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Life with Kim Taehyung was a sitcom. Nothing good ever happened to Jeon Jungkook whenever Kim Taehyung was around. He knew this the moment they met by the door of their shared apartment building. He knew this when he realized they’d be seeing more of each other than he initially thought. Before Kim Taehyung, he had a good plan, he liked to think. Get a nice apartment, work out, study, party, get laid a few times, party a little more, get a few piercings, maybe even a tattoo. He had a good and easy to follow plan. But Kim Taehyung never seemed to make things easy for him.
Episode I
“Tae-Tae!” Jimin calls out from the bathroom, foam dribbling down his chin. “It’s your turn to buy lunch today!”
Taehyung lets out a groan, muffled by the sound of the throw pillow his face was currently buried in. “But it’s raining.”
“Rain won’t kill you.” Jimin says, toothbrush still in his mouth. “Especially when ramen can be bought in the convenience store five minutes away.”
Taehyung groans again, louder this time, but begrudgingly switches off the TV and grabs a coat and Jimin’s pink umbrella before opening the door. He hears Jimin say he loves him and he’s an angel before he slams it shut.
He steps out the building and stares at the grey sky and the wet cement. He stares at students without umbrellas, rushing and covering their heads with their backpacks. He sighs and raises the pink umbrella in his hand.
Not today, rain. He thinks to himself. Today, I am armed.
He tugs on the umbrella. Once, twice, thrice. He examines it a little before groaning to himself. He’d brought the old one instead of the new one Jimin bought a couple days back. He had half a mind to go back up and get the other umbrella but a bigger part told him ‘Nah, man, use the force, you can do it!’
He knows he should’ve stopped the minute passersby started giving him weird looks and concerned glances but he was determined. He couldn’t let some cheap, pink, non-living thing defeat him! He was Kim Taehyung! He turns around, back facing the passersby and tugs the hardest he can, and finally, it flies open. With the top pressed against a stranger’s stomach.
Taehyung hears him wheeze.
Taehyung gulps before slowly looking up to meet the stranger’s gaze. And Taehyung knew he was fucked because damn, was he hot. He doesn’t even realize he’s staring until the said stranger raises a hand to push the umbrella away and rub at his abdomen.
“What the hell?” He said more to himself than to Taehyung, wincing as he pressed lightly on the spot the umbrella had hit.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry! I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to!” He exclaims, bowing repeatedly, before instinctively, running off. But not before slipping on a few steps.
Jungkook stares at Taehyung’s retreating figure, clumsily pushing past strangers.
Ever since they had their first encounter, nothing good ever happened to Jeon Jungkook whenever Kim Taehyung was around.
Episode II 1/2
“Jungkookie!” Jimin calls out, before throwing an arm around him. “I haven’t seen you in like, forever.” He pouts.
“You saw me yesterday.” Jungkook says monotonously. “You do know we live in the same building, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but you live three floors away!” Jimin whines.
“I have never in my life met anyone as clingy as you are.” Jungkook chuckles, shaking his head. “Anyway, how’s the new roommate? You said you met someone during the summer, right?”
Jimin nods his head in agreement. “Yeah, I met him during a workshop. His name’s Taehyung. He’s a bit weird but he’s really nice. You should meet him soon!”
Jungkook only hums noncommittally. “Pretty sure we’ll end up meeting eventually.”
“Later.” Jimin announces. “We’re planning on playing basketball around 5:30 in the penthouse with the rest of the gang. I’m bringing Taehyung too. Wanna come and play?” Jimin asks him, nudging his arm.
If Jungkook didn’t know any better, he’d assume Jimin was just inviting him to hang out, as always. But he takes one look at Jimin’s puppy dog eyes, and he knows that Jimin really, really wants him to meet this friend. Which probably meant he'd become a permanent addition to their group of friends.
He nods and Jimin cheers.
__
“Taehyung’ll be here in a few minutes. Come on, let’s get warmed up first.”
Jimin had been the one to invite him to play but Jungkook spent almost fifteen minutes bent over in laughter at his futile attempts to play basketball.
“Jimin-ah, why did your growth plate stop growing?” Yoongi teases, dribbling the ball as he laughed at Jimin’s tired stance.
“Hey, who are you to speak?” Jimin argues, pointing a finger at Yoongi. “I challenge you to a one on one! To defend my height and my honor!”
Namjoon, Seokjin and Hoseok watch from the sidelines, stifling laughs at Jimin’s intense expression.
Jungkook shakes his head at the ridiculousness of it all. “So you plan to defend your honor by being completely and utterly clobbered by our best basketball player?”
Jimin opens his mouth, probably to say something stupid, but it turns into a smile and he looks at something from behind Jungkook. “Tae-Tae!”
He hears loud footsteps behind him and just as he turns around, it’s like everything starts moving in slow motion. This is Taehyung. This is the boy who had almost impaled him with an umbrella. Taehyung’s hair is pointing in different directions. His eyes look wild and crazed, as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. His shirt looked just like his new shower curtains and currently, Taehyung was tripping over his untied shoelaces, falling face first into, well-
His crotch.
Jungkook stops breathing and his entire body seems to go numb.
The court is silent.
