soperatic

[soperatic]

age? prons?

24 and she/her!

[soperatic]

seven minutes (in hell) with you

chapter three

When Taehyung takes his first step into his future home, he is hit with a powerful and painful wave of nostalgia. 

Jeongguk had Hoseok text Taehyung to come and see the apartment that he’d be moving into before they needed to sign the lease and he hastily agreed. He isn’t that interested in checking the place out, already knowing that hundreds of students must have their eyes set on the place like vultures on dead meat. Paradise apartments are known for being pretty and well-managed but he supposes it’ll look good if people saw him going to Jeongguk’s place. Legitimize this newly sprung-on relationship some more. 

So he got ready, moved his check-in date to an earlier time and had his mom’s assistant put some things on hold for him for later. He dons his pleated white pants, a cream colored shirt and a yellow sweater vest. Pearls on his wrist and neck along with a delicate gold chain with a flower pendant. His hair looked messy enough where his curls fell naturally over his forehead. Looking perfect as always. 

But his peaceful morning turned rough fast with some lovely texts from Doeun. 

Taehyung played nicely, despite wanting to rip the little shit’s head off by reaching through his phone speaker. He’s constantly popping up at the worst fucking times. Just when Taehyung thinks he can pull his head up out of the water to breathe, Doeun is tugging him back down, filling his lungs with the liquid instead. 

doeun 

i need to see you right now

taehyung 

 i have class in an hour

doeun 

more than enough time then

He curls his fingers into his palm, trying not to lose his shit so early in the morning. 

Doeun isn’t going to leave him alone that easily. It'll take a crowbar to wrench that leech off him but that’s only if he does it himself. Taehyung needs someone that can take him down. 

He’s hoping that Jeongguk can help. 

taehyung 

look, i’m busy 

i can only see you after class

besides, we can’t be doing that anymore. 

He has Jae now. He doesn’t need Taehyung. He shouldn’t need him. 

doeun

i know that. why do you think we haven’t done it in a month?

don’t try to be smart with me taehyung

you’re pretty so let’s just stick with that okay? 

2:30

in my car

Taehyung doesn’t respond. He wants to chuck his phone out the window and watch it get run over by a semi-truck then change his name and hide for the rest of his life. He’s never hated someone this much until now. A simple text can flip his mood to a completely different end of the spectrum. The sheer sight of the guy catapults him into the heaviest state of anxiety. 

He was such an idiot this summer. A careless idiot with no idea how much he’d fuck things up later on, only caring about sex and fun. Now it feels like everyone else is picking up after his mess.  

But Taehyung doesn’t know what else he can do to get Doeun to lay off. Every time he meets up with him, there’s another thing he has to do. It’s just a constant cycle of favors and he’s completely fed up with it. He has to get Jeongguk to help. Maybe intimidate him or something since he’s got some muscle now. His dad could also help since he’s a law professor and all. Something, literally anything, would be of great help. 

A ten minute drive later and Taehyung is dropped outside the building which stands tall and luxurious, similar to most modern highrise apartments in Seoul with clean windows and white exteriors. The parking garage starts on the ground floor where people park their fancy cars and motorbikes before going further underground. Taehyung thinks he spots Jeongguk’s Mercedes among the slew of Porsches and Audis. It leads into the main lobby where people come in by punching a unique code. Jeongguk did him the favor of texting it to him. 

0613. The door unlocks and Taehyung enters the lobby. It’s just as majestic as he’d imagined, with marble floors and pillars. There’s no one at the front desk, just an empty hall with some elevators and a door for stairs. The walls are stark white and the floors are made of pristine black and white tiles laid out in a simple pattern. A map is hung on the wall which tells him about all the amenities offered in the building. The air smelled a little lemony from cleaning products. There’s a rec room and an indoor pool along with a spa and a study room down the hall for students to use. If Taehyung listened closely, he could hear people giggling in said rooms. 

Quickly, he takes the elevator and gets onto the 2nd floor where Jeongguk’s apartment is. The elevator is nice, cold and empty. There’s a poster hanging on the left wall with phone numbers for the police and a sexual assault help line. The right side is a cheesy poster about peer pressure. It makes Taehyung snort to himself. 

As much as you try to market things like alcohol and drugs as bad things to students, the more inclined they are to try them. Turns them curious. 

When the door opens, he sees an empty hallway with rooms on either side. Some have placemats, some have doors with whiteboards or funny signs. Someone even hung a poster of IU as an angel on their door.  But Jeongguk’s door is completely bare. Just a simple dark gray placemat outside and not a single drop of personality. Pretty much like him.

Taehyung rings the doorbell once and knocks, practicing his brightest smile to greet his brand new boyfriend. There’s not a single soul out here but who knows, maybe they’re staring at them through the peephole or hiding behind walls to study them. He wouldn’t be surprised if at least one person was tracking his every move ever since those pictures came out.

The door swings open a few seconds later and reveals a full mouthed Jeongguk chewing. 

“Morning baby,” Taehyung grins and holds up a warm americano he picked up from the cafe in the lobby of his hotel. His body leans perfectly on the door frame, and his legs cross over delicately. “Had breakfast yet?” 

Jeongguk looks back at him indifferently for a moment before rolling his eyes and ignoring both his greeting and his question, stepping to the side to let Taehyung in. 

“You’re twenty minutes late.” 

Jeongguk looks rather funny in the mornings. He’s always hated waking up early so his hair is still messy and his eyes bleary but his black oversized Balenciaga t-shirt and wide legged jeans really complete the disheveled emo-hobo gone chic core he’s got going on.  His cologne wafts over to Taehyung, smells expensive and clean with notes of cotton and violets. Doesn’t fit his aesthetic but it strangely fits him. His eyelids are low and his lips are lighter and a little cracked without the slight tinted lip balm he always uses. 

“It’s called being fashionably late, my darling,” he coos. Jeongguk snatches the drink from his hands with a low grumble and shuts the door behind him. When the self-lock clicks shut, Taehyung’s nice demeanor fades. “Okay, we really need to work on your acting skills.”

“No one is out right now.” Jeongguk turns his back to him, shaking out his hair. 

“Someone could’ve been listening through the door,” he argues. “You’re such a fucking dumbass sometimes.” Taehyung’s head shakes. Jeongguk is way too lax about this entire thing! 

He toes his shoes off and when he inhales he is hit in the stomach with something familiar that makes him pause. The apartment smells like those specific candles, the handmade ones you buy at expensive grocery stores made from the purest wax and real fragrance. 

The kind that Jeongguk’s mother always used to buy. 

His house always smelled like this fucking candle. There seemed to be one in every corner, lit with a crackling wick and scenting each room completely in its saturated, soft, flowery goodness. 

Taehyung tries to swallow down bitter saliva when his brain throws a slew of memories at him like their back-to-back sleepovers where he’d be chasing Jeongguk around in his backyard while playing tag or going diving for “treasure” in his pool during the summers. Matcha cookies and pork grilled to perfection by Jeongguk’s dad after a long day in the water. He remembers movie nights on the floor of  Jeongguk’s bedroom, turtle chips and cheese balls in the middle of the night, playing on each other’s DS for hours on end and sleeping next to each other on his bed until Taehyung would eventually give in and throw his arms around the younger because he needs to hold something to fall asleep. 

It’s amazing how a scent can trigger such painfully sweet memories. 

He shakes his head and looks to his side by the entrance. There’s a small shoe rack with pairs stacked neatly. Taehyung sets his loafers down next to a pair of chunky Prada boots then looks up at the younger, hoping that the painful twinges he’s currently experiencing aren’t obvious by his expression.

Jeongguk rolls his eyes, seated at the counter where barstools are lined underneath. He’s got a bowl of cereal and cut fruit laid out next to the to-go coffee cup. “Look, I don’t have time for your bullshit right now. I have class in a bit, I have to finish breakfast and we still need to drive to the housing office to sign the lease so you can move in before the line gets too long. So just look around or do whatever you have to do and quickly,” he waves him off, taking a bite of his corn flakes. 

Ideally, he could walk away after getting scolded like an annoying child but no, Taehyung is not letting him get away with that. No one speaks to him this way.

“Only if you give me a tour.” His arms cross over his chest defiantly, raising a single eyebrow. Slowly, Jeongguk turns his head to his gaze and if looks could kill, Taehyung would be buried six feet under. 

“Do your legs not work or something? Tour it yourself.”

He ignores the sting in his chest. “As a future rent payer, I demand a tour.” He balances on the balls of his feet, looking oh-so innocent with the straw of his half-empty watermelon juice between his pink lips. “It’s the least you could do for me after I saved your ass back there with Jae.” 

It’s not like he really needs a tour but he needs to establish the relationship here. Or, re-establish. Taehyung is older (born a year before in December) and he came up with this entire idea of fake dating so Jeongguk, being the younger one, should be grateful and stop being a little shit by giving him a tour. Paying him back and all that, you know? 

His eyes flash with anger. “I didn’t ask for–” he stops himself and clenches his eyes shut for a moment before letting out a pinched, shaky exhale. “Fine, I’ll give you a stupid fucking tour.” Jeongguk glares at him. 

Although Taehyung is so curious as to what he was going to say. You didn’t ask for what? 

Didn’t ask to be in a fake relationship with me? 

Jeongguk gets up, taking his bowl in his hand, and mutters under his breath about wanting to end it all before starting.“This is the kitchen,” he lists in a monotone, pointing to the open kitchen with rustic wood cabinets and cream marble countertops. There’s a rice cooker, air fryer and a French press lined against the gray tile backsplash lit up by white LED lights under the cabinets but besides that, spotless. No pans on the induction stove, not even a mug in the sink. A microwave above the oven and right next to that is an impressively large fridge. There’s that offensive lit candle next to the sink across the stove. Since there’s no dining table, the counter raised above the sink has ample eating space and barstools lined underneath the extended counter for eating space. 

Across from there is a small open living room with a window facing the street and another candle on the coffee table, unlit this time. 

“Couch, fake plant, tv, coffee table,” he points to each for a second before moving on, tone so miserable Taehyung genuinely enjoys it. .

He notes the coffee brown couch and the matching wood grain coffee table with a tv remote, some more unlit candles, a pack of cards and an airpod case charging. Across from that is a regular sized TV on top of a stand and a fake fern next to it. 

Under the coffee table are various wicker and cloth baskets with things inside that Taehyung has yet to learn about. The entertainment stand has a Playstation and a few games and movies lined neatly in the storage cabinets. 

There are two hallways on either side of the kitchen. Jeongguk points to the left one where a closed room lies at the end. “My bedroom.” There’s another door closer to the kitchen but on the adjacent wall of the left hallway. “In-unit washer and dryer. Your room will be on the right side of the kitchen.” 

So we’ll be divided? Meaning Taehyung will live in his own world in his own room without even thinking about Jeongguk? Not that he gives a shit, but how was this even considered  for him and Jae, a couple supposedly living together? 

Jeongguk points to the right hallway where there’s a room at the end of the hall and another one on the wall. He gestures for Taehyung to walk behind him. Begrudgingly, he does so. 

“You know, the lack of decoration in here is giving you serious serial killer vibes.” The pale white is making him sick. “Couldn’t you have hung up a poster or a polaroid of your friends? It’s like you have no personality.” Taehyung points a finger to the bare drywall, dragging it along the prickly walls. He wonders what happened to the old Jeongguk who used to get a new obsession every week, from different girl groups to a new anime.

“I’ll buy some later.” Jeongguk waves off, shoveling more soggy cereal to his lips. “And here is your room.”  

The doorknob untwists and Jeongguk moves out of the way, pressing his back to the adjacent wall so he can eat in peace. 

Taehyung steps in. It's a college apartment so it comes furnished with a bed and a mattress, a nightstand, a chair and a desk. There’s an en suite bathroom and a walk-in closet that are decent in size. His walls are the same eggshell white with an AC vent and overhead lights hanging in a set of four. This is the only room devoid of that smell from the candles and Taehyung takes a deep breath in to clear his mind. 

He tries to visualize it. His sage green sheets and cream pillows. Posters and art pieces hung on the wall, pictures of his friends littered across. He could get a calendar and tape it above his desk and by organizers for his school stuff and keep his tennis gear in a corner. Maybe buy a space heater in the winter so his room can become the ultimate cabin when it’s snowing outside.

This will work. Sure, it’s nothing compared to the size of his room at Josun Palace but he doesn’t need much. 

At the very least, it’s a home. It’s something he can come back to, a constant. Not a lifeless hotel room nor will it require a heavy drive through Seoul traffic. It’s his own little spot for him at school, a place where he can be himself unapologetically. 

He turns around to find Jeongguk now leaning against the frame, chugging the last of his milk so the veins in his neck and Adam’s apple move. His neck bends back and he swallows the last of his breakfast with spots of creamy white on his lips before wiping it off with the back of his hand. Quirking a brow, he waits for Taehyung’s opinion on the place. Taehyung’s heart weirdly speeds up for a moment.

“I like it,” he nods. Jeongguk’s hand dangles by his thigh and Taehyung can see a silver Rolex around his wrist. 

“Perfect. Let’s go to the housing office then.” Jeongguk nods to the kitchen and turns around before Taehyung even takes his first step, giving him a few of his back and the back of his head. Curls swishing with his movement, shining in the streams of light coming in all directions. 

He gets this inexplicable urge to run his fingers through it but Taehyung pushes it down the moment it pops up.

On the way out there’s another unmentioned closet in the hallway just before the main kitchen/living room area that Taehyung pulls open curiously which Jeongguk doesn’t notice. Part of him was expecting something crazy like for it to be his sex dungeon or weapon storage for when the apocalypse finally happens.  All he finds is a vacuum, a broom and a Swiffer along with some cleaning products and refill packs.

Boring. He closes it with a disappointed pout  but it raises a question for Taehyung. 

“By the way, how often does your maid come by?” He stops closer to the younger than before who sits and starts on his bowl of apples. “And what about a personal chef or do you just order in every time?” 

Since Paradise has a higher rent compared to dorms or commuting from home, Taehyung assumed Jeongguk would be living life similar to his life in Gangnam: with all of his amenities provided for him. That’s how they grew up after all. Never having to lift a finger without someone rushing to help. Most of the people they know have never scrubbed a dish or vacuumed the floor in their entire life. 

Taehyung swears he sees the side of Jeongguk’s cheek perk up almost fondly at his question.

“Well, you’re looking at my personal maid and chef,” his finger presses to his chest. “Although I hate to break it to you, I only work for Mr. Jeon.” Jeongguk fakes an awkward wince to go along with his bit. “Sorry about that.” 

Taehyung’s fuse begins to shorten at the taunt. “You’re not hiring any helpers?” 

He’s shocked. It’s not like his parents don’t have the money for it. His mother’s makeup company couldn’t be doing better. His dad got tenure at SNU after only three years since leaving a very prestigious law firm. They should be bathing in cash. He should be sneezing into ₩500 bills instead of tissues. 

But Jeongguk just scoffs at him like he’s a stupid little child. “It’s a two-bedroom apartment, I think I can handle taking care of it and myself,” he plops one of the apple slices into his mouth and chews with his mouth closed politely. “You can hire them if you want but they should only worry about you and your shit.”

Does he think Taehyung is not capable of cleaning and cooking for himself? “I can handle this on my own too, you know,” he argues back. Taehyung isn’t an idiot. How hard must this be anyways? He’s an adult and millions of people live alone. Yoongi and Jimin survive.  “I won’t hire one if you aren’t,” he declares, only to prove a point. 

Although his mother would be particularly proud of this statement, Taehyung doesn’t know much about how to take care of an apartment or cook anything other than instant ramen. 

But like he said, the internet is free so he’ll pick it up in no time and not make a fool of himself in front of Jeongguk. 

“Fine with me.” Jeongguk shrugs. A moment of silence lulls the conversation. Jeongguk pops another apple in his mouth and his crunching breaks the silence in the air. Taehyung looks out the window to take his mind off the noise, studying the various people walking along the lined path to the bus stop while bike riders occupy the right lane. Then he looks at that stupid candle briefly before jumping back to the wicker baskets shelved under the coffee table.

One has controllers, remotes, four karaoke mics and extra batteries while the other has lighters, coasters and a pack of disinfecting wipes. 

What are those mics for? Jeongguk hates karaoke. Taehyung used to have to drag him to the booths and force an IU or Red Velvet song on him. Now he does it on his own? 

Who are you and what have you done with my Jeongguk? 

Taehyung almost asks when he turns to look back at him but he stops when their gazes meet. 

There’s apprehension in Jeongguk’s eyes. As if the cold front he’s been displaying ever since the party cracks in the middle just a bit, revealing that familiar pensive look. He watches Taehyung carefully from where he sits, eyes dancing all over his body and face, and it drives him insane as much as it causes all of his muscles to stiffen. 

“Spit it out,” Taehyung scoffs, holding a hand out so he can have a piece of apple too.

Jeongguk places one in his hand softly, wet and cold. “Do you really want to do this? Like, live with me of all people?” 

There was once a time when Taehyung and Jeongguk made plans to buy a vacation home together. Back when his parents first divorced and he was sad, Jeongguk promised to make him happy by buying him a home in the nicest place possible so they could escape there whenever they were sad. Taehyung perked up a little at that. A spot for him and his best friend where nothing else mattered but them. Where they could run away from all of the demands of their current life and just have fun. 

When you’re 8, empty promises like that mean so much. 

And now, here they are. Jeongguk is renting an apartment at their university and Taehyung gets to live here even though he wasn’t the first choice. That happy shiny dream of living together was smashed into smithereens a while ago and now it feels like the perfect opportunity to piece it back together slowly. A second chance. 

Would eight-year-old Taehyung be happy with how things turned out? Would he be happy once he learned what he did to Jeongguk five years later? 

“There’s no backing out now, Jeon.” His voice comes out gruffer than he would like. He needs to push out that guilty feeling building up in his chest. He did it. There’s no going back. “Had I known someone else with an empty room I could take, I would’ve said their name instead of yours but I don’t. This has nothing to do with our past. I don’t care about it so you shouldn’t either, okay?” 

It’s a lie. A big fat fucking lie. 

Not a day goes by where he wishes he could switch back to how they used to be or go back in time to stop himself from ending everything but he doesn’t know how and there’s nothing he can do about it. There were nights when he wondered what Jeongguk was doing, old inside jokes reappearing that make him laugh inexplicably but no one would get, every time he saw matcha cookies and played Mario Kart. Taehyung realized how his childhood was interwoven with Jeongguk’s where every warm memory brought up a pair of curiously wide eyes and a soft laugh. 

But what can he do? There’s no way Jeongguk would actually want him back in his life again, especially now that he’s found better friends. 

And he’s gotten used to life without Jeongguk, filling the empty canyon inside of his heart with other things and people in hopes that they would feel somewhat similar. All of their closeness has melted away, leaving the awkwardness and nothing else. 

The apple in his hand weighs heavy. Taehyung takes a bite and the cold sweetness meets his teeth, juices flooding his mouth. It tastes good but there is the onset of regret flooding his system that spoils it.

Jeongguk’s gaze hardens quickly. That momentary vulnerability that showed for just a few seconds is gone and replaced with his emotionless stare and set eyebrows. Gone, poof, disappeared, and he’s back to being an impenetrable wall. He turns to the side and swallows shakily. 

“Fine, I won’t.” He snatches his bowl closer to him and gets up from the stool. “The housing center opened about 30 minutes ago so there shouldn’t be too much of a line. I just need to grab my stuff first and then we’ll go.” He’s detached when he talks, emotionless and quiet. 

Jeongguk is already walking away before Taehyung can respond. His body retreats back to his room at the end of the hall and when the door shuts, the silence rings in Taehyung’s ear. 

Now it’s just him and the scent of that fucking candle.

He shakes his head and walks over to the trash can to dispose of his plastic cup. Taehyung’s mind runs a mile a minute. Doeun, tennis team, Jimin and Yoongi, Instagram, Jeongguk, school, his followers, his mom and step-dad. How much longer can he juggle everything on his own?  

The facade of perfect It-Boy Kim Taehyung that he’s been building since his first tabloid appearance will shatter the moment he’s weak and everyone comes to know about his fake relationship and about what happened with Doeun. 

Taehyung doesn’t want to wait for that day. Everything he does is all part of a plan. Meticulously, thought out after yesterday. He’s going to fake date Jeongguk, get Doeun off his back, play a great season of tennis, pass his classes and hang out with his friends and family all in one go. He just has to work a bit harder at it. That’s all. 

And more importantly, he has to stop thinking about his past with Jeongguk. It’s dead, over, caputze. 

The trash bin automatically closes shut and he walks away but not before blowing the flickering candle flame that’s been poisoning his mind out. 

⍟⍟⍟

“Okay, your car is really fucking nice.” 

Taehyung practically melts into the buttery black leather seats like he’s becoming one with the damn thing, feeling the warmers do wonders on his frozen skin thanks to the AC being on full blast at the housing office. He’s seen Jeongguk’s car before, in the parking lot or on his driveway, but he has never been in it nor has he ever seen Jeongguk drive it before. 

And both were quite the sight. 

He has color changing LED lights to illuminate the seats and armrests, a touch-screen display and multiple events along with a button gear shift. Then there’s the Spiderman vanilla-scented car freshener hanging on the rearview mirror. Typical Jeongguk.

Jeongguk scoffs. “Didn’t think you’d actually like it. But just to let you know, your opinion means fuck all to me .” He presses the R shift and backs out with one hand. 

Taehyung rolls his eyes and tries to focus on what he’s doing rather than his words.

Oh right, Jeongguk driving. Yes, yeah, well, his hands when he’s driving are truly something else to look at. His knuckles are knobby and wide with his fingers are maybe a centimeter shorter than Taehyung’s. But the tendons and veins that become more prominent at the smallest thing are…nice to stare at. Along with the subtle flex of the muscles in his forearms that ripple whenever the steering wheel is turned. 

But that’s totally normal. Taehyung’s hands and arms do the same thing (sort of) so if his brain could stop thirsting over the bare minimum, that would be great. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Taehyung asks, clearing his throat and pressing more into the interior of his seat.

“I don’t know. Hobi calls it the Douchebag Mobile so,” he shrugs, changing gears and getting out of the housing offices’ parking lot. 

Thankfully, there was no one there so Taehyung signed his lease and got out before anyone could see them and they had to pretend by holding hands or some other form of PDA . His phone had most of his bank information and now he just has to send the check and move in. He texts his mother’s assistant to drop off the stuff today. 

“He was so right for that,” Taehyung bites his lip so he doesn’t let out a smile. “Most fuckboys tend to get these kinds of cars. You’re one perm away from sliding into someone’s DMs, asking for nudes, barely flirting with them and then having godawful selfish sex before completely ghosting them.”

“I’m not a fuckboy,” he presses, sending a small glare his way. 

Jeongguk goes onto the main road. The main parking structure is only two minutes away so they’ll have ample time to walk to their classes with their friends. 

Taehyung snorts. “Relax, you’re in a relationship so no one will suspect you of such treachery.” 

Jeongguk has always been more of the relationship type from Taehyung’s memory. There has yet to be a rumor about him shamelessly flirting with anyone or hooking up with people. Then again, no one batted an eye when he started dating Jae. 

“Whatever.”

The radio plays way too softly in the background so Taehyung can barely hear the cheesy American pop song that’ll take his mind off of everything that blurs his brain completely. 

He opts to look outside instead. There’s a group of first-year girls who walk in clusters, gabbing excitedly about something while one girl lingers in the back all alone. In the bike lane, a boy rides a hoverboard decked out in some downright disrespectfully ugly hypebeast clothing (Hoseok would die on the inside). 

Today is Tuesday and it’s one of Taehyung’s longer days of classes and discussions. Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be his dead days, especially when games are beginning, but thankfully he doesn’t have much Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He wonders what Jeongguk’s schedule is like so they can go back to the apartment together.  Hopefully they coincide so Taehyung doesn’t have to get a cab back or ask Yoongi to drive him. 

His fingers tap on his knees the entire time, begging for something, literally anything, to be interesting enough for the final minutes of this already short drive until Taehyung bites the bullet and opens his mouth. 

“So,” Taehyung stretches, “how’s your sister?” He decides to ask out of sheer curiosity. 

Jihyo graduated last year and got into a great law school in Seoul. The same one their father went to. Growing up as an only child at first, Taehyung always relied on Jihyo. She was sweet and caring and loving so he was really proud to hear about her success post-grad.  

