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it's 3 am in the morning, and jeongguk can't sleep. It doesn't matter how often he flips his pillow, rearranges his blanket, or twists and turns because it seems that sleep doesn't want to pay him a visit tonight.
he sighs frustratedly, opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling. he has school tomorrow, he can't afford to stay up this late and expect to not fall asleep through one of his classes tomorrow.
he lifts his right hand to place it on his bedside table, blindly searching for his phone that he has plugged in to charge earlier that morning. once his hand makes contact with his phone, he pulls it up to bring it in front of his face, groaning when he overestimates the length of the charging cable, causing it to fall out of the power socket. i’ll deal with it later, he thinks.
he brings the phone up to his face, intending to play one of his comfort playlists to make him fall asleep faster. he is temporarily blinded by the bright light emanating from the screen, wincing as he lowers the brightness. only then does he notice his one notification sitting on his home screen.
hey it says. i cant sleep… come over?
jeongguk grins, his face lighting up. it's from his boyfriend of one year, taehyung. he checks the timing of the message, relieved to see that it was sent just ten minutes ago. he doubts that taehyung had fallen asleep in that time frame so he types out a response.
of course, love.
i'm leaving rn, be there soon
and with that, he gets out of bed more energetic than he had been in previous minutes. he finds a post-it note on his desk, penning out a quick note to his parents that he would spend the night at taehyung’s and sticks it on his bedroom door. he quickly packs an overnight bag consisting of clothes for school tomorrow, as well as his necessities to get ready and his school backpack. he quietly heads down the stairs, careful to avoid the floorboards that would creak and alert his dog, gureum, raising him from his sleep.
he gets his house and car keys from where they hang on a hook next to the front door and heads out, locking the door behind him.
it's a quick drive to taehyung's house, not a car on the road.
jeongguk quickly taps out a message telling taehyung he's here.
a moment later he hears a tap on his car window from the passenger's side, barely being able to make out the shape of taehyung's face.
jeongguk grins, quickly getting out of the car to go and embrace his boyfriend.
"hi baby," he murmurs into taehyung's hair as he holds him close.
"jeongukkie," taehyung breathes out. "i missed you."
jeongguk smiles, pressing a kiss to taehyung's temple. "you just saw me earlier today, baby."
jeongguk can feel taehyung's lips form a pout as he presses them into his neck. "but i still missed you."
jeongguk softly laughs, pulling away from the hug to see taehyung's face up closely. he places a chaste kiss on his lips before pulling away entirely. "come on, love. i'll grab my bag and we'll head inside."
taehyung nods, reaching out to entwine their fingers and jeongguk opens the back door to retrieve his bag. he locks the door and they make their way into taehyung's house.
"hyunnie has been begging for you to come over, he'll be excited when he wakes up and sees you in the morning," taehyung says, referring to his little brother who has dearly missed jeongguk's presence at the house.
"aw, i can't wait to see him either. missed the little dude," jeongguk fondly responds.
they make their way quietly through the house, avoiding all the floorboards which they know creek and make a lot of noise at this time of night.
they breathe a sigh of relief once they make it to taehyung's bedroom, thankful that they managed to not wake anyone up in the household.
taehyung falls into bed, raising his arms out in a grabbing motion to signal jeongguk to come closer. he complies with a fond smile on his face.
taehyung pulls jeongguk down onto him the second he's close enough, jeongguk letting out an "oof".
they look at each other closely, their eyes scanning each other's faces.
"why couldn't you sleep, baby?" jeongguk asks softly, shifting off of taehyung and onto the bed. he brings him closer and covers them both with a blanket.
taehyung shrugs, "i dunno. i guess i have a lot on my mind lately."
jeongguk frowns at that, moving a stray hair off taehyung's face. "is everything okay? you know you can talk to me."
taehyung smiles, his hands coming up to cradle jeongguks face. "i know, gukkie. it's nothing important though."
jeongguk stares at him, assessing his face to see any hints of sadness or an emotion that betrays the words he just said. he finds a trace of sadness, especially evident in the way taehyung's eyes are slightly dimmer than usual. "you're lying, tae. you seem sad, are you sure it's nothing? if you don't want to talk to me about it that's of course totally fine, but i'm here if you need me."
taehyung's smile slips off his face a little at that, moving his hands away from jeongguk's face to pull the blanket up higher on him. "can we talk about this later? i'm feeling really tired right now."
jeongguk nods, understanding that taehyung will probably tell him what's bothering him later. he brings taehyung closer to him to plant a kiss on his forehead. "i love you, tae."
taehyung leans up to plant a kiss on his lips, looking happier afterwards. "love you, gukkie."
he buries his face in jeongguk's neck and wraps his arms around his waist to bring him impossibly closer. jeongguk smiles into his hair after pressing a kiss there, wrapping him in his arms.
sleep finds them easier when they're together.
"wake up, you slumbering log. we have to go to school!"
jeongguk blinks his eyes open blearily, looking around him before his eyes settle on the face above him. a smile grows on his face. "hi, baby."
taehyung scowls, trying not to let jeongguk see the smile threatening to form on his lips. "yeah, okay. hi to you too. now get your ass up and get ready for school," taehyung mutters.
jeongguk groans, turning onto his side facing away from taehyung to try and go back to sleep. "give me like, five minutes tae."
"no, get up right now, jeongguk, we are going to be late."
jeongguk begrudgingly gets up, tossing the covers off himself and swinging his legs off the side of the bed. "see? i'm up now," he pouts.
taehyung takes in the sight before him, jeongguk's hair messy from sleeping and his eyes half open. he fondly smiles, taking jeongguk's hand to pull him up and land a kiss on his lips. "thanks baby, now get ready, mom made breakfast but you're gonna have to get ready super fast if you wanna eat now."
jeongguk grins. "don't worry, i'll be super fast. i can't miss your moms breakfast, it's always amazing no matter what it is. i'll be downstairs soon," he says, ending the sentence with a kiss on taehyung's lips.
taehyung pats his boyfriend's chest, "whatever you say, gukkie. i'll see you down soon."
they go off in different directions, taehyung going downstairs to meet his mom and brother while jeongguk goes off to the bathroom to get ready.