He feels like he can feel Taehyung’s face turn hot through his fucking dick.
Everyone bursts into laughter.
“Well,” Jimin says in between fits of laughter, “That was fast.”
Episode II 2/2
Taehyung feels like crying.
“Tae, it’s not that big a deal. Jungkook wouldn't hate you because of reasons as shallow as that.” Jimin says, comfortingly rubbing circles on Taehyung’s back.
“But he probably thinks I’m a pain.” Taehyung says dejectedly.
“You are a pain.” Jimin says as if he hadn’t just made Taehyung feel ten times worse. “Where is the lie?”
Taehyung raises his head slightly to glare at his friend. “You’re not helping.”
Jimin shrugs. “I’m not here to help, really. I’m just here to tell you the facts. And fact is, Jungkook doesn’t and would never hate you. He isn’t like that. He’s just probably.. I don’t know, you guys just got off on the wrong foot. The more you guys talk, the closer you’ll get and your awkward first meeting of umbrella to stomach and face to crotch will only be an inside joke you can both laugh about.”
Taehyung hums in thought. “Yeah, I guess.” He sighs. “But I don’t know how I can show my face to him now. Especially since it’s been in his crotch before we could even introduce ourselves.”
“Maybe you could’ve saved yourself the awkwardness for the next meeting if you’d just stood up and apologized politely instead of saying it while running out the door and screaming bloody murder.” Jimin pointed out.
Taehyung screams in frustration. “Why can’t I just never see him again? I’ve never seen him in any of my classes anyway! We can just move on with our lives and pretend the other never existed!”
“Because you’re my roommate and he’s one of my best friends?” Jimin says, with a finger raised.
“I’ll move out then.” Taehyung suggests.
This earns him a slap in the face and the cold treatment for the next two hours. Taehyung has to get on his knees and buy him a pint of ice cream to get Jimin to forgive him. He also agrees to helping him host next week’s party and to try and make things right with him and Jungkook.
__
“I don’t like Jimin’s roommate.” Jungkook says plainly, skimming through his algebra book.
Yoongi stifles a laugh. “What’s not to like? You didn’t even need to say anything and he already got down on his knees for you. He’s every man’s dream.”
Jungkook punches his arm as Yoongi breaks out into full laughter. “Aw, come on, Kookie. He doesn’t seem like a bad person. He’s just… clumsy.”
“Clumsy. That’s exactly it. He’s too clumsy. On our first encounter, he attacked me with an umbrella. A few days later, he headbutts my dick. I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking forward to what’s gonna happen the next time we see each other.” Jungkook says. “I want nothing to do with this guy. Nothing.”
“Oh, please.” Namjoon says from the other side of the room. “We all saw your face, you fake asshole. You think he’s cute. That’s why you want nothing to do with him.”
Jungkook mutters a string of curse words but does nothing to deny it.
“Ooooh~” Seokjin teases, poking Jungkook’s sides. “Looks like someone has a crush!”
Jungkook rolls his eyes and waves Seokjin away. “I think his face is cute. Almost killing me with an umbrella and risking the lives of my future kids, though, that is not cute.”
Hoseok chuckles as he pops a potato chip in his mouth and snaps his fingers, as if suddenly being reminded of something. “Ah! Right, Jimin was inviting us to this freshmen’s party thing next week at his place. He said everyone should come.”
Jungkook doesn’t even think twice before saying he’s in. Doesn’t even think about having to see Taehyung again. Because that was the plan. To work out, to study, to get laid, to party. It was a good and easy to follow plan.
Episode III
“I’M THE SLIM SHADY, I’M THE REAL SLIM SHADY!”
“Oh my god.” Jungkook says under his breath, watching from afar, as Taehyung dances in his boxers, waving his belt in the air, doing some form of tap dance on top of a dining table.
“Wow. I didn’t think I could like this guy more than I already did.” Hoseok says, staring in awe, clapping his hands with everyone else.
Jungkook doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or if he wants to hide his face in secondhand embarrassment.
And then Taehyung starts thrusting into the air and Jungkook can’t help but choose the latter option.
Jungkook’s about to excuse himself from the wildness, until he sees Taehyung’s eyes meet his. It’s as if the entire world stops spinning. As if fate decided that whatever attempt Jungkook made to avoid the walking disaster Kim Taehyung would be made futile. Because as their eyes lock, Taehyung goes silent. Before opening his mouth and screaming in the lowest and loudest voice Jungkook had ever heard in his entire life,
“JEON JUNGKOOK!”
All the heads turn to face him and he swears, at that moment, it was the first time he felt that he’d really rather be dead.
He closes his eyes as Taehyung approaches him and he wills himself to calm down. Nothing bad was going to happen. As long as he believed. He’d probably fall on him again. But this time, Jungkook has come armed. He’d be ready to catch him. He’d be ready to back away before there would be any unwanted face to crotch action involved. He’d be ready.
“Jungkookie~” The drunk Taehyung called out, his low voice going about two octaves higher. “I just wanted to apologize,” hiccup, “-for always being such a pain.”
Jungkook blinks. “Oh.”
“I really don’t mean to, I just,” hiccup, “-I’m very clumsy and I,” hiccup, “-I don’t mean to hurt you.”
