Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

See the thing here, Jeongguk is the typical nerd that talks about science terminology and its application like he's seeing abstract patterns in front of him. Sure, he gets teased about it sometimes. Well, most of the time, but he doesn't mind. He revels in the beauty of science, he plans on interning at one of the biggest tech companies here, and before achieving that, he needs to pass Mr. Mariano's class first.

It's not like he has any problems in passing, it's just that this professor has a habit of mixing and switching up his projects. And again, it's not like he has problems, it's just that he doesn't really get along with his classmates... and it's not just that, this project is a paired up one, that kind of you have to work with someone, a duo.

So, with a crazed teenager's mind buzzing with frantic thoughts of desperately begging to his professor to allow him to do this on his own.

He sat there, eyes down, trying to avoid the sinking feeling of never being chosen as a project partner. The thoughts raging in his head and the bile rising up his throat.

His mind completely shut down and was internally panicking after his professor dropped that announcement, his thoughts scrambling, thinking who would want to partner up with him that he totally missed his professor introducing a new student in front.

He is trying to hold back his tears— it's so not cool crying over the fact no one chose yo—

"Hey, so. what about we pair up for this one?"

A group of pens and notebooks scattered against his space, notebooks filled with stickers and sticky tabs poking out on their corners. Jeongguk looked up to see—

Oh.

"What do you say?" He smiles, boxy and bright. His eyes turn crescents like dents, and he is so, so bright.

Jeongguk stammers, "I—ah, I"

He extended a hand. "Name's Taehyung! Quite new here since we just moved and stuff... and you?"

Jeongguk takes his hand and shakes it, sweaty and all (blame his teenage hormones, and also just squint enough with how fast he shook Taehyung's hand that caused the latter to giggle and how oh-so-wonderful those sounds are).

"Jeongguk," he whispered in a timid manner. Taehyung offered him a soft and gentle smile. And suddenly the thoughts in his mind started racing over 100 km/h.

"Jeoooon-ggguuk," Taehyung enunciates it, rolling the 'jeon' and the 'gguk' off his tongue smoothly.

Is it too early to say he likes how Taehyung calls his name? Scratch that.

"So," Taehyung drawls, leaning his body on the table, "what's your next class?"

Jeongguk scrambles on his seat, almost falling—could've been hilarious if it weren't for Taehyung's fast reflex that saved his butt from hitting the floor.

Look, even his spidey reflexes can have its system glitches, especially when he's up close with one of the most gorgeous faces this school has been graced with. His spider senses can malfunction, and he's still getting used to it, and to top it off with teenagers' heightened emotions? Yeah, his system is going haywire, like almost losing his balance on the high stool, which could've been embarrassing, really.

"Dude," Taehyung scrambles, "are you okay?"

Jeongguk internally panicked. Wide eyes caught sight of siren eyes staring at him worriedly, and he'll be damned, can you blame him for being up close with the personification of the sun, in all its bright yellow glow?

"Yeah, I'm cool." He coughs. "Uh, my next class is with Ms. Ara." He tries to brush it off like nothing happened. Taehyung slowly lets go of his wrist. Jeongguk eyes him, tapping the table in an unsteady rhythm. He's trying to school his reaction and hide a scowl at the lost contact on his wrist.

"No way! Oh my god, let me see your sched, please?" Taehyung begs, with his puppy eyes activated, and god, oh god, he could get away with a lot of crimes with those eyes. Jeongguk could only stare and marvel at his eyes.

The signs in his head are blaring "code alert, code alert, entering a crush zone." Really, teenagers and their raging hormones.

"Yeah, sure, hold on." He blinks, shaking his head out of his stupor at stupidly obviously staring at the new guy in school. It did go completely unnoticed with the soft smirk etched on Taehyung's face. Jeongguk was bad at being subtle as well as picking up obvious signs.

"Here," he handed Taehyung his schedule, the latter happily placed it in between them and cross-checked it with his.

"Oh cool! We have three classes together! chemistry with Mr. Mariano, biology with Ms. Leigh, and psychology with Ms. Ara. That's nice," he giggles. Jeongguk just stares at him, totally enamored, and the signals in his head blare loudly: code alert MAJOR CRUSH.

Taehyung batted an eye at him, a smile still present on his face. "Hey, so if those classes have a partnered project, can I get first dibs on being your partner?"

Jeongguk could only nod mindlessly. The voices in his head are already saying, "Whatever you say, pretty."

"Awesome! Since you're my new friend here, can I have your number? Socials? Whatever you prefer for communicating?" Taehyung fished his phone from his pocket. Jeongguk just gawked at his nonchalance, like he did NOT just ask him subtly in a casual manner for his number.

Look, he's cool when he wears the mask and swings his body between buildings, calculating the right angle to shoot his web shooter and to catch the right momentum to plunge himself off in a matter of seconds. He is cool, no doubt.

What he is not—is being cool in front of Taehyung, the new kid on the block, pretty, pretty, pretty Taehyung. He feels a pair of angry glares at the back of his back, and Taehyung, pretty, pretty, pretty Taehyung, just bats his eyelashes at him in a way that looks like it won't take no for an answer.

What he is, though, is an obedient fool, so he typed his number, saved his info, and sent a dot so he'll have Taehyung's number as well. In a flicker, a split second, he saw Taehyung's smile turn into an amused smirk.

"Insta?" Taehyung prods as Jeongguk hands him his phone.

"I, uh, I don't really use it that much—"

"So you do have one?" Taehyung cuts him off. Jeongguk awkwardly scratches the back of his head and nods, you know, obediently like a dog.

"Great! What's your handle? Come on, ikaw unang friend ko dito no, I need to make a celebratory post and tag you!"

"I, what?"

Taehyung jolts in his seat. "Sorry, uh, I haven't totally adapted to the language here yet. I mean, I can speak in straight English, but you know, I grew up in the Philippines for, like, 16 years of my life, so I can't just drop the language like that," Taehyung rambles, and Jeongguk just stares, so, so, so enamored. He looks at him like stars float above his head whenever he opens his mouth.

"Oh, oh-nang? de-tow? What does that mean?" He asked, mind off the discussion in front of them; there are perks in sitting at the back of the classroom. Mr. Mariano often forgets some of his students sitting there, and Jeongguk revels in that.

Taehyung quips, "Crash course! unang means first, and dito means here. Well, it depends on how you use it in a context, Tagalog words have different meanings that vary with how you use them." The back part of the classroom often had dim lighting, and yet suddenly it feels so bright. Maybe it's just his mind making up that Taehyung has that charm of lighting up the room.

"So you're saying I'm your first friend?" He asked, quite stupid since Taehyung literally just explained it to him.

"Yes! Come, let's take a sneak selfie." Taehyung places his phone against his bag on the table. From their professor's perspective, they're just two students talking, phone hidden from his view.

Jeongguk never had this before, he used to be just the kid that loves physics more than most students his age. the nerd kid that's last picked in group projects. He's not a loner since he has some decent amount of friends, but they're in different classes, and well, teenagers can be a bit mean, especially with this stupid university social hierarchy.

Namjoon and Seokjin are ahead of him, and Hobi and Yoongi are quite busy with theater, so the only time they see each other in school is during lunch. Being dubbed as Taehyung's first friend here, he felt something light spread inside him. It felt like he won something big. He can boast to others of being Taehyung's first friend in his new school and Taehyung being the first friend he made by himself.

Taehyung took a few clicks here and there, some where they're pretending to look ahead, not looking at the camera, and feigning interest in what Mr. Mariano is talking about. Another is where they're sneaking goofy expressions, Jeongguk with his tongue out and Taehyung pouting. Another snap, and it's them smiling brightly, boxy and bunny smiles caught on camera, their eyes crinkled in delight, and lastly, it's them looking at each other at the same time.

Jeongguk watches as Taehyung chooses three pictures, editing them in a three-panel layout and captions it w "boys at the back @"

Taehyung nudged him with his elbow. "Your user?" Jeongguk dragged the phone near him and typed "boys at the back @jjeongkk97." He handed the phone to Taehyung, who's grinning widely. He looks so boyishly mischievous. Jeongguk watched him adjust the caption and pressed post.

"Follow me, yeah?" Taehyung smirks, wiggling his eyebrows at Jeongguk. The phone in his pocket pinged twice. He fished it out of his pocket and saw the notification that Taehyung followed him and a notification from Seokjin. He followed Taehyung back, to which Jeongguk heard Taehyung whisper "nice," still focused on typing something on his phone. He reposted the story on his account, and not a second later, Seokjin sent another message.

"I swear to god, Seokjin hyung," Jeongguk whispered to himself, seeing Seokjin spammed him a few more times. Taehyung whips his head on his side and whispers, "Seokjin?"

Jeongguk lifts his head and hums, "Hmm? You know him?"

Taehyung nods excitedly. "Dude! He's my cousin!" he squeaks. "What did he say? He saw your story, no? He spammed me right away." Taehyung giggles as he types a reply to his cousin. He saw Taehyung open the camera to take a quick sneak pic of them, Jeongguk looking shocked from processing the information and Taehyung with his face adorably scrunched.

seok_ijin:
[screenshot]
JEONGGUK?????
[screenshot]

seokjin replied to your story:
LISTEN TO CLASS
wait that's taehyung
YOU HAVE CLASS W HIM WHAT

jjeongkk97:
yeah
you didn't mention him to us

seok_ijin:
I said listen to class
also! in my defense I thought he'd arrive next week n besides I just got back from the trip.
mom didn't fill me up last night that he's alr here so color me surprised too

"What did hyung say?" Taehyung whispered, he turned off his phone, leaning closely to his side. Jeongguk hums, "He said, 'thats Taehyung'.”

Taehyung giggled, "Yes, I'm Taehyung." Jeongguk chuckled with him. "Yeah, and he said he didn't know you've already arrived. He thought you'd get here next week?"