"taetae, when's jeongguk hyung coming down? i can't wait to see him!" his brother, daehyun, says excitedly while shoving a pancake into his mouth.
"dahyunnie, slow down, your pancake isn't going anywhere. eat it slower otherwise you're going to choke," his mom reprimands while standing at the stove to make more pancakes.
"sorry eomma."
taehyung giggles, tousling his brothers hair before grabbing a plate and placing two pancakes onto it. "jeongguk's coming down soon, don't worry. i'm afraid that you can't talk to him for very long this morning, we're gonna be late to school if we don't leave in ten minutes."
daehyun pouts, shoulders drooping. "b-but i wanted to see him, tae hyungie."
"i know bud, he hasn't come by in a while right?" daehyun nods. "i'll ask him if he's willing to come over for dinner tonight, though." daehyun perks up at that, a smile already blooming on his face.
"yeah! i hope he says yes, hyungie."
"oh taehyung, i'm sorry honey. i'm taking the night shift tonight at the hospital. i can't make dinner for you guys tonight, i'm afraid," his mom says apologetically.
"no mom that's fine! you don't have to apologize. if he does agree, we can make mac n' cheese or something easy like that. don't worry about it eomma," taehyung is quick to appease his mother.
"okay... if you say so."
"oh oh taetae! can i help you guys? please?" daehyun pouts.
"of course, buddy."
"what are you helping with, daehyunnie?"
jeongguk comes out of nowhere, wrapping an arm around taehyung and kissing his temple.
daehyun gasps, jumping off his chair and making a run for it towards jeongguk. "jeongukkie hyung! i missed you!"
jeongguk removes his arm from around taehyung, bending down to receive a hug from daehyun. "i missed you too, hyunnie. how have you been?"
daehyun pulls away from the hug, looking up at jungkook with a toothy grin on his face. "remember the dinosaur set you bought me a while ago? i've been playing with it everyday! i even made a friend at school when they saw me playing it. he's my best friend now," daehyun babbles.
jeongguk smiles, tousling his hair fondly. "aw, that's amazing to hear buddy," he looks up to see the abandoned dining table, daehyun's unfinished breakfast sitting on it. "daehyun, you should go finish your breakfast, you don't want to eat cold pancakes, do you?"
daehyun shakes his head fervently. he runs back to his seat, immediately eating his pancakes once again.
jeongguk stands up from his crouch, looking back to see taehyung and his mom smiling at him.
"hi, mrs. kim. how are you doing?"
"ah, jeonggukkie. it's been awhile since i've seen you but i've been doing well! the hospital has been calling me in for more shifts, but other than that, everything's been okay."
jeongguk had his eyes focused on mrs. kim while she had been talking, but he couldn't help but notice the way taehyung's face had changed while his mom was speaking. ah, jeongguk thought. this must be what is bothering him.
"oh, mrs. kim that's good to hear but please don't overwork yourself, it's good to take time off as well."
"aw jeongguk, always the sweetheart. now come on boys, if you don't eat fast you'll be late to school."
taehyung straightens up at that, taking the plate that he had placed two pancakes on before and handing it to jeongguk. "eat up, love," he says.
jeongguk smiles in thanks and brings the plate over to the dining table next to daehyun.
they eat up quickly, jeongguk and daehyun engaged in a conversation.
"babe, come on, we're going to be late," taehyung says, placing his plate in the sink and leaving the kitchen to go look for his backpack.
jeongguk takes his last bite, hurrying over to the sink to wash his plate. "bye daehyunnie, it was nice to see you this morning. i hope to see you later, buddy."
daehyun pouts, sadly saying his own goodbyes.
taehyung and jeongguk hurry to the door, walking out to jeongguk's car.
on the way to school, jeongguk can't help but watch taehyung out of the corner of his eye, seeing if he was looking unhappy as he did last night. before he can ask if his boyfriend is doing alright, taehyung poses his own.
"mom said you could come over tonight for dinner even though she won't be here 'cause she has a night shift. we'd have to cook ourselves. do you wanna come over? you can also stay the night."
jeongguk smiles, reaching over the center console of the car to entangle taehyung's hand with his own. "i'd love to, baby. but after school ends i'll have to go back home and get some more clothes and then i'll drive to yours."
taehyung nods, "that's totally fine, but seeing as i'm in your car right now, i'll have to go with you as well because i didn't bring my car."
"oops," laughs jeongguk. "i'm sure my mom would be happy to see you, tae."
taehyung smiles, squeezing jeongguk's hand.
jeongguk pulls into the high school parking lot, thankfully with two minutes to spare before the bell rings signaling their first class.
he leans over the console to kiss taehyung, pulling away after a moment. "i'll see you at lunch, baby. i love you."
taehyung grins, landing his own kiss on jeongguk's lips. "see you, love. i love you, too."
they get out of the car and make their way to the entrance of their school before heading in different directions to their own classes.
“babe, i just had the worst class ever,” taehyung starts, dropping his body next to jeongguk’s on the cafeteria lunch table’s bench. before jeongguk can even ask taehyung what had happened, he’s already barreling on. “you know my math teacher?” jeongguk nods. “yeah, well, he was teaching today’s lesson and asked the student’s to raise their hand if they knew the answer to the equation he had just written on the board.
so i didn’t raise my hand because i didn’t know the answer since i was still working the problem out in my notebook but this man has the audacity to call on me! even when there were other people in the class that had their hands up!” taehyung fumes. jeongguk opens his mouth to cut in and reassure the other but taehyung takes no notice of it, continuing to speak.
“so when he called on me and asked me what the answer was, i said i didn’t know because i was still working the problem out on paper but then he cuts in and says that if i had only been paying attention in class and didn’t text you all of the time, i would know the answer! i was so embarrassed for the rest of the class, i ran out as fast as i could when the bell rang.”
jeongguk frowns. “well that certainly wasn’t nice of him. he only caught you texting me once and it was because i didn’t come to school that day and you were checking in on me! and now he continues to use it against you? that’s not fair, tae. i’m sorry you went through that.”
his boyfriend sighs, leaning against jeongguk and pouting. “we have a few more classes to get through before we can spend the night at my house. to make up for that shitty situation you better give me extra cuddles.”
jeongguk smiles, bringing his hand up to run it through taehyung’s hair. “of course, baby. anything you want.”
someone clears their throat, popping the bubble that they had wrapped themselves into. “excuse me, guys. but we’re here too?”
jeongguk and taehyung look up from each other and at the people surrounding them, looking at the two with unamused eyes. “sorry, guys.”
