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You’ve had a long day at class and all you wanted to do was take a long hot shower. Of course, curse your luck, this was college and communal bathrooms were a thing, and so were shower shoes, yuck, but the warm water still felt amazing on your skin and you didn’t want it to end when it did. It did however, and the last thing you wanted to do was to run into someone with your makeup-less face and hair wrapped up in a towel. At least you had the foresight to bring a change of clothes.
You step out of the bathroom, shower supplies in one hand. The hallway is seemingly empty until someone, a male someone steps out of a room at the end of the hallway. A room that is definitely not his and you know for a fact is a girl’s. Something is missing. Oh right, his shirt.
Holy shit. Your cheeks heat up, and you feel like the most awkward person on the planet. You hope he doesn’t notice you before you are able to get to your room, but when you lift your head, you can’t avoid making eye contact. Shit.
“It’s not what it looks like!” He starts barreling down the hallway, repeating this phrase over and over, but you think you can make it to your room before he can get to you. Of course you don’t take into account that his legs are so much damn longer than yours, and he easily reaches you. “It’s not what it looks like,” he says one last time.
Up close, you finally recognize the guy as Kim Taehyung. He lives on the floor below you, and you are pretty sure he was friends with everyone, or at least knew them. He’s also in your Chem class. There was also the fact you saw him a few weeks ago at a party, drunk off his ass and straight up eating a girl’s face in the middle of the dance floor. “Making out” is not a strong enough term for what they had been doing. You ran into him the next day, and he didn’t remember that night, supposedly, but you did, and you had to keep yourself from giggling the whole time.
Taehyung is panting from bounding all the way over to you, and you have to remind yourself to look at his face and not anywhere below his shoulders. He kind of reminds you of a puppy in a way. A tall, half-naked puppy. He takes a deep breath before speaking.
“It’s not what it looks like.” Okay, that must be the thirtieth time he’s said that. “There’s a weird mole on my back, and my friend was looking at it.” That has to be… the strangest excuse anyone has ever come up with. Your confusion must have shown on your face, because Taehyung suddenly proceeds to turn around. “Look!” He pointed at a spot on his bare back, which seemed to be said mole. It appeared to be a little scratched off. “See?”
And all of a sudden, you just lose it. Your shoulders convulse with laughter, and you try hard not to drop your shower supplies or have the towel fall off your head. When you think you have finally calmed down, you glance at him again only to burst into laughter once more at the sight that was waiting for you. His lips were puffed out and pouting in a way that could only be described as puppy-like.
“What are you laughing for? It’s true!”
In between gasps and giggles, you try to answer him. “I believe you.” Your shoulders continue to shake with laughter. “But it’s just so ridiculous!”
“Ridiculous?” He whines. “But it’s true!” He gestures to the mole again.
“Yeah, but just because it’s true, doesn’t mean it’s not ridiculous.” It’s silent after that, save for you trying to catch your breath after your laughing fit. “Um, so.” It finally hits you that you were in your pajamas, fresh out of the shower, no bra, etc., in front of this admittedly very attractive guy who just happened to be half naked. Mortification belatedly rushes through every vein in your body, heating your face up.
“Uh, good night, I guess.” Mumbling, you quickly slid into your room and closed the door, but you could hear one last muffled, it’s really not what it looks like, through the barrier. A soft giggle escapes from your lips, and you crack open the door once more. “Fine, I believe you.” At that, his mouth stretches into a box-like grin that makes your heart beat a little faster. Or maybe it’s the fact that he’s still shirtless. Or both. Definitely both.
“Okay, then. Good night!” He sets off down the hallway, without a care and as if his shirtless state was the most natural thing in the world. You allow yourself a few more moments to gaze after him, and totally not to ogle his back muscles. You sigh a little, before shutting the door. Well, that was weird.
~ ~ ~
The next morning you grab breakfast at the cafeteria, the events from last night at the very back of your sleepy mind. At least they were, until a very familiar figure plops down in the empty seat across from you. “Hey.”