Taehyung nods. "Yeah, they got my ticket a week earlier, eager to send me here for better opportunities, or at least that's what they say. Heard from Auntie that he just got home from his trip from Europe, so I don't blame him for not knowing. ‘Sides he woke up late, and I got here a bit early, so yeah, he didn't see me leave the compound."

"You live with him?" he asked. His screen is filled with Seokjin spamming their group chat.

Taehyung shakes his head, carefully tucking his notebooks in his bag, followed by his ipad, "No, I live with my other aunt, though it's in a compound, so their house is like 25 steps away from where I live."

Jeongguk nods along. “That’s actually cool, living near each other.” He stares at his phone when he receives a notification from his other hyungs reacting to his story, even Yoongi, who rarely opens his Instagram.

Taehyung hums in agreement. “Yeah, kind of efficient. I won’t feel homesick because I can just come into their house if I miss home and stuff like that, plus they kind of built a community here. Honestly, I'm quite surprised they'd settle in like that, since the compound thingy is like a Filipino thing where you buy a big lot and just build different houses in it,” Taehyung bent down to pick up the eraser he dropped, “like, it's my side of the family that has the Filipino mix, so imagine my surprise they did that here. I just thought we'd live far away from each other,” Taehyung mumbles. He scribbles some small doodles on some scratch paper lying on the table.

Jeongguk eyes him drawing a measly spiderweb, then he scribbles some butterflies on the side. “Ang daldal ko ano? Sorry.” Taehyung looked up to him and offered him an apologetic smile.

Jeongguk just stared at him confused. “Daldal?”

Taehyung smiles at his confusion. And again, he lost count of how many times Taehyung smiled at him in this hour. He worries his cheeks would hurt from all that smiling. “Daldal means talkative, someone who has a lot to say.”

Jeongguk shakes his head defensively, “No!” he half shouts, "I, uh, kind of like listening to your stories, they’re kind of interesting." He smiles at him bashfully.

“Sabi mo yan, ha.”

Jeongguk paused to consider whether to share some tidbits about himself since Taehyung's the one striking their conversation. “I didn't normally have classmates who talked to me during discussions before. So you’re kind of a first,” he mumbles, mindlessly tapping on his phone screen.

Taehyung eyed him, curiosity brewing in those brown eyes of his. “But you said you're friends with my cousin?”

Jeongguk nodded meekly. “Yeah, I hung out with hyung and his friends until they adopted me into the group. Aside from them being my seniors, I don't have friends in my class, like you.”

This time Taehyung grabbed Jeongguk’s hand. “You have just been promoted as my best friend then.”

Jeongguk shook his head, clearly endeared by Taehyung. They broke contact when their professor scoffed at their direction and gave them an ‘I-know-you-two-are-not-listening-but-tone-your-voices-down’ look.

Taehyung muffled a giggle, feigning interest at what their professor was reminding them about laboratory safety, which everybody already knows, and to prepare for a quiz next meeting.

jjeongkk97:
Hyung do u also speak in tagalog?

seok_ijin:
Yea, at home
y?

jjeongkk97:
How come i havent heard u speak in tagalog?
He switches from english to tagalog

seok_ijin:
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA ull get used to it
Namjoon was just like u when i moved here lol
Eventually picked up in understanding the language, his tagalog still sucks
Dont tell him that lmao

jjeongkk97:
how come u dont slip?

seok_ijin:
Kid ive been here for a while lol
Dont blame u doe, the hang out moved at hobis now so we stopped going at mine
Lmao out of the three namjoons the only one who picked up the cues, the others just nod along esp w my grandmas nagging

jjeongkk97:
Are u planning on intrudicing him to us?

seok_ijin:
Thats ur concern?
Ofc
As i said i didnt know he arrived early, but since u alr met him, bring him to lunch later
Pretty sure u share a bunch of class w him, given that ur prolly in the same year

jjeongkk97:
Yeah, have three classes w him

seok_ijin:
Dope, show him the ropes around
see u later, got a warning now ldjsjsjs

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“So, lunch?” Jeongguk asks, watching Taehyung hop off the high chair. He beams, “Sure! Dude, I'm famished. I was so nervous earlier that I couldn’t even stomach eating breakfast,” he grunts as he struts his way to the door. They both bowed their heads goodbye to their professor, who just nodded at them in acknowledgement.

“What do they serve here?” Taehyung asked as they headed their way out of the cafeteria. The charms in his bags were dangling, making a clinking noise as they passed by the hallway crowded by students.

Jeongguk noticed the growing attention they were getting from the students loitering in the hallway. Jeongguk's spider senses tingled in the back of his head, on high alert, with all the attention directed at the person next to him.

Taehyung just skips on his feet, rambling about seeing his cousin and, of course, the food. “People are staring at you,” Jeongguk whispers, avoiding eye contact, his vision glued to two different pairs of shoes heading in the same direction. Taehyung bumps his body at him weakly, “Well, that's because you're good-looking, like duh!” Jeongguk tilts his head at his side, Taehyung giggling at his reaction

“They are so not looking at me, Tae.” Jeongguk stuffed his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. Taehyung just raised an eyebrow at him. Taehyung averted his gaze to look at the people gawking at them.

“Uh, they are? Dude, you look good, and you dress nicely, so stop slouching! Chin up!” he listed as if it's a fact that the attention they're getting is because of him. The faint red blush dusting his cheeks spread down to his neck when it clicked that Taehyung called him good-looking.

“Wait, he thinks I'm good-looking????”

He scoffed, shaking his head, “One, they're looking at us because you're new here. Two, they are looking at us because what’s the pretty transferee hanging out with a nerd like me?”

Taehyung scoffed at him, finding it more ridiculous than insulting. Jeongguk was convinced it is what most students here think if they hang around him.

“Nerds are cool. I don't mind that you're grade conscious or that you bury your nose deep in books and don't care about the school's social hierarchy.” Taehyung shrugs, stops in his tracks, and reaches out to pull Jeongguk's wrist.

“Why are you undermining yourself to begin with? Gguk, you're amazing. I think you're amazing, and we've barely known each other for like an hour and a half.” He fixes the bangs on his forehead, ruffling his hair in a messy way that gives Jeongguk a more boyish look.

“And trust me when I say I have a good judge of character. Go ahead and ask Jin-hyung to attest to that!” He pats the imaginary dirt on Jeongguk's shoulder and beams at him.

“Now let's go to lunch!” He marches, tugging Jeongguk by the wrist and not minding the stares that double as they go.

“You make it seem easy, Tae,” Jeongguk murmurs, allowing Taehyung to drag him. “Turn to the left,” he instructed, feeling Taehyung dragging him faster, speed-walking in hopes of finding a good seat.

He didn't bother correcting him because one of his hyung is probably sitting and saving them a seat already.

“You’re just thinking too much. Don't worry your pretty head over trivial things, Ggukie—oof.”

Taehyung was pulled back, his back hitting Jeongguk's chest, Jeongguk holding Taehyung steady in his place.

College students can be jerks, and they do it on purpose, like obnoxiously tossing their balls around, showing they got the athletic skills to make them top of the food chain, or they just think it's fun to mess around with no one stopping them.

If it wasn't for Jeongguk's spiderman senses the ball would've hit Taehyung pretty hard on the head, and the jocks can be mean to new kids on the block, especially when they are behaving like barbaric dicks.

Jeongguk sees Seokjin standing up, marching towards where the varsity players are, whose boisterous laugh irritates the hell out of Jeongguk as they hollered at almost hitting someone.

Taehyung remains frozen on his feet, eyes blown wide at the speed of the ball almost hitting him. Jeongguk turned him around to face him, a worried look etched on his face.

“Tae, you good?” Jeongguk checks him, gently tapping his cheeks to call his attention. Taehyung blinked at him and nodded, still in a daze.

Jeongguk smiled softly as he tucked a stray hair out of his face. “Okay, let's get you to hyung.”

Taehyung can only nod as Jeongguk drags him to their table. Namjoon was trying to hold Seokjin back from charging at the one who threw the ball, pointing fingers at how he almost hit someone and could've possibly gotten hurt.

Taehyung blinks out of his stupor when Jeongguk presses a cold bottle of water on his cheeks. “Hey, you seem pretty shaken. Are you good?”

Taehyung meekly nods, “I, uh, just have bad memories with balls and getting hit by them. “Sorry,” he stammers, opening the bottle of water in his hand.

“Hey, you should drag hyung back, he can get a little feisty.” Taehyung offers him a weak smile. It's strange to see someone reveal themselves in front of you in just a matter of seconds because Jeongguk could not believe this Taehyung, scared and timid, is the same Taehyung who sat next to him earlier and was gossiping with him during class.

Hoseok offered him a gentle pat on his shoulder. Taehyung just smiled and bowed his head down. Hoseok immediately pulled Taehyung into a side hug. Taehyung immediately rested his head on Hoseok’s shoulder and buried his face in his neck, shoulders starting to shake.

Honestly, Jeongguk feels a little lost. Seokjin was supposed to introduce Taehyung to them, and yet Hoseok and Taehyung seem to be acquainted already. He shakes the thought off when he feels the table shake, he scrambles off to follow Yoongi, who's also heading to where Seokjin is shouting at.

You know those stereotypes around jocks thinking they are the kings of university? All that exemption bestowed on them clearly got into their heads; knowing they have this kind of power leverage, they terrorize other kids who they think are beneath them. On normal days, Jeongguk would just avoid them—he doesn't cower, but he finds it aggravating to engage with them.

“You fucker! Just because you're some big-shot athlete here, you think you can just throw your fucking ball around and laugh at someone if they get hit with it,” Seokjin spits in seething rage, fingers pointing at the jock who almost hit Taehyung.