“you always say that, but whatever,” seokjin says. he elbows the boy sitting next to him, namjoon, and turns to him and says, “why don’t you ever give me extra cuddles?”
namjoon sighs, going back to eating his sandwich. jimin and hoseok giggle from the other side of the table while their boyfriend, yoongi, smiles. “so anyways, do you guys have any plans for today? i was thinking we could go to our usual place,” jimin says.
taehyung and jeongguk share a frown, “sorry guys, but we can’t come today. i’m heading to tae’s place after school. we can join you guys another day at the cafe.”
their friends frown, but agree nonetheless.
they spend the rest of their lunch period eating and talking. when the bell rings to alert them that they should be heading to their next class, jeongguk turns to taehyung and hugs him. “i’ll see you after school, okay, baby?” taehyung frowns but hugs back.
“okay, gukkie. i’ll wait next to your car,” he pauses to pull back from the hug and opens and closes his mouth, clearly debating whether or not he should say what’s on his mind. “i - uh. i’ll tell you what upset me last night, okay? i wanted to talk to someone about it anyway.”
jeongguk smiles at him and leans in to kiss his temple. “of course, angel. i’m always here okay? you can tell me when you’re ready, it doesn’t have to be today. you don’t have to tell me either okay?”
“yeah, thanks jeongguk-ah. i’ll see you later, okay?”
jeongguk pulls back, getting up from the bench and pulling taehyung up with him to the exit of their cafeteria. “of course, love. see you soon.”
“so, what did you have in mind for our dinner?” jeongguk asks his boyfriend once they’re in the car on the way out of school.
taehyung shrugs, “i was thinking mac n’ cheese or something easy like that because we’re both hopeless in the kitchen.”
jeongguk playfully gasps at that, acting offended. “tae, what do you mean! it seems that you have forgotten the time i made you cookies on our anniversary and you liked them too!”
taehyung laughs, “no, love. i think you are forgetting the fact that you had to make many batches of cookies before you could give me a batch that wasn’t burnt.”
“tha-that’s irrelevant! the point is, i’m experienced enough in the kitchen to make cookies that aren’t burnt,” he says, quietly adding, “i just had to learn from all of those previous batches, that’s all.”
taehyung giggles, “whatever you say, gukkie.”
jeongguk huffs to himself, reaching over the center console to hold taehyung’s hand while pulling into his driveway. “you can come in if you want to, my mom should be home and gureum probably wants to see you.”
taehyung perks up at that, removing his belt and opening his door. “i’m never going to pass up an opportunity to say hi to your mom and pet gureum.” jeongguk laughs.
“mom? i’m home, and tae’s with me,” jeongguk says while stepping into his house.
“taehyung-ah! how are you, dear? it’s been a while,” his mom says, while barreling down the staircase.
“i’m doing well, mrs. jeon! how have you been?” taehyung says, letting himself be enveloped in the arms of jeongguk’s mom.
“oh, everything’s been alright! are you guys just stopping by? or will you be staying for dinner?”she asks.
“oh eomma, i’m heading over to tae’s for dinner and i’ll stay with him tonight as well since mrs. kim has an overnight shift.” jeongguk replies. “but tae should definitely come over for dinner sometime soon.”
taehyung nods excitedly, “of course, mrs. jeon! i’d love to come over soon.” he sees gureum exit the living room in the corner of his eye, bending down to the dog’s level. “hi gureum! how have you been?” he says, reaching a hand out to pet the dog. gureum accepts wholeheartedly, tongue coming out to attack taehyung with kisses.
jeongguk leaves then, to go upstairs to his room and get clothes.
he comes back fast, ready to leave and head back to his boyfriend’s house.
“okay mom, we’ll be leaving now,” he leans in to place a kiss on his mom’s cheek.
“okay jeongguk-ah, have fun you guys! stay safe.”
“will do, mrs. jeon. bye!” taehyung says, giving gureum one last pet and walking out the door with jeongguk.
“hyungie! taetae!” daehyun shouts as jeongguk walks through the door.
“hi, bud. are you ready to make dinner later today? after you finish your homework, of course.” jeongguk replies, bending down to hug him.
“mhm! of course. i’m going to go and start it right now, hyung! then i’ll be all prepared for cooking!” jeongguk laughs, tousling his hair in fondness and getting back up.
taehyung snorts, “what homework does a first grader even have? he’s gonna go back to his room and play with his dinosaur set until we call him to come and help us with dinner.”
jeongguk elbows him, “hey. let the kid enjoy himself before he actually has homework he has to do every night like we do. we have to do our homework anyway.”
taehyung pouts at that, leading the way to his room so that they can get started on their homework.
“boys! i’m leaving now, you can make whatever you want but please don’t burn down the kitchen!” taehyung’s mom calls from downstairs.
“we’ll try not to, eomma! bye! have a safe shift!” taehyung yells back.
he turns to jeongguk. “let's get our homework done soon so that we can start dinner faster, i know hyunnie will be hungry pretty soon.”
jeongguk nods, taking his material out of his backpack and placing it on taehyung’s bed to start working.
the work for three hours, powering through their homework by exchanging kisses when they encounter a challenging part.
it's when daehyun comes knocking on the door that they actually take a break and look up.
“hyungs,” he starts. “i'm very hungry. can i have a cookie?”
taehyung raises a brow, “what did mom say?”
daehyun looks down, twiddling his fingers and finding an interest with the hardwood floor. “um. she said that i couldn't have a cookie because i had a few of them yesterday.”
taehyung snorts at that, getting up from his bed and heading over to his younger brother. “well then what makes you think that i'll let you eat a cookie?”