You lifts your eyes from your food to meet the gaze of Kim Taehyung, wearing significantly more clothing than when you last saw him. You don’t know if you’re relieved or disappointed. Maybe both. That fact does nothing to still your racing heart because, oh my god he’s here, and, shit, do I have food on my face, and, wait, what does he want? All that comes out though, is a small, “Hi.”
… Oh god, do you still have food in your mouth?
Luckily, he seems not to notice if you did, or is at least polite enough not to comment on it. “Um, so sorry for last night.” He runs a hand through his coppery hair. You make sure to swallow before answering.
“Sorry for what? I told you I believed you. By the way, you might want a doctor to look at that mole.” You attempt to tease him in order to hide the fact wow, my face feels really warm. Please don’t notice, please don’t notice, please don’t–
“But I knew what it looked like.”
“Clearly, otherwise you wouldn’t have kept saying ‘It’s not what it looks like! It’s not what it looks like!’ ” Your teasing takes on a more genuine tone. “However, when someone usually tries so hard to deny something, they’re usually hiding something,” you sing-song, pointing your fork at him.
“You said you believed me!” He whines, pouting that puppy-like pout again, and you don’t have the heart to continue. “Besides, the girl, Sera, has a boyfriend.”
“I’m just teasing you,” you admit, resting your chin in your hand and leaning ever so slightly towards him. “I mean, I might not know you too well, but you don’t seem like the type to randomly hook up with someone.” Despite his model good looks (because who were you kidding), this kid was way too sweet for that. Maybe. Hopefully. However … Your thoughts drift back to that party. Maybe you just wanted to believe that.
“However what?” Shit, did you say that out loud?
“Nothing!” You try to distract him by shoving more food in your mouth, but he isn’t having it.
“No, tell me.” He rests his arms on the table and his head on his arms, looking up at you. “Please?” That pout shows itself again and you can’t help it, you’re so damn weak.
“It’s just I keep finding you in weird situations, that’s all.” You may be weak, but you’re not that weak. Besides, how do you tell someone that you’ve caught him with his tongue down some girl’s throat? Well, caught isn’t the right word. That would imply some sort of attempt to be secretive, and that did not describe that night at all. Besides, he’s an adult, he can make his own decisions. It’s none of your business.
“What sort of weird situations?” Maybe you should have kept your mouth shut, because now Taehyung won’t let up.
“I saw you having a snowball fight randomly?” Weak. It was true, but that had to be the lamest excuse you could have given. He gave you an incredulous look.
“That’s what qualifies at weird to you?” He raises an eyebrow. “Then I wonder what you’d classify last night as.”
“Downright strange.” He gives a look as if to say, that’s fair.
“Okay, what else is downright strange?” His fingers start tracing random patterns on the table, and you wonder if he has eaten yet. You eyes wander up to his face, particularly his lips. And that’s when you see it. The little peek of a pink tongue, coming out to absentmindedly wet his mouth. You clear your throat as you feel you chest tighten up.
“Um.” You attempt to continue speaking to not draw attention to the fact that yeah, you were just ogling his fucking mouth of all things. “So, it’s kind of weird that you tried so hard to convince someone that you don’t really know that you, you know, were not doing stuff.” You could have ended it there but, of course, you had to embarrass yourself, like always. “I mean you’re an attractive guy and this is college. People hook up all the time. Besides.” Wait, no. Stop. What are you doing. “You could have just said it’s not what it looks like once and leave it at that. But you had to go and prepare a whole testimony.”
Taehyung just laughs at your rambling, the corners of his mouth curving up, but his smile doesn’t have the same box-like quality like it did last night. “You’re funny.”
You finally stop your now senseless babbling, because the last thing anyone wants is to be called funny when they’re trying not to be. Taehyung doesn’t notice right away, but slowly his chuckling starts to dwindle, and you hear him mutter something under his breath before completely stopping. He meets your eyes and holds your gaze, his tongue making another appearance to dampen his lips.
“Are you doing anything tomorrow night–“
“Can you stop doing that?” Your hands immediately clap over your mouth. The filter between your brain and your mouth really needs to be fixed, shit, you didn’t mean to say that out loud. Behind your clasped hands, you suck in a deep breath before setting your hands on the table. “I mean, your lips seem really dry. You should really invest in some chapstick.”