Throughout his time being friends with them, there's always a first for everything, like seeing Seokjin this enraged. The closer they approach, the more he sees Namjoon wasn’t really making an effort to hold Seokjin back. It looks more like Namjoon is calming himself than stopping Seokjin.

“I've never seen hyung get angry like that,” he whispers to Yoongi. The older just shrugs; he stops just a foot behind Namjoon. “It's what happens when someone crosses his line, this time it almost hits Taehyung.”

Jeongguk looks back at Hoseok, still hugging Taehyung, calming him down. Their eyes met, and Hoseok just nodded at him. Not really knowing what it's for until he heard a smack.

“Watch that mouth! It's not like he got hit with it! You're so dramatic, you nerd!” The jock swatted Seokjin's hand. The slap of the skin echoed, which silenced the hall. “You don't know who you are talking to! ”

And in a blink of an eye, Seokjin lunges at the jock, aiming for a punch, which sends him falling back on the table.

His senses alerted. One of the jocks lunged at Namjoon, who quickly dodged his attack, causing him to stumble on the floor. Another tried to drag Yoongi by his collar, to which the other immediately elbowed the jock in the stomach, causing him to trip. And one attempts to attack Jeongguk on his left, which he quickly evades by dodging on his side. He pulls the jock by his jacket, choking the other as he slams him down on the table.

Just because he's the friendly neighborhood hero, he'd go around punching assholes in school. His aunt would be furious if she were called in because Jeongguk got into a fight.

Another tried to attempt to attack him, but he just evaded their punches and tried to kick them off their feet or trip them off their balance. Namjoon manages to hit two jocks while Yoongi is trying to pull Seokjin from the one who threw the ball.

“Hyung, stop it. I think he gets it now,” Yoongi uttered, pulling Seokjin up from sitting on the guy's stomach.

The jock grunted under him. There's blood on Seokjin's fist from breaking the other's nose. “Surely the broken nose would teach him a lesson,” Namjoon added, dragging Seokjin back. The jock just laughed, still on the floor. “I didn't know nerds could fight.”

“I'll make sure after you fucking graduate no one will hire you, and you will fucking rot, roaming around the streets of this fucking city, and will die on the pavement!” Seokjin kicks him in the stomach and leaves the jock curling in pain.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“Why aren't we getting called in yet? Aren't we supposed to be in trouble?” Jeongguk asked. He watches his hyungs scatter in different places in Hoseok’s apartment, with Seokjin sitting on one cushion, setting up a game, and Namjoon taking the spot next to him. Hoseok stood up, excused himself from the rest, and went to his room to check on Taehyung, who passed out after crying, and Yoongi, who was lounging on the sofa. A few teachers came in when the news of a fight broke out. They were called in the guidance office but were later dismissed. After that, they decided to skip class and leave the university. “I mean, surely we'd get an email for suspension, right? knowing we left uni?”

See, professors don't give a shit once you're in college. Attendance be damned for all their care (they care). However, there was a university activity held today that required students to attend. Hence, the majority of the classes were suspended. Some professors, like Mr. Mariano, won’t cancel class just because there’s an ongoing school activity. They're just lucky their other professors didn't meet with them today.

Seokjin just shrugs, “I don't think they want my mother to pull back her donations. Dunno, don't care.” Jeongguk looks at him with bewilderment. Seokjin didn’t even bother giving him a glance. Laser-focused on the game he’s playing, he smashes the buttons on the controller and creates a new combo attack with his character.

“Geez, hyung, I never thought you'd be like that just because you're an heir to this tech company—” Jeongguk was cut off when Namjoon whined and the screen flashed a big K.O., Seokjin winning against Namjoon.

“Yah! I'm not like that, for all I care about those fuckers. It's just that…you know Tae had an accident back then. Pretty sure it triggered him that's why he froze. He was a target back then, you know?” Seokjin ducked his head down before he looked up, meeting Jeongguk's gaze.

He let out a heavy sigh before continuing, “We were sent to an all-boys private school back then. It was the baseball team that terrorized him when we were in middle school.” Seokjin closes his eyes as he continues, “They dragged him out to the field and would throw pitches at him, not even letting him wear a fucking helmet, saying he needed to dodge the ball, and then the next thing happened—one of the kids lost their grip on the bat, and it hit him on the head.” Seokjin's expression was pained, looking uncomfortable on his seat while recalling the incident his cousin endured.

“We discovered the reason why they were bullying him stemmed from one of the kids harboring a crush on him, and you know how it is with the ‘boys liking boys is a sin’ thing, so they blamed him for it, which was so stupid.” Namjoon offered a comforting pat on Seokjin’s thigh as he continued, “He was in a coma for two? Three months? I don’t really remember. My grandfather was so mad they almost shut the school down.” Seokjin let out a sigh. He raised his head up to look at Jeongguk and gave him a small smile, asking him to see why he reacted like that earlier.

“You guys know I don't really care about my status and wealth and other shit like that. My grandfather radicalized us to not act like we're some big shots. He always reminds us to treat everyone equally but also told us to put family first.” Seokjin sighs as he slumps his back on the foot of the couch. “Granddad was distraught when he heard Taehyung was rushed into the hospital. He was grieving at that time from the loss of Taehyung’s dad, and he couldn't bear to lose another member of the family. So, I'm pretty sure my mother wouldn't even think twice about pulling out her donations once she heard about what happened today.”

Jeongguk shuffles in his seat, shifting his body to look at Seokjin. “Oh, wow…okay, your reaction to it makes sense now, hyung,” Jeongguk spoke, averting his gaze to the room Hoseok entered when he left the room. Suddenly the hallway that leads to his room felt narrow and long.

“Taehyung’s more like a brother than a cousin, you know. I mean, we were practically raised together. Of course I get protective over him.” Seokjin chooses another character to play for their next round, and Namjoon does the same.

Yoongi rustles to where he was lying. “But you were so angry, hyung. You even threw the first punch.” Jeongguk can only listen to his hyungs talking. He can't really shake it off seeing Seokjin acting like that. He's used to seeing him goofing around and yelling most of the time, but throwing a punch at the biggest jerk on campus? It was something he never thought he'd see to this day.

Namjoon attacks Seokjin's character, landing a K.O., making him win this round. “Pretty sure there's more to it. Seems like you're way too angry towards that guy.” He turns to look at Seokjin, whose reaction is more annoyed at losing to Namjoon than the commotion he caused earlier.

They started the next round, Seokjin’s character continuously hitting Namjoon’s with a combo attack. “Yeah, I got paired with that moron, so that's just pent-up rage from the time I had to endure his dumbfuckery.” Jeongguk looks up when Hoseok comes back to the living room, taking the seat next to him. “But just really acting out on almost hitting Tae with the ball, like I got hit with a dodgeball once, and it's not that brain-shaking-coma inducing, but the trauma of seeing your younger cousin convulsing and bleeding on the ground doesn't really leave your mind.”

They're in round 3, and Seokjin's character executes a deadly combo that knocks out Namjoon's avatar. “Yes! And I also know judo, so I'm pretty sure I got the strength to fight from there. I mean, we're enrolled in a self-defense class or something. I think it came in pretty handy, no?” Seokjin wiggles his eyebrows at Jeongguk. The youngest rolls his eyes at his hyung, who is now terrorizing Yoongi by laying his head on his stomach.

Seokjin is still looking in his direction, head still resting on top of Yoongi's stomach, waiting for the youngest to ask what's bothering his mind. Jeongguk noticed it and looked up to meet his eyes. "Hyung, why did Tae move here?”

Seokjin let out a laugh at his question, which left Jeongguk a little baffled. “Yah, Yoongi, get your phone and order some pizza and chicken. I'll pay, don't worry.”

Seokjin stares at him again, this time gentle, yet there's a hint of teasing behind his gaze. Still, he indulges the youngest. “Hmm? Don't really know much of it. I just heard from my mom and aunt that they're migrating him here.”

Jeongguk knows he should shut his mouth. He shouldn't be asking Seokjin any of this. Suddenly curious about Taehyung's parents' whereabouts. Why Taehyung just moved in now. And yet he just can't seem to stop. “What about his parents?”

This time Seokjin's eyes crinkled in delight. Seokjin's good at many things, and reading people just happens to be one of those gifts. There's a coy look etched on his face that Jeongguk knows means he's fallen into a trap he didn't know he set himself up for. “Hm, Uncle passed when he was just 12. Granddad wasn’t really a big fan of the marriage between Taehyung’s parents, so Auntie left to remarry. He mostly spent time with his maternal grandma, occasionally with us, because Granddad dotes on him more, but he was mostly with his grandma, and when she died, Granddad gave an ultimatum of moving him here. So mom and auntie immediately processed his papers.”

Namjoon snickered while he was on his phone scrolling at their university's student freedom page. “You said you don't know much.”

Seokjin just shrugs. Yoongi pushes Seokjin's head off of him, making the latter flinch.

Jeongguk stood up from where he was sitting. “I'll just check on Tae.” This time Seokjin guffawed, loud and boisterous. Jeongguk whips his head in his direction, perplexed. “What?”

Seokjin just brushed him off, wiping a tear from his eyes. “Man, you're so not subtle about it.”

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

The view from Hoseok's apartment is to die for, especially when the city is bathed in the golden glow of the sun that makes it so breathtaking. Honestly, that's one of the reasons why they moved the hangout spot here. The small balcony on his apartment holds the plants he got from Namjoon. Some plants are even starting to grow flower buds.

“Hey, you good?” Jeongguk asks as he follows Taehyung on Hoseok's balcony. He takes the spot next to him, watching Taehyung stare at the city bathed in gold.

Taehyung buries his head between his knees, he mumbles, “That was embarrassing.”

Jeongguk hears his hyungs arguing in the background. Something about Yoongi eating Taehyung's pizza slice and about Hoseok laughing while still chewing his food and Namjoon being disgusted at the bits flying out of his mouth, talking about manners and dining etiquette.