Jeongguk’s teeth tease the skin of his bottom lip. “Fine.” His tone is clipped. 

“Just fine?”

Taehyung doesn’t get why he’s pushing a stick up his ass. He’s known Jeongguk’s sister almost his entire life. They went to tennis camp together, she led the girl’s tennis team and even recommended Taehyung as captain. 

For fuck sake, she used to put bright red lipstick and horrendous green eyeshadow on both of them whenever they got too loud as punishment. There’s no reason to get all defensive over her. 

“She’s taking the semester off before starting law school. She just came back from Milan last week.” 

He feels some of the icy tension begin to melt at the briefest drop of information, which is good. So he prods further. “Cool, cool. And your parents?” 

Jeongguk inhales sharply, turning his head to glare at Taehyung. “Kim,” he warns and the budding lightness is immediately crushed by the heavy boulder that Jeongguk drops on the conversation. 

“What? Am I not allowed to ask questions?” Taehyung interrupts. His shoulders rise up in defense mode. 

So I can ask about his sister but not his parents? What kind of backwards logic is that?

“I know you don’t actually give a fuck about my family.” He spits out harshly, turning into the parking structure to the security machine. “So don’t force out these stupid questions. I’m not interested in small talk with you.”

The car slowly stops and he presses a button on the side panel to lower his window. Jeongguk’s left hand goes to the center console to pull out a tag for the machine to scan. 

Taehyung crosses his arms over his chest, curling into himself some more to block out Jeongguk’s coarse words. Each step he takes feels incorrect, like he’s striking a nerve, so now Taehyung has to play this silly little guessing game to see what topics are okay and what topics will make Jeongguk get all bitchy. 

This is about to be three months of straight-up torture, he thinks to himself. Taehyung leans his head back against the headrest and curiously turns to look at Jeongguk. 

He’s wearing a short sleeve so when he puts weight on his right arm while leaning forward, his muscles strain and flex. Taehyung’s eyes fall on it, watching as the size of his forearm increases, veins mapping out the most beautiful pattern right in front of his eyes and Taehyung is gaping like he was invited front-row to watch Monet paint the water lilies. His mouth goes completely dry. 

Taehyung briefly wonders how those muscles would feel under his hand. If he reached out and pressed down on the veins, what would Jeongguk do? 

But he snaps out of it. They’re fighting. 

And Jeongguk doesn’t like him. 

“You know, I would really like it if you’d stop making assumptions about what I want or care about, please and thank you,” he manages to retort back, shaking the image of his sexy arm out of his head.  

The machine beeps and the clearance bar lifts to let his car through. Jeongguk rolls the window back up so humid air doesn’t get inside before scoffing loudly. 

“So you’re telling me you do care?”

He was just trying to break the awkward ice with some small talk but apparently that word does not exist in Jeongguk’s brain. 

“Well, I–”

Jeongguk cuts in. “You don’t. You don’t even like me and I don’t like you either. So save your words for someone else.” His words cut deep like a sharp knife into Taehyung’s side. 

“God, you are insufferable, you know that? How does anyone have a conversation with you?” His body shifts as the car turns into the structure, first floor, slot number 901. 

“Me? I can talk with the people I like with no problem but with you? If someone could measure my dislike for even breathing the same air as you, it would be in the billions.” 

Taehyung was glad that the car was moving before because he was gifted the luxury of not having Jeongguk’s eyes on him. But when he parks the car and turns to look at him, making his jab hit harder with challenging, low-set eyes, it sparks a lick of flame in his stomach. 

Like an idiot, he presses the button on his belt buckle, freeing his body from the restraint so he can lean closer to the other. 

“Well, mine would be in the trillions.” 

“Mine would be infinite.”  His jawline ticks and dear god, that is one nice fucking jawline. 

Taehyung splutters. “You wouldn’t be able to calculate mine because it’s so big and-and imcountable.” He slips up. 

Jeongguk smirks, clicking his own belt free. “Yeah, imcountable.” He knows he won that one, fucker. The confidence radiates off of him like rays off the sun. 

Taehyung is so terribly floored, not just by the slight decrease in space but also because Jeongguk is fighting back. When they were younger, he would always fall short, lose, and then pout about it for a little before letting it go. Taehyung always won these short little back-and-forth battles but now, he’s holding his own. 

He’s fighting back. He’s gotten older now, no longer the trailing little boy that clung to his Dad’s legs whenever he met new people. Jeongguk has some sureness in his stance and less of an insecure gleam tugging his face down. 

And it’s kind of…. hot. 

Taehyung hates that he’s finding the smallest thing attractive about a guy who just claimed he hates even breathing the same air as him but he can’t help it. There’s growth and it’s led to making that shy boy into a man. A very sexy, intimidating man that can keep up with his petty bullshit.

He opens his mouth to taunt further, see if Jeongguk can meet his friendly fire with some of his own, but then there’s a rough tap on Jeongguk’s window and both him and Taehyung jump at the sound. 

The window reveals none other than Seokjin with a teasing glint in his usually soft eyes. 

“Are you going to get out or do I need to give you two lovebirds some private time?” 

Taehyung stares back at him like a deer in headlights. He swears his heart has leaped up to his damn esophagus, pounding like anything despite literally nothing happening. It’s as if all coherent, logical thought has completely evaporated from his mind and he’s being controlled by some exterior thirsty force that thinks everything a man he supposedly despises does is sexy. 

It’s probably just touch starvation. Let’s go with that. 

His fingers scramble to press the unlock button on his door, hauling his bag up and getting out of that vanilla-scented hellscape before Jeongguk can say anything else. Taehyung is welcomed by fresh air and the sight of their four other friends standing around Jeongguk’s parked car with giddy little smiles on their faces. 

“Morning, Romeo,” Jimin teases. “You and Juliet have a rough start?” The others giggle and Taehyung shoves his hands into his pockets so he doesn’t thwack the blonde on the forehead. 

“Don’t even start with me, Park,” he warns, tugging his bag onto his shoulder and forcing himself not to look when he hears Jeongguk get out of the car and lock it, standing next to Seokjin rather than him. 

Jimin just giggles. “You two will be in the honeymoon phase before you know it.” 

Yeah, when pigs fly. Jeongguk would rather drink battery acid than be near him so the honeymoon, lovey-dovey, actually happy stage seems impossible. Not that he wants it either.

Somehow, they’ll have to pretend with other people around. Taehyung doesn’t know if Jeongguk is going to snap at simple small talk but it’s not like either of them has a choice right now. 

He just rolls his eyes. “Let’s just go.” Other people are parking their cars here so they should move and put on a show before anyone notices the lack of chemistry between the newest It-Couple. 

Briefly, he glances at Hoseok and Seokjin who were crowding around Jeongguk, ruffling his hair and giving him hugs and pinching his cheeks. Taehyung watches bitterly as he smiles at them. 

Like a real, genuine, cute smile. Something that Taehyung has not gotten once from him in years. 

Seokjin says something to make them laugh and Hoseok giggles so hard he trips into Jeongguk, who holds him up with a grip on his forearms. His nose scrunches and his eyes narrow while the brightness of his smile takes up his face like a beam of light. The older slaps Jeongguk’s shoulder, stumbling just a bit but mainly watching Hoseok’s face change animatedly as he beams and claps with laughter. 

Taehyung’s body goes rigid. His lips purse as the nastiest feeling floods his system. 

Without a second thought, he walks over as Yoongi and Jimin are ushering them to leave. “Jeon,” he calls, watching as Jeongguk’s smile begins to crumble at this voice. It’s like a slap to his face.“It’s time for us to go to class.” 

The pit in Taehyung’s stomach grows deeper as Jeongugk’s expression fades to a look of discontent. He was just giggling and laughing two seconds ago. 

“Ugh, fine.” He waves goodbye to the others as they walk ahead of him, patting his cheeks or squeezing the back of his neck in parting. Taehyung watches silently and then moves to the spot right next to him. 

His shoulder is so close to Jeongguk’s that he can feel the heat radiating off of his body. The smell of his perfume hits Taehyung’s nose along with the lingering smell of sunscreen and hair serum. It’s such a soft and sweet smell that if he were to close his eyes, he could imagine himself in a flower field on a warm spring day. 

“Well, jeez. Don’t get too excited, buddy.” He holds his hand out in front of Jeongguk. His right one, to be exact, and keeps it up in the air while his eyes scan around for other bystanders walking by them.

Judging by the way Yoongi and Jimin are like in public, Taehyung decided in the car that it would look good if they walked to the main quad together, hand in hand, to say goodbye (in front of other people) to get a nice head start on this thing. Nothing too raunchy but nothing too stiff either.

A few seconds go by with Taehyung’s hand floating lonely in the air while Jeongguk seems to be looking everywhere but him. Practically whistling and rocking on the balls of his feet for the next step. 

Taehyung is going to bash his head in. “Hey,” he calls, waving the outstretched hand in front of his face. 

“What?”

“I’m gonna fucking kill you. Did you not see my hand?” For effect, he stretches his hand out once more, staring right into Jeongguk’s eyes while his fingers wave in the air all lonely. He just hopes no one is paying close attention to them, or they’ll catch their act in two seconds flat. 

Jeongguk just rolls his eyes for the millionth time but before Taehyung can jab him with another retort, his hand is clasped around Taehyung’s. 

Taehyung tries not to overthink it. Holding hands is straightforward, the tiniest bit of contact, and it’s one of the least demanding things he can do with Jeongguk. Nothing compared to having to kiss him. 

But his fingers, which have always been long and daunting, fit well with Jeongguk. He doesn’t feel like a giant holding someone’s hand. The length actually works because Taehyung’s fingers can fully encompass his wide palm and Jeongguk’s palm is big enough to capture his smaller one. Like a perfect fit, two pieces of a puzzle that you’ve been trying to solve. 

No intertwining fingers, Taehyung isn’t there just yet, but this is fine. For now. 

“Just shoot me now.” He mutters under his breath. Taehyung catches it over the loud thump of his heart. In retaliation, his nails softly dig into the flesh of Jeongguk’s hands, getting a jolt in response as they leave the parking structure. 

“Don't worry. If you keep this shit attitude up then I might just make that dream of yours come true.”

His friends are quite a few paces ahead, already in their respective “couples” and waiting for Taehyung and Jeongguk to appear under the green trees with beams of fresh sunlight peeking through the spaces. It’s a nice day out, not too disgustingly hot to the point where Taehyung feels like he might die. He’d be happier if the guy he was holding hands with wasn’t such a piece of shit. 

“Oh goodie!” Jeongguk cheers sarcastically, putting on a cheerful animated voice. “Holding hands! Wow, I love dating you. I could do this all day.” His free hand cups the side of his cheek, fingers drumming gently while his eyelashes flutter like a smitten anime character. 

Taehyung quirks a brow in response, trying not to smile. “Is that a challenge?”  

Because, if he really wanted to, he could be the prissy bratty princess of Jeongguk’s nightmares.    

He scoffs. “Please, you couldn't handle all of me.” Jeongguk’s hand gets to the door handle before Taehyung and he holds the door open for him. 

Taehyung doesn’t expect it so for the first few seconds, he’s standing in front of the open door with a funny expression on his face as if Jeongguk is gonna cut through and slam the door in his face. 

He shakes his head slightly and walks first so Jeongguk misses the heat building over his cheeks. 

“Handle you? You're throwing a fit over us holding hands.” What does he think is going to happen when they kiss?  

Jeongguk follows him, hands still connected and leaving faster than usual to quip back fast enough. 

“This is nothing. When I get into it, I can be everything you hate. The ultimate romantic. People will get so sick of us that our relationship will be mentioned even after all of this is done and you’re fucking married with kids. I’ll be like the cheesy male lead in a K-drama that makes your fucking teeth hurt.” 

“Oh yeah?” Taehyung challenges him. He’s not dropping this so quickly. If Jeongguk wants to play the cheesy rom-com boy then he can play the other end too. “You think you can date me that well?” 

And then Jeongguk steps just a bit closer, leaning in so his face is right in line with Taehyung, making perfect, strong, powerful eye contact. “You’d be surprised.” 

His voice is just short of a husky whisper. Taehyung can feel the gentle breeze of his breath intertwined with the fall wind. He swears his entire body stiffens at the sight of Jeongguk so close to him, all of his moles, the shape of his nose, his beautiful eyes, the perfect shape of his glistening lips, it turns tantalizing.

Taehyung doesn’t want to back down just yet.  “Okay then, show me. Give me a little taste.”

He has no idea what to expect. Jeongguk is probably speaking out of his ass, trying to get under Taehyung’s skin with comments like this, knowing that he’s never been the type to drop an argument unless he wins it. Not much has changed with him anyways. Taehyung is hard to crack and  hard to get through. Cold and enigmatic, an emotionless hedonist. The complete opposite of Jeongguk. 

Emotions are scary and difficult to comprehend which is why Taehyung has always preferred hooking up over dating. Pure pleasure and nothing else while Jeongguk wanted to live in shoujo manga, wanted all of the romantic bits, the slow bits, the angry bits, and the bits in between. 

It’s what made their friendship so endearing to everyone else. Jeongguk was always so upfront about how he felt while Taehyung held it in, cried alone, and got angry behind closed doors. 

If he was mellow water, Jeongguk was a bright fire. Cold hidden depth and burning passion. 

Two seconds go by without Jeongguk doing anything and he has Taehyung thinking that nothing is going to happen right until he feels it. His jaw goes a little slack, lips parting to let out the smallest inaudible gasp. 

Because Jeongguk decides to let go of his hand and slip it into Taheyung’s back pocket, pulling him onto his side with his grip. 

A line of electricity jolts up Taehyung’s spine thanks to the heat of Jeongguk’s hand inside his pocket. It feels warmer almost, adding to his body temperature and causing a thin line of perspiration to build on his skin.

He freezes up, shoulders going to his ears, pausing in the middle of the path up to campus while trying to register all of this. Taehyung’s mind goes completely blank, void of any other thought besides this. 

And remember those big palms? Yeah, Jeongguk has to squeeze his hand into the tight pocket, curving his hand around the round flesh of Taehyung’s ass just right. Such an almost sensation thanks to the fabric of his stupid pants and his stupid boxers. 

One group of guys look at the four of them, whispering and pointing amongst each other. Taehyung can’t even catch their words or greet them. He can’t even look up from the ground because if he does, he will blush like a smitten schoolgirl and that is so not the vibe he’s trying to go for. He has a reputation to uphold but it’s so easy to forget about right now while Jeongguk palms his cheeks.

“Is this,” Jeongguk starts, the previous fire in his tone dimmed down to a slightly concerned one, “Is this okay with you?” His eyes are trained on Taehyung’s facial expression and judging by the lack of words coming from his mouth, he’s probably reading this the wrong way, which is totally understandable. 

Because Taehyung is at the crossroads of wanting to push Jeongguk away and wanting him to squeeze his ass once at the same time, just to see how it feels. 

Look, he’s had guys do way worse than stick their hands in his back pocket but this, this feels like something brand new. The simplicity and the nonchalant territorialism exuding off the action. Jeongguk’s hand molded along the cleft of his butt so if some creep wants to gawk at him, they’ll see his hand before anything else.

It’s so fucking hot. Taehyung feels wanted and in the best way possible. 

He clears his throat. “Yeah it’s,” he does it again, “it’s fine with me.” He hopes his face isn’t bright red. “Is this an excuse just to feel my ass? Because I get it, Jeon. Lots of guys would kill to be in your place.” Judging by the way they stare, it should be apparent. 

Jeongguk scoffs, shoulders shaking for less than a second. “It isn’t,” he answers honestly and to Taehyung, that’s a sign that the game is over. He has nothing left to say anyways. 

So he drops it and lets silence lull over them from the crosswalk up the path to the main quad. 

Taehyung continues to walk and his eyes make sure to veer clear of Jeongguk’s gaze. With every step he takes, he feels Jeongguk’s palm, his fingers, and the press of his arm against his lower back. His nose is flooded with the scent of him, that cottony floral mixed with a hint of that candle he always burns.

The tree-lined path allows for the streams of sunlight to light up patches of his skin, his hair and his clothes so the burning heat becomes less intense and Taehyung can focus back on being his normal self again. 

He waves and smiles brightly, leaning into Jeongguk’s touch like he wants to and not because he should.

“I love your shirt, Taehyung!” 

“Taehyung! Will I see you at Seojoon’s end of the first week party?”

“The rugby team is throwing a rager this weekend. You should come.” 

Taehyung tries to respond as per usual. Thanking them for the endless compliments and the textbook “Maybe,” or “I’m not sure yet”, to get people to lay off. Most of the time they ask questions about parties he knows he will already be going to or events he’s received the invite for so these people will find out then. There’s no need to jump the gun by letting them know in advance. Besides, he loves the element of surprise his sudden appearance brings.

His cheeks hurt from the fake grin he puts on. People flock to him more now that Jeongguk is stuck to his side, eyeing the pair like one of them is going to transform into a wolf and eat them if they do something wrong. 

“Don’t you ever get tired of this?” Jeongguk asks as the main quad gets closer and closer. 

Taehyung breaks his pact of not looking at him now that he’s somewhat gotten used to Jeongguk’s touch. His head turns, meeting the younger’s soft gaze and bitten lips, tufts of hair falling in front of his face and brushing his cheeks, and his heartbeat accelerates. 

Wow. “Tired of what?” Fuck, Taehyung’s voice sounds too breathy. 

“You know, tired of people giving a fuck about every small thing that you do, being all up in your business?” 

Taehyung shrugs. “Sometimes.” He’s well aware of how exhausting this lifestyle can be. “But I like the fact that people care.” Taehyung doesn’t say it but the attention makes him feel good. He’s always liked feeling wanted even if it’s for the sake of sex or fluffing egos or giving his fame to others. But he isn’t going to drop the chance to taunt Jeongguk once more. “Why? Too much for you already, Jeon?”

Jeongguk’s eye roll is immediate. They reach the middle of the quad, almost the same exact spot where Taehyung revealed their relationship to everyone. It’s perfect because anyone can see them as they walk by, just waiting for the next thing to gush about.  

It seems Jeongguk decides he wants to take the reins. He stops Taehyung by slipping his hand out of his pocket halfway so only his fingers are inside to spin him around to face him. Taehyung feels his balance slip, feet stumbling while his stomach flips from how fast Jeongguk seems to be moving him, as if he’s a pliant piece of clay. 

He tries to steady himself by placing his hands on Jeongguk’s chest, right where his heart is and feeling the same pounding beat underneath his fingertips. 

Taehyung’s hair wooshes around, probably looking like a poodle-y mess thanks to the wind. But Jeongguk continues to grin at him, genuinely, without his eye contact wavering once. 

“Not at all. I was just curious about your endurance.” 

His touch starved brain breaks free from its holds and decides to completely control Taehyung’s body. He lets his hands slink up and dangle behind Jeongguk’s neck, chest brushing the other’s, faces inches apart. 

From here, Taehyung can see each mole he has on his face, that scar he got when they were play-fighting once, and count each of his eyelashes.

Part of him begs to pull back but a stronger part of him begs him to stay. It’s nice and Jeongguk isn’t pushing him away, he’s playing along, it feels familiar and safe. Taehyung wants to cherish this some more. 

“That’s cute,” Taehyung smirks. “My endurance lasts way longer than you think, baby.”

“Is that so?” His eyes sparkle so much. Each individual star is present, swimming in the silky black pool. 

Taehyung hums. “Some people can’t handle it. That’s how long it lasts.”

The context switches from his public persona completely. He can’t stop it and Jeongguk seems to play along. 

“You’ve clearly been with a couple of pathetic wimps.” Jeongguk chuckles and his dimples faintly appear. Taehyung’s eyes drop to them for the split second they come up and he cannot fathom what in the hell Jae was thinking leaving a man that looks like this. 

Wearing such a simple outfit, all black, hair tousled by the wind and his friends. Taehyung finds him more attractive than anything. 

“Think you can do better?” 

Jeongguk’s fingers reach up and push strands of Taehyung’s hair back. His face gets closer and closer, like he’s about to push their lips together and Taehyung can feel the anticipation in his stomach bubbling up. 

He flutters his eyes shut as the teasing sensation of soft, soap-scented fingers gently brushes his skin.

“I know I can.” 

Show me, his brain pleads. I wanna see. Show me how you’re better. 

Taehyung leans in a bit, just to see if he’ll do it first. Jeongguk might be all talk like he thought. This could all just be part of their fake relationship. Maybe he’s just good at acting. Maybe he’s just stringing Taehyung along as a little joke. 

Or, maybe his body feels that ceremonious pull too. Maybe it’s not just Taehyung. 

His eyes dart to every corner of Jeongguk’s face. From his dangling earrings to the delectable mole underneath his lip. It’s right there in Taehyung’s view, all he has to do is lean in some more and press his lips and boom, they’re kissing. 

 So easy, right? Just lean in and–

He is interrupted by someone from a group of people calling Jeongguk’s name rather loudly and he splits from his horny induced madness. 

He turns away from Taehyung to find the swim team standing on the steps to the science building, giving Jeongguk a funny look or trying hard not to break their faces from how hard they smile. 

“Let’s go lover-boy,” Kim Yugyeom, the team captain, calls. “We have to get good seats in Physics this time.” 

A (cute) panicked look takes over Jeongguk’s expression and he pulls away from Taehyung, leaving him cold and confused. “Shit, I gotta go.” The warmth of his hand leaves Taehyung’s skin, gone is the scent and the feeling of him pressed all close. 

He moves without thinking, tugging Jeongguk back to him with a hand on his forearm. It’s easy since he doesn’t expect it so his body is loose. 

The same expression lies on his face, cutely surprised, and he raises a single eyebrow at Taehyung. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” His skin crawls with all of the people that stare as if they are two animals at a zoo. Jeongguk stares back slightly confused. 

His eyes dart all wide and cute over Taehyung’s face. “What is it?” Gone is the teasing tone, the sexy bravado that fueled their back and forth, and erupted goosebumps all over Taehyung. He’s Jeongguk again, clueless Jeongguk who hates him. “Did I forget my phone?” 

Taehyung’s face dulls. “You’re supposed to kiss me goodbye,” he points out. 

In seconds, his expression completely flips. 

“What! No, I’m not doing that,” he denies it in a panicked manner, shaking his head like Taehyung asked him to clean the bottom of his shoes with his tongue. 

It’s a fucking kiss. 

“Do you want people to believe us or not?” Taehyung looks around once more and people are gawking, waiting, getting late to their classes just to see them. So Jeongguk better speed it the fuck up and fast. 

He swallows shakily. His voice climbs with nerves. “I never said I’d kiss you. You never said I would have to.”

“Stop fucking panicking, people are watching.” He smiles while gritting his teeth, linking their hands to turn this spat into a romantic gesture and standing close to Jeongguk. “What did you think would happen? Boyfriends kiss when they leave each other-”

Jeongguk cuts in. His voice is breathy and low. “I-”

Taehyung doesn’t let him finish. 

“-and if you’re going to be a child about it again then this is really going to be a problem for us-”

“Kim,” Jeongguk tries again. 

“-because people are only going to believe it when they see it, especially people like Jae-”

Jeongguk squeezes his hand to get him to stop, his eyes clenched shut like he’s in pain. “Taehyung,” he exhales. Taehyung finally stops talking. “I can’t kiss you, okay? It’s just… it’s too early for that, for me at least.” His expression is tight and restrained. 

Taehyung’s chin pulls back. His initial reaction is to poke fun at Jeongguk’s painful look. It’s just a kiss. Who cares? Because in his mind, he couldn’t give less of a fuck who he was kissing. People put way too much emphasis on the damn thing. It’s just lips on lips pressed together. Why does it have to be so emotional? No one actually feels anything when they kiss someone, right? 

To him, it’s always been this thing he does during sex. No intimacy or romance behind it. 

But he supposes, if he really thinks about it, that for someone who had spent two years kissing the same person, whom he loved, it would hurt to kiss someone else.

And for someone like Jeongguk who is always so absolute about everything, black and white, yes or no, he can’t see that point of unattachment like Taehyung does over a measly kiss. His heart might still yearn to kiss Jae and he can’t feel the nonchalance that Taehyung does because his heart is still connecting the action to one person. 

Taehyung swallows down the bitterness in his mouth. “Fine,” it’s tight, his teeth pressing together. “Can I kiss you on the cheek, then?” 

