Work Text:
One.
“Jungkookie~” Two arms snake across his waist, and Jungkook jumps as a warm figure presses close to him. He turns his head to a sweetly smiling Taehyung, a twinkle in his eyes in greeting.
“Oh, hyung?” His response sounds more of a question than a reply.
“Whatcha’ dooooiiing.”
“Trying to get ready to go to the gym?” Jungkook furrows his eyebrows. His nose wrinkles unconsciously with the motion, and Taehyung’s grin gets larger at the sight. “I haven’t been able to since I didn’t plan my time well this week.”
“You mean, played Overwatch to the point where you had to pull two all-nighters in a row?”
Jungkook doesn’t even bat an eyelash. Doesn’t even look guilty. “Yup.” And then, after a silent pause from the two of them. “Are you… are you gonna let me go?”
“Nope,” Taehyung says. “Why would I?”
“So I can go to the gym..?”
“But I like holding you like this, Jungkookie, you should just stay here.”
Jungkook blinks three times, eyes flitting about as he presses his lips together. The awkward phase seems to be coming up. “Uhm. But I. Exercise?”
“Can’t you just do it here? I’m bored and I want company,” Taehyung pouts. And then, with a more secretive smile, he leans in to whisper, “I can help you with your exercise, you know.”
Jungkook stares at him with wide eyes, before his lips curl into a smirk, and he begins to laugh. The mocking kind of laugh, when a person emphasizes every syllable, each sound that leaves his mouth. “Hah. Hah. Hah,” he laughs. “Can you even lift, hyung?”
The look on Taehyung’s face is unamusement at its finest degree. “You are so friggin dumb,” he says as he unwraps his arms from the other, and Taehyung pushes Jungkook towards the door like he can’t wait for him to disappear. “Go. Go to your gym, muscles for brains. My delicate heart can’t take this much stupidity at once.”
“What did I do?!” Jungkook calls, offended. Taehyung shoves him harder towards the door, kicking at his feet.
“Get out, I’m going to have a sad movie binge with Jiminie, get out.”
“I’m not stupid!” Jungkook cries again. “How in the world do you ever think you could help me, you don’t even match my--” he pauses for a minute, an idea seeming to form in his head. “Wait, wait wait--” he calls, waving Taehyung’s hands away from batting at his face. “I’m a genius!”
“Tell me that again when you pass Math II--ah!” Taehyung sounds in surprise as Jungkook pulls him in close by two arms, wrapping Taehyung back around him. Taehyung stands, a little disoriented and a little stunned as Jungkook shifts within his hold. “Uhm, Kookie?” he calls softly.
“Don’t let go, Tae,” Jungkook replies, and Taehyung can feel the heat creeping up his neck and kissing up his face. He smiles behind Jungkook’s back.
“Oh,” he breathes. “Okay.” And buries his nose a little deeper into the fabric of the younger’s shirt. Smells the detergent and faint fragrance of the sea from Jungkook’s soap. Taehyung feels his smile becoming crooked, and he holds on a little tighter as Jungkook begins to bend down onto the ground. “What are you doing.”
“Hold on tight, I have a plan!”
“No, really, what are you arghugh--”
The next thing he knows, Taehyung is staring blankly at the legs of the coffee table they have in their shared apartment, eyes dull and face schooled into a blank expression. His cheek is pressed to the flat of Jungkook’s back as the other does pushups beneath him, dropping down and rising again in rhythm. “Oh man, you’re right, hyung, you’re a really good weight for this.”
Lord. Why.
“You think I could try some squats after?”
Taehyung stares blankly at the wooden legs of the table.
--
Two.
“He’s so. Damn. Stupid!” Taehyung bangs his fists down onto the wooden table. Jimin flinches, leaning back from the sound with a grimace.
“Dude, I told you that a long time ago. Just confess to him already.”
“I can’t!” Taehyung sighs, throwing himself onto the table headfirst. He stops himself from slamming his forehead into the surface just in time, and Jimin breathes a sigh of relief. “I don’t even know if he likes me. Is he being like this to me on purpose? Or am I really just not on his radar? I don’t even know anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s either of them,” Jimin suggests.
“UGH, JEON JUNGKOOK IS SO. UGH.”