It was chaotic inside, overstimulating, but nonetheless the chaos he is used to. A gush of wind blew, and he heard Taehyung shiver.

“Tae, it's not,” Jeongguk consoles as he shifts closer to the other. Their shoulders touching, Jeongguk leans his back on the railing.

Taehyung raised his head to look Jeongguk in the eyes. His face was poofy from crying, and the bags under his eyes made him look so…sad.

“But it is! We’ll be hearing whispers about the new kid fainting on his first day.” Taehyung dramatically sighs, and he lets his head fall on Jeongguk's shoulder.

Jeongguk loves his personal space, everybody knows that, except Taehyung, who's starting to terrorize Jeongguk's personal space.

He wrapped his left arm around Taehyung's body, hand resting on top of the latter's head, caressing his hair in comfort. “Hm, I think we'd hear more about Seokjin-hyung beating Junho. It's not usual for nerds, like us, to beat the shit out of a jock.” Taehyung looks up from his shoulder, puppy brown eyes fluttering his eyelashes at him.

“Seokjin-hyung did WHAT?!” Taehyung sits up straight, and Jeongguk covers his head with his hand—he feels his knuckles hit the bottom of the hanging pots. Taehyung whips his head to the ruckus going on inside.

He patted Taehyung's head down, feeling the other slump his weight back on his side again. “Yeah, he lunged and threw some punches. Pretty badass, it was my first time seeing him mad like that.”

Jeongguk feels Taehyung nod his head on his shoulder. His hair brushes on Jeongguk's skin, tickling his cheeks. Jeongguk leans a little as he hides a smile on the crown of Taehyung's head.

“Oh, he's scary when he's mad. I remember once—” Taehyung was cut off when the loud siren of a police car drove past the street in a hurry. Jeongguk straightened up, Taehyung looked at him confused as he watched Jeongguk hurriedly shuffle off from their little nook.

“I, uh, sorry, Tae. My aunt is calling me.” And as if on cue, his phone started buzzing inside his pocket. Taehyung nodded, confused. “I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Still dumbfounded, Taehyung just waved his hand at him.

Jeongguk thinks he's adorable like this.

“Wait, you're leaving?” Seokjin asked, his head popping up from the couch they're sitting on. Yoongi stares at him with this knowing look in his eyes. Jeongguk gulps. “Y-yeah, my aunt called.”

Hoseok nodded goodbye at Jeongguk from his seat, Namjoon waved a hand, and Seokjin grumbled but still nodded, saying something about ‘ang aga naman,’ and Namjoon hummed in agreement. He picked up his bag and stopped by where Taehyung was sitting. “See you?”

Taehyung smiled at him, raising his pinkie up, and Jeongguk linked it with his. “See you tomorrow, Ggukie.”

He hurriedly left with his backpack slung on his back, almost tripping on the carpet on his way out. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Yoongi fiddling with his phone. He closed the door behind him, and on cue his phone buzzed in his hand.

From: Yoongi-hyung
There's an armed robbery turned hostage situation at 7th ave.
Be careful

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

[Breaking News!

At 6:40 pm police got a call from a local corner store about an armed robbery and a hostage situation at 7th Avenue. Witnesses reported seeing a red-and-blue-masked vigilante swooping into the crime scene and disarming the muggers by entangling them in a sticky web. Some witnesses stated that the masked vigilante arrived just in time to prevent the muggers from firing the first shot; things could've escalated for the worse if it had not been for the vigilante's swift action. Witnesses also stated the vigilante fled the scene when the police were right around the corner, leaving the authorities stunned and scrambling for more details.

Follow NY News Alert for more information.]

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“Hey, don't forget your lunch, ah—JEON JEONGGUK!” He heard his aunt shout his name when he dashed his way out the door of their apartment. “Got it, Auntie. Thanks, see you later!” He bolts towards the window at the end of the hallway.

The camera here doesn't really work, or at least it used to work before he accidentally hit it with his web shooter. The landlord wasn't so pleased about it but, after many attempts at fixing it, eventually gave up when finding out the system was fried. It was an accident, really.

As he climbed out, he took one last glance before jumping out the window.

Web shoots out of his webslinger, sticking on a nearby building, and Jeongguk pulls himself up, feeling the wind on his suit, and for a few seconds up in the air, everything stills. He closes his eyes and feels the momentum on his skin as he freefalls before shooting another web and swings up between the buildings.

He sees a kid looking up at him down the street, waving a hand at him as he swings by. A bus honks when he swings between two buses. He flicks his wrist when he shoots another web upwards, taking a sharp turn on his left. He hears some hollers down below. He relishes it, feeling himself up, swinging in the air. Jeongguk relishes his moment midair, understanding the principle of applying the theories and studies in action.

From the view up, he can see some students walking on their way to university. Some familiar faces caught his gaze, especially one with muted brown trousers and a soft beige vest with a brown leather satchel slung on his shoulder.

Jeongguk flicks his wrist onto the next building and swings himself down into the alleyway where he usually lands. He hides himself next to the big rusty trash can that covers him well enough. He stashes his mask inside his bag, securing it enough at the bottom, wears his hoodie, and scrambles to zip his bag when he hears someone call his name.

“Jeongguk?”

He looks up to see Jimin standing at the end of the alley. “Are you fucking serious now?” Jeongguk just shrugs.

“You know it's easier and way faster, Ji.” He slung the strap on his bag and started to walk. Jimin scoffs on his side, “You always say that. I get it, but it's way too reckless. Seriously, Jeongguk, in an alleyway?” Jimin lowers his voice when a couple of students walk past them. “People can literally walk in on you changing.” Jimin rolls his eyes at Jeongguk rolling his eyes at his nagging. He knows he irritated his friend when he felt the latter smack his arm.

“Talk about being ungrateful, seriously.” Jimin stomps away, taking a few steps ahead. Jeongguk can only laugh at his friend.

“Hey, kid.”

Jeongguk and Jimin stopped in their tracks to look back at the voice that called from behind. They saw Yoongi raise an arm at them; Jeongguk waved back, and Jimin blushed. “Look who's blushing.” He teases that Jimin just raised a finger at him.

Jeongguk kind of knew Jimin since high school. He was one of the popular kids back then, the cool, kind ones. It was a surprise to see Jimin go to the same university as he does. Talk about seeing a familiar face kind of made the start of college bearable. Although they're in different majors, they rarely see each other on campus.

It's been years since Jimin harbored this crush on Yoongi. Jimin’s not really subtle about it, and it's very obvious that his hyung is well aware of it. There is some slow-burn shit going on here, and Jeongguk doesn't really care about playing cupid.

“How did it go?” Yoongi asked as he caught up with them. They walked slower, taking their time to catch up to Jeongguk’s latest heroic rendezvous.

“It was alright, though I was outnumbered, obviously. I got lucky that nobody got hurt, especially since few bullets were fired.” Jeongguk shrugs. He fiddles with the string of his hoodie, and he hears Jimin hum in front of them. He stops in his tracks when Jimin grabs his jaw. “That's good to hear.” Jeonnguk hears Yoongi talk on his side, something about the news. Jimin tilts his face on both sides, checking for some bruises. “You got a bruise, although it's not that bad compared to your first time.”

Yoongi examines his face from where he is standing. Jimin dropped his grip when there was nothing more than the bruise on his lip. He got punched by one of the robbers before he disarmed them by shooting them with his webs.

“How many punches did you get?” Jimin asked, swinging on his heel, eyeing Jeongguk's knuckles. “Just a few, then I managed to disarm them by shooting down some webs,” he responded nonchalantly.

Yoongi nods, patting him on his shoulder, and starts walking again. The two follow suit.

Yoongi and Jimin are the only ones who know about Jeongguk's secret. Well, technically, the two walked in on him.

Yoongi walked in on him climbing on his window when he dropped by his apartment. It was awkward. They just silently stared down at each other until Yoongi raised an eyebrow at him as he slowly crawled inside his room. Jeongguk hurriedly took his mask off when he saw the other slowly walking over to where his baseball bat was placed.

“Hyung! Hyung! It's me!” Jeongguk frantically exclaims as he walks on the other side of the room, avoiding Yoongi, who already has the bat in his hand. “Explain.”

Jimin, on the other hand, saw him at the same alleyway earlier. “What the fuck—hngh.” Jeongguk shoots a small amount of webs out of panic. Jimin looked at him with wide eyes, his handbag falling from his grip and hitting the pavement with a soft thud. Jimin made different kinds of whiny noises out of annoyance. The bag costs a lot, and it's fairly new. Jimin was ballistic and is rightfully allowed to make a fuss about it.

Jeongguk pulls him in the alleyway. He holds Jimin by his shoulder. “I'll take this off, but promise me you won't shout.”

Jimin looks at him like he is crazy. “Please,” he begs while Jimin rolls his eyes at him and nods. He slowly takes the webs off his mouth, and Jimin whisper-shouts, “What the fuck?”

How did the two eventually become friends and become his own behind-the-scenes computer guys? Well, it's kind of a funny story.

Yoongi and Jimin miraculously happen to be there at the same time Jeongguk sneaks into one of the restrooms here on campus. Jimin was retouching his makeup, and Yoongi was coming out of the far-end cubicle when the window opened and Jeongguk crawled in. Time slowed down and everyone was frozen in their spot. It's very comical when they start hearing a cricket chirping.

“Dude, what the fuck?!” Yoongi breaks the silence when he walks towards the faucet. Jimin blinks at him through the mirror, hands still frozen midair. Yoongi meets his gaze and raises an eyebrow at him. “What?”

Through the mirror, they watch Jeongguk crawl down and take his mask off. “What?” He looks up and meets their gazes.

Jimin puts his eyeliner down. “What do you mean ‘what?’ What is going on here? You!” He pointed a finger at Yoongi, and the latter just deadpanned, “You know him…him?” Jimin was frenzied, his arms waving around, pointing at Yoongi, then at Jeongguk, then at Yoongi, then back at Jeongguk.

