Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

2:30pm

Jungkook is trying hard to stop from trembling, pulling his coat and scarf tighter around his body as he shakes his left leg in an effort to stay warm. He checks his watch, and at the point he isn’t sure if he’s too early or if the person he’s supposed to be meeting is running late. All he knows is that it’s currently 2:30 and his client is supposed to be there by 3:15. He sighs in realisation that his partner is definitely supposed to be there by now. They were late- definitely late, and it puts Jungkook on edge. This was his first job and he didn’t want to mess it up.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t get the pictures...”

Yeah. He really can’t give that speech. No way. He pulls his phone from his pocket and brings up the company number right as a gust of wind travels through the air and sends a shiver down his spine. Who would propose in winter? He thinks, but he purposely shakes that thought out of his mind. Wanting to marry the love of your life doesn’t need to have a right time. He smiles at the thought and then presses the dial button to connect his call.

If his partner wasn’t here, he should surely contact someone and ask when they would arrive. He wasn’t supposed to do the job alone and he didn’t have the guys personal cell so, this was the only option. He lifts the phone to his ear as he hears it ring, once, twice.... waiting for someone to pick up.

He’s sure it’s taking too long and questions whether he’d even rang the right number, but as he pulls the phone from his ear to check, he notices a figure make their way towards him and he pauses.

This must be the guy, he thinks to himself, and when he squints at the figure, he sees the camera bag and sighs in relief. He was late, but at least he was here now.

Jungkook checks his watch again and tries not to be annoyed when the man gets to him. He can’t help but think this is pretty unprofessional. They wouldn’t have long to discuss the organisation of the shoot because the couple should be there soon, and Jungkook didn’t do things without thought behind them.

As the guy gets closer, Jungkook notices the soft light brown colour of his hair peeking out of the top of a black beret. He’s wearing a patterned thin scarf, more for fashion than warmth Jungkook notes, and his coat is big, a large warm looking brown jacket that cuts him off around the knee.

“Jeon Jungkook?” He asks when he’s standing in front of the other, and it takes Jungkook a beat or two before he nods and holds out his hand.

“Yep. That’s me. Kim Taehyung?” He replies, and the man nods before smiling knowingly.

“You seem nervous. They said today will be your first shoot?”

Jungkook nods again. “I’m new to the company,” He tells him, as another wave of anxiety rushes in to his stomach. “I don’t want to do a bad job.”

Taehyung seems to size him up for a second, gives him a quick once over inquisitively, “You’ll be fine.” he eventually replies. “Have you been photographing long?”

“Professionally?” Jungkook shakes his head, tries not to get embarrassed about his lack of expertise. Feels a bit more of his confidence draining as his voice stays anxious. “Uhmmm not really. I’m not long out of school...”

Taehyung smiles again, eyes turning somewhat soft. “Cute,” He comments. “Well I’m sure you’re good to have been hired by Bighit.”

The little compliments don’t go unnoticed by Jungkook, but Taehyung seems not to dwell on his words, moving on from the conversation to grab his camera from his bag. He checks the lens, presses a few buttons a couple of times, probably to make sure he has it on the right settings, and then looks back at the other.

“I’m positive we’ll make a great team,” He says.“As long as we trust each other of course. Today will be that girls happiest day of her life until the big day, so it’s up to us to capture as much of this memory for her as possible.”

Jungkook can’t shake the nervous look from his eyes and Taehyung can tell, so he softens his own face again and gives the boy another smile. “No pressure of course. I’m sure you’ll do great. Just make sure you don’t look obvious and try not to get caught before he asks the question. Then everything else will come naturally.” Once he’s finished talking he waits, keeps looking at Jungkook with a reassuring smile. Only when the younger gives him a polte tight lipped smile back, does he kick into action again.

Jungkook can’t help but feel kind of grateful for the small bits of comfort and advice. He knows what the job entails but he couldn’t help but feel like he could do something wrong. Taehyung, although probably having done this millions of times, and probably wasn’t expecting to have to coddle his partner today, seems the least bit annoyed at Jungkook’s hesitance. Rather taking on a kind role as a helpful more experienced elder. He could have told Jungkook to snap out of it. Could have told him he wasn’t ready for this responsibility. So it’s nice to have a bit of support instead. The last thing he’d want to do is ruin the proposal.

“So where are you from?”

He looks back at Taehyung. Should they be making small talk? He isn’t sure. He thought maybe they’d go over their roles a bit more, but perhaps Taehyung's little speech was all he was going to say. It’s more like Jungkook to check and recheck over everything he needs to do several times, but seeing the way Taehyung is absentmindedly staring at the trees, he supposes he isn’t the same. 

“Busan, originally,” He replies. “Moved here for school.”

Taehyung nods. “I thought I could hear that in you. That’s nice.”

Jungkook continues examines Taehyung as it falls silent again. He can’t help but feel slightly intrigued by him and the comfortable demeanour he holds.

Originally he had felt stressed out by the other, the sort of carefree way he sauntered over, how he seems like he isn’t even on a job. It’s exactly the opposite of Jungkook's high strung nature, and he didn’t know initially how to react to that.

But there is also something that seems so natural about Taehyung and he seems so relaxed standing in the grand park, like he’s done this hundreds of times and his head is focused on anything but the job he has to do, that Jungkook kind of admires. He figures that this must all be second nature to him anyway. He’d heard about Taehyung- The Kim Taehyung- when he’d been given his job. The other photographers told him he was lucky to be working with such a professional for his first assignment.

Honestly Taehyung didn’t really come across as a professional but if Jungkook had learnt anything about photographers through the years, it’s that they all lived within their own artistic heads and professionalism was secondary to their aesthetic anyway. He watches as the other man fiddles with his things, takes a few shots of some of the trees and their other surroundings and is surprised at how easily he’s just adapted and is getting to work.

“Well, aren't you going to set that thing up?” Taehyung eventually says, small smirk on his lips as he’s peaking over his shoulder, looking down at Jungkook’s bag. His expression makes Jubgkook swallow awkwardly, and then he fumbles with his strap, unfastening the velcro with hasty fingers to pull out his own DSLR. He misses the way Taehyung laughs gently under his breath at him, endeared, before returning to take his own photos.

“The client said he’d be proposing in the main square. If I take the south-side and you take the west we should be able to get some good angles.” Jungkook agrees and follows the other photographer over to where they should be for the shoot. He still can’t help but just stare at the elder, as they walk. Something about Taehyung making it sort of hard not to. He’s thought it from the moment he saw him making his way over, but even now up close it’s hard to let go off...

It was just, Jungkook always had a need to photograph pretty things, and he knew he should be focusing, but a part of him can’t stop looking at Taehyung's features, thinking about how nice he would look to photograph. Taehyung had a face for a camera and it was interesting to the other boy, that he’d chosen a life behind one when he very clearly could have been a model or an actor. His eyes were so wide and welcoming, alluring lashes decorating every movement, complimenting every stare. His skin was tan and it was smooth, almost looked as though he was painted on silk and his mouth was so wide and plump, his smile was unique and different... inviting. 

“Are you ready?” Taehyung asks and Jungkook affirms with yet another head nod. He was ready. Ready to begin the shoot and do a good job. Ready to take his first step as a professional photographer.

Their job was simple but had to be executed perfectly. Wedding photographers who specialised in proposal photography meant that their job involved a whole lot of not getting caught. They would be contacted by men who would be planning on proposing to their girlfriends, told where to be, the time, the setting, the atmosphere, and would have to blend in patiently and wait for their moment. As soon as the man is down on one knee they strike, begin taking their photos and capture the moment the woman says yes, cries, laughs, hugs and kisses her future husband. The tradition had grown more and more popular as more and more people wanted a reminder of when the special question was popped and their company had been one of the first to offer such a service.

For Jungkook’s first photography job out of university, he was more than satisfied with doing such a thing. In fact it was kind of perfect. Growing up Jungkook has been branded a dreamer, the romantic. From a young age he was taken with the ideas of falling in love and finding your special someone. He loved weddings and proposals, he loved love all over, and he was happy to be a benefactor in someone’s love story in some way or another.

They spot their client making their way through the garden and from across the grandiose fountain Taehyung clocks Jungkook’s eyes and winks at him to make sure they’re on the same page. The younger nods his head again, tries not to grow more awkward from the comfortable action when they’ve only just met, and then they both act as though they are just wandering souls in the park.

It’s then that the gentleman stops his girlfriend, straight in front of the fountain and Jungkook shuffles his feet staring at some trees as he does so, hoping just to get a better angle for when he needs to take the photos. The man begins delivering a speech, tells his love about the first time they had met, how nervous he was and how much she means to him. Jungkook can’t help but smile into his coat at the words being delivered, so heartfelt and sincere, but he doesn’t want to seem obvious so he keeps his back turned at all costs. He tries to peak a sight at Taehyung to see if he too was as engrossed in the love story unravelling before them, but the other photographer is scrolling through his phone, hardly interested. Jungkook wonders if he’s really not paying attention or whether his acting is just that good, but he can’t focus on it too long when he hears the mans feet shift and he turns to see him getting down on one knee. Instantly he takes his camera from his chest, sees Taehyung do the same on the other side of the walkway and starts snapping the photos of this couples happiest moment to date. He can’t help but smile as he does it, can’t help but bask in the tears of the bride as she giggles and cries and screams her ‘yes yes yes!’ Over and over in excitement. She pulls him up, they embrace and then he kisses her like his whole life was made exactly for that moment. Jungkook’s heart swells at the sight, beams at the fact that he knows he’s captured something so wonderful, so pure.

Real love right in front of him.

__

6pm

“I give them 5 years.”

They’re sitting in a bar, right up on the counter, two bar stools to the left. Neither knew this would be where they would end up after their shoot, after they spoke to the couple, congratulated them, showed them a few of the previewed photos from the screens of the cameras. Jungkook had just started walking and Taehyung had followed. Or maybe it had been the other way? It didn’t really matter. But now here they were, just in some bar, in some road, not too far from the park and not too far from the rest of Seoul. Taehyung had used his thumb nonchalantly to point at its wide doors, a question. Jungkook has nodded his head in reply and made for the step.

“Let me buy you a drink… congratulate you for your first shoot.”

It hadn’t been awkward, well not as awkward as it could have been. The elder definitely didn’t seem uncomfortable and was keen to keep conversation flowing, to make the other feel just as at ease. Now this is what they’re doing, still making their way through their first drinks and talking about their first job together.

In reply, Jungkook almost spits back the beer he had just taken down. “No way,” he tries to argue but Taehyung is already shaking his head.

“Trust me Jeon, I’ve been in this game ‘a long time.” Taehyung swirls his shot of Passion fruit soju in his glass before he takes it down. He sucks in a breath as it hits his stomach and then taps the glass back on the counter.

“But they seemed so happy?” Jungkook asks, beer still firmly in his hand, although he hasn't taken another sip since. 

“They always do.”

The younger pouts as he thinks back to the smiles on the couples faces, and it makes Taehyung quirk an eyebrow. He assesses the others expression and then smiles knowingly. “Ohh I get it now. You’re one of those.”

“One of what?”

Taehyung laughs around his glass and then takes another shot. “You’re one of the worst kinds.”

Jungkook doesn’t know what he means and so places his bottle down on the bar, turns his body to the other and waits. Taehyung smirk doesn’t falter.

“What exact kind am I?” he asks impatiently, waiting for the others reply. He tries to seem any bit intimidating, but by the way the other eyes him with that same knowing smirk on his face, it tells him just about how intimidating he must be. Taehyung keeps his eyes trained on the other, body still turned towards the bar but eyes looking at Jungkook from his peripheral. After taking another shot he shrugs.

“You’re a hopeless romantic. Everything is flowers and hearts, and two people are born for each other right? Soulmates and all that?” 

Jungkook halts. Blinks a few times and then turns back to the table. He takes a sip of his drink and bites his lip. “So what if I am?” He says crossing his arms over the counter.

“I knew it,” Taehyung replies with a laugh, “I could tell. You had that glistening look in your eye during the shoot.”

The brunette tilts his head and turns back to the other questioningly. “Why were you watching me during the shoot?”

Taehyung ignores the question. Instead he plays with his shot glass as he continues to speak, continues to dominate the conversation. “I told Jin to stop hiring guys like you.”

At that, Jungkook is slightly insulted and he scoffs, making a face at the other. Taehyung just keeps smiling. “As opposed to ones like you? Pessimists? Anti-love? In our line of work?” He thinks back to how Taehyung was on his phone moments before the shoot, how now that he thinks about it, he seemed less infused with the couples happy expressions, staying professional but distant when showing the photos.

Taehyung shrugs again, “I prefer the term realist. I just choose to see the reality of the situation instead of getting swept away in it.”

“Guess we wouldn’t really get along then.”

“Guess not.”

Jungkook sighs and returns to facing forward in his seat, slightly irritated by the conversation. He hasn’t seen this coming. He didn’t know much about Taehyung but he assumed anyone in this line of work would at least think a little bit like himself. Plus...who was Taehyung to judge him so quickly? So what he loved all the hearts and flowers, the romance? It didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be any worse at what he does.

Whilst Jungkook frets In silence, Taehyung on the other hand, is still smiling. There’s still a glint in his eye Watching the younger, even when Jungkook turns from looking at him, back to the bar then down to his beer bottle, picking at the label awkwardly, shuffling his feet in what could only be a nervous habit against the bottom of the bar stool.

“Pick your next poison,” Taehyung eventually says.

Jungkook looks at him once more, an eyebrow raised. He hadn’t expected that, not really. Normally this would be the time he would draw back, probably call it a night and head home with a polite bow of his head. But there’s something in Taehyung’s eyes that makes him stay. He isn’t even sure if he likes the look yet. If he likes the other boy at all after the small revelation. But the stare feels kind of challenging, and a part of him wanted to know the answer that Taehyung seems to be keeping.

“What are you having?” He looks down at the shot glasses laid out in front of the sandy haired boy, the bottle of Soju, so characteristic of his years back in college when he was young and drank anything just to get drunk. Memories that remind him that he shouldn’t drink that stuff anymore, that he doesn’t want to touch it.“More soju?”

Taehyung shrugs lightly. “Depends,” he says, “would you have some with me?”

Jungkook raises his bottle to his lip and takes back a bit more of his drink, shaking his head on the pull away and swallowing. “Don’t touch the stuff. Sorry.”

“Then I’ll just get a strawberry daiquiri.”

“In this weather?” Jungkook asks quickly. His cool resolve drops as he stares in questioning.

“I like the ones they do here, it’s all shaved ice and tastes like a slushie.”

Jungkook is surprised to learn Taehyung has been here before. He’s not as familiar with Seoul as he probably should be, living in a university campus is different from being out in the real world- not that anyone ever tells you that. Still he doesn’t think he’s ever seen this bar before, nor know what their cocktails taste or look like. The sound of a slushie during winter though, really just doesn’t seem appealing. Even his chilled beer is bordering on a struggle for him right now. A nice hot coco or some herbal tea would probably go down much more a treat.

But, he’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him curious about the other. Curious about who he was, what he was like. The type of guy who would walk out in a rainstorm like it was a normal day, visit family in the heaviest snow fall? drink an ice cold slushie when it’s forecast to snow in the next few days? He thinks he’s thinking too much for someone he doesn’t know.

He swallows. “We’re in the middle of December.”

Taehyung only shrugs again. “Cold is a state of mind,” he says off-handedly. Definitely the type to visit family in a snow storm. “Plus, I don’t know when I’ll ever have one again.”

Jungkook doesn’t know what that means. Being around Taehyung, he realises he doesn’t know a lot of what he means. But he doesn’t question it now. Instead he hauls down the bartender.