“What about me?” The two of them jump in time to Jungkook setting down his cup of coffee on the table, swinging a chair in his direction and looking to and from Jimin to Taehyung, eyes questioning.
“I said, what about me?”
“Nothing!” The both of them shout at the same time, but the panic is way too obvious from the screaming, and Jungkook looks even more suspicious as Jimin slaps Taehyung and Taehyung punches Jimin’s arm.
“Oooookaaay,” he raises an eyebrow. “Now I really want to know. What are you saying about me?”
“It’s nothing, really!”
“Is it bad?”
“No, it’s nothing--”
“Good stuff?”
“Really good stuff,” Jimin mumbles, but unfortunately Jungkook hears him.
“Really good stuff? What really good stuff?”
“Oh shoot, you weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“Jimin, shut up!”
“Come on,” Jungkook wiggles his eyebrows teasingly. “What good stuff?”
“I don’t know, why don’t you ask Taehyung?”
“Ohhhh?” Jungkook smiles that smug, infuriating smile, leaning in close. His confident gaze turns Taehyung to jelly, and he whispers into his ear playfully. “What is it?”
“It’s none of your business!” Taehyung cries, panic welling up in his system. He must’ve said it a lot more hostile than he’d wanted, because Jungkook draws back in shock at the tone and Jimin is shooting him a glare like he means to kill. Suddenly the place is a little more awkward, and his mouth opens and closes as he tries to find the words to say.
“Uh,” Jungkook says smartly, eyes flitting anywhere but. He brings a hand to the back of his hair, like the situation wasn’t bad enough already. “Sorry, hyung.”
“No…” Taehyung starts, a sinking feeling in his stomach. No, the last thing he’d wanted was for Jungkook to look so upset. “That’s not what I meant, I was just a little carried away and--”
Jungkook offers him a small smile (to the side, Jimin looks even more exasperated). “It’s cool, sorry for pushing. You’re getting out late tonight, right? I have to get to class now, but I’m done pretty early for the day, so I can bring something back for you.” And just like that, Taehyung’s chance to apologize is gone, and he can only stare on in horror as Jungkook pats him and Jimin on the shoulder, before picking up his cup and turning away.
Jimin’s still looking at him, and he sighs. “Nice going, dumbass,” he says. For once, Taehyung agrees.
He stares after Jungkook’s retreating back, and then begins to follow him. “No, wait, Jungkook--” If there’s anything he can do, it’s at least--
His hand wraps around a thin wrist, and Taehyung pulls, desperation on the tip of his tongue. But Jungkook doesn’t turn around. Instead, it’s Taehyung who is pulled forward, legs lifting off the floor as some monstrous strength drags him forward, and he stumbles to the ground with an “oomph--!”
Jungkook stares down at him with eyes as wide as saucers, Taehyung will hear from Jimin later on, but for now his head is buried into his arm, smelling the faint dirt and grime of shoes and dirty mop water. He refuses to get up, even when Jungkook gasps and falls to his side in concern.
“Tae!” he cries, disbelief in his voice. “Are you okay?”
“I…” Taehyung mumbles, and Jungkook leans closer. “I need you…”
“You need me…?”
“I need you...to leave...please...”
--
Three.
Taehyung knows this: the bus is slightly crowded, not to the point where even a sharp turn wouldn’t cause any movement, but enough that he’s standing uncomfortably with his arm arched over his head to try and hold onto a pole while his feet are too close together to be stable.
Jungkook sits in front of him, carrying both of their bags as he scrolls his phone lazily in one hand, one ear plugged. He’d won rock paper scissors, luckily, and Taehyung regrets not taking advantage of Jungkook’s kindness and just snatching the seat the moment he’d got on.
But it’s okay, because standing like this makes it easier for Taehyung to seem like he’s trying to avoid awkward eye-contact with strangers when in reality he’s gazing at the sharpness of Jungkook’s face, or the way his eyes are slightly drooping in exhaustion but still big and clear.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious, Taehyung thinks to himself, if the bus just did a rather sharp turn that flung him onto the younger’s lap right about now.
He thinks it, and then immediately smiles at the thought. Jungkook would probably be strong enough to catch him in his arms, with all the exercise he gets on a daily basis. Maybe if he was worried enough he’d hold Taehyung a little closer just to be safe.
