Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So, how’s the semester so far?”

“It’s hell.”

The day started out normally. Kim Taehyung was young (in his early twenties, thank you very much), wild (well, actually, no – he’s not in the frat and he can’t drink to save his life, so parties weren’t the best for him) and free (sue him, he’s still single). He is a blond, 5’8” glass of pure perfection – the hot university babe that everyone wants to bang regardless of preference. Taehyung would say that his personality turns off a lot of people that try to court him – since he, indeed, is an odd and bubbly person – but more often than not, Taehyung would just be picky.

Weirdly, Taehyung didn’t fall under any stereotype of the “coolest and hottest” person on campus – as before mentioned, he can’t drink and so parties aren’t really his thing, and he wasn’t in the fraternity to be called one of the Alpha boys. He wasn’t high maintenance or snobby, nor did he only hang out with the “popular clique.” And his major wasn’t a case of those “I don’t like anything, but I have to finish university, so I’ll choose something easy” – in fact, he loved photography as a passion.

The only thing about Taehyung that screamed stereotypical babe was the fact that he’s blond and has proportions of a model (surely dresses as one, too). Also, stereotypically, he should have a hot university boyfriend who’s the captain of the football team and that he would break up with once their education is over, but no. Taehyung can’t be swayed, no matter how many attractive guys and girls (he’s gay, but hey, girls can be cute) try to hit on him.

So, it was only the beginning of the semester when Taehyung found himself sitting out on campus ground, sharing some average-tasting takeout food and thoughts with two of his hyungs that were also majoring in art. He was complaining about lord knows what when he appeared. He as in that “I only looked at him for two seconds and I already know I want to sit on his face” guy Taehyung saw for the first time on campus.

That guy – who appeared out of nowhere, looking hot like nobody’s business – was definitely as tall as Taehyung, but his frame was larger and more muscular, thus making him look bigger overall in comparison. Black hair was peeking beneath a black beanie and falling down to frame his attractive features rather nicely, jaw slim and strong as he tongues the inside of his cheek as if he’s thinking.

He wore the simplest of white shirts, but Taehyung could see how strong his arms looked. And his jeans were black, ripped at the knees to show a slither of skin, and they hugged his thighs so well it made Taehyung’s mouth water. He wore pink timberlands (pink, how did he make them look so good?) and there was even a clear ink of a tattoo riding up his left arm, disappearing where his shirt was bunched around his elbows. With a sports bag over his shoulder and earphones in, he looked like one of those “too hot to approach” kinds of guys.

“Um, Tae? You okay?” One of his friends, a brunet theater major by the name of Park Seojoon, had asked, although Taehyung hadn’t really heard him.

He had just stared at the attractive male that passed by, looking like he’s headed to the other side of campus. He couldn’t even formulate words at the time, only opening and closing his mouth like a fish until he had turned back to look at his hyungs. Taehyung had looked like he just witnessed something he shouldn’t have.

“Someone finally caught your eye?” Choi Minho, an interior design major, had questioned as his lip quirked up into an amused smirk.

Taehyung had paled a bit and realization had settled down in.

Fuck.

■ ◌ ■

“No, but he was really hot, Jimin, like… are you even listening to me?”

“You’ve been ranting for two hours and I tuned out at the first fifteen minutes, so no.”

Taehyung pushes his best friends shoulder and Jimin laughs a little, sending him a smile. Park Jimin is another university hot-shot that Taehyung happens to be (best) friends with. Whilst being a dance major, Jimin was also sort of a gym rat, and Taehyung – as someone so lazy that the biggest labor for him is getting out of bed for his laptop charger, that is plugged somewhere across the room  – both respects and resents how Jimin tightens up and takes care of his body.

Jimin was a bit shorter and with ginger hair, but his personality was precious. He and Taehyung had been roommates ever since they both enrolled in university at the same time (with both of them being ’95-liners). The dance major had also been accepted into the university fraternity, but he declined for some odd reason he hadn’t told Taehyung to this day.

“I’m kidding, I heard everything you said,” Jimin says and Taehyung gives him a suspicious look, “I swear! I get it, sometimes you see a hot guy and you think wow, he has a nice dick that I could suck, yeah?”

“Right?” Taehyung agrees with a solemn sigh, “No, but he looks like he isn’t real, Jimin! Like okay, I didn’t realize someone so attractive is able to exist?”

Jimin laughs again, shaking his head at his friend’s words as the two of them were heading to Jimin’s dance practice. It was a Saturday, which meant dance was recreational and no instructor or teacher was present. Not to mention, they would have an after party and that could end up being really fun. So, most of the time, dancers would show up to practice with friends that would wait for it to finish and then crash a party later. Taehyung was one of those friends.

When they show up to the dance studio, Hoseok – who is another dance major and the literal human embodiment of the Sun – informs Jimin that he is late and the latter apologizes, but the way he’s grinning doesn’t really say he’s sorry. In midst of all the dancers in the room, as Taehyung was chatting away with Hoseok, he spots the guy he has been ranting about. The “arm tattoo and pink timbs” guy, as he came to call him.

Well, now, there were no pink timberlands in sight, but he did wear regular timberlands (how does he even dance in those?) and gosh, his tattoo looks even better up close and in a short sleeved shirt. Jeans on him were great, but oh my god, Taehyung never thought that sweatpants were a man’s greatest creation until he saw this guy wear them so effortlessly good. And the way his black hair falls over his eyes a little? Fuck.

“Jimin,” he whispers to his friend and Jimin hums as he was taking off his jacket to accommodate to the heat of the room and the upcoming sweat of practice, “That’s the guy,” Taehyung says as his eyes gesture to the hot guy, who was immersed in a conversation with another fresh face Taehyung hadn’t seen in practice before.

Jimin subtly cast his eyes in the direction of Taehyung’s gaze, and they widen as he looks back to his best friend. “You mean Jeon Jeongguk?” He whispers in disbelief, as if Taehyung knew his name to confirm his question. However, their discussion was cut short when a voice boomed over the rest.

“Alright, peeps, line up!” Hoseok had called as he was the one leading practices when no teacher was around. Taehyung was almost out the door when Hoseok called to him, “Hey, Tae, call in Momo, will you? She’s at the vending machine with Sana.”

Taehyung nods and then steps out, lingering one last glance at the guy he was ogling earlier. He takes a turn in the hallway and then sees a row of vending machines that were just across a recreational lab for students. Taehyung spots two girls there, talking, and he grins as he walks over to them.

“Momo?” He calls and both head turn in his direction, although his eyes are focused on the girl with black hair, bangs nicely cut over her forehead and two messy buns sitting on each side of her head. “Hoseok called, practice began.”

Hirai Momo was a cute Japanese girl that was majoring in dancing, that had a cute Japanese girlfriend by the name of Minatozaki Sana that majored in being adorable graphical design. Honestly, Taehyung couldn’t have found a cuter or better couple even in a shoujo-ai manga.

“Ah, I’m going!” Momo said and she was off, but not before thanking Taehyung and giving her girlfriend a chaste kiss. Taehyung smiles at the way Sana blushes shyly. Momo bumps into a girl on her run to the practice room and her apology echoes in the hallway as Taehyung watches the other girl walk over to them.

“Chaeyoung? Here with Lalisa again?” Taehyung grins teasingly as the girl approaches them. Chaeyoung smiles and nods. Taehyung notices that her newly dyed ginger hair happens to have pink highlights in it.

“Lots of new faces in the dance crew, huh?” The photography major said, whilst slipping a coin into the vending machine and getting himself a cola. He needs to chill a little, because it’s almost like his cheeks are still burning from having seen and found out who the “arm tattoo and pink timbs” guy actually is.

“Oh, yeah,” Park Chaeyoung says as she gets herself a cola as well. She flips her hair behind her shoulder and cocks her head a bit to the side, “You’ve seen the new guy, right? Jeon Jeongguk?”

Taehyung absently nods, even if he’s aware there were a lot of new faces in the practice room. By saying he’s seen Jeongguk and knows his name, he’s showing interest, but he couldn’t care less about it in the moment. “Yeah,” he simply answers to the question.

“We’re the same age – ’97 liners,” Chaeyoung explains and she smiles in amusement into her cola as she watches Taehyung’s eyes grow wide in realization. “He’s not a freshman?” He can’t help but ask, seeing as he has never seen Jeongguk around campus before.

Chaeyoung shakes her head in declination. “I heard he didn’t have a major last year, but he picked dance at the start of this semester,” she explains, “He stayed low on his first year for some reason. I only saw him in my English class.”

Sana was listening on this entire time and just casually sipping on the coffee she brought along. “He got accepted into the fraternity as well,” she speaks, voice small but clear.

“Whoa, he’s an Alpha boy already?” Chaeyoung says, her surprise equivalent to Taehyung’s as they attain this piece of information.

Taehyung doesn’t doubt Sana’s words in the slightest – after all, Sana is an Alpha girl, meaning she’s in the university’s sorority. When it comes to new members in either the sorority or fraternity, each of them are the first to find out before the rest of the student body does. Taehyung is a bit surprised because this means Jeongguk joined the frat this year and him knowing the head of the frat (Kim Seokjin), it’s really rare for someone to be accepted during and not before attendance.

Speaking of Seokjin, Taehyung wondered how the blond got over Jeongguk having a tattoo? Well, Yoongi-hyung did get three tattoos last year alone, Taehyung thinks to himself and then concludes that it may not be that odd. Jeongguk definitely has the looks for the frat, that’s for sure. Must have killer talent too, seeing as they accepted him in his second year in.

“I’m actually surprised he isn’t taken,” Chaeyoung says and Taehyung’s ears perk at the information, “If I wasn’t into girls only, I’d be all over that.”

“You think he’s into girls?” Taehyung can’t help but ask, disappointment itching on his tongue. Chaeyoung, catching upon that, laughs and shakes her head.

“I thought so at first, but then someone told me he’s bi,” she says, “I scrolled back on his Instagram. He kisses both guys and girls, I assure you.”

“He’s got Insta?” Taehyung says, already pulling out his phone.

The blond male has a theory about bisexuals and that is that they’re all well packed and good in bed. From his experience, some of the best sex he ever had was with guys that swing both ways and “the motion in the ocean” thing is backed up pretty nicely. And for now, Jeon Jeongguk fits nicely within the theory of Taehyung’s. When it comes to “the motion in the ocean” thing, he’ll have to find out for himself.

And that sounds like a nice idea.

■ ◌ ■

Unfortunately for Taehyung, Jeongguk didn’t come to the after party.

The next day, Taehyung was brushing his teeth rather grimly in the bathroom. Jimin enters without knocking, a force of habit from being best friends and roommates for years, reaching to grab his own toothbrush, but knocking over the soap instead. “Gosh, wake up first,” Taehyung muttered with his toothbrush in his mouth, reaching to take the soap out of the sink. Jimin rolls his eyes as he reaches to get what he originally grabbed for.

Taehyung rinses out his mouth and stretches with a small groan. “Got class?” He asks and Jimin nods a little, brushing his teeth with a weary look.

“I can’t believe you actually have the hots for Jeongguk,” Jimin says as he taps the towel around his lips, brushing away the water and soap he washed his face with.

“He wasn’t at the after party yesterday,” Taehyung says as he styles his hair, completely ignoring the statement his best friend just made.