There’s an ‘It’s okay’ waiting in Jungkook’s throat but before he could push it out of him, Taehyung leans over and throws up all over Jungkook’s shoes.
The crowd lets out surprised ‘Oh’s.
Yoongi stands beside him, holding back his laugh, while saying “Told you not to wear your white converse.”
Jungkook stares at the passed out human he was currently holding up, vomit dribbling down his chin, onto both their shirts.
Jungkook cringes. A walking disaster, indeed.
Episode IV
Jungkook doesn’t remember the rest of the night all too much. All he remembers is taking off his clothes and getting drunk enough to lose consciousness just to keep himself from murdering Kim Taehyung.
He wakes up with a headache and the stench of vomit and alcohol staining his skin. He curses himself for not keeping himself sober enough to be able to at least take a shower.
He turns to his right and reaches around for a pillow but instead, his hand lands on a very soft and very warm body. He pauses. This isn’t who he thinks it is, right?
He slowly opens his eyes and instantly flings himself off the bed and screams.
This wakes Taehyung up, moaning in agony. “Who’s so loud so early in the morning?”
Jungkook is shaking in both fear and disgust and Taehyung is oblivious and Jungkook really just wants the wooden floor to swallow him whole because he’d rather be looking the devil in the eye than be in the same room, the same bed, as Kim Taehyung.
“Why the fuck are we both here?” He whispers more to himself than to Taehyung.
Taehyung opens his eyes, the first thing he sees being a half naked Jungkook on the floor next to his bed.
He screams and flings his blankets off himself, throwing them over Jungkook’s head.
“What happened? What did you do to me? What did we do?!” Taehyung panics, feeling his own body, panicking when he realizes he’s half naked as well.
“Fucking calm yourself!” Jungkook screams, throwing the blanket back at Taehyung. “Don’t even think about anything like that. I wouldn’t touch you even if my life depended on it.”
Taehyung feels both relieved and offended. He pouts. “You don’t have to be so mean about it.”
Jungkook raises his head to glare at him. “Are you fucking kidding me? After you threw up on my clothes and my shoes, you’re telling me, I don’t have to be so mean about it?”
It’s as if it’s only at that moment that the events of the night before, unfold before Taehyung’s eyes and his face turns red and Jungkook actually sees the shame appear in his eyes.
“.... I’m sorry.” Taehyung says in a shy voice, giving Jungkook a soft and apologetic smile.
Jungkook wasn’t usually a mean person but his head was throbbing, he was half naked, he smelled like shit, he had fallen asleep in a bed with a person who he barely knew and had already given him more pain than Jimin had in their five years of friendship and he really just wanted to take a shower and go back to bed.
“Whatever.” He mumbles, standing up and scratching the back of his head. “You owe me new shoes.”
“I really didn’t mean to do all the things I--”
“I know you didn’t, alright?” Jungkook says. “But every single time we see each other, I end up with a bruised abdomen, or a face in my crotch, or vomit all over and all I want to do is live a quiet, peaceful life. With no injuries. Or other people’s bodily fluids all over my god damn clothes. But every single time, without fail, we see each other, and shit happens. So I’d really rather we don’t see each other because every time I see you, I feel the urge to either run away or punch you. So I’m gonna go.”
Without another word from either of them, Jungkook leaves their apartment and Taehyung is left both feeling bad and feeling angry because he knew he was clumsy but damn, why did he have to be so rude about it?
Episode V
“You’re cruel, Jeon Jungkook.” Hoseok says, clicking his tongue. “Don’t you feel bad in the slightest?”
“Of course I feel bad.” Jungkook sighs. “I didn’t mean to be that rude, I was just hungover and sleepy and smelly. But I did mean it when I said I didn’t want anything to do with him. Whenever we’re together, it causes a shitstorm. I’m saving myself from unnecessary pain and I’m saving him from unnecessary embarrassment.”
“Well, what do you propose we do about the awkwardness and the painfully obvious distaste you both have for each other whenever we’re all together?” Seokjin asks. “Because the fact that you guys insist on sitting on opposite ends of the table every time and you duck whenever he so much as raises a hand to get his drink, sort of ruins the mood. Like, all the damn time.”
“He’s dangerous.” Jungkook says seriously.
“Jungkook, I’ve been living with this boy for the past month. He’s harmless. He’s weird and clumsy, but otherwise, he’s a puppy.” Jimin says. “Just because you guys have had a few bad encounters, it doesn’t mean you gotta write him off as a bad luck charm.”
Jungkook sighs and leans back, giving it some thought. “Alright. Alright, fine. I’ll give it a shot. Later, I’ll go with you guys to the movie. After I dye my hair. Sound good?”
Jimin’s expression instantly brightens. “Bless you, child.”
__
Jungkook stares at his hair through the glass doors of the mall. It didn’t look half bad. He’d like it more if it didn’t remind him so much of Jimin’s hair but he thinks he pulled it off better anyway so he didn’t have too many complaints.
He brings out his phone to text Jimin, but before he could, he feels a pressure (a hand, to be more specific) against his ass. His eyes widen and he looks at his reflection and sees Taehyung standing behind him with an amused look on his face.