__

8pm

“So humour me,” Taehyung says. His hair is now unkempt, having taken off his beret but not bothering to fix his locks after doing so. He’d said he was hot and Jungkook had laughed because how could he be? He’d finished his strawberry daiquiri and it had looked just as cold and unappealing at Jungkook had thought it might. He figures if he really was hot, it was the alcohol in his body- maybe the remnants of the Soju from before.

It has been two hours and regardless of them identifying their differences so early on, Jungkook’s love for love and warmth, Taehyung’s realism and embrace of the chill, they hadn’t been able to leave each other’s sight. Instead they stayed sat at the bar, still with their drinks, still chatting away, getting considerably more loose lipped, considerably more friendly. Despite the way Jungkook’s eyebrow raised every time Taehyung said something questionable, despite the way Taehyung smirked a little more every time Jungkook said well just about anything, they had found some sort of comfortable ground, some sort of agreement to stay in each other’s company. A place they were enjoying.

“Why photography?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I like it,” he replies easily. Quickly.

Taehyung refuses to accept that and shakes his head. “No.”

“No?”

“Because I like it isn’t an answer Jungkook.”

The younger tries not to fixate on the way his name sounds in the others mouth and he bites his top lip withholding the smile he inevitably wants to give. “What am I supposed to say then?”

“Your supposed to be honest with me.”

“I barely know you.”

Taehyung laughs again and the sound makes Jungkook look at him properly. As their faces meet Taehyung rolls up the sleeves of his jacket slightly and tilts his head.

“What do you think I’m trying to do here?” He asks, and the others eyes widen in reply. Was it stupid for him not to realise that Taehyung was trying to get to know him? Probably. Was Jungkook the quickest at noticing things like this? Not at all. He was quite reserved and never went out of his way to make friends, his shyness often taking over whenever he wanted to. That’s why when people often reached out to him, he would retreat in fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. In this case however, Taehyung has managed to keep him around somehow. Keep him talking.

He swallows and falters and there’s moments where no words are said. Taehyung just stares and waits and Jungkook’s feet get more hectic on the bottom of the bar stool. At one point his left foot slips and hits the floor and it makes him jump slightly. He’s skittish and Taehyung notices it, finds it endearing.

Eventually Jungkook sighs. “I like to capture moments. Memories. Things I like...” He looks over at Taehyung, peers up at him nervously this time, and the other just makes a noise of recognition, telling him to continue. “It’s not so much pictures but working with a camera in general. Tracking moments that are special to someone or special to me... that’s nice...” he considers saying more, but decides to leave it at that for now, checks Taehyung’s face again to see if this time, it’s an acceptable answer. If he’s passed some sort of test he didn’t know he was even taking.

When Taehyung nods his head he seems to be able to breathe normally again. Almost relieved to have appeased the other somehow. Like he got his approval. It’s a silly thought.

“What about you?” He gets the courage to ask next, tilting his chin up slightly as he delivers the question, trying to seem like he can totally hold this kind of conversation.

Taehyung shrugs. “Fell into it I suppose. Pays the bills.”

Jungkook’s brows furrow. He’s heard about Taehyung before. He knew about his work, his artistry. He didn’t seem like the type who just fell into anything when it came to creating. That’s not how the other photographers described him. That’s not how he seemed, not really.

“That’s it?” Jungkook asks.

The elder nods. “Suppose so.”

Jungkook doesn’t believe him. It’s clear Taehyung keeps his cards close to his chest but he didn’t think a question like that would garner such a vague reply. He opens his mouth to tell him as such but then Taehyung’s eyes widen and his smile grows brighter suddenly.

“Oh I love this song!” he says. Jungkook’s head rises and he looks around for a second. He didn’t even realise there was music playing until that exact moment and he strains for a second to hear the melody. He doesn’t even know it. It sounds old and it’s foreign, English. There’s a jazz feel to it, a smooth saxophone and Taehyung is swaying in his seat. He considers it one more thing he’s learnt about the other.

“Shall we dance?” He looks back at Taehyung.

“What?”

“To the song. It makes me want to dance.”

Jungkook swallows again and Taehyung is up on his feet. “I’m not much of a dancer,” he replies to the others waiting eyes. Taehyung giggles.

“What does that mean exactly? What is being a dancer? If you dance, regardless of what it looks like, does that not make you a dancer?”

Jungkook lets the sentence run in his mind a few times trying to understand it. He isn’t sure if it’s the alcohol that’s clouded his brain, making him confused, or whether it was Taehyung’s own drinking that caused him to say something that just didn’t seem to make sense. Regardless he finds that he’s laughing all the same. A short spout of laughter leaving his mouth, a gentle smile on his lips at the other’s words. He still has no idea what he’s even said. Maybe he’s definitely more drunk than he thought he was.

“You’re strange,” he says then and he doesn’t know why, but he does. He isn’t sure if it sounds mean or cruel. He means it because well, Taehyung was strange. Different. The type of person who drinks slushie iced drinks in the middle of December and dances to old music in old bars when no one else is as much as standing up. But he doesn’t hate it. In fact he finds Taehyung intriguing.

The boy has a different aura to him, a feeling Jungkook isn’t quite familiar with but is drawn to all the same. He realises then that he wouldn’t mind spending more time with him, get the chance to work with him more, try to understand him a little better. Jungkook was young, new in his job… a little green perhaps when it came to life. He hasn’t made any real friends yet since leaving college, He doesn’t have any work colleagues or real experience in the big city. And although Taehyung is different from him, he feels like his experience and friendliness is positive. Like maybe he could become a mentor...a friend. Someone he can rely on now that he’s making a step forward in his life and career...

He was also, admittedly, captivated by his mystery- maybe a little too much for someone he barely knew, but he couldn’t help the tug in his chest to see what else he could uncover about him. Taehyung was kind of complex, and he seemed to hold a wisdom about him, life experience well beyond his age that Jungkook’s own comes nowhere close to. He felt almost like a novel that needed to be deconstructed and Jungkook found that he wanted to be the analyser. He wanted to learn all he could...

“This is my last night in Seoul.”

Jungkook snaps out of his head for a second and looks at the other. Wait what? He thinks to himself. After agreeing in his mind that he’d like to get to know Taehyung better, the elder says that? Something that feels almost as if he knew what Jungkook was thinking. Spoken almost randomly, out of the blue, like he was shutting this down. Jungkook wonders if maybe he had been too obviously invested in the other, if Taehyung could tell what he was thinking and pitied him a little bit. We can’t be friends, try again with someone else.

But surely Jungkook isn’t that transparent, is he? Taehyung couldn’t have figured that out? Maybe he really did just speak randomly. Was that just Taehyung? Was this what he was like? He denies this time that he so badly wants to know.

“Oh,” Is all he says back.

“So I have a proposition for you.”

“Oh?” He says again, voice raising in question.

He waits for the other to speak and for a second or two they just seem to be staring at each other, some sort of unspoken conversation between them. Taehyung is unwavering, confident in his glare, his eyes smiling more so than his mouth, tempting almost, animated.

“Spend the rest of the night with me.”

Jungkook's feet this time slip off the stool completely and plant with a bit of a clumsy crash onto the floor.

“Wait, what?”

Taehyung isn’t surprised by the others reaction, seeming as though he was expecting it, and so he giggles, bringing his hand up to his mouth for the first time to cover the laughter. “It's my last night in Seoul for I don’t know how long. I’m not going back to my apartment and I’ve got a whole twelve hours to kill.”

Jungkook hesitates, “Where exactly do I fit into that hyung?”

The elder puts his credit card down on the table before finishing off his drink and placing the glass next to it. He looks at Jungkook once more and then he smiles confidently. “Spending my last night in Seoul, doing nothing would be a whole lot more fun if I had someone to do nothing with.”

__

9:30pm

“So do you have a plan or something? Places you wanna go one last time? Things you want to visit?”

They step out into the cold, Jungkook immediately placing his hands in his pockets, closing in on himself as the winter chill threatens to invade his body.

“Nope,” Taehyung replies, embracing the temperature rather than hiding from it, widening his chest in the exact opposite action to the other boy as he steps off the curb.

Jungkook doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. He has absolutely no idea. He isn’t one to be super spontaneous, doesn’t act on whims or without caution. Hell if he was going to be the one leaving Seoul tonight he would never have taken the job, let alone be with some stranger in a bar, drinking.

But at the same time, there was a tone to Taehyung’s voice that excited him more than he’d admit to. Words so casual sounded like they were never finished in the others mouth, like they had stories behind them, deeper meanings. It only pulled him in more. He couldn’t help then but to agree with the other. To go and do...whatever the hell it is Taehyung is planning on doing. To give in to the voice in his head saying, ‘you’re interested in this guy just a little bit, don’t leave just yet. See where the night takes you.’

Maybe he’s being reckless, maybe its silly to give up his evening to follow a stranger. But Taehyung is sort of magnetic, and also sort of hard to say no to. That’s how they ended up here in the first place anyway. So he lets go of his reveries and smiles, follows behind the other who is already beginning to make his way down the road. As he joins his side, Taehyung links his arm through the younger’s.

“You know I’ve lived in Seoul for years and I’ve never visited Namsan tower?”

Jungkook stares at the way Taehyung’s arm fits around his own for a second longer than he probably should have, surprised at the connection but welcoming the warmth Taehyung gives him now so close to his own body. “So I guess that’s where we’re headed?” He asks casually.

“Nope,” Taehyung says again, the amusement in his voice so present. Jungkook pauses for a second in confusion, halting the other due to their joined arms. Taehyung giggles. “Wouldn’t that be too cliche? My last night in Seoul and I go to Namsan tower with some random guy I met only six hours ago?” Jungkook tries not to get flustered.

“No. No We’ll save that for another time. Tonight I just wanna see where the night will take me.”

__

10:30pm

They end up at Cheonggyecheon stream, their feet having taken them there subconsciously. At night the area has a different vibe to it and Jungkook can’t help but think about why he hasn’t come to visit the stream more when it’s dark. They’re standing on top of the bridge that overlooks the water and there’s something nice about the fact that as the moments pass, the place is getting less and less busy. It was a typical spot for people to sit and enjoy in the evenings but everyone apart from them had somewhere to be tonight and they could just stay and enjoy the moment for as long as they wanted to.

Jungkook looks over at Taehyung whose eyes are closed and he’s breathing in the air slowly, listening to the sound of the stream and the waterfall that’s behind them, the flow of the water from the top, meeting the bottom and travelling along the path. It really is stunning, the way the lights underneath the sidewalk sparkle inside the water, illuminating it in pretty pinks and blues, the way the trees on either side make it more poignant somehow, show that it’s something that stands out, a reminder that it’s precious and should be protected. Jungkook leans over the edge and looks down into the water passing below him, sees the way it ripples and flows and reflects. Sees how it’s peaceful and calming to just sit and watch and stare and focus. For a second, he feels like thanking the other. For a second, Seoul feels different.

“You think we could walk it?”

Taehyung comes up beside him and he feels his elbow touch his own along the side of the bridge, senses the warmth he’s giving off once more.

“The whole thing?”

“Why not? We’re at the start. We have all night.” The further the stream goes, the more they move away from the busy parts of Seoul, the less the skyscrapers and bright lights from above look down at them and remind them of their place in the world. Cheonggyecheon stream is long but something about waking it all sounds kind of appealing at that moment.

“We could try.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen, almost in surprise. He had been joking and never thought the other would agree but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited that he had. That he did really enjoy the fact that Jungkook seemed to just easily go along with whatever he has been proposing.

“Let’s go lower,” He says instead and Jungkook nods, agreeing once more, following the other to the staircases on the side that leads them down so that they’re right by the side of the water, could go into it if they pleased. “The fountains are a little further up. Although I doubt they’ll be open at this time,” Taehyung continues, as they fall beside each other and begin to move alongside the flow. He’s closest to the water side and Jungkook can’t help but just watch as the background surrounds him. He tucks his top lip into his bottom as he stares, Taehyung’s figure has a halo of colour around it, likely from the water lighting but fitting to his aura, his persona. Jungkook can’t help but think he looks beautiful and so he looks away awkwardly, trying not to dwell on that fact too much because he knows it will drown him otherwise. Knows he shouldn’t be romanticising whatever it was that was happening here, with this practical stranger, who was leaving the country in less than 10 hours. Still he can’t help but say what he says next.

“Can I photograph you?” Taehyung stops and Jungkook is sure he seems to grow embarrassed for a second, looks down and tucks a piece of hair inside his beret, licks his lip and then looks up again.

“Here?” He asks and Jungkook nods.

“If you don’t mind.” He says, “it’s just...It looks... sorry, I..”

“No,” Taehyung interrupts. “Not its fine.” Jungkook’s hands are fumbling and quick as he pulls out his camera from its bag, still full of the couples photos he should have gone back to the studio and put on his computer hours ago.

Taehyung hands him his own camera bag and he attaches it to his other shoulder as the boy begins to pose. He seems a little awkward, a nervous smile on his lip and it’s clear he isn’t so used to being a centre of a picture even though one of the first things Jungkook thought about was how easy it would have been for him to be. He eventually turns his back to the camera and peaks his head over his left shoulder, holding his hand out with his thumb, index and pinkie erect. He looks cute and Jungkook smiles behind the lens as he allows his camera to go off and capture Taehyung among the beauty of Cheonggyecheon. He takes a few more for good measure and when he’s satisfied he holds the camera down to his chest and looks through them.

There’s a blue hue to Taehyung skin from the lighting, but it makes him look special, makes him sparkle. The bridge is in the background, and behind that small remnants of the waterfall can be seen. there’s a glory in the photos that Jungkook can’t quite place but finds he really loves all the same. Thinks they may be the best pictures he’s taken all day.

“Are they okay?” Taehyung asks and Jungkook remembers for a second where he is, falls out of his moment with his camera and with the photographed version of the boy right in front of him.

“They’re great,” He replies.

__

12am

“So what exactly is is that you like so much about love, huh?”

They must have walked for at least another hour, maybe more maybe less, but time is the last thing on their minds. Conversation flowed easily between them, talking about insignificant things that feel like the only things that matter in that moment. It’s just nice, and casual, and there’s no pressure to what they should be doing or how they should be doing it. Everything just seems to fall into an easy pace.

They’d decided to stop at a bench facing the stream, a little alcove off to the side where they can sit and watch the water in their own world, far enough that there’s barely any people in sight now, but not too far that the most elegant parts of the site aren’t a world away. There’s rocks that scatter in from the other side of the stream, ranging in sizes, covered in a layer of green, with water flowing over the top of them. If it wasn’t so cold, Jungkook feels as though he could almost be tricked into believing it wasn’t winter. Still he didn’t care, he barely noticed the temperature when he was having such a nice time.

Eventually he shrugs, “it’s beautiful. Two people vowing to be together forever, look after each other through everything. That binding of two souls, that connection... those feelings-”

Taehyung starts to laugh and Jungkook narrows his eyes at him. “I don’t expect you to get it. That’s fine. You don’t have to.” “No, no. I’m sorry, I’ll stop. Please continue.”

Jungkook looks out at the scenery before him and outtakes a breath delicately. “I just think it’s nice that someone can see another person and be so sure that that’s the person they are destined to be with. So sure that they can give themselves to that person completely that they go and buy the fancy ring and do the fancy proposal and hope that that person feels the same way. And when they do? The happiness...” he shrugs, “I just.... I’ll never get to experience that. It’s nice to see that others can.”

“You’ll never be proposed to?” Taehyung leans forward in his seat, so that he’s matching Jungkook’s own position. “Is that it? You’d rather your girlfriend be the one to do the fancy proposal? I mean it’s modern times, she could you know..”

“No. You don’t get it.. it’s not... that’s not it...”

Taehyung stars at Jungkook, eyebrow raised in confusion. The younger shift slightly and then sighs. “I’ll never be able to get married...”