“because you're the greatest older brother on the planet. that's why!”
taehyung smiles at that, “fine, you can have half a cookie and then eat the other half after we eat dinner, okay?”
daehyun nods, running out of the room and down the stairs, the couple able to hear his footsteps as he rushed to the kitchen.
jeongguk laughs. “so when are we gonna start dinner?” he asks.
taehyung turns to look at him. “we can start now, if you want to. i've finished my homework that's due tomorrow and the rest i'll work on over the weekend.”
jeongguk gets up to put his stuff into his backpack. “same, i’ll figure the rest out over the weekend since tomorrow's friday.”
they both head downstairs and into the kitchen to find daehyun sitting at the table with half a cookie in front of him.
he perks up at the sight of them, “hyungs! are we going to start cooking now? i really want mac n’ cheese with the dinosaur nuggets that eomma has in the freezer.”
the couple looks at each other, silently asking if the other is okay with that. when they both nod, they turn back to daehyun. “sure buddy, let’s go make that,” taehyung says.
they get out a pot to boil water to cook the pasta, jeongguk tasked with watching over it to see when to get it out. taehyung is tasked with making the cheese sauce in a different pan while daehyun goes to take out the nuggets from the freezer. they decide on making the nuggets in the end, right before they start eating.
after the pasta and the cheese is done cooking, daehyun helps them spoon the pasta and the cheese into a baking tray and sprinkling the breadcrumbs over it, and then jeongguk places it in the oven to bake.
taehyung claps his hands, “okay! so we’re done for now, hyunnie if you want to go play you can go and play since it will take thirty minutes to bake.” daehyun nods, running for the stairs to go up to his room.
jeongguk and taehyung turn to each other with a smile. jeongguk wiggles his eyebrows, making taehyung laugh. he reaches out for jeongguk to hug him, pulling him in close.
“what’s up, baby?” jeongguk asks in his ear, pressing a kiss.
taehyung pulls back from the hug to frown up at the other. jeongguk makes a questioning sound at the back of his throat. “what, tae? is everything okay?”
“yeah, everything’s fine,” he pauses as he steps back to walk over to the kitchen island, grabbing the counter top and pulling himself up to sit on it. “there’s just this thing that’s been on my mind lately, it’s kind of stupid.”
jeongguk walks over to his boyfriend, standing in between his legs and tilting his face up to press a kiss to his lips. “baby, nothings stupid if its bothering you, okay?”
taehyung nods, closing his eyes and looking down, but jeongguk knows that he’s not convinced. “okay, how about we talk about it before going to bed, hm?” jeongguk supplies.
taehyung opens his eyes to tilt his head up and look into jeongguk’s eyes. “okay,” he finally says. “that should be fine. for now, kiss me?”
jeongguk smiles, not needing to verbally answer because the kiss he leans up to place on his boyfriend’s lips is enough of an answer.
they stay in the kitchen, exchanging slow and soft kisses with taehyung’s hands tangled in jeongguk’s hair, his legs wrapped around jeongguk’s waist and jeongguk’s arms wrapped around taehyung’s waist. they only pull apart when the timer they set for the mac n’ cheese baking in the oven goes off.
taehyung places one last kiss on jeongguk’s lips before pushing him away gently and jumping off the counter to get the mac n’ cheese out of the oven before it burns.
“daehyun!” taehyung shouts. “the mac n’ cheese is ready!”
“coming!” daehyun shouts back, his footsteps being heard signalling he was coming downstairs.
taehyung takes out a new pan to start making the dinosaur nuggets, quickly finishing up with that and bringing everything over to the table.
they finish up pretty quickly, the conversation mostly revolving around the things daehyun has been up to lately.
once they’re done, jeongguk and taehyung take the plates to wash them while daehyun runs upstairs to take a shower.
“tae,” jeongguk starts. “you can go up and take your shower, i can finish up with the dishes here.”
taehyung shakes his head, “no gukkie, it’s fine. lemme help you out here. i’m technically the host, i should be the one washing the dishes, not you.”
jeongguk’s quick to disagree, flicking soapy water in his boyfriend’s direction.
“jeongguk! what was that for?” taehyung pouts, pulling his dampened shirt away from his body to prevent himself from feeling the unpleasant feeling of a soggy shirt against his dry skin.
“oops,” jeongguk smirks, “my hand must have slipped.”
taehyung gasps in offense, “oh, it’s on, baby,” he whispers, reaching into the sink to cup water into his hands, aiming and throwing it at his boyfriend.
“babe!” jeongguk shrieks.
“why are you so upset? you’re the one who started it,” taehyung replies defiantly.
jeongguk playfully growls, lunging to grab taehyung in his soapy and wet hands, reaching below taehyung’s shirt so that his cold and wet hands can touch his skin. taehyung gasps, trying to push his boyfriend off him who has now started to tickle him.
“stop!” he gasps out between laughing breaths. “truce! okay? i don’t know what i did wrong but stop! i’m going to pee my pants,” he screeches.
jeongguk seems satisfied at that, retracting his hands and going back to washing the dishes. taehyung huffs in displeasure, inspecting his soaked shirt.
“jeongguk,” he whines, “now i have to go and take a shower immediately.”
jeongguk turns to look at him, “is that so bad? if you finish your shower then i can go and shower, and then we’ll both be in bed faster and we can cuddle.”
taehyung smiles at that, “ooh, now that’s good motivation. i’ll go and take my shower now! thanks for doing the dishes, love,” he says as he skips away to the stairs, jeongguk watching after him fondly.
jeongguk finishes washing the dishes fast, the thought of cuddling his boyfriend is enough motivation for him. he turns off all of the lights downstairs before heading up the stairs quickly.
he passes by daehyun’s room on the way to taehyung’s, poking his head in to say goodnight. daehyun notices him when he passes by. “hey, hyung.”
jeongguk walks into his room to see him lying down on his bed. “hey buddy, all ready for bed?” he asks.
“yup,” daehyun nods. he stops and thinks for a while, looking down at the ground. “hyung? can you talk to taetae hyung? he seems sad, and i don’t know why.”
jeongguk frowns. “of course, bud. i’ll talk to him before we head to bed. you’re such a caring younger brother, aren’t you?” he says fondly, reaching over to daehyun to mess up his hair, daehyun trying to squirm out of his reach.
they quiet down. “i just want him to be happy, hyung,” daehyun says finally.
jeongguk softens at that, “i understand, daehyun. for now, let’s go to bed, okay? i’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
daehyun nods at that, reaching down to pull his covers over him. “good night, hyungie.”