Jimin clearly rolls his eyes and then he turns to Taehyung, arms crossed and hip leaning against the sink as he cocks an eyebrow up. “Well, he rarely is,” he explains, catching Taehyung glancing at him in the mirror, “I heard he’s taking lots of classes. And since he’s in the frat, probably goes to basketball too. He probably doesn’t have enough time for parties.”

Taehyung’s mind immediately conjures an image of Jeongguk in a jersey with that damn arm tattoo and that black hair and he licks his suddenly dry lips, fingers tapping against the sink as he looks at himself in the mirror. “Say… when’s the next game gonna be?” He asks.

Jimin raises an eyebrow and gives him one of those I know what you’re doing, Kim Taehyung looks that are rooted deep within their friendship, and mostly come up when Taehyung thinks he’s being subtle in some sort of plan. Although, the blond isn’t really trying to be subtle, either.

“Seriously?” Jimin says and Taehyung rolls his eyes, reaching for his contact lens that were placed on the shelf beneath the mirror, because glasses are a bitch if you’re a photography major (actually, glasses are a bitch in general).

“Oh, like you’re any less subtle,” he says, speaking smoothly as he tries to get his lens to stick to his fingertip, “Whenever you go to the game, you cheer on Yoongi-hyung as some sort of girlfriend. And you get super excited whenever Hoseok-hyung decides to play too.”

“It’s cause he rarely every plays,” Jimin denies, although the red on his cheeks is obvious, “And he’s really good at dribbling, it’s fun to watch.”

“Yeah, it’s fun to watch him run around the court in a jersey and shorts, sweaty with sex appeal,” Taehyung said and then he gives his best friend a pointed look.

Taehyung doesn’t understand why Jimin’s so shy about the fact he likes two people (Taehyung dated twins one time and it’s really exciting to share, since it’s double the fun. Double the orgasms too). It’s obvious he wants to get inside the whole “friends”-with-benefits situation that Hoseok and Yoongi have going on, but he just doesn’t want to admit it. But being his best friend, Taehyung decides not to pester him about it.

“I’m just saying that we can tag along to the game together,” the blond says, finally managing to put one lens in and he blinks until it finally settles in nicely.

Taehyung can’t see it, but Jimin’s eyes ease a little and his lips quirk up into a smile full of amusement. “Well,” he said, watching how his best friend put the other lens in with more difficulty and more cussing, “I’m really not up to par with when the games are, but I’ll ask Hoseok-hyung during practice today.”

“Thanks, babe. You’re the sweetest,” Taehyung coos with a small smile as he leans in and kisses his best friend on the cheek, then goes to move past him to exit the bathroom. Jimin rolls his eyes a little, as he slaps Taehyung’s ass once their shoulders brush together on Taehyung’s way out.

Jimin escapes a kick to the shin as he jumps into the unoccupied shower, making Taehyung smile in slight amusement as he reaches for the door handle. “Have fun rubbing one out to Yoongi and Hoseok-hyung!” He calls and quickly escapes the bathroom before he gets a bar soap chucked his way.

■ ◌ ■

However, not everything goes as how Taehyung imagined it.

I mean why would it– the universe simply isn’t that lazy to comply to the scenario that Taehyung had made up in his mind when it comes to how he’s going to meet resident hot-shot, Jeon Jeongguk. What Taehyung wanted was to go to a basketball game and meet Jeongguk over mutual friends– pretending that he totally didn’t want of Jeongguk to bend him in half and simply charm him off with his smile and really tight jeans.

But no, the universe had a different approach in mind.

It was a simple Tuesday – you hassle over exams and cry over student loans and anxiety into your cold ramen at three in the morning, but what else is new about the student life? – and Taehyung wasn’t having it. It was a peculiar day of the week, when Taehyung had the most classes out of any day of the week and had to wake up super early for them.

Taehyung was still sleeping when the door to his room was opened and a drowsily annoyed looking Jimin entered, dragging his feet and only wearing a pair of loose basketball shorts. He throws a pillow in Taehyung’s direction and succeeds in hitting him straight in the face. “Wake the fuck up, I can hear your damned alarm from my goddamn room,” he curses, none the less pleased when Taehyung groans and begins waking up.

“Ugh,” Taehyung says, reaching for his phone and yanking it off the charger, “What time is it?” He asks, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes and make them focus enough for him to read the time on his phone. But sight is sort of a bitch without his contact lenses.

“Hell-o’clock-in-the-morning,” Jimin answers for him, visibly annoyed that he got woken up after a rough night of studying, “Don’t you have class to get to?”

“Shit, I’m gonna be late!” Taehyung yells as he moves to get out of his bed, but his feet get tangled in the bed sheets and he ends up falling over, almost face planting into the carpeted floor. Jimin sighs reluctantly, not eager to help his friend, but hating seeing him in trouble– he ends up going over and helping Taehyung up.

“What class do you even have?” Jimin asks with a sigh, watching Taehyung scurry into the bathroom and almost tripping over his pants again. “I– I don’t know, psych, I think? I just know I’m passing by the business management building,” Taehyung says, reaching for his toothbrush. He eternally thanks the gods that he took a shower last night– he can’t bear to leave his room unhygienic.

“Probably psych, then,” Jimin says, already having given up on going back to sleep at this point, “Don’t you have Mrs. Lee this semester? She’s gonna drag your ass if you arrive late.”

“I know!” Taehyung says, hastily brushing his teeth and trying to put in his contact lens at the same time. Multitasking at its finest. As soon as he’s done, he runs fingers through his hair and curses to find it still a bit wet from last night’s shower– he knew he should’ve damn dried it when he had the time, but he came back to his room at four in the morning and his bed was calling.

Knowing he can’t go out like that and risk catching a cold, he quickly rummages through the cabinets above the sink and ends up finding the dryer, plugging it in and turning it on max immediately.

“Told you that last night’s party will be a hassle today,” Jimin says, feeling the need to point out that he was right. He reaches up and tangles fingers into his bed hair, trying to straighten it out a little. Taehyung moves to the doorframe, enough so Jimin could see that he was glaring at him. “Don’t look at me like that, you know I’m right,” Jimin says and Taehyung huffs, accepting defeat.

“By the way…” Taehyung says suddenly as he turns off his dryer and Jimin cocks an eyebrow, confused as to what he means. Taehyung’s eyes trail down Jimin’s figure, gaze locked on his abdomen, smirking teasingly. “What’d I do to deserve the free show?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and Jimin was still confused, until he looks down and realizes he’s shirtless.

Heat rises to Jimin’s cheeks and he quickly covers himself with the second pillow he dragged from the bed (just in case he missed hitting Taehyung with the first one). “You damn horn dog, you’re gonna be late for class!” He hisses and Taehyung laughs as he rushes to his closet and finds the first pairs of clothing he can put together – they turn out to be some old sweatpants and a black shirt.

Just for the first class, I’ll change later, he thinks to himself as he pulls the clothes on and quickly pushes some school supplies into his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. He skips to Jimin and presses a big kiss to his cheek, not missing the chance to feel up his biceps and escaping a kick from Jimin by an inch. “You’re insufferable,” Jimin sighs.

Taehyung grins, getting his phone. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Yoongi-hyung would appreciate those guns,” he teases and then runs off before Jimin throws the other pillow at him.

When passing by business management, Taehyung takes it upon himself to check his class schedule that he so neatly has written (in his phone) and make sure that it’s psych he’s having first thing early in the morning.

“Shit, I do have Mrs. Lee this semester…” He mutters under his breath, annoyed. He bumped into a few people as he was passing business management, but that’s because he was so focused on his schedule and not like he would bump into anyone he personally knows (although many students know him), just because almost all of his friends take classes on the other side of campus at this time.

He tries hard not to think about the fact he’s severely underdressed and–

Thump!

It so appears, like the universe would just have it, that Taehyung does run into the one person he wished not to run into while wearing old sweatpants and having a bird nest on his goddamn head. And of course, just like the universe would like, he bumps into the guy while he was drinking fucking water and the collision of their bodies accidentally meeting (and not in the way he wanted) ends up with both of them getting a bit soaked.

“Shit, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean–” Taehyung starts and then his gaze rises and the rest of his sentence gets stuck in his throat, as he gulps it down and his eyes go slightly wide because his eyes lay upon messy black hair, black jeans, a currently soaked white shirt and an arm tattoo– wait, is that goddamn Jeon Jeongguk?

Taehyung doesn’t really know whether to actually feel sorry or not, because with Jeongguk’s white shirt getting soaked with water the younger was drinking, it became a bit see-through and it stuck to his body like glue – Taehyung could literally see every crevice of abdominal and chest muscle that he dreamt about.

Of course his luck would have it to bump into Jeon Jeongguk while (dressed) at his worst.

“Um… hello? Are you okay?” A distant voice suddenly calls and Taehyung snaps out of staring at the sculptured body in front of him, gaze sliding back up and locking gazes with Jeongguk, who at this point had raised an eyebrow at him. Not even cockily – he doesn’t appear arrogant and if the slight dust of red on his cheeks implies anything, he appears a bit shy.

What kind of bad boy–

“A-Ah, yeah, sorry,” Taehyung replies, gulping a bit to see a droplet of water trail down Jeongguk’s exposed forearm and okay, his tattoo looks even better up close and fuck, am I drooling? “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you like that, I wasn’t watching where I was going. And um… I’m sorry for getting your shirt soaked like that.”

Taehyung doesn’t even remember which direction he was going in at this moment, or what class he was heading to or what professor he’s having this semester, or anything, because Jeongguk simply shrugs and giggles cutely, like legit cutely, before he grabs the bottom of his shirt and no, no, no–

“It’s no big deal, I just don’t wanna catch a cold,” he simply says, casual as fuck, before he pulling his shirt up and over his chest and Taehyung’s jaw goes slack, eyes wide and he tries to collect himself because that’s a goddamn trim waist, toned abs, sculptured pecs– the most mouthwatering physique that Taehyung ever saw in his poor gay life.

Of course, by this point, everyone in the hallway had turned their heads to look at this and Jeongguk’s group of friends nearby – that were deadass just watching this occur without stepping in – began hollering and wolf whistling, even clapping. Jeongguk giggles again, throwing them a look as he throws the wet tee-shirt over his shoulder. Taehyung wants of him to throw him over his lap like that, because goddamn, those thighs are another subject up close.

Taehyung suddenly finds the floor much more interesting, observing the label on the bottle that once contained water that got him and Jeongguk soaked and wait are those the pink timbs Jeongguk wore when he first saw him–

“Did you get wet too?”

Taehyung is being snapped back into reality for the nth time since he bumped into Jeongguk ten minutes prior and his eyes blink wide, looking back up at Jeongguk and finding a stupidly attractive smile on his face, his expression clearly showing amusement. Taehyung wants to slap himself because there is a reputation he has to uphold.

Glancing down, Taehyung is reminded that his shirt is black and therefore, it isn’t clear whether he got assaulted by the water too. He slides a hand over his hip and then stomach, checking (as if he couldn’t feel the water seeping through the material of his shirt), the drag slow and teasing on purpose.

“Possibly? Maybe a bit…” He mutters, gaze sliding up to meet Jeongguk’s. The younger’s eyes darken for a moment, tongue sliding over his top lip before he takes one step closer to blond.