But of course, this is Jungkook they’re talking about here. If anything, he’d just give Taehyung his seat instead. His desperation is starting to show.
This time, Jungkook looks up and catches Taehyung’s heavy sigh to himself, and he raises a brow in confusion. “What’s up?” he asks.
“Nothing,” Taehyung shakes his head. “I’m just. You know, tired.”
The younger keeps staring at him though, his eyes bright and pretty, and Taehyung feels himself heating up at the attention. “Really,” he mumbles, clutching tighter to the handle on the pole. Gosh, he kind of wants to kiss Jungkook’s eyelids. Is that weird? That’s weird, isn’t it?
“Hyung, why don’t you--”
Just as he thinks it, however, the bus suddenly jerks to the right as a car tries to cut in line, and feeling the panic take over his reflexes Taehyung holds on tighter to the handle of the bus rather than living out his fantasy. He would have regretted it later, if not for the slow motion that plays out in front of him.
Instead of him falling, Jungkook lurches from his seat, muscled body heavy enough to burrow past the few people standing in the aisle and landing face flat on the floor, legs kicked up and arms sprawled out in front of him like a webtoon character.
Taehyung gapes, along with everyone else on the bus, at the crazy scene while Jungkook stays on the ground. He can see the younger’s ears so red they could match his lips, and nobody moves until the bus driver screams from the front, eyes trained on his mirror while his hands expertly maneuver the bus to a stop by the side of the street.
“Hey, kid! You alright back there?!”
Jungkook shakily pushes himself to a stand, eyes not meeting anyone’s as he pretends to dust himself off.
“Jung-Jungkook--” Taehyung starts, but then the doors open to let people out and without looking back Jungkook dashes off the bus, jumping so far he lands halfway onto the sidewalk and sprinting his way down without looking back.
Taehyung gapes, again, and he looks up front to where the bus driver is gaping at the open door before quickly bending down to pick up their bags and rushing out of there himself.
--
Four.
“Stop laughing!” Jungkook groans, as Taehyung howls next to him. He’s been laughing for the past three minutes straight, and it’s gotten to the point where he looks kind of like a lunatic, his feet so weak with laughter that he wobbles down the road. Jungkook holds onto both of their bags after Taehyung had dropped them, laughing too hard to find his strength.
People passing by stare at the two of them with weird looks, and Jungkook feels himself turning red again even after he’s sure the bus has disappeared from view (and, as a result, his conscious mind).
“God, shut the hell up, Tae,” he hisses as Taehyung wheezes for air, trying to wipe a tear from his eye.
“I can’t believe you,” is the first coherent thing that comes out of his mouth. “You were sitting! How did you even fall?”
“I was trying to offer my--” Jungkook splutters to a stop, and then smacks Taehyung’s bag to his chest, hard. Taehyung wheezes for a different reason this time. “Never mind, douche. Take your bag back.”
“No, you asshole,” Taehyung counters just as quickly, shoving the bag back. “You made me run after you for five whole blocks before you remembered to stop. I’m tired.”
“You didn’t have to run after me.”
“I had your bag.”
“What, what do you want me to do about it, do you want me to carry you?”
Taehyung scoffs. “Just keep your energy to walk home, idiot. We got off three stops early because of you, and since I don’t want to waste more money for the--”
“What, you think I can’t carry you?”
“--bus fare, we are walking the rest of the way.”
Taehyung stops when he realizes Jungkook isn’t walking next to him anymore. He turns around with a frown. “What?”
“You think I can’t carry you?” Jungkook repeats, competitiveness firing up in his blood again. Taehyung groans.
“Why are you like this? I didn’t say that, I said--”
“I can totally carry you, hyung! You’re light as a feather!”
“NO, I SAID--” Taehyung cuts himself off, mouth still open and brows still furrowed. Jungkook’s angry pout turns confused as his hyung slowly schools his face into something much harder to read.
Now that he thinks about it, Jungkook carrying him...wasn’t such a bad idea. Jungkook himself is pretty enthusiastic about it, and honestly, Taehyung would give his left shoe to be able to get just a little bit closer to his crush. Friggin dumb Jeon Jungkook, making him go to such desperate lengths like these.
