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It was Taehyung’s birthday, which meant really only one thing : time for Jimin’s annual birthday celebration, ‘cook-breakfast-for-my-best-friend-who-i-love-very-much.’ He was thinking of a shorter name, but the acronym ‘CBFMBFWILVM’ didn’t quite roll off the tongue like he was hoping.
This year he had invited the other members of their friend group to come with him, and celebrate with him, because he knew it had been a hard year for Taehyung. There was university stress, a little bit of friend drama with Jin at one point because of a dumb argument they had while drunk, and of course Taehyung’s constant and heart wrenchingly tragic crush on Jeongguk, their resident straight friend. Taehyung had been more quiet about it recently, but Jimin could tell from the way that he saw Taehyung looking at Jeongguk that he still loved him like the first day he knew.
Had it been anyone else, Jimin would have thought it wasn’t such a tragic crush to have. But he knew Jeongguk, and he knew that the boy was straighter than straight. He wasn’t spaghetti noodle straight, or even iron rod straight, he was straighter. Jimin knew Jeongguk had seen Taehyung in all of his clubbing glory many nights, and there wasn’t even the slightest reaction. Jimin asked Jeongguk at one point if he thought Taehyung was attractive and the other boy just looked confused.
Jeongguk was an amazing friend, but Jimin knew in his heart that he would just have to be there for Taehyung through this and wait the crush out with him. Ride the rises and falls of the waves, and all that.
That was why he chose to invite the others with him. He had already made some of the breakfast, with Jin’s help and some effort here and there from others (Hoseok bought a cake because he was rich and wanted only the best for Taehyung, and Jimin honestly couldn’t argue with that), so there was only a little bit of work he needed to do once he got to Taehyung’s apartment.
He had a key (of course he had a key, he was Taehyung’s best friend, duh), and so he let himself and the others in as quietly as possible. He put the others on the job of setting up the breakfast on the table, and started cooking the things that actually needed to be done morning of. They didn’t need to be super quiet, because Taehyung was a pretty heavy sleeper, but they still acted like they were walking on eggshells.
As Jimin set up the last bit of breakfast foods on the table, he smiled to himself. This looked great, and he knew Taehyung would enjoy it. His best friend deserved only the best, after all. He wasn’t Taehyung’s self proclaimed soulmate for nothing. It was nearly 10 in the morning as well, so it was plenty late enough to wake Taehyung up now.
“Shhh, guys, be quiet, ” he hissed in a whisper at them, sneaking over the carpeted floors of the apartment to Taehyung’s bedroom. “Remember, on the count of three we yell ‘happy birthday.’ not on one-two-three-go, but one-two-happy birthday. Got it?” His friends nodded, and Jimin took a deep breath.
Okay, go time.
They stepped into the room, following the slow opening of the door. Their footsteps were cushioned and muffled by the carpet, which Jimin was thankful for. He could practically feel the tension shared between all of them, and he watched his best friend with fondness, his back facing the door and his friends.
In past years Jimin tended to just jump into the bed with Taehyung, but he wasn’t so sure this year how well Taehyung’s bed would fare with five people jumping into it. Jeongguk wasn’t here, so it couldn’t be six, but Jeongguk was visiting family back in Busan and Jimin couldn’t be mad at the younger for that. Even if the younger boy knew about Taehyung’s crush (which he doubted, the younger boy was pretty oblivious), he couldn’t see Jeongguk treating Taehyung any different than before. He was a god kid.
“Okay,” Jimin whispered into the still air once all of them had made it through the door. His fingers were poised over the light switch, ready to flip it up. “One, two-
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” they all cheered, turning on the light. At first Jimin smiled, laughing and cheering with the rest of his loud friends, seeing Taehyung turn around and sit up in bed, rubbing at his eyes. There was a small bemused smile on TAehyung’s lips, and Jimin was one step away from flinging himself onto the bed, when he spotted -
“What the fuck, dude,” a figure cuddled next to Taehyung in the bed muttered.
“-Jeongguk?” Hoseok gasped.
Jimin almost ran from his spot near the light switch to the foot of the bed, eyes widening to see Jeongguk turning almost as pink as his hair in Taehyung’s arms.