Taehyung takes a second or two but then his eyes widen in realisation and Jungkook nods. His sexuality wasn’t something he shared easily with people, Korea still being somewhat traditional with its views. He feels a little embarrassed to have admitted it and he moves his eyes back down to his hands. Panicking, he thinks maybe he shouldn’t have been open to someone he’s only just met. It took him a really long time to come out to his friends, even longer to come out to his family. And he isn’t sure what it is about Taehyung that makes him talk so much more than he’s used to. Especially because It’s not like he knows how Taehyung is going to take such news. the thought momentarily worries him. He intakes a breath and waits for the others reaction. From the silence he never expects to hear the words he does.

“You too huh?”

He looks back at Taehyung and the elder smiles. “You’re...?”

Taehyung nods.

“Is that why you hate...?”

He shrugs. “Yes and no. But we can save that for another day I guess.”

Jungkook lets out a little relieved laugh through a pearl of cold air, the droplets visible in the dark sky. “Another day? You’re leaving in a couple hours. Who knows if we’ll ever see each other again?”

“You’re kind of pessimistic for being such a romantic,” Taehyung laughs, playfully nudging Jungkook’s arm.

“It’s only the truth,” the younger laughs back, “you haven’t even told me where you’re going?” He hopes the question will deflect from himself for a little bit.

Inhaling a breath, Taehyung looks down for a second at the hands in his lap. As his head lowers, a part of his hair falls from his beret and covers a part of his face. Jungkook only watches as he takes the time to look back up and then allow for their eyes to meet.

“Europe,” Taehyung replies. “Starting with France... Britain... Italy...for now anyway. Who knows where else the seasons may take me.”

“Wow.” Jungkook is impressed by Taehyung’s wanderlust. He doesn’t think he’s ever really met anyone who’s just packed up and decided to leave Korea before. Especially to go so far away.

“Have you ever thought about leaving Seoul?” Taehyung then asks curiously, eyes now trained on the other.

“Leave Seoul?” He repeats. The streets have become home to him for the last few years. Could he leave Seoul even if he wanted to at this point? Leave the hustle of the city, his favourite restaurants, all his friends, his job? He shakes his head. “I don’t think so,” he finally answers. “It’s never really crossed my mind.”

Taehyung nods in understanding. He figures not everyone feels the way he did and he understood that.

“Did you think this was how you’d be spending your last night?” Jungkook asks, diverting the subject once more. Shrugging, Taehyung readjusts his brown jacket, pulling it on his shoulders a little tighter.

“Honestly?” He says and then he chuckles. “At first I wrote a list. Places to go, things I wanted to try, things I should give my last goodbye to....”

“A list?” Jungkook asks. Taehyung didn’t seem like a list type of person. Not really.

“My friend suggested I do it. I thought at first it was a good idea but then....” his face shifts slightly, like he looks conflicted about something for a moment. “I guess I just decided to see where my feet would take me instead. That had to be more important right? Than what I thought I needed to do?”

Jungkook nods. He isn’t sure he understands fully what Taehyung means, but he thinks he gets it. Taehyung was someone who’s connections and emotions ran deeper than words on a list- his actions were based on feeling, spur of the moment. He sought things that brought him joy, whatever they may be. Not what was expected of him to want to do or want to like.

“There was one thing I kinda wanted to do though but I sorta ran out of time...”

Jungkook tilts his head.“What was it?”

The boy smiles and scratches the back of his head.“It’s kind of silly,” he begins, shrugging off the idea before he even finishes saying what it was. “I guess I kinda wanted to buy something to commemorate my life in Seoul somehow? Something that would have sentimental value. I just was never entirely sure what was right, y’know? And now so many shops are closed.” He swallows looking annoyed at the fact he’d missed his chance, but he tries not to dwell on it, following next with a shrug of his shoulders.

He goes to speak again but the grumble of his stomach cuts him off. It dispels the atmosphere between them, the semi-serious conversation becoming almost comical as Jungkook’s face turns to look at the others stomach and Taehyung smiles bashfully.

“Are you hungry?” He asks Jungkook, who chuckles sweetly.

“Maybe not as much as you....”

The elder nudges him again, rolling his eyes and they laugh for a second. Much more friendly now, much more easy. He then stands up and holds out his hand for the other to take.

“Let’s go get some food.”

__

12:45am

“Of everywhere you could eat tonight... your last night in the city, you pick here?”

Taehyung smiles, “You say that like I’ve made a terrible decision”.

“Not terrible... just.... you know how many food places Seoul has right?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes and pulls Jungkook towards the large silver doors of the 24/7 convenience store, throwing them back quickly and pulling him inside.

“You’re right Jungkookie, there’s so many places in Seoul... too many. Why decide when the mart makes the decision for you?” He sprints through the linoleum aisles heading straight for the shelves of ramen, his eyes widening at the sight of the flavoured noodles he enjoys so much. He grabs three cups, squatting down to reach the last one, before tilting his head back to look at Jungkook, who has finally joined him.

“Figured we could share,” he says excitedly, shaking one of the tubs in his hands. “Will you go grab some eggs? And if you can find the sausage get those too! Or whatever else you want. It’s all on me.”

Jungkook does as he’s told, turning on his heels to head to the egg section and grabbing a small carton before heading to where the other heatable food is kept, spotting the sausages quickly and smiling. As he goes to reach for them Taehyung is already back by his side, somehow in the few moments apart having found a basket and filling it with various snack foods, packets of candies and biscuits, as well as some drinks. Jungkook raises his eyes at the banana milk carton and Taehyung smiles.

“It was banana right? You mentioned that earlier?”

Jungkook licks his lips, momentarily paused at the thought Taehyung had remembered something so small as his milk preference through their hours of small talk. When Taehyung is still waiting for a reply he quickly nods his head and then adds the sausages to the cart.

“I’ll pay up and start to heat the food. Keep looking in case you want anything else.”

Jungkook sets off again through the shop floor, scanning rather than actually looking for something in particular. There was always some sort of strange feeling in a store that ran at all hours of the day. It seems almost separated from the world, isolated. Other than the shop clerk who hasn’t looked up from their magazine until Taehyung placed the basket on the counter, the place was empty. He realises he’s just drifting rather than actually looking and decides then, that the best thing to do would be to just head back to Taehyung and help him cook the ramen. Its then when he spots it.

He bends down to get a better look, his doe eyes so round and intrigued as he tilts his head and leans out to pick up the object. The sound of Taehyung’s voice momentarily makes him shoot up to see where the other boy is and when he spots him a fair distance away he relaxes before looking back at what’s in his hand. It doesn’t take long for him to decide he wants it and he pays for it quickly, hoping the other won’t notice as he does so, sneaking it into his pocket before he joins the boy once more.

__

12:55am

“This is what I’ll miss the most I think.”

Jungkook raises an eyebrow, “ramen?”

“No,” Taehyung laughs, before pausing, “Well yeah, but more than that. The novelty of being able to make a Korean meal in the dead of night at your local supermarket and it taste as good as a restaurant.”

Jungkook raises his milk. “To the little things,” he cheers and Taehyung clinks his own drink against the younger's with a happy smile.

“To the little things,” He repeats mirroring, the other's voice.

They drink before returning their faces back down to their ramen, shoveling in the noodles with their chopsticks quickly, sharing the dishes together too. Jungkook hadn’t realised how hungry he was until he’d gotten the first bite of a kimbap Taehyung had picked for him and after that, it was like he could almost feel the food soaking up the alcohol in him, almost completely sobering him up. From the look of Taehyung’s face, he could tell it was doing the same for him too.

When the elder notices him staring, his chewing slows down and he lowers his chopsticks once more. When he eventually swallows he leans forward a little and tilts his head.

“So tell me something else about yourself?”

“About myself?” Jungkook repeats, still eating his noodles although slowing down too, now that Taehyung wanted to talk some more. It’s when he’s sucked in his last noodle that Taehyung speaks again.

“Yeah. Like a secret. Something you’ve never told anybody.”

“You want me to tell you my biggest secret? Even though I barely know you?” He makes a face, “how do I know I can trust you?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow. Who’ve I got to tell?” Taehyung replies, cheekily.

Jungkook laughs slightly but doesn’t throw his cards in too quickly. Instead he manoeuvres himself in his chair and props his head in his hands. “Ok I’ll tell you, but you go first.”

“Me?” Taehyung asks mirroring the others actions.

Jungkook nods. “Like you said. You’re leaving tomorrow right? Who can I tell?” He smiles mischievously and it makes Taehyung giggle.

“Okay then.”

His laughter subsides and his face grows serious, he looks down only briefly but then lifts his eyes to the others again. “I’m scared that I’ll never be able to truly find what I’m looking for.” Jungkook is surprised at the admission and the way the conversation had taken a more serious turn. He didn’t actually expect Taehyung would have been honest with him and it surprises him for the hundredth time that night.

Putting down his chopsticks he tilts his head slightly and leans a little bit forward, in hopes of seeming like he’s invested in talking to the other. To show that he’s interested. “Is that why you’re travelling?”

The elder shrugs a response, “Yes and no.”

Jungkook looks at him and waits for him to explain. When Taehyung sees the way the others eyes are trained on his, he blinks and sits up straight, a distant smile on his face as he looks out to the park outside. through the mart windows, eyes trained on the distance.

“I was asked to photograph in Italy once. For a proposal.”

Jungkook mirrors the others actions, sitting up straight next to him. “With the company?”

Taehyung nods. “The client contacted our services and said he was planning to propose to his girlfriend in Florence. He couldn’t speak a lick of Italian and didn’t want to search for a photography company there. He was one of those business types, super rich, you know the ones. He offered to pay me double my salary as well as my flight.” He looks at Jungkook then, “how could I say no?”

“That’s. Wow...”

Taehyung smiles and nods his head in agreement. “The shoot was on this balcony that overlooked the whole city. It was..... i’d never seen anything like it.” His face looks focused as he remembers, but he’s smiling, like the memory brings only happy thoughts. He seems carefree, euphoric.

“I got to travel the city the next day and it was unbelievable. I fell in love. I realised that there are so many places out there to see, to capture. How could I limit my life to one place when there were so many others to explore?”

“I admire you.”

“Huh?” He looks back at Jungkook, his words bringing him back to reality.

“You’re passionate. I can see it on your face. I can tell.....It’s nice.”

Taehyung lowers his head, a smile playing at his lips and Jungkook wonders if he’s blushing. It would be the first time he’s managed to see the elder seem a whole lot less collected, and he welcomes it fully. This more bashful Taehyung is endearing.

“You think you’ll be able to find whatever it is you're looking for?”

Taehyung seems contemplative for a second or two before he shrugs. He grabs hold of his chopsticks again but doesn’t eat just yet, placing them in his ramen but pausing his hands for a second before he talks. “I hope so.”

Jungkook wonders if he can take the conversation further, if he can ask specifically what that thing is and why Taehyung is so sure it’s not in Seoul. He wants to pick the elders brain, understand him more, learn what he can in such precious little time, but he falters, hesitates to just say what he wants to say. Instead he scratches the back of his ear awkwardly and tucks a piece of hair behind it in nervous habit. When Taehyung leans over to grab a few of his noodles straight from his own box, he knows he’s missed his chance.

“So what did you get earlier?”

His eyes meet Taehyung’s again. The elder has spoken through a mouthful of Jungkook’s noodles so casually, swallowing them down to blink at the other. He had an impeccable way of swinging a conversation from serious to light-hearted, Jungkook struggles to keep up.

“You were at the counter right? You bought something?”

Suddenly the object in his pocket feels heavy and on instinct his hand comes out to lay over his trouser material where it resides. He’s so blatant in his action, Taehyung can’t help but stare at his palm laying flat over his pocket and tilt his head in curiosity like a puppy. After a second he smiles.

“Is it something embarrassing? Something you didn’t want me to see?” He asks teasingly.

Jungkook begins shaking his head. “No! no it’s... it’s nothing...” he feels awkward suddenly, stupid for deciding to impulse buy it and slightly exposed for it too. He doesn’t know if it’s crossing some unsaid boundary or weird and he’d gotten it not completely with the intention of giving it to the other, but rather seeing if it felt right to. Now though, he’s been caught out.

“Awh come on. Whatever it is it can’t be that bad,” Taehyung carries on, his smile still on his face, still looking amused yet curious. “I promise I won’t judge you.”

Jungkook’s fingers find their way into his pocket and he holds the object, threading it through each digit. He contemplates whether to just hand it over and be done with it but he waits again, assesses his options. Would Taehyung think it was weird? Would he think it was too much?

“Y’know the more you don’t wanna show me, the more curious I’m getting, I’m not gonna lie to you,” He giggles. “We’re friends right?”

He then realises that they are. That although it’s only been one evening, they’ve spent hours together and they’ve bonded. Although at the beginning of the day he may have felt a little awkward with Taehyung, if they seemed as though they had nothing in common, he’s now oddly just as comfortable with him as he would be with his closest friends. Maybe even a little bit more. That there’s something about just experiencing a care free night with a somewhat stranger that has brought something out of him, he can’t quite name yet. He releases a bit of breath then and decides to just go for it. Take a page out of Taehyung’s book and do something brave. It’s then that his grip tightens and he pulls the object from his pocket.

“It’s stupid,” he says as he opens his palm and shows the other. “You said you wanted something to commemorate your time in Seoul so...”

Taehyung’s eyes widen looking down at the bracelet in Jungkook’s hand and the other boys eyes. It’s a thread of thin blue and red rope with a few little beads attached to a wooden plaque with the cities name engraved on it. The type of thing a visitor to the country might pick up for their child with a Seoul fridge magnet or bottle opener. Your average gas stop or supermarket souvenir. It wasn’t fancy nor expensive, but with the way Taehyung is looking at it, Jungkook can’t help but grow shy.

“You got that for me?” He asks, his voice soft in its question, sounding almost surprised. He bites his lip as he meets Jungkook’s eyes again and the boy gives him a lopsided nervous smile, his cheeks tinting pink. He looks away as he replies, bringing his other hand back up to his neck again.

“Yeah I uhhh.... I mean I just saw it and thought you might.....” He shakes his head, “You don’t have to take it or anything.... I know it’s just a bit of junk but-“

“No.” Taehyung interrupts him. “It’s not. It’s....” He wants to tell him there’s something about it that makes it so much more meaningful than what he initially had in mind when he said he’d been looking for something to buy tonight. He wants to tell him that he’s thankful that he remembered, that he thought about him when he saw it and that it’s better than he could have hoped for. “Thank you,” is all he manages but he hopes his smile says the rest. “Can I?”

He reaches out hesitantly to grab hold of the bracelet waiting for Jungkook to say it’s okay. The younger nods instantly when he realises what the other is asking, moving his palm closer to the boy, over their food trays to give it to him. “Of course,” he says, “please.”

Taehyung smiles again and tentatively reaches for it, his fingers brushing the others palms so softly as he picks it up and examines it in his own hand with a genuine smile. Jungkook moves his hand back to himself, making a fist momentarily as if trying to hold on to the feeling of Taehyung’s touch before realising he’s being ridiculous and looks back at the other. He feels so elated about the fact the gift has been accepted, but he still feels shy under the others gaze too, still has that weird feeling of exposure on him.

“Would you?” Taehyung asks, gesturing to his left wrist. The brunette nods and reaches out again, almost too quickly that he curses himself in his head for seeming too eager. Taehyung giggles softly at the way the table jolts slightly at his movement, but then goes to watching the boy from under his eyelashes as Jungkook lays his wrist down and wraps the bracelet around it. From that point, Taehyung pays more attention to the boy and the way his tongue has come out to the left in concentration, rather than to see what he’s doing. He fixates on the way Jungkook’s own fingers are feather light against his wrist as he adjusts the rope and ties a knot, bringing the two sides together, and then when he’s done, he meets Taehyung’s eyes, which seem to reconnect and take him out of his dreamlike exploration of the other. He brings his arm up and holds it close to his chest, the bracelet settled beautifully against his golden skin, and then he smiles again.