Jungkook waves a hand to his face. “What’s wrong with you?” he asks, and Taehyung leans back with an innocent look.
“You know what?” he asks. “Fine.”
“...Fine?”
“Fine. Carry me. If you can carry me the rest of the way home, I’ll admit you’re strong.”
Jungkook narrows his eyes and tilts his head, seeming to sense suspicious activity in the air, but Taehyung’s more experienced at this game. He thrusts his nose up in fake stride. “I mean, if you’re tired then that’s fine, I can just--”
“No, what the hell? I can do it!”
Bingo.
Pressing his lips together, Taehyung nudges his head to tell Jungkook to go ahead, and with a deep breath the younger swallows, looking around a little self-consciously before he steps into Taehyung’s space. This close, Taehyung can feel the warmth of his skin, and it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He feels a hand brushing the side of his waist, and his heart drums with anticipation.
The world spins, so quickly that a feeling of nausea bubbles its way up his stomach. The wind is knocked out of him, and when Taehyung comes to the blood in his brain seems to be flipped over and everything is dizzy. There’s a blurriness in his vision that he finally realizes is a mop of his bangs, and that’s when he gets it. He’s upside down right now. Or, well, halfway.
“Jungkook!” He screeches, beginning to thrash against the hold. Jungkook stumbles, but steadies himself pretty quickly, holding Taehyung tighter on his shoulder. “Let me down!”
“No, you potato sack, I told you I could do it!”
“This isn’t what I had in mind!” Taehyung screeches, but Jungkook is much stronger than him, and exponentially so when he’s flung over his shoulder like this, and Taehyung resigns himself to a life of misery and humiliation as he sees people snickering quietly as they pass.
“I got this, hyung, just trust me.”
He groans, and gives in to fate, trying to ease the nausea built inside him by at least lifting his head upright.
Lo and behold, right as he does so a bus passes by the two of them, and Taehyung’s eyes meet with Jimin’s through the window, face scrunched into what must be the most judgmental grimace that has ever been known to man.
Jimin’s face zooms by in a flash, and then it is gone, and Taehyung groans even louder, dropping his head back towards the ground like a corpse. His best friend was so not going to let him live this down.
--
Five.
Jimin keeps laughing, so hard, in fact, that no sound comes out and he’s fallen off the sofa and his face has suddenly dropped to a new low level of hideousness, gaining at least ten more wrinkles and so red tomatoes would be jealous.
Taehyung has his arms crossed on the couch, glaring so hard that chickens would roast under his gaze.
The two of them had crashed at Jungkook’s house after the man began to drip down his clothes on the way back, as it was the closest. He’d given Taehyung a spare change of clothes, but refused to get onto any part of his furniture without dumping his clothes in the wash and his body in the shower first. Jimin had come over just as he was about to enter the bathroom, and he and Taehyung sit watching the television and munching on sugar while they wait for the youngest to clean himself.
“I can’t--” Jimin gasps, reaching for anything solid to hold on to, “this is so funny I think I’m going to pass out.”
Taehyung doesn’t say anything, watching as Jimin pushes himself back onto the sofa, stopping the conversation in order to down half a bottle of water before he finally turns back to Taehyung. “I told you! Just tell him! Jungkook’s too stupid to get it any other way!”
“At the rate we’re going down, I don’t think he’ll get it even if I told him. Jimin! Hit me.” He holds a hand out, and Jimin hands him a cookie from the table, which he promptly shoves into his mouth.
“I think at this point, you might as well just walk into him in the shower and tell him you want to suck his ding-dong.”
“Ding-dong?” Taehyung repeats, unimpressed.
“****.”
“UGH! I THOUGHT YOU WERE INNOCENT!”
“YOU MADE ME SAY IT!”
They calm down by cramming more cookies into their mouths. Taehyung chews angrily while he stares at the TV screen in front of them, watching as the secondary male character follows the main female lead around like a lost puppy. He feels like a lost puppy right now, in fact. Stupid Jungkook and his stupid oblivious brain, stupid handsome face, stupid kind eyes and stupid kinder personality, stupid stupid stupid stupid--
“You’re right,” he mumbles. Jimin doesn’t hear him, too busy scrolling on his phone. He hums for Taehyung to repeat himself. “I’m going to do it!” He screams, and Jimin jumps, a quarter of a cookie falling from his mouth to the ground.