“Ji, relax. He knows.” Jeongguk shoves the mask down. He pulls his hoodie from his bag, wears it, and looks at his friends. One had his mouth open, practically gawking and flabbergasted, and the other raised an eyebrow at him.

“What were you doing, Gguk?” Yoongi asked as he walked over to the dispenser to take a couple of tissues and wiped his hands off. Jimin just follows his gaze at the two, like suddenly everything was normal.

“There was a robbery,” He shrugs, “chased down the guy and brought back the stolen goods. I got some stuff from it, hyung,” Jeongguk explains like a kid telling his parents he got the highest score on his exams. Yoongi just nods. Jimin, on the other hand, is still processing things.

“I'm sorry, hold on. Why are we pretending this is all normal? Hello?” Jimin waved a hand at Jeongguk’s face. “Jeongguk, he knows? How do you know?” He turned to Yoongi, who was leaning on the wall. Yoongi looks at him with an amused look. “Walked in on him on entering through the window of his room.”

Jimin whips his head to where Jeongguk was standing. He points a finger at him, “What's with you? Why are you always walked on by someone? First me? Then him? And now?! You know, for someone who has this whole mysterious vigilante shit, you sure are reckless.” The restroom fell silent for a moment when Yoongi cackled, and for the next moment, they all burst out laughing.

The bell rings, indicating it's time for first period.

“See you later, kiddo. Be good,” Yoongi warns before going in first. He waves a hand at them and turns left until he's out of view. Jimin bumps him in the shoulder, “See you when I see you.” Jeongguk nods at him as he takes the stairs.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“So, how's your aunt?” Taehyung sat beside Jeongguk, elbows propped on his desk. Jeongguk blinks, one, two, three, still getting used to Taehyung's presence. It's not like every day he has someone talking to him in class that is not asking him to let them copy his homework or making him do their essay in exchange for a few bucks.

“Oh.” He clears his throat. “She's fine, she just asked me to stop by the store. Some of her ingredients ran out while cooking.”

Taehyung nods, clearly believing his alibi. Jeongguk takes in Taehyung’s outfit. He already saw him earlier walking down the street, but he looks ten times better seeing him this close. The colors Taehyung wore today make him so fluffy, like he's enticing Jeongguk in for a hug, as if that's possible.

“By any chance, did you pass by 7th Avenue? I've heard from Jin-hyung that it's near your house.” Jeongguk was pulled out of his reverie when he felt Taehyung grab his jaw and pull his face closer to look at him.

“Where did you get this bruise? OH MY GOD JEONGGUK—hmph!” Jeongguk quickly covers his mouth. A few of their classmates turn their heads on them, eyeing them weirdly.

He yelps on his seat when he feels Taehyung lick his palm. “Dude?!” Taehyung just giggles, the grip on his mouth loosening. Jeongguk hears their classmates murmurs while shaking their heads in towards their direction, he hears one of them even say, “Oh my god, they match each other's freak.”

“Tae, seriously? Disgusting, man.” Taehyung just laughs him off. He sticks a tongue out when Jeongguk frowns at him. He turned his back to get something out of his bag, and Jeongguk mumbled under his breath about how this is so childish. Taehyung pulls the hand he licked to him and dabs some wipes on Jeongguk’s palm, cleaning it off for him.

“They're so weird.”

“But they kind of look cute, though.”

Jeongguk ignores their classmates and just focuses on Taehyung holding his hand.

“So, where did you get that bruise?” Taehyung asked, still dabbing the wet wipes on his palm. He felt ticklish. It must be his heightened spider senses or whatever. Taehyung then moves the wipes up to his wrist. Jeongguk just lets him.

“I, uh, a random cat scratched it when I was feeding it…?” He is unsure Taehyung will believe his excuse. Jeongguk prays that he buys it as Taehyung starts to suspect him weirdly.

“I’m a hundred percent sure that you got punched by someone, and putting two and two together, your apartment is near to where the incident happened last night—did you get caught in the fight?” Taehyung stopped wiping his hand, trying to find his gaze as Jeongguk averted his eyes from him.

“I told you, I got scratched by a cat, and why would I risk myself like that?” Jeongguk rebuts, trying to persuade Taehyung to believe his alibi. He can't afford to let Taehyung know. He remembers Jimin saying he can't lie to save himself.

Taehyung just stares at him before letting out a sigh. He felt Taehyung lightly slap the hand he was holding before clasping both hands around his. “Fine, I believe you.”

Jeongguk breaks into a smile. His body relaxes, and he lets the other play with his fingers. One thing he noticed about Taehyung is that he is extremely clingy and touchy. Normally Jeongguk would be against it, not to mention that Taehyung is new and it's only been his second day here, but strangely enough he is starting to not mind it. If Seokjin saw them right now, he could already imagine the curious look on his face.

“You must be the new guy.” Jeongguk looks up to see Chase in front of Taehyung’s desk. “Name's Chase, Taehyung, right?” Taehyung nods, and Chase offers a hand, which Taehyung accepts with a shake.

Jeongguk felt Taehyung squeeze his hand on his hold. He looks at their hands holding under the table. Taehyung immediately pulls back from Chase's touch and smiles, friendly but not bright enough to reach his eyes.

“So the rumors are true,” Chase drawls, leaning forward, resting both his arms on Taehyung's desk to take a closer look at the other. Taehyung froze on his seat, not sure if it's about the rumor Chase is talking about or if he's way too close to Taehyung's space. Jeongguk was about to pull his hand back when Taehyung tightened his grip.

“You're very pretty,” Chase blurts out, and some dudes holler in the background. Chase smirks, towering over Taehyung. “Thanks,” Taehyung replies, still smiling.

Chase leaned a little closer. “Tell you what, I'm hosting a party this Friday night, and I would love to see you there.” Chase takes a step back, his gaze shifting at Jeongguk for a second, eyeing him down, and then winks at Taehyung before walking towards his desk when their professor enters the room.

Taehyung lets out a breath of relief, still clutching Jeongguk's left hand. “Well, that was something, so Chase, huh?” Jeongguk teases as he feels his left hand getting clammy from the others’ hold.

“Who was that even?” Taehyung dropped his hold. He shifted his body to take something out of his bag. Jeongguk stares at his hand, free from Taehyung's hold, feeling something wrong. Why does he suddenly feel like he's been wronged?

“What?” Taehyung looks at him confused. Jeongguk only shakes his head and goes to turn his body to take his notebook from his bag. Why did he react like that? He mentally scolds himself for being too expressive for his own good.

Seriously, why did I make that expression?

Jeongguk placed his notebook on his desk and turned to look at Taehyung, who was scribbling on his ipad. “So, you're going, right? To that party?” Jeongguk asked, watching Taehyung scribble stars on the upper right corner of the page.

Taehyung didn’t bother looking up. “If you're coming with me.”

“I wasn't invited, Tae,” Jeongguk rebuts, trying to focus on what their professor is discussing in front. He hears Taehyung shuffle on his seat, trying to shift closer to him, feeling something poke his cheek.

“And so? Pake ko, you are coming with me.” Jeongguk gently swats his hand off him. He turned to his side, feigning a frown. “And if I say no?”

Taehyung playfully rolls his eyes at him. “I’ll ask hyung for your address, and I'll pick you up. You are coming with me, Jeongguk. I'm serious.”

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

Class went by like a blur. Taehyung and Jeongguk parted ways after their first period. Jeongguk's heading to the engineering building for his physics class. His phone buzzed from a text notification from Taehyung.

aa. Kim Taehyung:
hey, lunch later, ha

Jeongguk:
sure.
what building r u at again?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
ugh,,, idk 😁
look I just went w Johanna, we had the same class soo

Jeongguk:
what sub?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
Ethics I think ?

Jeongguk:
alr, I think I know where that is

aa. Kim Taehyung:
hey is this like far from the cafeteria?

Jeongguk:
kinda

aa. Kim Taehyung:
🥲🥲🥲

Jeongguk:
hahaha dw I'll pick u up
give me ur room no

aa. Kim Taehyung:
U R A GIFT
Johanna said we're at room 204

Jeongguk:
got it.
now listen to class tae

aa. Kim Taehyung:
aye aye 🫡
wait..
nOo WAYYY
CHASE IS IN THIS CLASS TOO
BROOOOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOO

Jeongguk:
hahahaha

aa. Kim Taehyung:
ARE U FR
bro what if I CRI

Jeongguk:
he's not all bad
I think
I don't know the guy much

aa. Kim Taehyung:
SJZJSIJSJDJS
he's pestering me to go to his party
back in the ph we throw parties when its like near exam week
he's like almost kneeling just for me to go

Jeongguk:
oh yea heard the dudes great at throwing parties
maybe ur his guest of honor

aa. Kim Taehyung:
he's giving me the creeps lowk
JOHANNA U R GODSENT

Jeongguk:
why what happened?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
she prolly sensed I was starting to feel uncomfy so she shooed him away
which I am btw 🫥🫥🫥
where's my big guard dog when I need him

Jeongguk:
oh, so I'm the guard dog now?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
well we need to put that muscles of urs to work
bakit angal ka ba

Jeongguk:
googled ur last text and it translates to “why, do u have any complaints?”
ur funny tae

aa. Kim Taehyung:
and yet I don't see u complaining :p

Jeongguk stifles a laugh. He's been secretly texting with Taehyung the whole time. Sure, he missed out on some important details, but he can learn them once he gets the syllabus. Besides, when his professor walked in earlier, he mustered the biggest eye roll he could ever give to someone. He heard the rumors from one of his seniors regarding this professor, and the majority of his classmates let out a big sigh of disappointment.

