It’s completely unlike him to not have seen through it because of how closely he knows Jungkook. Jungkook obviously assumed that because of that, he’d know it was all an act – and rightly so for thinking Taehyung was in on it. He thinks he was just disarmed by how pretty the art teacher was.

Jungkook smiles fondly when he can see him figuring it all out in his head. “I didn’t talk about it beforehand as a plan of what to do because I didn’t know he’d be like that, so I was just thinking on my feet. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I never would have done it if I’d known it’d make you feel bad. Everyone is just so… uninteresting to me because I have you.”

“Did you think he was pretty?” Taehyung asks. He inwardly cringes at himself.

“Yeah, he was pretty,” Jungkook answers truthfully. “But so is Jimin, and Yoongi-hyung, and the rest of our friends. But I’m uninterested in any of them, and I’m uninterested in Hyunjin. The only person whose beauty moves me is yours. No one comes close to you. No one could fluster me or make me blush except you. And, for the record, when you left, he realized we were together.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says. “What happened?”

“You walked out, and I watched you go. He could probably sense that I was nervous, and he asked, ‘Are you two…’ and I told him you were my boyfriend. He apologized a million times and kept bowing at me, saying how sorry he was, and that if you wanted to come back he wanted to apologize to you too, and that he never would have said anything or looked at me like that if he’d known we were together.”

Taehyung chuckles. He feels a little bad that he felt so bad, because he really didn’t do anything wrong, was just flirting with a beautiful stranger. He holds onto Jungkook’s wrists to keep his hands there, and he closes his eyes as he nuzzles into his palm, letting himself calm down.

“Am I bad to you?” Jungkook asks quietly.

Taehyung opens his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Just… yesterday, and the past week, when I didn’t notice you were sad… And now this…”

Now it’s Taehyung’s turn to get angry. “Jungkook, you need to call your therapist right now if you think you’re a bad boyfriend.” Jungkook laughs, some of the regret fading from him. “Of course you aren’t, baby. Not because of this, and not because we were busy with work. Doing something here or there that makes me upset doesn’t make you a bad boyfriend, especially when you always fix it right away. You’re not bad at all. We make little mistakes and then we learn and grow. If you didn’t pay attention to me for a while a bunch of more times, then yeah, we’d have to talk about that. But it’s the first time you did that, and I know you won’t again. Little things happen, and we fix them, like right now. Do you think I’m a bad boyfriend for getting jealous?”

“No,” Jungkook says, “I would have gotten jealous too.”

“Then we’re okay.”

Jungkook kisses him, and it feels like it’s been ages. He wants to kiss him more, but they’re in a teachers lounge, so it’s not the time for that.

They go back to the front office and hang up their visitor lanyards. Jungkook starts to pout immediately because the front desk women are going to flirt with his boyfriend. Despite it being silly to have to do (since he’s 1. a hom*osexual and 2. at least thirty years younger than them), Taehyung takes Jungkook’s hand and says to the two women, “He already introduced himself, but this is my boyfriend Jungkook.”

The ladies gasp. They look at Jungkook with renewed interest. “Taehyung,” Asami says, sounding dramatically scandalized, “you’re dating your boss?”

Taehyung laughs, and when he looks over, Jungkook is hiding his ears because of the blush there. “I am,” he says.

“He’s a cute one too,” Sooah says.

Taehyung giggles. “He really is.” He knocks their shoulders together and squeezes his hand. “Well, we have to get back to work, but I promise I’ll stop by soon just so we can catch up.”

“You better!” Asami says. “We might have to replace you with Hoseok.”

They stop themselves from walking out. “Hoseok-hyung?” he asks.

Sooah nods. “He was here the day before yesterday. On some newspaper business.” She shrugs.

“Oh,” Taehyung says, his mind spinning. “Well, I can’t let him replace me, so I’ll be back.”

“You better!” Asami says as they’re walking out.

“And bring hotteok again!”

Taehyung snorts, waving over his shoulder as they walk outside.

As soon as they’re in their car, they turn to each other at the same time, wide-eyed and silent. Taehyung can see in Jungkook’s eyes that he’s going over their notes in his head too. “I wasn’t in on the It’s Hoseok-Hyung agenda, but now…”

“What’d you learn with Hyunjin?”