“good night, daehyunnie,” jeongguk says as he turns the light off, closing the door as he walks out of the bedroom.
he walks to taehyung’s bedroom, hearing the water still running in the shower. he sits on his bed, pulling his phone out to pass time.
minutes later his boyfriend is stepping out of the en suite bathroom, toweling his hair dry and dressed in an oversized shirt - most probably jeongguk’s from when he left it over at some point - and red plaid pajama pants.
he smiles when he sees jeongguk sitting on his bed. “your turn,” he says, sauntering over to lean down to jeongguk and press a kiss on his lips.
jeongguk begrudgingly gets up, collecting his pajamas and walking into the bathroom.
he’s quick to finish up his shower, impatient to talk to taehyung to figure out what was making his boyfriend sad.
“wow,” taehyung said, sitting in bed with his back to the headrest and reading a book, watching jeongguk walk out of the bathroom. “you’re fast.”
jeongguk smirks, “the thought of cuddling you was good motivation, babe.”
taehyung snorts, dropping the book into his lap to reach out for his boyfriend. “c’mere, you idiot.”
jeongguk gladly obliges, throwing his towel that he was using to dry his hair into taehyung’s hamper, walking forward to lie down on taehyung, his boyfriend’s arms coming up to embrace him.
jeongguk basks in the warmth of his lover, nuzzling his face into taehyung’s neck and pressing a kiss there and pausing, wanting to memorize the way he felt being held by his boyfriend. he eventually pulls back, tilting his neck to look taehyung in the eye, knowing that it was finally time to have the pending talk that they had on hold since last night.
taehyung seems to get the message as well, his eyes dimming a little. jeongguk rolls off of him to get under the covers by his side and sitting up next to him to face him.
“taehyungie,” jeongguk starts. “we can talk about it now if you want to. i’m all ears. but if you think that you want to keep it to yourself and just let me cuddle you to sleep, then we can do that too. it’s up to you, love.”
taehyung softens at that, thinking to himself: how did i get so lucky?
he reaches out to hold jeongguk’s hands and bring them into his lap, tracing his knuckles and the lines on each of his palms to distract himself. “it’s okay, i can tell you know. i think it would make me feel better that someone else knew about it instead of me just bottling it all up.”
jeongguk nods at that, waiting for taehyung to keep talking because he was finally going to let it all out.
“so, as you heard my mom say, she’s been working a lot recently. and i’m worried, because why is she overworking herself so much? ever… ever since dad died, it seems that she’s been running herself into the ground to drown herself in hospital shifts. i’m just worried because how much more will she be able to take? when i see her in the morning when i’m about to leave for school, she always has bags under her eyes and looks like she’s going to drop from exhaustion but she still drives to my brother’s elementary school to drop him off. i don’t even know if she sleeps the whole day we’re not at home because by the time i get back, she still looks pretty tired. i don’t know what to do, jeonggukkie.”
taehyung seems defeated, his face creased in worry. jeongguk reaches over to smoothen out the lines on taehyung’s forehead, wishing that he could take the sadness taehyung is feeling and throw it away because the smile that he so dearly loved wasn’t on his boyfriend’s face.
“sweetheart,” jeongguk says slowly. “do you think this is her way of coping?”
“i’m not sure, jeongguk. appa passed away two years ago but i’ve seen this only start within the last couple of months. it’s not like we are finding it hard to make ends meet, we are living pretty good lives. i don’t understand why eomma has to take other shifts, you know?”
jeongguk nods at that. “i think this is something you should talk to her about, angel. maybe there is something else that she feels that she hasn’t told you about. it could just be her way of coping too, but in the end i think you have to ask her. i wish i could give you more advice but i’m just as clueless as you.”
taehyung lets his lips tug into a close-lipped smile at that. “just you willing to listen to me is enough, gukkie. you’re right though, i’ll talk to eomma maybe this weekend if she doesn’t have a night shift.”
“that sounds like a good plan, baby. i think that after the conversation with your mother you will have piece of mind,” jeongguk says.
“yeah,” taehyung breathes. “i hope.”
jeongguk wiggles his hands out of taehyung’s grasp, choosing to instead grasp taehyung by his waist and lifting him onto his lap. taehyung squeaks in surprise, bracketing his knees around jeongguk’s hips and arranging the blanket so that it would be more comfortable around them with taehyung on his boyfriend’s lap.
“what was that for,” taehyung whines, wrapping his arms around jeongguk’s shoulders and pulling himself closer.
“dunno,” jeongguk says. “i just felt like it, baby. wanted to be closer to you,” he pauses and then adds on:
“this way, we can cuddle!” exclaiming it with a smile on his face.
taehyung’s eyes crinkle at the corner as he giggles at his adorable boyfriend, nuzzling his face into his neck and letting out a content sigh. “i love you,” he says. “so much.”
he feels as jeongguk’s arms come around to wrap tightly around his waist, bringing him even closer on his lap. “i love you, too. more than you’ll ever know, baby.”
taehyung’s heart flutters. he didn’t think it was possible to love someone so greatly if they weren’t a part of his family. jeongguk came in a proved him wrong. he couldn’t be more thankful.
they hold each other tightly, never wanting to let go.
eventually, taehyung’s knees start to hurt from his position on jeongguk’s lap so he pulls back to stare into his boyfriend’s eyes.
they pause, before simultaneously leaning in to share a kiss, taehyung’s hand coming up to cradle his lover’s face and jeongguk maintaining his grip around his waist. they drag out the kiss by moving their lips against each other languidly. it’s moments like these that they each cherish the most.
jeongguk breaks the kiss first. “love, your knees must be hurting by now. if you come to lie next to me we can watch something on netflix before heading to bed because it’s friday night.”
taehyung nods, not at all surprised that jeongguk had been able to practically read his mind. it became habitual now; they knew how to read the other one so easily.
he slides off his lap, instead cuddling into jeongguk’s side with his leg thrown over his torso. jeongguk slides down the headboard to lie down and be face to face with taehyung. he moves the hair out of his boyfriend’s eyes, and proceeds to assess his face.