A significantly less intimate spot in his opinion and definitely not enough for him or for the thirsty bitchless vultures around them but Taehyung is trying to accommodate here. 

Jeongguk still turns to the side, looking terribly, terribly uncomfortable. His eyebrows furrow in thought like he is piecing together every possible outcome before making his decision but Taehyung doesn’t have time for him to think through every possible outcome before speaking his mind. 

Both of them have places to be and saying goodbye should not be this drawn out, holy fuck. Every second they waste hesitating ruins the perfect act they put on right before this.

He groans quietly. “Jesus, can I hug you then?” Taehyung asks, tone dripping with disbelief. 

“Uh yeah.” 

Taehyung moves quickly, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Jeongguk’s shoulders and pulling him in. Chests pressing, he can feel Jeongguk’s pounding heart as he wraps his arms around Taehyung’s waist. It’s loose and half-hearted, tapping his lower back either affectionately or to get him to move on but that doesn’t take away from the way it makes Taehyung feel. . 

His scent becomes omnipresent, sticking to Taehyung like a fresh layer of glue. But it isn’t nauseatingly heavy. It’s nice. Familiar, warm, and safe. 

If he could stay, he would. He wants to. In these arms, he could melt. All strong and secure.

Fuck, this isn’t good. Taehyung’s eyes clench shut, his stomach flips and his entire body feels relaxed. He doesn’t want to leave when he should and Jeongguk doesn’t want him to stay when he shouldn’t.

It’s just a hug, Taehyung thinks. How would he react if Jeongguk was okay with kissing? God, he’s a hypocrite. 

And that is what makes Taehyung pull away. One thing echoing in his mind. 

What. The. Fuck. 

⍟⍟⍟

His classes end right on the dot as his fundamentals professor finishes his point on the powers of social media for your career, something Taehyung already knows so he can get away with scrolling through twitter on his laptop and tuning the guy out. Carefully, he gets up from his seat, one of his backpack straps over his shoulder, and slinks out from the back exit. 

Unfortunately, Taehyung doesn’t get to go home like everyone else. He’s got a rat to deal with. 

Grumbling, he takes a back path to a more secluded area where no one could spot him and Doeun together. There’s an older parking structure that some people prefer to use when the main ones get filled up. Especially the people coming in limousines so they won’t get egged. The only problem is that it’s just too far away.

Taehyung feels like he’s walking all the way to Japan just to find this damn parking structure. 

He connects his airpods and listens to some jazz while he walks, holding his head up high, even while he’s walking. People say hi to him the entire walk there and he smiles back. He has to keep up his friendly persona, right? 

Jeongguk is lucky. He gets to walk around campus and just be himself. No one is watching his every move, caring about the tiniest details, scrutinizing anything he wears or does. He’s free. 

What Taehyung would give to have that kind of life.

Don’t get him wrong. He loves being the It-Boy. He likes the clothing sponsors, all of the party invites, the envy and the feeling of being wanted. Taehyung gets to bathe in attention and, in that realm, he’s never dissatisfied. 

It’s everything else that sucks. That makes him wish he was more like Jeongguk.  

Sometimes, Taehyung just needs a breather from it all. He’d like to go out wearing his comfiest clothes, post himself having fun online, and just be a reckless young person without fear for a little longer. His youth is being ostracized every second he gets. Jeongguk gets to fuck up, make mistakes, be human and no one will get mad at him for it. His smallest mistake won’t appear on some gossip blog, posted on the internet for everyone to gawk and laugh at. 

Meanwhile, if Taehyung steps outside this perfect persona he’s created, he’ll never hear the end of it. 

Speaking of Jeongguk, what the fuck was that in the main quad today? Taehyung was acting like a virgin who’s spent their entire life underground and only survived off of canned beans and anime porn. Shuddering and panicking over a damn hug like he hasn’t been fucked uncountable times before. 

It’s embarrassing and honestly, completely out of character for him. He’s the experienced one after all. 

So shouldn’t he be making Jeongguk blush? 

That’s how this goes in movies. The shyer one will get teased and teased while the cooler one will be doing the teasing until they get closer and fix their relationship. 

But Taehyung is simply a fucking mess right now and that cannot continue for the rest of the three months or however long Jeongguk decides to drag out this shitfest. He thinks his heart might need reconstructive surgery if it’s gonna beat at that high of a BPM whenever Jeongguk barely touches him. 

Not just his touch. His scent, his smile, his hair, his clothes, the way he kept up with Taehyung today. It’s fucking getting to him and Taehyung is thinking he’s gone insane from the lack of sex. 

Yes, that must be it. 

He reaches the parking structure where a handful of people leave from, barely glancing at Taehyung. It’s a short, four storeyed building with regular cars on the bottom two and mostly limousines on the top two. All it takes is a simple elevator ride and Taehyung is there. 

Partially, he’s glad that no one pays attention to him here. That way, no one can report his whereabouts and spark rumors. 

The elevator doors part, the robotic voice says the floor number and Taehyung is greeted with a half empty lot. His fingers pluck his airpods out and with a heavy sigh, he walks to the car he unfortunately knows too well. 

Kang Doeun, a 5 '10, AI-generated K-pop idol looking loser that was most likely born in the pits of Satan’s asshole.

Doeun is pretty well off. Not nearly as much as Taehyung or Jeongguk but he’s wealthy enough to make a statement. His dad owns a few news agencies that are pretty well-known and his mom works in tv. So he doesn’t get a limousine or a fancy car but a nice Hyundai Genesis that he boasted about to Taehyung when they first met like it was the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Taehyung walks past one or two bouncing and steam-covered cars. Usually the top floors are reserved for people who are interested in hooking up between classes or doing drugs but considering it’s 3:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, the amount is low which he is grateful for. 

Taehyung taps his knuckles on the blacked out windows three times, exhaling a heavy sigh. 

“Eun, it’s me.” 

A few seconds pass when the door opens just enough and Taehyung climbs inside, making sure he’s as close to the exit as possible when his ass meets the leather upholstery.

And right there is Kang Doeun, smiling at him like they’re best friends or something. 

“Hi there, kitten,” he grins. Taehyung tries not to visibly cringe too hard at the old pet name given to him. 

If you were to ask Taehyung what he thought of the guy two months ago, he’d have nothing but nice things to say. But now that everything has transpired and he got to see what Doeun is really like, Taehyung feels gross looking at him. 

Ugh, Jae must love his sharp eyes and his pouty lips but Taehyung is filled with remorseful memories of cold hotel rooms and cigarettes on the balcony after a hot day instead.

“What is it now?” He sighs, squeezing his kneecaps to rid himself of any residual tension. 

Doeun shakes his head and clicks his tongue in corny disappointment. “So prickly, can’t I just talk to you?” He pouts. 

Taehyung’s short fuse blows once again. He’s not here for fucking games. “Look, I’ve had classes all day today. I’m hungry and tired and I wanna go home,” he presses. Taehyung needs to move his stuff in today and he needs to talk about being couple-y with Jeongguk too. “So just tell me whatever it is you want and then let me go–”

Immediately, fingers squish his cheeks together, limiting his speech and causing him to jump. “Ah, ah, ah, you don’t get to make the orders around here, remember? I’m the one with those pictures of you and I can have my dad print them with a simple text.” His fingers trace the plush shape of Taehyung’s bottom lip. “So play nice. I want to talk for a bit.” 

Momentary fear courses through his body, freezing his veins and muscles till he’s a block of ice. Taehyung will never be left alone if those pictures come out. He’ll constantly be reminded of it, no matter what he does in life. It will affect his family, his future family, his step-brother, his mom and step-dad and him the most. 

“Fine,” he moves his face out of Doeun’s grip. “Let’s talk.” If that’s all that this is going to be then he has no problem. 

The younger leans back with a satisfied smirk and grips a plastic cup of iced coffee. “You and Jeon, what’s that all about?” His head tilts, tone lilting like he doesn’t think it’s true or that he finds the entire ordeal to be beneath him.

“We’re dating.” Taehyung deadpans. 

Doeun snorts at him the minute it falls from his lips. The mere sound causes a lick of flame to burn in Taehyung’s stomach. 

The kind that makes him see red. 

“You? Dating that loser? That’s fucking rich,” Doeun laughs sardonically to himself as if  he has the right.  

Dismissing Jeongguk like he’s any better is honestly comical. One of them is the unproblematic son of a famous CEO and lawyer while the other is a prissy little bitch hiding behind his dad’s company to blackmail people into doing the things he wants. Take a guess which one is which. 

“And what do you know about Jeongguk?” Taehyung looks down at his nails instead of Doeun to keep his temper in check. 

“Considering the fact that I’m with his ex, I know enough.” The ice crackles in the cup as he swirls before taking a sip. The car reeks of coffee and his shitty cologne and Taehyung hates it.  “Jae talks so much shit about him. Like all the time thanks to your little declaration in the quad on Monday. It’s kinda driving me up the walls.”  

Taehyung’s tries not to make a face. If he could, he could write a dissertation about wha Jae is the most annoying human being on the planet, sent from an alternate dimension where pure evil exists to punish Taehyung for being too cool and pretty. 

Seriously, he’s the absolute worst.  

He leans in close, coffee breath right in Taehyung’s face.  “Apparently, Jeon’s super needy and super insecure and Jae was getting fed up with it but he only had the balls to leave him when he met me.” Doeun’s shoulders raise with confidence, as if that’s something to brag about. 

 He feels weird hearing about this from someone that isn’t Jeongguk. After hearing the details of his painful summer, the last thing he’d like to hear is Jae living it up with his living nightmare.

“Why are you telling me this?” Taehyung’s eyebrows scrunch.

“Thought you should know because, from my memory, clinginess is something you can’t stand.”

Not fully true. Taehyung likes attention, likes affection, and he never minded when Jeongguk used to follow him around whenever he got shy in new settings or when Jeongguk had that relieved expression whenever Taehyung entered a party late because he finally had someone to talk to. He always saw it as sort of cute. 

However, what isn't cute is a hook-up draping all over him for coffee or a date. 

He’s a one-and-done kind of guy. No need for lingering after or eating food or even sharing a post-sex cigarette like an 80s movie. Once both parties have done the deed, Taehyung leaves. And he always hated it whenever they couldn’t take the fucking hint. 

Like Doeun. He just kept on coming back. 

“I don’t mind when it comes to him,” he shrugs.  It doesn’t feel like a lie when he says it.

Viciously soft memories play in his mind like a reel. At first, Jeongguk could barely speak to Taehyung’s parents so he would just mumble under his breath to their maid until his family eventually gained his trust. He would call every year on Taehyung’s birthday to wish him, even if they would see each other the next day for New Years and after every trip, Taehyung would be the first one to hear everything that went down. 

He never once complained about it. Since he was an only child it was nice to have Jeongguk around. Finally there was someone who Taehyung could tell everything to that was his age. Someone that wanted to play pretend and dirty their fancy clothes because they’ll get washed later. Nothing about their friendship felt needy or too clingy on Jeongguk’s end. 

Being with him makes up some of Taehyung’s nicest memories. 

“How did you guys even meet?” Doeun asks, pulling Taehyung out of his nostalgic recap.  “Can’t be the first two months of summer since you were busy with a certain someone.” The smirk on his face makes Taehyung want to yak all over this stupid car. “So this must be pretty new huh?” 

Doeun is trying to catch him on his ass to flip it around and use this for his own benefit. Taehyung has gotten burned by him once

But thankfully, he’s actually thought of their beginning while nodding off during class. 

“We’ve known each other since we were kids. Our moms are friends and we,” he trails off to seem more organic and less rehearsed, “just started talking again in August. He’s really sweet and nice and it just turned into a relationship.” Stripping the details of their first date so Doeun doesn’t get overloaded but also because Taehyung thinks he should be discussing this with Jeongguk. 

The younger raises an eyebrow. “Really?” Taehyung nods. “Why doesn’t anyone know about you two being friends?”

“What, do you want pictures of our mothers at Mommy and Me yoga? We weren’t as close as our moms were until now.” His heart tugs. 

That’s quite literally the opposite of the truth. 

“Alright,” he presses a comically  large vape to his lips, blowing banana-creme clouds right in Taehyung’s face, “how is it then?”

“How is what?” Taehyung sighs. He wants to eat. 

“The sex.”

“Ew! I’m not–”

Doeun interrupts him, blowing more nasty smoke out. “If we’re not gonna fuck then let’s talk about it. Does Jeon fuck you nice and good? Do you fuck him? Is it big?” He questions with great curiosity. God, it is too early for all of this to be thrown in his direction. 

“Why don’t you ask Jae, huh?” Satisfaction is immediate when Doeun’s jaunty smirk falls at the sides.  “Better yet, why don’t you talk to him about how sex with Jeongguk was?”

“He rarely brings it up when I’m around.” The cockiness radiating off of him is really getting to Taehyung. “So Jeon must be pretty bad, then, huh?” 

This is a lie that Taehyung is totally unprepared for but his mind reverts back to the moment Jeongguk’s hand reached into his back pocket, the way he spun Taehyung on his axis, the way his hands looked when he drives and they all form a picture in his head. One of his hands being pinned above his head, of heavy breaths and sizzling eye contact and moans swallowed by wanton lips and he fucking runs with it. 

And before you go giving him a look, it’s better than nothing okay! 

A smirk grows on his face. “Quite the opposite, really.” He adds spice just so Doeun can fully understand how much better off Taehyung is now that he is (not actually) fucking someone else.“Could barely walk last time and that’s how I like it but you wouldn’t know that.”

There’s a reason he only had sex with Doeun 2-3 times. 

He scoffs, setting his vape down to rub his chin in thought before speaking. “Just for that, I’m asking for something in return.” 

“Seriously?” Taehyung shrieks. He is not fucking doing this again. No way. He’s calling the cops and sprinting out of here. “What part of the word relationship do you not get?”

“I’m not talking about sex. I want something else.” Doeun pauses, either for dramatic effect or to be an asshole. “I want an invite to every party that you get invited to.”

“Why?” This is a huge campus, with tons of other parties occurring at the same time. So many cliques and clubs and communities for Doeun to weave his way into. The rich jock community is not one of the welcoming or easy to get into types simply because of the qualifications. 

You either have to know someone or be someone and considering most of these jocks are selective about invites, newcomers are rare. But people always want in. They want all of the glitz and glamor because it feels like something they’d find in a Fitzgerald novel. Overly embellished, shiny, and pretty settings with posh language and expensive dresses when that is far from the truth. 

“You little snobby fucks love hiding it from the rest of us, well guess what? I want in. I only got into the last one because I overheard some idiots blabbing about it to each other but now I want you to send me the addresses or passwords. For me and Jae,” he makes sure to add. 

If Taehyung is not wrong, he might detect a bit of jealousy. He’d tease Doeun about it but he doesn’t want to end up with worse so he drops it for now. “Jae doesn’t like parties.” He would know, the idiot never comes to any team mixers. 

“He likes them with me,” Doeun shrugs. 

Whatever. “Alright, fine.” It’s easy enough. Taehyung doesn’t care who comes to the parties he frequents as long as Doeun keeps his side of the deal. 

He turns his head to the door and places a hand on the handle so his exit is quick and easy. But then, Doeun swipes a thumb over his cheek, completely different to the gentle way Jeongguk brushed hair out of his face this morning. Doeun’s fingers are icy cold from his drink while Jeongguk’s were soft to the touch. 

A wave of discomfort follows the sensation as Taehyung’s body goes into flight or fight mode. 

“See what happens when you listen to me?” He coos, pressing down on his bottom lip to reveal the flesh behind it along with his bottom row of teeth. “Keep this up and those pictures will be gone before you know it.”  

He’s demeaning, demoralizing and terrible to be around. Had the circumstances been different, Taehyung would’ve falcon punched this man into the stratosphere but he can’t. There isn’t much he can do to get Doeun off his back. 

Because if those pictures get out, it could ruin everything he spent his entire life working for. 

⍟⍟⍟

“So,” Jimin asks, “how has it been living with your betrothed?” He’s got that teasing tone and Taehyung is glad the blonde Factimes him while he organizes his closet because he gets to see his lovely reactions. 

“This isn’t fucking Bridgerton,” he mumbles, pulling clothes from a suitcase and trying to preserve the folding so he won’t have to do it again. 

Two days have gone by since Taehyung signed the lease and this Friday marks the end of the 1st week of school. In any other case, he’d be jumping for joy because Fridays mean the weekend which means parties but lately, Taehyung has not been in the mood. 

“That’s boring. I was expecting some late night tension and pining,” he lists with a sultry tone. 

Taehyung snorts. “Far from it.”The last time he saw Jeongguk was when they came back from morning classes and retreated back into their rooms to recharge/nap. They’ve barely spoken to each other besides the car rides to school and those fake sickly-in-love walks to main campus. Taehyung leans close to whisper to his phone, just in case these walls are thin as paper. “He is so difficult to live with.”

“How?” Jimin’s hair is fanned out on the couch he lays down on and he runs his fingers through his locks while the sounds of Yoongi tinkering in the kitchen are audible so Taehyung knows they’re both listening. 

He makes sure to keep his voice down. “First of all, he’s the most nit-pickiest person I have ever met.” 

Jeongguk has pretty detailed rules that he listed  on his first night here. Ones about not leaving any dishes in the sink, otherwise it attracts flies or buying his own laundry stuff because Jeongguk uses specific ones and he knows Taehyung doesn’t give a shit. Fine, okay, Taehyung can follow that. He’ll just order out and buy his own laundry stuff then.  He didn’t think it was that big of a deal. 

And look, Taehyung is not known for being the best at chores. Let’s remember this folks, he’s never had to do them in his entire life. So, sometimes he makes the human error of forgetting to pick up after himself. Not a crime right?

“Last night, I picked up McDonald’s and I asked if he wanted some and he said no because he follows a meal plan,” he mocks Jeongguk’s tenor voice and Jimin giggles. “So while he ate some boring ass chicken salad with sweet potato, I was fucking up this cheeseburger and I was eating in the living room so I could watch Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.” Taehyung narrates. 

“As one does.”

“Yes, as one does. Well, it was like 9 at that point so I went to bed because I was tired and I had a discussion in the mornings and you wanna know what happened this morning when I woke up?” Jimin nods. “The little shit starts lecturing me about not picking up after myself, acting like I shat on the living floor when it was literally like some wrappers and an empty soda cup.” 

It was the definition of unnecessary. If it bothers Jeongguk so much why couldn’t he have thrown it away? Do a few pieces of garbage really make him that upset? 

Taehyung waits patiently for Jimin to take his side and appease his broken ego when the other just tilts his head like he’s weighing the options. “I mean, he’s not wrong.” He tries to deliver it lighty but it stabs Taehyung in the side nonetheless. 

“Our friendship is over–”

Jimin interrupts with the beginning of a knowing smile. “Hear me out first, shithead.” Taehyung’s arms cross over his chest patiently, motioning for Jimin to continue. “Alright, you can’t just leave trash around in the common area and expect Jeongguk to be okay with it. Wasn’t it spotless when you first looked at the place?” He nods, grumbling. “Right so obviously Jeongguk is a neat guy. Be messy in your own room but out in a shared area, you should accommodate.” 

Whatever, maybe Taehyung was too lazy and he thought that if he pouted enough, Jeongguk would let it slide but his plan didn’t seem to work so no one needs to know about it!

Hastily, Taehyung throws a shirt onto his bed. He’s about ¼ settled in. His bed is made and he’s got his laptop, a few power strips and all of his clothes in suitcases but that’s about it. So he’s spending today trying to organize his closet and then the weekends going shopping for the rest since his mother told her assistant that Taehyung should do it. 

He’s hoping that he can turn shopping into an outing with Jeongguk to get some pictures since Taehyung has not posted the guy once. All they’ve done is follow each other on Instagram but that was days ago. 

“We really need to talk,” he starts, keeping his eyes on the striped polo rugby shirt in his hands, “about this whole fake relationship thing.” 

Jimin shoots him a flirty wink. “Communication. Now that’s sexy. You guys should come up with a contract or something like that. You know, set boundaries.”

“Like what?” 

“You know, like going on a date once a week and posting each other on your Instagram stories each time and on the weekends and figuring out a timeline and shit. You can’t just wing it forever, Tae. People are going to have questions when you don’t post him at all. You broadcast every little happening in your day on social media, you think they won’t be suspicious if you don’t post your boyfriend? ” 

He’s right. Doeun was easy because Jeongguk wasn’t there. Taehyung was on his own and he could just make stuff up on the go without getting called out on it. But when people see them together, they have to sync up. 

And that takes time and love, like what normal couples have. 

So after another 30 minutes of calling Jimin and listening to him rant about Dance Moms, Taehyung says bye and ends the call because he hears Jeongguk in the kitchen. Sounds of pans clattering and water running. He should make a post on his story of them together and then they’ll make an agreement. 

Taehyung takes out his airpods, fixes his hair to perfection and walks out, shoving his hands in his pockets to look all relaxed. He shuts his door behind him and his feet press softly into the cold wood. The air smells of that fucking candle and a little bit like oil when he passes the threshold to see Jeongguk placing a large silver bowl on the drying rack. 

“Jeon,”  Taehyung calls, earning an unintelligible noise in response. “We have to talk.” 

 He looks cozy in loose shorts and a big gray t-shirt with a Nike logo in the corner. His hair is shiny, fluffy but combed. Eyebrows resting naturally, lips in their usual pout. 

Taehyung can feel his eyes on him, studying the way his shirt slips to reveal some of his collarbone and his shorts are baggy around his knees. It’s a hot day and even with AC on, Taehyung is aiming for something breathable, just like Jeongguk is. Streams of sunlight illuminate the open area.

“Why?” He asks, wiping his hands using a white and blue striped dish towel. 

There’s a bit of sauce collected at the corner of his lips and Taehyung’s instinct is to get closer so he can wipe it off but before he can scold himself for even thinking that, Jeongguk’s tongue swipes it off quickly. 

“I think we need to discuss this relationship thing a little more.” Taehyung makes his way to the raised counter facing the sink, leaning an elbow on it. “You know, like how we met and stuff.” 

“Ooh yay, our backstory,” he cheers in a monotone before rounding the kitchen and plopping down on the couch. The air whooshes when he passes by, giving Taehyung a wave of his scent while he follows his moving body. Jeongguk huffs and his hair flies up with it, landing in a messier state than before. 

The conversation has lasted three seconds and he’s already annoyed. 

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Yeah, anyways, here’s what I’ve come up with.” He sits down on the barstool underneath the counter, facing him. “We’ve been dating for two weeks but we’ve known each other since we were kids because our moms are friends. We talked after a family lunch which turned into a few dates and here we are. Sounds good?”

He was hoping for a thumbs-up, expecting another half-hearted whatever, but instead, Taehyung gets something else. 

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling everyone we used to–” Jeongguk pauses, looking to the ground and licking his bottom lip before speaking up again with a strangely confused and murky look in his eyes, “that we knew each other as kids?” He says quietly, with seemingly less annoyance than before. 

Taehyung just shrugs. He already told Doeun so what’s the point in lying? “It’s the truth and if it helps people believe our story then yeah, fuck it.” If anything, people will find it cute. Everyone loves a friends to lovers trope after all.  “Do you have a problem with that?” He asks.  

The bitter notion that Jeongguk might be embarrassed by their friendship is a treacherous thought floating around Taehyung’s brain. It’s out of character for the Jeongguk that Taehyung remembers but it’s been years so maybe things have changed. 

He earns a glare from the younger. “It was a problem for you, remember? 11th grade? Mr. Moon’s class?” 

Taehyung’s jaw unhinges as his brain pulls a nasty memory from high school. One that he is now regretting. 

He was on top of the world thanks to a boost in followers and his successful model debut in his mother’s show. People were obsessed with him and Taehyung wanted to keep that up until the end of high school. That could only be done by hanging out with the coolest people to make sure his own following never dropped. People whose parents were famous actresses, singers, directors, owners of huge companies. Everything was going just as he planned and Taehyung could not be happier. 

 Lo and behold, on the 1st day of 11th grade, he walks into Chemistry class and sees Jeongguk sitting at a table close to the back. 

Taehyung remembers their eyes meeting awkwardly, how he sat at the table farthest from him and he remembers putting a note in Jeongguk’s locker asking him to pretend like they didn’t know each other. 