“I’m going to walk in on Jungkook naked,” he announces, just as Jimin screams back a “What?!?!”
“You said it, Jiminie, he’s oblivious. I’ve tried everything, and he still doesn’t--”
“No, hold up, you did not try everything, you’ve been trying stupid stuff, when all you have to do is tell him!”
“I don’t care what you say! You’re right! There’s no way he’ll get it! I have to be unconventional!”
Jimin falls onto the couch in exasperation. “Why are you so extra?! Oh my gosh. I swear, you two are both made for each other, you’re both so dumb--” but Taehyung’s not even listening anymore. Taehyung’s jumping to his feet, eyes set with determination as he stomps towards the bathroom, hands reaching for the handle.
When he twists it, it’s unlocked, and all the courage seeps out of him. Why doesn’t this guy lock his door? He looks back at Jimin, who is now hiding behind open fingers as he watches. Taehyung shakes his head; Jimin thrusts his head at the door, telling him to do it. ‘Abs,’ he mouths.
With a gulp, he turns back around and barges in, and Jungkook stumbles towards the wall, his hands automatically going up to wrap around his wetsuit.
Taehyung’s mind goes ‘????’
Jungkook swallows. “I have a reason for this,” he says calmly.
“What’s going on in there?” Jimin calls from outside, and Taehyung closes his eyes and throws his hands up.
“I am done!” he cries.
--
:)
“I really do have a reason!” Jungkook dashes out in his wetsuit, still dripping, and Jimin does a double-take while Taehyung waves him off, heading back to the couch and no longer paying attention to anything other than the crappy show on television.
Jungkook begins to explain something about having to wash his wetsuit anyways, and his eyes are panicked and focused on Taehyung, who refuses to look at him in a show of petty anger. He thinks he hears Jimin go at one point, “Don’t worry, Taehyung would never think you’re too weird,” and he opts for shooting a blazing glare over at his best friend.
Jimin tells Jungkook to go and change, imbecile, and he comes back out damp and looking defeated, hovering around the couch hesitantly until Jimin pulls him between them.
He’s not sure how, but one way or another Taehyung falls asleep. He thinks he hears a bit of hissed whispering, but his mind is still too hazy from sleep to make out what they’re saying. He can hear insults being thrown around until they immediately quiet when he whines, and something warm pulls him close, and Taehyung lets himself snuggle into something hard but comfortable.
A little more whispering, and then the door clicks shut from far away and it is quiet. He sighs in content, and feels something cradling the side of his head, and something soft pressing down his hair before sleep takes over.
Taehyung’s woken to a quiet call of his name, lower than he remembers and close enough that he can feel warm, sugary breath traveling down his neck. It smells like chocolate. He opens his eyes to Jungkook’s, staring down at him with something hidden in the light.
Saliva disappears from his mouth, and Taehyung flings himself back automatically, heat fanning his face. Despite his rough actions, however, Jungkook reaches over carefully, and goes to cradle Taehyung by the shoulder.
“Hyung, stay over tonight.”
Taehyung wants to go home, honestly, but at this point he’s so tired he just nods and lets the younger lead him towards his room, reality not hitting him until he’s all tucked in the side by the wall, blankets surrounding him like a cocoon. Jungkook tells him he’ll be back soon before he leaves, and Taehyung takes the time to look around, even though he’s been inside here a few hundred times before.
Not much has changed other than the lighting that filters through the room. The place is not the cleanest, but definitely the most well-kept out of the three of them. He can see traces of Jungkook’s history in the form of pictures along his desk and drawers, and his bookshelf is stocked with music and figurines rather than books. The one large poster he has on his wall is a seven-year-old poster of Big Bang, and the most sophisticated thing in the room is his computer, probably for his games. Taehyung snickers, pulling the blankets up closer to himself, and sighs happily when he feels the softness and smells the fragrance. The room was so Jungkook, after all.
...So Jungkook. So Jungkook after all.
...Right. He’s in Jungkook’s bed right now, isn’t he?
Taehyung sits up, making sure to keep the blanket wrapped tightly around him, turning his eyes to the sky outside. He stays like that, lost in his thoughts, until a voice calls his name.