“is there anything else you want to talk about, love?” he says eventually.
taehyung pauses to think. “i guess this hasn’t been on my mind lately, but i think it is something that we should talk about,” he says, nervously looking away from jeongguk’s face.
jeongguk’s heart races. is there something wrong with our relationship? he thinks. he quickly dismisses the thought, knowing that taehyung would have come to him sooner if he had a thought like that. “go on, baby,” he eventually pushes out from his mouth.
“well,” taehyung stops to gather his thoughts. “it’s our last year of high school and - and i was thinking what would happen once we submit applications to our colleges? i know that we had briefly glossed over this topic during the summer on how we shouldn’t let our relationship influence our decision and instead apply to the colleges based on our dream path and stuff, but what if we get accepted to different ones?”
jeongguk hums, and ponders over it. “baby, i don’t plan on breaking up with you just because we might be accepted into different colleges, okay? unless that’s something you want, then i’ll respect your wishes-” he laughs as taehyung rapidly shakes his head. “-okay, love,” he quickly amends. “we won’t do that. i guess we would be doing a long distance relationship? i bet it will be hard, but we’ll make it work, okay? besides, we still have a few more months to talk about it.”
“that makes sense, gukkie. i think we should just wait for the actual responses from colleges that we applied to before making a decision about our relationship.”
“that’s a good idea, tae,” jeongguk says as he leans in to plant a peck on taehyung’s forehead. he pulls back to say, “is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”
taehyung shakes his head. “no, babe. thanks for listening though, you’ve made me feel a whole lot better tonight. i don’t know what i would do without you.”
jeongguk smiles fondly, bringing taehyung closer to himself and burying his face into his hair. “i’m here for you now and forever, okay angel? if i weren’t here now, you would still be the amazing man you are today, babe. you don’t need someone else to bring out the best in you.”
taehyung pouts into jeongguk’s chest, his hands coming up to embrace jeongguk’s torso clinging to him like an octopus. “you’re making me sad, jeonggukkie. stop being so sappy.”
jeongguk snorts, “just for you, love.”
he pulls back, getting off the bed and walking over towards the desk. taehyung protests softly, “where are you going babe? i was warm!”
jeongguk laughs, retrieving taehyung’s laptop. “you only love me because i’m warm all the time. its like i’m your personal portable heater.”
“yes, you are correct.”
jeongguk climbs back into bed and presses himself next to taehyung to bump shoulders. “i said earlier that we could watch something on netflix, what do you wanna watch?”
taehyung looks up at him with wide eyes, pulling his puppy dog eyes. “can we watch avatar: the last airbender? please?”
jeongguk sighs, knowing that he had technically dug himself into a hole with the question that he had originally asked. of course his boyfriend would want to watch that, for like, the hundredth time. “fine,” he relents.
they start the show over, managing to get through four episodes before jeongguk feels taehyung’s head sink further onto his shoulder. he carefully reaches out to pause the show and close the laptop, placing it on his bedside table and wiggling his way out from taehyung’s head to get up and shut off the lights. he climbs back into bed, maneuvering taehyung into a more comfortable position and getting under the covers himself.
he lays on his back and pulls taehyung closer to himself, resting his head on his chest and breathing out a laugh as taehyung comes pliantly and throws a leg over jeongguk’s torso.
he holds taehyung closer to himself, glad that he could be here and not wanting to be anywhere else unless taehyung was in his arms there too.
he closes his eyes, and allows sleep to swallow him under because sleep always comes easier in the presence of his love.
jeongguk comes to consciousness slowly, the feeling of pillowy lips being pressed all across his face waking him. once he is more awake, he is able to connect the pillowy lips to be taehyung pressing kisses all across his face gently to wake him up.
“morning, sleepyhead,” taehyung whispers into his cheek, climbing on top of him and covering himself in the blanket to embrace jeongguk. “it’s ten o’clock.”
jeongguk grunts in reply, raising his arms to hold taehyung. “mornin’,” he manages to rasp out.
taehyung giggles, leaning up to press a kiss to jeongguk’s forehead, his nose, and then finally, his lips.
“what do you wanna do today?” taehyung asks.
“hmm,” jeonguk hums. “just a lazy day? we can go and make breakfast for us and your brother so that your mother can rest.”
taehyung agrees. “i’ll ask my mom if she needs us to run any errands as well and then we'll go do them so that she can take a break today.”
“yeah that's totally fine. let's go down now, baby. we can make something based on what we have in the fridge.”
they manage to drag themselves out of bed, groaning once they miss the warmth their bed and blankets had provided them.
they get to the bathroom and work through their morning routine side by side. since jeongguk has stayed at his boyfriend’s house many times before, he already has his own toothbrush and towel here, always waiting for him.
once they finish, they stop by daehyun’s room and peak in to see that the little boy is still sound asleep at eleven in the morning. they head downstairs together and into the kitchen to start preparing breakfast.
“mom did come home,” taehyung remarks after catching sight of the extra pair of shoes by the door. sometimes after an especially grueling shift, mrs. kim crashes at a nearby hotel since she's too tired to make it home that night.
“we can make an extra portion for breakfast and set it aside for her to heat up later. i bet she'll be really tired,” jeongguk suggests.
“good idea,” taehyung replies as he pads over to the refrigerator. he opens it up before wincing, seeing that there isn't much to work with. “baby, i think we have to run to the store.”
jeongguk looks inside as well, “oh yikes, we do. come on, let's head out now while they're sleeping and come back when they wake up. we can leave a note behind.”
they go back upstairs to change out of their pajamas and head back down to write out a quick note saying that they were heading to get groceries, sticking the note to the refrigerator in plain sight.
they hurry out of the house and head to their neighborhood supermarket in jeongguk’s car.
they get out of the car and jeongguk retrieves a shopping cart, pushing it ahead beyond the automatic doors.
“so, what do we need?” jeongguk asks.
taehyung stops in his tracks. “good question, babe.”
jeongguk snorts, pulling taehyung with him so that he wouldn’t block the entrance for the other people coming in. “let’s start with what we want to make for breakfast and then we can get the other groceries your mother usually gets.”
taehyung hums, “i’m in the mood for a croissant sandwich… with an omelette.”