Suddenly, Taehyung is staring at him through their reflection as well and his smile turns into an expression of pure terror.
Jungkook has to clench his fists to keep from screaming and Taehyung has to bite his tongue until it bled to keep from punching himself in the face before Jungkook could.
There’s a silence. Jungkook refusing to face Taehyung, Taehyung refusing to raise his head.
“Honestly, what the fuck?”
Now these weren’t the words Jungkook planned on saying but with the situation at hand, it seemed he had zero control over his brain to mouth filter. “Do you have a crush on me or something?”
“You wish!” Taehyung says, finally raising his head, his face as red as the shirt he was wearing. “I just.. I thought you were Jimin.”
Jungkook scoffs. “I wish. Whatever. They brought me here cause they want us to make amends. Just so you know, I still don’t like you. But I’ll put up with you so we don’t cause the rest of our friends trouble. Let’s just stay out of each other’s way and only talk when we need to. Is that good?”
Taehyung grimaces at how rude the other is but he nods reluctantly.
Episode VI
It’s three months into the school year when Jungkook realizes that his bad luck does not stem from Taehyung at all. Bad things didn’t happen to him because of Taehyung. Bad things happened to him because of life. He realizes this when he wakes up one morning and spills coffee on himself, remembers that he forgot his theology book in his apartment by the time he reached campus, breaks his new shoes when he trips over a rock, has to walk home with a bruised knee and his new shoes in hand, and to top it all off, he gets mugged on the walk home from a karaoke party with his friends. Before he left, Seokjin told him to be careful since it was late. Jungkook likes to think that he was the one who jinxed it but he knew it was his own fault for insisting to walk even when Yoongi offered to give him a ride. Jungkook feels like crying.
Him and Taehyung hadn’t spoken much after their agreement in the mall. At most, they’d say things like “Pass the bottle” “Is Jimin home?” “Do you have some extra cash?” “Are you done using the laptop?” but otherwise, they didn’t so much as look at each other. Jungkook thought luck would finally be on his side but the universe evidently had other plans.
Instead of heading to his room, he presses the “PH” button on the elevator, leading him to the top floor or the pent house, where the game room, basketball court and gym were. Whenever things weren’t going his way, he could only ever trust one thing to never fail him. And that’s his physical ability. It’s a little past twelve in the morning when Jungkook enters the gym and drops his bag dramatically on the floor. Fuck it, he thinks. What could possibly go wrong if he just let out a little bit of steam?
__
Taehyung says he’s in college, but really he’s just in pain.
He’s on the verge of a mental and emotional breakdown as he tries to finish his Fine Arts paper and meet the deadline. He actually feels tears threatening to fall by the time he’s on his seventh page. Who the fuck has the time of day to write a ten page essay about a damn statue? What can you say about a statue that’s worth ten pages? It’s three minutes to twelve midnight when he finally clicks Submit and sighs in relief and exhaustion. For a minute, the world is quiet. Taehyung closes his eyes and relaxes, giving his hands and his brain a break.
“Oh, fuck.” He hears a very familiar voice moan.
Oh no. Oh god, no. He presses his ear against the wall and immediately regrets doing so when he hears the moaning more clearly and Jimin’s headboard smacks against the wall. What makes it worse was that not only was he hearing Jimin’s moans, but another very familiar voice as well.
“Shit, Jimin.”
No. That could not be Min Yoongi. Taehyung darts out the room and is out of the apartment in the blink of an eye. He’s trying to catch his breath by the time he’s inside the elevator.
“Oh, god.” He says, smacking his head with his hand. “No, no, no. Don’t picture it. Don’t even think it.”
He presses the PH button and tries to think of anything but that. Strawberries, puppies, rainbows, baymax, video games, chicken--
He steps out of the elevator and decides on whether he wanted to play billiards by himself or run on the treadmill a little. But as his eyes scan his surroundings, they land on a certain figure angrily punching the punching bag in the gym and screaming in frustration.
Taehyung’s eyebrows furrow. Who could possibly feel fucked up enough to be working on boxing past midnight on a weekday?
He takes careful and quiet steps to take a closer look, and he has to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from gasping out loud.
Jungkook?
A part of him tells him to back off, considering the deal they both had a couple months back. But another part of him felt genuinely concerned. At this point, Jungkook didn’t even look like he was just punching. He was basically throwing a tantrum and screaming swear words at it.
The nicer part of Taehyung wins the inner battle between good and evil and with slow steps, he approaches him.
“Uh, Jungkook?” He says, grabbing his shoulder.
The next thing he remembers is a scream and a fist before everything turns black.
__
Taehyung wakes up to someone lightly slapping his face and the face of a very worried Jeon Jungkook hovering over him. When he fully opens his eyes, Jungkook sighs in relief and sits on the floor, as if he’d run an entire marathon.
“Christ, don’t fucking scare someone like that.” Jungkook says breathily. “I almost broke your damn nose.”
Taehyung pinches the bridge of his nose and indeed, it feels like it’s been crushed.
“I was just worried, you looked like you were frustrated over something.” He said softly.