He knows why he did it. It was out of fear that Jeongguk would come up to him and ask why they stopped being friends in front of Taehyung’s new group. He didn’t want to take that chance so he slipped that note in and went on with his life.  

Eventually, this new friend group fell apart because it turns out that being friends with people for social media fame isn’t exactly the best way to form meaningful relationships! And he ended up finding Yoongi and Jimin who were high on the social ladder because of their family name but they were also sweet and good friends to him. 

It was such a stupid teenage decision that Taehyung cringes at now but what can he do? Go back in time? 

All he can do is try to fix it now. 

“So you don’t care if people know we used to be friends?” Taehyung asks incredulously. 

Jeongguk just shrugs, playing with the hem of his shirt. “It’s not like it really matters anymore.” 

It doesn’t. Because they aren’t friends anymore. 

Taehyung plays along, getting up from his seat as he speaks. “So you wouldn’t have cared if I told everyone about the Spiderman night light that you took to every sleepover and every trip and how hard you cried when the paint started peeling because you thought he wouldn’t be able to protect you from monsters?” He remembers having to hold him tight because Jeongguk couldn’t sleep for so long but Taehyung didn’t even mind. “Or what about that time your sister wanted to be a makeup artist and she practiced on you every night and turned you into Bibble from that Barbie movie because she said that was her least favorite character and you were annoying her?”

“I wouldn’t prefer it.” And for a second, Taehyung thinks he’s won against Jeongguk. 

But Jeongguk speaks up once more. “Then again, I could let everyone know about how you threw up on your 7th birthday after eating an entire tub of vanilla ice cream and trying to dance along to a 2ne1 song or the time you accidentally knocked a waiter down to grab a pitcher of water because there was a pepper in your food. It’s your choice,” Jeongguk replies, shrugging like it’s nothing. 

It’s no use trying to play this game against each other. They simply know way too much. All of the small details and the important ones. Each and every single embarrassing memory stored in an arsenal for future birthdays and weddings now being dusted in the inner caverns of their brains for this farce.

Taehyung wants to jab some more, pull up even more anecdotes to get Jeongguk blushing but nothing comes to mind, nothing good enough, and he wants to stop relying on their past as a way to hurt him.

It’s high time they move on from that, right? 

“Fine,” he decides. His teeth press together for a moment. “We won’t reveal such personal details but for the sake of our story, let’s say we were acquaintances as kids.” 

“Okay,” Jeongguk agrees surprisingly easily.  

“Great. Now, we have to keep up with this story in real life and on social media. That’s where it really counts.” It’s where most people will see them. “So, once a week we’re going on a date and we will post cute pictures and stories,” Taehyung steamrolls before Jeongguk can open his mouth to protest, “and you and I will go to each other’s games for support.”

Last year, Hoseok was briefly dating this girl and Taehyung recalls constantly seeing her in the stands, wearing his shirt. It drew more attention to their relationship and Hoseok reached 9 million followers after that. 

Of course, their breakup was super messy and public but that’s besides the point. 

“You want to go out each week?” Taehyung nods at him. “Like what? A movie and dinner?”

“No, I want you to buy a private jet and take me to Italy so I can eat vongole pasta and see the Sistine Chapel,” he shakes his head at the stupid question, eyes rolling. “Obviously, movies or dinner are fine. And you’re coming to my first tennis game. I don’t care,” Taehyung adds because Jeongguk never responded to that. 

“Jeez, you’re demanding,” he nearly shudders.  

“Well, that’s how relationships work.” Not that Taehyung would really know but he’s rolling with it. “Come on, don’t tell me you lost all of your knowledge on dating after that phony activist dumped you.” 

To Taehyung’s credit, his comment makes the smallest perk in Jeongguk’s lips only for a second. “I know how dating works but I don’t know how fake dating works. Jae never said I had to take him out every week.” He untucks his legs, spreading them out so he can get up and meet Taehyung’s stance. “Do I have to go to parties?”

Taehyung doesn’t even have to think about it. “Yes. There’s one tonight and we’re going to it.” 

“Ugh, why?” Jeongguk whines. His face screws up in discomfort and that right there is an expression that Taehyung so fondly remembers. Despite his face changing with age, most of his features combine to make the most recognizable expressions. 

“Don’t whine. I like going to parties.” And people are expecting them to be there together. 

“Okay and I don’t,” he says, like it’s common knowledge you could find online.  

Jeon Jeongguk: 20, Virgo, Blood type: A, major introvert. 

Taehyung clicks his tongue in annoyance. “This entire thing happened because we were both at a party,” he points out.  

“Yeah because Hobi forced me to go.” Jeongguk’s voice climbs a little. He steps closer to Taehyung, who is reminded that height and size cannot be used as points of intimidation against him. 

Jeongguk is just as tall as him, just as broad, maybe stronger than him. There’s no point in trying to appear all big and bad because Taehyung can’t compete. The playing fields have been leveled so he opts for something else to get Jeongguk to shut up for once. 

The kitchen, cold and already so large, feels like a small box when Jeongguk decreases the distance. Taehyung wants him to stay back. 

“Great and now so am I.” He retorts. 

Jeongguk shakes his head. “No, I don’t want to.” His arms are crossed over his chest so protectively when he tries to walk back to his room for safety but Taehyung doesn’t allow it. 

“Jeon–”

Jeongguk cuts him off, already in defense mode. “You’ve decided literally everything so far and I’ve been okay with it because I’m trying to play fair but I’m not going to be your little plus one to these coke–infested shithole parties full of people who couldn’t give less of a fuck about me. I don’t care about parties or social status like you do,” he points a singular shaky finger at him.  

Taehyung tries not to twist the accusation in his mind. He likes social gatherings, he likes talking and meeting people, and he’s always been effortless in these kinds of settings by bringing out his charm and looks. 

Sure they can be tiring and sometimes he just wants to be alone, but he still loves it. 

How is that a bad thing? How does that make him a bad person? 

“People need to see us being in a relationship in order to think we’re together.” He tries to spell it out slowly for him. 

“Oh please,” Jeongguk scoffs. “Jimin doesn’t force his boyfriend to go anywhere and everyone is fine with them. People can believe what they want from what we give them, we don’t have to go the extra mile just to prove it. It would seem like we’re trying too hard anyways.” 

Nice move, bringing up Jimin and Yoongi but the stark difference between them is that their relationship is real. It doesn’t matter if people aren’t around to see them being all couple-y because their relationship is for them and only them. 

Taehyung and Jeongguk have something to prove here. 

“People should be jealous of us.” Jae should be jealous, he wants to say. He should regret hurting you.  

Jeongguk should be happy. Taehyung came up with this plan to get back at Jae. Doesn’t he know how satisfying would it be to turn into this sociable ideal boyfriend with the person his ex hates the most? 

Jeongguk’s arms drop, slapping his thighs. His eyes sparkle with something that Taehyung cannot fully process. “Why do you care so much about what people think?” He shoots back, clearly tired of fending for himself. “Is external validation that important where you feel like you have to whore yourself out at every social event possible?” 

Taehyung pulls back a little. Each word combined to strike right at a deep rooted insecurity of his until he’s overcome with hurt. He feels himself become a little smaller, turning away from Jeongguk’s sharp gaze. The hard marble of the countertop presses against his back, grounding him, as whatever he was going to say next leaves his mind. 

Whore.  

He’s long decided that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be liked. He’s someone who has been in the public eye for years now and he knows that there were people that were never going to like him but he learned that people could be swayed easily. Basking in likes, follows, cameras, magazine covers, horny men and attention is a good feeling. Reading comments about his good qualities, articles about his features, having men clamber to have a chance to spend one night with him, he loves it. It reminds him of all of his good, enviable, marketable qualities. 

That’s not whoring himself out. That’s just being a normal person. 

And he is sick and tired of other people weaponizing it. Just because they are bitter and lonely and sad. 

“Fuck you, Jeongguk,” Taehyung spits out. His tone has lost all of its strength, leaving a vituperative, sad, deep one. “Just because I like going to parties doesn’t mean I’m whoring myself out for people.” His head turns away again. He does not want to give Jeongguk the pleasure of seeing his face. “Parties are fun.”

Whore. It’s been a while since someone has called him that. Most of the time it doesn’t bother him, especially because it’s coming from some loser he just had sex with who was mad they won’t get another chance. 

But from Jeongguk? Yeah, it fucking stings. 

A few seconds go by with Jeongguk going quiet. Taehyung hopes he’s forming the perfect words for an apology so that they can move on from this and go to this stupid party where everyone is expecting him. 

Fuck, he doesn’t even want to go anymore thanks to Jeongguk’s little comment. 

“People can get enough of us on Instagram. I’m not about to make myself uncomfortable for something that isn’t even real,” he mumbles, tucking some hair out of his face. 

Taehyung scoffs.The hurt returns but this time in the form of petty anger. “So you’d do this for Jae, then? For a real relationship?” He doesn’t know why the thought bothers him so much but it does. 

“He’d never make me,” Jeongguk argues back. 

“What would you two do then?” Taehyung doesn’t actually care about the guy but he wants to know what Jeongguk did with him that makes him comfortable. It could just be a matter of getting him used to stuff. Then again, he isn’t much of a party-goer to begin with. 

Jeongguk groans softly. “Like play video games, go to movies, make dinner together, take walks, I don’t know. We did the same shit I did with my friends,” he lists out.   

Taehyung doesn’t think. He knows that these are actually pretty great ideas for their fake dates and that going to parties as a couple doesn’t really have to be one of them. But there’s anger rushing in his veins and he doesn’t care to think logically at the moment. His brain runs fully on petty irritation. “Yeah, no wonder you barely have any of those,” he mumbles under his breath. 

Even if it’s the smallest bit, Taehyung wants Jeongguk to feel the pain he just felt after being called a whore. So he hits as below the belt as he can reach, to see if he can get a reaction, if he can hurt too. 

“Excuse me?” He barks. 

“Nothing,” he shrugs, trying to play it off. Jeongguk doesn’t let him. 

His shoulders widen and his face changes in a way that Taehyung is not used to. Furrowed brows with something dark brewing in his usually soft eyes. His gaze is almost lazy and demeaning, like he doesn’t even have the time to deal with Taehyung’s bullshit.  

“No, you can say it out loud.” He’s inviting a fight that Taehyung doesn’t really want to participate in. “I don’t have any friends because I do boring shit, right? Cause I don’t go out and get shit-faced at every party I hear about.” Taehyung takes a step back again, turning away from Jeongguk’s heavy eyes. “Well, you didn’t seem so bored of me back then so what’s changed?”

His heart plummets down to his heels. Is it time? Are they finally going to talk about their friendship ending? 

Is Taehyung finally going to explain what happened? 

“Things have changed,” he dismisses it. This isn’t the time to be talking about this. 

Taehyung turns away, specifically to his side to go back to his room, order delivery food and then hide under his covers for the rest of the day. But Jeongguk is hot on his trail, getting closer and closer. Taehyung can hear his steps padding on the floor until he is inches away from him but he doesn’t dare reach for his shoulder to turn him around. 

“What changed?” His voice drops to a strained murmur. “One moment, we’re doing everything together then you’re dodging my calls and lying to me and ignoring me at parties. That can’t happen for no reason.” 

 Taehyung turns his head to the side, just enough to catch Jeongguk’s eyes. “I’m not talking about this right now,” the second attempt at brushing it off. 

“Then when do we talk about it?” Jeongguk’s resolve finally breaks. “How long are we going to put off this conversation?” His eyes flash and change with his emotions, as Taehyung poked and prodded and demanded a reaction from him and he is regretting that decision greatly. “Do you have any idea how much it hurt? You were my best friend, we did everything together and then you just stopped talking to me. I don’t get it. What did I do wrong?”

His voice breaks and it becomes apparent to Taehyung just how much this split hurt him. 

Which is precisely why he can’t tell him why he had to end their friendship. 

He turns around fully to find Jeongguk staring at him with pleading and open eyes, begging for the truth.

“You don’t know what was happening at that time.”

“You never talked to me about it so how could I?” Taehyung watches his hands clench into fists in the pockets of his shorts and he cannot help but wonder if he is shoving his hands there to stop himself from pushing him.  

“Just let it go. We were 13. There was no guarantee that we’d be having sleepovers forever. Things happen, people grow and change. Childhood friendships aren’t supposed to last,” he goes on. 

“Yeah, because you squashed that chance.”  

Taehyung swallows shakily. He can’t talk about this anymore. It’s bringing up all sorts of weird feelings mixed with nauseating guilt and it’s too much right now. He didn’t come out here to tell Jeongguk all of this. He came here to tell him about the party. 

“Just tell me the truth.” Jeongguk’s voice goes back to that soft decibel and it’s getting harder for Taehyung to hold himself together. “You owe me that. If you’re gonna stay here with me, just tell me the truth now and I can finally move on from it and I won’t bring it up anymore..” 

Taehyung doesn’t want to spill it out. What could he say? That Jeongguk did nothing wrong but it was his own fears driving his actions? That the thought of everyone leaving him like his father did still scars him? 

It's so stupid and Taehyung isn’t ready to say it out loud. 

To this day he still doesn’t get that close with people. Jimin and Yoongi know him but not as well as they could. Taehyung has different ways of acting around people and he’s been okay with that for a while now. Only he can protect himself and he’s the only person that really knows him. He doesn’t want to change everything because Jeongguk, the one person who really knew him, has now wormed his way back into his life. 

Friendships end and sometimes, they don’t have to be rekindled. Taehyung and Jeongguk haven’t spoken in years. 

And Taehyung is going to make sure it stays that way, thanks to that conversation he had with Doeun a few days ago. 

“You were just–You were too much, okay! You were too needy.” He exasperates. The lie sits heavy in his mouth and it feels terribly wrong when he says it. Taehyung looks at the wall behind him so it’s less painful to say. “Always hanging around me and following me around like some pathetic little duckling. It was too much for me and I needed space so I cut you off,” lies, that’s not at all what happened, he keeps on lying. The worst version of him comes out and nips this stupid backstory right in the bud. “I wanted to do cooler things. I wanted to go out and actually have fun, not sit in your bedroom and play Legend of Zelda and eat your mom’s cookies all the time.”

Sure, he made new friends and he hung out with them all the time but Taehyung quickly learned those people weren’t Jeongguk. They were fun and more mature than him but they didn’t talk, they weren’t there for him, and they didn’t really care about him. 

Not like Jeongguk did. 

But it didn’t matter. It’s done. He and Jeongguk are done and by the time this three month fake relationship is over, they’ll go back to pretending like the other person doesn’t exist till the end of time. 

Taehyung exhales shakily and focuses his eyes back on Jeongguk. His fingernails dig into his palm at the sight of Jeongguk’s glassy eyes, casted downwards, and how his entire frame which was just standing so proudly, collapses inwards like a wilting flower. 

What have I done? What have I done?

“Thanks for being honest,” he mutters, Adam’s apple bobbing when he swallows. 

The air was just zinging with fiery tension and now it’s completely bare. Even as the sun shines and the sounds of people flutter in from the window, the apartment feels cold and empty and desolate. 

“You asked for it.” Taehyung tries to reason despite the reasonable voice in his head screaming in frustration that he’s just worsening it with every word that drops out of his mouth. 

Jeongguk shakes his hair out his eyes. “I know, I did.” His shoulders rise and then sag with an exhale. He was carrying so much tension just now and it’s all gone and replaced with something else. 

This isn’t what Taehyung wanted. 

“Look if this is going to affect the deal–”

Jeongguk cuts him off. “It won’t. It’s fine. I’m over it.” Quickly, he turns around before Taehyung can say anything else. 

His footsteps pound against the floor and it’s the last thing Taehyung gets to hear before the door slams shut. Then he is accompanied by nothing else but the eerie silence of their apartment along with the fading smell of the candle.

And he immediately regrets everything he just did.

#taekookfanfic #soperatic

[soperatic]

seven minutes (in hell) with you

chapter two

Taehyung was 16 when he first appeared on the cover of a tabloid magazine. 

He was caught in Paris with some model friends, drunk off his ass and laughing on a balcony in hopes that he could party his feelings away. His mother had just gotten engaged for the 4th time to someone much better than his birth father who hadn’t bothered to call him in years. His pictures were blasted on websites, blogs and magazines alike with a bottle of wine and a telltale cigarette between his fingers. 

People stared when he returned, they whispered and spread all sorts of things about him online. 

I heard he left for rehab.

I heard he went to Paris to film a porno. 

I heard that he found his long-lost twin who is the prince of France and they’re going to switch places in order to defeat the aliens that plan on taking over in 2050. 

Some were more realistic than others but they still bothered Taehyung like anything at first. He wanted every single one of those paparazzi leeches to rot in jail for invading his privacy. 

He remembers crying whenever they would charge after him everywhere he went, flashing their cameras and asking the most ridiculously hurtful questions to get him to snap back. Desperate to catch him slip up, for everyone to see the fucked up Kim Taehyung caught on live camera.

But his mother was supportive and reminded him that bad press is still press, and doesn’t have to stay a bad thing. People now have their eyes on you and with that, you can show them anything. So Taehyung walked his mother’s next fashion show for her Spring line, dawning clean-cut pastel tones and using his (at the time) subpar modeling skills to his advantage. After a heartfelt interview with a few teary-eyed answers to some invasive questions, everyone loved him, transforming Taehyung into the It-Boy everyone now knows him as. 

It became his thing to be wild, charming, alluring, and enviable. 

Sure, he still gets caught every now and then but it hurts less because that’s what people expect of him. People follow him. People adore him. 

Who is he wearing? What destination is he traveling to next? Who is he seeing? What is Kim Taehyung doing and how can you, the average citizen, become like him? 

As of right now though, Taehyung hasn’t been doing his usual activities. Last year he was doing a tour of the Mediterranean and getting caught leaving hotel rooms with a handful of up-and-coming idols which skyrocketed his social media following to ten million. But this summer he stayed in more, kept a low profile and only showed up to events thrown with minimal press. 

No one has commented on it yet and he’s enjoying the silence. 

Maybe he can take this time to relax, find himself, hang out with his family more and less with random hookups. Focus more on school and his team. 

Finally fix his god awful sleep schedule which has been on his to-do list for a while now. 

Well, he’s trying to. Maybe if his phone would stop vibrating right by his ear so early in the morning. 

Taehyung grumbles, still half-asleep. His head lifts off his fluffed pillow as he stares at the caseless device vibrating and ringing at a frequency that is offensively loud for way too long right next to his body. The room is cold and barely used, smelling strongly of his lavender pillow spray and his cologne. He flips it over to see Jimin’s contact photo and the time blaring in his unadjusted eyes. 

His hotel room is dark except for a tiny sliver of sunlight peeking through the curtains, revealing a bright Seoul day. Taehyung turns onto his back and presses the green button, blinking up at the ceiling. 

“What could you possibly want at ass o’clock?” His voice is scratchier than usual. “We went to bed at 3 a.m.” The frat party extended longer than usual and Taehyung ended up drinking more than he originally planned with his two buddies so he only got in three hours before sunrise. 

If Taehyung did the math correctly, that’s not enough sleep!

Jimin’s sharp take of breath is heard through the receiver. “How could you?” His voice drips in what, to Taehyung’s half-asleep brain, sounds a lot like genuine anger. 

The remnants of sleep rip away from his eyes, ruining his chances of falling back into blissful slumber once this unnecessary phone call is over. 

“How could I what? What did I do this time?”

Taehyung looks around. His bed is empty so he seemingly didn’t hook up with anyone. His pajamas are on. He feels around his stomach for any stitches, pulling his boxers back to check if his dick is still there and it is so we can cross organ farming off the list. 

There’s an open suitcase with his clothes messily pulled out and some shoes lined by the dresser/entertainment stand. His watch and all of his necklaces sit on his bedside table. Taehyung pats around for the remote to press the button that pulls the curtain out so some sunlight can stream in and wake him up. 

“Everyone else knows before me, your best friend, your soulmate. I can’t believe this.” 

Did I just wake up in a simulation? “Babes, it is way too early for us to be role-playing right now.  What happened last night?” He presses the button and is momentarily blinded. 

There is some more residual grunting and whining when Yoongi takes his phone and switches the call to Facetime. He’s wearing his glasses, bangs framing his clear forehead, clean and presentable as always. While Taehyung has dried drool on his cheek and the messiest bed head he’s ever seen. Great. Awesome. 

“Just go check the GossipBlast account on Insta. It’ll explain Jimin’s soap opera acting.”

“Hey!” The blonde whines.  

Taehyung’s eyes roll at the mere mention of that waste of bandwidth. “Jesus, what have those bitchless cretins posted now? Did the debate team spread an STD to the entire team again?” His fingers move quickly over his screen to his apps, finding the multicolored one and clicking on it. “Wow I have so many notifications,” he mumbles. 

10,000 comments, 3000 mentions, 9000 follows. 

A wave of panic begins to rise. What if Doeun leaked something? He didn’t get to speak to Taehyung at all last night. Is this his punishment?

Oh fuck. Fuckfuckfuck. He shouldn’t have run from him last night.  

He searches up the account quickly while his friends wait. Taehyung clicks on the most recent post and nearly drops his phone on his face.

The pictures are of him and Jeongguk from last night, inches apart from each other, fixing their hair and their clothes suggestively. Cheeks a little flushed, lips parted, eyes avoiding the other. 

His stomach twists in fear and confusion and irritation with every swipe. A moment so small was captured and put on the biggest gossip account at their college. And now it’s been taken out of context and thanks to the caption placed underneath the pictures.

SPOTTED: Seoul’s Resident It-Boy Kim Taehyung leaving the infamous seven minutes closet. But who is the lucky guy? Our sources confirm it’s none other than the swim team’s golden boy, Jeon Jeongguk, who has recently become single. 

Has a new it-couple formed? Or was this lip-lock session only for those seven minutes? 😈  

Taehyung and Jeongguk leaving a closet usually occupied for hookups, the hair tie; it looks sus as hell already but that caption pushes it further with a dating allegation. 

He presses the comment icon and reads down despite Yoongi advising against it. 

Who is this nobody and how is he bagging Kim Taehyung? 2h.  

I’ve been trying to tap that ass for a year and emo boy over here gets a chance before me??? I call bullshit. 4h

If Taehyung is stooping low enough for some rando’s cock then us normal guys might have a shot. 1h

He scoffs. “Okay, so I leave a closet with Jeon and suddenly my standards are six feet under? How does that make any sense?” Taehyung wants to read more but Jimin snatches the phone from Yoongi and in the little video in the corner of his screen he can see a mass of blonde and furrowed brows. 

“So you fucked him?” He asks, clearly still pissed 

Taehyung clicks on the Facetime screen to give his friends his undivided attention. “Why on god’s green earth would I have sex with Jeon Jeongguk?” When there is literally anyone else out there for him. 

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Jimin argues back with a challenging look in his eyes, making Taehyung groan. “You were running around like a fucking headless chicken throughout the party, no one can find you for like half an hour and now these pictures are out and some people are claiming they heard moans. So either you fucked him or you fucked him.” 

Okay yes, the optics are not on Taehyung’s side right now and he’s sure that Jimin is operating fully on anger only because Taehyung didn’t reveal this information to him last night and not because he actually gives a shit about any of this.

They’re best friends, soulmates, they tell each other everything. From the smallest detail to the deepest secret. 

But as of recently, Taehyung hasn’t been telling Jimin everything. 

“Jimin, we didn’t fuck.” He sighs, running a hand through his messy hair. “I needed a breather so I went upstairs but all of the rooms were occupied so I went to the closet where Jeon was coincidentally  hiding from Jae. All we did was talk until his friends told him Jae left and then we parted ways. No sex, nothing even close to that.” He shudders as if the mere thought of doing anything sexual with the other makes him want to hurl.

Taehyung doesn’t give them the full details of what Jeongguk said. No matter what he feels for the guy, it isn’t his story to tell. He isn’t that petty.

Nor does he let them in on Doeun. He simply can’t. 

Yoongi shifts into the frame, shoulders brushing with Jimin. “Why would he be hiding from Jae? Aren’t they dating?”

“Babe, remember what I told you? Jae’s with that tennis team reject Lee Doeun now. They broke up.” 

Yeah, the one that’s been harassing Taehyung ever since the end of tennis camp in June. That guy. 

