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"Are you going to finish your fries?"
Nabi laughed as she passed over the remains of her late night snack. Jungkook grinned as he took the box and dashed away, escaping the protests of Taehyung who had clearly been hinting with his puppy-dog eyes already. Jimin silenced his friend by sticking one of his own fries in his mouth.
"You're spoiling him," Seokjin complained. "I bought the cheese fries because they're your favorite, Nabi."
"You bought too many," she argued right back. "I've already had a whole serving! I think you're the one spoiling me."
"You can't blame us, we haven't seen you in ages," Hoseok laughed. "We're so glad you're back."
"But we're also really glad you got the chance to expand your skills," Namjoon added. "I'm looking forward to being back in the studio together again."
Jimin gave up and passed the whole box of fries to Taehyung before he leaned over and rested his head on Nabi's shoulder. "I want to see more pictures sometime soon. You were in the US for a whole year, you have to have more than the ones you showed us tonight."
"And I want to hear about your friends," Taehyung added between mouthfuls.
"Not everyone makes friends as easily as you do," Nabi said with a shake of her head. "The language barrier was tough. And most of my classmates in the program were men. I felt really out of place more often than not, honestly."
"You say that like you're not hanging out with men right now!" Jungkook scoffed.
"That's right," she nodded sharply. "I'm currently hanging out with rowdy little boys. Being here is totally different, like coming home to my baby brothers."
"I'm older than you!" Jin immediately shouted.
"Then maybe you should act like it, hyung," Yoongi cut in. He had not said much since Nabi arrived, but he never missed an opportunity for a sharp comment. It was one of the things she had missed about him most.
That was saying something, because she had missed a lot of things about him.
"Wait, wait." Nabi tensed up when Jimin spoke this time, because she knew all too well what that playful tone of his meant. "So you saw them as men. Does that mean you had a little romance overseas?"
Hoseok seemed to latch on to this idea, too. "Oooh, did you? Who needs to speak English when you have body language?" Jungkook added to the statement with a few hip thrusts and the whole room filled with raucous laughter.
"None of that," Nabi tried to insist. She had to raise her voice to be heard next. "I said I didn't! Oh my god, this is what I mean when I say you're just boys!"
"Hm, that's a shame," Taehyung sighed. "You deserve a nice boyfriend."
"We want you to be happy," Namjoon agreed. "But long distance is hard, so maybe you'll find someone closer to home now?"
"They'll have to meet my standards," Seokjin said haughtily, only for Jungkook to lean over and slap him on the thigh.
"That's not what we meant by acting older, hyung. You're not her dad!"
When they moved on to teasing the eldest band member, Nabi allowed herself to relax. The BTS members were often chaotic, sometimes ridiculous, always wonderful. They really were like family to her after working together all these years, and the noise and teasing made her feel even more at home than the signs written in Korean when she finally returned to Incheon. But that had been less than 48 hours ago. She had been so excited to get back to work, and so happy to take the members up on the offer to catch up and have snacks after, but she was not fully recovered from her big adventures. She tried to hide her yawn behind one hand and play it off as a giggle.
Midway, her eyes locked on Yoongi's. Leave it to him to notice something she was trying to hide. "You guys are exhausting," he sighed. "Nabi, are you still taking the bus everywhere?"
"Still no car," she confirmed. Unlike her idol friends, she wasn't at risk of being swarmed by the public, so the bus didn't bother her. It had been even less of a priority to get a vehicle of her own when she was going to be away for so long.
"Then I'll drive you home." It was not a question, nor did he mean later; he stood up right away, swatted Jimin off of her, and only paused to make sure she got to say her goodbyes. At least this time they were short ones, knowing she would see her friends often now that she was home.
It was not until the long elevator ride down to the parking garage that either of them spoke. That was the way of things with Yoongi. He didn't waste energy on small talk, and Nabi found it easy to follow suit, admittedly in part to avoid saying something she might regret. So she started this time with an easy one. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. I know you have a hard time saying no to them," Yoongi shrugged. Nabi hated to admit it, but he was right of course. She would probably have tried to hang in there longer if not for him. "They should have realized it themselves, though. Of course you're tired. There's no way you've adjusted to local time yet."
"And I haven't been sleeping very well yet," she agreed. "I'm having to get used to the sounds of Seoul at night all over again."
"Are you happy to be back, though?" His eyes darted towards her for just a moment. But what kind of question was that?
"Of course I am! I'm really grateful for the opportunity to learn from American producers, but I missed Korea, I missed Seoul. I missed you." Nabi caught the tiny spark in his eye at that statement. Analyzing, wondering– she hurried to clarify. "I missed all of you."
"Mm." She tried to relax a little at his grunt of acknowledgement. "Then you'll adjust soon." The elevator dinged the notice of their arrival, then, and the conversation stilled.
It was difficult for her to relax in the car. Perhaps she was just out of practice being casual around Yoongi, but she felt as though he had grown more handsome while she was away, and her stomach was full of her namesake butterflies every time she looked his way. It didn't help that some of his best features were on display when he drove, either. His long fingers and strong hands were confident on the steering wheel, and the street lights illuminated his handsome profile while sending a soft glow through his long hair. She couldn't remember when those feelings had first begun, but she did know that she had been squashing them down hard from the moment she recognized them. He was Suga of BTS. He didn't have time to flirt with one of the company's junior producers. Their relationship had to be all business.
Nabi had honestly tried to get over him while she was abroad, but she had failed. She couldn't tell Jimin that although she was around other men, all of them had fallen short of her now-impossible standards. She couldn't tell Taehyung that she had turned down several date offers in her much-improved English. She definitely could not tell Hoseok that the one time she had let it get as far as "body language" she had to put a stop to it after the first kiss because Yoongi had popped into her head. That had been nothing short of embarrassing.