“I’ll never take it off.”

Jungkook practically guffaws as his cheeks go red again.

“I mean it!” Taehyung continues when he notices Jungkook’s reaction. “It’s a piece of home I’ll always keep with me.”

__

2:30am

“Just a little more Kook, I promise!!”

After they had finished their meals, Taehyung had told Jungkook that there was one more thing he wanted to do for the night and hoped the younger would still be willing to go with him. Of course Jungkook had agreed before hearing what it was, far too enamoured with all things Taehyung at this point not to immediately say yes.

Of course he never expected that Taehyung’s last request would be to go on a hike. Up Gwanaksan mountain. At early hours of the morning. To watch the sunrise. In winter.

Still, how could he say no? Not when Taehyung looked so excited. Not when Taehyung practically jumped when Jungkook said yes. Not when he kept noticing the amount of times Taehyung would look down at the bracelet around his wrist and smile. Gwanaksan mountain it was.

He’d climbed it once before, with his college friends in his freshman year, but never at this time of night. He knew it was common for people to go on midnight hikes up the particular mountain. He knew that people had made it quite the event to watch Seoul reawaken at the top of its mound, but he never thought he’d actually be someone that would do it. He figures spending time with Taehyung would be a lot of ‘firsts’ though. He tries not to be upset that that won’t be possible anymore after he leaves.

“We can stop at the next point! That will be high enough!”

They’ve been walking for a while with no rush to reach anything in particular. Just slowly making their way up the mountain, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and some water Jungkook had grabbed from the store before they’d left. They were probably crazy doing this in winter and so unprepared. But he didn’t care. He was having too much fun.

Their conversations covered the entirety of conversations two people can have when they get to know each other. Every hobby, every interest. First pets name, first crush, first time riding the huge rollercoaster at Lotte world. Jungkook tells Taehyung all about his life in Busan, his family that he loves and misses, the little dog his brother sends him pictures of whenever he gets the chance. Taehyung is less detailed when he describes his life in Daegu, avoiding much of the ins and outs that Jungkook mentions, choosing to focus on his life in Seoul instead. Jungkook doesn’t think anything of it as he talks though, more intrigued to get as much from the boy as he can in their last hours together.

Their talk is so easy it’s weird for them both to consider that before the shoot, they had never met before. They talk like old friends reunited, two souls who have so much to share, beings destined to express their feelings with the other. It’s weird for Jungkook to think originally that he and Taehyung Would not get along. That they would not have anything in common. Other than their stance on love, they seem almost like the same person. They both laugh in sync and pick the same hand when they play Rock Paper Scissors. They both think that Park Seojoon is dreamy and can’t wait for IU’s next album. They swap stories about their favourite photographers, dancers, musicians, artists. They tell each other stories from their childhoods when they were both more awkward and confused. They fall into such easiness with each other that it seems almost like the night was made for them, that they were supposed to discover one another.

It was just so easy.

Eventually they reach the point of the mountain that Taehyung decides they are going to rest at, and he pulls Jungkook over towards the edge of the rocks flat surface to sit down. Instantly he lays his back on the ground and stares up at the sky, admiring the way the night is enveloping him, welcoming him into its arms. He sighs in satisfaction, allowing his eyes to shut briefly and then he smiles.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” He says, “you can see all of Seoul from here.”

A breath escapes Jungkook as he looks out at the surrounding, exasperated by what he’s seeing. “I’ve never seen Seoul like this before.”

“Not many people get the luxury we have right now. The peace and quiet of watching the city.”

Jungkook lays down beside the other and in the moment he feels as though all the air has been sucked out of him. Above the stars shine so bright and he almost feels weightless. He feels like he’s being comforted by their shine, surrounded by their light. He feels warm even though it’s the middle of winter. He feels euphoric.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” he says. “I...You probably realised this but I’ve never really experienced much of the city before tonight. Even though I’ve been here for a few years for college I never got the chance to do stuff like this…”

Taehyung’s smile spreads across his face before he opens his eyes again and looks at the stars. “I’m glad I got to be the person to do this with you.”

Jungkook smiles. “I’m honestly still surprised I even agreed to do this. I don’t think my friends would ever believe me if I told them what we did tonight.”

“You mean your other friends wouldn’t force you up a mountain at the early hours of the morning?” Taehyung giggles and it makes his chest rise and fall along the mountain floor.

“No they wouldn’t,” Jungkook laughs back. “I think they all see me still as just the youngest of the group you know. The baby.”

“Baby,” Taehyung echoes. “You don't like being called baby?”

Jungkook turns his head to avoid Taehyung seeing him blush. Something about the word baby in the others mouth makes something shake in his stomach.“I guess I’m just not totally out of my shell with them. With anyone really.”

“What about with me?”

Jungkook turns back to look at Taehyung who is staring at him closely. In this position their faces are so close, its crazy how he can see almost every speck of colour that flicks through Taehyung’s eyes.

“I’ve never met anyone like you before,” Jungkook says. “I’m not the most outgoing person, I don’t...I wouldn’t do something like this usually. Hell I wouldn’t say all of this stuff to just some random person…but I feel comfortable with you somehow. It’s weird.”

Taehyung nods his head, a gentle smile splays on his lips. “I feel comfortable with you too,” he repeats.

For a moment they just stare at each other and smile. Just appreciate this sense of comfort they’ve sought in each other, feel the moment and accept it. Welcome it openly. For strangers who had met only 12 hours ago, there’s no question in either of their minds that this thing between them, this feeling, is solid. Real.

Jungkook has never quite felt like this before.

Never felt so open.

He rolls so he’s laying on his back again, sighing in satisfaction as he stares back out to the night sky. Taehyung follows suit and together they watch the stars in silence. The most perfect and carefree feeling in the world.

He’s not sure why it makes him feel like he can speak up again. Why he thinks back to their conversation in the diner. Why he wants to be as open and as free as the sky above him. But before he can stop himself, he opens his mouth.

“I want to fall in love.”

Taehyung turns and looks at him. Jungkook’s own face is still up at the sky, admiring the stars, lost in his thoughts. The elder swallows as he outlines Jungkook’s face in his mind, traces his features against the skyline, the stars twinkling behind him, one positioned just above his nose. He swallows hard at the others words, intakes a breath. Jungkook turns to look at him.

“My secret,” He continues, searching the others' faces for a second.

Taehyung laughs nervously. “That’s not much of a secret,” He says, ignoring the weird feeling in his stomach since the ‘L’ word was uttered.

“No,” Jungkook says. “Maybe not. I mean you figured me out as soon as you met me I guess.” He smiles. “But I don’t just mean any old love.”

Sighing, he leans up and gets back into a sitting position, raising one knee and wrapping his arms around it, kicking the other leg out in front of him. Over the edge of the mountain is the whole of Seoul, trees and lights, families, loved ones, a whole life down below. For a second he basques in it and admires his position on top of the world. Their are a million stories playing out down below him, but right now he’s in his own. “I want the type of love that’s so powerful. The type that keeps you on your toes, excites you... something so passionate, so delicate, so, so... perfect. You know that kind of love that makes you feel giddy and excited, that it is almost overwhelming.” He licks his lips. “I want to find that person who can complete me, consume me. Who will take life on with me every step of the way. Someone I can grow with, learn with, someone who will finish me... and I’ll finish them. My other half. My soulmate...” He expects Taehyung to laugh again, like he had earlier, but when he turns his head to look at him, the others eyes are wide, almost glassy. Serious maybe for the first time that night.

“Aren’t you scared?” He asks, his voice quiet. Almost a whisper, a little strained. Jungkook knows what he means. A love like That. The love he wants, the type that can be almost controlling, dangerous, so passionate that it can consume a person fully, isn’t to be spoken of lightly. He knows that. But it still doesn’t stop him from saying what he does next.

“Terrified,” He replies. “But won’t it be worth it?”

Taehyung doesn’t say anything, just stares at the other in awe, his breath unnoticeable but out of sync. After another few seconds Jungkook licks his lip and changes the subject.

“You think you’ll ever come back?” He wonders if his voice sounds as hopeful as he thinks it does. Ridiculous.

Letting out a breathy laugh maybe just to dispel his own attention, to mask his feeling, Taehyung sits up, joining Jungkook at his side, their shoulders touching as he curls up his knees and wraps his arms around them. Eventually he nods. “I’m not running away,” he answers. “I’m just.... I need to do this. I need that chance to go and experience a different life...”

“Promise me something?” Jungkook asks. He’s embarrassed to say it and maybe it’s the romantic in him that forces the words to come out, but he’s been thinking about it since Taehyung brought it up and it’s itching away at him. “You said you’ll be coming back right? You don’t know when or why or how or.....” he drifts off, shakes out his hair slightly, takes a breath and tries again. “You think we’ll see each other again?” He swallows and then chews the inside of his mouth, feeling risky. Feeling stupid. Still feeling hopeful.

“You and I?” Taehyung says. He shrugs but there’s a smile on his lip, like he knows something Jungkook doesn’t. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

Jungkook tucks his lips in and turns to the wind, once again looking back out at the vast land before him. He didn’t know what answer he expected but he feels a little disappointed. In the scope of things, they were still technically strangers, but he’d like to think the last hours they had spent together had been one where things were shared that would not have usually been spoken. Where secrets and feelings and dreams were explored, two boys exposed and connected.

“Promise me something though?” Taehyung repeats, and it forces Jungkook to look back over at him. “If we do get the chance to meet again. Promise to take me to Namsan tower?”

Smiling, Jungkook looks shy briefly before eventually nodding. “I promise.”

Jungkook is running late.

 He’s cursing himself in his head constantly as he’s stuck in traffic, trying hard not to beep for the nth time at the lorry in front of him that decided right now it wanted to turn in the road and cause a commotion. His air con is on full blast, the Seoul summer heat threatening to melt him in his suit and he feels all too bothered for this problem today. He looks over his shoulder at all the gear in his back seat. His camera case, his lenses, all of the different camera tripods and stands. He should have been there at least ten minutes ago to begin setting up. He can’t miss the brides entrance. He just can’t.

As luck has it the lorry begins to move and he sighs as he presses the accelerator and surges forward as much as he can. The church is only two minutes away and if the traffic can be forgiving, hopefully he’ll get there in time and the bride's father won’t kill him.

Jeon Jungkook is never late. Jeon Jungkook has made a name for himself. Jeon Jungkook is the best in the industry.

He gets to the venue a minute earlier than he predicted and parks in the first spot he can see, worrying about the consequences of that later. There’s no time for him to be picky and he refuses to ruin his reputation because of a problem out of his control. This wedding was too important to him and Seoul traffic was unpredictable. He knew that.

He runs at the church doors, his gear fumbling out of his hands as he rushes to make sure he doesn’t break anything and as soon as he gets in he allows himself to catch his breath for a millisecond before the brides’ father is already at his side. He braces himself for the slap on the wrist but instead he’s greeted with a smile and an arm around his shoulder, a kind gesture as the elderly man leads him into the chapel and begins to explain where he needs to go. He figures either he hasn’t realised the time or he’s just too excited about the wedding that he doesn’t seem to care about his tardiness and he relaxes now that he’s in the clear. Now he can do his job and do it well.

As he gets to his spot he watches as the church has its final wedding decorations out in place, beautiful flowers laid against the pews, a stunning white carpet laid down the aisle. He gets that familiar excitement in his chest and feels the smile christen his face as he knows what’s coming and he can’t wait for it. He really did love weddings. He really loved his job. A beautiful piano melody fills out the room as the guests are filtering in slowly but surely, some fanning themselves in an effort to cool down from the weather, all dressed up appropriately for the ceremony; fancy dresses and suits, large hats and higher heels. Its when he’s finished setting up his stands that he feels a hand clasp his back.

“Jungkook, I must have missed you when you came in!” Its the voice of the groom, Kang Hyowon.

He smiles and takes hold of the hand reaching out to him, pulling the voice into a hug.

“Congratulations man,” He says as he pulls away. “How are you feeling right now? Nervous?”

Jungkook’s rush to the wedding had not just been because of his job there and the role he had to play. No, the wedding was more important than his normal jobs. Jungkook had gone to university with Hyowon and it was through him that he’d managed to meet his other friends. He knew they would all be here today and he was excited. He saw them when they could, meet for drinks after work or a scheduled dinner every couple months, but this was the first real big event for them all. The first step into adulthood.

“Nervous?” Hyowon shakes his head. “I’m marrying my soulmate in half an hour. I’m not nervous, I’m excited.”

Jungkook’s heart soars and beams hearing the others sentiment and he gives him a huge smile. Hyowon and his soon to be wife, Boyoung had been together for years. Honestly Jungkook couldn’t help but envy their relationship. They were the poster for a perfect couple.

“Have you seen the guys yet?” He asks next. Jungkook shakes his head.

“I thought I caught sight of the back of Hobi hyungs blazer earlier chasing after some bridesmaids but...”

Hyowon rolls his eyes and they both laugh. “I told him no flirting,” he says, sighing. “No sign of Namjoon?”

The photographer shakes his head again.

“He’s probably running around. Best man errands and all.... if I see him I’ll send him over to you.”

Jungkook smiles, “please do.”

“Thanks again for doing this for us,” he hears next and he sees his good friends face turn serious, grateful. If he was honest he felt pleasure to be the one who gets to photograph a special friends special day. His role in the wedding was so particular, important. It was up to him to capture every glimpse of love between the soon-to-be-weds eyes, to capture the looks of pure joy in the guests face at the sight of their close friend and families marriage.

“Of course,” He says. You know how much this means to me too.” He means it fully. Jungkook always got a little too involved in the weddings he photographed, loved the feelings between the couples, For swept up in the romance, but this time it was a couple he’s seen together for years, and it feels all the more beautiful.

Hyowon nods and they share another smile before Jungkook waves him off, telling him to go and greet his other guests and let him finish setting up his gear. At large weddings he normally doesn’t work alone, has at least one or two other photographers with him that help take the wedding video or guest photos. But today he’s on his own at his friends requests. The wedding wasn’t too big and he had planned to set up enough cameras to catch different angles on the brides entrance anyway that he would then edit later. He was good enough now to know what to do. He was a pro.

“Jesus, it’s hot in here.”

He knows the voice already and smiles before he even turns to greet them. Hoseok is standing behind him and when their eyes meet, there’s that familiar squint of excitement for the day that’s going to unfold.

“You can’t say that in here, we’re in a church,” He tells the other, before pulling him into a hug. Hoseok squeezes him tightly but as he pulls away, Jungkook hears his ever familiar laugh.

“Yeah but the heat makes it feel like we’re in Hel-“

“I’m not letting you finish that sentence.” 

The voice comes from behind him and Jungkook readjusts his eyes to the hand that’s been placed on Hoseok’s arms before travelling up to greet his other best friends smiling face. Namjoon has now joined them, tan skinned and sporting a shorter haircut than the last time they’d met, perfectly styled to one side.

“Got here with enough time to spare thankfully.” 

Of course if anyone had been aware of the times and Jungkook’s tardiness it would be Namjoon. Not that there was anger in his tone, rather he sounded happy to see the younger, glad that he’d made it. He leans in to give him a hug and Jungkook smiles when he feels the arms wrap around him.

“So, bets on who’s going to cry first then?” Hoseok asks as they pull away, rubbing his hands together before placing an arm on Namjoon's shoulder. Just between where their bodies stand next to each other, Jungkook can still see the trickle of wedding guests making their way in for the ceremony.

“Jungkook. Definitely Jungkook,” Namjoon replies, his smile widening.

The younger mocks offended, tutting at the other two. “Will not,” he refuted, but he knows as much as they do how sensitive he is to these kinds of things. It’s the reason why he loves his job as much as he does.

“Kook y’know your little fascination with all things love and romance really needs to reach its ultimate form,” Hoseok continues. “When will we be getting the chance to meet a boyfriend of yours huh? The love of your life?”