“oh, that sounds good. let’s do that. will your brother eat that, though?”
“he eats everything, gukkie.”
they make their way over to the produce aisle to get the needed vegetables for the sandwich and then the groceries taehyung’s mom will probably need for the rest of the week.
“baby, can you grab the eggs and i’ll go and get the croissants from the bakery? we can meet in the candy and cookie aisle.”
taehyung grins at that, “of course! i want some pop tarts and other chocolate.”
“babe,” jeongguk says exasperatedly. “we have been in the same aisle for twenty minutes.”
“i know, gukkie! there’s so much to choose from, though!”
jeongguk sighs affectionately, leaving the cart to wrap his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. “c’mon, love. let’s go home and start cooking. your brother will probably wake up soon,” he whispers.
taehyung frowns, turning around in jeongguk’s arms. “fine, we can go. i still don’t know what chocolate to buy and i guess that means i didn’t really want anything in the first place.”
he plants a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips and pulls away from his embrace to get their cart.
they get to the checkout counter and jeongguk pays for the groceries against taehyung’s wishes before they head out to the parking lot and load their purchases into jeongguk’s car.
once they get home, they are quick to start cooking, glad that daehyun hasn’t woken up yet.
they manage to make four sandwiches containing ham, cheese, and an omelette in between a croissant. at the last minute, jeongguk decides that he wants to make a smoothie with the berries that they had bought.
“baby, this is really good,” jeongguk says to taehyung who had been in charge of making the omelette and putting the sandwich together.
“i know,” taehyung says cheekily.
they both turn to the entrance of the kitchen once they hear steps coming down the stairs. they smile at daehyun once he pokes his head into the kitchen.
“hi taetae and gukkie. what’s for breakfast?” he asks as he rubs at his eyes to get rid of the sleepiness fogging them.
“we made a berry smoothie and breakfast sandwiches, bud. did you brush your teeth?”
daehyun nods, heading over to the table to sit behind the plate that is waiting for him.
“did you sleep well, hyunnie?” his older brother asks.
“mhm!” he enthusiastically responds from behind his sandwich, in the middle of chewing. he opens his mouth to start talking, but taehyung interrupts him.
“dude, don’t talk with food in your mouth. mom’s told you this multiple times but it seems that you never listen,” he scolds.
daehyun pouts, looking over to jeongguk to be his savior but jeongguk looks in a different direction as to not be a part of the conversation knowing that he would have to take a side.
the conversation quickly moves on from there, taehyung asking his little brother what he wants to do for the day.
“it’s saturday, taehyungie. who actually does things on the weekend?” daehyun says incredulously.
“it was just a question, bud. but it seems that you don’t want to join what jeongguk and i might be doing today?” taehyung asks.
there’s a pause, before daehyun slowly asks, “what exactly are you guys doing today, though?”
jeongguk laughs. “well, we don’t have any plans that are set in stone, but we were thinking of just having a calm day. probably will just stay at home and watch netflix. maybe bake if you guys want to.”
daehyun furiously shakes his head at that. “no no i do not want to watch netflix with you guys, you both watch the weirdest things. and i don’t want to bake with you guys because you always mess up and eomma yells at you and i don’t want to be involved in that so you two can have fun. as well as the fact that i tried to help you guys bake but then you both ended up having a flour fight and made up by kissing. no thank you, that was disgusting. imma go play with my toys.”
daehyun quickly leaves the table and puts his plate in the sink and runs up the stairs to get to his room. jeongguk and taehyung turn to look at each other, stifling a laugh.
“well that was one way to get rid of him,” taehyung remarks, earning a slap to his upper arm from his boyfriend.
“rude,” jeongguk hisses. “but does that sound good to you?”
taehyung nods his head, “sounds lovely, baby. can’t wait to spend the day with you without the interruption of my little brother or school or our friends.”
“oh that reminds me, we have to text our friends back as to when we will be free next. how about we go out with them to the arcade tomorrow? i feel bad for keeping them waiting when they keep wanting to hang out with us,” jeongguk says while pulling out his phone.
“oh you’re right,” taehyung voices. “yeah, that’s totally fine with me. we can meet up with them tomorrow.”
after typing out a quick text to their group chat with their friends, they rise from the table to clean the dishes in the sink. they cover one of the servings for taehyung’s mother and leave it on the counter in plain view so that she can see it and heat it up easily.
they head up to taehyung’s room after that, getting taehyung’s laptop and settling into bed once again.
“so, what do you want to watch? and if you say avatar again, i will not be abiding by that because i think we have had enough of it.”
taehyung giggles, “well good for you because i wasn’t going to suggest that. let’s watch haikyuu again. no, don’t look at me like that. you might be wearing that face of not wanting to watch the same anime for the thousandth time but i know you love it too.”
jeongguk doesn’t say anything, knowing that taehyung can read him easily and seeming to be able to read his mind. “fine,” he mumbles out, already typing netflix into the search bar and logging into his account.
they end up watching netflix for the better part of their day, only leaving taehyung’s room to grab snacks and beverages.
once they come to the conclusion that they have in fact wasted enough time today not doing anything productive, they detangle themselves from the odd position they had been cuddling each other in and go downstairs to start baking.
jeongguk starts to look through the cabinets, finding the basic ingredients that they would be needed for almost all baking recipes: flour, eggs, sugar, baking soda, and butter. he then browses on his phone to find a recipe that looks easy to make.
taehyung let’s jeongguk search for a recipe and with a “i’ll be back in five minutes,” he ascends the stairs to his mom’s bedroom.
he knocks on the door, hearing a faint, “come in,” before twisting the knob and entering.
he sees his mom on her bed, wide awake with her laptop on her lap. he gratefully notes that she looks well rested, the eye bags that had been under her eyes seem fainter and she doesn’t seem to be curling in on herself, instead sitting up straight with a smile that actually meets her eyes.
“hi, tae. what can i do for you?” she asks him, putting her laptop to the side of her lap and giving her son all of her attention.