“Of course, I was frustrated over something. That’s why you shouldn’t have snuck up on me like that.” Jungkook sighed. He hesitates for a second before leaning closer and raising his hand to examine Taehyung’s face. “How much does it hurt?”
Taehyung feels his entire body freeze over at the newfound affection and he gulps before answering. “It just sorta stings.”
Jungkook nods. “Just put some ice over it when you get back to the room. It should be fine.”
Taehyung raises his eyes to look Jungkook straight and stares at the boy’s face.
Jungkook cocks his eyebrow. “What?”
Taehyung gives his face a once over and noticed the red cheeks and the puffy eyes. “Are you.. alright?”
Jungkook hesitates for a second before shaking his head in amusement. “I should be the one asking you that, dumbass.”
“You just…” Taehyung pauses, “You looked really mad.”
“Bad day.” Jungkook says simply. “Just had a bad day.”
Taehyung cocks his head, suddenly looking worried. “Did I do anything? We didn’t see each other today though.”
It’s then and there that Jungkook realized how the boy must’ve felt after he pushed him away saying that bad things always happen whenever he was around. Jungkook couldn’t help but feel a rush of both guilt and affection for the boy and he sighs.
“Look,” He starts, running a hand through his head, “I was immature to use all those mishaps against you. You were never a reason for bad things happening to me. It wasn’t your fault. So don’t think that way. It makes me feel shitty. We’re both in college, we’re adults, we shouldn’t be in bad terms because of things that shallow. It was my fault for being such an ass about it so I’m sorry.”
Taehyung bites his lip and nods. “I’m sorry too. For being such a klutz around you all the time.”
Jungkook shakes his head with a small smile. “Let’s start over?”
Taehyung smiles brightly and instantly raises his right hand. “Hi. I’m Kim Taehyung, I’m Jiminnie’s new roommate and I'm sorry I hit you with an umbrella, face planted on your crotch, threw up on your shoes and clothes and accidentally grabbed your ass.”
Jungkook chuckles, raises his hand and shakes Taehyung’s outstretched one. “Hi. I’m Jeon Jungkook and I’m sorry for accidentally punching you in the face and being a dick.”
Episode VII
The other five don’t know how it happened and they were told not to ask.
But the next few days, Taehyung and Jungkook are sitting next to each other either laughing over some new vine about a pug or fanboying over a new music video Big Bang had just released.
Every single time Jungkook so much as slung an arm around Taehyung or Taehyung looked at him for a second too long, the looks and smirks they received from their friends were always there to follow a second later.
“Whatever happened to ‘whenever we’re together, it causes a shitstorm’?” Jimin asks, smirking.
“Can we not bring it up?” Jungkook whines. “Can’t you guys just be happy that we’ve finally fixed things between us and we won’t make things awkward anymore?”
Yoongi smirks. “You guys are so weak for each other.”
“Really?” He sighs. “We just became friends and now you guys are turning us into lovers?”
“Just saying,” Yoongi says, raising his hands, “If you guys started dating, we’d all be completely cool with it.”
“Well, we’re not dating so quit it.” Taehyung says, barely even paying attention as he highlighted random words on his Biology work book.
“Please.” Jungkook smirks. “You only say this so that everyone’ll be more accepting of the fact that you and Jimin are dating.”
Jimin chokes on his ramen, Yoongi seems to have suffered from cardiac arrest and Namjoon and Seokjin nearly drop their forks.
“What?”
Jungkook smiles sweetly. “Oops.”
Episode VIII
Life with Kim Taehyung was a sitcom.
Jungkook realizes this after he spends an entire night with Taehyung because he wanted him to be his partner for movie night. He was invited to watch movies but he felt like he spent more time watching Taehyung cry over every damn movie than watching the actual movies.
“Who said it was okay to make a cartoon this cruel?” Jungkook says to himself, for the first time, grabbing a tissue for himself after they’d finished watching Toy Story 3.
He doesn’t know at what point of the movie they’d started cuddling in the couch but Taehyung’s face is hidden in his chest and he doesn’t think there’s a dry spot on his Iron Man shirt.
He runs his hands over Taehyung’s hair in an attempt to soothe the hysterical boy but he only cries harder and Jungkook sighs. He rests his chin on top of his head and he can see Jimin and Yoongi peeking their heads out of the bedroom door but he can’t bring himself to care anymore.
Jungkook wakes up at nine in the morning with Taehyung innocently curled up next to him and a purple blanket over the both of them, probably courtesy of Jimin and Yoongi.
Jungkook should be panicking right now and cursing and flinging himself off the couch. But instead, he finds himself burying his face in Taehyung’s hair and pulling him closer.
Life with Kim Taehyung was a sitcom.
Who needs sappy movies that make him cry? He doesn’t need to watch movies. Fuck, he was living one right now.
__
“It’s Jungkook’s birthday?” Taehyung asks, surprise etched on his face when Jimin comes home with a bottles of soju and barbecue.
“Mmm.” He hums, laying the plastic bags on the counter. “We were gonna invite you but you have a makeup class, don’t you?” Jimin asks.
Taehyung groans and that serves as Jimin’s confirmation. “Well, Jungkookie’s spending the night here anyway, like he always does on his birthday. We’ll be home for late dinner so you can celebrate with us then.”