“He said that he got to work yesterday morning, and he’s usually the first one there every day. Boxes of supplies were left at the door with a note. He showed it to me, and it was typed and said ‘Pass these out to the teachers or students that need them.’ He just passed them along, and teachers gave them to others that needed them. It was snowing that morning, and he said he arrives around six usually, which is before the sunrise, and he said there were footprints in the snow that hadn’t been covered yet. So it happened around that time.”

Taehyung chews on the inside of his cheek as he thinks about everything. They’re quiet when Jungkook starts the car and drives back towards town. He thinks about Hoseok. He thinks about how he acts at work, what he’s up to outside of work. Seeing him at the laundromat, hearing that he was at the school. He knows everybody who lives in their town; he’s a regular at basically every business there. He remembers Jungkook saying before they were together that Hoseok is probably a wealth of knowledge and leads without even knowing because of how connected he is, and now…

As they’re nearing the newspaper’s headquarters, Taehyung sees someone at the mailbox where people drop their advice column questions. He looks away to give them anonymity, but he does a double-take.

“Is that…” Jungkook asks.

“Yeah,” Taehyung says.

Baggy clothes, comfortable and loose but still looking so cool. A curly mullet, head down as he steps away from the mailbox and disappears into the headquarters. Taehyung thinks of one of the coffee shop baristas talking to their coworker, saying that when the back door of the shop was open, they saw someone with long hair quickly running away – suspecting it’s a woman. Hoseok has long hair now, and from the back, depending on what he’s wearing, Taehyung thinks he could be mistaken for one.

Jungkook slows the car to a crawl so they don’t pass the building yet. A handful of seconds later, Hoseok comes back out. He’s carrying bags that look quite heavy, and he places them in his trunk. He goes back inside again and returns a second later, carrying more bags. He does another trip again, returning with more grocery bags.

As he’s closing the trunk, one of the bags starts to spill, and out tumbles a bag of flour. Then another, then another, then another. When Taehyung glances at Jungkook, he can tell he’s also recalling the grocery store, where big quantities of certain stock have gone missing. Not just random things, not whatever the person can grab, but bulks of certain things.

Like flour, maybe.

By the time Jungkook’s car rolls up to the headquarters, Hoseok has driven off. He puts it in park, and they sit there silently. Taehyung finally gets out because he wants to get back to his notes, so he pulls out the key to the mailbox and grabs the few letters that are in there. As soon as Jungkook starts driving, he starts opening them. The first couple are regular advice column submissions, neither of them seeming like something Hoseok would send. When he rips open the third envelope though, he says, “I f*cking knew it.”

On the piece of paper in his hand is typed:

You’re so close. Compile your lists, Taehyung. Put it all together. It’s so easy to figure out. Jungkook should have caught on months ago. You’re both so close.

“That’s the same font on the note Hyunjin showed me,” Jungkook says. The font isn’t the standard default font that’s on computers. Nothing outlandish or flamboyant, but just slightly different from the usual.

Compile your lists.

It has to be Hoseok; Hoseok knows these things about him.

“Why should you have caught on months ago?” he asks as they’re walking up the snowy path to Jungkook’s house.

“I don’t know,” Jungkook says. They kick the snow off their boots and unwrap their scarves, hang up their coats. “I’ll have to go look back at everything I have too, separate from this. See if something ties to Hoseok-hyung. I don’t want to go over there unless we’re certain.”

Taehyung nods, only half listening now that he has his laptop in his lap and starts to pull everything up. He cracks his neck, rolls back his shoulders. His head is tilted up, and a kiss is pressed onto his forehead. He smiles into the one against his lips, and he gets started.

He first starts making a loose list to get all of his thoughts out. He thinks of all the disjointed ways Hoseok could tie into this without worrying about organizing them together yet.

• Hoseok knows everyone in town – people from every class, gender, age bracket, etc. He knows who is mean, who is rich, who’s a bad person: all things that could be used to determine who it’s okay to steal from.
• Hoseok knows the store owners, shopkeepers, and employees, and could easily figure out their schedules, how exactly they do their jobs and when is the best time to enact his plans.
• Hoseok knows I run the advice column and would check the mailbox.
• Hoseok knows I make lists.
• Hoseok was seen at the laundromat, trying to hide himself.
• Hoseok had bags of groceries – multiples of the same item.
• Hoseok was at the school on the day the supplies were delivered.