“Damn,” Yoongi shakes his head and a tuft of hair falls over his face gracefully. “So, what are you gonna do, Tae? Who do you think sent in the pictures?” 

Jimin jumps in. “Could it be your new man?” He gasps overdramatically. 

It sounds absolutely ridiculous to Taehyung. Jeongguk, who used to hide in his closet whenever his mother invited people over for dinner because he was too shy to talk to them, orchestrated this entire thing just so he could climb the social ladder and be higher up on the food chain at their university.  

Jeongguk couldn’t care less about stuff like this. He likes to blend in and not invite attention. 

At least, that’s the Jeongguk that he used to know. A lot can change in seven years.

Taehyung gets up from bed with a deep sigh and puts on his slippers to save his feet from the cold marble. He needs to order room service for breakfast soon and hop in the shower so he has time to do his hair before class today. Josun Palace does a great continental spread, maybe he’ll share it with Yoongi and Jimin today. 

Nothing money can’t buy right? 

Except for good university housing, that is. 

“He’s not the type.” Taehyung positions his phone against the tv and starts searching the mini bar in the entertainment center for some chilled water. He ignores Jimin calling Jeongguk his new man. “There were tons of people on the stairs and in the loft, one of them probably did it. GossipBlast has paid for this kinda shit.” The half-drunk Evian bottle is calling his name. He pulls it out, uncaps the bottle and chugs. The cold liquid does wonders for his parched throat. “He’s gonna get mobbed when he goes to campus.”

Those comments were genuinely angry.

“You will too. Your policy of only fucking the best of the best will bite you in the ass for this.” He stops midway, pondering for a second. “Well, Jeongguk is pretty good looking but people are going to be mad at you for rejecting them now that they think you’re dating someone who barely goes to any parties. It’ll be a hit to their egos.”  

Taehyung ignores the part about Jeongguk. He sets the bottle down after a hearty swig now that his throat doesn’t feel like the Sahara desert. “Look, I’ll just squash this down when I get to campus, everyone will move on and their precious little egos will be saved. Then another scandal will be posted in no time and they’ll redirect their attention there. This really isn’t that big of a deal.” 

People will brush over this the moment it’s proved wrong. It’s like dangling treats over a dog’s head. 

Yoongi gives him a look. One with raised eyebrows that Taehyung has seen many times when he thinks that he’s full of shit. 

“You sure?”

The kind of look that would usually make Taehyung second guess himself but he knows this shit better than anyone else. Popularity, social status, gossip; all combined is like a hungry monster. The more you feed it, the bigger it gets. And in a school that has students from some of the richest families in the country, that monster is bound to feast. 

Whatever this thing is with Jeongguk is just a measly appetizer. His nonexistent status and blatant disregard of social importance turn him into nothing in these peoples’ eyes.  Somewhere along the line, someone will get caught snorting cocaine  on campus or a well-liked couple will break up or  someone will discover a professor’s creepy porn stash on his work computer. News moves fast around here. Taehyung would know. He’s reaped the benefits of it. 

“Totally sure.” He shakes his hair out so that it stops being so matted from his pillow. If he’s going to debunk this nonsense, he needs to look stunning while he does it. “Now, I’ll see you idiots outside at 9.”

⍟⍟⍟

Jeongguk has a terrible habit of leaving his phone on Do Not Disturb for way too long. 

Everyone has scolded him for it; his parents, his sister, his ex and his two friends when he doesn’t pick up their so-called emergency Facetimes or respond to their texts. 

It’s not like Jeongguk does it on purpose! He gets irritated by the constant buzz and sometimes, he just needs peace and quiet before starting his day. 

Specifically in the mornings. Jeongguk likes to take his time, brush his teeth, do his skincare, shower, and laze around in his towel before moisturizing and putting his clothes on. Now that he has mainly morning classes and training, he doesn’t want to get bothered by useless notifications unless it’s the hilarious reaction memes Seokjin manages to find from the dark corners of the internet or a funny tik-tok Hoseok sent. 

He started doing this more often over the summer when he would wake up every morning and check his phone for a text from Jae. It started eating him alive, ruining his day when his empty screen would glare back at him, seemingly mocking him for how bitchless he is. So one day his sister snatched his phone and chided him to stop checking it the moment he woke up. Instead, she told him to start his morning routine earlier and then check it. 

Jeongguk loves it. He gets out of bed faster and gets more things done which, despite his desires to loaf around, really soothes his Virgo soul. 

After his shower, Jeongguk pulls the curtains back in his living room to let in the morning sunlight. Summer is on its last days but Fall in Seoul still allows for streams of warm golden light. It hits the bare skin of his arms, making them shine thanks to his lotion. His apartment wakes up, illuminating the green leaves of his fake plant and the sheen on his counters. A light blue sky with fluffy clouds patterned, trees billowing in the wind, cars going by and students walking on the streets to the bus stop at the end of the block. 

He sighs. There’s no chance in hell he is giving up this apartment. 

Somehow, he’ll find someone to take Jae’s spot. He has to. He’s pretty sure a few students in his university would commit a crime for a room in Paradise.

Jeongguk walks over to the kitchen where he has boiled some water in the kettle, opening his French press to pour it over some fresh coffee grounds. Then he puts a few slices of toast in the toaster and grabs an apple and peanut butter. 

The candle lit on the kitchen counter ties everything together, crackling so it’s not completely silent. 

Peace, serenity, tranquility, harmony–

Someone starts banging on Jeongguk’s front door, startling him while he mixes the coffee in his French press. He glances down at his watch. He isn’t late to grab Hoseok and Seokjin. 

Who could be at his door so early? 

Another round of knocks comes, harder this time, and Jeongguk clicks his tongue. Seriously, he can’t have one morning full of uninterrupted peace and quiet. “Okay, okay! I’m coming, jeez,” he grumbles. His fingers push the chain lock and turn the one on the knob before pulling to reveal none other than his friends. “What-”

Hoseok stumbles in with hurried steps. “Why haven’t you been answering our calls or texts?” he demands angrily, dark brows scrunching. 

Jeongguk’s chin pulls back at the sudden attack. He holds the door open for the two until they are in, letting his hold on the doorknob go so it shuts softly while his hyungs look at him incredulously. 

“My phone is charging and on DND.” They roll their eyes at him heavily. “What happened?” 

He doubts that he missed something important so early in the day. 

“Well,” Seokjin laughs and he’s got that expression on. The one he makes when he’s uncomfortable and trying to turn the situation into a joke. “You, my friend, might need a bodyguard when you go to class today,” he claps Jeongguk’s shoulder. “Ooh, can we have some coffee first?” 

He points a finger to the machine that’s been pressed down so the grounds are separated from the fresh coffee, filling the air with its trademark yummy scent. 

“Y-yeah,” he waves off, “But why would I need a bodyguard?” His toast shoots up out of the toaster as the elder two take off their shoes and enter his kitchen, knowing exactly where the mugs and sugar are. 

Jeongguk puts his pieces of toast on a plate, pressing his front against the counter to spread peanut butter all over the crispy slices. 

There’s a moment of silence where Jeongguk legitimately considers that Hoseok was panicking from a lack of caffeine and the presumed bodyguards were for his own protection from him but after a few sips are taken, Seokjin decides to open his mouth. 

“GossipBlast posted some pictures of you and Kim Taehyung leaving a closet at last night’s party and now everyone thinks you’re either dating or fucking.” 

Their winces make it seem like they’re anticipating the worst possible reaction out of Jeongguk. But he just continues to spread his toast with peanut butter and gaze at them blankly. 

“What is GossipBlast?” 

The elder two replace their winces for a dumbfounded expression. “Are you fucking serious dude?” Hoseok groans. Jeongguk just shrugs in response, setting his knife down on his plate and screwing the peanut butter jar shut. “It’s the biggest gossip account at this school. Their posts get thousands of likes so everyone usually believes what they have to say. One of their posts literally made Nam Joohyun transfer to SNU.” 

Apparently he got caught having a threesome and neither of the people involved were his girlfriend. Now, cheaters deserve nothing but this man was ostracized to the point of leaving which is a testament to the power of GossipBlast. 

They’re treated like a god around here, especially because they only post about the upper-class. So all of those people who are jealous or intrigued by them get the full scoop on all of their shenanigans. 

“Okay, so why is this such a big deal?” 

Seokjin gulps slowly, handing Jeongguk a mug of coffee. “Well, someone sent in  pictures of you and Taehyung and-”

“No, I got that part but why should I worry when we did nothing wrong?” He doesn’t get it. It’s not like he made out with Taehyung on camera or anything. 

“You were seen leaving a closet together,” Hoseok says it like it’s obvious. As if closets are designed for quickies and not for fucking storage or hiding from an ex. “You know? The same one people used to play seven minutes in heaven? That’s why.” 

Oh fuck and Taehyung put that hair tie on the doorknob too. No wonder people are getting the wrong idea about this. 

“What were you two even doing in there?” Seokjin asks. 

Jeongguk scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. The events of last night are clear since he didn’t get wasted. Taehyung never explicitly told him why he was hiding but they sat there and talked. 

They bickered first but then they talked. He told Taehyung about his breakup with Jae and Taehyung was understanding about it. 

It was the first conversation they had in years. He didn’t have the will or time to sit and think about it. Build it up in his head, notice the intimate details of it all. It was nothing compared to how they used to be. 

“We were just talking. I was hiding from Jae. He needed a break or something, I don’t know,” he shrugs, sipping at his coffee to make his building anxiety even worse. “Are people seriously mad about this?” 

He knows Taehyung is well-liked and highly desired by people. He’s rich, captain of the tennis team and a jock– 

Sorry, not just any jock. Kim Taehyung is the jock at their school. The coolest, the most followed, the most liked, the one that gets the most numbers at a party or after a game, the one that everyone  wants to be or be with and the one with the biggest, most enthusiastic audience during every one of his  games. 

The ultimate coolness factor among athletes here, although terribly unfair, will always be the number of people that come to your games. All of your fans on the sidelines holding posters, wearing school colors, making t-shirts with your jersey number on it, cheering your name to egg you on. The more the better. Sure, some of the more boring sports got the short end of the stick but this was the general rule among jocks. 

And no one got more attention than Taehyung. 

Tennis isn’t even that riveting. Not fast-paced like basketball or soccer. But Taehyung has that pretty face and all of that charisma and talent and wit that makes 90% of their school’s population fall to their knees at the mere sight of him. 

He’s the guy at every party with a hoard of people around him. The flirty romantic lead in the university K-drama with the slow music and hair flip. The one that gets numbers handed to him in folded notes throughout class, who skips class later on to have sex in someone’s car in the parking lot, and that cycle repeats for days on end. 

Some jocks hated him and most wanted to be with him. 

Jeongguk on the other hand doesn’t give a shit about Kim Taehyung. Not one small bit.

Hoseok hands him his phone. “Look at the comments. People are pissed.” 

Jeongguk grabs the device and chomps down on his toast, slightly panicked like there’s a mob outside his apartment ready to burn him at the stake. 

Jeon Jeongguk? Does he even go to this school? 4hr 

I swear I’ve never seen this man before. How on earth does he bag the hottest guy at our school? 7hr

Dressed in a leather jacket like some greasy bad boy. I bet his dick is useless.  3hr

He’s floored at the obvious jealousy pouring out of his comment section. Getting angry at him like he did something wrong. Jeongguk hands Hoseok his phone back and his jaw slackens. “God, these people are losers,” he mutters to himself. 

It’s as if there’s a video of him getting down on his knees and proposing to the guy. 

Oh heavens! He brushed shoulders with Kim Taehyung! Sentence him to prison, I say! Prison! 

“Losers or not, you got caught with the hottest guy at this school in a compromising position. It doesn’t matter if nothing happened, they’re gonna make shit up in their head and make you the bad guy because of their attraction to Taehyung,” Seokjin explains. Like when a hot actress gets married or pregnant and suddenly men don’t want them and they spend all of their time online pointing out all of her faults. “So, let’s go to campus and you can let everyone know that it was nothing, okay?”

He really doesn’t have any other option. People are curious and mad and jealous which puts a target on Jeongguk’s back which he didn’t ask for but he supposes that’s the gamble when you hang with popular people.  

This year was supposed to be another year where people live their lives blissfully unaware of his existence. 

He should’ve never hidden in that fucking closet. Nothing has been going right ever since Jae broke up with him.

Jeongguk grumbles. “Fine,” he chews with an annoyed pout, chasing it with some warm coffee.  “I can’t believe people are mad at me for this. I’m sure four guys from the football team were having an orgy in one of the rooms. How is that more interesting  than a few pictures with microwave quality?”

Like, it was a college party filled with over-privileged brats and alcohol. Someone must’ve jumped off the balcony into the pool or had a dance contest or literally anything more interesting. 

“It’s gossip about rich people. Haven’t you seen American reality tv?” Hoseok rolls his eyes, sipping his coffee.

“No, hyung,” Jeongguk argues back. “Unlike you, I have something called taste.” He enunciates the word in his face.  

Hoseok’s fingers wrap around his earlobe and tug for the jab at his tv show taste. Jeongguk winces at the brief jolt of pain. 

“Your taste consists of anime, rom-coms and shitty action films. Some of us like to watch trashy shit to feel better about ourselves.” Seeing people be assholes on your TV is quite the confidence boost.

“You’re right. I’m so sorry Dance Moms isn’t saved on my DVR.” He quips back sarcastically Hoseok takes it anyway, muttering brat under his breath and ruffling Jeongguk’s hair. 

“You should be sorry,” Seokjin sticks his tongue out. “You’re missing out on the guilty joy of watching a grown woman yell at children for money.” 

“Riveting.” 

Jeongguk lets the conversation drift to the show and focuses on finishing his food. He cuts his apple using a cutter and shares it with his hyungs while packing his bag for the day. He lightly tucks in his laptop, his glasses, a few notebooks and pens before going to the bathroom to give his face one last look in the pristine mirror. 

His hair is beginning to grow out. The bangs now reaching his cheekbone. The back is fluffy but not too long that he feels like he looks poodle-y. Jihyo’s been helping him clear his skin up and now, Jeongguk thinks he looks pretty good. Not amazing but passable. 

He’s never going to be as popular as Taehyung and that’s fine. Jeongguk could never handle the pressure of being called one of Seoul’s It-Boy’s and having hoards of people interested in fucking him or watching his every move, waiting for him to fuck up. 

Jeongguk likes being in the background. He prefers it when the spotlight doesn’t shine on him only to highlight all of the reasons why he falls short in front of everyone. He only puts out what he can and what he knows people will find appealing. 

He’s a good swimmer and a good student. But aside from that, no one really knows who Jeon Jeongguk is. 

And he’s going to keep it that way. Even if this pesky rumor has brought his name just a bit closer to that harsh golden light. 

⍟⍟⍟

“How long are we going to sit in here? I have no leg space.”

“You’re short. You don’t need it.” 

Jimin’s grunt is soft but the slap on the back of Taehyung’s head is not. His neck bends forward, pushing his nose closer to his phone while waiting for a text from his good ol’ co-captain Jung Hoseok about the location of a certain doe-eyed swimmer. 

Taehyung and Hoseok get along great and lead the tennis team well. Honestly, he would’ve been pushed to join their group had the brunette not developed a sickly sweet crush on track and field star Kim Seokjin who is always anchored to Jeongguk’s side. 

Apparently, they’ve got some super strong bond or some shit.  Whatever. 

Taehyung swallows the saliva building up in his mouth from nerves. He’s ignored all of his DMs and comments on Instagram, and he’s not liked a single thing on Twitter all in hopes that Jeongguk shows up and is willing to end all of these rumors about them together. Then they can go on their merry way and continue to pretend like they barely know each other. 

Yoongi, Jimin and him wait in the parking structure on campus. The area is filled with parked imported vehicles, some blaring music, some bouncing, some with the windows rolled down to pour out smoke, and some empty. This is the biggest one right across the street from their campus where the main building along with each department’s buildings are placed throughout the uphill climb. 

The streets are lined with blooming blossom trees, sweetening the air and decorating the ground. Fields of green against the gray bricks making up the buildings. It’s beautiful. However, Taehyung is gunning for the main quad. 

It’s where most students congregate around in the early morning to grab coffee or eat breakfast at the cafe and study or trudge to class half awake. 

It’s the perfect spot to talk to the masses. 

Yoongi finishes the last of his americano, staring at the barely melted ice while speaking. “First day of class and you already got yourself a scandal. Proud of you, kitten,” he pokes Taehyung’s cheek with a cold finger. 

“You know me.” Although it would’ve been a lot more fun if his sex scandal involved him actually having sex. 

Not that Taehyung wants to have sex with Jeongguk. Are you kidding? Oh my gosh, he would never. 

Jeongguk has no status at their school. People know him but that is purely because he allowed them to know him whether it was for a school project or being on the team or being neighbors in their dorm. He isn’t well-known. Not like Taehyung is.  

For a second, he wonders what would happen if this dating rumor was true. Would people (and Doeun) leave him alone? Would Jeongguk rise up in the ranks? 

More people would go to swim meets, that’s for sure. With how their students are,Jeongguk would definitely start appearing on fan-made posters and get millions of Instagram followers. 

Taehyung smirks to himself. God, Jeongguk would hate this. He remembers finding the guy on Instagram towards the end of high school. He had 13 followers and two pictures despite having the account for three years already. Living a life like Taehyung’s would burn him out. Constantly having to dodge flashing cameras, pretend like the jagged questions don’t bother you, and try to live a normal life despite everyone wanting to pry. Jeongguk wouldn’t last. 

A dense feeling tugs at his chest, bringing him back down to reality. So, it’s a good thing they aren’t friends anymore. 

Taehyung would just be a bother. 

“If only he actually got dick last night.” To make his point, Jimin kicks his seat, sending Taehyung lurching forward again. “By the way, are you sure you don’t want Mingyu’s number? He was all over you at the party and he’s definitely still down.” 

Taehyung fiddles with his fingers. He swallows shakily, avoiding Yoongi’s slowly turning gaze on his profile. 

He said it before: he wants the first fuck of the year to be attractive, his type, great in bed. Mingyu crosses off all of those boxes. He’s tall and his dad is a famous surgeon. There is no reason for Taehyung to reject his advances, right? 

Well, after everything that happened with Doeun, Taehyung needs to be cautious. 

People have used his promiscuity against him, made a pawn to dig deep and tear down those walls until he’s mush in their hands. Only for them to stomp all over him and walk away.  Having it happen once was pathetic enough, Taehyung refuses to let it happen again. 

He shrugs. “He’s cute but,” his eyes never flick up to his friends, “I just wasn’t feeling it.” 

“You weren’t feeling it last night with that beer pong guy and you aren’t feeling it with Mingyu,” Yoongi points out. “Is there something you’re not telling us?” 

Yes, his brain shouts. Something happened but I can’t tell you about it because then more people will know and that cannot happen. Please help.

But Taehyung just shakes his head, not wanting to burden them with his stupid problems, even though he’s sure they would be glad to help. “Nah, I’m just being picky. Besides, I heard Mingyu’s tryna get back together with his ex and I don’t wanna get in the middle of that rom-com plot.” He jokes. 

Taehyung earns a few lazy chuckles from the others when his phone finally vibrates in his lap. He turns it over and looks at the notification. A text from Hoseok. 

tennis parents 

mommy tennis

hey, we’re parked on the 2nd floor

we’ll meet outside the parking lot

 daddy tennis

yessir 

🫡

“Let’s go, gays.” Taehyung pockets his phone, grabs his backpack, a leather Gucci one he got years ago, and opens the car door. His boots clack on the asphalt and he shuts the door behind him with a simple push. 

Yoongi is kind enough to drive him, Jimin too but they’re dating so it’s different. Taehyung has a license though. He just doesn’t care for driving. He has his own driver and his own limo which he would’ve just used here but there’s never adequate parking for them and some students egg the limos out of spite. 

Most students just end up buying a car or relying on public transport. 

With a sigh, the other two get out and stretch their limbs. It’s a nice sunny yet a little chilly day. Like one of those transition periods from Summer to fall. One of Taehyung’s favorite types of weather.

He’s dressed in an outfit that is sure to turn heads. Black fitted bootcut jeans, heeled boots, a silk tank top tucked in with a cheetah print button-up shirt on top. He chose a classic pearl choker and his usual rings on his fingers. Simple gold hoops and his hair is barely brushed to give his curls some volume. 

He looks fucking good. His ass is shown off and his collarbones are exposed. Taehyung exudes confidence in outfits like this. Like he can take on the world and have men crumbling with a simple walk.

Jimin, in his casual yet styled white t-shirt, sweater vest and white pants, joins him along with Yoongi, in neutral tones, for once, with a light tan button-up and ripped blue jeans. They leave the parking lot together where a pathway goes down to the street crossing. Taehyung has his first class in the Humanities building so he’ll have to make his speech fast if he wants to make it to his class on time. 

He links his arms with the other two, tightly chaining them as they walk to the exit door, leading directly to that path down to the crosswalk. 

And Taehyung can see a small group of people standing by the side of the exit. Hoseok’s trademark baggy jeans standing near someone tall and then someone in a completely black outfit. 

Need directions to the My Chemical Romance concert buddy?

“Hobi!” Taehyung calls. All three of them turn around and only one of them doesn't give him a smile. “Love your outfit, by the way,” he motions to the brunette’s patched beige cargo pants, black t-shirt and black jacket. 

Hoseok gives him a genuine smile. “You too.” His fingers tug at the lapel of Taehyung’s shirt and travel up to flick the pearl necklace sitting on his chest. “Quite the first-day outfit,” he motions. 

“Well, I always dress appropriately for the occasion.” In his best outfit to end a relationship that is completely fabricated. 

“Ready to break a million people’s hearts?” Seokjin asks, slinking a cautious arm around Hosoek’s waist. He smiles at Taehyung, shaggy dark hair combed perfectly to frame his handsome face. A black bomber jacket, white t-shirt and ripped jeans on.  Pretty and clean as always. 

Taehyung laughs. Although this information might actually do more good than harm. “Don’t think I ever will be,” he jokes. Cautiously, he flicks his eyes over to the other, the youngest, for his input. 

He’s been so quiet this entire time, typing away at his phone like an angry business man. He barely even acknowledged Taehyung’s presence. Rude. 

Jeongguk snorts, finally ripping his eyes from his phone and giving them his attention. “They’ll fucking live. No one should’ve sent those pictures in the first place.” He tucks the device in his pocket and fixes the straps of his backpack so they sit perfectly on his shoulders. 

Now, Taehyung gets an actual look at him. His hair curls around his eyebrow, showing off his big clear eyes and flawless skin. He sports an oversized Carhartt shirt that goes down to his elbows and matching black cargo pants, baggy of course, and chunky sneakers. 

That dark, emo, high fashion aesthetic is so.. so quintessentially Jeongguk. It fits him. He looks relaxed and comfortable unlike how stiff he used to sit in the outfits chosen for him. Always tugging and fidgeting. 

He looks good. Not exactly Taehyung’s style but he recognizes its appeal in Jeongguk. 

“True,” Yoongi argues. “But, that’s college for you. The best thing is to shut it down and move on.” 

He nods a head to the campus center where bustles of people group around.

“Yeah. Let’s get this over with.” He raises a hand to tuck some hair away. “I need to get to the housing office before my 9:30 class and put in a roommate request.”

A roommate request? 

Look, there’s nothing wrong with most of the students here but the housing office always seems to randomly select someone that is guaranteed to ruin your life. Either they’re disgusting as fuck or they’re creepy as fuck. Taehyung knew someone whose roommate asked if they could watch them shower for research purposes. Seriously, there’s a reason no one submits those forms. 

But Taehyung rolls his eyes at the other’s hurrying, crossing his arms over his chest. “And here I thought you’d miss our relationship. After everything we’ve been through! You bastard! What about the kids or the house on the beach?” He gasps dramatically, throwing a hand over his forehead in mocked pain. 

Everyone else giggles at his theatrics. Taehyung grows a smirk when he reels back, staring at Jeongguk’s lips set in a hard frown. Not even a muscle twitches. God, who pissed in his coffee this morning?

“Whatever. I feel sad for whatever unlucky soul is forced to deal with all of that later on,” his hand gestures to Taehyung’s entire body and his dismissal hits sharper than he thought. 

His smirk drops. “Me?” Taehyung’s finger points to himself. “Have you met yourself? I think all of that black clothing is getting to your head and wiping all of the fun out.” Whatever happened to the cute Jeonggukie who would play along with Taehyung?