Jungkook looks away momentarily, heat drawing into his cheeks. He smiles bashfully, But shakes his head. “It’s not that I’m not looking,” He replies. He gives them a shrug, “but it’s not always as easy for some of us...” he tucks his lips into each other. Namjoon nudges Hoseok in the stomach.

“Leave him,” He says, “he’ll know when he’s found the right guy, you can’t rush these things.”

The right guy. Would he ever be able to find the right guy? It’s not for the lack of trying- he’d been on dates, seen a few people here and there, tried to open himself up to the lgbt scene in Korea as much as possible. But he just couldn’t seem to find anyone he truly meshed with. Struggled to find that connection he had experienced only once before. Long ago. A ship that has now sailed. He swallows as he thinks about it.

“And anyways, we don’t see you settling down any time soon,” Namjoon teases at Hoseok, who makes a face back at the other.

“Please,” he retorts. “Like you can talk. If you’d have just let Jungkook set you up with his boss like he wanted to. then at least one of us would have had a plus one tonight.”

Namjoon blushes and turns his head from the comment causing both Jungkook and Hoseok to chuckle. The younger had suggested introducing Namjoon to Seokjin after the former had dropped off Jungkook’s USB into the company when he’d accidentally left it at the elders place. Namjoon seen Seokjin walk out of his office, suited up whilst talking to the younger, and he’d panicked and ran out of the building as quickly as he’d come in. That night he’d asked Jungkook who he was but the second the younger had suggested introducing them, he’d flat out refused.

“How did this become about me!?” He whines which only causes the other two to laugh louder. Namjoon continues to guffaw, digging himself a bigger hole with every excuse he utters, that the other two are practically falling over themselves.

The hard laughter was so infectious that Jungkook almost didn’t see it.

He was so caught up in the giggling that the sight of a very familiar tan beret entering the church almost went by completely unnoticed. He wished he could say the sight of the typical fashion item didn’t make his head turn so quickly whenever he was walking down the street or through a park, but he’d grown accustomed over the last year or so to do a double take just to see who the owner was. This time was no exception.

He had expected to be confronted in the same way as all those other times. With the racing heart replaced by a feeling of dissatisfaction at the realisation that it wasn’t who he thought it was. This time however that never came. Instead as the head turned and the beret came off, as fingers found their way to rake through the locks of hair and restyle it, As the familiar slope of a high risen nose, two large eyes and the most unique box shaped smile made itself present, his heart stops.

Jungkook stops laughing, frozen to his spot, eyes fixated on one person and one person only.

“Kook?” He hears a voice say beside him. Whether it was Namjoon or Hoseok he couldn’t even be sure, blanking completely to watch as Taehyung walks down the church aisle before taking a seat in one of the pews. The laughter has subsided between all of them now, and he swallows as the boy from his past picks up one of the church prayer books, inspects the front cover and then flicks through some of the extremely thin pages.

“Jungkookie?” That time it’s definitely Namjoon and he refocuses into the present.

“Lost you there for a second,” Hoseok adds on but neither of his two friends seem concerned. Jungkook had a tendency to daydream and this wasn’t the first time he’d seemed to fade from a conversation. Still Namjoon watches him carefully a slight eye raised as he scans the younger's warming cheeks.

“How many people are here today?” He hears himself say, pulling his eyes from the boy who seemed only like a memory to stare at his friends again. It’s been how long? Over a year? Maybe more? Maybe less? Is that really Taehyung...?

Hoseok shrugs, “close to 75 I think? Give or take...”

“You see someone familiar?” Namjoon continues.

The photographer looks between the two friends for a second, allowing a beat to pass before he answers. When he does he fakes a smile and shakes his head, returning to his normal self and brushing some of his hair behind his ear. “No. No I was just wondering.”

At that point Namjoon readjusts the flower on his blazer collar and straightens up, before checking his watch. “Boyoung will be coming any second,” he announces and Jungkook checks his own clock strapped to his wrist. He wasn’t wrong.

“We’ll leave you to finish setting up.”

Both friends give him an affectionate pat on the shoulder and smile, which he returns gratefully regardless of the new found knot in his stomach and the feeling of consciousness about who he thinks he’s just seen.

As Hoseok walks away he turns round and points back at the boy with a winning grin.

“Shots later at the reception!” He says, “I’m buying!”

Jungkook laughs softly at his hyung, already thinking about the after party. “Anything but soju!” He reminds him and Hoseok winks before joining Hyowon and Namjoon at the front of the altar.

He tries then to go back to setting up his equipment, and he manages for a few seconds before he can’t help but stare at the back of Taehyung’s head. A part of him feels as though he’d been wrong and somehow imagined his face or had just seen someone similar, and he has an overwhelming need like he wants to walk down the aisle himself, stop right in front of where he’s sitting and check to see if it really is him.

The other part of him feels kind of terrified at the thought that Taehyung Actually is back though. That after all this time, they really had somehow ended up at the same place again. Will Taehyung see him? Well of course he will, eventually. Will they talk? He wants to. But what does he even say?

Since that night in winter all that time ago, Jungkook would be lying if he said he hasn’t thought about Taehyung frequently. After they watched the sun rise and left the top of that mountain, making promises, talking like old friends, feeling that strange connection one feels when they bond with someone on a deeper level, he had found himself taken with the boy. Completely and utterly enthralled by him and mad at himself that they only got the chance to meet on the elders last day in the city. He thought of it as a sick twisted fate.

When he eventually said goodbye to the boy and he’d hopped in a taxi straight to the airport where he’d already left his luggage, Jungkook watched him drive away and felt like this weird feeling of loss and wasted opportunity. Like if they had had the chance, whatever it was between them- the feeling he felt and was sure Taehyung must have felt too- could really have blossomed into something magnificent.

he wondered a lot if maybe it was just his tendency to romanticise every moment in his life that made him feel like that. Tried to convince himself that was the case. But he can’t deny himself that since that moment with Taehyung, he’s never felt any feelings quite like he did that day...

But alas Taehyung was gone for what seemed like for good. Time had passed and even though it would reoccur in Jungkook’s mind every now and again, it had became only a happy, distant memory.

Seeing him now however? If it really was him, almost brought back all those feelings at once. The ideas of what ifs and uncontrollable yet anxious excitement. That intense acknowledgement of attraction and connection that is so hard to find with so many people. The feeling of wanting to get to know someone more, of wanting to explore a person all over again, the intrigue, the interest. That’s how Taehyung made him feel then and it’s all such a reminder of something that was laying dormant within him.

His thoughts and feelings occupy him so much, that he hasn't even realised that no more guests are walking into the church and the place is now full. Before he can even comprehend the thought, the wedding march begins, filling the air with that ever recognisable tune.

He tells himself not to think about the boy in the pews now, and that he has a job to do. Even when the crowd stands and he sees Taehyung turn backwards, a clear shot of his face in view, to watch the brides entrance, He swallows and begins working with his camera. He had to do his job and he couldn’t get distracted. Not when today was his friends happiest day of his life. He focuses then as Boyoung enters, trying hard not to wonder who it is out of the two that Taehyung even knew. He sees that she’s nervous under her veil but smiling so happily, he looks back at Hyowon and sees his own emotional face, the delicate smile and tear brimmed eyes staring at his bride. He captures the photos, moves around the church and makes sure he’s getting the best pictures he can. In his zone he’s so focused that he momentarily forgets about Taehyung, or at least moves him to the side of his brain.

As he shoots and becomes more visible moving around the church, he doesn’t realise the eyes that spot him. As he does his job, he doesn’t notice the eyes that watch him instead of the ceremony.

__

“One more shot!” He’s sitting at the bar, music kicking off in the background, guests still at tables or on the dance floor, the dim atmospheric lighting and the beautiful wedding decor making him feel as though he’s in some sort of heavenly utopia. The place looked amazing and spirits were high. His good friend was married and he’d taken all the pictures he’d needed to for now- the majority of his equipment packed away back in his car and his camera safely tucked under his table. After the ceremony, he seemed to have lost sight of Taehyung and it wasn’t until the venue that he’d caught him again. Even still, busy working, their paths haven’t crossed, not yet, and he wasn’t sure when or if they would.

He pours himself another drink.

“I can’t do another one!” Hyowon calls back laughing with his arms over his friends shoulders. The barman has left a bottle of vodka with the groomsmen and the groom, Namjoon and Hoseok included and they had been toasting his wedding over and over again in the typical way a group of guys would.

“No! Nope!” He says, “I’m going back to my beautiful wife!” He tells them and he climbs off his stool with a giddy smile on his face. “Isn’t she stunning, isn’t she beautiful? God I’m so lucky,” he stares at her watching her spin on the dance floor with her father- the reason he’d had time to join his friends for a drink or two- and his face says it all about his feelings.

Jungkook looks at him and gets that emphatic feeling in his chest, feeling just as happy and just as giddy for them. For the fact that they found love. He then looks out at the dance floor and over at Boyoung and he knows that these two will be together forever. Hyowon goes over then and cuts in, taking his new wife by the hand and twirling her on the floor. She’s laughing at his obvious tipsiness but when they rest their foreheads together and Jungkook can see him whisper something in her ear, at which she begins to tear up and smile even wider, he yearns for that feeling. That real expression of true love. They kiss lovingly, continue to dance and then he leaves them to their moment. Moving his eyes and scanning the dance floor randomly.

He doesn’t mean to stop when he does but he knows it’s impossible for him not to look. A few dancing bodies down from the newlyweds, Taehyung is dancing along to the music with a bridesmaid in hand. He’s smiling, and chatting to the girl, clearly having a good time and enjoying himself. He looks good, better than good but Jungkook knew that was a given. His skin was tanner than it was the last time he was in Korea, and now properly staring at him instead of sneaking glances all night, he can see that his hair is longer and falls down the back of his neck more than it used to. His smile is still as blinding as ever though, just as dazzling as the chandeliers that christen the ceiling. He has a way of standing out even when trying to blend in. It was like he was impossible to miss.

“Who is he?”

He jumps at the sound of Namjoon’s voice behind him and when he turns to stare, he realises they are alone, Hoseok having found his own spot on the dance floor for the evening, cozying up to a male guest he’d been eyeing up during the cake cutting ceremony.

Jungkook swallows and places his hands in his lap. Trying to be nonchalant, he shrugs very lightly. “Someone I used to know,” he says casually. “We used to work together.”

He’d never told his friends about that night. Honestly he’d thought of it as something too precious, too private, between him and Taehyung, that speaking it aloud just didn’t seem right. The thing was that at the time it had maybe just felt like a one off evening, a random encounter with a stranger. But as the time went on, Jungkook had found himself thinking about that night often, allowing it to find a place in his mind that had made it special. Afterall How many people can say they’ve had a night like that? And he knows he overthinks things, but how could he not? As the time passed, he missed that feeling he felt on top of that mountain. He missed the feeling Taehyung had given him. He hasn’t felt it since. 

And that’s what made him keep it so secret- personal just to him. Not even Seokjin had known about their evening together and he had been their boss. When he’d asked Jungkook about what it was like getting the chance to work with Taehyung on his last shift, he had just expressed his gratitude at the opportunity. At that point he and Jin weren’t close enough to speak more about it, not good friends like they are now that he’s been working for him for so much longer.

“Anyone you’ve told me about?” Namjoon queries and he instantly shakes his head. Namjoon studies his face for a second and can tell there’s something deeper there, isn’t simple enough to take Jungkook’s words at face value.

“You’ve been looking out for him all night...” he says next and then he nudges his arm slightly. “... and he’s been watching you too.”

Jungkook’s face shoots back at Namjoon’s, a little too quickly to seem totally casual about everything, eyebrow raised in interest. When he notices how desperate he seems and how Namjoon is smirking at him, he releases the tension in his body and coughs, shrugging again. “He’s probably trying to figure out where to place me from.”

Truly he would love to know what Taehyung is thinking about seeing him again, whether he’d also somehow found a way to cherish their day together or whether it’s just become a hazy memory for the boy. It’s partially why he’s slightly been avoiding him- in fear of shattering the moment they had. In fear Taehyung didn’t even remember him. 

“Why don’t you go say hello?”

He can’t admit that he’d been trying to work the courage up to do that all night. That he’s been trying to say just a simple “hello, do you remember me?” It’s so hard though, and so much of the night has played out where he’s lost his chance, he isn’t sure he can do it anymore. Eventually he just shakes his head.

“Well then will you at least come and dance with me?” Namjoon asks next. “You promised me earlier, one dance?”

Jungkook doesn’t realise what Namjoon is doing and he hesitates before he looks at his hyung again and knows he won’t take no for an answer. Namjoon steps down from his bar stool and waits for Jungkook to do the same before they head over to the dance floor. He feels hyper-aware of the fact Taehyung is so much closer to him now, sure that the boy has probably seen him walk on to the floor, but he tells himself not to turn and look. To just get through the one song with Namjoon and then manoeuvre back over to his safety spot on the stools where he’s out of arms way.

Namjoon is smiling at him then when he seems to relax and get the beat of the music down to a tee. They move together well at the sound of the bands instruments and he tries to relax. It’s towards the end of the song when Namjoon gives him one last smile and stops his feet first, his eyes focusing on a spot behind the younger. Then he finally hears it.

“Thought you weren’t much of a dancer?”

His voice. It’s been a long time but that voice is undeniable, impossible to forget. His eyes close for a moment before he lets out a breath and turns.

Taehyung is there, standing in front of him. He’s in a tux like everyone else at the wedding but it fits him differently, suits him differently. He pulls it off like a model on a catwalk, like he was made specifically to wear that suit. Jungkook suddenly feels dizzy.

“You told me you weren’t much of a dancer,” He teases. “You lied to me.” He sees that familiar smirk, the one Jungkook has seen countless times in his dreams between the last time they’d met and now and it makes his heart skip slightly. Only slightly.

“Come on Jungkook. Is this how you greet an old friend?” It’s his name again, in the others mouth, sounds just the same and yet he hasn’t heard it enough, feels like he needs to hear it more. Then he fixes on the word friend. Old friend. They were friends- were they? It’s felt like so long he can’t quite be sure. Before he can say anything he gets pulled into a hug and suddenly Taehyung becomes more real, he’s there in his arms. Flesh and blood and the smell of vanilla, cinnamon, comfort.

“What are you doing here?” He doesn’t mean to sound so confused but it tumbles out. Taehyung doesn’t take any offence to it though, instead he laughs, that delightful sound. Jungkook swallows.

“Is that disappointment in your tone or confusion?” He jokes, leaning forward slightly in his questioning, allowing Jungkook to become enveloped in his scent once more, his aura.

Definitely not the first, He thinks. Completely not. Taehyung can figure as such and he nudges the others arm teasingly with a cheeky smile, his voice turning more softer as he speaks again.

“It’s good to see you again Kook. Your hair is longer.”

Instinctively Jungkook lifts his hand to the locks and attempts to tuck the sides behind his ear. The new longer length allows for the strands to move easily and it’s become a bit of a nervous habit since letting his hair grow. He wishes he didn’t feel so exposed, so hot, so overwhelmed but he can’t help it. He’d had all evening to prepare himself for this meeting and he thought maybe it would come eventually, but now that he’s here right in front of him he feels stumped. It’s Taehyung. The boy he spent a whole night with over a year ago, who he watched the city fall asleep and come alive again with from the top of Gwanaksan mountain. The guy who made him feel something in his chest, in his whole body that was so foreign and yet so welcome. Something he’s never felt before. Something he only wished he could feel again but never thought he’d get the chance to.

“grew it out.” He replies

Taehyung smiles. “Looks nice. It suits you.”

His chest flutters and he smiles shyly at the compliment. He doesn’t know why he’s acting like such a school kid, nervous, shy and giggling. Or rather he does, but admitting it to himself would only send him further down the spiral he’d rather stay away from.

