Chapter Text
Before any of it became complicated, before silence started meaning too much and touches started lasting too long, there had only been this:
Taehyung laughing.
Jungkook remembers that first.
Not their debut stage, not cramped practice rooms, not exhaustion or cameras or fear.
Just Taehyung laughing somewhere down a hallway, loud enough that Jungkook had looked up instinctively before he even knew the older boy properly.
It had sounded warm.
Like something alive.
And somehow, after that, Jungkook just kept following the sound.
—
“You’re attached to him.”
Jungkook looked up from his food immediately. “What?”
Jimin snorted from across the table. “You literally trail after Taehyung hyung everywhere.”
“I do not.”
“You do,” Hoseok agreed, grinning. “It’s kind of cute.”
Jungkook frowned automatically. “I just spend time with him.”
“Constantly,” Namjoon added without even looking up from his phone.
Across the room Taehyung burst into sudden laughter at something Seokjin was saying, head falling backward dramatically.
Without thinking, Jungkook looked over.
And Taehyung—like he’d felt it somehow—looked back immediately.
His entire expression brightened.
“Jungkookie!”
There was absolutely no reason for the smile that spread across Jungkook’s face that quickly.
Jimin noticed.
The bastard’s grin widened immediately.
“Oh my god.”
“Shut up.”
—
It became a joke after that.
Jungkook sitting beside Taehyung at every opportunity.
Jungkook waiting for him after schedules.
Jungkook wandering automatically toward whichever room Taehyung was currently in.
Nobody thought much of it.
Not really.
They were young. Living on top of each other. Emotional attachment came easily in that kind of life.
Still—
Sometimes even Jungkook noticed it.
Like how his day improved almost instantly when Taehyung paid attention to him.
Or how strangely irritated he became when Taehyung disappeared for too long.
He just didn’t know what to do with those feelings yet.
So he ignored them.
Mostly.
—
“You’re sulking.”
Jungkook looked up sharply from where he sat sprawled across the practice room floor.
“I’m not.”
Taehyung walked over slowly, chewing on an ice pop.
“You are,” he said easily. “Your face gets all weird.”
“My face always looks like this.”
Taehyung laughed immediately at that.
God.
Jungkook tried very hard not to enjoy making him laugh this much.
Failed every single time.
Taehyung dropped down beside him, shoulder bumping hard against Jungkook’s.
“Why are you mad?”
“I’m not mad.”
“Then why’ve you been glaring at me for like an hour?”
Jungkook frowned deeper.
Because the stupid thing was—
he actually didn’t know.
Not fully.
Only that Taehyung had spent most of the afternoon joking around with another trainee, laughing loudly and barely looking Jungkook’s way once.
And somehow that had ruined Jungkook’s entire mood.
Which was ridiculous.
Obviously ridiculous.
“You were busy,” Jungkook muttered eventually.
Taehyung blinked. “What?”
“With Minhyuk hyung.”
Realization crossed Taehyung’s face so suddenly it almost embarrassed Jungkook.
Then—
Taehyung grinned.
Slowly. Brightly.
“Oh,” he said.
Jungkook instantly hated that expression.
“What?”
“You missed me.”
“I did not.”
“You did.”
Taehyung leaned closer, eyes sparkling with amusement.
“You were jealous.”
“I was not jealous.”
“You’re jealous right now.”
Jungkook shoved him hard enough to make Taehyung laugh louder.
The sound echoed through the empty practice room.
Warm. Unrestrained.
Jungkook looked away before Taehyung could notice the way his chest tightened around it.
—
The thing about Taehyung was that he touched people easily.
Carelessly.
Hands grabbing wrists. Arms slung around shoulders. Leaning into people while laughing.
He was naturally affectionate in a way Jungkook wasn’t.
So at first Jungkook didn’t think much about how often Taehyung touched him.
Only him.
Not until other people started noticing too.
—
“Seriously,” Seokjin complained one night, staring at where Taehyung was half-lying across Jungkook on the couch. “Do you two know personal space exists?”
“No,” Taehyung answered immediately.
Jungkook felt Taehyung laugh against his shoulder.
Neither of them moved.
Seokjin looked genuinely disturbed. “You’re both weird.”
“Hyung’s just jealous because nobody loves him,” Taehyung said cheerfully.
“I hate both of you.”
Taehyung only laughed harder, shifting slightly to get comfortable.
His knee slid between Jungkook’s legs carelessly.
Warm.
Close.
Jungkook stopped breathing for a second.
It was stupid.
Just Taehyung.
Only Taehyung.
But lately Jungkook had started noticing strange things:
how warm Taehyung always felt,
how good he smelled after showers,
how pretty his mouth looked when he smiled.
Thoughts he immediately shoved away every single time.
—
That night they fell asleep in the living room.
Half the dorm already asleep elsewhere, the television still glowing dimly in front of them.
At some point Taehyung shifted closer in his sleep.
Then closer again.
Until he was practically folded against Jungkook’s side, face pressed into Jungkook’s shoulder.
Jungkook woke briefly when it happened.
Stayed completely still afterward.
Taehyung’s hair tickled his jaw slightly every time he breathed.
The room was quiet enough that Jungkook could hear both of them breathing.
Slow.
Even.
Close.
Something strange settled low in his chest then.
Not panic.
Not fear.
Just awareness.
A dangerous kind of awareness.
Jungkook stared at the ceiling for a long time.
Eventually, carefully, he adjusted the blanket higher over Taehyung’s shoulders.
Taehyung made a soft sound in his sleep and moved even closer.
Jungkook’s heart nearly stopped.
—
The next morning was worse.
Because Taehyung woke up first.
Jungkook realized it slowly through the feeling of someone staring at him.
When he opened his eyes, Taehyung was already awake.
Very close.
Too close.
For a second neither of them moved.
Jungkook became painfully aware of everything at once:
Taehyung’s head still tucked near his shoulder,
their legs tangled together beneath the blanket,
Taehyung’s sleepy face inches from his own.
Taehyung blinked slowly.
Then his eyes dropped briefly to Jungkook’s mouth.
The moment changed instantly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Jungkook felt it like a shift in air pressure.
Taehyung seemed to feel it too because he pulled back abruptly after that, clearing his throat.
“We fell asleep here.”
“Yeah.”
“Hyungs are gonna complain.”
“Probably.”
Neither moved immediately.
The silence stretched strangely between them.
Not awkward.
But not normal either.
And for the first time since meeting Taehyung, Jungkook had the unsettling feeling that something was beginning.
Neither of them knew what yet.
But it had started.