He blankly stares back at you, before regaining his composure. “If I do that, will you go with me to a party tomorrow night?” He says with a little smirk.
Damn, that was smooth. You stutter out your answer, a small sure, while shock sends a small jolt through your chest. Was Kim Taehyung really asking you to go with him to a party?
He either doesn’t notice your near-catatonic state, or is simply ignoring it. “Great! I’ll meet you around 10! I’ll make sure to bring chapstick!” He shoots you that rectangular grin of his, before sliding out of his chair and out of the cafeteria, leaving you gaping after him.
Christ, what have you gotten yourself into?
~ ~ ~
As yet another body jostles against you in the crowded room, you are once more reminded why you aren’t one to frequent these things. At least this time, no one has spilled their drink on you. Yet.
Meanwhile, Taehyung seems to be in his element, chatting up anyone and everyone, knowing names, faces, and the people behind them. And you haven’t even seen him touch a drop of alcohol this time around, choosing instead to have a bottle of water accompany him.
At the same time, you were halfway through your first beer and still felt as uncomfortable as ever, with your muscles tight and your heart clenching in your chest. At this rate, you’d need a shit ton of alcohol to actually enjoy yourself. You glance at Taehyung, who, despite interacting with so many people tonight, has yet to actually leave your side, and decide against anything more than two beers. You don’t want him to have to deal with your drunk ass. You also don’t want to end up making a fool of yourself in front of him. Your filter already has problems while you’re sober, you don’t want to find out what a drunk you would blurt out to Taehyung.
The rest of your beer makes a home in the back of your throat and down to your stomach. The buzz produced produced a stirring in your stomach that resembled anxiety rather than excitement, and you find yourself tugging at Taehyung’s sleeve. He quickly gets the hint, and starts to lead you to another room, mumbling to the people he was conversing with something about getting some fresh air.
Taehyung ushers you into a considerably emptier room and onto a couch. Scattered around the sparsely populated room seemed to be mostly couples, but you keep that fact to yourself, for once.
“Hey, you okay?” He rubs your shoulder comfortingly, but the gesture does the opposite of sooth you, and sends tingles through your spine. Does he even know the effect he has on you? Evidently not. You set down your now empty bottle on a nearby table and take in a few gulps of air.
“Yeah, just a bit claustrophobic. Thanks.” You take his hand to remove it from you, but he takes this opportunity to give it a reassuring squeeze, sending another rush through your body. Damn it, why is he like this?
“Do you want to go now?” He asks you, eyes brimming with concern. Your hand is still clasped within his own, and you are quick to slip it from his grasp before he can notice the beginnings of sweat on your palm.
“No, it’s fine.” You try to discreetly wipe your hand on your jeans. “You can go back to talking to your friends. I’ll be fine here.”
“Nonsense, there someone to talk to right here,” he says, his wide eyes focusing in on your tired ones. You sigh, but don’t protest. “So… do you like dogs?” He asks, trying to break the ice. You give him a quiet nod, smiling slightly. “Good, because if you didn’t, we couldn’t be friends anymore.”
His statement makes you wonder, are you guys friends? You’ve talked a handful of times before the hallway incident, and you know each other’s names, but you’re not quite sure that constitutes “friendship.” But with someone like Taehyung, who knows? And you still can’t figure out why he asked you to come with him. This isn’t date, right?
He starts digging in his pockets for something. “My mom actually sent me a picture the other day of my dog, Soonshim–“ He stops in the middle of his speech, the end of his sentence caught in the back of his throat as his eyes widen at something behind you. “Shit.” He mutters something else under his breath as well, but you have no time to dwell on it because suddenly he is a lot closer than he was 2 seconds ago, and his lips are on yours. Holy shit, Kim Taehyung is kissing you.
Kim Taehyung is kissing you.
Kim Taehyung is kissing you.
Kim Taehyung is kissing you.
It doesn’t last long, but it lasts long enough for you to feel how soft his lips are. Definitely not chapped, maybe he took your advice and got chapstick. You smile a little to yourself, both at how he took your advice and from being in a daze from the kiss. You stare at him, your jaw slack. It wouldn’t surprise you if it were actually on the floor. Across from you, Taehyung looks to you with a sheepish smile on his face.