“Well at least I don’t dress like some shitty loveseat from the 80s!” 

Seokjin groans under his breath. “Can both of you shut up already?” His chin rests on Hoseok’s shoulder, holding him close. 

Neither of them hear his grumbling. 

Taehyung points a finger at his body. “You wouldn’t know style even if it rang your doorbell and introduced itself.” 

The younger rolls his eyes. “Oh, you’re such a pompous fucking brat, you know that?” A smirk grows on Taehyung's face. It’s not a forfeit but it definitely feels like a win. 

“Of course I do. Glad to see you finally use your pea-sized brain and figure that out.” 

Part of him wants to pat the younger’s shoulder, really get him agitated just to see how angry he’ll get, but Taehyung holds himself back. 

Touching Jeongguk feels like a somewhat restricted action. 

Jeongguk steps closer, taunting him. “Great, now let’s go tell your fanclub that we aren’t dating so I can spend even less time with you,” he spits out, shaking his head in exasperation. “This is the last thing I wanted to happen.” He nods to his two friends who split from each other and turn with him down the path, leaning on him the entire time instead. 

Taehyung swallows down the pang that cuts deep into his chest, spreading down to his stomach in harsh waves. Jeongguk’s anger is somewhat justified, he wasn’t fair to him all those years ago when they stopped being friends and he isn’t fair now. But that doesn’t take the pain of it all. 

As if the first thirteen years of their lives meant nothing. 

No sleepovers or cuddles. No Mario Kart races or hours jamming to the newest SNSD CDs. No giggles under the covers or playing shark in the pool or warm noodles after a long summer’s day of being outside. It’s all null and void now. 

“Yeah, let’s get this over with.” He’s proud his voice doesn’t waver. Taehyung has gotten better at concealing his emotions over the years, no matter how hard it hurts. 

Jimin and Yoongi join either side of him. They begin a conversation about their Social Psychology class today but he doesn’t pay attention, eyes zoned in on the sight in front of him. 

Taehyung watches Jeongguk walk along the sidewalk next to Seokjin. Their arms are linked and the older is trying and succeeding to make Jeongguk laugh at some corny joke. At some point, his head shakes with a cringed smile.

He can’t remember the last time Jeongguk smiled around him. 

No, you know what? Fuck this. Jeongguk is happy with Seokjin and Hoseok and Taehyung is happy with Jimin and Yoongi and all of his other friends. He has no reason to feel sad. 

People move on, grow apart from each other. There’s no guarantee that you will stay friends forever. He’s made and lost countless friends in his life. Jeongguk is just one of them.

Taehyung just needs to remind that part of his brain. The one that keeps on bringing up the soft moments he had with Jeongguk.  

There’s a nudge against his shoulder. “So have you thought about our offer?” Yoongi asks. “The Josun Palace is nice but you need a home to come to after class or practice.” Fingers brushing wisps of hair out of his face. 

In light of Taehyung’s current homelessness, Yoongi and Jimin have so graciously offered their shared penthouse which has an extra bedroom that he can stay in. All he has to do is pay rent and do chores with them weekly. 

Sounds like a great offer right? A nice room near their university in a swanky penthouse, living  with his best friends all the time.  Fulfilling the American Dream by rooming in with your best friends and spending the nights drinking and watching movies while snuggling on the couch.

WRONG.

Yoongi and Jimin are great but they have one fatal flaw: they fuck everywhere. Literally, everywhere. The couch, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the laundry room, in a gazebo, in the pool, on a pool chair, in the car, on top of their car and every other place imaginable. And poor Taehyung has had the misfortune of walking in on them multiple times and wanting to shove forks in his eyeballs right afterwards. 

He can’t handle that for a whole year. Especially if Taehyung wants to bring home someone of his own. How awkward would that be?

He scratches the back of his neck. “I need some more time,” he excuses, eyeing Jeongguk pressing the crosswalk button with his elbow while he and Seokjin sing the Pokemon theme song and Hoseok laughs. “I think I might try to find a studio of my own.” 

One of his teammates’ dad is a real estate tycoon. Maybe he can find something there. 

“Okay,” Jimin sings. “But just let us know as soon as possible.”

“Why? Trying to turn my potential room into a sex dungeon or something?” Taehyung jokes but Yoongi avoids his eyes and Jimin breaks into a fit of giggles which is good enough of an answer for him. Blech. 

The light turns red and the white signal turns on. The six walk forward, still split into two completely different conversations at first until Hoseok flips around when he reaches the other side before Taehyung.  

“Better plan your speech soon, Tae.” His hair billows prettily in the wind. “People are already staring.” 

He’s right. People leaving campus and going back to the parking lot are whispering, giving him all sorts of knowing, gossipy looks that Taehyung has seen many times before in his life. He’s used to all of this. Jeongguk, however, is not. 

Taehyung looks over at him. He’s holding Seokjin’s hand and playing with his fingers, avoiding all of the looks and chewing on his bottom lip nervously while the other talks to him in a low, soft tone. It’s a swift punch to his gut, contrary to the pleasure he imagined he’d feel seeing him uncomfortable under the spotlight. 

Jeongguk is right. He doesn’t need to be in this kind of environment. 

He exhales sharply. “Let’s do this.” Then he turns to Jeongguk. “Follow me, okay? Don’t say anything.” Jeongguk nods quickly, tailing him without complaint..

Taehyung takes charge. His long legs trek up the slight incline up to the main quad, a terrible decision with heels but hey, it’s a quick calf workout. Sweat beads a little on his forehead from the sun and the exertion but Taehyung keeps a straight face. He’s used to the ogling eyes following his every move on the runaway and on the streets of Seoul so this is no different.  

When people wave to him, he waves back. When people say hi, he responds. No matter what brews inside of him, he has an image to maintain. 

The others linger behind him, doing the same, mostly following Taehyung through campus. If he continues straight through the path, he’ll reach the main building with administrative, housing and student services, surrounded by patches of green grass where students lay blankets to read, eat, study and chill with their friends. 

Before that is the quad, concrete tiles in all the same color except for the ones that spell their school on the ground. To the left is the cafeteria with various cafes and a Subway. On the right side are the stairs that go up to the various department buildings. Students pour out from either side, immediately catching Taehyung and talking, keeping their eyes on his every move. Pointing and buzzing about him. 

The center of the quad has these medium-sized stone planters with a growing green bush with pink flowers blooming on it randomly spliced throughout. There is a bench along the perimeter that Taehyung places his bag on before standing on it. 

He cups his hands around his mouth. “Could I have your attention please?” Taehyung yells, lilting his tone to sound cuter and perkier. As if most of the people here don’t already have their eyes planted on their group.

People all around glance in his direction, pausing whatever they are doing to listen to what he has to say. Hoards of them crowd around the planter, right behind the five Taehyung came here with like he’s a general about to give a pep talk before a sneak attack on the enemy. Almost every person on the quad joins. 

They’re still whispering about it, he’s sure. Words like date, boyfriend, whore, slut, they all come up but they don’t phase Taehyung one bit. He’s got one chance, and he’s definitely not going to fuck this up.

Instead, he smiles brightly.

“First of all, Happy First Day of Fall Semester!” Taehyung cheers, starting a cacophony of shouts, whoops and claps from his fanclub as Jeongguk referred to it. “For some of us, it’s a familiar feeling but to those of you who are new, welcome to KU. You’re going to love it.”

God, he lays it on too thick but this is how he charms people. You tap into the sensitive bits, show you care, and reel them in. This is how he’s always worked and it has never let him down.

A few more people stroll in, noticing the mass by the planter and urge their friends to join in. Increasing the group in size, which is just what Taehyung wants. 

“If you don’t know me, my name is Kim Taehyung,” he places a hand on his chest, putting on his cutest smile and his sweetest voice. “I’m co-captain of the tennis team with Jung Hoseok.” Taehyung gestures to the brunette who shyly waves when people look at him. “And it would really mean a lot to me if you could come to our first game. It’s on the last Friday of this month and tickets are $5 so please come and support.” 

Some more cheers and claps echo. Taehyung looks down at the crowd and immediately finds Jeongguk rolling his eyes at the insanity around him. 

“We love you Taehyung!”

“You’re the best!” 

Taehyung’s grin grows with every bit of praise. It feels nice after spending the last few minutes feeling like shit for all of this even happening. “Aw, I love you guys, too.” The cheers increase deafeningly in volume. 

“Marry me, Taehyung!” Someone shouts from the crowd. Bursts of laughter ring through the air until someone cuts through them.   

“He’s already in a relationship, idiot!” 

A twinge runs down his spine; a mix of panic and fear that spreads goosebumps everywhere. Everyone on this campus knows about that stupid post and, unlike on social media, Taehyung can’t ignore a hoard of people who are angry at him when they are standing right in front of him.   

There is so much damage they could do. Not just to him but to his entire reputation.  

He chuckles. “Now, now,” Taehyung tries to calm them down with his hands. “That was the second thing I wanted to clear up.” Meeting Jeongguk’s eyes, he nods to the bench he’s standing on and the other gulps before handing Seokjin his backpack and slowly making his way to the bench to stand by it. Jeongguk looks up expectantly when he inches closer to Taehyung. 

This is it. This is all he’s here for. All he has to do is clear up all the nonsense caused by one stupid post and live his life without Jeongguk’s presence in it.

But then Taehyung makes the mistake of looking back into the crowd and making direct eye contact with Doeun and Jae. His smile crumbles at the side. 

The latter stands there with a confused yet irritated expression as people push and bat him around. His eyes dance around the crowd until he lands on Taehyung and his stare narrows in bitterness. He’s angry and probably, for some insane reason, probably blaming all of this commotion on Taehyung.

Meanwhile, Doeun just watches with that knowing look on his face. The one makes it seem like he’s the puppeteer behind it all. The arm he has around Jae’s shoulders is snug. He looks comfortable and vice versa. Taehyung wonders if Jae knows what has gone down with him and Doeun. Would he melt into Doeun’s touch or would he push him away in disgust?

Taehyung’s hand clenches into a fist by his thighs when the little fucker sends him a sly wink. A sour taste fills his mouth. 

Fuck this. That asshole can’t have control over him anymore. He seems to be everywhere, in Taehyung’s mind, standing in his hotel lobby, on his balcony, in his sheets, his shower, dark parking lots, on his phone and in his texts and in his head. He can’t handle it anymore. 

Taehyung needs to get away from him. He needs a safe spot, a reason for Doeun to keep his distance. 

But how? Who can help him?

Who is desperate enough to say yes?

Jeongguk shuffles a little closer to Taehyung and nudges him in the side with a soft elbow to his calf, urging him to continue. Taehyung snaps out of his stare. 

“Tell them,” he whispers, blinking up with large bright eyes. 

 Jeongguk!  He can help Taehyung. 

“U-uh,” he stutters. “I’m sure all of you saw GossipBlast’s post last night of me and Jeon Jeongguk and you all are wondering if they are true or not.” Taehyung swallows slowly, pausing for what might seem to be a dramatic effect but in reality he’s thinking. 

If he plays this right, feeds into this rumor and has Jeongguk work to his advantage, Doeun could be off his tracks and leave him alone forever! Then his mother and step-dad can finally relax about the entire thing.

But that’s only if Jeongguk agrees to help him without knowing the full details. Will he? He isn’t the type to do nice things for someone he doesn’t like. And Taehyung is definitely not someone who he’ll do favors for out of the goodness of his heart.

Unless Taehyung does something for him that is. 

And he knows just what he can offer. 

Taehyung gets back in the zone. His audience waits patiently while he can sense Jeongguk getting annoyed at the stalling. God knows how he’s going to react to what Taehyung is about to say. “Although this was sent in secretly and those pictures were taken illicitly, I am thankful because now, I get to tell you all,” he looks down to find Jeongguk’s shoulder a few inches from his body and clamps his hand down on the mass softly, “that it is true! Jeongguk and I are in fact dating.” 

The crowd goes completely silent. Jeongguk’s head snaps up to his, tensing, their friends looking equally as bewildered. 

His mouth shuts and his jaw tenses while a tuft of hair falls over his face. The line of his jaw is so sharp that if Taehyung runs his finger along the bone, he might slice his finger open. The sparkle seems to leave Jeongguk’s eyes, leaving an angry, irritated, furious man. Taehyung immediately bounces back to the crowd. 

He watches the muscles in their faces completely relax from a smile to shock. Some people frown, looking to the side in anger or jealousy, Taehyung can’t really tell. The reaction is mixed and overwhelmingly confusing to navigate. 

But Taehyung knows people and he can work a crowd like it’s his fucking job. Currently, they’re in a fragile state but all it takes is a simple switch to get them on his side. 

Begin the guilt trip!

“I wish I could’ve told you all in a much better way,” he sulks, pouting like a child that was told no. “I know that you all would’ve appreciated something more personal, I would’ve preferred it that way. But I’m very happy right now and I hope you all can be supportive of us in the future.” Taehyung looks down at Jeongguk, whose ears are turning bright red with either rage or shyness (or both), and squeezes his shoulder with a goofy smile. 

The action feels foreign and weird, especially with the discomfort that is so obviously etched in Jeongguk’s ruggedly soft features. If people look closely enough, they’ll sense his irritation and come to the conclusion that this entire thing is a scam. His lips part to let out a shaky exhale and he breaks eye contact. 

He’s not happy with this at all. 

Taehyung pushes down the momentary worry and flicks his attention back to the crowd of people whispering about it. He searches through the slew of people to find Doeun and Jae, the former finally breaking his smug look to furrow his eyebrows while Jae seems to be ranting in his ear vividly. Expressively, he goes off and Taehyung is so curious about what the little shit has to say about him. 

Then, someone speaks up from the crowd. “We,” they start, stumbling over their words for a second, “We will support you and your new boyfriend, Taehyung-ssi!” 

“We want you to be happy!” 

Everyone else breaks out into chants and claps, thankfully agreeing, and Taehyung breathes out a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much. I am so grateful for all of you,” he sends quick flying kisses in their directions before placing a hand on his chest. “I love you all.” 

He feels like an idol that just got over a shitty dating scandal, bowing at the dispersing crowd and sending them his biggest smile. 

Some of them peek over to see Jeongguk and his reactions, maybe stick around to see a kiss or something, but as the crowd moves with satisfaction, all of the stranglers are pushed aside like stray shells with a tide. 

A job well-fucking-done. 

Taehyung jumps down from the bench, landing right next to his brand new boyfriend with a content sigh and an accomplished smile on his face. “Well, that went better than I–”

“What the fuck was that, Kim?” Jeongguk seethes. He turns to look Taehyung directly in the eye now that they are alone and the air around them suddenly goes so cold. “You said you were going to fix it. Now you’ve just made it worse.”

Genuine anger drips from his tone, shoulders hunching in, jaw ticking and strands of shiny dark hair falling over his narrowed eyes. Goosebumps litter Taehyung’s skin and he knows he can’t blame the barely there breeze for them. 

He can, however, blame that jawline. 

The others join to form a circle, arms crossed with disappointed looks on their faces. Even Yoongi who (even though  he says he doesn’t play favorites) always finds a way to absolve Taehyung of anything, stares back in disbelief. 

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I know but just let me explain, okay?” Taehyung looks around to make sure no one is lingering around to listen in on their conversation. The coast is clear. “I saw Jae and his new boyfriend Doeun in the crowd looking all curious about the rumor and it gave me an idea to help you. So I lied and it worked. He got all pissy about it. Look,” his chin juts to the stairs to the cafe. 

Jae sips on a drink, still ranting to Doeun angrily like he’s retelling The Iliad to him. 

Taehyung studies Jeongguk’s reaction. The pinch between his brows melts and his teeth tease the skin of his bottom lip in thought, training on the erratic way that Jae seems to be angrily talking after what transpired. The tension leaves his shoulders, softening and relaxing into a slump and he turns back to face Taehyung. 

“You did this,” he spells out slowly, “for me?” 

It’s sort of laughable. If Taehyung could, he’d pour ice cubes down Jeongguk’s shirt every morning just for funsies. He’s spent a good portion of his teens pretending like the guy doesn’t even exist. 

And now he’s helping him? 

Why? Because he heard about how much Jae hurt him and it awoke some sickly sweet nostalgic protection he has over Jeongguk? Because watching Jeongguk be sad is like digging a knife into his side?

Jimin snorts. “Well, it’s not like Tae’s a big fan of your ex-boyfriend either, JK.” A sly smile threatens to curve his cheek upwards and expose a dimple. “Maybe this was a little for him too.”

It was. It has a lot to do with him too but no one needs to know the real reason why so Taehyung goes with it. 

“Yeah,” he scoffs, “I hate him.” 

“So do I.” Hoseok jumps in. “Jin hyung too.” 

“He’s like the human embodiment of burning your tongue.”

“He’s like the embodiment of what stubbing your toe feels like,” Jimin adds. 

Yoongi ponders for a moment. “I also wondered how someone could be so fucking annoying all the time and not have a single idea about it.” Taehyung laughs softly. 

“Okay wait,” Jeongguk cuts through and his hostility hasn’t gone away yet. “So you lied so I could make Jae jealous?” He asks, Taehyung nods. “But what’s in it for you?” 

If you’ve seen the movies, you know that these sorts of things are always transactional. Each person gets something in return. 

They also always end with the two leads falling in love but Taehyung is going to ignore that for now. He’s positive that’s never going to happen to the two of them, knowing the history they share.

He smirks and flips a curl out of his gaze so he can look into those glimmering eyes clearly. “I was hoping I could get that free room you got,” he asks coyly. 

Living with Yoongi and Jimin was an obvious no for Taehyung. If he walked in on them having sex one more time he might need to somehow get amnesia. And living in a hotel wasn’t going to last forever. He does need a home to come to. 

He needs a kitchen and his own sheets and he needs personality. Not emotionless room service delivery boys and pre-selected paintings that make his brain hurt. 

Taehyung wants to come back home from a long day of practice and crash into his bed, make himself a late night sandwich between study sessions, and watch TV on a small couch. He wants the true college apartment experience that he can’t get anywhere else. 

Expectantly, he braces himself for Jeongguk to flat out reject his idea. To push him away in disgust and regret the moment he handed all of the power to Taehyung to fix the rumor. 

They hate each other after all. 

But Jeongguk tenses and switches his balance on his feet. “Are you serious?” One might mistake a tinge of hopefulness in his tone. 

“Yes, you live in Paradise and you have an extra room so I’m swooping in!”

Seokjin and Yoongi nod their heads impressively while Hoseok and Jimin wiggle their eyebrows at each other. Taehyung does not know what that means nor does he want to. Shitheads. 

“So is that a yes?” He tries. Taehyung gets up on the balls of his feet, tries to use his puppy dog eyes which, from his vivid memory of their childhood, always used to work on Jeongguk. “Please? I won't bother you. I’ll do everything you want me to. Anything you ask.” 

His eyelashes flutter and he tilts his head in a way that’s all sweet and pliant. Taehyung can see the resolve cracking in Jeongguk’s eyes and he turns away, ears turning the slightest shade of red. But he still isn’t 100% sold. 

“And this whole, fake relationship thing.” He raises a hand up to run through his hair. The strands flip back to expose his smooth forehead, pushing it so that it’s more or less out of his face and Taehyung’s lips part as his eyes trail on the motion. “What’s your plan for that?” 

Taehyung glosses over it for a moment, ignoring the way his brain lingers on Jeongguk’s hair and trying to form some semblance of a plan. He knows there’s no point in stretching this for too long but he still wants to keep his room until the end of the year or if he ever finds something better. 

“We date till the end of the semester, have an amicable break-up, stay friendly with each other and move on. Simple,” he shrugs.

Like he’s said, he’s seen all of the movies and he knows how this shit goes. Each tropey thing brings the couples closer and closer together to increase the sexual tension until they fall in love despite all of their differences, with a few moments of angst thrown in, but that isn’t going to happen here. 

Because Taehyung doesn’t really fall in love with anyone. People fall in love with him and he lets them wallow until they move on. It’s going to stay that way. 

“Believe me, I’ve spent my time being scrutinized by the public eye. I know what the people want to see out of this,” he leans in. “They want the opposites-attract aesthetic couple being cute and sappy on Instagram and only tastefully affectionate in public for them to gush over and envy. We can easily do that.” He motions to their opposing outfits. 

Throw in some fake dates where they take pictures, a little hand-holding, and maybe they can each go to their games and boom, everyone believes in their relationship. 

Jeongguk still gazes at him apprehensively. His brain demands that he go over every possible detail before making a decision. He doesn’t want to be brash, it seems, jumping into god knows what with a person that he doesn’t know if he can trust. Taehyung reassures him once more. 

“The moment you want out, it’s over, okay? No pressure to last until the end of the semester . It’ll be simple and quick. That’s all we owe each other.” Taehyung extends his hand out to him, long fingers lonely in the wind, waiting for Jeongguk to securely intertwine with them. “Deal?” 

This will be easy. No awkwardness, no feelings, they barely have to acknowledge each other besides a few measly dates and small moments in public. It’ll be short and sweet and meaningless.  

And then Jeongguk and Taehyung can go back to pretending like the other barely even exists. A perfect plan. 

Now he can get Jae all jealous and a new roommate. Two problems solved in one go. While Taehyung can find a way to get Doeun off his back and find a permanent place to stay that is way closer to campus. 

There really is no reason for him to say no. 

Jeongguk sets his jaw, reaching forward and linking his hand with Taehyung’s. His palm is warm and soft and sure when he shakes it twice firmly. He looks directly into Taehyung's eyes and doesn’t waver. 

“Okay. Deal.”

#taekookfanfic #sevenminutesinhellwithyou #soperatic

[soperatic]

seven minutes (in hell) with you

pairing: kim taehyung and jeon jungkook

tags: childhood friends to enemies to lovers, inspired by gossip girl, tennis player kim taehyung, swimmer jeon jungkook, rich taekook, , fake dating, mutual pining, slow burn, explicit smut, top jeon jungkook, bottom kim taehyung, eventual fluff, light dom/sub.

synopsis: years after a painful split, taehyung finds his ex-best friend, jeon jeongguk, hiding in a closet during a party from a particularly nasty ex-boyfriend. despite their bickering, he manages to cook up a plan that'll help them both and, just maybe, bring them back together.

a/n: finally started moving my works to tumblr! it'll be a work in progress since i have like twelve fics to bring over here but starting off with my newest baby! :))

this is the masterlist where you'll find all of the chapters

chapters

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

chapter seven

chapter eight

chapter nine

chapter ten

chapter eleven

chapter twelve

chapter thirteen

chapter fourteen

#bts #taekook #taekookfanfic

[soperatic]

seven minutes (in hell) with you

chapter one

Over the course of his life, Jeongguk has come to the conclusion that people overhype the whole college experience. That they make it out to be this life-changing, philosophical-reawakening, coming-of-age movie that shapes you as a person and molds you into an adult ready for the real world by introducing you to all walks of people and eye-opening experiences that you will never forget. 

But in reality, it’s nothing special.  It’s just something that many people do or are forced to do. 

Or maybe it just feels that way for Jeongguk. 

He’s entering his 3rd year of college and so far, it just feels like a more intense version of high school. Classes are harder, people are smarter and better, and Jeongguk feels that all-encompassing pressure to keep up with those people who seem to vibrate at a different frequency than him, thus resulting in him questioning if he really belongs here in the first place or if he just got lucky. 

Well, he’s here because of recruitment for the swimming team so it might not be complete luck but his imposter syndrome still rears its ugly head every now and then. Reminding him that he could be doing more and improving faster with all the time he’s got on his hands. 

And he’s never felt worse until now, sitting on a couch at a party that he truly has no business being at. 

Truth be told, Jeongguk would rather eat straight up garbage than watch Hoseok and Seokjin manage to be completely oblivious to each other’s obvious feelings despite shamelessly flirting in a setting filled with drunk and coked-out college students screaming the lyrics to popular songs off-key before throwing up during the chorus, but the two forced him here and it is fucking impossible to say no to Hoseok sometimes. 

Cause he whines and drags on and brings up momentary times he helped Jeongguk with things when he could’ve been doing something else, which is manipulative as shit, and then Jeongguk feels bad and well, here we fucking are. Drinking beer that tastes like sewer water and suffering from an olfactory felony committed by whatever loser who decided to bathe in Drakkar Noir cologne instead of showering.  