“Hey,” Jungkook says, walking back into the room. “Why are you up?”
“S’nothing. I just suddenly didn’t feel too sleepy.”
“It’s because you slept the whole afternoon,” Jungkook tells him, and Taehyung hums.
“Probably.”
“What are you looking at?” he hears Jungkook behind him, and Taehyung smiles to himself.
“The sky,” he replies, resting his cheek on his knee. “They’re pretty, after all.”
“...Mm,” he hears Jungkook agree quietly. “It really is.” A thought pushes its way to the front of Taehyung’s mind. He giggles silently to himself, eyes still trained on the small little dots in the sky. Wouldn’t it be funny if he looked over right now, and Jungkook was looking right at him?
It’s not possible, though. Jungkook’s been able to surprise him each and every time he thinks up a scenario, after all.
Not as pretty as you, Taehyung turns around to say, just to be a sleazebag, but his breath hitches in his throat when his eyes meet with Jungkook’s dark ones.
Something’s different about their staring contest this time. Jungkook’s eyes are more intense, trained on Taehyung like he knows something, and Taehyung turns towards the wall, falling into his pillow. “Let’s sleep.”
He hears the quiet padding of steps on the floor, and then the bed dips as another weight crawls on top of it. Taehyung can feel Jungkook shuffling into the blankets, and he closes his eyes, trying to calm his breathing and meditate his mind to sleep. His plan is foiled, however, when an arm curls around his side and pulls his back flush against Jungkook’s chest.
Taehyung’s mind goes overdrive, but he’s always been good at facial expressions. He turns around and frowns. “What are you doing?” he asks.
Jungkook blinks, looking taken aback for a second before a smile replaces the expression. Instead of answering, his hand reaches upwards, and when Taehyung finally knows where it’s going he snatches it midway, barely mustering enough strength to hold him back. “Oh my god what are you doing.”
“You tried to walk in on me in the shower.”
“That was because you didn’t lock the door--” he squeaks as Jungkook pulls him closer, the grip on the other’s wrist slipping, and Jungkook uses this time to press a flat palm to his chest. Taehyung squeezes his eyes shut. Crap. He can feel his heart pounding through his brain, even; there’s no way Jungkook can’t feel it.
But Jungkook doesn’t laugh. He presses his face into Taehyung’s neck, squeezing him a little tighter. “I’m sorry, hyung,” his voice comes out muffled through the skin.
“F-for what?”
“I’m really bad at noticing these things.”
“...” Taehyung takes a shivering breath. “Jimin told you?”
“...I’m sorry.” Taehyung no longer knows a Park Jimin.
“I’ve been trying to tell myself for so long that you’d never see me that way... I guess I just couldn’t believe it, even when I kept getting all these mixed signals in my head.”
Taehyung twists himself around so that he can see the other clearly. He pushes Jungkook back when the other tries to bury himself closer into Taehyung’s chest. “You like me?” he asks, and Jungkook tries to hide again. “No, Jungkook, stop--” he tugs the sheets away from them, and the younger’s eyes are glistening with embarrassment. “You like me?”
“I--” Jungkook chokes, tears dripping down the side of his face. “Oh my god,” he presses his sleeves to his face, wiping constantly at his eyes.
“No,” Taehyung coos automatically, brushing his fingers towards the other’s cheeks. Jungkook curls further into himself. “Why are you crying?”
“I don’t even know--” Jungkook lets out a half sob, half choke. “I think I’m just so--happy? I’m so happy.” He laughs again. “I mean...you like me. But I’m a dumbass. And you could do so much better.”
“No,” Taehyung breathes, wrapping his arms around the younger. “No, no, I like you precisely for the fact that you are a dumbass.”
And Jungkook gives him that same, shy smile Taehyung had seen when they’d first met, front teeth slightly poking out from behind his lips. A moment later, he asks, “...Are we dating?”
“Do you want to?”
“I’m really bad at it.”
“Me too.”
“But I really want to.”
“Me too.”
Jungkook breaks out into a laugh again, burrowing himself into Taehyung. “Are we dating?”
And Taehyung. Taehyung is so fond right now, he presses tender lips to the spot right above his new boyfriend’s brows, feeling the warmth pulsing through the softness of his hair.
“Yeah.”