Taehyung tries to concentrate and seem unbothered, because he really does have a reputation to uphold – he is Kim Taehyung, blond ambition himself, and someone who is known to be hardly swayed by artificial things such as abs or biceps. Especially if said abs and biceps are on very cute guys with bunny teeth, black hair and arm tattoos and can apparently play basketball and also dance–

“You seemed to have gotten a few spots,” Jeongguk muttered as his hand touches Taehyung’s chest, before sliding to the side and brushing over his nipple slowly and intentionally. Taehyung almost let out a whimper, in too much shock to respond, especially when Jeongguk leans in to press his lips against Taehyung’s ear, “Your first time being wet because of me?”

–cause Jeon Jeongguk looks like the type that could hold Taehyung up on the wall and fuck him without growing tired. And that’s maybe a bit of a turn-on.

Taehyung’s lord and savior is the bell, because as soon as it rings, it cuts through the sexual tension with a knife and Jeongguk’s friends are calling for him to get to class. The dancer pulls away from Taehyung and passes by him without further words. Taehyung glanced over his shoulder and eyed the back muscles – especially those shoulder blades, fuck – before they got covered up the flannel Jeongguk previously had tied around his hips.

Jeongguk turns his head for a moment, cheeks red and a shy smile on his lips, but Taehyung can already sense a witty comment coming. Wasn’t his embarrassment enough?

“See you around, kitten,” Jeongguk simply calls, in the middle of the fucking hallway, where everyone could goddamn hear him and Taehyung might just died a bit inside, because his brain is malfunctioning and his mouth is gaping like a fish and he definitely thinks his blushing is obvious because of his stupid blond hair.

Kitten. It repeats inside Taehyung’s mind, because he’s been rendered speechless for the first time in his uni life, not being able to form a response. Jeongguk had no problem leaving it like that, entering his classroom like nothing just happened. The audacity of it all.

Taehyung ends up turning late to class and apparently, Mrs. Lee doesn’t take his excuse of “I bumped into a hot guy in the hallway and spilled water over the both of us, so his biceps were more distracting than usual” very well.

■ ◌ ■

“I deem an explanation for earlier today mandatory.”

“Jeon got quite cocky, didn’t he?”

Sometimes, Jeongguk deeply regrets sharing so many classes with his close friends and having them witness all the shit that goes on in his life. And that feeling is deeply present now, as he was heading to dance practice with two of his close friends – both of them being ’97 liners like himself, Xu Minghao and Kim Yugyeom – who, at the moment, were being two little shits about what happened earlier that day between Jeongguk and Taehyung.

“Not cocky. I’m just proud of the muscles I was working on,” Jeongguk huffs, but his friends completely ignore him.

“Yuna’s gonna flip when she hears about this. She’s gonna be so excited,” Yugyeom laughs in amusement and really, Jeongguk should’ve known he would never hear the end of this from the moment he bumped into Taehyung– little alone stripped his shirt in front of him, touched him, whispered in his ear and then called him an endearing nickname. All in the middle of the fucking hallway.

“She probably heard it already, though,” Minghao says, “Rumors around uni spread like wildfire. Not to mention that this is Kim Taehyung we’re talking about.”

Jeongguk scoffs a little, not understanding why they’re even talking about this. “What’s the big deal, anyways?” He mutters, mostly to himself, but his two friends picked up on it.

“Dude,” Yugyeom says, almost in disbelief, “You made Kim Taehyung flustered– Kim Taehyung.”

Jeongguk’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, not getting the implication of his friend’s statement. “So what?” He says, totally oblivious.

Just then, Minghao spots a female figure going in the same direction as them, heading from the opposite side of campus. “Wheein-noona!” He calls and the girl turns around, her pale blond hair brushing against her face before she breaks into a huge smile. As she walks over to them, she slips earphones out of her ears and tugs at her earring out of habit. “Boys,” she greets, bumping shoulders and shaking hands with all of them, “Sup?”

“I’m afraid that Jeongguk doesn’t realize the weight of a flustered Kim Taehyung, noona,” Minghao sighs dramatically with a poetic air around him and Jeongguk sighs in exasperation at this topic being brought up again. “You should’ve seen what happened earlier in the hallway, noona,” Yugyeom begins, “So basically–”

“Oh, I already heard about it,” Wheein says, as they all head to dance practice together, since their paths crossed. Dance is how they know each other in the first place and Wheein is a dear noona to the younger three, “I think I saw pictures of it, too?”

“Pictures?” Jeongguk says, incredulous to hear this, “What the hell? Why’s it a big deal?”

Wheein raises an eyebrow, while Minghao and Yugyeom sigh in unison. “I know you spent all your freshmen year locked up because you were shy or whatever, but to be this oblivious is crazy,” Yugyeom says. “Listen, I don’t pay attention to campus rumors and I don’t particularly care for them either. So care to enlighten me on what is this about?” Jeongguk says, biting his tongue back on speaking further.

Who is Kim Taehyung and why is he such a big deal?

Jeongguk had seen the pretty student around campus before, of course, but he hadn’t gotten around to getting his name or meeting him officially. It’s only when Taehyung walked in with Jimin to dance practice that day and Jeongguk asked Yugyeom about him and got his name. It’s obvious that Taehyung is popular (well, with a face like that, it’s not really a surprise), but there are plenty of those around. Jeongguk’s completely clueless, otherwise.

“Noona, if you would please?” Minghao says and Wheein nods, pushing her earphones into the pockets of her bomber jacket and sighing as she looks up at the sky, as if about to tell her whole life story in front of a fireplace at age of eighty-four. Why is everyone being so goddamn dramatic– “He’s a sweetheart, first.”

“You know Taehyung personally?” Jeongguk asks, eyebrow raised. His curiosity is spiked a bit.

“Yeah, we’re the same age,” Wheein answers and Jeongguk hums. Two years older than me, then. A hyung, Jeongguk thinks to himself, letting Wheein continue, “He’s very sociable, so he’s got a very wide group of friends and acquaintances, but from what I know, he has three close friend groups that he sticks to. First, there are the artisans– it’s all of his friends that are majoring in some type of art with him.”

“Yeah, so the likes of Choi Minho, Park Hyungsik, Park Seojoon, Kim Minjae, Park Bogum and so. It’s obvious they’re all whipped for Taehyung, in my opinion,” Minghao adds, shrugging, “Taehyung himself is a photography major.”

Photography, huh? Jeongguk thinks, suddenly a little more interested. He had a blooming interest for photography as well, but he never persuaded it as much as he would’ve liked to. In between Taehyung being a pretty face and having lots of friends, liking photography is currently the trait that sticks out the most to Jeongguk.

“Second– he’s a pretty boy, no one can deny that,” Wheein explains, “So he hangs out with the alike other pretty boys of campus. You know Byun Baekhyun, right?”

“Yeah?” Jeongguk says, recalling the name and attaching it to the face of a black haired beauty he saw a few times around campus before, holding hands with his tall red haired boyfriend. He knows Baekhyun is a popular signing major and cheerleader, while his boyfriend is in the university’s fraternity (although, he’s rarely there because he spends a lot of time in the studio) and captain of the basketball team.

“A Queen Bee, that one,” Yugyeom adds and Wheein nods along as she speaks, “Yeah, so that would include people akin to Baekhyun– you know, Lu Han, Kim Myungsoo, Jung Jinyoung, Yoon Junghan, Lee Minki, Kim Jinwoo. You can throw Kim Kibum and Nam Taehyun in there as well. You could say they’re the beauties of our youth.”

Literally all the pretty boys, Jeongguk thinks to himself, seeing where this is going. The names are really just piling up, but Jeongguk somehow manages to understand Wheein, even if he doesn’t know any of these guys in person (it’s just that he’s weak for pretty boys and can’t help but notice them more often than other people; Taehyung appears to fit in nicely with them).

“You saw that he hangs out with Jimin a lot,” Wheein says and waits until Jeongguk nods in confirmation before she continues, “Alright, so, Jimin’s his best friend. They’re tied at the hip and call each other soulmates or something like that. In that closest group of friends, he also has Kim Namjoon, resident genius and engineering major, and Kim Seokjin, the head of your frat.”

“Wait, he knows Seokjin-hyung?” Jeongguk says, a bit surprised.

“Yeah, they’re really close friends, man,” Yugyeom said, “He’s also very close with Jung Hoseok and Min Yoongi, also from your frat. They’re his closest friends.”

“Oh,” Jeongguk mutters, slowly understanding, “Okay, so he’s pretty popular and all that, but– well, I still don’t understand why it’s a big deal that he got… flustered? I mean, isn’t that a normal reaction?”

It might sound a bit cocky, but it’s a fairly valid question.

“It’s not normal for Kim Taehyung, kid,” Wheein says, finally coming to the point, “Listen… I’ll explain it as simply as I can – Kim Taehyung doesn’t fall for guys as much as you think. And before you ask– yes, he is gay. The guy wore dresses and skirts for school plays, he can rock heels better than any girl could for showcases and he even dressed as Harley Quinn for Halloween two years prior– you can basically consider him the gay icon of this campus. On top of all of that, he is very, very, very hard to sway.”

Jeongguk looks confused upon that, because he remembers the events of earlier that day and how Taehyung was as red as a tomato when Jeongguk took his shirt off (the dancer may be oblivious, but he sure ain’t blind). Taehyung shivered under his touch and seemed content with flirting with him too. He was speechless for the most part and if Jeongguk didn’t think that Taehyung is way out of his league by his appearance alone, he would just mistake that whole ordeal for casual romantic and/or sexual interest.

He keeps hearing that Taehyung is hard to get flustered, but earlier today it seemed like the easiest task for Jeongguk and now he doesn’t know how to quite feel about that. Honestly, Jeongguk just knows that Taehyung looks so pretty when flustered and he might want to see that blush on his face some more.

“You know Kim Jongin and Oh Sehun, right?” Wheein says and Jeongguk derails his mind from Taehyung, nodding to Wheein’s question. “Obviously, we’re in the same dance team,” he says. Jongin and Sehun are both tall, attractive and good dancers, so they’re really hard to miss, honestly.

“Last year, Taehyung had a threesome with the two of them,” Wheein says, way too casually and Jeongguk chokes on air, eyes going wide as he looks at her. “What the–” He mutters, caught off guard by the sudden revelation. Minghao and Yugyeom laugh at his shocked expression, finding it way too amusing.

“It was the biggest gossip last year, so of course you missed it,” Yugyeom says as he rolled his eyes, “I mean, it’s hard for people to get Jongin or Sehun in bed on their own, little alone together. And Taehyung – well, apparently, wasn’t even fazed by pulling it off. He didn’t brag about sleeping with them, nor did he share juicy details about it, like any other normal person would.”

“Well, maybe he just isn’t that kind of person?” Jeongguk suggests, trying to understand what they’re implying at.

“Yeah, except his reaction when he was asked about it says otherwise,” Wheein says and then laughs a little, “Gosh, I remember when it happened, I was in the cafeteria at the time. This girl approached Taehyung – I think it was Jongin’s ex girlfriend or whatever – with her friends and asked him, in a rather snarky way may I add, ‘did he have fun with Jongin and Sehun?’ and gosh– Taehyung, deadass just kept looking at his phone, not even blinking at her. He scoffed, shrugged his shoulders and said a simple “meh.” I never saw the poor girl so red in my entire life.”