“Look,” Hoseok offers, nudging Jeongguk’s shoulder with his bony one, “instead of sitting in your bed and being miserable about Jae while sober, how about you be miserable about Jae and shitfaced at the same time?” His voice perks up with a smile.

Jeongguk rolls his eyes. He feels the rim of the red solo cup pressing into his sternum, brown liquid sloshing around, smelling terribly familiar. Jeongguk’s done enough depressed drinking this summer. He just wants to be alone right now. 

“And what if I see him here?” He pushes the cup away gently. 

“Then his jaw will drop because of your glow-up and he’ll come back to you and it’s happy ever after. Done.” 

Glow-up, Jeongguk thinks. Yeah right. Nothing has changed about him. He dresses the same, acts the same, and he’s still the same guy. Growing his hair out and adding some new piercings won’t change anything. Jae ended it for a reason. A reason that Jeongguk doesn’t know but it’s all over now and he’d be a pathetic fool to beg for another chance by flaunting around some new look when it’s obviously clear that it’s over. The new look was simply a form of distraction, a way to channel his anger and hurt into something productive.

He isn’t stupid. He didn’t think that they’d last forever but Jeongguk never thought that their relationship would end the way it did. At the very least, he thought Jae cared enough to break up with him like an adult. 

Apparently not.  

“Speaking of Jae,” Hoseok slips into the spot next to him on the couch, mirroring Jeongguk’s position and crossing a leg over, “what are you going to do about the whole roommate thing? There’s no way the admin will let you keep the apartment. Especially if it's in Paradise.” 

Fuck. Jeongguk doesn’t even want to think about that right now. 

Housing at their university is scarce. Wait no, good housing at their university is scarce. Instead of focusing their government resources on adequate funding for updating apartments or studios for students to live in, the administration board spends it on the most useless shit possible. 

Like no, the statue of the mascot did not need a new name plaque. The old one was just fine. 

But somewhere along the line, the board grew a few brain cells and decided to revamp a group of dilapidated housing buildings for upperclassmen. New appliances, fully furnished, spacious parking lot and not too far from the center of campus. It was the ideal spot to live since the only other option for on campus housing were the dorms and trust, they are horrendous. But there wasn’t “enough funding” assigned to build more apartment buildings so that more students could snag a place. So people went feral over a spot. Some predicted that a few might even lose their lives in the fierce competition.

The exclusivity and beauty of such apartments earned it the name: Paradise.  

Jeongguk, eager to move in with his boyfriend and take their relationship to the next level, camped on the enrollment site for over two hours with his information pre-loaded, hunched over his laptop in the early hours of the morning until the portal opened and luckily, he got in. He intends on keeping his housing but with Jae leaving him and also opting out of the lease, there’s a vacancy at his place which is something that the administration does not like dealing with. Especially when the waiting list is so astronomically high. 

He sighs, already stressed out about this. “They told me that I have until week 2 of the first semester to send in my new roommate application. If I don’t get one in time, I lose my apartment and they’ll move me to the dorms.” He turns to look at Hoseok just as he winces. 

Hoseok and Seokjin are lucky. Their parents got them studios nearby so that they could just commute from school since Gangnam was on the other side of the city. So no worrying about campus housing for them.

Jeongguk begged his parents to do the same but his father raved about how he loved living on campus back when he was a student and pushed for Jeongguk to give it one more shot, so he was left to fend for himself. 

He was so happy when he got a spot in Paradise and now he might fucking lose it all thanks to his stupid ex.

“Can’t you get one randomly assigned to you from the waiting list?” Seokjin leans in from his seat on the other side of Jeongguk’s body, turning red from all the alcohol. 

Jeongguk looks around, judges his fellow classmates as they do keg stands, body shots off one another, snort cocaine off fine china trays and behave like neanderthals because they have the freedom of school and no parental pressure to dictate their every move. He takes note of the clear abandonment and dismissal of normality. How they throw cups and cans and miss without another thought. How some of them track mud and dirt from outside and don’t even care. If he were to go into the bathroom, it would probably be a damn biohazard. These boys are disgusting. And don’t even get him started on how they look they haven’t showered for days. He’s sensitive to smell and he doesn’t want his nose hair to burn up every time he passes by his roommate. Half of these losers use 2-in-1 and don’t know what fabric softener is. A hard no.

And Jeongguk knows he just can’t live with anyone. Especially not these types of guys. He isn’t a neat freak, he just grew up with an older sister so he has some semblance of decorum. 

“I’ve heard enough horror stories from my sister to know that isn’t a good idea.” 

“You’re right. Remember my roommate from freshman year? Pretty sure that guy is an actual criminal now.” 

“Didn’t he collect all of his hair that fell out and sealed it in ziploc bags?” Jeongguk laughs at the end of his question. 

Ah the fond memories of his first year when all he did was go to practice, listen to Hobi and Seokjin rant about whatever silly antics they got into together and then pine after Jae until the guy finally gave him a chance after catching sight of him in Intro to General Chemistry. 

It terrifies him to think that was almost two years ago. 

There was a time when he was madly in love with someone, when he thought about them constantly, when he was so content with his life because he got to come home to someone who made him feel like the king of the world. Jeongguk was going to travel with that person this summer, take him to meet his grandmother, and truly invite him into his family. But now that chapter is closed. 

Instead, Jeongguk spent the entire summer under his bed, pathetically watching rom-coms and K-dramas about true, unconditional love until his sister yanked him out and told him to get his shit together which he sort of did but only on the outside. Jeongguk is still very very sad on the inside. 

He blinks down at the amber-colored liquid. “This shit isn’t doing anything. I feel the same,” Jeongguk pouts. All he’s doing is thinking about Jae and that wasn’t on Hoseok’s itinerary for the night. 

What even was in the itinerary? Ah, it goes as follows. 

Pick out a super slay outfit. 

Get shitfaced as fast as possible.

Sober up

 Find some hottie to make out with.

Go home.

Yeah, the first part was easy. Hoseok raided Jeongguk’s closet for the perfect items and he doesn’t think he looks bad at all. The guy is a fashion major for a reason. If it were up to Jeongguk, he’d be wearing a hoodie and jeans but instead, a leather jacket layered over a flannel and a plain black t-shirt sits comfortably on him along with terribly distressed jeans and his Doc Martens boots. 

“Well, that’s because you aren’t drinking fast enough.” Seokjin nods to the cup in Jeongguk’s hand, gathering his full attention for a brief second which to Seokjin, is a win. He misses the noises behind him. “Chug that, take a few shots, maybe play a game of beer pong or two and I promise you’ll be–”

Hoseok interrupts him with a hand on his shoulder. “Fuck shut up, Jae’s here.” 

And all of Jeongguk’s attention shifts. He feels his blood run cold as he turns to the front entrance which has a perfect view of the living room. He nearly drops the cup of beer in his hand, all over his expensive jeans but he wouldn’t even care. 

Because right there, a few feet away from him, is the man who shattered his heart. 

Jeongguk feels a tug in his stomach when Jae slinks in. All the noise around him muffles out until all his senses have focused on that one person. He looks like he always does in his plain black shirt and blue jeans with beat-up converse, the ones he got from a second hand seller online and convinced Jeongguk that they were better than his Pradas. His eyes dart around and of course no one greets him. He blends in effortlessly and he used to hate it whenever Jeongguk brought him along to places. 

He’s never invited to these things. He might be a jock but he isn’t part of the crowd like everyone here and Jeongguk always loved that about him. 

Jae was something different. 

Unlike Jeongguk and his friends, he didn’t grow up surrounded by wealth with the promise of the entire world with just a snap of their fingertips, which gave him some humility. His family is middle class and he’s here on a sports scholarship too. Not like Jeongguk is some over-privileged brat but most of the guys he’s met are like that, so it was refreshing to see someone treat waitstaff with respect and hold the door open for others. 

Jae was sweet and giving and Jeongguk was so terribly in love with him. For fucks sake, maybe he still is. He doesn’t know. 

Hoseok seethes. “How the fuck did he get an invite?” He sits up and his demeanor switches like anything. 

Jeongguk barely listens. Time seems to have paused everything and anyone else as his eyes fixate on the other’s every move. How his hair is longer on the sides, the way his knees move through his jeans when he walks, and the noticeable curve of his cheeks when he smiles. 

“I don’t know. The venue for these parties changes all the time.” Seokjin’s eyes roll. “Probably stole someone’s phone to find out–” he doesn’t finish the rest of his line but Jeongguk knows what he’s implying and he doesn’t believe it. 

That he came here to get back together but Jeongguk is sick and tired of keeping his hopes up. 

He did just that for two whole months and it got him nowhere. Just left him crying under his covers while his older sister promised him that one day he’d find someone even better than Jae. 

Will that day ever come? Who fucking knows at this point. 

He almost tears his gaze away from the front door to seem less inconspicuous when someone follows Jae in. Another guy, one Jeongguk doesn’t recognize at all, but he seems younger, clearly not from their year. He’s tall but thin, almost lithe. His hair is a chocolate brown and he dresses nothing like Jae as Jeongguk can recognize that Versace logo from a mile away. 

What? Bagged yourself another rich boy to get you into all the cool parties, then? God, this is fucking painful. 

I thought you hated these things anyways. 

The new guy wraps his arm around Jae’s waist and tugs him close to him as they walk into the living room to get to the kitchen where all of the refreshments might be. He whispers something in Jae’s ear and he laughs, soft with his head thrown back like Jeongguk used to make him laugh. 

It’s physically impossible for him to tear his eyes away, his ass is cemented to this goddamn saggy couch. The sheer sight of him punched him straight in the gut and despite the hurt that swirls in his belly and fogs up his brain to the point where he might burst into tears. Jeongguk can’t look away. It’s sickening, he thinks as his eyes glue to the way Jae places a kiss on the guy’s cheek. 

How his mind will fixate on the thing that he wants to run away from the most. Break him apart bit by bit on the inside and not let him look away because he’s clinging onto this pitiful desire that Jae will turn back to him and erase all of the bad feelings he’s been experiencing since the day everything turned wrong. 

Jeongguk wishes he didn’t care. He wishes that he was stronger and he could drink with his friends without a care but he simply cannot. He’s still so weak and deplorably in love with his ex. 

And then, Jae looks at him.

 Months of slight progress fall down the drain. Jeongguk wants to get up, stalk over to him and ask to explain himself. For hurting him so much that he could barely breathe. But a small part of him wants to scoop him up in his arms and show him just how he missed him and another small part of him wants to run away and pretend that they never locked eyes. 

His emotions overwhelm him. Jeongguk isn’t ready to face his ex just yet. Parts of his body still react when he sees him. His brain still turns into incoherent mush. 

“Babe, let’s go get a drink,” the other guy tugs at Jae’s waist once, he doesn’t budge and then once more until they’re walking together like before. His eyes still trail after Jeongguk on the couch while he stumbles away until he is completely out of reach. 

Fuck. 

“Fuck,” Jeongguk echoes. His back slumps against the couch like a wilted flower. He feels like all of the air has been punched out of him while his heart thumps like crazy. “What is he doing here? A-and who the fuck was that?” 

Has he moved on already? Jeongguk hasn’t even deleted his number yet. 

Hoseok wraps an arm around him. “I don’t know but I can ask Sunghoon to kick them out. He knows you and sent you an invite. Jae and his little friend didn’t.”

Right because Jeongguk is part of this community and Jae, despite talking shit about his world, will never be inside. No matter who he dates or who comes in on his arm or how he climbs the social ladder. He’s always going to be on the outside looking in. 

It’s ironic. He always said he didn’t care and that going to these parties was of no interest to him. But here he is. For some guy he knows less than two months. Some guy that already gets to call him babe.

“No, it’s fine,” Jeongguk waves it off. He stares down at his beer, barely done, and he decides to down it in a few gulps. Bitter notes fill his taste buds. It’s a cheap beer and he’s used to better ones but this will do. 

If Jae wants to prance around in a new relationship then he can. Jeongguk isn’t going to stand in the way of whatever the fuck those two have going on like some pathetic loser who is desperate to go back to the way things used to be. He can be better than that one day but as of right now, he just wants to forget he even made eye contact with Jae and move on with his night. 

Alcohol is great for avoiding your emotions after all!

“Let’s do some fucking shots.” 

⍟⍟⍟

People knew that if Taehyung was invited to the function, it was going to be a great time and right now is no exception. 

The basement of the house party is where the beer pong table is situated and where Taehyung is currently watching Jimin and Yoongi beat the pants off some random guy on the golf team who has some nice shoulders and an even nicer face to stare at. Hoards of people crowd around, mostly to watch someone get obliterated at beer pong but also to see if Taehyung will give them the time of day or not. 

“Jeez,” Taehyung scoffs when Jimin lands the fourth ball in the other side’s cup with ease, “those guys fucking suck at this,” he says. He barely drank from any cup on his side  meanwhile the other guy is stumbling from all of the bitter beer dripping down his shirt. 

“Y-you have to be cheating.” His forearm comes up to wipe at his chin, throwing the red solo cup behind him. 

Yoongi’s eyes roll. “How? Is there a beer pong ref to check if this table fits regulations?” He gets a snide chuckle from the blonde next to him and his lips quirk up for a second. “Your skill is almost as shit as your alcohol tolerance.”

The crowd breaks out into Ooohhs at the bite they knew was coming. The satisfaction of watching Jimin, Yoongi and Taehyung absolutely demolish someone’s confidence in a manner of seconds is like no other. 

This was always Taehyung’s thing. This is where he thrived. 

Not at beer pong but at parties. 

He’s what one might call the ideal party guest. 

At first, he would come to these parties to get a little buzzed, eat chips, talk with his friends and eventually find some random person that might satisfy him for the night. Maybe come back to have a few more drinks before heading on home, then rinse and repeat. But after a few run-ins with the press and a few modeling gigs thanks to his mom, he became everyone’s favorite. Everyone wanted to be his best friend and he had wormed his way to the top by becoming one of the most popular people here. Just by being his usual charming pretty self.

It doesn’t help that he knows 90% of the people here. Not super closely but he’s aware of their existence and their family while his entire life is blasted on every magazine possible. 

You see, everyone in this house is rich. 

Not like BMW parked in their driveway and one Louis Vuitton bag rich. These folks are private jets to Paris, high fashion brands down to their fucking shoes, multi-story penthouses in Gangnam type of rich. The cream of the crop rich. The top 10%. One could say, the elite of Korea. 

It takes a certain tax bracket to make it in this world, to thrive in this community, and if you weren’t in, then there was no other way you could ever get in. 

But what makes it even more elite is that most of them were jocks. 

Because what better activity exists to fuel all the rage these kids have from their inattentive parents and overly-lavish lifestyle than smacking a ball really far and hoping it abides by some arbitrary rules made up by some dead guy?  They had the budget for it and well, it looked good on those college applications so it was a win-win. Besides, some of them were actually good at it. 

Taehyung’s two best friends, Min Yoongi and Park Jimin trained with recruits for the Olympic basketball team when they were in high school. 

His cousin, Kim Namjoon, spent six summers at workshops and camps with Korea’s League 1 football team in Sao Paulo. He’s been the captain of their school’s soccer team for two years now and for damn good reason too. 

All of these people are the best, they come from the best and they get the best. This university is the top-performing one for a good reason, right?

And like most people in this circle, Taehyung got glares from other people. Jealous people who wanted in or wanted to sleep with whoever he was sleeping with or wanted his clothes or Instagram following or simply wanted to be him but couldn’t. Taehyung didn’t love that but he was aware that it was just one of the many downsides of being one of the It-Boys of this school. Even if there are thousands of people that adore this image of him, there are thousands of people that want to see him crash and burn. 

He didn’t really care. Taehyung knows how lucky he is to be flying first-class and having the privilege he does but he is also well aware that it’s not always fucking easy. 

But let's save that rant for another day, shall we? 

“The enemy is giving you sex eyes, Tae,” Jimin mumbles. 

He gives Taehyung that look. You know, the one that screams “I wanna take you to the back room and do [redacted] and [redacted] your [redacted].” Eyes lidded low, lips perked up suggestively. He’s sort of cute, and tall, which is nice, has his hair done like literally every male K-pop idol at the moment but that’s okay. 

Had this been last year, Taehyung would’ve flirted back, walked up to this guy and strike up a conversation but right now, he couldn’t be less interested. 

He sighs. “Hard pass.” Taehyung directs his eyes away from the wannabe boy group guy and runs a hand through his hair. 

“Seriously? He’s your usual go at these things.”

“I’m just not feeling it,” Taehyung excuses. He hasn’t been feeling it for a while now.  

Remember that coveted reputation and its downsides? Yeah, here is the main one: being called a whore 24/7. Especially when you don’t do what people want you to do. Being sexually active has painted him to be an easy lay and sometimes, Taehyung doesn’t want to deal with it. But he’s always put in a bad light when he sticks up for himself as if he owes these people anything. 

It got worse this summer so when the school year started, Taehyung decided to pace himself. Considering it’s been a day on campus and he’s barely touched another person since walking in here, he’s doing a pretty good job. 

Jimin gives him a look while Yoongi clears the last cup for the opposing team, ignoring the cries of agony as the losers chug every last bit of beer. “You didn’t get into a relationship or anything, right?” His voice lilts in slight disbelief. 

“Be so serious, why the fuck would I be in a relationship?” Taehyung chuckles. “My reasoning is rather simple. I don’t find any of these losers attractive and the first fuck of the year has to be someone hot. You know, for good luck and all,” he winks. 

The blonde snorts and his normal smile returns to his face. “Right, good luck, sure. Well, Kim Taehyung, I solemnly support whatever cock-based decision you make,” he bows. “Best of luck to thee, sire.” 

Taehyung giggles. His body feels lighter when Jimin and Yoongi are around him. They’re calming presences, bright sunlight after a dark rainstorm, and his closest friends. The perfect way to start off the new year.

For a solid two seconds, Taehyung thinks he can let loose and actually have fun at this party until he feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket.  He reaches back and pulls the thin device out and sees the notification on his lock screen. 

And then his smile drops. 

doeun

i heard you were here

can i come see you? 

Fuck, how did he find him? Taehyung thought he hated these big parties. That’s what he told him over the summer at least? 

taehyung

no

doeun

🙁

i could just ask around for you

taehyung

don’t you have anything better to do?

we literally just spoke last night

An awkward exchange in the asshole’s car. Taehyung felt like he was committing a crime with a baseball cap tugged low on his face and a dark sweatshirt on when all they were doing was talking at his tacky penthouse apartment. Then again, things with Doeun always feel wrong, no matter what. 

doeun

that wasn’t enough for meeee

taehyung

i don’t care

eun, seriously, can you leave me alone for one day?

doeun

…..

someone said you’re in the basement. 

i’ll be down there soon. 

Fuck. fuck. Fuck, he thinks as he glares at his phone

Taehyung has to get out of here. If someone sees him and Doeun together, talking, they’ll start spreading rumors about them and he really, really, really does not need that happening. 

“You good, Tae?” Yoongi asks, hand on his shoulder. 

He’s standing weirdly in the middle of the basement with a panicked look on his face. Taehyung shakes his head like he was in a trance and forces a wide smile on his face. 

“Y-yeah,” he sees the pre-rolled joints in a tin in Yoongi’s hand and plucks one out of the case. “I’m gonna go for a smoke upstairs.” The basement door opens and he can hear a set of footsteps come down the stairs, increasing his panic. 

“Be careful,” Yoongi warns. He plops onto one of the couches lined up on the wall and throws an arm over Jimin’s shoulders. “If Coach decides to randomly do physicals and drug tests you’re fucked.”  

Taehyung waves it off. He smokes weed on occasion so it’ll leave his system in a few days. Besides, Coach can’t let his captain go. Not when Taehyung helped the team to victory multiple times. 

There’s another set of stairs that leads up to the backyard and Taehyung can re-enter the party that way. He grabs a lighter and jogs over to the set of stairs but not before peeking over to see who was coming down. 

It’s gonna be him. 

Kang Doeun. The little fucker. 

He stands there on the final step of the stairs and looks around. His Versace shirt looks corny as fuck in that gold pattern with torn black skinny jeans and his hair styled like every fuck-boy in this country. 

Taehyung decides not to push it. He climbs up the stairs, skipping two steps at a time to get away from Doeun and his annoying manipulation tactics for the rest of the day. His hands reach the door handle and push on it with all his might. 

The chilly summer evening air hits his open skin, a shock from the warmth inside, and Taehyung exhales in relief.

Bullet. Dodged. 

⍟⍟⍟

Jeongguk sits in the kitchen and attempts to make himself a margarita. He knows nothing about mixology or how to really make any drink but he does his best with the mixer and vodka to make a decent Moscow mule. There are crowds of people around him, talking, smoking, snorting, and kissing, and it feels like Jeongguk is the only one who isn’t having fun so he throws all of his attention on crafting his drink. 

He tends to get like this whenever he does something. His mind zeros in on doing his absolute best and getting as close to perfection as possible. He gets so focused that most of the time, he’s completely unaware of his surroundings. 

Seokjin jokes that a literal riot could be happening around him and he wouldn’t even notice but he refuses to believe that. 

The red solo cup, which was once filled with frothy beer, is now empty and Jeongguk pours mostly club soda inside, some Moscow mule syrup and then contemplates how much alcohol he wants. 

He is sort of a lightweight, two beers and he’s done, so he opts for half of a shot, barely glugging in the alcohol into the cup and setting the bottle back down on the counter next to a million others. 

This is a college house party but there are bartenders everywhere. Jeongguk could easily just ask but he believes there is a certain pride that comes with concocting your own extremely shitty drink and chugging it away. 

“Ain’t no way, bro,” Hoseok cringes. He’s already pretty tipsy. “You need like four times that.” And you can tell when he’s drunk because his voice mellows out completely. 

Jeongguk gives him a look. “You say this knowing full well how much of a bitch I turn into when I have a hangover.” 

Also, tomorrow they have class. Not like Jeongguk cares about school at all but there are few things worse than sitting in a classroom that is completely illuminated by lights when having alcohol-induced light sensitivity. 

“Be honest, do you feel any better by being sober?” 

No, he thinks. I feel like there’s a pit in my stomach every morning. I feel like I’m just living to go back to bed and to eat and I hate it. 

Jeongguk just shakes his head. “But I don’t wanna drink my feelings away either,” his lips purse a little in a way that always gets the older of the trio to ruffle his hair and coddle him. “I just wanna be better.” He wants to get to that level where Jae could strike up a conversation with him and Jeongguk would feel nothing. In fact, he’d be able to converse normally because he doesn’t love him anymore and the mere sight of his ex doesn’t regurgitate an avalanche of feelings inside him 

And he knows reaching that level of no-fucks-given takes a lot of time and patience and self-growth but Jeongguk wants to be there already. 

What doesn’t help is that he can never just detach himself from people. Jeongguk is a softie and he sometimes struggles to see the bad in the people who hurt him. Always trying to find a reason that he fucked up when it’s not always his fault. 

It’s been extremely difficult with Jae and no matter how many times Jeongguk works out or reads his dead DMs from random people who are somehow interested in him, his chest aches like anything. 

“I don’t think this is working, guys.” Jeongguk looks down at the cup and swirls it around. At the very least, maybe it’ll taste good. The cubes of ice slosh against the plastic while an Akon song that he knows all of the words to blares from the loudspeakers. 

Seokjin places a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him again, but Jeongguk leans back and begins gulping his drink furiously. Just to get it over with so he can leave this stupid party faster. 

It catches more attention than he would’ve liked.

“Ayy, buddy!” 

“Chug it!” 

“Let’s get him to do a keg stand next.” 

“No fuck that, handle pulls. We have Belvedere by the box here.” 

He was right, there was barely any alcohol in there, so Jeongguk doesn’t feel that bitter twinge and heat running down his throat and into his stomach when he’s done drinking. It’s more like drinking a slightly spiked soda. But when he pulls back, there are hoards of people cheering him on, clapping his shoulders and patting him despite barely knowing he exists and Jeongguk wants to die now. 

Some 2nd year, who belongs to the frat, hands Jeongguk a can of beer and it’s so wet from condensation that the thing nearly slips from his fingers. 

“Drink up. You need your nutrients,” the guy cheeses and his eyes linger on Jeongguk’s body for longer than he’d like. 