So yes, he doesn't mind if he missed a thing or two since his luck ran out with this one being the worst professor to ever teach at this institution, and he's not the only one not paying attention either way.

His phone continued buzzing in his hand, so he swiped it open to check Taehyung's message, not minding the other stacks of unread messages (his group chat with the hyungs and Jimin and Yoongi’s separate chat).

aa. Kim Taehyung:
hey wtf r u not listening to class???
that's so not u jk

Jeongguk:
jk?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
JK!
JeongguK = jk

Jeongguk:
oh
why r u not listening to class?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
our prof’s not here yet
they're betting if she'll show up
also chase is like sitting next to me brrr
pretending to be busy w my phone kinda worked in warding him off

Jeongguk:
feels like he has a crush on u

aa. Kim Taehyung:
[sent a meme reaction]
HARD PASS

Jeongguk:
hahahaha
not ur type?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
no yuck

Jeongguk laughs at that, not knowing why he suddenly felt relieved at Taehyung's reply.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“Hey,” Jeongguk looked up at the voice calling him, sitting at the foot of the stairs waiting for Taehyung’s class to dismiss. Taehyung looks heavenly, the light casting a soft glow around him like a halo. Jeongguk beams up, he takes the hand Taehyung offered, and he feels himself being pulled up.

“Boy, you sure are heavy.” Taehyung grunts, wiping an imaginary sweat on his forehead, acting like he was burdened by pulling Jeongguk up. Jeongguk rolled his eyes at him. “Now you're just saying things, Tae. You weren't even pulling me up.”

Taehyung pouts at him, and smacks Jeongguk’s arm. “And this is what I get for helping?” Jeongguk breaks out in a laugh, and he reaches out to ruffle Taehyung's hair, making the other whine. “And this is what I get for picking you up?”

Taehyung gasps, feigning offense at Jeongguk's statement. Jeongguk drags him by the arm. “Come on, hyung is probably waiting for us.” They started walking towards the direction they were heading, and Taehyung hummed along, following Jeongguk.

“Hey, Taehyung! Wait up!”

Jeongguk didn't even bother hiding his snicker when he saw Taehyung roll his eyes in annoyance. They turned around to see Chase trailing after them. Jeongguk watched in the corner of his eye how Taehyung's smile turned fake.

“Oh, hi Chase. What's up?” Taehyung asked, his voice felt saccharine. Jeongguk hides a shiver at how Taehyung's aura suddenly changed. He clearly looks annoyed, and Jeongguk is quite enjoying seeing the other in this state.

“Ah, I was going to ask you for lunch, but clearly someone beat me to it.” Chase shifted his gaze at Jeongguk with a scornful expression. His face was clearly painted in annoyance as he eyed Jeongguk from head to toe, and then he scoffed.

Taehyung's eyes widened at Chase's demeanor, clearly taken aback at the sudden change of aura he is showing at Jeongguk. Taehyung shuffled on his feet, shifting slightly closer to Jeongguk's side, causing the expression Chase was schooling to darken into something dangerous.

Jeongguk suddenly had this great idea pop into his mind. He wrapped an arm around Taehyung, pulling him closer to him. He can smell Taehyung's cologne from how close they are right now.

It clearly shocked Chase, his face void of expression. Jeongguk has a sly smirk on his lips, knowing he got under Chase’s skin. “Oh, yeah. We're heading out now. Good to see you, Chase,” Jeongguk mocks. Jeongguk had seen Chase earlier during their first period, but hey, he's getting some weird satisfaction in provoking Chase.

Chase only scoffs, taking a step back. “Sure. See you later, Jeon,” and walks back to where his friends are, fading into the background until he's out of view.

Taehyung let out a breath of relief. “Thanks for stepping up. I swear he really gives me the creeps, like he's the type of guy who can't take no for an answer.” Jeongguk feels him slump in his hold.

Jeongguk hums, “He's pretty popular, so I guess that popularity got into his head.”

Taehyung fiddles at the hem of Jeongguk's hoodie, fisting some of it in his hand.
Jeongguk is already warming up to Taehyung being touchy, but he noticed he's clingier when he's agitated, so he just lets him.

“Well, that's not good news. I hope he backs off. Seriously, I'd rather have everyone be wary of me because Jin-hyung beat the shit out of some jocks,” Taehyung grumbles. Jeongguk wonders to himself why they weren't avoided. There were no murmurs when they walked in the hallway. Everything seems to be back to normal, like yesterday didn't just happen. He already braced himself for the stares they’ll get since there were students present at the cafeteria yesterday to witness what went down, but there was nothing.

“Surprised that nobody brought it up.” Taehyung looks at him like he holds the answer. Jeongguk can only hum in agreement. “Maybe it's better to sweep it under the rug.”

They walk slowly towards where the cafeteria is. Taehyung smacked his arm when he realized that the cafeteria is not far from where his last class was. Jeongguk laughs as he dodges his hits. “I was just joking, Tae.”

Taehyung pinched his wrist in ire. “You should have said you want to see me.”

Jeongguk still has his arm around Taehyung when they enter the cafeteria. They roamed their eyes around searching for a seat. Taehyung tugs the hem of his hoodie when he points to an empty table near the floor window.

They walked towards the table to drop their bags off and headed to the line to get some food.

Taehyung followed suit. The line isn't long today, and the cafeteria isn't that filled either. Tuesday mornings have been less crowded ever since the semester started a month ago. Jeongguk beelines to the end of the line. When it was his turn, he bowed his head to the lunch lady, who handed him his portion. He watches Taehyung do the same, flashing the lunch lady with his signature boxy smile. “Hey, where do you get your hoodies from? This material is so soft, and my hoodies don't hoodies like yours does.”

They started walking back to their table, and Jeongguk replied. “Hm? probably some thrift stores downtown.”

“No way, you thrift?” Taehyung looked at him with excitement, Jeongguk thought he looked like a bouncy puppy, cute.

Jeongguk sat down, expecting Taehyung to take the seat across from him, but was surprised when Taehyung sat next to him. Jeongguk cleared his throat, not minding their closeness again, and replied, “Yeah.”

Taehyung squealed in his seat, and Jeongguk felt his shoulder shake from the other's hold. “You have to take me there. Like immediately!”

“Aren’t you like rich? Why are you so enthusiastic about thrifting?" Jeongguk asked, taking a bite from his food. He plants his elbow on the table and slightly leans to stare at Taehyung sipping his drink.

The other raised a brow at him as he set his drink down and picked up a fork to point at Jeongguk. “I love doing it, but Jin hyung doesn't, so I don't have someone to geek over thrifting with.”

Now that he mentions it, that explains why he doesn't see Seokjin in their downtown run. It's always Namjoon and Hoseok, sometimes Yoongi tags along, but never Seokjin.

“Must be a rich kid thing, huh?” Jeongguk brushes the thought off. Taehyung messily ate his pasta when a piece of meatball fell off his fork. Jeongguk laughed at his clumsy manner as he handed him a piece of tissue. “Oh, you would love Hobi-hyung then, he's like the fashion thrift god.”

Taehyung smacks his arm, looking flustered as he messily wipes the stain off his brown vest. Jeongguk reached to wet the tissue with water before he gently swatted Taehyung's hands, taking over at wiping the stain. “You're making it worse, Tae. Look, you’re smearing the sauce over your vest.”

Taehyung whines, and he pouts. Jeongguk looks over for a second before he scoffs and continues to wipe the stain, just enough to fade.

“Oh, wow.” Seokjin placed his tray in front of the two. “You two seem very close.”

“And you're acting like a strict dad, hyung. Chill.” Namjoon laughs as he sets his food down, taking the seat adjacent to Seokjin. He waved a small hand at Taehyung, who just pouted at him.

“I think they're cute together,” Hobi joined in, he sat beside Seokjin. “Oh, what happened, Taehyungie?” He asked as he took a spoonful of food over his mouth. Taehyung let out an exasperated sigh. Jeongguk rolls his eyes at his antics, still wiping the sauce off his vest.

“It's like watching a baby eat, hyung. He's so clumsy,” Jeongguk answered, cutting Taehyung off, which made the latter whine. They laughed at the youngest banter.

“Hey, Gguk.” Jimin stopped in front of their table. “Hi, can I talk to him for a minute?”He pointed at Jeongguk, who slowly stood up from his seat. The others just nodded as they were immersed in their conversation about a new manga release.

Taehyung just stared at him a little longer, Jeongguk sensed it, and he offered a small smile. “I won't take long, you koala bear.” He ruffled his hair and nodded at Jimin, signaling for them to leave.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

The word got around that there's a house party this Friday.

Today is Thursday, and that means the party is tomorrow evening. The news reached his hyungs that fast, and now he is watching Seokjin giving Taehyung ‘the talk.’

They’re in the library at the moment, huddling in a conversation pit. Namjoon and Hoseok are hunching over the coffee table talking about some minor course requirements. Yoongi is glued to his laptop, polishing an essay due later. Jeongguk was distracted from Seokjin nagging at Taehyung. He was doing some assignment, but he dropped it when he heard Seokjin rapping his point to Taehyung.

“What if you throw a party to counterattack his party, hyung? That’s one way to announce we are not someone to mess with.” Taehyung leans his back on the couch; he grabs a throw pillow beside him, settling it in his lap. Seokjin raised an eyebrow at his cousin. His voice toned down now, “So much for keeping it low-key.”

Taehyung scoffs at his statement, “Oh, please! It's not like Uncle didn't threaten the board to pull back their shares if they didn't sweep you punching those jocks under the rug. It wasn’t a very “low-key” attempt at hiding as well, hyung,” Taehyung air quotes, which made Seokjin throw his pencil at him.

Taehyung dodges and grabs Jeongguk's shoulder, making him a shield as Seokjin attempts to throw an eraser he grabbed from his bag, but he stops in his seat, raising an eyebrow at his cousin. Taehyung let down his guard for a second, thinking Seokjin wouldn't do it. Taehyung blinks, and when he opens his eyes, Jeongguk catches the eraser that was about to hit him.