“Sorry about that, I kind of panicked,” he says as he ruffles his hair.
Panic? Your first instinct when you panic is to kiss someone? You think you say this in your head to yourself, but the look on his face informs you that, once again, your filter either failed or simply does not exist.
“No, no, no, let me explain,” his words start going at a mile a minute. “So there’s this girl who’s been following me and honestly she’s been kind of creepy and just wasn’t letting up so I told her I had a girlfriend but I don’t think she believed me and I didn’t think she’d be here tonight but I think I saw her and I jus–“
“Oh my god, just stop. I get it. It’s fine.” Is it really, though? You start rubbing at your temples. “My head hurts.” Among other things. Shit, was he just using you? Is he just a weirdly impulsive person? You don’t want to think about it anymore, you just want to go back to your room and curl up in your bed, and maybe never come out.
While you never can seem to get into Taehyung’s head, he easily gets into yours, and immediately perceives the fatigue on your face.
“Hey, you want to go now?” He asks as he shifts his body, poised to move. You give a quick nod. God, you can’t wait to get out of here.
“Yeah. That would be ideal.”
He offers you help in getting up, but you pretend that you don’t see his outstretched hand, and start heading for the door, with Taehyung following close behind.
~ ~ ~
The walk back to the dorm is mostly silent, Taehyung always half a pace behind you. You don’t want to talk and he can tell that you don’t want to talk. And he respects that, until you two are about halfway back and he decides to speak up.
“Hey, can we talk?” He speeds up a bit so that he is now shoulder to shoulder with you.
“Yeah, I guess,” you say with a noncommittal shrug. He already gave his rambling excuse back at the party, what else could he say?
“I just want to ask if you were okay with all that.” He gestures his face, presumably trying to draw attention to his lips. The sight would have been amusing if it weren’t for the event it was referring to.
“You mean the kiss? I’m not five, Taehyung.” You don’t meet his eyes and start walking a little faster. There isn’t anything left to talk about, why is he pushing this? You cross your arms over your chest, huffing slightly. “What do you want me to say? I said it was fine.”
“But don’t you want to know why I did it?” From the corner of your eye, you catch his wide-eyed gaze at you, waiting for an answer. You stop walking and take in a deep breath. Does he really think he can keep playing you like this?
“You already told me that longwinded story. I don’t know why I keep believing you with things like this, it’s kind of ridiculous. We’ve barely even talked before, what are you even trying to convince me of? And then you just invite me out, just to—“
“I like you.”
“—holy shit.” Your eyes grow wide as you finally make eye contact with him. You give him a look that hoped communicated your sentiments of you must be kidding me.
“I’m sorry this came out of nowhere, I wanted to ask you after Chem class, but then the thing with the hallway and the shirt and the mole happened and I didn’t want you to think I was hooking up with someone–as a matter of fact I am single as fuck–and I always thought you were cute, and some of my friends keep mentioning you–“
“Wait, what? What the–what?” He’s completely out of my league, is this a joke? “What?” The words stumble out of you mouth clumsily, in complete disbelief of Taehyung’s speech.
“Is that a no, or a yes?”
“Oh my god, can you let me think for a second?” You puff out a breath as you start pacing back and forth. After a few moments, you stop and look at him. “Do you think this is funny?”
“What? No–“
“We’ve barely talked before!”
“We’re talking now!” He’s closer now, and his hands are on your shoulders. Your muscles tense under his grip, and you try to slip out of his grasp. Taehyung quickly notices your struggle, and quickly returns his hands to his sides. “Okay, I guess if that’s how you feel.” His eyes turn to the ground and his lips purse together. Now he is the one avoiding your gaze. “Come on, let’s head back to the dorm,” he says as he starts walking away, probably with the expectation that you’d follow.
“Tae, wait!” He turns back to look at you, his eyebrows raised in surprise as you grab his arm.
“What did you say?” His earlier downtrodden expression had been replaced with one of bewilderment, his mouth hanging open.