“Ah, truly a gay icon,” Minghao sighs into the air dramatically and Jeongguk raises an eyebrow, not getting what the big deal about Taehyung’s reaction is. “So? Maybe they just have bad dick game?” He says, trying hard to rationalize all of this inside his mind.

“I doubt that for Jongin, considering how often I saw Do Kyungsoo limping to class,” Wheein says. “And Sehun’s known to turn many straight men gay. His repertoire includes fucking Lu Han, the prettiest ‘straight’ guy on campus. It’s not about them having bad dick game, Jeongguk, it’s about Taehyung not being that impressed by it,” Yugyeom says.

“They were impressed by him, though,” Minghao says, “Said he takes dick like a pro. Gives great blowjobs too.”

Jeongguk gulps a little, an image immediately conjured in his mind– yeah, Taehyung would definitely look real good on his knees and his mouth full of cock, eyes ablaze and cheeks flushed. Maybe it’s not the best thing to think about when you’re heading to dance practice and about to work your ass off with the new choreography, but it’s definitely a picture Jeongguk can save for later (for better purposes).

“I just don’t understand how you, of all people,” Yugyeom begins, “Of all people, Jeongguk, Kim Taehyung noticed you. He noticed your shy, muscle bunny looking ass and actually got fucking flustered by your advances. The same Kim Taehyung that had some of the best dick on campus and hardly got even affected by it, whilst also having ninety percent of the student body thirsting over his ass.”

Jeongguk made an offended expression, contemplating his choices of befriending these idiots, whilst Wheein sighs almost wishfully. “It is a fantastic ass, to be fair,” she says and that information is something that Jeongguk knows he has to look into later on.

“I’m just… not sure how to respond to all of this,” Jeongguk says, a bit insecure as he thinks this whole thing through, “I mean, it’s not that I’m not interested, but–”

“Dude,” Minghao interrupts, “The likes of someone like Taehyung noticing you are like… one in millions. You’d be crazy not to go for it when the dude is obviously interested in you.”

“Agreed,” Yugyeom adds, “Taehyung’s known for having someone chase him around before getting into his pants. It seems like an easy deal when he’s actually intrigued.”

A chase, huh? Jeongguk thinks, biting his lip to hold back a sudden smirk.

■ ◌ ■

“So… what’s this I’m hearing about you and Jeongguk?”

Taehyung sighs, glaring at his friend from his seat by the table in the university’s favorite café. “You too, Chim?” He says, as Kim Seokjin, who was gladly having macchiatos with them at the moment, was more than just amused by all the tea that is about to be spilled.

“Can’t blame him, Taehyung, it’s the biggest buzz at the moment,” Seokjin points out, “Even Yoongi heard about it, Taehyung. Yoongi, as in the guy that has a separate fridge and duvet in the studio because he basically lives there and only steps foot in the frat when he wants Hoseok to fuck him.”

Jimin chokes on his latte macchiato, obviously flustered by the image that popped up in his mind because of Seokjin’s words. Taehyung sends a look of amusement his way, before he turns back to Seokjin. “Well… he just happened to catch my eye,” he says, smoothly, when in fact it’s been him ranting to Jimin for hours about how hot the guy is and how much he wants to sit on his face (“TMI,” is what Jimin proclaimed, but was nonetheless amused).

“Catch your eye my ass,” Jimin says and for a moment, Taehyung thought Jimin is going to expose him, but this is Park Jimin– resident hot-shot and sweetheart, so he wouldn’t dare, “People took pics and vids of it, Taehyung. You were literally frozen the whole time and barely uttered a word. He shook you to your core, admit it.”

Taehyung presses his lips together, denial stuck in his throat. He was just caught off guard a bit, okay? And he may have a thing for cuties with big muscles and he hasn’t clenched his thirst for his muscle (strength) kink in so long– it’s just coming out now, that is all. Jeongguk happened to be a convenience.

“Well… what about him caught your eye?” Seokjin tries to push the topic, raising an eyebrow in question.

His thick thighs and good biceps, as well as the arm tattoo is something akin to what Taehyung wanted to say, but what came out of him was totally different. “I don’t know, he just seems… comforting,” he says rather awkwardly, causing Jimin and Seokjin to stare at him blankly for a solid few seconds, “I know it’s weird to feel that way about a stranger, but he just doesn’t seem like a douche, you know? He just seems so shy and cute, despite the punk or bad boy aesthetic he has going on.”

“The kid’s hardly a punk or a bad boy, Taehyung,” Seokjin laughs and Jimin nods in agreement. “Shy is the correct word for it,” the ginger says, “It took so long for him to get used to being a part of the dance team. And yeah, he’s confident about the things he works hard for, but he just doesn’t seem to be used to people pointing it out or noticing it, in my opinion.”

“Way to go all Freud on my ass, Chim,” Taehyung says, although he finds use of what Jimin says. His best friend has always been so understanding and it’s most apparent with the way he refuses to point out that Taehyung is known for being hard to get swayed by other guys.

Taehyung’s arrogance is an exterior for insecurity in love and a past of failed relationships that left him broken. Jimin happens to understand that the best.

“Well, he’s obviously interested in you too, so why not just go for it?” Seokjin says, “The frat boys usually chase you around the shortest anyways, probably cause you’re weak to basketball players or whatever. And you like bi guys too– Jeongguk likes apples from any tree, as far as I know.”

Jimin snorts a bit at the euphemism. “Since we’re on the topic– how’d he get into the frat his second year in?” Taehyung asks, eyebrow raised. He wanted to avoid the topic of guys chasing him around, because he’s really not up to discussing that. Seokjin seems to understand and simply rolls with the conversation. “Well, kid’s got a killer face. Loads of talent too, even Yoongi was fairly surprised. I tend to think hard work and passion are quite enough,” he answers.

“But it’s so rare that anyone gets accepted after their first year passes,” Jimin adds, “I mean… well, that only happened a few times before, right?”

“Yeah, a few times. It happened with Zhang Yixing and Song Minho. It only happened the third year in for Lee Jinki, but that’s cause he started dating Kibum at the time and it made him ‘come out of his shell’ or whatever,” Seokjin replies, “And of course, Hoseok got accepted his second year in too. His glow-up from freshmen year was crazy, I tell you. Couldn’t be ignored.”

“And does Jeongguk play in the team too?” Taehyung asks, eyebrow raised. He tends to forget that not everyone in the frat plays or used to play basketball for the university’s team – Seokjin being one example of that. And while the basketball team is definitely the most popular, there are other sports teams in the university, even if there aren’t many majoring in sports and are just doing it for extra credit.

“If you mean basketball, yeah,” Seokjin says, “He also runs for the track team, from what I know. He does a few sports, but he sticks to basketball and track the most. The kid’s a gym rat, I swear.”

“He always skips leg day though, I don’t know where he got all that thigh muscle from,” Jimin adds as he finishes drinking his coffee. Taehyung stares at him for a moment as he heard this, “Wait, you two go to the gym together?”

“Yeah, we’re gym buddies. Even if the brat refuses to call me hyung,” Jimin huffs, puffing out his chest a little. Seokjin looks amused, while Taehyung was still in a bit of disbelief, “You mean to tell me that you’ve been hiding a guy that hot from me? And didn’t even tell me you’re gym buddies after I talked to you about him?” And by talk, he means completely thirsted over Jeongguk.

“I didn’t think you’d be impressed,” Jimin says, although smirking teasingly, “And besides, when did you ever need me to meet you with someone? Seems like you did a good job so far.”

“Friendship revoked.”

Jimin laughs, shaking his head. Seokjin watches the two younger males bicker, before he decides to step in and talk. “Well, Taehyung, you are usually the one that leaves people speechless, so Jeongguk’s got one head up on you in your own game,” he says, a challenge bordering on his lips. One that Taehyung picks up on immediately.

“Like hell I’ll let him get away with this shit,” he says, huffing.

Jimin and Seokjin glance at each other – they can’t wait to see how this turns out.

■ ◌ ■

Saturday and weekly recreational dance practice come around rather quickly.

Weirdly, all the days before that were strangely quiet. The student body was still buzzing about what happened between Jeongguk and Taehyung, but there have been no further steps ever since it happened. The two were never spotted even close afterwards and it made some people think that Jeongguk probably took the first round home as a win. However, Taehyung isn’t going down that easy.

“Today’s the day, isn’t it?” Jimin said from his place on the bed, as he watched Taehyung prance around his room and trying out all sorts of clothing he owns, basically scattering and making a mess (whatever, he’ll clean it later).

“What do you mean?” Taehyung asks, acting oblivious, even if both of them are aware that Jimin knows what’s going on. The blond pulls out a pair of ripped denim jeans out of his closet, showing them to his best friend, “Haven’t worn these in decades. What’d ya think?”

“You’re right, they’re old as fuck. Try them out,” Jimin says, gesturing for Taehyung to change in front of him, which the blond had no problem with, “And what I meant is that today is the day that you’re planning on getting back on Jeongguk, aren’t you?”

Taehyung presses his lips together, sliding the jeans smoothly over his calves and avoiding to slip his feet through the rips on the knees, but then he gets stuck when about to pull them over his thighs. “The fuck, did I gain weight?” He muttered, not that bothered as his tone may imply. It was just currently inconvenient – he’s perfectly content with his body, thank you very much.

“To be fair, your ass did use to be flat,” Jimin points out, only shrugging when Taehyung throws him a little glare and puts in a little more effort into putting the jeans on, “Hey, it’s true! And don’t avoid my question.”

“It doesn’t matter much, Chim,” Taehyung says, even if it was a lie. He just didn’t want to talk about it at the moment.

Turns out that the jeans are way too tight and Taehyung simply can’t get them to fit over his thighs and ass (it’s probably just from the fact that they’re more than five years old– why does he even have them at this point?) “These could work instead,” he had said as he took another pair from the closet and started putting them on without consulting Jimin. Which is why the ginger gave him an odd look when he turned around.

“These jeans look like they were ripped by a lawn mower,” he says dryly, “They look like Yoongi-hyung’s, actually.”

“Shady,” Taehyung accuses, giggling to Jimin’s wording, “I’ll take that as an approval, since you like these kinds of jeans on Yoongi-hyung.”

“I don’t!”

“You’re a sucker for his legs, stop lying.”

In the end, Taehyung sticks with the ripped denims, then pairs it with a simple white shirt and his new Vans (adding his Gucci jacket and Gucci bag to it was may a bit extra, but hey– Kim Taehyung was always the definition of extra). He makes one phone call before he’s leaving with Jimin, heading to dance practice.

Jeon Jeongguk doesn’t even know who he messed with.

■ ◌ ■

“Alright everyone, listen up!” Hoseok says, clapping his hands to get the attention of the whole dance team. Everyone had been immersed in their own things from the start of dance practice and they even had an impromptu freestyle battle, so it was fairly clear that they were just waiting for something to happen. All eyes turn to Hoseok as soon as he began talking, “So, today, we’ll be having a guest!”