“nothing, i just came upstairs to check on you, eomma.”
her eyes seem to soften, her smile turning fonder. she brushes her hair away from her face before beckoning taehyung over with her hands.
once he’s within arm distance of her, she brushes his hair back, tucking his permed black hair behind his ear to keep it in place. “i’m fine, tae. i swear. i slept really well after coming back from my shift, too.”
taehyung opens his mouth to say something before his mom cuts him off. “i see that you’ve been sad lately, and i have a feeling that it has been due to the extra shifts that i’ve been picking up at the hospital. i promise that i’ve asked for some time off, which they granted due to the extra hours i’ve worked, so you don’t have to worry about a thing, darling.”
taehyung smiles, “that’s good to hear, eomma. you definitely deserve it.”
taehyung stays in his mother’s room for a bit longer, asking her about how her shift went and if jeongguk and he could do anything more to make her life easier which she responds with, “no, you guys have done enough with making me breakfast which i am thankful for”. after taehyung leaves her room, his heart lighter than before, he knows that he still has more to ask her regarding her timing in picking up shifts and wondering if it had anything to do with the passing of his father. but that was for another time, when she wasn’t recovering from the hard work she had done in the past months.
he goes down the stairs and enters the kitchen to be welcomed to the sight of jeongguk placing the bag of chocolate chips that they had purchased at the store earlier that day on the kitchen counter. his eyes light up once he sees his boyfriend standing at the entrance to the kitchen. he moves forward to hug him, and place a kiss on his lips.
“i hope the talk went well taetae, because we are going to make chocolate chip cookies today! it is time to finally redeem myself,” jeongguk gushes excitedly, moving back to grab a mixing bowl from a cabinet.
taehyung disregards the second half of the sentence, snorting in response. “can’t wait, gukkie. now, shall we get started?”
jeongguk nods and smiles, getting his phone and showing the tab that he has opened which contains a picture of a mouthwatering looking cookie. “that,” he says, pointing to the picture. “is how our cookies are going to come out, okay? i know that this time, the cookies will come out better because i’m getting your help and teamwork makes the dream work, the dream in this case being the cookies, okay?”
“of course, love. tell me the ingredients that we need first so that i can start mixing them in this bowl.”
they manage to get through the steps of mixing all of the ingredients together without any mishaps -except for when jeongguk cracked an egg and had to search for the piece of its shell that had fallen into the batter- and spoon out the dough onto their greased baking pan and pop it into the oven.
“okay so this time, we will not be engaging in a flour battle which i will definitely win in-” taehyung shushes jeongguk’s protests before continuing, “-and will instead wash all of the bowls and utensils that we used. and then if we have time, we can make out on the counter until the timer rings.”
jeongguk smirks at that, “ooh we will definitely have time for that, i’m sure.”
he quickly takes over the bowls and utensils they used to the sink, washing them before taehyung even has a response formulated in his head.
taehyung’s glancing at the cookies slowly baking in the oven when he shrieks, jeongguk having crept up behind him to grab him by his waist and carry him over to the nearest countertop, setting him down.
“now if i remember correctly, you said that if we had time we could make out and if you glance at the timer, we have ten more minutes to pass before the timer goes off and we have to pull the cookies out of the oven.”
taehyung looks over his shoulder, seeing that jeongguk was in fact right and that they had ten more minutes left. he turns back around to look at his boyfriend. “you horny animal. but what i said still stands i gues-”
but before taehyung can even finish his sentence, jeongguk is already diving in, capturing taehyung’s bottom lip with his own. taehyung cranes his neck down to meet jeongguk better from his seat on the counter. his boyfriend fits his way between his two legs, grabbing his hips with two hands while taehyung wraps his legs around his waist.
jeongguk presses bruising kisses to his lover’s lips, over and over again without giving him a break. eventually, they pull apart to breathe before taehyung’s already pulling him back in to resume their kisses, tugging at his lips with his teeth.
they continue their fast paced kisses, not giving each other a break. when the timer eventually goes off, taehyung startles in his spot, resulting in his teeth clacking against his boyfriends, both of them pulling apart at the sudden pain.
“babe ouch, are you okay though?” jeongguk asks, carefully touching his gums.
leave it to his boyfriend to as him if he’s okay, even while he’s grimacing in his own pain. “i’m fine, baby. sorry about that, the timer startled me.”
“it’s fine, don’t apologize. i’ll go get the cookies out of the oven then.”
once jeongguk sets the tray down on a heat resistant baking mat, they are greeted with the sight of perfectly browned chocolate chip cookies, their delicious and mouthwatering smell wafting through the air.
“damn,” jeongguk says, looking down at the cookies in awe. “we really just did that.”
they both look up at the same time to high five each other, knowing that they deserved it after seeing that their cookies came out looking edible. “i’m proud of us,” taehyung says in return.
they wait for the cookies to cool down before reaching out and grabbing one to eat. “gukkie! it's really good!” taehyung says around a mouthful of cookie.
“mhm, it is,” jeongguk responds, already reaching a hand out to grab another one.
they eat a few more before placing the rest of the cookies on a plate, leaving it on the counter in plain view for the rest of taehyung's family to eat it when they come down.
they head over to the living room to turn the tv on, ready to watch netflix. it's then that taehyung looks over at his boyfriend, his eyes two pools of love reflecting the adoration he holds for the man sitting next to him.
jeongguk turns to face his boyfriend when he senses a stare on him. he flashes his toothy grin, his the one reserved for his boyfriend only. “what's up, baby?”
taehyung smiles softly, shaking his head. “nothing, love.”
jeongguk reaches out, pulling taehyung closer to him from around his waist. taehyung goes willingly, resting his cheek on his lover’s chest with his head tucked under his boyfriend’s chin. jeongguk reaches behind him to pull the blanket down and over them from where it was hanging over the couch.
they hold each other under the blanket, jeongguk nuzzling into taehyung’s hair, pressing a kiss there.
they bask in a moment of silence, the love they hold for each other the only thing being loud in the quiet. they both know moments like these will become rare in the future, them just starting to walk the path that is laid out for them for the rest of their life.
life will get chaotic after this year for them, college being the next stop in their journey. even though life won't stop for them, they both know that even through the high and low, they will have each other.
and for them, that will be enough.