“Oh, now that’s unfair. I thought you were on my side, Ggukie! ” Seokjin whines. Namjoon shushes him off, which makes Seokjin pout and slump on the couch. Taehyung smiles, feeling triumphant. He prods, he leans forward, and the throw pillow on his lap falls as he slumps on Jeongguk's back.

Jeongguk lets out a small “oof” when he feels Taehyung’s weight on his back. The other hums in content, chin resting on his head. He feels the vibration when Taehyung speaks, “So are we throwing a party or no?”

Jeongguk sets the eraser down, watching Seokjin let out a sigh. He smiles; if Jeongguk didn’t know any better, he'd probably think that his hyung agreed, but he knows better that he already knows Seokjin would say, “No, my dear cousin. We are not throwing a party.”

Taehyung grunts. He hides his face in the crook of Jeongguk's neck, mumbling something incoherent; his breath tickles Jeongguk’s skin. Seokjin snickered from watching them, there's a lilt in his eyes that tells Jeongguk he is scheming. “Oh, don’t give me that, Tae. You know we have to prepare a ppt to ask permission from Mama to use any of the houses in the compound, plus as far as I know no one is, like, leaving on some business trip overseas, so no, cousin, the houses are not available. Plus, it’s a hassle to rent some random house on short notice.” Seokjin slides down to take the seat cushion next to Hoseok, taking out his notes to copy from him.

Hoseok looks over his shoulder to smile at Taehyung, before he can speak, Seokjin cuts him off, “And no, we can’t use Hobi’s. I’m not a buzzkill or anything, but let’s just lay low after that cafeteria fiasco.”

Seokjin looks up to see his cousin still hiding behind Jeongguk, already knowing that he is having a hard time accepting that Seokjin said no. He sighs, “Look, I know you turn to Hobi when things don’t go your way, and I know,” he chides, giving Hoseok a glance, which Hoseok gives him a bashful smile. “He will take your side. Ah, seriously, I shouldn’t have brought him along when I visited the Philippines like years ago if I knew you two would team up.”

Seokjin gave Jeongguk a faint smile, somewhat apologetic. He continued, “We can all go to the party to shoo the guy away? Or simply not go—it's up to you. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t one-up him just because you’re pissed at him, Tae.”

Jeongguk can feel Taehyung’s whine on his skin. Jeongguk reached out to pat his head, offering him comfort. He feels Taehyung leaning into his touch.

“Fine,” Taehyung grumbles defeatedly. He slides off Jeongguk’s back and takes the spot next to him. He slumps into his space, head leaning on Jeongguk’s shoulder.

Seokjin beams, a glint of mischievousness swimming in his eyes when he says, “You know, I’m surprised Jeongguk hasn’t brushed you off yet. He’s not keen on having people in his personal space.”

“Hey, I let you lean on me, hyung,” Jeongguk defends himself. He feels a set of eyes staring holes at his side.

Namjoon scoffs, “Yeah, right.” He looks up to see Jeongguk glaring at him. Namjoon just smirks. “Hyung’s not wrong though? Didn't hear you brushing Taehyung off. You karate chop Seokjin-hyung when he tackles you into a hug.”

Taehyung laughs, his giggles reverberating on his shoulders. Jeongguk is starting to think to himself that he doesn't mind carrying the weight of Taehyung on his shoulder if it means feeling him this close.

Jeongguk answers, “Jin-hyung stinks. I have a sensitive nose.” Hoseok laughs, head throwing back as he chortles at Jeongguk’s reply, “What does your sensitive nose have to do with Jin-hyung hugging you? I remember you said Jin-hyung smells the best, Ggukie.”

“Why are you suddenly ganging up on me?” Jeongguk groans, rubbing his face defeatedly. Taehyung giggling on his shoulder doesn’t really help his predicament with his hyungs. If anything, it makes it even worse.

Jeongguk is well aware of the sudden change in his demeanor when Taehyung is around. He is well aware of how mellow he is when Taehyung clings to him, linking his arms or slumping his back on his chest. Jeongguk knows how quickly things are unfolding. He doesn’t have an answer to why things are unfolding this way, just like he doesn’t even have an answer to why he can’t brush Taehyung off him.

“Well, you didn’t answer Jin-hyung’s question, Ggukie.” He felt a finger poking his cheek. Jeongguk takes his hand. Yoongi, who was quiet, looks at him with amusement. He's always been at the receiving end of affection, but to initiate it? That's not something you would see every day.

Mindlessly, Jeongguk fiddles with Taehyung’s fingers. They feel so delicate in his hold, so dainty and long. He completely missed the smile etched on Taehyung's face and the teasing look on Seokjin, who is now quietly looking at them.

The conversation has long been forgotten, with a question left unanswered lingering in their space. The silence that fills them isn't awkward—rather, felt like a conclusion. They clearly didn't need Jeongguk to answer when his actions already spelled it out for them.

Namjoon shared a knowing look with Seokjin who just shrugged, Hoseok just hummed to himself, and Yoongi sneakily took a picture.

Jeongguk compares his hands with Taehyung’s. He whispers, “Are you ready for tomorrow?” Taehyung hums in response, still leaning into him. “Assuming you know where it’s at, right? Chase bragged about inviting the new kid and didn’t even bother telling me where his place is,” Taehyung chides, which makes Jeongguk scoff. “I told you that he’s not the brightest in the bunch.” Taehyung giggles. Jeongguk might start taking a liking to listening to him giggle.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

12:05 am

aa. Kim Taehyung:
Hey lowk dont understand the bio assignment :,<
can u help meeeeeeee

Jeongguk:
yeah sure
which part?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
the drawing the cells part

Jeongguk:
Hahahahah ill draw it for u

aa. Kim Taehyung:
NICE
ur too kind
tell u what lets get ice cream toms
OH BTW abt the party?

Jeongguk:
hm?
want me to pick u up?

aa. Kim Taehyung:
not rlly
was thinking that ud prep here? ill introduce u to my aunt!

Jeongguk:
yeah sure, that works
Jin-hyung’s mom? I alr met her

aa. Kim Taehyung:
ofc u would doofus
the other aunt, silly. the one who took me in
hyung filled her in on the details abt u so shes excited on meeting u smth like that

Jeongguk:
lowk made me nervous ngl

aa. Kim Taehyung:
nahh
shes quite alike like hyung, so ud def vibe w her

Jeongguk:
that made me even more nervous

aa. Kim Taehyung:
LMAOOOOO
id promise u shes less strict unlike auntie minjeon
night ggukie <33

Jeongguk:
good night tae
:)

12:45 am

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

Friday would mark Taehyung’s first week since he transferred here, and well, they have their Friday morning schedule in sync, having biology at 10 in the morning as their first class wasn’t exactly that bad.

However, Jeongguk’s running late. Time check it’s 9:30 am.

“Dude, why are you committing crimes at 10 in the morning?” Jeongguk landed on the ground when his web caught one of the pickpocket’s shoes, causing him to stumble on the curb. Jeongguk steps back when the man hastily springs up from his fall, pouncing to attack.

“Geez, can’t you make it later, like, I don’t know, at night? ” He grumbles as he dodges the attack. The thief threw a follow-up punch, which he evaded. “Actually that’s a little stereotypical, but I have places to be, man, like a psych report due today.”

The thief swings another punch, which Jeongguk easily dodges. He flicks his webslinger to shoot at the thief’s mouth. Catching it off guard, its hand immediately reached to his mouth, dropping the purse to the ground as it tried to peel off the sticky web latched on his skin. Seeing the thief distracted by it. Jeongguk immediately retaliates by throwing a punch directly to its gut. Still underestimating his newly discovered strength, the impact of his punch must have been so powerful that the thief flew a few spaces back, landing on the curb writhing in pain. Jeonngguk watched the thief trying to stand up, hauling the purse in its clutch. He was limping in his stance with a knife he suddenly drew out from his pocket. Without missing a beat, Jeongguk delivered a punch to his head, knocking him unconscious.

Its nothing major, just a thief snatching a lady’s purse. Easy peasy. But the thief ran in a direction that's opposite to his university, which is what pisses him off. He mentally calculates how long it will take him if he runs from this area, knows it'll take him 20 minutes to run, tops.

10 if he swings between buildings.

Jeongguk grunts to himself as he opts for the other option.

He reaches for a notebook from his bag. Big ol’ Spiderman swinging around with a backpack. Not his branding, but hey, this crime was unexpected, plus the chase took so much of his time that he can't leave his belongings in some alleyway. He was about to write some note that said, “Whoop, I’m a thief!”

“Hey!”

Jeongguk looks back to where the voice came from. He was welcomed by a girl running towards him. He flinched, clearly seeing her face around campus.

If hes not mistaken…

“Thanks! Ah, that was a long run, phew.” She let out a breath of relief. Jeongguk bent down to pick the bag from the thief. He handed her his bag, and she bowed to show her appreciation.

“Seriously, thank you! How do I repay you, friendly neighborhood hero?” She smiles at him. Jeongguk scratches the back of his mask. “How about calling the police to report this…? ”

Jeongguk cringed at himself. He probably sounded stupid with his suggestion. The girl laughed, “Oh yeah, already called them. They're on their way here. Again, thank you. I don’t know how to repay you, really.”

Jeongguk just brushed her off, waving his hand in assurance, “It’s fine, really. Glad you’re okay.”

They hear the siren rounding the corner, and Jeongguk takes this as his sign to flee.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“Hi,” Jeongguk takes the seat next to Taehyung, the other flinches on his seat when Jeongguk sneaks his way inside. He averts his gaze to where their professor is writing something on the board, clearly not noticing Jeongguk's sudden presence.

Taehyung turned his gaze back to Jeongguk, eyebrows raised at him. He whispers, “Where the fuck were you?”

