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“Jungkook-ah, why do I keep feeling like you’ll fly away from me?” Taehyung asks, eyes drooping. The sun above him burns bright, and saps him of his energy, so he lies down on the scratchy grass.
“Silly boy.” Jungkook’s fond smile is more radiant than the sun itself. “Why would I fly away from you?” He puts out his hand, and a butterfly with dark wings flutters towards it, and rests on his palm.
“How do you do that?” Taehyung breathes out. “How do they always sit on your hand? I keep trying, but…”
“But what, my beloved?”
He hesitates. “They all… fly away when I get close.”
“Ah, that’s what you’re doing wrong. You do not go to them, they will come for you.”
“So I just… hold out my hand, and they’ll fly to me?”
Jungkook nods, so Taehyung decides to give it a whirl. He scrambles to sit up properly, and crosses his legs the way Jungkook has, and holds out his hand, waiting for the butterfly to fly towards him. It makes no effort to move from its place, looking perfectly content on Jungkook’s hand.
“It thinks you’re a flower.” Taehyung comments, feeling sullen. “Am I not pretty enough for it?”
Jungkook chuckles, “You idiot, you’re the prettiest in the whole world.”
“Prettiest what?”
“Just the prettiest.”
Oh. “Jungkookie, stop, you’re making me blush.”
“I mean it’s the truth.” Jungkook says it like the most obvious thing in this world. The sky is blue, the sun rises in the east, and Taehyung is the prettiest thing in the world.
Taehyung silently observes him, and wonders how lucky he is to end up with someone like Jungkook. So kind, so full of love, sometimes Taehyung slaps himself whenever he remembers that he’s going out with Jungkook because he’s Jeon Jungkook’s boyfriend, what the hell?!
He’s not even quite sure how it happened, one day the two of them were playing around the way best friends did, as they bickered over silly stuff that didn’t matter, and occasionally pushed each other around, and on another day Jungkook, while pushing himself on a swing, asked, “Taehyung, wanna kiss me?”
“Why?” Taehyung, who was on the swing next to him, was confused; he couldn’t think of any reason for it.
“Well,” Jungkook looked up thoughtfully. “My parents kiss each other on the lips sometimes because they love each other.” He turned towards his left, and blinked at Taehyung. “And I love you.”
The logic made perfect sense to a twelve-year old Taehyung. “But isn’t kissing on the mouth icky? I heard that’s where all our germs are.”
“Awww.” Jungkook stopped swinging his legs, and looked down, pouting.
“But, I have an idea!” Taehyung put his feet down, and his swing came to a grinding halt. “My mom kisses my cheeks sometimes. Can we do that?”
“Kiss… on the cheeks…” Jungkook contemplated it seriously while his swing oscillated gently. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”
Taehyung internally cheered as Jungkook planted his feet into the ground, and leaned towards him, cheek-first. Taehyung gave him a little peck, and the two of them dissolved into innocent laughter.
That little kiss planted the seed of their relationship, which slowly bloomed over the years. First it was those little pecks on their cheeks, but as they grew up, they began craving for more; their touches turning hungrier, and more desperate.
They were sixteen when Taehyung first pressed up Jungkook on the wall at the back of his house, because he had to know how he tasted, fuck it, and he loved every second of it. He was worried Jungkook would hate it, but when Taehyung had pulled away, he grabbed the front of his shirt, and whispered, “More.”
Taehyung gave him more - he gave him all of himself. More, more, more . Just give him every piece of his soul until they become one and the same. He was worried he would come off as being annoying from the way he clung to him all the time.
“You’re not annoying.” Jungkook assured him. The two of them were sitting on the porch outside Jungkook’s house, and looking at the flowers around the steps.
“But I feel like it.” Taehyung protested, and took a sip of the beer they stole from the fridge inside. “God, this tastes like piss, what’s the big whoop about beer?”
Jungkook eyed the unopened bottle next to him. “I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t intend on finding out. Especially if it tastes like piss. How the hell do you know what piss tastes like anyway?”
“Educated guess.” Taehyung replied with a shrug. “But I want you to at least take a sip of it. You’re of legal age now! Isn’t this the best way to celebrate it?”
“You’re a terrible fucking influence.” Jungkook stretched out his hand. “Also, I turned nineteen like, 12 hours ago. Did you have a celebratory beer like this?”
“Unfortunately, yeah.” Taehyung grimaced as he took another sip. “Older brothers are just like that.”
Jungkook laughed heartily. Everything he did was so full of passion and love. Taehyung wanted to reach over, and kiss him, but at that moment, a butterfly flew towards him, and landed on the back of his index finger.
“Woah.” Taehyung’s eyes widened. The butterfly had pretty, iridescent wings, which switched between blue and purple as its wings fluttered. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’ve never seen one like this before.” Jungkook said dreamily, as he tilted his head to the side. “Isn’t it lovely, Taehyung?”
“It is.” He agreed, and slid closer to him. He did it slowly, so as not to scare it away. He silently watched it fold its wings up, then unfold it again, a rhythmic motion that fascinated his slightly tipsy brain.
“There’s one thing about butterflies that makes me sad.” Jungkook said in a low voice. “Do you know what it is?”
“What?”
“How short they live for.” Jungkook curled his finger slightly. “The longest any can live for is a year, but their average lifespan is around two weeks.”
“That’s…” Taehyung frowned as he tried to articulate his thoughts. “Isn’t that how long most insects live?”
“I suppose, but it still feels too short.” Jungkook turned towards him. “But you. You’ll be with me forever, won’t you?”
“Forever.” Taehyung promised, and planted a sloppy kiss on the side of his face. “Love you.”
“Are you trying to act drunk?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Taehyung tried to slur his words, but it was obvious.
“You idiot.” Jungkook kissed his forehead. “I love you too.”
Taehyung revels in his past memories, as he remembers the old days, from when their love was still new. Years have passed since then, and somehow everyday with Jungkook still feels new.
“I feel like we just fell in love yesterday.” Taehyung tells him now. “How so?”
“You’re just a hopeless romantic, Tae.” Jungkook smiles lovingly, and flicks his wrist to let the butterfly fly off.
“Just for you.” Taehyung breathes out. “You… there’s just something about you that makes me feel like I’ve been reborn. Every time you look at me, I feel like a new person.”
“Like a butterfly out of its chrysalis?” Jungkook asks, which earns him a roll of the eyes.
“Again, with the butterfly metaphors.”
“Am I wrong, though?”
“No.” Taehyung confesses. “But I must admit, before we met, I was an ugly caterpillar, but now-” he dramatically swoons and angles himself to fall onto Jungkook’s lap, “-I feel like a pretty butterfly.”
“Idiot.” Jungkook mutters. “You’re so silly sometimes, but I’ll let it slide.”
“Is it because I’m pretty?” Taehyung flutters his lashes.
“Yes.” Jungkook says fondly. “The prettiest. My prettiest thing in the world.”
His prettiest, because Taehyung truly does belong to Jungkook - all of him.