Fuck off, you look like a tiktok e-boy gone rogue. 

Jeongguk takes the can and hands it to Seokjin as the crowd disperses. He’s going to go home, no he wants to go home right now. 

He tried being a party animal and it simply didn’t work. Now it’s time to rewatch Strong Girl Bong-soon for the millionth time and cry into a bowl of nachos. 

“Hey guys, I’m gonna-”

Then he sees him. 

Seokjin, who was just playing with Hoseok’s fingers, follows Jeongguk’s wide-eyed gaze to see the one and only Jae entering the open kitchen and family room with a confused look on his face. 

Jeongguk swears all of the blood in his body stops running. He’s rendered into an ice statue; unable to think, move, breathe, exist. Thankfully the can isn’t in his grip anymore because he would’ve dropped it and the can would explode over everyone. 

It’s like getting killed in a game. You don’t expect it yet some asshole comes from behind and shoots you. 

That’s what it feels like to see Jae right now. 

He’s looking around for something and his hands do that thing that Jeongguk used to find so endearing where his fingers twist around at the base of his stomach, nails dancing over each digit while in deep thought. His hair has grown out and his ears no longer have the single diamond studs that Jeongguk got him for his birthday. He feels a punch in his gut, almost knocking him down to the floor with its strength. 

Why is he at this party? Who was that who came with him? How long have they been dating? How could he get over him so fast?

Jeongguk has so many questions and he almost musters up the courage to walk up to Jae and ask him, maybe tell him to fuck off to Antartica while he’s at it, but then they make eye contact. 

And all of that momentary bravado melts like ice in the microwave. 

Jeongguk panics and Jae steps forward. There is a ton of space between them, enough for an entire person to lie down on the ground but it feels like that space is closing in and there must be distance for Jeongguk to even acknowledge him properly.

His brain flashes the images of their texts, how it felt crying into his pillow while his sister soothingly rubbed his back, and how, to this day, he still has no idea what the fuck he did wrong. 

“Jeongguk,” Jae tries. 

He shakes his head. No. Too much, too soon. Jeongguk turns around and pushes people out of his way, ignoring their drunken complaints. He has to leave. He’ll hide in the damn air vents if he has to. His legs take him far, using long strides as panic rises up in his throat, making it impossible to form a single coherent thought. 

“Jeongguk wait,” Jae calls. He doesn’t pay him attention. 

The frat house is huge and Jeongguk has not been here enough times to understand the layout. He goes to the front entrance and sees the stairs right across from the front door. He could either run into the night and order an Uber back or he could go upstairs. One gets him home and the other leaves him stuck at this stupid party. 

On the other hand, Seokjin’s driver is around the corner and he could drop them off whenever. It would just take a simple phone call and two minutes of waiting. Then it’s under the covers with food and a good show for the rest of the night while he forgets whatever the fuck just happened. Sounds so good.

Jeongguk looks back and he sees crowds of people parting, making way for someone to run through. 

Fuck, upstairs it is. 

He climbs up two steps at a time, bumping into people making out against the wall and passing little baggies of colored pills to each other. Jeongguk mutters half-assed apologies until he reaches the top step and looks at his two options. The 2nd floor is expansive. There is a loft with a large couch and a TV where people are playing Mario Kart but that isn’t an option so he looks to the other side of the hallway. 

There are doors on either side. 

Jeongguk is momentarily overwhelmed. He’s on a time crunch and he doesn’t know which door is which and Jae is looking for him. The probability that he’ll open the door to a full-on orgy is dangerously high. 

He scrambles and turns left to the hallway of doors. The music quiets down exponentially and if Jeongguk pays close attention, he can hear what goes on behind some of these doors. He presses his ear to the cold wood of the first one on his right, hears loud moaning and immediately bolts. 

On the other wall, there’s a bathroom and it–well, it smells like vomit and shit. No fucking thanks. 

The next door is the only one on either side of the wall. Jeongguk listens in and he doesn’t hear a thing. So he deems it safe and pulls the door back quickly, expecting a bedroom. 

Instead, he finds an impressively large storage closet. 

Jeongguk shuts the door behind him quietly. He doesn’t turn the light on and presses to the back shelf, feeling hardwood and cardboard corners dig into his skin. 

He pats around for his phone in his pockets and pulls it out, turning down the brightness and sound before sending a quick text in the group chat he has with Hoseok and Seokjin. 

the lightning mcqueers

jung+cook 

i’m hiding upstairs

if you guys want, you can go back home

i’ll just uber back 

hoe+seok

you’re hiding??!?

girl, pls explain

seok + gin

it’s p simple actually

guk’s shithead ex showed up and now he’s hiding

jung+cook 

yup 

hoe+seok

please stay safe

and let us know if you need anything!! 

we’ll be here until you leave

jung+cook 

okay mom

Hoseok responds with a middle finger emoji. Jeongguk stifles a laugh and shoves his phone into his pocket when he hears footsteps on the hardwood floor. He gets closer to the door and presses his hand to the wood to listen in. 

The steps go forward to the end of the hallway and stop, then come back, knocking on various doors in a soft voice going: “Jeongguk?” 

His heart rises to his throat, stomach twisting and turning like he’s got an exam in two minutes. Sweat beads form in Jeongguk’s hairline and all the alcohol sloshing around in his stomach doesn’t help. The closet is small and tiny and he’s producing so much body heat from panicking that it practically turns into a sauna. 

“Fuck,” Jeongguk whispers. 

Why does Jae want to talk now? Why now? 

He couldn’t have responded to the million texts Jeongguk sent him? Or the voicemails? He didn’t have the balls then to give him an answer? 

What’s so special about today? He could’ve come to Jeongguk’s house and spoken face to face if that’s what he wanted. Jae lives in Seoul and Jeongguk’s family just bought a house outside the city. What is the point of all of this? 

“Did you guys see anyone come up here?” It seems Jae is asking the people playing in the loft. 

Jeongguk listens close enough to hear the guy on the couch go. “Wait, do you even go to this school?” 

A moment passes. He considers parting the door just a bit to see if Jae has left. Then Jeongguk hears a loud scoff and the sound of steps stomping down the stairs. 

Phew. Crisis averted. 

Jeongguk steps away from the door and lets out a heavy sigh of relief. Hopefully, Jae thinks he’s left the party or he learns to take a fucking hint and walks away from him as soon as possible. He whips his phone out again and texts the others. 

jung+cook 

can you do me a favor and tell me when jae goes down to the basement or something? 

i wanna leave when he isn’t around to see us

Seokjin sends a thumbs up. Jeongguk sets his phone down, realizing he is in complete darkness, which doesn’t freak him out but ideally, he’d like to think that he isn’t surrounded by anything gross like sex toys or old cleaning supplies. He pats around the walls around the door in search of a light switch, a closet this big would need one. 

When his fingers finally close around one and flick it on, he looks around cautiously. There are just storage boxes of papers, old dartboards and board games. 

One more sigh of relief escapes Jeongguk’s lips. 

⍟⍟⍟

For Taehyung, this feels like a sadistic game of cat and mouse. 

Everywhere he goes, Doeun seems to find him. He’s in the backyard, in the garage, in the basement, out front, in the living room. It’s as if he’s placed a tracker and is following Taehyung in hopes of getting him to do whatever he wants. 

Well, he’s had it.

The crowds are bigger in the rooms on the 1st floor. The kitchen, living and family room are where people do body shots, snort coke off an antique silver tray, play various drinking games and socialize so it’s easier for Doeun to get lost. 

Taehyung evades him like a slinky fish. He’s stolen some random person’s baseball cap and feels like he’s Joe from You with the way he’s lurking around and watching everyone carefully. 

Doeun eventually gets caught by an irritated Jae who rants about everyone here being pompous assholes who are too coked-up to realize the fucked up reality that they live in like circus freaks. Taehyung bites back a retort. 

Why did you even come then? 

He always thought Jae was like Jeongguk. Party scenes just aren’t for them. Taehyung always found Jeongguk hiding in corners or sitting out alone when the overbearing guests got too much for them. So why is Jae here?

Maybe they’re in on something together. What was that thing Jae was always going on about? People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones? If he hates it so much the door is right fucking there. 

But Taehyung doesn’t check to see if he does. Doeun is still searching around the crowd for him so he slips out the back and walks through to the front where the stairs are. People wave at him, bat their eyelashes, offer joints or whatever they’ve got in their hands in hopes that he’ll stay but Taehyung just waves them off. 

He takes note of the group gaming without a care, not talking to anyone but themselves, no demands, just fun, and then takes the left side of the hallway. 

There’s a closet down this way that’s big enough for him to hide and have enough space to breathe. Taehyung knows this house a little too well and he’d rather bore himself to death in a storage closet than touch any of the furniture in the bedrooms. 

Frat boys are notoriously disgusting for a reason. 

Without a second thought, Taehyung places one of the hair ties from his wrist on the doorknob so no one will come in, thinking that it’s occupied, and pulls the door back, expecting the thing to be completely empty. 

And not at all expecting to find Jeon Jeongguk of all people standing there like a deer in headlights. 

“What the fuck?” He jumps back like Taehyung is going to strike at him like a cobra. That’s my line. 

Jeon Jeongguk, star swimmer, every parent’s dream, resident Golden Boy and once upon a time, Taehyung’s closest friend, gives him a gentle glare with his lips set in a line and his arms crossed defensively over his chest. 

Taehyung leans against the door frame. “What are you doing here?” He asks and his tone drips with contempt. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” 

“Well, I asked first.” The light from outside highlights Jeongguk’s features. His big eyes and his round nose. His cheeks have definitely slimmed down with time and his hair is curly and fluffy. He looks different in some way, and Taehyung can’t put a finger on it. “Jae’s out there, you know, hanging around someone else. Shirking the boyfriend duties already?” 

Jeongguk breaks their eye contact and focuses on a corner of the closet, curling his hands along the shelf of the unit behind him as he leans back. Taehyung’s chin pulls back at the hesitation. 

“Shut up,” is all he gets in response, which is totally not at all what Taehyung wanted. So he tries once more to get him. 

His head cocks to the side. “You know, I can just text him to come up her–”

Jeongguk’s glare is immediate and his arms flex across his chest rather scarily. “I’ll kill you,” he threatens  and there, that is exactly what Taehyung was looking for (minus the scary look). He wanted to get Jeongguk angry. 

He doesn’t know why. It was always fun to tease and poke at him as a kid. Call it parapraxis or subconscious behavior. 

Taehyung smirks in response, shutting the door behind him and pressing his back against it. “Always such a pleasure talking to you, Jeon,” he pretends to coo. 

“Yeah and you’re such a pocketful of sunshine, aren’t you?” He retorts back, slouching into himself some more like he’s trying to hide his body. “Wait, what are you doing here? Won’t the party collapse without your presence?” Jeongguk puts on a fake-concerned voice, one Taehyung used to find hilarious but now his lips turn down in annoyance. 

“That’s not important. What I wanna know is why you’re hiding from Jae.” Taehyung’s brow raises in defiance. “You two were attached at the hip all of last year. I literally vomited in my mouth every time I saw you. So what the fuck happened?” 

Jeongguk doesn’t say anything for a moment. His eyes are casted down to his shoes, blinking repeatedly as if the answers are written on the canvas above his toes. His chest rises and the ruffled shirt reveals a sliver of skin moving with the action. He chews on his bottom lip in thought, an action Taehyung recognizes even to this day. 

“We aren’t together anymore,” he mumbles. 

That’s actually a shock. Jeongguk, from the way he would drag Jae along to parties thrown by people who don't know that he exists and only talk to him, Hoseok and Seokjin, always painted it as a solid, stable, long-lasting relationship. Taehyung didn’t care for them dating but it was obvious that there was something real and strong there. 

The closet feels a little cramped with both of them shoved in, being tall and all of that but Taehyung leans back against the door to give Jeongguk as much space as he can. 

“I asked because I wanted to know if you were playing seven minutes or something.” Jeongguk still doesn’t give him his eyes and it reminds Taehyung so much of how they were as kids. “I didn’t want to interrupt.” 

“Seven minutes?”

“Uh yeah,” Taehyung scoffs. “This closet is used exclusively for seven minutes in heaven.” He would know, he’s played in here many times. “So, am I interrupting?” 

Taehyung wouldn’t take Jeongguk for someone to play such a game. It’s terribly childish and hormone driven and Jeongguk was always someone who valued romance. From his memory, he’d gush over shojo manga and all of the movies his mother collected over the years. And considering the way he was brought up, with his lovey-dovey parents, it makes sense. Jeongguk always loved love. 

Seven minutes in heaven is one of those games that you play when you get the urge to just touch someone or when you have a crush and your friends want you to take it to the next step. It can be sweet but it’s usually raunchy. 

Most of the time, the people in here end up moving to a room and fucking or going home together. That’s how it’s played in college at least.

Jeongguk shakes his head like Taehyung knew he would. Then he sniffs once, twice, and his nose scrunches up in distaste. 

“You smell like weed.” 

Yes but unfortunately, Taehyung got all of the downs of smoking and none of the perks, like being high. Doeun walked into the backyard by the time the joint pass was making it to Taehyung and he had to dip. But he still smells like he was hotboxing in a car. 

“I was in the backyard.” The air feels awkward and thick and hot. They haven’t sat down and talked for years now, always avoiding each other at parties and luncheons simply because it hurt too much, and Taehyung never really internalized it until now. “Does it seriously bother you that much?” 

“It’s a gross smell.” Jeongguk’s tone begins to dip into the defensive. 

Oh right, because you’re so fucking perfect all the time. 

Taehyung’s eyes roll. “Grow up. Then again, you’re hiding from your ex in a closet instead of having the balls to own up to whatever you did wrong so what’s the point in telling you that?” 

Jeongguk’s reaction is immediate. “You don’t even know the full story so shut the fuck up.”

“Okay, alright,” Taehyung throws his hands up in defeat. “Whatever floats your boat.” The cold wood presses against his hands and the air is filled with the scent of dust and a little bit of weed. “Did Jae come in with someone?” 

There’s no way he could come in all by himself. These parties are so exclusive that you have to be inside the crowd to even know about the party happening. 

“Yeah,” he nods, bitterly. “I don’t know his name or anything but he’s wearing this hideous Versace shirt,”  Jeongguk stresses the word as if the piece of clothing disgusts him to that extent

Taehyung bites back a smile. It truly is a hideous shirt. “His name is Doeun. He tried out for the tennis team but we didn’t let him in.” His hands go to the pockets of his ironed slacks, linen blend so he can breathe in them with the Seoul heat. 

Doeun didn’t have what it takes, which is what Taehyung told his team. Little did he know it was going to bite him in the ass months later. 

“Jae probably disagreed with you,” Jeongguk scoffs. His shoes press into the carpeted floors. “He’s always loved an underdog.” 

And he always loved being against anything Taehyung was arguing for. 

Taehyung rolls his eyes again. Fucking Jae and his fucking morals and his fucking holier-than-thou attitude drive him up the wall. He has no idea how Jeongguk could tolerate it for two years and did not want to scream his lungs out from frustration at all times because sometimes he makes Taehyung violently angry. Because of course, he had to save the poor little 1st year who couldn’t get onto the tennis team despite the value that comes with his family name. Righteous Jae just couldn’t leave him alone. 

This year is going to be hell on earth if he doesn’t figure something out and judging by the way Jeongguk looks right now, he might be joining Taehyung on the suffering train. 

His face isn’t very expressive but Taehyung can still read him like a book. His bottom lip pushes out and his eyes never meet his own and he’s all curled in on himself. Jeongguk is sad. He teeters on his feet. A restless type of energy emanates from him, like he’s holding onto something that he just can’t seem to let go of. 

He used to sulk in his room, hugging that green dinosaur plushie of his forever until he and Taehyung were forced to apologize to each other by their parents. 

It’s painful how much he hasn’t changed.

Taehyung pipes up. “You’ll heal.” His voice is grainy and rough, gaining the other’s attention with a quirked brow. “From this breakup. It probably stings like shit right now but soon you won’t have to hide from him.”

Whatever happened, it can be built upon. You can go back to the way things were. 

Jeongguk doesn’t say anything for a moment. He just blinks at Taehyung, his chest rising in a black shirt and leather jacket with the flannel peeking out while the older looks so different in his billowy tops and pressed slacks. His eyes are soft for once and Taehyung looks a lot like he used to, the version that Jeongguk was once so used to. 

Then he looks away and crosses a leg over the other, deep in thought. 

“It doesn’t feel like I will.” His fingers begin fiddling with the loose strings in the pockets of his jeans. Jeongguk has talked about what happened so many times; to his sister, his parents, his two friends, and his dog. At this point, he feels like a broken record but seeing Jae today awoke all of these thoughts in his mind and he needs to get them out and if Kim Taehyung is the person who he confides in, so be it. “We were fine during the 2nd semester,” he starts. 

Taehyung’s eyes flash up to him, filled with surprise. 

“Like we were talking about getting an apartment at Paradise and I was gonna invite him to come to Busan over the summer with my parents,” he lists on, head tilting to each side, “and I was just so ready to have him involved in more parts of my life.” 

They’d been dating for two years and Jeongguk thought they were ready, simple as that. 

“After school ended, Jae started pulling away from me. I could feel it. He wasn’t answering my texts or calls as much and then, earlier this year he went on about how he could barely afford tennis camp and when I asked him about it, he gave me like three sentences in response. Then two weeks into summer break, he’d ghosted me.” 

Taehyung inhales sharply, the bottom row of teeth showing for a second. 

Jeongguk’s hair shakes as he speaks. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what I had done wrong. Jihyo told me to just give him space so I did. I trained, I worked out, I tried not to think about him too much but it didn’t work.” Jeongguk can never just let go. “I was just so fucking miserable the entire break,” he pauses, rubbing his palm over his face. 

He looks as exhausted as he sounds, cheeks sunken and eyes unfocused. Taehyung sees his shoulders droop and feels his heart hurt a little for him.

“So that’s why you didn’t come to any of Yoongi or Jimin’s parties over the summer then?” Taehyung nods like he’s piecing the puzzle together. 

Tennis camp is only two weeks long and it’s in the first month of the three-month summer break. Between then and the return to school, these rich jocks have loads of free time, which means parties after parties. 

Now, Jeongguk avoided about 80% of these parties since they weren’t his scene but if certain people, like Jimin and Yoongi were throwing it, sometimes he’d pop his head in just so that his parents would stop nagging him. 

Taehyung always saw him there, talking to Kim Seokjin and Jung Hoseok and then leaving with them earlier than everyone else. It was weird to see the trio dwindle down to a sad duo. 

His head nods, even though he’s a bit surprised that Taehyung noticed his absence. “I could barely leave my room half the time. I just wanted to talk to him. I missed him so much.” Jeongguk swallows heavily and it takes him a few seconds to get the confidence to speak. “Then I get this pathetic fucking text from Jae saying that he wants to break up and then fucking blocks me. On everything.” 

Taehyung’s jaw doesn’t drop but his eyes widen in surprise. Okay, he was not expecting that. Most of him wanted to believe Jeongguk fucked up but this? This is just unfair to him. 

“Has he spoken to you since?” Taehyung asks. His voice betrays him by revealing a layer of pity he is unsure Jeongguk wants right now. 

“No,” a sad broken laugh leaves him. “This is the first time I see him and– and he’s with some guy dressed like a gambler in some tacky crime movie from the 80s.” Jeongguk looks back up at Taehyung, eyes a little wet. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Taehyung agrees. “That’s fucked up.” He means that genuinely.. Jae seems to think so highly of himself as if he could never do anything wrong, as if he was the golden thread among strands of gray. 

He’s a piece of shit and he’s always been a piece of shit. 

“But the worst part is that I might lose my apartment at Paradise if I don’t find a new roommate. Since my old one dumped me, I’m panicking.” 

“You got an apartment in Paradise?” He asks incredulously. His head pulls back. “I don’t know if I should be jealous or angry right now.” Does he know not how coveted those apartments are? “I might have to stay in the dorms again this year.” 

The housing at this university is asscheeks. 

Jeongguk almost laughs at him. It’s small and meaningless in reality but at that moment, Taehyung feels a stroke of warmth for getting him to stop frowning. 

“Look, Jeon,” he calls, determined to bring him out of his sad stupor “Two things, 1. Find a roommate, for your own sake and 2. Jae can fuck right off.” And he’s only saying that because Taehyung has always hated Jae, since before he and Jeongguk started dating, since his first year. “He should be hiding from you. He’s in the wrong,” Taehyung presses. 

The small smile remains on his face at Taehyung’s determination and he opens his mouth to say something when his phone vibrates loudly. Jeongguk whips his cracked phone out to read his texts and his eyebrows scrunch. 

“What?”

“Jae and that guy left. Hobi just told me.” He pockets the phone quickly and readjusts his leather jacket that sits snugly on his shoulders. “How long have we been here?” 

Taehyung doesn’t give it much thought. “Probably seven minutes.” Ironic as it is. “You’re gonna leave me without a single kiss?” He feigns grief while the younger just rolls his eyes. “Asshole.” 

“You wish.” Jeongguk walks forward like he’s going to reach for the doorknob which would get him a lot closer to Taehyung, till they breathe the same air, and he thinks fast by wrapping his slender fingers around the cold metal himself. Jeongguk stops moving. 

They might’ve had their first long (and civil) conversation in years but they are not there yet. They might never be there for the rest of their lives.

Taehyung gets off the door and parts it, causing bright light to seep into the closet. Jeongguk’s skin appears brighter and his lips look shinier and plumper, and Taehyung loses himself in the gleam for a moment 

“Thanks for listening,” Jeongguk mumbles and it might be a trick of the light because his cheeks look a little rosy. 

He wants to tease him about it. It’s Taehyung’s second nature when it comes to Jeongguk as bittersweet hazy memories flood him of Jeongguk’s house on Gardenia Street with the flower pots on the front porch and the swing in his backyard. How his mom used to actually bake them cookies and ask Taehyung about school and his interests. His sister would put clips in their hair and put on Barbie movies. If Taehyung tried hard enough, he could smell that cottony scent that seemed to be omnipresent in that house. His childhood is filled with little snapshots of their friendship and every time Taehyung gets the slightest bit closer to Jeongguk again, he slips. 

Things are different now. They will always be different and he seriously needs to get that through his thick skull. 

“N-no problem.” Taehyung clears his throat. Now that Doeun is gone, he can take another smoke break and actually enjoy this party. He parts the door completely and they walk out. 

Not at the same time of course. Jeongguk goes first and Taehyung follows, then he shuts the doors behind him and removes his hair tie from the door knob so that someone else could make use of this large closet if needed. 

“Why the hair band?” 

Taehyung fixes it back on his wrist. “So people think something is happening behind the door and they won’t disturb us.” His head motions to the few doors with scrunchies or bracelets on the knob. 

Jeongguk’s eyebrows furrow. “Won’t people get the wrong idea about us then?” 

The rumor might be short-lived since everyone knows they don’t get along but who knows, people can twist stories into something completely different given the right tools. 

Taehyung brushes it off. “Don’t even worry about it. Just go home and be a hermit.” He takes off faster, eager to get back to the party while Jeongguk meets his two friends at the end of the stairs to go home. 

With their backs turned to the end of the hall, neither of them knew what was going to cook up with a simple secret photo taken of them leaving the same closet together.

#bts #taekook #kimtaehyung #jeonjungkook #taekookfanfic #childhoodfriendstoenemiestolovers #mutual pining #angst #smut

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It is 5:30 am. I have not slept. Here is a compilation of my mlm anime ships for future reference. Have a nice day.

Now excuse me while I pass out bc this took me almost seven hours to make.

I tried. ¯\(◉‿◉)/¯

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GIVEN SEQUEL MOVIE ANNOUNCED

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this is the man of everyone's dreams ♡ for @sugajimin

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🥹💗also ik im looking too much into it and projecting to fuel my own delusions but yall notice how the lyrics focused on his partner’s pleasure 🥹💗

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LONG LIVE BTS ♡ Happy 10th Anniversary (June 13th, 2013) cr. dwellingsouls, namuspromised

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no one loves bangtan more than bangtan 🤍 (and no one loves eomuk more than jin does 😭)

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SJ: Jungkook, show them the kangaroo

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All seven together😭

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➳ i'm in love with a criminal

like or reblog n don't repost

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just jungkook folding his underwears in front of millions of people 😂