The door to the practice room is opened before anyone can even react to what Hoseok just said, and enters in a lady of a slightly curvier frame and long, black wavy hair. “Hello, everyone!” She greets, her Korean crystal clear even if she appears to be a foreigner. Everyone says a greeting back, albeit confused by what’s going on. The girl went over to Hoseok, hugging and kissing his cheek in greeting.

“Whoa, she’s really attractive…” Someone next to Jeongguk commented and he can’t help but agree. Her face was pretty and her body, even if she was of curvier frame, was pretty toned. It looked like she did athleticism in her free time.

“Everyone, this is Ariana. She’s my sister’s girlfriend and a very close friend of mine,” Hoseok introduces and Ariana smiles, waving in the general direction of the dance students. Jeongguk remembers the onetime Hoseok’s older sister visited him at uni, at their frat – she was cute and from what he knows, she already got her degree and was working as a fashion designer and model, mostly overseas. Though, she never mentioned having a girlfriend at the time.

“She’s a Latina and also a dancer, so she’s gonna teach us some Latin dancing today. It’s bound to be an interesting experience,” Hoseok laughs and Ariana does too, grinning. “I have my own dance studio, so I’ll treat all of you like my own students,” she says and then turns to Hoseok, “And that’s noona to you, brat,” she teases, pinching his side and causing Hoseok to yelp. Everyone laughs at this, goodheartedly.

Jeongguk realizes that her Korean is quite fluent for a foreigner. She seems a bit intimidating, but also quite sweet – her aura reminds him of Hoseok actually.

“So, noona,” Hoseok says, putting emphasis on the honorific, “What dances you planning on teaching us today?”

“Well, I was thinking we try a few classic Latin street dances, like salsa or bachata,” Ariana explains and Hoseok nods along as he listens, “Salsa originates from the Caribbean and the movements take a lot of inspiration from other forms of dance – you know, such as bomba or plena, or cha-cha-chá, or mambo. And bachata is similar in that aspect – a classical dance of the Dominican Republic, also taking lots of influence from other dances.”

All the words that Ariana said in English were accented with a Spanish tint to it, as she appears to be trilingual. Jeongguk zones off a little as she holds a quick impromptu lesson on Latin dances, mostly because he hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last few days and it’s kind of hard to focus when there is nothing to keep your attention intact.

Well, it was a difficulty until the door of the practice room slides open and Park Jimin walks in, with Kim Taehyung following behind him (which isn’t that surprising – whenever Jimin is late, it’s because he has a certain friend coming along). Jeongguk suddenly feels a bit more awake, due to the surprise that greeted his eyes.

Yugyeom, who was sitting next to Jeongguk, immediately nudges the black haired male, digging his elbow into Jeongguk’s side. “Look who’s here,” he says, nodding his head in Taehyung’s direction, as if Jeongguk wasn’t staring already.

“Oh, noona!” Taehyung says, seemingly surprised as he walks over to Ariana, whom he hugs as she laughs and hugs back. They appear to know each quite well and even Jimin goes over to share close greetings. Jeongguk reminds himself that Hoseok is a very close friend of theirs, so that might explain it.

“I’m glad you’re here, Taehyungie,” Ariana coos, with a teasing smile, “We’re learning salsa and bachata today. Wanna try it out too?”

“Ah, I don’t know…” The blond says, rubbing his nape as he tries to think about it. Everyone in the room encourages him and Jimin nudges his side in order to convince him. Taehyung’s gaze travels around the room until he locks gazes with Jeongguk and the younger gulps a bit once Taehyung’s lips stretch into a small smile. This is the first time he ever got some sort of move from the blond and he didn’t quite realize he’d be flustered as he currently is.

“Everyone wants to see those hips sway, Taehyung, don’t deprive the general public of that,” Hoseok jokes and Jeongguk moves his eyes away, hearing laughs echo around the room, followed by Taehyung’s giggle. “Well, I guess I can do it for the wellbeing of mankind,” he says. When only focusing on his voice, Jeongguk realizes it has a dark and deep tint to it– it’s kind of attractive, actually.

“Alright, let’s learn some basics first, before moving to partnered moves!” Ariana calls, clapping her hands and gesturing for everyone to stand up and get into position in front of the mirror. Taehyung hangs his denim jacket on the coat hanger by the door and then gets in the first row, next to Jimin, while Jeongguk’s in the second row, close by.

For the first ten minutes, it was all good and well and the moves were really easy to follow. It appears that the basics are pretty, well… basic. They weren’t hard in technicality, but for that they sought for in rhythm and passion – two components that fuel the fire to the basic moves and make them look hard. But it was difficult for Jeongguk to focus on putting rhythm and fire into dancing when Taehyung was sinfully swaying his hips in front of him.

Why is the goddamn shirt tucked in? Jeongguk curses in his mind, because Taehyung’s jeans are a bit too tight and his ass is really as good as he heard and it would be really obvious if he stared, because the mirror is in front of them. On the other hand, the jeans are too ripped. Jeongguk only ever saw Yoongi wear those kinds jeans around the frat.

The difference is that while Yoongi’s legs are slim and pale, Taehyung’s are a bit fuller and his tan skin fucking glistens. The rips mostly occupied his soft looking thighs and then went down to his knees. Once again, if Jeongguk stared at them in the mirror, he would be way too obvious. Although, when he glances around, one too many students are focused on Taehyung– he just happened to have the advantage of the blond being right in front of him.

“Okay, we’re going left, turn to the right, left and continue with the basics,” Ariana instructs, displaying the moves effortlessly, “On counts from three, two and one, let’s go! And don’t be afraid to swing your hips more, this is Latin dancing we’re doing here.”

It was good advice, of course, but as Taehyung followed it and began cocking his hips from side to side as to follow Ariana’s moves, Jeongguk felt like he would fall over once they had to turn. It was really hard to focus when the human embodiment of sin was basically calling for your attention by dancing in front of you.

After a few more minutes of singular basics, Ariana stops and looks at everyone in the mirror. “Good job! We’ll move to pairs now, since this is partnered dancing,” she speaks and then looks at Taehyung, “Got those hips warmed up, Tae-Tae? Everyone else here’s a dancer, so you have big shoes to fill,” she teases.

Taehyung simply laughs, waving his arms around like some Vegas showgirl and shimmying his hips jokingly as a demonstration. Everyone laughs along and claps their hands in amusement, but Jeongguk can only gulp and blindly stare at the small of Taehyung’s back – he observes the small arch suddenly present, with the simplest of movements. It’s really like his body was made to drive Jeongguk’s mind crazy.

“Hoseok, Jimin, grab partners so we can make a demonstration. The rest of you can sit down, then we’re gonna try out some more,” Ariana says and then looks around, before gesturing to Lalisa, who was ready to sit down on her own., “Mind being my partner, sweetie?”

With a pretty smile, Lalisa shakes her head and approaches Ariana. Jeongguk notices how she seems pretty flustered, but then again, Ariana is a really attractive Latina and Lalisa likes girls (if her constant sexual tension with Chaeyoung says anything, that is). Jimin makes a point to grab Taehyung before he can sit down and Hoseok opts for pulling Kim Jongin along.

“Wait, wait! Let’s switch first,” Taehyung suddenly says and Jimin gives him an odd look, then he realizes what Taehyung meant. Before he can react however, the blond is pushing him towards Hoseok until Jimin basically tripped and fell into Hoseok’s chest, much to the amusement of the rest of the dance team. With a giggle, Taehyung pulls Jongin to himself and lets him hold his hands like Ariana demonstrated with Lalisa.

(Jeongguk might feel a little jealousy rest in the pit of his stomach, but he would never admit it to himself).

Ariana doesn’t object to the sudden change of partners, even taking amusement in how Jimin is basically red as a tomato and Hoseok tries to laugh it off, as if there was absolutely no sudden tension between them.

“Alright, now do the basics we learned earlier for salsa,” Ariana instructs as they start to move to the music, “Right hand goes out and then up, then the ladies turn. Do your basic steps during this, too.”

Taehyung appeared to fall under the “lady” role and he took it with ease, turning in his partnered dance with Jongin and then coming back to the simplest of moves. It almost seemed natural for him, whilst someone like Jimin took a bit more time to get it perfectly right. And Jongin (despite the jealousy Jeongguk wouldn’t admit being an owner of) only fueled to Taehyung’s fire by his fluent movements. Well he does have a background in ballet, so that might be a contributor to his fast learning skill.

Jeongguk leans back against the wall as he watches the couples dance and he can’t help but notice how Taehyung, despite being close to Jongin’s height, almost looks smaller in comparison. His frame isn’t that thin per se, but… maybe it’s just because he doesn’t have muscle and he appears soft all over, so his height is the only factor putting that makes him appear slightly bigger. Then again, that height gave him those goddamn legs, so who is Jeongguk to complain?

Taehyung probably only looks big next to girls, but when next to guys, it’s a different story. And considering he’s gay and the absolute cutest twink Jeongguk ever saw in his entire life, it’s not a factor he minds at all.

“Let’s move onto bachata!” Ariana says and then waves her hand around, gesturing to the rest of the dance students, “Come on, the rest of you! I’ll pair you up, since you seem so shy about it,” she laughs, lightening the mood up.

Ariana ends up pairing Yugyeom with Kunpimook and when Jimin and Hoseok tried to escape each other to find different partners, she forced them to stay together. Jeongguk finds all of this so amusing, the whole ordeal a bit funny to see people get so flustered over something trivial as partnered dancing. Well, it was amusing until Ariana pointed at him and gestured for him to stand up.

“You can dance with Taehyung,” she says and the blond looks at him expectantly. Jeongguk tries not to make his anxiety apparent, gulping it down as he rises from the ground and approaches Taehyung slowly. He ignores the stares on them and the teasing and cooing coming from his friends. He’s in for a ride.

Apparently, he was taking too long, so Taehyung grabs his hand halfway through and pulls him closer. “Come on, I don’t bite,” he teases with a grin, squeezing Jeongguk’s hand almost unnoticeably before guiding it to his lower back, resting it basically on the waistband of his jeans. Taehyung places his own hand on Jeongguk’s shoulder, whilst leaning into his ear, “Unless you ask, of course.”

He whispered the words into his ear all too sensually, his hot breath tickling the shell of Jeongguk’s ear. He tries to distract himself by taking Taehyung’s free hand, intertwining their fingers together and holding their hand lock up, as the dance position requires. He tries to ignore the way Taehyung smiles innocently at him, because both of them knew Jeongguk’s face is beet red by now.

Unfortunately for him, it’s not only that Taehyung gets flustered by Jeongguk’s forward actions – it works vice versa too.

“Let’s start!” Ariana calls, throwing a discreet look in Taehyung and Jeongguk’s general direction, “One, two, three, go!”

The music is drawn out of Jeongguk’s ears as soon as he begins moving with Taehyung, who – for someone who doesn’t possess any sort of formal dance training – dances very well. He doesn’t move to press closer, but Jeongguk tries to make an effort on unnoticeably scooting away. It may look like he’s disgusted by being this close to the blond, but he’s only afraid of what might happen if they get too close to each other.

It didn’t take long for him to learn that Taehyung is very dangerous (for his heart) and him trying to avoid confrontation may seem like admitting defeat, but hey – it’s not defeat if there wasn’t a battle in the first place? He can still win the war (sneakily).

“Come on, everyone, get closer, don’t be shy,” Ariana calls, rather loudly, “It’s all fun and games, come on.”