Taehyung’s expression brightens and he nods excitedly. “Leave dinner to me!”
Jimin gives him a weird look but decides not to question it. After all, he’s realized the two had feelings for each other even when the two themselves haven’t realized it at all.
__
“Has Taehyung greeted you yet?” Jimin asked, as he and Jungkook walked back from a close by restaurant.
Jungkook nodded. “He texted me happy birthday a while ago, but that’s about it.”
“He was all hyped up this morning, you know.” Jimin said with an amused smile. “When he found out it was your birthday, he looked so betrayed that we were celebrating without him. When I said we’d come home for dinner, he looked like a kid on Christmas morning and told me to leave dinner to him. The kid can’t even cook.”
Jungkook chuckles fondly. “Sounds like him.”
“He probably bought chicken and pizza again, as usual.” Jimin laughed. “With extra gravy, because it’s for a celebration.”
Jimin unlocks their door and they’re met with red and blue balloons all over the floor and a sleeping Taehyung, resting his head on the dinner table.
Instead of being met with store bought chicken and pizza with extra gravy, they’re met with something that looked like a birthday cake but couldn’t quite be called that, with actual home cooked kimchi fried rice and chicken.
Jimin tells Jungkook to smell it before taking a bite to make sure it was edible but Jungkook doesn’t care that the cake was a little too sweet, or that the kimchi fried rice was a little too hot and the chicken was a little too salty. He ate everything, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, because he hasn’t tasted a home cooked meal in over a year.
Jimin could only look on affectionately, this being the first time he’s seen Jungkook eat so happily.
He also watches as Jungkook covers Taehyung’s hunched body with a blanket and runs his hand through his hair.
Taehyung hums in his sleep and smiles. “Happy.. Birthday.. Jungkookie..” He mumbles in his sleep.
Jungkook feels his heart skip a beat. And he smiles, before leaning down to press a kiss on his forehead. “Thank you.”
He knows that as he watches Taehyung deep in his slumber, snoring lightly, he was too deep into this to deny it.
He sighs to himself, surrendering to the thought that he did care about Taehyung a little more than he did for most people.
His theory stands. Nothing good ever happened to Jeon Jungkook whenever Kim Taehyung was around.
Episode IX 1/2
It was two weeks into their Christmas Break and the seven boys have taken it upon themselves to plan a Jeju Island vacation in celebration of Taehyung’s nineteenth birthday.
The problem being, the said birthday boy, was terrified of planes. They’d already said they could just go on a road trip or have a karaoke party instead, but Taehyung had been insistent that he wanted to get over his fear and he wanted to go to the beach and watch pretty fireworks.
Everyone decides Jungkook had to be the one to sit next to him, since he was the only who loved him enough to deal with him.
On the other hand, Jungkook was concerned for his well being since he knew very well, bad things always happened whenever him and Taehyung were concerned.
“I promise I won’t be a pain.” Taehyung says, the night before their trip. “I’ll probably be asleep before the plane even takes off and then you can just enjoy the rest of the flight.”
Jungkook only nods encouragingly, but highly doubts that things would ever go their way.
__
Jungkook is glad he doesn’t get his hopes up. The minute they step foot on the plane, Taehyung goes into hysterics. Jungkook wanted ear plugs and a bottle of soju.
“Oh my god, Jungkook, we’re gonna die.” Taehyung says in a shaky voice when the pilot announces that they’ll be experiencing some slight turbulence.
Jungkook momentarily wishes he still disliked Taehyung enough to tell him to shut the fuck up but unfortunately, Jungkook now had the biggest soft spot for Taehyung so he didn’t have the heart to escape from his koala like grasp on him.
Yoongi was right. He was so weak for this boy.
Thirty minutes into the flight, Taehyung has gone to dream land on Jungkook’s shoulder.
Jungkook spends most of the flight staring at Taehyung’s face and realizing that every love song that he was currently listening to reminded him of the unconscious boy beside him and he knew he was fucked.
Taehyung wakes up fifteen minutes later and almost throws up on Jungkook’s lap but Jungkook leads his head into the air sickness bag before another disaster happens.
Jungkook sighs in relief.
And then Satan said, thou shalt let Jeon Jungkook and Kim Taehyung meet and let all emotional and mental hell break loose.
But they spend two nights in Jeju Island and when they watch the fireworks together, Taehyung has the brightest smile Jungkook had ever seen and he looks at him and says,
“I’m really glad you gave me a chance, Jungkookie.”
And Jungkook can’t help but feel like the emotional and mental hell didn’t really feel much like a hell at all whenever Taehyung smiled at him like that.
Episode IX 2/2
Jungkook decides to bring Taehyung along the next time he pays a visit to his parents.
His mom had spent the entire day acting as if the king and queen had come over, showing Taehyung all of his baby pictures and old doodles.
“Mom, Taehyung is my friend, he’s not the president.” Jungkook says monotonously.
“But, honey, you have to let me off the hook for this one. The last time you had brought home a new friend was when you met Hobi and that was over two years ago!”
Taehyung has to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing and coughing out a ‘loser’ but Jungkook senses it and turns his head to glare at him.