The list goes on and on and on. Hoseok is the exact person who could pull all of this off. He knows everyone in town, somehow always knows all the town gossip. He could easily slip in and out of places. He’s so pure and sweet that someone possibly seeing him somewhere he shouldn’t be wouldn’t even raise any alarm bells. He looks like he belongs everywhere so much that seeing him somewhere isn’t odd, especially when anybody who did see him would perk up and want to talk.

But even with every arrow pointing at him, it just doesn’t seem like Hoseok to do this. Taehyung finds it hard to believe that he could ever steal anything from anyone, even something small, let alone multiple trips stealing a large quantity of things.

It’s him though. It has to be. He’s certain. Every single part of the investigation has a Hoseok tie-in.

Taehyung jumps, almost knocking his laptop away when Jungkook speaks. He’d forgotten he was even here. Jungkook doesn’t even notice his jumping either, so deep in trying to figure everything out too. “‘Months ago when I should have figured it out,’ I was working on a story with Hoseok. We were doing something like the ones we’ve done of ‘fun things to do here with kids,’ ‘the best date spots in the city,’ things like that, but less fun. Do you remember what I’m talking about?”

Taehyung nods. “I don’t remember the title, but it was about the functional places in town. The laundromat, the gas station, the grocery stores. There was a section about the schools too – just an emphasis on the places that aren’t ‘fun’ and glamorous.” Jungkook nods. “Why was Hoseok-hyung a part of that though? I don’t remember.”

“He initially said he got a surplus of tickets to something, I don’t remember what – maybe the spa in the bigger city? Yeah, I think it was that. He wanted to give them out to the people who work at those places, people that get overlooked but are important to the community. There are always little perks that the bakery gets, or the booksellers, but who ever thinks about the people who run the laundromat or the gas station, you know? So that’s what he wanted to do, and I suggested writing a feature on those people while we’re at it, so they get extra recognition and appreciation. That’s what he’s referring to, when I should have figured it out months ago.”

Taehyung smiles to himself. That definitely is a very Hoseok idea.

“So it’s him,” he says. “We figured it out.”

Jungkook nods. “Yeah, I think it’s him.”

Big smiles grow on their faces as they get more and more hyped. “It’s him,” Taehyung nearly shouts, his heart thumping. He can’t believe they figured it out; he honestly didn’t have much faith in them. It’s not like they were ever vigilant or as dedicated as they would have liked to have been – which Hoseok knows, because he knows they got together during the course of this investigation and got thrown off course, which is why he started trying to reel them back in. “Now what? Now what do we do?” Taehyung is almost shaking.

Jungkook glances at his laptop. “There’s ten minutes left in the work day, so I think once the clock hits five, we go over to his place and tell him we know.”

Taehyung starts stomping his socked feet against the floor, feeling like he’s buzzing with energy that’s going to come bursting out. Jungkook looks the same when he pops out of his seat and starts walking through the house – doing nothing, just needing to get it out.

“He’s definitely expecting us,” Taehyung says. “He knew we were catching on. I can’t wait to see his face.” He giggles, an almost evil edge to it because of how charged up he feels. Neither he nor Jungkook are investigative journalists (a fact that is very clear through the messiness of this investigation), so this seems like an extra huge win.

“Let’s go,” Jungkook says when he appears after another lap through the house. “It’s not time yet, but we should walk there. I have too much energy.”

“Yes, yes, okay, same,” Taehyung says. They quickly put their boots back on. They bundle up extra warm since night has fallen and it’s colder than before. They venture out of Jungkook’s house wrapped in scarves and topped with hats. The temperature feels nice though in the state they’re both in.

Hoseok’s house isn’t too far from Jungkook’s, and the walk is much shorter than usual because of how quickly they’re charging over there. They definitely slip and slide along the way though as they barrel down the snowy and icy sidewalks.

Taehyung sees the cute yellow house come into view, with warm lights shining through the windows. From outside, he can see Hoseok in his kitchen. They stomp up the path to his house and ring the doorbell. Taehyung wants to just barge in, but Jungkook holds him back.