The blanket covering them wasn’t super thin, so thank god for that, but with the light on Jimin could see their clothes strewn all across the floor, leading him to only need to guess what was under the blanket. It stopped covering them at both of their chests, however, letting the whole world see Jeongguk’s mauled pecs, neck, and even -
“Damn, Tae-ah, did you bite off that kids nipple?” Hoseok whistled. Jeongguk, if that was even possible, turned even brighter pink, and pulled the covers up over him more, stealing them from Taehyung a little, to cover up his best better. That move, however, led to the covers only falling over the bottom of Taehyung’s back, letting the whole world see the scratches running up his back, like a tiger, or a Jeongguk.
Taehyung, unlike Jeongguk, wasn’t blushing. “Don’t worry, his nips are still very much intact,” he replied, like he was just discussing the weather. After he said that, though, Jeongguk grimaced, and when Taehyung looked down and saw Jeongguk’s uncomfortable expression (he was probably able to feel Jeongguk’s body tense from how closely they were entangled, Taehyung’s arm wrapped around Jeongguk’s waist, and Jeongguk’s hand distantly clutching at Taehyung’s shoulder), Taehyung said “Uh, it’s not what it looks like?”
Jimin raised an eyebrow. “Really, now?”
Jeongguk bit his lip, and started trying to explain himself, “It’s - it’s really nothing, we just -”
“Because it looks like ,” Jimin interrupted, voice heavy and a weird feeling settling in his stomach. Why didn’t he tell me? a part of Jimin asks himself. “It looks like you two are together, or are at least sleeping together, and have been hiding it for however long.” And it was a little malicious, but the heavy, slightly betrayed feeling in Jimin’s stomach led him to carry on, “and judging by the lingerie on the floor, you also have some sort of kink for seeing Guk in pink. I hope you’re using the proper care techniques for that quality material.”
If Jeongguk wasn’t already blushing to the gods, he was now. The heavy feeling, upon the younger boy’s panicking eyes turning to him, dissipates, and Jimin feels guilty. “But! You two probably need a moment, so just come out in a few. We have breakfast ready, and I’ll set another place for you, Gukkie. Happy birthday Tae!”
“Thanks Jimin,” Taehyung replied, a look in his eyes saying words that he couldn’t articulate verbally. With everyone just standing around, it was still awkward, so Jimin took it upon himself to start hustling everyone out the door, feeling a little like a mother hen.
“Come on everyone! You wouldn’t want everyone just staring at you in this state, would you?”
“I would?” Jin replied, still walking out the door though. Jimin shook his head, and Namjoon snorted.
“That’s because you’re an exhibitionist, hyung.”
“Hey! I just know I’m hot, is there a problem with that?” As the older hyungs started arguing more, bickering without any weight behind the words, Jimin took one last glance inside the bedroom while closing the door. What he saw was Taehyung gently pushing pink hair out of Jeongguk’s eyes, and the love reflected in both of their eyes was enough to make Jimin push the stupid, shallow, heavy feeling out of his chest.
I’m proud of them.
“That was embarrassing,” Jeongguk muttered to Taehyung behind the privacy of a closed door. Taehyung chuckled a little, but subtly checked Jeongguk’s face to see how serious the other boy was. Taehyung had known he was gay since the moment he left his mom’s womb, he popped out knowing he would always like guys over girls. But Jeongguk - the boy hadn’t known, accepted, or even felt comfortable talking about it until a few months ago.
So everyone finding out in one morning that , not only was Jeongguk definitely somewhat attracted to men, but some of their kinks between just the two of them - it was a lot for the younger boy, and Taehyung knew it.
“Yeah, it was a little much for one morning,” Taehyung affirmed, getting out of bed and going to his dresser. He picked out a shirt, boxers, and some jeans from Jeongguk’s drawer, and threw them to the other boy. Jeongguk snorted at the clothing choice, and while pulling on his own clothes, Taehyung asked, “What? What’s so funny?”
“You really do have a thing for seeing me in pink, don’t you?” Jeongguk asked, holding up the pale pink shirt, and Taehyung bit his lip. He walked over to where Jeongguk was, now just sitting in his jeans on the bed, holding the shirt in his hands. Taehyung put his hands over Jeongguk’s, gently taking the shirt out of the younger boy’s hands, and pulling it softly onto his frame for Jeongguk. A tender note passed over Taehyung’s heart as Jeongguk just let Taehyung dress him like that, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Even after almost three months together, sometimes he still looked at Jeongguk and felt the same wave of sadness that the other boy would never feel the same for him. He had to push it away, shoo it off like darkness clinging to the corners of a house in morning, but it took him off guard like always.