“Do you have some time to catch up?”

Jungkook meets Taehyung’s eyes and he’s staring at him with a hopeful glimmer. He swallows when he sees the way the orbs shine in front of him, the lights from the dance floor reflecting within them, making them glisten. Those familiar eyes.

He is ready to leave then and there with Taehyung if that’s what the other wanted to do.

But first he remembers Namjoon and he looks behind him to where his best friend had once been standing. He’s no longer on the dance floor though and Jungkook searches for him quickly before finding him once again back at the bar. When their eyes meet, Namjoon raises his glass and gives the younger a wink. Figures this was what he wanted all along.

Jungkook smiles then and the smile makes another apparent on Taehyung’s face. He is accepting the invitation with just a look and that’s all it takes for Taehyung to grab him by the wrist and pull him towards one of the exit doors, grabbing a full bottle of wine off of one of the tables as he goes.

Jungkook can’t help but stare at the others hand wrapped around his, the way Taehyung is touching him. It’s just another reminder that he’s back and although he doesn’t know for how long, he doesn’t care. He feels excited and his feet pick up as they walk out, anxious to spend his time with Taehyung and only Taehyung. When he finally lets go he lifts his arm up and the material of his shirt pulls backwards. Jungkook sees then that he still has his Seoul bracelet on. The one Jungkook bought him. He tries to hide the smile on his face but it’s useless.

“Told you I would never take it off, didn’t I?”

His eyes flick back to Taehyung who is watching him amused, staring at the bracelet. He’d been caught for staring.

“I honestly didn’t believe you.”

“Ah that’s one thing you should know about me Kook. I never lie when it comes to jewellery.” He winks and then continues down the trail path into the land surrounding the wedding manor. It was lit up with twinkling lights out and down to a rose caged wedding pagoda. Jungkook realises then that’s where Taehyung is leading them and he feels his chest constrict. It’s where he’d taken pictures of the happy couple before they entered the manor. Where they’d had their private shoot, decorated specifically for them. It was unbelievably romantic and that makes his mind go crazy. He knows he needs to silence the thoughts but it’s hard. It’s too hard.

He’s at a wedding and he knows how he gets at weddings.

Taehyung is quick to pick a side of the gazebo to sit down in and kick his legs out in front of him. He puts the bottle down to one side and then gestures to the other for Jungkook to join him.

“So how’d you know the couple? The dark haired boy asks, taking his seat, trying to understand the odds of seeing Taehyung again. Here of all places.

“Bride”, Taehyung corrects. “I photographed her first wedding.”

Jungkook makes a face, telling him he knows that’s not true and Taehyung laughs heartily at his joke.

“good to see you’re still such a romantic.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes but a breathy almost relieved laugh escapes him.

“No. we met when I first moved to Seoul. Always stayed in contact when we could.”

”How long ago was that?”

Taehyung’s eyes roll upwards as he tries to think. “I came to the city when I was sixteen so almost ten years ago? I think? You look surprised.”

Jungkook calms his expression, wondering what face it was he was making. “I knew her back in college. Both of them. It’s weird to think we collectively knew someone all that time ago but didn’t know each other.” 

Taehyung smiles. “The world is smaller than we think,” he says. “I met her by chance really. You know I never went to college.” 

Jungkook does. It’s one of the things they had spoken about that night. How Taehyung worked as soon as he came to Seoul.

”Boyoung was a good friend to me when I needed one.” 

The younger Smiles at the thought. He knew Boyoung was sociable and knew many people. In fact now that he thinks about it, even though they went to college at the same time, there were many people around their age at the wedding Jungkook had never met before. He finds it beyond coincidental that she just so happened to know Taehyung though. He tries not to think of it as some sort of fate...

“I have to admit, when I thought I’d see you again, I never thought it would be at a wedding,” Jungkook tells him.

Taehyung laughs a little bit. “No, I suppose this isn’t the first thing I would have thought would bring me back to Korea,” he says, “But Love isn’t so bad when there are two people who look at each other the way they do.”

Jungkook is surprised by the sentiment, considering how much Taehyung had teased the other for his hopeless romanticism. It makes him think back to what he admitted that day up on the hill about wanting to fall in love. Real true love. He suddenly grows embarrassed under Taehyung’s gaze. He’d really been honest that night. So truthful to a passing soul, a boy he didn’t think he’d see again, opening up to him like he never had to anyone before. There’s now a surrealism to the fact Taehyung is beside him once more. The boy who allowed his words to flow out of him so willingly, really be himself with.

“So you thought about seeing me again?” Taehyung’s voice has a hint of undertone to it, an amusement that matches the smile on his face with his words. Flirting maybe? It only seems to make Jungkook grow more embarrassed.

“Hyung,” he whines and he rolls himself gently away from the other in bashfulness. Taehyung however lets out a soft laugh and reaches out to grab Jungkook’s hand, pulling the boy back towards him. He doesn’t let go when Jungkook returns, but instead begins tracing the outline of the other hand turning it around to play with the palm, follow the creases and the fingertips. Jungkook doesn’t stop him, just lets the elders fingers trace over his own and tries not to feel the sparks of electricity kick through his body at every gentle press. It’s quiet for a moment.

And then...

“I missed you, y’know.”

He looks back at Taehyung. It’s strange, he thinks because they didn’t really know each other. Not really. One night, spending hours together sure made them open up to each other in ways they hadn’t with any one else before, but in terms of time, their actual relationship? Friendship? It was only premature. But still, Jungkook would be lying if he didn’t say what he said next.

“I missed you too.” Because it was true. He means it completely. Thought he’d have to live in some perpetual state of missing the other because he’d never see him again.

Taehyung then decides that now is the time to open the bottle of wine, offering it to Jungkook first who takes a sip before passing it back.

“So I heard you’re the new me?” He says placing the bottle between his legs after swallowing down his own gulp. It’s typical Taehyung for their moment to become less serious, the conversation switching from how much they’ve missed each other, to work.

Jungkook laughs, “something like that.” He says, “after you left I guess I picked up your business.”

He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, a shy smile on his face as he checks Taehyung’s own, tries to gage how he’s reacting to those words.

“Good,” Taehyung eventually says with a smile. “I knew you had the potential to be great. I could tell the minute we first met. That day you took some really amazing photographs. I’m glad others have seen your talent too.”

”that means a lot coming from you,” 

“I’m only being honest.” 

Jungkook tried not to blush again at the compliment but it’s useless. He raises a hand to his cheek but tries to play it off as though it’s just the heat from the summer evening making him react in such a way.

“Warm night.” He says, changing the subject.

Taehyung nods. “Miles different from the first time we met, huh?”

The first time they’d met. It felt almost like a whole world away now. A whole different life time.

“so come on then, fill me in on everything between then and now, bring me back into your world for the night Jungkookie, I want to know it all...”

As the night passes by, they spend the whole evening passing the bottle between their hands and talking. Taehyung mainly asks the questions, getting Jungkook to explain more about his career now, how he’s been adjusting in Seoul now that he’s been longer out of college and experiencing adulthood. Jungkook talks more with Taehyung than he thinks he’s spoken with anyone, similar to the last time they were together. Although since the last time they met, Jungkook has found he opened up more with his friends (a feat he accredits completely to Taehyung) He still isn’t sure what it is about the other that makes him open up more than with anyone else. Somehow he just loses his timidness and gives in easily. He finds that not only does he tell Taehyung about his life, but finds he wants to. It’s just nice for him to not feel worried or judged, for not having to keep up his persona or act how hes expected to. To be the Jungkook everyone knows and just let go. 

And Taehyung listens to everything he says with vigor and understanding. When the conversation is serious he nods along, when he sees Jungkook needs it, he makes a joke, and together they giggle and laugh. They let go of everything around them so that there’s only that moment and what they’re doing that matters and it’s nice. It’s simple.

“What are you thinking about?” Taehyung eventually asks when the conversation eases and Jungkook begins to get lost in his thoughts. The younger tucks in his lip as he shrugs, he needed more alcohol for this, he thinks and he takes a large swig from the bottle. When he places it back down he lets it sit between his legs, keeping his hand on the bottles neck. Gripping on to something just to keep him there, present, feeling like if he didn’t, he may float away, get lost in the stream of all things Taehyung.

“You,” he says eventually. “What you’ve been up to since the last time we saw each other. I’m sorry I’ve spoken so much.” 

Taehyung leans forward a little. He keeps his cool so well that Jungkook can’t decipher his reaction to his words. He can’t help but overthink what Taehyung may be thinking, what he’s feeling. If he’s pondering Jungkook’s words, thinks they're too forward, lame, invasive. After a second he plays with the bracelets on his wrist, running his fingers through the different ropes before taking hold of the Seoul gift and taking one of the beads in his fingers. It’s not apparent to Jungkook at this moment, but if playing with his hair was a nervous habit he’d picked up since the last time they’d met, Taehyung’s habit was picking at his bracelets.

“Don’t ever apologise for that Kook,” he says, “if I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t ask.” Jungkook bites his lip at the thought Taehyung is actually interested in him. 

“But me? Really I just travelled mainly,” he says. “I took photographs and I ate food and I lived...”

Jungkook swallows. He can’t read Taehyung’s expression and it makes him want to pick his mind more, once again yearning to learn about the boy, learn all he can.

“There’s Just so much I don’t know, y’know? I’m...I’ve been finding myself.”

“And...?”

“And what?”

Jungkook doesn’t want to push if Taehyung isn’t willing to answer. If he’d learnt one thing about the other, he gives only what he wants to give. Will only say what he feels like saying and doesn’t reveal more than he feels like. It’s what makes him so hard to figure out. But that doesn’t mean Jungkook doesn’t want to try.

“You’re back. I guess I just wondered for how long...”

The thought of Namsan tower fills Jungkook’s head. The promises they’d made if they ever saw each other again. His curiosity stems from his desire to want to get to know Taehyung more. Was Taehyung back for good? Could they see each other again?

Taehyung readjusts his back so that he’s leaning more comfortable against the side of the pagoda pillar and looks out at the fields around them for a brief second before turning back to Jungkook. “Actually I leave again tomorrow evening.”

Just like that, Jungkook’s hopes are squashed. Whatever Taehyung has been looking for, he wasn’t finished yet and Jungkook had to accept that. He nods his head in understanding and tries not to show his disappointment.

“Guess we’d better make tonight count then,” he eventually says and it causes Taehyung’s eyes to shift. The cautious stare he had disappears and the orbs of his irises seem to glow in interest.

“What exactly do you have in mind?” He asks, interest lacing his voice.

If Taehyung wasn’t going to be around for long, if Taehyung was never going to come back again, Jungkook knew he had to let go of his anxieties and embrace the night in the way he wanted to. He liked Taehyung, he thought about Taehyung far too much for someone who he’d only met once and if this was all he was going to get, if Jungkook was going to spend another year or two or longer thinking about this boy, than he was at least going to give himself memories to last. His guarded heart can’t stay like this for much longer, especially not when he’s at a wedding.

He knows how he gets at weddings.

“Dance with me,” he says. It’s a juxtaposition from their first meeting when Taehyung had asked him in the bar and he can’t help but laugh at that now. Jungkook stands up and holds his hand out for Taehyung to hold. The elder tilts his head and leans forward, he’s smiling but he narrows his eyes playfully.

“I thought I’d told you before, I don’t like to be cliche,” he replies, but he’s already settling the wine bottle on the floor and taking Jungkook’s hand allowing the boy to lift him up.

The younger feels his pulse quicken at the touch of the other but tries to stay calm as he smiles again and shrugs his shoulders easily. “We’ve already snuck away from the wedding with a bottle of wine and came to the most romantic part of the venue. How much more cliché can we get?”

He pulls Taehyung towards him who giggles at the others words but then places a hand on Jungkook’s shoulder. The younger pulls him close and rests his left hand on the small of Taehyung’s back. The contact causes him to grow serious and he searches Jungkook’s eyes for a second, hesitantly.

“The music is too quiet.”

The thrum from inside the manor where the reception was being held was only a gentle sprinkle out in the gardens. Enough for Jungkook to follow a beat but not for them to be able to make out what the song is, not unless they strained their ears hard to listen to it.

“We’ll improvise.”

After a moment or two, Taehyung rests his head on Jungkook’s chest and allows for the younger to travel him across the circular floor of the rose cage, closing his eyes and feeling the rise and fall of Jungkook’s steady chest. It’s hard for him, being back, seeing Jungkook, even if he doesn’t let on just how much. It’s confusing too, because for all that’s he’s been searching for, in all the months he’s been gone, strangely he realises he’s finding more solace in the space between Jungkook’s shoulders, than he has around the world in cities and hotel rooms, small cafes or bars. The feelings makes no sense to him however, so he ignores it, reminds himself that this is only temporary, everything is only temporary.

“Do you have to go so soon?” Jungkook asks, his voice, cutting through the almost silence, pulling Taehyung back to the present. There’s a rawness to his question, so stripped back, so honest, it takes a second for Taehyung to reply.

“My flights are already booked.”

Jungkook rests his own head atop the others then and sighs, a long wistful sigh, making it clear Taehyung’s answer is a shame, that he wished it wasn’t so.

“You’ll see me again,” he can’t stop himself from saying, unsure if he even means it but for some reason finding he can’t say anything else. As if he can’t help but want to give some sort of hope. To Jungkook...to himself.

“Is that another promise?” The expression leaves Jungkook before he can stop it but he doesn’t care, he isn’t bothered about seeming natural right now when he wants the other to know that he’s glad he got to see him again, that he’d like to see him more.

Taehyung doesn’t reply, Just grips on to Jungkook tighter and he takes that as his answer.

“Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech!”

The chants of the crowd are persuasive and Jungkook joins in, raising his beer bottle and laughing along with the rest of his work colleagues as they attempt to get Seokjin to say a few words to commemorate their evening. It’s a company party, a celebration of their anniversary, running now for 25 years, starting with Seokjin’s father and passed down to him only a few years before Jungkook had began working there. The party was in full swing, other photographers, their loved ones and even regular customers having made the trip to the bar just round the corner from the office to celebrate this day with them all.

Seokjin is smiling awkwardly, his ears reddening in typical Seokjin fashion when he’s embarrassed. He’s shaking his head to tell everyone he didn’t want to say a few words but no one lets up, only cheering him on further. He turns then to Namjoon who takes his hand softly and gives him an encouraging smile.

Seokjin and Namjoon. Jungkook knew they would be great together. He smiles as he watches Namjoon say something to Jin, who stares back with such an adoring look on his face, The younger can’t help but feel himself smile seeing it too. He’s so glad he’d managed to finally get them talking at his birthday party nine months ago. Finally. He’d never seen them both so happy.

“Okay okay,” Jin says, approaching the crowd, his hand still in Namjoon’s, holding his fingers loosely.

“First I guess what I really want to say is thank you to everyone for coming out here tonight.”

A couple people cheer, some others clap once or twice and it’s so noticeable how much Jin appreciates the sentiment. Jungkook feels happy just seeing his hyung in this moment, proud of him and proud of the company. He waits for Jin to continue as his phone vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out, quickly, inconspicuously so that he doesn’t miss anything nor seem like he isn’t paying attention. When he sees the message, he frowns.

From: Mingyu 

Hey babe, I thought I’d have made it out of the office by now but I’m still swamped with paperwork. Looks like I’ll have to call a Rain-check on tonight. Have fun celebrating with your work friends and I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you xx

He sighs as he places his phone away. He’d expected that his boyfriend would have been here for him tonight, like everyone else’s partners in the company. The rest of his friends. He knew Mingyu worked a lot but this party had been planned weeks in advance. Lately though, it seemed as if Mingyu always has some sort of excuse, reasons he didn’t want to see Jungkook. He tries not to dwell on it or let it ruin his night but it’s hard, he can’t help but feel an uncomfortable tug in his chest at the thought that this wasn’t the relationship he’s always hoped for. But he knows now isn’t the place for those kinds of thoughts. Tonight was supposed to be special. Hes supposed to be supporting his hyung and their company.