“Oh, hi!” Hoseok says, brightening up when he opens the door. “What are you guys doing here? Come in, it’s cold.”

They wordlessly enter his house and respectfully take off their shoes, then they turn to him. The both of them have their arms crossed, and Hoseok silently looks between them, from their domineering stance to their stoic faces.

“Is… everything okay?” Hoseok asks, eyes wide. He’s wearing a different outfit from earlier – all black, something that he would be wearing if he were getting ready to go out and do his sneaky business. His hair is longer than Taehyung realized too, fitting the description of someone who spotted him.

Taehyung studies his face. He watches his body language closely when Jungkook says, “We know it’s you.”

Hoseok looks between the two of them. “You know… what’s me?”

Taehyung was expecting he’d own up to it. If he’s been taunting them through letters, he assumed once he was finally caught he’d immediately give in because he was wanting them to catch him. “The person who’s been taking things around town. Leaving us letters.”

Hoseok’s eyes dart between the two of them again. He looks genuinely lost, like he has no idea what they’re talking about. Taehyung doesn’t believe the act. He’s certain it’s Hoseok; everything points to it being Hoseok, so he doesn’t know why he’s still keeping up the charade. “Taking what around town? And what letters? The little notes I leave on your guys’ desk sometimes?”

“Hyung, we know it’s you,” Taehyung says.

“You know what’s me?!” Hoseok says again, eyes widening as they watch him in silence.

“Let’s sit down,” Jungkook says. He walks into the dining room while Hoseok follows him silently. He sits down, and Jungkook sits across from him while Taehyung stays standing off to the side, his arms crossed.

“Seriously, guys, what’s going on?” Hoseok asks.

“Why were you at the headquarters today?” Jungkook asks. “When we were all working from home today?”

“Was I not supposed to go there?” Hoseok asks, sounding nervous.

“Answer the question.”

Hoseok’s eyes suddenly go wide again. “Am I being fired?” he asks quietly.

“No, of course not,” Jungkook says, his voice softening. Hoseok’s shoulders sag in relief.

“Yoongi-hyung and Jimin asked me to get something for them there because they knew I was leaving my house during my lunch break, so I stopped to pick it up for them.”

“What were you picking up?”

“There was a key ring in Yoongi-hyung’s desk. He said an extra key to his apartment was on there that he wanted to give to Jimin.”

Taehyung watches the short twitch of Jungkook’s lips, identical to his own thinking of Yoongi giving Jimin a key to his place. “Why were you messing with the mailbox where advice column submissions go?”

“There was snow on the top, and whenever I’m there, I brush the snow away before it can melt and drip into the mail slot and get everything in there wet.”

“Why did you have groceries with you?” Jungkook says.

“...Because I went grocery shopping…” Hoseok says.

“Why did you have bags full of the same item?”

“How do you even know that?”

“Answer the question.”

“Because I’m baking something to bring to the ski lodge for all of us. Well, trying to. I had to buy a lot since there’s a lot of us, and because I’m not good at baking so I knew I would have to start over a bunch of times when I mess up.”

“You were in the laundromat that one night.”

“Yeah? We talked.”

“Why were you there?”

“I told you my washing machine is broken. I still don’t have one.” Taehyung walks away to where he knows Hoseok’s laundry room is. It’s quite messy, with colorful clothes strewn about, but there indeed is not a washer there.

“Why were you at the school yesterday?” Jungkook asks once Taehyung returns.

“The school is doing a fundraiser. Whoever’s class raises the most money wins something, so I was dropping off tickets I got for the children’s play that’s coming to town so the winner could win tickets to it.”

Jungkook stares him down.

Taehyung does too.

Hoseok starts to squirm.

Taehyung and Jungkook glance at each other.

Taehyung sighs, and Jungkook scrubs his hands down his face.

“Is it really not you?” Jungkook whines, his serious exterior broken.

“Is what not me?” Hoseok asks desperately.

“Do you swear on your life it’s not you?”

“I don’t want to swear on my life when I don’t know what you’re talking about! What if whatever you’re talking about is me and I die?!”

Taehyung sighs. “It’s not him,” he says to Jungkook.