He was so, so lucky to have Jeongguk.
“You just look so pretty, love,” Taehyung whispered, and kissed the tip of Jeongguk’s nose quickly, surprising the younger boy. “The prettiest boy.” The expression on the younger boy’s face when he pulled back tugged uncontrollably at Taehyung’s heartstrings, and he pulled Jeongguk up out of the bed before he did something stupid, like make love to him at that very instant.
“Let’s go eat breakfast.”
“So, how long have you been together?” Yoongi asks them when they all sit down next to each other at the table, digging into the food and complimenting each other’s cooking (or Hoseok’s money, in his case).
“Almost three months,” Jeongguk responded quickly. “We - well, it sort of started on my birthday.” Jin let out a low whistle.
“That long, huh?” The youngest bit his lip, and looked like he was going to maybe added on, but last minute he stuffed a bite of food in his mouth, halting any more speech. Somewhere in the near distance, some smooth jazz that Jimin compiled onto a playlist titled ‘Taehyung’s birthday 2018’ played.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
They all look to the source of the question, and Jimin looks a little bit uncomfortable with all the sudden attention. Taehyung could tell that the words weren’t meant to be overly probing, but they came out maybe declaring more emotion than Jimin intended, slightly… betrayed, almost. Taehyung felt a pang of guilt trickle over his heart.
“Well, Jeongguk … he wasn’t even really sure if he was into guy for real, when it started, or just me? And that was a lot of pressure. I think it’s really hard to be sure of a label as important as sexuality, especially when you’ve thought something your whole life. So we kept quiet while he was figuring himself out. And then,” Taehyung side eyes his boy, watching the maknae stuff more food in his mouth. “Then about a month and a half ago, it was more a question of how? Neither of us are very into PDA, so a lot of times us keeping it a secret wasn’t even intentional. Plus, neither of us really knew how to approach it with all of you.”
Jimin nods, and Taehyung still feels like there’s a little something off, but most of the weird tension he felt before dissipated like Rasputin at the end of the animated Anastasia movie (a favorite among the self proclaimed soulmates).
“So how’d you know, JK?” Namjoon asks, sounding inquisitive. His glasses are on (something Jin must be loving), and if he had a book out Taehyung is almost sure that he would be taking detailed notes or something. Jeongguk finishes chewing, and then hesitantly answers the question.
“Well, I - I never really put much thought into my sexuality when I was a kid, it wasn’t a big deal. I was a boy, so I liked girls, and I do! I do like girls, I’m bisexual, so that never really pushed me into anything society or I wouldn’t be uncomfortable with. And at first, when I met Taehyung, I thought he was just a really good friend. I just thought I loved him a lot as a friend.” Taehyung looked down at Jeongguk, and Jeongguk looked back up at him, and there was something like love in his eyes so strong it nearly choked Taehyung, right then and there.
“But then I sort of just realised that I didn’t love him in just a platonic way, but a romantic way too. It wasn’t some big realisation. I never stood in front of a mirror or something and said “I like guys.” It was never like that for me? Once I knew it, it was like the most obvious thing in the world.”
“So less of a revolutionary breakthrough; more of a paradigm shift,” Namjoon murmured.
“Sure,” Jeongguk replied.
“Do you know what that means?”
“Nope.”
“Cool.”
“Hey, sorry to break this up, but - are you two holding hands under the table?” It’s Jimin again, and he has a small smile on his lips, a knowing look like he’s really just proud of them, and Taehyung feels warm to the bone. It’s his birthday, he’s eating a good breakfast, his best friend organized a whole morning for him, his boyfriend is by his side, his friends are laughing and accepting and loving and - and he feels warm to the bone.
Jeongguk shyly smiles and pulls their hands up from below the table, resting on Taehyung’s lap, to in between them on the table. There’s a chorus of ooh’s and ahh’s and someone cheers, but all Taehyung is looking at is his best friend.
“Cute,” Jimin says, smiling at them.
And Taehyung knew everything was going to be okay.