He re-centers his focus to his hyung then and puts Mingyu to the back of his mind. He’ll just have to deal with him later.

“My father started this company twenty five years ago when he and my mother had just gotten married and moved to Seoul with no money and not realising they were expecting their first child...”

The crowd 'aww' until Jin makes a joke about his elder brother that quickly turns the coos into chuckles of laughter. Typical Jin to make a joke out of everything.

“...But seriously, to many we may seem like just a small photography company, but over the years we have built a lasting relationship, a friendship, a community among us. We have got the chance to capture people’s lives and stories, celebrate couples big days, commemorate special moments and connect with our customers on the most important days of their lives. It’s been an honour getting to meet you all, work with some of you, share such beautiful memories....” He raises his glass and everyone follows suit. Jungkook tries hard not to get emotional at the others words but finds it so hard when everything he’s said has been so true. His years at the company have been so rewarding and without them he wouldn’t have gotten to experience so many things. So many people. He’s never felt more grateful.

he raises his bottle, eyes trained so obediently on Jin that he doesn’t notice the figure that sneaks in to the back of the room, next to the bar, having missed the majority of the speech but lifting a glass of the first drink he can get a hold of to toast along with everyone else.

“...So here’s to twenty five years, and hopefully twenty five years more to come!” Jin lifts his champagne a few centimetres higher before taking back his drink, and the crowd follows, knocking back their own beverages, clapping and cheering again in between. Once Jin has finished, he puts his glass on the side and instantly leans into Namjoon who kisses him affectionately, letting him know that he’s done a good job. He smiles again before turning back to the guests and it takes only a second for him to spot something, someone, and his eyes widen instantaneously, a huge smile breaking out on his face.

“Taehyungie?” He cries and then he lets go of his boyfriends hand and runs back to the bar. “Tae oh my god you made it!”

Jungkook feels as if the wind gets knocked out of him the second he hears the boys name and feels Jin run straight passed him. He turns around in confusion, wondering if it’s who he thinks it could be, and then feels winded all over again when he sees the familiar boy currently being engulfed in a huge bear hug by his boss. He can just about see his face peeking out from Jin’s broad shoulder, his box smile large and his teeth on show, his eyes disappeared into crescents from the greeting.

Jungkook hadn’t expected to see him tonight. Jungkook hadn’t seen him since Hyowon’s wedding and it’s been a long time since then. Too long. He doesn’t entirely know how to react, his hands coming up to straighten his shirt a little bit subconsciously, rake through his hair to make sure it looks tidy. The night at the wedding was beautiful but once again it didn’t last. Once again Taehyung Hd ti leave and it all became another memory to hold on to. 

it was harder for him the second time round. Maybe because he had two experiences stored in his mind. Two moments that felt special and personal Now. Two moments that were incomparable to any other in his life. 

But he carried on just like before, moved on with his life, got even more successful in his career and eventually met Mingyu...

“Everybody!” Jin says then turning around to face the crowds of people only this time from a different part of the room. “Our very own Taehyung flew in from Prague just to be here tonight!” He announces, taking hold of Taehyung’s hand. He looks embarrassed as the eyes of the audience settle on him, and for a moment he looks away to smile shyly and compose himself. When he looks back out at the crowd he finds Jungkook straight away. His eyes then turn soft, admiring. Jungkook feels his heartbeat quicken.

“Taehyung started out with us when he was still a teen but now he’s out being a rockstar, capturing the world one city at a time! He even recently held his own gallery in Paris so let’s give him a round of applause.”

The crowd clap, including Jungkook who Taehyung only seems to be paying attention to now. He bows humbly as Jin tells everyone to congratulate him through the night before letting the party commence further. A small crowd forms around him for a moment and he greets the people quickly, more bows and hand shaking momentarily having to shift his focus elsewhere. But Jungkook waits for him. Just like he always has, just like he always will, and when the other is free of other people, and Jin, who gets pulled away by Namjoon once more, he makes a beeline straight for the younger, who can’t help but smile into the top of his beer bottle before taking another sip. He shouldn’t feel excited again...he shouldn’t...

“Fancy seeing you here,” Taehyung jokes. His outfit today seems to blend between the casualness of the first time they’d met and the formal attire of the wedding. Dress pants with a green sweater. For the first time there’s no beret but his hair is darker and styled more sophisticated, more mature. An indicator that time really has passed.

“I think I should be the one saying that,” Jungkook replies with a short chuckle. He’s so much more collected this time, even if his bodily reactions are almost exactly the same as back at the wedding from seeing Taehyung. He figures maybe it’s his maturity that makes him handle it so much better. “What time did you get in?”

Taehyung looks at the leather brown strapped thin watch on his wrist. Jungkook notices the Seoul bracelet strapped next to it, and he holds back his smile even more. After all this time, it’s still there, he still has it. “almost two hours ago.”

the words cause his eyes to widen. “You came straight from the airport?”

“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

Jungkook wonders what it is about the party that would make Taehyung take a 16 hour flight just to get back. Sure it was an anniversary but people aren’t usually tied to their old jobs that much that they’d make such a long trip to celebrate something like this. Or maybe they are? He doesn’t know.

“So are you gonna be the one to ask me to leave with you this time or am I gonna have to steal you away again?” Taehyung asks, expectantly. He blinks his eyes in an innocent manner and Jungkook withholds his reaction to seeing those big eyes so alluring once again.

“Is that what we always do now, hyung?” He asks, trying to play along with Taehyung’s game. The way he always does, one step behind the other, desperate to reach his finish line.

Taehyung grabs a canope from a passing waiter and pops it into his mouth with a shrug. “It could be. I figured this time we could mix it up a little.”

“Only a little?”

“We’ll we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves now, do we?”

Jungkook laughs, shaking his head because this is just so Taehyung and he revels in it. Loves it so much, just everything about the way he talks and the way he is.

should he be doing this again? Leaving with Taehyung? Allowing himself to get swept up once more. Maybe not. But he tells himself that they’re friends, right? And friends can do this. Especially friends who haven’t seen each other in so long.

“Let’s go,” He affirms then and the elders eyes ignite with excitement, smiling before following Jungkook out of the main room and into the street outside where there’s more quiet. He plants himself on the bar wall and Taehyung joins his side happily.

Jungkook knows that things are different this time. It’s been a while and he’s less intoxicated. Less consumed by the visions of a wedding that made him starry eyed and fixated on the thoughts of him and Taehyung as something more than just acquaintances. He’s older now and it’s been longer. long enough for him to know he can be around a Taehyung and compose himself in a new way. Not become enveloped in every single part of the boy, desperate to cling to every single moment. They can be more casual. No wedding or last night in town to romanticise the evening. After all Jungkook has boyfriend.

...still with the way the streetlamps dim glow causes Taehyung to shimmer among the nights spring air, the way he smiles with his mouth first before his eyes, the way he looks at Jungkook so expectantly and excitedly, the way he sees his bracelet....

Jungkook has to simmer the overwhelming feelings. He can’t still be feeling them.

“So you have a gallery in Paris?” It’s the first thing Jungkook wanted to ask the other about, intrigued by Jin’s speech earlier and excited for the other photographer. He hopes it’ll also keep his beating heart at bay, let things remain more colloquial than the last time they met. “That’s amazing, Tae.”

“It’s nothing really,” Taehyung replies nonchalantly. “Jin hyung made it sound really great but it was just a small thing.”

“Small thing or not you should be proud. Your own gallery hyung, I would have loved to see it.”

The elder bites his top lip when he hears that. It had happened by chance, having met the right people when in France and with Taehyung being the friendly approachable person he was, the next thing he knew he had a curator asking to see his stuff. It was only a week of showings but he had displayed his pictures from his travels so far. It was nice sure, but he’d wished he had people there to see it that he truly cared about. Like Jin...Jungkook....

“I was lucky-”

“No, You’re talented.”

Jungkook looks straight at Taehyung then and the elder is silenced by Jungkook’s confidence in his words, a little overwhelmed by his support. It was nice to hear. Nice to have him on his side.

“You’re one of the most talented photographers I ever got the chance to work with hyung, it’s a great thing that you’re out there using your talents for more people to see.”

He can’t help but blush. Taehyung was a confident person, full of character and talk, so easy to be taken with. But behind a lot of it, there was an innocence to him, a softness that he didn’t let many people see. A small bit of self doubt perhaps, often being his own worst critic. When Jungkook talks it calms something in his chest all whilst at the same time inflates his nerves. He wasn’t used to the sheer honesty in his voice, didn’t feel it from any one else but Jungkook.

“Enough about me,” he then says. “What about you hmm? How’s things at the company?”

Jungkook shrugs his shoulders. Taehyung never talks about himself too much. Always diverts things back to the younger “Same as it always is.”

“Are you still enjoying it?”

“I love it,” Jungkook replies truthfully, “I was just thinking in there about how lucky I’ve been getting the chance to work there for so long. All the opportunities I’ve been given because of it.”

“Like meeting me?”

Jungkook wonders if he can tell the other that he considers that the best opportunity of them all. He can’t find the truthfulness behind the question though, thinking Taehyung is only teasing like he always does, and so he shyly smiles. He knows it’s probably for the best anyway.

“And what about life Jungkookie? Doing anything interesting...” a beat passes, “...seeing anyone?”

He adds the last bit on for good measure, to find out what he’s wanted to know since he saw him in the bar. His eyes look nervous as he speaks, his tongue coming out to lick his bottom lip, a habit Jungkook has always picked up on.

The younger knows he can only tell the truth. “Life is good and I am,” he says, “his name is Mingyu.”

Taehyung nods his head then, a short little acknowledgement of what the other has said. He straightens up slightly, tells himself he needs to watch out, check his actions. He’s not single...the way you got close at the wedding last time isn’t possible...he’s not single...

“And is he...?” He asks. If he’s surprised or disappointed he doesn’t let on, his voice staying nonchalant as he speaks. Or attempting to be at least.

“Is he what?” Jungkook mirrors.

Taehyung looks at him, gives him a knowing stare, “you know... the one?”

Jungkook pauses, tries not to think about why Taehyung would ask such a thing. Tries not to think about why it mattered, what the look in Taehyung’s eyes meant. Why he cared.

“He’s tall,” is all Jungkook replies a little sheepishly, caught off guard. 

Taehyung laughs then and the sound eases something in Jungkook’s chest, even though their conversation is making him nothing but on edge.

“He didn’t come with you tonight?”

“He works late.”

“That's a shame.” In his voice, it’s clear he’s still smiling. Clear that he really didn’t mean it.

Jungkook will admit he doesn’t want to sit here and talk about Mingyu. For some reason that feels too weird for him, awkward. He knows it shouldn’t, Taehyung like everyone else was just a friend in his life, a passing acquaintance. But he can’t help but feel like speaking about partners felt off. He knows for a fact he’d rather not ask if Taehyung was also in a relationship. Decides to change the subject instead.

“Hyung, don’t take this the wrong way but things seemed to be going great for you out in Europe. What made you come all the way back for a work party?”

Taehyung leans back slightly and then crosses his arms. It’s not that cold, spring evenings tending to drop a little in temperature but tonight fortunately staying mild. It seems almost like his arms come up as a way to protect himself, hide or hold back. When he looks at Jungkook again though they seem to fall loose and back at his sides. He exhales then and knows this is a safe space. Jungkook is a safe space.

“I’ve been with the company since I was sixteen,” He tells him. “I didn’t finish high school, I left my parents in Daegu and I moved here.” A dry laugh leaves him mouth as he recounts his time as a teenager, it’s not genuine though and in his eyes, he seems hurt, upset. He blinks a few times, an attempt to remove the vulnerability, and then looks back at the other. “I practically begged Jin’s father to let me work here, knocked on the door every day, showed him my pictures on this crappy little camera I used to carry everywhere with me back home.” He shakes his head as though embarrassed to remember such a thing now, picturing himself all those years ago, small shouldered but wise eyed, determined to take on the world in clothes that didn’t fit him properly and a Daegu dialect so strong most people had to ask him to repeat himself when he spoke. It’s all practically a blur now but he still has the picture of himself the day he left home, in his wallet. A reminder of how he started and what he wants to achieve for that boy who smiles back in the photo.

“They eventually found out how I was living, how I’d moved up to Seoul alone... sleeping on floors, sleeping on the street. Jin hyung... he convinced his family to let me stay with them. Remember the 24 hour mart we went to eat at before?”

Jungkook nods his head.

“My first night in the city I slept on one of the outside benches. All I could afford was their kimbap that day.”

“Tae I had no idea,” Jungkook reaches out a hand, lays it across the boys thigh in comfort. He knew Taehyung started you g at the company, moved When he was only a teen, but they’d never dove this far into his story before. The rest of the information was new.

The elder looks at Jungkook’s hand and smiles appreciatively, forcing himself not to close his eyes and sigh in satisfaction of the feeling of the others touch, the way having him so close made him feel.

Jungkook licks his lip before speaking again, hesitating before the words come out but not able to stop them before they do. “You’re parents...” He begins but when he sees Taehyung bite his cheek, he stops.

“Haven’t heard from them since,” he replies honestly.

“Tae-”

“No. No it’s... I don’t mind. The Kim’s were my more like parents than anyone else ever was. I wouldn’t have missed today for the life of me.”

The raven haired boy swallows, moving his hand from Taehyung’s thigh to his back, rubbing the palm up and down in comfort.

“My parents didn’t understand me and they couldn’t love me because of it and I dealt with that by moving here.” He swallows and then looks down at his feet, That’s just the thing about love Jungkookie,” Taehyung says next. “You just never know if it’s real or who it can come from. Sometimes it’s easier to run than make yourself vulnerable again.”

Jungkook opens his mouth to say something, but finds the words aren’t quite there yet. A part of him Wants to tell Taehyung that love isn’t always like that. That real true love is solid and comforting, secures. But at the same time, he feels like he understands Taehyung more after hearing this. He had once said he was scared he’d never be able to find what he was truly looking for. Jungkook wonders if Perhaps that thing is becoming a little clearer. Although not exactly obvious, some of Taehyung’s layers have been pulled back and the picture was beginning to form.

He’d also always thought a lot of Taehyung’s actions stemmed from spontaneity- going to eat at the mart that evening, even assuming his trip back to Seoul this time was some sort of last minute decision. But he knows now that there’s a real depth to Taehyung. He holds on to memories and finds meaning in the little things. He cares a lot and he’s sentimental- things matter to him.

“Can we go see the office?”

Jungkook’s hand stills. He knew now how quick it took for Taehyung to jump between the serious and the easy, but he still finds it hard to adjust to the others quick nature. Wonders if this time it’s all another part of his attempts not to seem too vulnerable. “Tae-”

“Come on Jungkook,” he interrupts smiling jovially. “I haven’t been back to that place in forever, do you have a key?”

Jungkook nods his head and the reaction elicits a huge smile from Taehyung who jumps off the wall and grows a mischievous glare in his eye. He practically peels the other from his seat and links their hands together, interlinking each finger, the first time they’ve held hands in such a way, and pulls him down the street, in an almost jog like manner towards where their office stands. Jungkook knows not to question Taehyung’s antics, never having done so in the past and never planning to in the future, and so he allows his feet to follow the other boy back to where’s he’s all so familiar.

“We could get arrested if we get caught,” he says but it’s not meant to sound like a deterrent, rather just stating the obvious. He knows Taehyung wouldn’t care and he’s right, the elder only gesturing quickly for the keys to get inside and laughing softly.

“Then we’ll have another great story to add to our collection.”