It takes a few moments, but the tension in the room eases for everyone and they begin dancing in a way that brings more fun and less anxiety. Except for Jeongguk, who suffered a mild heart attack when his dance partner moved closer, less and less air being exchanged between them as their proximity is shortened.

Jeongguk almost questioned ‘what are you doing?’ but he knew that the question is ridiculous – Taehyung was just following the dance instructor’s advice. And it seemed like he read the questioning gaze in Jeongguk’s eyes, understanding his confusion.

However, Taehyung made no attempt to draw himself away. In fact, his hand moved from Jeongguk’s shoulder down to his chest, an innocent smile hanging on his lips. “Just following the instructions,” he whispers, almost teasingly and his tone was daring, challenging, and hell if Jeongguk’s competitive side isn’t coming out and he’s having a hard time holding on anymore.

With newfound confidence of wanting to win, Jeongguk’s hand presses harder into Taehyung’s lower back, before he’s pulling the blond beauty even closer to him. Taehyung’s eyes widen the slightest bit, his hair got a bit messy and fell over them a little, but that’s okay. His hand quivers a bit on Jeongguk’s chest and his face flushes the prettiest red.

Oh, how Jeongguk wanted to kiss him then.

But that has to wait, because then it would be all over too soon and he’s really having a hard time holding back his smirk. He was still a bit nervous, his arm shaking the slightest as he held Taehyung close, but he refused to back down. However, he had mercy and Taehyung needed a small break to collect himself (winning a battle isn’t as sweet if it isn’t a challenge).

Jeongguk guides Taehyung to twirl and the blond follows with ease, like he was expecting the move. The loss of close proximity gave both of them a small break. They twirl a few times, alike to the more advanced moves Ariana showed them earlier in the demonstration. They really failed to realize that many slowed down their dancing to watch them together.

In one twirl, Jeongguk holds Taehyung’s hand and guides it to his nape once they’re back face-to-face. He notices, even closer, that Taehyung’s shirt dips dangerously low – his collarbones are way too protruding and his unmarked skin is too tempting. His neck glistens with the smallest droplets of sweat and so does his forehead, where his blond hair sticks to it all too attractively.

His full lips are parted, small and shortened breaths escaping them, and his dark eyes stare deep into Jeongguk’s. So caught up in the gaze, Jeongguk sees Taehyung’s small smirk all too late – the blond already moved even closer, his leg now between Jeongguk’s and oh– Jeongguk realizes where this is going. It’s also the move Ariana showed them earlier, the part where the partners get so close their bodies are almost pressed together and they’re literally dancing into each other.

Taehyung doesn’t make the effort to move closer than he already has – there is a challenge in his eyes, as if he’s daring Jeongguk to do it instead. He’s determined to win the battle and the war.

Jeongguk tongues the inside of his cheek, anticipation in his veins because no matter how embarrassed he’s going to be about this later, he’ll do whatever it takes to win.

The hand that Jeongguk held on Taehyung’s lower back begins moving downwards and Taehyung seems a bit caught off guard by the sudden action, but he doesn’t stop Jeongguk from resting his hand on Taehyung’s ass, before slowly squeezing one cheek in his hand, through the tight material of the jeans.

Jeongguk bites his lips because fucking hell, shit, okay– Taehyung is too hot for his own good and Jeongguk never felt so gay in his entire life. Not wanting to seem like a complete creep though, he takes the opportunity to pull the blond the closest he could get without them pressing into each other. Taehyung is surprised, probably thrown off by the sudden confident demeanor, his head almost falling into Jeongguk’s chest as he pants a bit.

Maybe a bit too cockily, Jeongguk takes the opportunity to lean into Taehyung, press his lips to the shell of his ear, unnoticeably taking a whiff of Taehyung’s lavender shampoo. He smirks, breathing slowly, before speaking:

 “Already going down, kitten?”

He thought that would be the final blow and that he won, like it happened on Tuesday when he left Taehyung speechless with the simplest of actions and words.

Taehyung presses the side of his head against Jeongguk’s and for a moment, the young dance major thought that he would admit defeat. He thought so until he heard Taehyung’s light, but fairly dark, chuckle. “You wish,” he muttered, before pressing closer, hips swaying like Jeongguk saw him do jokingly earlier.

But there was no joke in this, only pure sin. He moved them around in small circles, as if he was adjusting to taking a big cock before riding it– shit, don’t think about that Jeongguk, he screams inside his mind, but it’s hard to follow his advice when Taehyung’s free hand touches his abdomen, fingers skimming over the dips of his muscles.

Jeongguk’s breath hitches once Taehyung moves his hips forward and literally grinds into his leg. To outsiders, this may just seem like simple bachata, their close proximity only managing to hide what was actually going on. No one could tell from their place that Taehyung literally grinded into Jeongguk, that Jeongguk’s leg brushed over Taehyung’s pelvis and in between his legs, getting trapped between those supple thighs.

Jeongguk realizes how tough it is to be on the receiving end, because it was all fun and games until Taehyung’s knee pressed to his crotch lightly, giving the smallest of stimulation to his cock and okay, okay, okay– this should be illegal, Taehyung should be illegal, cause Jeongguk feels like he’s gonna lose his goddamn mind.

“Got you,” Taehyung whispers, feeling Jeongguk’s knees buckle at the sudden close proximity. One more brush and then the hint of his fingers shying over the waistband of Jeongguk’s sweatpants and the black haired male couldn’t handle it anymore – his hand was on Taehyung’s ass, the blond was panting into his ear and basically riding his goddamn thigh, hand getting closer to his crotch– he couldn’t take it.

Involuntarily, Jeongguk’s knees buckle and his ears buzz before he’s falling down on his knees, mind so hazy like Taehyung just intoxicated him with his presence. The erupt whispers in the practice room are inaudible in his ears, because Taehyung’s finger is tipping his chin up, making them lock gazes.

Jeongguk’s black hair falls over his eyes and he was about to immediately stand up and make it seem like it was an accident that he fell, because this is embarrassing – grinding is something that regularly happens at clubs, if you’re looking to hook up with someone, it’s not something you fall on your knees from. It never happened to Jeongguk before, to be this affected by someone’s advances – it never happened until he met Kim Taehyung.

The same Kim Taehyung that smiles down at him, his gaze hot and heavy and it only makes Jeongguk freeze, unable to move from his spot on the floor. His smile is innocent, but teasing and sinister as his lips part to speak:

“Bow to your queen, sweetheart.”

And yeah, Taehyung took this round home as a win, that’s for sure.

■ ◌ ■

“Chim, you re-tweeted one too many times what happened yesterday.”

It was a casual Sunday night, Taehyung was resting on his bed and twirling water in a wine glass (because he liked to feel fancy), still basking in the glow of his shower and the victory he earned the day prior. With his laptop perched in his lap, he was scrolling through social media and inspecting the absolute debauchery that was his timeline.

“I’m still shook,” Jimin answers, from his place on laying on his stomach on Taehyung’s bed as well, “Trust you to bring entertainment, Kim Taehyung. I’m gladly amused by your theatricality of bow to your queen, sweetheart.”

“I’m the kindest queen you’ll ever meet, Chim,” Taehyung drags, voice dripping with irony and making Jimin laugh once again, “I always like a bit of flare, can’t blame me. He thought he could go up against me, how naïve.”

“You gonna approach him or wait till he cracks?” Jimin asks, tilting his head, “For sex, I mean.”

“It’s his turn now– if he doesn’t step up, I’m winning this whole thing,” Taehyung says, opening up a new tab on his browser, “As for the sex– we’ll see.”

“You make this sound like some sort of game,” Jimin rolls his eyes, “And don’t be so vague, bitch. You were thirsting after his dick a week ago and suddenly you’re being all blasé and shit? Don’t give me that crap.”

Taehyung looks at his best friend for a moment and it takes a moment for it to sink in, that this is Park Jimin, his best friend and soulmate, the one that would never out him or betray him and the one that doesn’t put up with his front. Something eases of his chest, as he sighs.

Taehyung’s head falls back into the pillow that he propped up on his headboard, before he groans. “I really want of him to fuck me, Chim,” he admits, “Yesterday, fuck– I saw the outline of his cock in those goddamn sweatpants and he looks like a fucking mouthful, god. I wish I rode his thigh like that until I came. And have him hold me like that and talk me through it.”

“Fucking hell, Taehyung–”

“He groped my ass, Chim! Groped,” Taehyung whines, remembering how it went down, “His hands are so strong and he can be such a dom, umph. But I couldn’t lose to that, so… I did what first came to mind.”

“You made him lose his fucking mind, is what you did,” Jimin accuses and Taehyung laughs, shaking his head as he turns back to his browser. “But honestly, I haven’t had this much fun with a guy in a long while. He doesn’t seem too bad, even if I haven’t officially met him yet,” he says, typing words into his search bar.

“Nah, the kid’s a sweetheart,” Jimin drags on and Taehyung huffs a laugh, “For real though, I’ve known him for a few months and I can tell you that he seems nice so far. He has piercings and tattoos, but he’s hardly a punk– hardly an asshole, actually. I just never saw him with anyone before, though, so you seem to have caught him off guard.”

“That happened a few times before,” Taehyung muttered, eyes shimmying over the website he just loaded up, “Come help me out here, I can’t pick.”

Jimin raises an eyebrow in confusion, adjusting his position on the bed and leaning against the bed frame. He cocks his head to also look at the screen of Taehyung’s laptop and it’s then that his mouth goes dry, at the display of all the sex toys on the website – everything from dildos, butt plugs and nipple clamps to riding crops, ropes and handcuffs. Jimin turns his head, touching his forehead.

“For god’s sake, Kim Taehyung…” He muttered in slight disbelief and said Kim Taehyung only rolls his eyes at the words.

“Trust you to be the one gay friend I can’t ask for advice when buying a vibrator,” he mutters dryly into his wine glass.

“I don’t own any sex toys, Taehyung,” the ginger reminds him, eyebrows furrowed together.

“Cause you apparently still live in the eighteenth century,” Taehyung rolls his eyes again, “I mean, I get it that you want to fuck Yoongi, but at least get a fleshlight instead of fucking your fist in the shower until you get the real thing?”

“Why are we even friends?” Jimin says to the empty ceiling, “What did I do in my past life to deserve this?”

“Now who’s being theatrical?” Taehyung mutters and then jabs Jimin’s side with his elbow. “Stop being a bitch, you hoe, and help me out. I don’t know what size I should get.”

Jimin sighs, but reluctantly, he does want to help out. He adjusts himself and looks closely at the screen, ignoring the prices put beneath each product (Taehyung simply takes what he likes, money disregarded) and focus on what appears to be the most quality product. “Do you want one with realistic skin or…?” He asks, eyeing one in particular.

“Nah, I already have one like that and it’s bigger than this one,” Taehyung says, moving the cursor until it hovers over a picture of a moderately thick, dark purple sex toy, “This one looks good…” He muttered, offhandedly as he clicks on the link, wanting to see further specification about the vibrator – he doesn’t buy his toys without being one hundred percent sure (since he does like to spend a bit more money on them).

“Then get it,” Jimin says, leaning his head on Taehyung’s shoulder for more comfortable leverage.