Taehyung raises his hand, signifying defeat.
They say goodbye to Mrs. Jeon later than they had intended, Jungkook kissing his mom goodbye, trying not to get to emotional this time since the last time they’d had dinner together, both Jungkook and his mom found it hard to let go of each other.
His mom gives all his friends a hug as usual, but takes her time with Taehyung, talking to him as they walked out the door.
They all wave goodbye and watch as she finally closed the door and they sighed in unison.
“It’s always so nice seeing your mom.” Seokjin sighs. “It reminds me of high school.”
The seven boys are silent for a moment, as if simultaneously sharing the feeling of how much they missed coming home to their families everyday.
“At the time you think they’re just a pain,” Yoongi says, “but then once you’re out in the world on your own, paying your own bills and eating ramen everyday, you can’t help but want to start coming home to a home cooked meal again and hear your mom’s voice asking ‘How was school, honey?’”
Jungkook smiles sadly, knowing they all shared the same sentiments when it came to their families. He looks to his side and sees Taehyung smiling just the same.
“What’s with that face?” Jungkook asks, nudging him.
Taehyung looks up at him and shakes his head. “Nothing. I just really like your mom. She’s quirky.”
Jungkook chuckles and nods in agreement. “She’s pretty weird, alright.” He remembers his mom leaning towards Taehyung’s ear earlier and whispering something none of them could hear.
“Hey, what did my mom tell you before we left?” Jungkook asked.
Taehyung only answers him with a soft smile. “She just said to take care of you well cause you’re such a kid.”
Jungkook scoffs but his heart softens a little at that. “She’s so lame.”
Taehyung sighs contentedly and throws an arm around Jungkook’s neck.
Jungkook playfully cringes at him before laughing and throwing an arm around Taehyung and kissing the top of his head.
Taehyung’s heart skips a beat and Jungkook doesn’t realize what he did but they both decide it was a talk for a later time.
Mrs. Jeon leaned forward to wrap her arms around Taehyung and said in a soft voice, “I’ve never seen him laugh the way he does when he’s with you”, before patting his head and backing away.
Season Finale
Taehyung gets asked out by a boy named Sungjae in a bar and his alcohol influenced mouth accidentally shits out a ‘Sure, why not?’. And he doesn’t know why, but his brain was telling him not to say a single word about it to Jungkook.
“Do you like him?” Jimin asks, when Taehyung gets home from a date with him.
Taehyung shrugs. “He was actually pretty awesome. We got along surprisingly well.”
Jimin hums, as he blows on his soup. “So… do you like like him?”
Taehyung pauses a bit before answering. “I don’t really know.”
Jimin checks his expression before asking his next question. “Do you like Jungkook?”
Taehyung nearly chokes on his spit. “What?”
Jimin shrugs. “Well... I don’t know if it’s just us but it really looks like there’s something going on between the two of you.”
Taehyung wishes he didn’t need to hesitate, but he did. They’d cuddled, there were forehead kisses, excessive touching, movie nights, sleepovers and all that shit. But there were no confessions. No cute nicknames, no commitment, no label, no anything. They’d never even had a discussion over “So, are we just friends or…?” But Taehyung knew the question was something that was always at the back of his head whenever they were together.
“There’s nothing going on.” Taehyung says weakly.
“But you know,” Jimin says, “-the fact that you specifically told us not to tell Jungkook about this date is saying something.”
Taehyung can’t even find it in him to argue with that.
Jungkook eventually finds out with a slip of Hoseok’s tongue. No one’s surprised. Yoongi even sticks out a hand and announces ‘Alright, everybody who owes me, hand it over now’. Everyone had thought that maybe Jungkook might feel betrayed or hurt that he was the only one who didn’t know, but they didn’t expect him to be furious.
“Jungkook, wait!” Taehyung calls out to him, following behind his fast footsteps.
“No.” Jungkook says coldly, not even sparing Taehyung a glance.
“I meant to tell you, it’s just that-”
Jungkook turns around, revealing a very red and very pissed off face. “Just that what?”
“It’s just..” Taehyung stutters, too scared to look Jungkook in the eye but doing it anyway, to show that he was being honest. “I don’t know either, why I couldn’t tell you. I just thought…”
“God, Tae.” Jungkook says, laughing a laugh that didn’t sound happy at all. “Here I was thinking we were actually beginning to reach something and you just…”
Jungkook’s voice cracks and he sighs before running a hand through his hair. “Why are you so god damn dense?”
Taehyung swallows. “What.. do you mean by that?”
“What do I mean?” Jungkook says, voice laced with venom. “You tell me, Kim Taehyung. Whenever you cuddled up next to me during movie nights and cried into my shirt instead of using the box of tissues I’d always prepare, whenever you’d spend the night in my place whenever you were sexiled and insisted on sleeping next to me because my room is warmer than the living room, whenever I’d kiss the top of your head or tuck you into bed and you'd let me, or when you cooked me a home cooked meal for my birthday, when we’d stay up until three in the morning on the phone and wake up at ten with our phones still pressed against our ears,”
Jungkook has to pause to gather his thoughts and Taehyung has to remind himself to breathe and not cry.