Jeongguk shrugs, “Explosive diarrhea.” Taehyung grimaces, his nose scrunched at his remarks, and Jeongguk refrains from pinching his nose.

How cute.

He leans back on his chair, too nonchalant to care, like he wasn’t 20 minutes late in their discussion. “What did I miss?” Jeongguk asked Taehyung, who just rolled his eyes and continued writing down on his notes.

“Not much. We got a deadline extension for that assignment, though. Cleo really talked Ms. Leigh into it. She's just giving us another set of take home assignments, so you didn't really miss much. Plus, she came in late.” Jeongguk’s shoulder relaxes from that, and Taehyung raises his eyebrow at him again. “What really happened?”

Jeongguk grins, “You’re so curious about me, Tae.” He watched Taehyung stammers, fumbling the pen he was holding. Jeongguk leans down to pick it up for him.

Taehyung's eyebrows scrunched at him, looking a little flustered. “I-I’m not.” Taehyung pouts. He grumbles something that Jeongguk didn't quite get. Taehyung huffs, he shifts his body, avoiding Jeongguk like he had wronged him. Jeongguk smiles, he really is so cute.

“Hm, I don't mind.” Jeongguk hums, he opens his notebook, he quickly turns a page when he opens it to the part where he wrote the note he was about to tape on the thief earlier. Jeongguk turned to Taehyung if he caught him, luckily Taehyung's gaze was still in front where their prof was writing down topics for them to advance study with.

He slumps on his seat, releasing a breath of relief which caught Taehyung's attention instead. “What's going on with you?”

Jeongguk just smiled at him, bunny teeth out and cheeks out. He noticed the color spreading on Taehyung's cheek, crawling down to his neck. Happily, like something shifted inside Jeongguk, he leans forward, resting his chin on the arm propped on his desk. “I told you, Tae. Just recovered from an explosive diarrhea.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, “You're insufferable. Jeongguk just smiled, he shouldn't be panicking, almost got caught again but he didn't. Strangely enough, he feels giddy.

“Lunch?”

Taehyung nods, not sparing him a look as he stashed away his things. “You don't have to ask me every time. We always have lunch together.”

Jeongguk stood up, he moved to take a seat on Taehyung's desk. He shrugs, “What if someone asked you to join them for lunch?”

Taehyung got up from his seat, walked around his desk and stopped in front of Jeongguk. “Hm, well I already made up my mind that I'm spending my lunch with you.”

Jeongguk feels a small smile creeping on his face. “And with the hyungs?”

Taehyung grabs his wrist, pulling him up, “eh, they feel like a bonus. I like spending time with you more.”

Jeongguk lets himself get dragged by Taehyung. Weird bugs flutter inside his gut as they head out the room.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

Jeongguk waits outside of Taehyung's classroom for his last class to end. His class ended earlier than their schedule. He shuffles on his feet as he hears the bell rings and the door to Taehyung's room opens.

He saw Taehyung talking to a classmate as they headed out of the room. He saw Taehyung's classmate nudged him, nodding his head at Jeongguk's direction and Taehyung's eyes lit up when it landed on him.

Jeongguk waves a hand at him. He leans his back on the wall, watching Taehyung wave goodbye and runs to him. Taehyung beams at him with his boxy smile, his hair bouncing when he looks up at Jeongguk.

“Hi,” Jeongguk greets, he feels himself holding his breath when Taehyung leans a little closer to him. Taehyung tilted his head and booped his nose, “Hi, Ggukie.”

“You seem excited for tonight.” Jeongguk teases, he sees the light and joy leave Taehyung's body, he slouches and pouts. “I am not.”

Jeongguk hummed, he took one of the bags Taehyung was holding as they started heading their way out.

“You know we can just not show up, right?” Jeongguk starts again. Taehyung hums, he is back at his usual giddy self again, “Yeah but I kind of want to go, so it's no big deal. Thanks for accompanying me, Gguk.”

“You kind of drag me to go, Tae.”

Taehyung smacks his arm. “You made it sound like I forced you to go.” He rolled his eyes at Jeongguk. Taehyung sees Seokjin roll the car window down when they're near the carpark.

“You can back out, you know that?” Taehyung looks at Jeongguk who has his hands in his pockets, Taehyung's eyes fled to the bag Jeongguk took earlier slung on his shoulder. Jeongguk nodded his head, turned to meet Taehyung's gaze and smiled, “I was just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you, Tae.”

And if the blush on Taehyung's face got deeper, Seokjin points it out, obnoxiously, “I thought this only happens when in highschool.”

“I don't know what you are talking about.” Jeongguk hums along Taehyung's response as he opens the door for him. He sees Seokjin roll his eyes in the side view mirror.

“At least play this out longer, fuck I need to win against Namjoon.” Seokjin grumbles to himself as he rolls his window up.

Jeongguk went in, he shared a few car rides with Seokjin before so the driver gave him a nod when he closed the door and they started driving to the Kim residences.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·

“Chase is so going to be annoyed when he sees you there, Gguk.” Seokjin teases as he watches Jeongguk wear the clothes Taehyung picked for him. Seokjin being the menace he is sat inside Taehyung's room bothering him and his cousin.

“Tell me about it, hyung.” Jeongguk watches himself in Taehyung's mirror, the top hugging his body, accentuating on its muscles and of course, his abs. Seokjin whistles when he raises his arm to wear the jacket he was supposed to pair this with as the hem of his shirt raises, exposing some of his abs.

Jeongguk threw his clothes at him, clearly shy at the attention Seokjin was giving him. “This feels weird, hyung.” The older one laughs, “It looks good on you, Ggukie. You should let Tae dress you more often.”

Jeongguk blushes, he admires himself in the mirror. Taehyung lent him a shirt and a jacket. Jeongguk has thicker thighs so Taehyung and Seokjin can't lend him some, so they're sticking to his baggy faded ash grey pants.

Taehyung's frame is a lithe compared to Jeongguk's lean body making Taehyung's baggiest shirt look like a fitted crop top on him and to top it off, Taehyung lend him a leather jacket to complete the look, luckily it fits him just right that Taehyung gave it to him on the spot.

Jeongguk admits to himself he looks good. Seokjin complimenting him boosted his confidence a bit.

“Fuck you look good,” Taehyung emerges himself from the bathroom. He's still half naked, only wearing pants with a wrapped skirt around his hips. He's wearing makeup.

FUCK, he's wearing makeup.

Jeongguk panics, he stood there looking in awe at Taehyung who was walking to his walk-in closet. His eyes trailing at the way Taehyung wore the shirt he picked earlier, it's a gray asymmetrical crop top that hangs loosely on his body that rests just above his belly bottom.

“Tae you look good.” Jeongguk spoke, having his bearings after mentally panicking at how stupidly Taehyung looks so devastatingly beautiful right now.

Taehyung giggles, he spared Jeongguk a look over his shoulder, eyes crinkled at Jeongguk's compliment. He was attaching some necklaces, stacking them on his pretty neck—wait, he did not just call Taehyung's neck pretty.

“Awe, you're not too bad yourself, Ggukie.” Taehyung turns his gaze back to his vanity mirror, it's vintage, Jeongguk thinks, it looks like those antique mirrors any regal people own. Gold intricate details like that.

Jeongguk blushes, maybe he thinks he blushes, he's not sure, though he feels his cheek warm. “You need help, Tae?” Jeongguk offers, talking a step closer to Taehyung.

Taehyung nodded, eyes locked on Jeongguk's reflection on the mirror. Jeongguk stopped, just a few inches from him, Taehyung let go of the clasp he was having trouble locking and Jeongguk took over and hooked it in one attempt. “There,” he whispers, looking up to meet Taehyung's eyes in the mirror, the other smiles at him as he raises another necklace on his neck, Jeongguk immediately takes the clasp and attaches it to him in one smooth go.

“Oh, wow. How you managed to completely erase my presence in the room like that, just wow.” Seokjin slowly claps like a scheming little shit that he is. He sits up from leaning on Taehyung's bed. Taehyung just rolls his eyes at his cousin, and doesn't even spare a glance at him.

“I didn't even notice you're there, hyung.” Taehyung sweetly smiles, batting his eyelashes at his cousin through the mirror. Seokjin flips him a finger and throws himself back on Taehyung's bed.

“I love what you did on Jeongguk's fit, always amazed with your magic touch, Tae.” Seokjin said, fiddling on his phone now, Jeongguk hears a click.

Taehyung's beams. Jeongguk watches the way his face lit up on Seokjin's compliment. He turned to face Jeongguk, reached his hand to cup his cheeks, squeezing them. “You are so cute, Ggukie. Grr!”

Jeongguk looks at Seokjin for help but sees Seokjin having an amused smile plastered on his face. Taehyung rubs his cheeks, nanggigigil. There's a cute expression on Taehyung's face that Jeongguk, mindlessly reaches out to pinch his cheek.

Seokjin scoffs to where he was sitting and they drop each other's hands off their cheeks.

Taehyungs clears his throat, he averted his gaze off Jeongguk and was scrambling on top of his vanity table, looking for something. Jeongguk watched him for a second and turned to Seokjin who was just grinning in amusement.

“You know, I always thought I'd be weirded out by the thought of it but seeing you guys be this. I actually think it's not bad, or that I'm opposed to it.” Seokjin rumbles, Taehyung gives him a deadpan look but there's a slight tinge of red slowly spreading on his cheeks.

Jeongguk, he's the brightest, best in terms of academics even but regarding social cues and reading body language? Well, he's not good at it yet. Confused, he turned to seokjin, all deer eyes full of sparkles, “What?”

Seokjin laughs, body rolling on Taehyung's bed. He turned around to face Taehyung but the other was avoiding his gaze yet Jeongguk caught his ears red.

· · ─ ·𒌐· ─ · ·