Jungkook bends over, his forehead on his crossed arms as he groans. “Now what?” he whines.

Taehyung sighs again. “Back to square one I guess.”

“Guys,” Hoseok whines. “Seriously, what are you talking about?”

Jungkook groans some more, then he sighs when he leans back. He glances at Taehyung, wordlessly asking if they should tell him. Taehyung shrugs. “Over the summer…” Jungkook starts.

– ♡ –

An hour later, with a nearly-empty plate of bukkumi between them all, Jungkook melts back in his chair. Seeing Hoseok’s reactions to the story was hilarious and endearing, and confirmed that he’s really not who they’ve been searching for. He giggled and laughed hearing them tell him the connections they made between everything and him. “That really is crazy,” Hoseok says. “I can see why you’d think it was me, because I’d make the connections too. I definitely seem like the person. But I pinky promise it’s not me. I can’t believe you guys have been doing this all this time without anyone knowing.”

“Well whoever we’re searching for does know,” Taehyung says. “Do you have any ideas?”

Hoseok shakes his head. “None at all. I wish I could be more helpful, but I couldn’t even make a guess.”

Once the plate of bukkumi has been empty due to their furious snacking, they finally leave Hoseok’s house after several apologies – Hoseok promising that he’s not upset and rather very entertained and happy to have the silly memory.

“Now what?” Taehyung asks as they’re walking down the sidewalk back towards Jungkook’s place. It’s darker than before now that evening has passed into nighttime. It’s not snowing, but there are still inches of it in people’s yards, sparkling in their porch lights. It lines the bare branches of the trees around them, where birds once perched before the season changed.

“No idea,” Jungkook says. “Honestly, I just want to give it up.”

“Yeah, me too…” Taehyung says. He just feels disappointed and resigned. “At least we got something out of it.”

Jungkook looks over. Head tilted to the side, “What’d we get?”

“This, silly,” Taehyung says, knocking their shoulders.

“Oh yeah,” Jungkook giggles. He wraps his arm around Taehyung’s shoulders and pulls him close. “Definitely worth it. I do not mind losing at this when I won you along the way.”

“Do you want to sleep over at my place or y–wait, what is that?”

He stops them in their tracks. Jungkook follows his gaze, and every part of him freezes. “Is that–Tae, wait!” Taehyung doesn’t wait for Jungkook; he takes off sprinting towards the elementary school where someone, concealed by a black hoodie with the hood up and a face mask on their face, is walking hunched over from the doors of the school back to their car that’s still running.

The person’s head snaps up at the sound of heavy footsteps through the snow, but Taehyung can’t make out any part of their face between the hood and the mask and the dark shadows. The person freezes for a moment, then they turn around and take off running – strangely in the opposite direction of the stalled car. They sprint through the playground. They weave around the swings, beneath the slide, under the monkey bars while the snowy mulch under their feet gets kicked up as they run.

“Stop!” Taehyung shouts, because he’s not going to let them get away when they’re right here. The person runs under the stairs that lead up to the next level of the playground, and the masked thief giggles because of the chase. Taehyung gasps so loud that he hurts his lungs when he inhales the cold air. “No,” he gasps again as the very familiar giggles turn into very familiar cackles. “I can’t believe you!” Taehyung shouts. He tackles Jimin to the ground as Jimin lets him roll him over, giggling so much his eyes are closed. “What is–you–how are–what?!” He looks over his shoulder, and he sees Jungkook swinging gently on the swing beside Yoongi, their feet on the ground as they just sway back and forth.

Taehyung stands and stomps over to them. He shoves Jungkook hard, but Jungkook holds onto the swing’s chains before he can go tumbling off. “Jungkook!” Taehyung says. He feels so betrayed. “You said you weren’t–” His voice cracks, feeling like a f*cking idiot.

“I wasn’t!” Jungkook says, eyes as wide as the full moon they’re under. “I promise! I swear! I was not in any part of this. When you ran off and I ran after you, I saw Yoongi get out of the car and realized it was them, so I let you chase Jimin because I knew it wasn’t dangerous and I wanted you to catch him.”

Taehyung searches his face. Jungkook looks desperate for him to believe him. “He really wasn’t part of this,” Yoongi says. “Not at all.”