“I said to wait.” Now it’s your turn to be confused. You just called his name and told him to wait, right?
“You called me Tae.” Your face blanches at his words. Did he not like being called that? It was just what came out of your mouth, you weren’t really thinking. The peals of his soft laughter meet your ears. “It’s fine,” he chuckles. “It’s just that only close friends call me that.”
Your mouth hangs open. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t know.” You withdraw your hand from him. Leave it to you to make things even more awkward. Just great.
“No, no, no, you don’t have to apologize.” His hand twitches, as if he is holding himself back from grabbing you. “I like it–I MEAN I don’t mind it. It would be nice if we were at the point for you to call me that, but you said yourself, we haven’t really talked,” he says, a little defeated and deflated.
“Wait, Tae. Let me explain.” You find yourself absentmindedly grabbing his hand again. You really don’t mean to, you convince yourself that it’s just instinct. In your chest, your heart lurches at the slight upturn of his mouth that comes with either you calling him Tae again or from you holding his hand. Or both. Maybe both. God, what you wouldn’t give to see that box-like grin of his again.
“It’s just,” you sigh. “It’s not that I don’t like you, or that I’m not interested, oh god no that’s not it all. I’m a little bit flustered, and confused. I mean, I didn’t really expect all this, and I definitely didn’t expect that kiss.”
“…Wow, that bad, huh?” Taehyung says. He gives a little shrug of his shoulders. “I mean, I guess the last time I kissed someone, I kinda threw up.”
“You what?” He would just admit that so openly? In the back of your mind, you have your suspicions about the incident he just recalled.
“Yeah, I go a bit overboard when I drink,” he admits with a sheepish rub to the back of his head. “I was trying to stay sober tonight, so I wouldn’t do anything stupid in front of you, but I guess I did anyway.” He chuckles, trying to laugh off his own mortification. You didn’t even know Kim Taehyung could be embarrassed, but here he is in front of you, face redder than a cherry tomato. “At least if I was drunk I would have an excuse. The only excuse I have is that you looked too cute not to kiss.”
“Wait, but what about the girl you were avoiding?” Your teeth tug at your bottom lip nervously. This almost seems too good to be true.
“I mean I don’t even know if it was her, honestly. My friend said that he hadn’t seen her all night, actually.” His voice peaks up at the end of his sentence, signaling a bit of uncertainty.
“…Kim Taehyung, you little shit.” You reach over and bat at his shoulder, attempting to pout but a little bit of a smile still leaks through. “If you wanted to kiss me, you could have just asked!” You purse your lips together to prevent a grin from breaking out on your face, but you can’t control the way the corners of your mouth twitch.
“I mean hypothetically, I could. But I was nervous, I guess.” Your eyes widen. Kim Taehyung, nervous?
“Tae, you’re the most outgoing person I’ve met!” You never thought you’d see him so flustered.
“Maybe? Things are harder when you’re sober.” He laughs shakily, before lowering his voice. “It’s even harder when it’s with you.” His deep brown eyes meet yours, and you find yourself thinking that you wouldn’t mind a lifetime swimming in his eyes.
“I must be dreaming.” The words almost float out of your mouth, and you almost think that Taehyung doesn’t hear you until he brings his face in nearer and whispers.
“Well, you’re not.” His eyes flicker around, searching your own for some sort of answer, some form of consent for him to move in even closer, but you make his decision for him when you surge forward and connect his lips with yours.
The kiss from earlier that night had been too quick, and you might even question if it even happened at all. This one, however, was slow, slow enough that it slowed the world down around you. His lips move against yours unhurriedly, as if in an attempt to savor this moment, and you respond in turn. If this is a dream, you pray that you never wake up. While you’re connected, you find your hands sliding up his chest to rest on his shoulders, while his own make their way to the small of your back.
You separate after a few more moments, your face ten shades redder than it had been previously. To try to hide it, you bury your face in his chest.
“That was a yes, by the way.” Your reply is muffled into his shirt. He rubs his hand up and down on your back, and you can feel him smile into the crown of your head.
“Yeah, I know.”
“So… are you going to throw up?
“Shut up.”