In another beat the door opens quickly and Taehyung lets himself in, turning to Jungkook with a mischievous glare, “race you up there?” He asks running quickly to the elevator and throwing himself in. Jungkook barely has time to catch up to him and the other is shutting the doors with a wide grin on his face just as he reaches the lift. He sighs but he isn’t mad- this was Taehyung and if he had to run up a couple flights of stairs, play along with whatever the other wanted to do, than so be it.

He takes them two at a time, glad that he’s been increasing his workouts at the gym lately, and he gets there a couple minutes later, pulling open the office doors slightly out of breath. It’s eerily quiet and for a moment he wonders if Taehyung has made it up yet, but he quickly dismisses that thought considering how quick the elevator is.

He walks through the familiar rows of desks and computers, editing systems and lighting softwares until he sees a shadow move in the ending office, Seokjin’s, behind the misty glass doors that separate it from everyone else. He smiles to himself as he walks up to the door and pulls it back. As soon as he enters the large chair turns around and Taehyung is looking at him eyebrows furrowed and mouth in a hard line.

“Mr Jeon,” he says, changing his voice to sound stern and strict, “it appears you’re late once again. One more warning and I’m afraid I’ll have to fire you.”

Jungkook giggles and walks up to the desk sitting on the edge of it, one leg propped up so his knee rests next to Jin’s computer.

“Thanks for waiting for me,” He says sarcastically folding his arms. He looks around for a moment and then turns back to Taehyung. “We probably shouldn’t be here,” He says, before looking at the desk and scanning the array of objects Seokjin keeps atop it. There’s notepads and pins, tubs of pens and a few picture frames. One of his parents, another of him and Namjoon and finally a group photo of the company employees taken a year ago.

“Oh it’s fine,” Taehyung replies, “Jin won’t care.” He leans up from his chair and towards the computer, clicking the mouse and pressing the monitor, waking the machinery up.

“What are you doing?” Jungkook asks as the other begins typing on the keyboard quickly.

“His password is my name,” Taehyung says, and with one final click, he gets into Seokjin’s computer and the desktop flashes back at him.

Jungkook can’t help but laugh at Taehyung’s shamelessness. “How did you even know that?”

Taehyung smiles and then looks at Jungkook, “Who do you think set it up?” He tells him, “I still remember the day he took over and moved into this office.”

“It would have been nice to see what you were like here,” Jungkook admits then. “What the office was like with you around.” He’s relaxed in his words, trying to picture what it would have been like having met Taehyung in the office instead of on his last day. He imagines him smiling, talking with his other coworkers, lightening up the mood whenever it’s necessary.

“You would have hated me.”

Jungkook knows for sure that’s not true and he scoffs. “Of course I wouldn’t have. I didn’t when we first met.”

“When I arrived late to our shoot and you looked like you were gonna have an anxiety attack?” Taehyung says sounding sceptical and holding back a laugh. “If we were just coworkers, we wouldn’t have ever got the chance to bond like we did. You would have thought I was unprofessional and I would have thought you were a tight ass.”

Jungkook wants to reply but he has nothing to say. Maybe that was right. Or perhaps that was just Taehyung's ‘realism’ again.

“You’re so pessimistic,” Jungkook decides to reply. “I’m sure we would have gotten along eventually.”

“Maybe,” Taehyung agrees, “but I like the way things worked out.” He blinks a few times and then gestures with his hand for Jungkook to get closer. “Now come over here, let’s take some pictures.”

“Pictures?” Jungkook climbs off the desk and walks around it to stand behind the other boy. When he leans down beside him he notices he has the computers webcam open and the camera feature ready to snap a picture.

“Say kimchi Jungkookie!” Taehyung shouts, and not a second later, the camera clicks and a still of the two boys appears on the screen. Taehyung is smiling brightly, teeth all on show whilst Jungkook was unprepared, a blur at the side of the screen.

“Oh my gosh,” Taehyung cries, laughing when he sees the picture. “You’re too cute!”

Jungkook pouts staring at the photo. “I wasn’t ready!” He objects, “Why are we even doing this?”

“Because” Taehyung says, resetting the camera up. “We’re both photographers, we’ve known each other for years, and yet we have no photos together.”

He turns to look at Jungkook and plays with his hair slightly, moving his bangs out of his eyes. “Plus Jin doesn’t have one photo of me in here since he redecorated and I’m gonna change his desktop screen.”

“He’ll kill you.”

“No. I’ll be in Portugal. He’ll probably kill you. Smile again!”

This time Jungkook turns to the camera quickly and smiles so that when Taehyung clicks the mouse, he’s ready. The photo that gets displayed shows both of the boys, squashed together in the camera smiling happily. It’s grainy and dark, as good as a camera webcams quality can be, nothing like the HD professional photos both boys are so expert at taking. Somehow Jungkook finds that he prefers it to almost every other photo he’s seen at that moment. It feels so real, so them.

“You’re photogenic,” Taehyung compliments, “here, sit down, let’s take some more.” He gets up from the chair and allows Jungkook to sit down instead. When the younger takes the seat, it’s only a moment that passes until Taehyung appears behind him, leaning over his shoulder so that they’re cheek to cheek, so close he can feel the others hair tickle his skin, can smell the scent of his cologne. Jungkook swallows awkwardly, a sense of anxiety taking over from their close positions. He shouldn’t still be feeling like this around the other, not after all these years, not now that he has Mingyu, but it’s so hard. So hard when Taehyung is right here again.

Taehyung tells him to pose and they take several consecutive photos pulling silly faces and laughing between shots at each other’s expressions. When a good selection of pictures begin to fill up the computer storage, Taehyung takes pause.

Jungkook turns then to look at the other and he feels all kinds of feelings as he watches the elder check himself over in the computer camera, tilting his face left and right making sure he looks okay. Jungkook wants to tell him he looks perfect, but instead the sound of the camera clicks and he jumps.

“Sorry,” Taehyung says, “I just wanted to remember that moment.”

The picture loads and this time the freeze frame displays Jungkook watching Taehyung as Taehyung is looking into the computer screen camera. Jungkook knows his own face well enough to know he looks like a lovesick puppy, his eyes filled with a wondered adoration. It’s so plain to him that he gets red and turns his head quickly hoping Taehyung can’t see what he does. What’s so obvious. He thinks it’s crazy just how long these feelings within him have settled. How they erupt when he sees the boy again and reminds him just how lost in them all he really is. The first time he’d seen him again at the wedding it was as if he was star struck, like those feelings were all new and he couldn’t control them- let them take over. This time though, they feel weirdly like an old friend, just settled within him.

After a second or two, Taehyung pushes Jungkook’s chair to the side and this time kneels in front of the computer screen.

Jungkook watches from the corner of his eye as the boy loads up Seokjin’s emails and opens a new message box.

“What’s your email address?”

The younger turns to look at the monitor properly and he notices Taehyung has loaded all of the photos into the email along with what he figures is the boys own email into the ‘To’ bar.

Taehyung turns to look at him, his face expecting, waiting for the other to reply. Jungkook swallows and leans forward, taking the keyboard to type it in.

“Keepsakes,” Taehyung says, then he’s done, pressing the send button. “For both of us.”

The moon shines into Jin's office from the large glass windows that decorate the back wall and it becomes clear to them both that the evening is drawing on. Jungkook assumes that maybe they’ll call it a night now, tells himself this time not to ask Taehyung how long he’s staying, knowing the answer will only disappoint him. He also can’t help but fixate on the idea that this time they will have pictures together he can look back on. Other than the one photo he took of Taehyung at the stream, this was actual evidence that all of this isn’t some sort of fantasy he’s built up in his mind and Taehyung and him are in fact...well, whatever they are.

Taehyung stands up and begins walking around Jin’s room, scanning the other shelves and draws to see what he can find. When Jungkook’s phone rings He flinches for a second in surprise before turning round to the younger with a tilted head. Who’d be calling him at this time of night?

Jungkook reaches for his phone and Mingyu’s name appears on the call ID along with a picture of the two of them. He knows he should probably answer but he doesn’t want to. Not right now anyway. He was still in a mood with the boy for not showing up tonight and he wanted the other to know that that hurt him. He doesn’t think about the small bit of relief in the pit of his stomach at the fact that no Mingyu meant he got to spend his evening with Taehyung instead though. No, that wasn’t on his mind at all. Instead he silences the call and returns it to his pocket.

“Sorry-”

“Can we go see your desk?”

Mine?”

Taehyung nods his head. “Where do you sit?”

Jungkook hesitates for a moment but stands up and walks towards the door, signalling to Taehyung to follow him. They walk through the office, passing a few other desks before he stops at one in the far left corner and Taehyung laughs when he spots it.

“You know my old desk was the one just behind you, right?” He tells him. “Maybe we would have become good friends after all. I don’t think I would have left you alone.”

His space isn’t particularly big, although he’s lucky he’s at a corner because he gets both a window seat and extra desk room. In terms of its layout the area was neat, which was exactly what Taehyung expected. He had a few small plushies, one of a pink bunny, another of a carrot, and the board just above his computer had photos attached with little film camera pins holding them in place. Taehyung looks through them, spotting a photo from Boyoung and Hyowon’s wedding of the photographer with the bride and groom, there’s another of Jungkook with the two other groomsmen from the night, Namjoon, the one he knows is now Jin’s boyfriend and the other whose name he didn’t learn but saw Jungkook was extremely close to. He has pictures with his family, others of a small little dog and Taehyung can’t help but smile when he sees the things that he must assume Jungkook values most, or at least enough to keep them in front of him when he works. He almost misses it then, but he does a double take when he spots a photo that looks familiar.

“Is that...?”

He leans in and sure enough he feels his breath escape him as he stares at a photo of himself, back turned to the camera, face peeking over his shoulder making a hand sign to the camera.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Jungkook confesses nervously.

“I can’t believe I never saw how this came out...”

“I thought it was a nice photo...I’m sorry I hope you didn’t mind that I-”

“No,” Taehyung stands up and faces Jungkook again. “No I don’t mind at all,” He tells him. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Jungkook swallows feeling nervous, unsure what the boy could be thanking him for.

“Just...thank you.” Taehyung smiles gratefully and manoeuvres around the boy over to his desk drawers leaving Jungkook to try to understand what he’s saying, giving him no other help. After he hears the opening and closing of two of the metal desks, the third and final opens and Taehyung makes a sound of glee.

“Jackpot!” He says as Jungkook turns to look at him, knowing already what he’s found. His bottom drawer had always been his food stash and sure enough Taehyung is pulling out two pots of ramen with a ridiculously wide grin on his face.

Not even ten minutes later the noodles have been made and they’re both sat below Jungkook’s desk, eating with wooden chopsticks and giggling over a joke Taehyung had made about driving in foreign countries.

It’s just normal for them to sit and talk like this, let their words flow without hesitance and discuss the world as they both know it. Jungkook feels enriched learning about the world outside of Korea from Taehyung and Taehyung gets brought back to what he has always known through the words of Jungkook. It’s so simple, the easiest thing in the world, and they get lost in it. Lost in the worlds they’ve lived apart and the memories they are forming, bringing them back together.

“Why is ramen always the best when it’s someone else’s and it’s past 12 am?” Taehyung asks, drinking the last of the broth and placing the now empty cup down beside him.

“It’s past 12?” Jungkook asks, lifting his head from the desk to stare at the large clock that hangs in the back wall of the office. Even through the dark blue hue of the room he can make out where the hands are pointing and his eyes widen.

“The party must be finished by now.”

Sensing the others hesitation, Taehyung leans forward, concerned. “Everything okay?”

Jungkook sits back down and leaves his noodles on the desk, a mouthful or two still left to go. “Mingyu is probably wondering where I am.” He feels awkward bringing his name up again, having honestly forgotten about him up to this point since his phone had rang and he feels slightly guilty for being a bad boyfriend.

Taehyung licks his lips, “you guys live together?” His eyes seem cautious as he speaks again, curious but hesitant for the answer. Wondering just how serious Jungkook and his boyfriend were.

“No. But...he has a key. He’s supposed to stay at mine tonight.”

“Oh,” Taehyung tucks in his lip for a second, picks up his noodles and place them next to Jungkook’s own cup above them on the table. “Well uhh, I suppose it’s probably time we call it a night.”

Neither of them move just yet and as Jungkook watches the other, so much of him wants to say no, that he’s ready to do anything but go back home. That his chances to spend time with Taehyung were so once in a lifetime, only seeming to come round once every couple years, that he didn’t want to let go just yet. Even something as casual as sitting and eating noodles on the old fashioned carpet of his office felt just as exciting as climbing up Gwanaksan mountain at early hours of the morning. Things with Taehyung were just different and he liked to chase the feeling he felt when he was with him.

Eventually the elder stands though and straightens out his trousers as he does so. He waits then for Jungkook to follow suit and he does, climbing up off the ground slowly. He takes his phone out of his pocket and sure enough there are several messages from Mingyu asking where he is and when Taehyung makes for the door, he sends him a quick message back telling him he’ll be home soon.

When they step out, the spring night hits them clear, the air feeling fresh on their skin. Taehyung falls in line with the other and together they take the road, Jungkook leading the way and Taehyung following wherever he goes, not knowing where Jungkook lives.

They fall into a silence they both would argue was comfortable, even though there’s a lingering feeling that so much has gone unsaid. But they don’t dwell on their feelings, rather on the night that’s in front of them. It brings back fond memories of the first time they took to the streets of Seoul, walking for what felt like hours, a premature relationship on the bloom, and its nice now to think that even though the years have passed, they’ve somehow managed to do this again, see each other again.

“Where are you headed tonight?” Jungkook asks as the stop outside of his apartment building. The stand either side of the steps that lead up to the front door and it takes a moment for Taehyung to realise this is where their journey ends. When he does, he tries to hide the disappointment in his eyes. He didn’t expect that it would be so short and the night would be over quite so soon.

“Oh uhh I’m staying at Jin’s tonight. He said he’d put me out, no need for a hotel,” he tries to smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes, still he’s a good enough actor to seem casual about this whole thing.

“Jin’s? But he lives on the other side of town. You shouldn’t have walked me back hyung.” He makes a disapproving face where worry seems to swarm his eyes about Taehyung getting home, and it makes the elder feel warm, cared for.

After a few seconds Taehyung shrugs, looks down at the pavement and smiles again. “Guess I didn’t want the night to end just yet,” he tells him truthfully. He looks back at Jungkook slowly and the others staring at him with eyes so wide, holding something back whilst at the same time, showing something akin to what Taehyung is. Also wishing to rewind the clock and get to spend more time together.

Taehyung tries not to fixate on it, clears his throat and holds out his hand for the other to shake. “Until next time?”

Jungkook stares down at Taehyung’s hand and blinks. Never once have they shook hands and they weren’t about to start now, there was no way. He dives in then, wrapping his arms around the others back and pulling him close, squishing him tightly, closes his eyes as he applies pressure. Taehyung freezes for a moment but gives in just as easily, letting his own hands come up to the others back and reveling in the feeling of being held by him.

Jungkook turns his head into Taehyung’s neck and he feels the boys breath against his skin, exhaling softly. It sends a shiver down his spine and he bites on his top lip as he tries not to focus on it, think too much about how nice this feels. He decides then its best to pull away but Jungkook is slow on the pullback and when their eyes meet again, Jungkook can’t help but say what he does next.

“Please visit more often.”

Taehyung drops his head, a weird shot of something rising and falling in his chest, “Jungkook-“ He breathes out, but the younger is already shaking his head.

“No. I know you can’t I know...it’s just, it’s nice having you around y’know?”

Taehyung smiles again, a sad but gentle smile, “I know.”

They didn’t realise the way Jungkook is still clutching onto Taehyung’s arms after their embrace, not until the younger looks down and smiles sheepishly, pulling away and letting his hands fall to the front of him.

“Until next time,” he finally decides to repeat and Taehyung considers just staying for a second longer, just a little bit more, but instead gives one last smile, places his hands in his pockets and carries on down the street.