Taehyung sighs in relief. “Okay,” he says. Then more sheepishly, “Sorry for pushing you…”

Jungkook chuckles. “It’s okay,” he says, taking his hand to squeeze it. Then Taehyung turns around and stalks toward Jimin, where he’s gotten up off the ground and is brushing snowy wood chips off of himself. “Jimin! What the hell?!”

“I was barely part of this either! Not until the last month, and what the hell at you?! You’ve been doing this for this long and didn’t tell me?!” He doesn’t sound mad at all; he’s just laughing through it. Taehyung calms down because they were both keeping things from each other.

Taehyung’s mind races. He thinks through everything they know and tries to see how Yoongi and Jimin fit into it, but he was too blindsided by the discovery to even see any connections right now that he’s sure are quite obvious now that they know.

They can all see Taehyung getting overwhelmed, so Jimin takes his hand and says, “C’mon, let’s go to my place.”

Their hands swing between them as they all walk to what he now realizes is Yoongi’s car, and he and Jimin slide into the back together. Jimin takes the middle seat and cuddles up to Taehyung, and Taehyung begrudgingly wraps his arm around him. He’s not upset; he mostly finds it funny now that the surprise has passed.

“You’re lucky I love you,” Taehyung mumbles, holding Jimin tighter.

“You’re lucky I love you,” Jimin says, poking him in the ribs. “I can’t believe you were keeping a secret from me.”

“It wasn’t even a secret,” Taehyung says. “I probably would’ve told you if you asked me if something was up. And you were keeping a secret from me.”

Jimin huffs. “Then we’re even.” Taehyung grunts. “I love you.”

Taehyung huffs a laugh. “I love you too.” They both laugh when they realize Jungkook and Yoongi are very much not having this type of conversation, or any type of conversation at all, which doesn’t surprise them – just letting their boyfriends have their usual Romantic Friendship moment.

Just like earlier with Hoseok, they’re soon sitting around the table together, this time with a plate of mandu between all of them. As Yoongi is explaining everything, Jimin gets up, then he returns with a blank notebook and a pencil to hand to Taehyung. Taehyung almost breaks down sobbing. “Thanks…” he says quietly because he really will cry if he says it any louder, and he gratefully takes it from him. He opens it to a new page, then he starts to write. Because, of course, as was said in the letter and should have been a dead giveaway for him, Jimin knows about his lists and always provides him with the materials to write them.

He blocks everything out as he writes things down, then he interrupts them to ask the questions he has so he can organize them all together.

Guilty: Min Yoongi & Park Jimin

When did this start? A couple weeks before Jungkook noticed, at the beginning of June.

Why did this start? Yoongi-hyung was taking photos for the newspaper. He was in town, and he heard two parents talking about how they were going to have to try to find a way to put together enough money to buy groceries as their children played at the park. On top of not being able to afford much, they would have to walk to the store and carry the groceries home, because their car didn’t have gas. Yoongi-hyung himself didn’t have money to give to them, but he did have the skills to get what they needed anyway. It started with little things – groceries, gas, etc. – but evolved into more as he heard from more families on that side of town.

• “Just because they’re poor doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have small luxuries, so if I was stealing things, why wouldn’t I take good stuff? They don’t deserve only the bare minimum, especially not when what I could take could be from the businesses the wealthy people go to – which are run by more wealthy people, so I felt absolutely zero guilt stealing from the spa or the coffee shop where the owners don’t even try to hide how they view the people who can’t afford to shop at those places.”
• Regarding the schools: “That was Jimin’s idea. He was at one of the town hall meetings where they talked about even more budget cuts for the schools and teachers, and it’s just not fair. Earlier that day too, the owner of the stationary store bumped into him on the sidewalk and didn’t apologize. He was angry about it, so he suggested taking things for the teachers both out of kindness and out of spite.”

At what point did Jimin join this? A week before we received the first letter. This was during the time we went to the art studio with Jimin and Yoongi (unrelated, just noted for the timeline), when I started to suspect Jungkook when the grocery store manager approached me, when we sat outside the laundromat and were too distracted with each other to see that someone took the blankets from our load of laundry, and when we noticed things were being stolen based on the seasons. This is when the frequency and scale of things escalated, which makes sense considering it was now a two-person job.