And she was having serious deja vu to that night right now when Yoongi insisted on getting out of the car to walk her all the way to her door. Sure he was the careful type, but couldn't he have sat in the car to watch her go inside? Having him walk by her side in the dark, so close their arms occasionally brushed, was doing nothing to quell those ridiculous butterflies. When he stood at her doorstep she was seized by the most outlandish impulse to invite him inside, and she nearly choked as she swallowed it down. "Thank you again," she said instead. "I'm glad we got to catch up a little."
"Me too." He was making no effort to leave even though her hand was on the door now. "It's good to have you back, Nabi. You were missed."
Seconds ticked by, and she was aware of nothing besides his eyes looking straight into hers, making her heart race until the sound of blood in her ears nearly drowned out his soft goodnight. After all that he finally turned away, and her body simply moved of its own accord, her hand darting out to grab his sleeve. He could have easily tugged away, but he stopped, looking back at her expectantly. "Yoongi." Her voice was hoarse, but she forced it anyway. "What would you say if I told you that I wasn't ready for you to leave?"
He turned toward her, eyebrows raised curiously. "I'd say you're tired," he replied. That should have made her hopes sink, but they were held afloat by the way he stepped closer. "I'd say I brought you home to rest, and I shouldn't keep you awake." Closer still, closer than she could ever remember them being, because she had been so very insistent about the boundaries between them to protect herself from her feelings. Maybe he had, too. "Damn it, Nabi, I told myself that I wasn't in a rush, I had already waited a year and one more day was no big deal. You're making me a liar."
"I've waited so much longer than a year, though," she softly confessed before his soft lips sealed hers with a kiss.
She had pictured this more times than she could count. He had the prettiest mouth, and she had watched him in the studio to know just how much control he had over it, so there was no doubt he would be a good kisser. Even so, she had never been able to picture how intense he would be. In her wildest dreams she had not anticipated how he would place his hands on her back, first gently, then far less so as she reciprocated with her arms around his neck. He pressed their bodies together and she found that they fit together like they had been doing this forever. Like despite what she had been telling herself, the tension and chemistry and torturous butterflies were far from one-sided, and he had imagined this too. This was not spontaneous; this was the culmination of so many hopes over so long a time.
They had to come up for air, eventually, but that didn't mean they had to let go. "We should at least go inside," Nabi murmured, though she did not remove her fingers from the wild locks of his hair.
"If I go inside, I won't want to leave," he warned her, hand sliding surreptitiously up her spine.
She had to duck her head to keep from laughing in his face, but she quickly rose to look at him again. No way was she going to hide anymore. "Do you really think I'm letting you leave after that?" His beautiful smile flashed her way before he let her enter the code and pull him through the door.
They kicked off their shoes, she dropped her purse, he kissed her again in her living room with a delicious laugh on his lips. Nabi felt like she was in a dream, a soft haze invading the edge of her consciousness that she blamed on just how deliriously happy she was. "God, I missed you."
"I missed you so much," he agreed, following behind as she led him down the hall to her room.
Yoongi was kind enough not to comment on her closet still being wide open or her suitcase still propped up on a chair. He had eyes only for her, after all, like he had back at the company building. But that also meant he caught her yawning once again. "You need sleep," he told her, almost a scolding.
"I need you," she pouted, even though she knew he was right. And she had to be truly exhausted if that fatigue was creeping up on her now, because he had definitely had her wide awake with that kiss outside her door.
His large hand on her hair was so gentle and tender. "You have me. I can stay. I told you that I'm not in any rush now, Nabi. You're home for good and we have all the time we need."
She huffed in frustration and his eyebrows furrowed. "Stop being perfect. I'm already so in love with you that it hurts."
Yoongi's expression softened, cheeks flushed suddenly. "Not sorry. I'm in the same boat, you know."
Their goodnight kisses in the plush comfort of her bed were long and slow and lingering. Nabi was not bothered by the nighttime sounds of Seoul when she had his steady heartbeat under her ear.
~~~
The next morning, instead of her alarm, Nabi was jarred awake by the ringing of her phone. She detested having to pull away from Yoongi's warmth to fumble on the nightstand and find it, but surprise helped her wake a little faster when she saw whose name was on the screen. "Namjoon? Why are you calling so early?"
"I can't find Yoongi," he answered, and Nabi had to stifle a giggle as the missing man in question snorted to overhear his name. "He's not answering his phone and the manager stopped by his place but says he isn't home. The last time we saw him was when he left to take you home last night. Did he say anything before he left?"
Yoongi had pulled her phone away from her ear and tapped the speaker button on the screen, but he waited for Namjoon to finish speaking before he gave himself away. "No, because I never left," he deadpanned, and this time Nabi didn't hold back her laughter as the strangled sound of shock came over the phone. "We don't have anything scheduled until this afternoon, why are you looking for me already?"
"The suggestions Nabi had yesterday were so good that I hoped we could do some more–"
"No. We're busy. I'll see you in the afternoon." Yoongi unceremoniously ended the call and tossed the phone further down the bed. Nabi had to admit that his weight on top of her and the sweet taste of his lips made her rude awakening worthwhile. He seemed to agree. "Good morning."
"Good morning." She liked the way his voice rumbled in his chest when he was sleepy. Even his puffy cheeks and messy hair were charming. But she was far more awake today, and far less surprised. Practical thoughts were pushing through her infatuation. "I think we need to have a talk today."
"Yeah," he agreed readily as he flopped back onto the pillows. But instead of getting up, he pulled her back to him, tucking her under his chin and curling himself around her. "But not yet."
Nabi allowed herself to close her eyes and enjoy the moment. After all of her waiting, it could wait just a little while longer. "No rush."