“Yeah,” Taehyung said, clicking on the icon that said add to cart, “But I also thought of getting one of those smaller ones– you know the ones that look like a plug, with the flared base, but they’re long enough just to touch the spot? With a remote of course, so you can just lay there and don’t do jack shit to get off.”

“You’re so shameless…” Jimin muttered, with absolutely no malice in his voice. He watches Taehyung filter out the types of toys he’s looking for, before he scrolls down and looks for the appropriate one (appropriate, ha). He ends up clicking on a pink one, matching the exact description he voiced earlier, “This one?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll get this one. Just what I’m looking for,” Taehyung says as he adds the item to the cart and then checks out, “You can basically wear it under your clothes and no one would notice. They’ll be here in about a week, it seems.”

“Didn’t peg you for an exhibitionist,” Jimin hums, “And oh yeah, forgot to mention that I asked Hoseok-hyung about their upcoming game. It’s gonna be this Friday; wanna tag along?”

“Definitely,” Taehyung says, setting his laptop aside, “And about Hoseok-hyung… you still awkward after yesterday?”

Jimin groans, touching his forehead as he sighs lowly. “I swear to god, Kim Taehyung,” he curses, “I knew something was going on when you asked me to call Ariana-noona to come to dance practice, but I didn’t expect I’d get dragged into this shit. You also called her before we left for practice– you didn’t tell her anything about Hoseok or Yoongi-hyung, did you?”

“Would I ever expose you like that, Chim?” Taehyung questions back, cocking an eyebrow. Jimin stares at him for a moment, before sighing reluctantly. “I guess not…” He muttered, “Just focus on your, Jeongguk, would you? I don’t… I don’t want to get between Hoseok and Yoongi-hyung, when they clearly have something going on…”

Taehyung presses his lips together, hesitant to say something. Jimin just doesn’t want to talk about it and there might be another time for it – Jimin avoids certain topics for Taehyung and it would be silly if Taehyung couldn’t do the same for him. Being the mood maker that he is, the blond tries to lighten it up a little.

“I knew we should’ve went to that party earlier,” he says, “It’s Sunday night, for god’s sake.”

“Stop trying to fool yourself into thinking that you like parties, Tae-Tae. I don’t like them either,” Jimin says and then laughs upon his next words, “We’re such bad gays, I swear.”

“I beg to differ,” Taehyung says, smiling to see Jimin ease back into the mood, “It’s Sunday and we’re gonna binge watch Drag Race, like the good little gay children that we are.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jimin grins.

Best friends might be a small word for what they share, actually.

■ ◌ ■

The thing about university basketball games – everyone loves them.

It can be for the game itself, for the after-party that comes later or for the hot basketball players, but it’s a general rule that the student body loves basketball games. Taehyung remembers that in the beginning of the year, they were holding some sort of inaugural ceremony in the ballroom, for the start of basketball season, but he didn’t bother to tag along with Jimin that time. Maybe he would’ve met Jeongguk earlier if he did.

Taehyung himself might be a bit weak for basketball players and knows most of their uni’s team either as friends or old hook-ups.

As a general rule, he meets up with a group of friends and they head to the familiar basketball gym together. Most of art hyungs play in the team, so he was only left to go with Jimin and the others, or Baekhyun and his ‘clique’ of pretty boys (most of which have boyfriends in the team– no surprise there). But since he was late and only Jimin puts up with that bullshit, he ends up with the former.

The big entrance door to the gym was, of course, open and the room was getting filled with students that came to eagerly watch the game. Taehyung thinks it’s because they’re playing against their biggest rival university’s team, but he didn’t even bother to check if that’s true. The evident sounds present there mostly consist of sneakers squeaking against the polished floor and the dribbling and passing of balls between the players.

Taehyung hadn’t been to a game in a while, since he was crowded with work from the start of the semester. He meets Seokjin and Namjoon at the entrance door with Jimin, grinning as they exchange greetings and head inside.

“Finally got your head out the books to come with us, hyung?” He teases Namjoon, who seemed to have lost (or broke) the glasses he always wears and started wearing something that isn’t his grandfather’s clothes.

“I dragged him out,” Seokjin explains, flipping his nonexistent hair over his shoulder. That explains Namjoon’s stylish outfit and done hair, which he doesn’t bother with most of the time. Namjoon smiles at Seokjin, rather discreetly. “That you did,” he says and Seokjin glances back at him.

Taehyung thought they might start making heart eyes at each other, so he turns his attention to the court and watches numerous players scurry around, yelling to each other and practicing numerous activities. His eyes search for Jeongguk and it’s a wonder that he can’t spot him yet – a muscular, tattooed and attractive black haired male shouldn’t be that hard to miss (especially with all the blonds in the team, jeez).

However, he does end up spotting Hoseok instead, before waving in his direction. The dancer smiles as he went to get Yoongi – who was currently practicing his layup – while Taehyung gathers Jimin, Seokjin and Namjoon and guides them to the court. “You came!” Hoseok grins, hand on Yoongi’s waist way too obviously, while said Yoongi huffs and crosses his arms, looking away. It’s hard to tell whether the red on his cheeks is from practice or being flustered.

What a tsundere, Taehyung thinks, sensing Jimin shift next to him at the sight of the two players together. “How can we miss a game when Yoongi-hyung, our star player, is finally playing?” Taehyung grins and Yoongi rolls his eyes, although goodheartedly. “Yeah, I’m sure you came for that and not for the after-party,” he says dryly and his friends chuckle.

Yoongi’s eyes fly to Jimin, immediately locked on his newly dyed hair, that he just got done the day prior. “You’re red now, huh?” He mutters, hand reaching out and ruffling the back of Jimin’s hair, not noticing the actual red which is on Jimin’s cheeks, “Looks good on you.”

Jimin’s mouth opens and he probably wanted to say “it’s only like this until the first wash and then I’m back to being orange” (which was the initial plan of picking this dye), but he can only smile and say: “Thanks, hyung,” not minding that his hair got messy, even after styling it so much earlier.

“If ya’ll done flirting,” Seokjin says, cutting everything off, “I think it’s better that we get to the bleachers before they’re filled out.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” Jimin said, then he looks at Hoseok, “By the way, is Guk playing this game too?”

Since Guk was short for Jeongguk, Taehyung’s attention is immediately there. Hoseok throws a knowing glance in his direction, before he nodded at Jimin’s question. “Yup,” he answers, grinning a bit, “Another star player, that kid. No way we’re gonna lose with him and Yoongi both playing.”

As Yoongi was just about to complain about Hoseok not using honorifics with him, the coach of their team is calling for the players to huddle and stand at the sidelines and Hoseok is dragging Yoongi along with him. Jimin yells them a “good luck!” at which Hoseok gave him assuring thumbs up and Yoongi showed a hint of a smile. Taehyung grins, pulling Jimin to the bleachers, where Namjoon and Seokjin already headed to.

And the basketball game turns out to be… an event.

Taehyung doesn’t know if he should be surprised by Jeongguk’s skill because, then again, Jeongguk made it into the frat his second year in and got referred to as a star player by Hoseok, so of course that on top of already being Taehyung’s type, he has to be a good basketball player as well. Slam dunks seem to be his expertise and he’s really fast as well– probably from his background in running track.

Taehyung cheers and tags along to the adrenaline and tension of watching the game with the rest of the student body, despite his knowledge of basketball being limited to watching two and a half seasons of Kuruko no Basuke (which, like most other sports anime, is just a gay thirst trap). Jimin is definitely loud enough for the two of them.

“You’re like Baekhyun whenever he cheers for Chanyeol during the games,” Taehyung comments dryly and the implication has Jimin both blushing and jabbing Taehyung’s side to get him to shut up. “At least I’m paying attention to the game and not to a certain player,” he remarks.

“Half the gym is ogling Jeongguk right now and a small percentage is cheering for their boyfriends, so I don’t get your point,” Taehyung says and Seokjin shushes them from having to banter in the middle of the game.

He wasn’t lying though, Jeongguk in a jersey should be illegal. The way the muscles in his biceps protrude whenever he jumps to score a slam dunk or dribbles the ball really fast is making Taehyung a bit faint. His black hair got so messy and it’s sticking to his forehead because of the sweat so much that Taehyung wonders how he actually sees anything. And those thighs– fuck, all that muscle and definition, Taehyung wants to get choked by them (no exaggeration there, definitely).

To distract himself and not make it so apparent that Jeongguk is eye-candy for him at the moment, Taehyung turns to Jimin and finds him leaning on the bleachers, eyes focused on one point and not moving his gaze. “Chim?” The blond calls, touching his friend’s shoulder, getting a bit worried.

“Taehyung, I can’t handle this anymore, he’s way too pretty for my heart to handle,” Jimin sighs, groaning dramatically and Taehyung’s concern disperses and is replaced by a blank look, “Why does blond suit him that well?”

“Yoongi-hyung is always blond, though,” Taehyung says, “Then again, you’re also always thirsting over his ass.”

Jimin doesn’t even deny anything, only laughing a bit at Taehyung’s words. The reaction is too different from the usual. “Yeah, I guess,” he admits, “The game’s lit, though, I think our team’s taking this one home.”

Taehyung grins a bit, trying to get Jimin to relax when he is obviously so stiff. “Come on, I’ll help you cheer,” he said, “They need an extra push to finally get that win.”

And cheer they do – with every score, clapping and cheering echoes throughout the entire gym, followed by the distant blowing of the whistle from referee as the game goes on and on. The gym gets even more filled with students as the game goes on, probably from people finally managing to escape their afternoon classes and it’s crowded, loud and everything that Taehyung hates, but he’s with his friends, so it’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be fine.

As the game nears its end, it gets a bit suffocating for Taehyung and he excuses himself to the bathroom, when in reality he just wanted to escape the bleachers (crowds are the reason parties aren’t his thing, either). He pushes through the loud student body and goes to stand close to the entrance door, from where he could still see the game, just partially blocked by the university’s cheerleading team.

When the victory for their team is announced, Taehyung heads to the court in order to find his friends that played in the team and congratulate them, finally finding himself breathing normally after the hectic game. He has a hard time squeezing through some bodies and he ends up tripping over his own feet, as clumsy as he is, knocking into something that felt like a brick wall until he realizes it’s a human body.

Strong hands hold his elbows and forearms as he balances back on his feet and with his gaze lowered, Taehyung catches the sight of a familiar tattoo on the stranger’s arm and the first thing that runs through his mind is fuck, of course, why wouldn’t I knock into him of all people? Just to confirm his thoughts, though, Taehyung looks up and locks gazes with the one and only Jeon Jeongguk.

Jeon Jeongguk, who is currently panting from the rush and exhilaration that was the basketball game, looking at Taehyung with slightly surprised eyes. “Ah, sorry, Taehyung-sshi,” he apologizes as he helps Taehyung back on his feet.

Taehyung-sshi. It’s only then that it sinks in for Taehyung, that Jeongguk never called him by his name before, only using that godforsaken nickname “kitten.” He shows basic respect, because outside of their sexual frustration and games of teasing, they haven’t officially met or exchanged many words that don’t have the purpose to drive each other crazy.

“Just hyung is fine, Jeongguk,” Taehyung finds himself saying, all too quickly, “And it’s alright. You’re hurrying anywhere?”