“-when you’d smile at me, or laugh at my jokes or tell me you believe in me and give me a hug whenever I’m too buried in club work and essays, why don’t you tell me what the hell that means?” Jungkook asks. “Why don’t you think for a second, why you hesitated to tell me that you were asked out on a date. And fucking tell me what the hell that means?”
Taehyung knows Jungkook is right. He knows he has a point. But he can’t help but feel rage bubbling in him when he thinks of the mental torture Jungkook had put him through, over “Are we together or not?” “Does he like me or not?”
“We never fucking talked about it, how do you expect me to know what to do?!” Taehyung screams in exasperation. “What right do you have to get pissed when we haven’t even stuck a label on each other’s forehead! We didn’t talk about it!”
“But I fucking felt it, damn it!” Jungkook screams, his eyes swirling with more emotions than Taehyung had ever seen. “I felt it. Didn’t you?” He asks in a hushed voice.
Taehyung lowers his head and lets out a shaky sigh.
Jungkook scoffs and rubs his face with his hands in disbelief. “Alright. Fucking fine. Go on your dates. You're right. What right do I have to get pissed?”
Taehyung watches Jungkook at midnight, taking everything out on the punching bag again.
Taehyung feels tears threaten to fall. Nothing good ever did happen whenever Jeon Jungkook was around Kim Taehyung.
__
“Why are you being such a pussy?” Yoongi tells Taehyung, who was currently lying face first on the floor. “Just go to him and tell him how you really feel, you piece of shit. Life doesn’t have to be this difficult, fam.”
“Why didn’t you just tell him you felt the same way that night?” Namjoon asked. “It could’ve saved us all the pain and the awkwardness.”
Taehyung groans. “I was too immersed in emotion, god. I could barely move, let alone speak. He looked so mad. I’ve never seen him look so angry before.”
“It’s because he loves you.” Jimin says resting a hand on Taehyung’s head. “So you have to go and tell him that you feel the same way. That you felt what he felt too.”
Taehyung sighs. “Nothing good ever happens when we’re around each other.”
Everyone in the room sighs in unison.
“You’re both stupid and clumsy,” Jimin says. “You’re dense and Jungkook seems to be handicapped when it comes to human emotion, especially love. You two are bound to be a pain to each other’s asses. But don’t you think that if nothing good ever happened when you two are together, you two wouldn’t have stuck together as long as you already have? Without you two even knowing, you’ve been hanging out for a year. Maybe you two have had a couple mishaps, maybe you two hurt each other a couple times, maybe you threw up on his shoes and accidentally grabbed his ass but I see the way you look at each other.” Jimin says.
Taehyung looks up at him.
“How can you call something so beautiful bad?”
__
Jungkook's gone from class for a week.
Half because he feels shitty, half because he may or may not have been torturing himself with midnight boxing sessions.
Jimin finds him on the floor the fourth time he lets steam out in the gym and ends up spending the night on his couch much to his protest.
“If you really don’t want to be near him right now,” Jimin says quietly, “I can just carry you to your apartment.”
Jungkook sighs and although he’d much rather be far away from Taehyung, he didn’t want to bother his friend and he knew he couldn’t and shouldn’t run away from Taehyung forever.
“It’ll be fine. I’m fine with him now. Go rest. And thanks for the help.” Jungkook says quietly.
Jimin smiles and ruffles his hair before going to his room.
It’s almost lunch when Jungkook wakes up. He feels hands run through his hair and he slowly opens his eyes, only to be met with Taehyung’s face.
He sighs in his head. He rubs his eyes and groans. “What are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
Taehyung feels his heart soar because Jungkook’s talking to him as if they’d never argued at all.
“Yeah, but you looked like shit so I wanted to stay until you woke up to see if you’d be alright.”
Jungkook smirks a bit. “Wow. You have a crush on me or something?”
“Yeah.” Taehyung says.
Jungkook feels himself wake up completely. “Wait, what?” He turns his head, to make sure he heard that right. Well, that wasn't the answer he was expecting at all.
“I’m sorry for accepting the date.” Taehyung says, getting into it right away. “I was drunk and I didn’t know where we stood, and I was too scared to ask cause I was scared I was reading everything wrong and assuming too much, so I was scared I’d ruin the friendship if I said anything, so I just thought I should start dating other people to get over it, but then you got mad, and you got hurt, and I got hurt and now I just want to say that I really, really like you and I think we should be not friends and we should be, like, boyfriends.”
Jungkook blinks at him. “So, just to be sure,” He says, giving Taehyung a serious look, “You’re asking me to be with you, and that you won’t date other boys, and I shouldn’t date other boys, just you and me? Officially? You like me? All those cuddles and words and smiles meant something not just to me, but to you?”
Taehyung nods. “Yes.”
Jungkook smiles. “Alright.”
“Alright.” Taehyung confirms.
Jungkook pulls him into the couch and throws an arm around him. “You're such a dick.”
“What?” Taehyung says, offended.
“Life with you is like a sitcom.” Jungkook says, closing his eyes again.
Taehyung laughs. “What a shitty sitcom. Nothing good ever happens when you’re with me.”
At that, Jungkook smiles and shakes his head. “Everything good that’s ever happened was because I was with you.”