Jeongguk seems a bit surprised that Taehyung is attempting a conversation with him so casually, but he’s content with going along with it. “Just looking for my friends to head to the after party together,” he explains.

“Same for me,” Taehyung says, smiling a little to ease the mood, “By the way, congratulations for the victory. You did a killer job out there.”

Jeongguk smiles, rubbing the back of his nape to cease his embarrassment. “Thanks, hyung,” he says, trying to get used to being casual with Taehyung. The blond realizes that Jimin was right about his assumption of Jeongguk – Jeongguk is shameless in showcasing his skill, but he seems to get flustered whenever someone compliments him on said skill, like he isn’t that used to it. The blush on his cheeks is kind of adorable, actually.

“I don’t think we ever officially met before. How come I didn’t see you around before?” Taehyung says, putting an effort into making any sort of relationship with Jeongguk outside of their desperation for each other, “Seokjin-hyung told me you just joined the frat this year.”

“Well… I was trying to get out of my shell, so to say. My second year in, Hoseok-hyung suggested I should try joining the frat and I somehow managed to get in,” Jeongguk explains, “And no, we didn’t meet before that thing in the hallway. And I’m kind of easy to miss, unlike you.”

Taehyung cocks an eyebrow at the sudden boldness – he plays along. “You’re saying I am hard to miss?” He says, faking a surprised tone. Have you seen yourself? He thinks to himself.

“I’m saying tall pretty boys with blond hair are hard to miss,” Jeongguk smiles teasingly and Taehyung bites his lip bottom lip, keeping back a smile himself, suddenly giddy. He expected a response like “You’re Kim Taehyung, of course” because that’s what all of them always say, because Taehyung is stripped down to his reputation only and it’s sort of nice to hear something different for a change.

“So are attractive dancers with good biceps and great tattoos,” he replies smoothly, taking a bit amusement in how Jeongguk took a moment to figure out he was talking about him, blushing upon being so slow to catching on. With his hair pushed a bit back, Taehyung notices that Jeongguk appears to have a few piercings on his ears. It’s kinda hot, fitting in nicely with his bad boy aesthetic – although he doesn’t think bad boys are basketball star players.

“Taehyung!” A voice calls and it’s then that Taehyung is brought back to the reality – he was looking for his friends and was about to head to the after party. Bumping into Jeongguk flirting with him wasn’t in his plan, but it’s not something he’d complain about.

The rest of the basketball players are coming over, calling Jeongguk and cheering for their own victory. Taehyung then realizes that they’re on the sidelines of the court and it wasn’t that odd that he bumped into Jeongguk, nor was it unwelcome. Some players start to hang around Jeongguk, also noticing Taehyung immediately.

“Ah, Jeongguk, you’re planning on keeping Tae-Tae all to yourself?” Choi Minho teases, grinning as he leans in to kiss Taehyung’s cheek in greeting, earning a giggle from the blond. Minho swings an arm around Jeongguk’s shoulders, who was now giving him an odd look for what just happened. He was slow on remembering that Taehyung is quite sociable.

“Not like I would mind,” Taehyung says, with a sly smile that has the other players teasing Jeongguk and poking his sides at the obvious flirting going on. This just tied to all the campus rumors about them.

From the corner of his eyes, Taehyung spots Hoseok and Yoongi slowly approaching the rest of the team.

“Jimin!” Seokjin’s voice suddenly calls, sounding distressed, “Wait, Jimin, don’t be so rash!”

Maybe it all happened a bit too fast and Taehyung really missed the fact that the person who ran by him was actually his best friend. By the time Taehyung turns to look at what happened, he sees Jimin wrapping his arms around Yoongi and the older male hugging back, but he was obviously cut off guard when Jimin lifted him, biceps bulging because of Yoongi’s weight.

Yoongi’s feet are raised off the ground and a startled noise of surprise escapes him. “Jimin, what are you–” However, anything he had to say was lost when Jimin presses their lips together in a tight kiss.

The whole gym falls silent.

Taehyung’s mouth falls open in shock, his reaction akin to everyone else’s, hearing someone say a “what the fuck?” from next to him. What is Jimin doing? He knows that while it’s known in their friend group that Hoseok and Yoongi are friends with benefits, outside of that, there are many rumors in-between the students that they’re actually a couple. The whole university already thinks they’re dating, so imagine their surprise when Park Jimin is the one sweeping up star player Min Yoongi and kissing him, instead of his “boyfriend” Jung Hoseok?

It seems like realization settles in for Jimin, because he’s clumsily pulling away and letting Yoongi go. The blond is caught off guard by suddenly being put down on the ground, stumbling a bit back and almost falling on his ass if Hoseok didn’t rush over and catch him by his forearms to keep him up.

“Jimin–” Hoseok speaks this time, but Jimin’s eyes are wide and teary and he’s turning around, running out the gym quickly. He passes by Taehyung, and even Namjoon and Seokjin (who looked more distressed than surprised, to be honest), ignoring everyone’s stares.

Taehyung was only frozen for a moment before he was about to run after Jimin, but is stopped by Jeongguk grabbing his wrist and being keeping him in place. He turns around to look at him, distressed and annoyed.

“Listen, I need to check on Jimin, it’s more important–”

“I know, I need to check on Yoongi-hyung too,” Jeongguk interrupts him, talking quickly because he realizes the rush, “Can I have your number? I need of you to keep me updated on how Jimin is doing, he looked so out of it.”

Taehyung isn’t hesitant because the worry in Jeongguk’s voice and face is purely genuine. “You can get it from Seokjin-hyung. Text me on how Yoongi-hyung’s doing, okay?” He says, tone quivering because he was so concerned for his best friend. Jeongguk nods, clearly thankful for his cooperation.

“Take care, kitten,” Jeongguk says and then he lets go of Taehyung’s wrist.

Taehyung’s heart is thumping in his ears by the time he runs out of the gym.

■ ◌ ■

When Taehyung arrives to the apartment, the door is locked. Clumsily, he sticks the key into the keyhole and unlocks the door, heading inside and closing it quietly so he wouldn’t alert Jimin, if he hadn’t heard him already (well, if he’s in the apartment to begin with).

Taehyung approaches the door to Jimin’s bedroom and presses his ear against it – sure enough, he hears sniffling from the other side and his heart cracks a little. He immediately wanted to jump in tackle his best friend into a hug, but from years of friendship, Taehyung knows that Jimin doesn’t need loud noise and panic – what he needs is some peace and consolation.

The blond tiptoes to the kitchen and gets a few things – chocolate and vanilla ice cream tubes from the freezer, along with some spoons and some ice tea. Since his arms were occupied, he had a hard time approaching Jimin’s door, little alone knocking on it. Under any other occasion, Taehyung would enter casually, but this isn’t about being polite – it’s about having regard.

“Chim? Can I come in?” He calls gently, painterly waiting for his friend to answer. He doesn’t bother with asking if he’s okay because Jimin would say that he’s fine when it’s clear he’s not, and what’s the point of little white lies in a situation like this?

“Come in,” Jimin calls, breathing a bit labored and shallow. Taehyung kicks the door open with his foot (rather ungraciously, might we add) and closes it the same way once he enters the room. Jimin is on his bed, covers pulled tightly to his chest as his whole body quivered, refusing to look up at Taehyung and have him meet his red eyes.

No words spoken, Taehyung goes over to Jimin’s bed and gently kneels on it, after he set the ice cream and ice tea on the bedside drawer. He tugs Jimin by the neck and buries his best friend’s face in his chest – Jimin immediately lets out a sob as his hands clumsily grip at Taehyung’s shirt and pull him closer, if it was even possible. Taehyung runs his fingers through Jimin’s red hair comfortingly, try to soothe him by humming a soft lullaby.

He knows that he has to let Jimin cry it out before saying anything. The dancer always keeps too much to himself and once it bursts, it’s better to let go completely, at once.

Taehyung doesn’t know for how long he holds Jimin, but his sobs eventually turn to cries and those cries turn to whimpers – it keeps going until he’s fully calmed down and only shaking slightly. Taehyung kisses his forehead and then reaches back for the tea and the ice cream (that has probably half-melted at this point), giving the vanilla to Jimin and keeping the chocolate to himself.

Jimin sniffles and Taehyung looks at him with sympathy in his eyes, leaning in to kiss the stray tears away, rubbing his best friend’s cheek gently. Jimin leans into his touch and then sighs wishfully, finally managing a stable breathing pattern. Taehyung smiles and then hands him a spoon, as well as lemon ice tea (the one that he most likes).

They’re silent until Jimin speaks first: “Thank you,” he simply says, as if testing the words of comfortably in talking right now. Taehyung smiles and nods, licking around his spoon. “Do you want to tell me what happened now or should we leave it for later?” He asks, wanting to get it out of the way as quickly as possible.

Jimin sighs, digging his spoon into the ice cream as he ponders about the question. He’s silent for a minute more before speaking again: “Now is fine,” he says, “I’m just– I… I’m so sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” Taehyung asks, tone accepting of whatever answer Jimin will give him. It makes Jimin ease a little.

“I fucked up, I know I did,” the dancer said, “I was really happy for them, but I kept thinking how much I’ll regret not being able to share the joy with them in the way I want. It’s– it’s selfish, isn’t it? Inserting myself into their relationship like that, it’s just… vile. They’re gonna hate me after this…”

“You’re being too hard on yourself, Chim,” Taehyung says, touching his shoulder, “Impulsivity in feelings isn’t vile, nor is it selfish to want things a certain way– it’s a natural reaction, at least. And do you really think they could hate you? Are we talking about the same people here, Jimin? Hoseok and Yoongi are sweethearts, they can’t possibly hate you.”

“Yeah, but they might want to distance themselves from me after this and… I’m just really trying to take it in,” Jimin sighs, “I’m a fool, Taehyung. I should’ve approached this differently and not go about it with kissing Yoongi-hyung in the middle of the entire court where the whole campus could see us.”

“Why the sudden kiss then?” Taehyung questions.

Jimin bites his lip, as if finding it hard to voice his thoughts. “He… He just looked so pretty when he’s happy, Taehyung,” he says finally, tone deflating, “Genuine happiness looks so good on him and I– I just couldn’t help but want to hold him close. It’s weird, I know.”

“It’s not weird, it’s genuine. Since when does love know of weird?” Taehyung says, trying to assure him the best he can, “Talk to them, sort it out. We’re not kids anymore, Chim, this isn’t high school, we’re adults. You can handle this, you know you can.”

Jimin stares at him, eating his ice cream slowly before he lurches into a hug and almost topples Taehyung over. The blond lets out a startled noise of surprise, but he hugs Jimin back, patting his nape. “Thank you, Tae-Tae, I… I needed to hear some encouragement,” Jimin says, pulling away slowly, “I’ll talk to them– to Yoongi-hyung the most, in particular.”

Taehyung smiles, even if he sees hesitance and helplessness in Jimin’s eyes and words. He sees the anxiety and the fright, but he thinks Jimin is so brave to put that behind him and follow his advice, follow what’s best for him and act on it before everything blows up even more. It shows the adult in him.

“How about we binge some Grey’s Anatomy?” Taehyung suggests, knowing Jimin wants to move on from this topic, “You go take a shower and I’ll get the blankets and popcorn ready.”

Jimin grins and nods, hopping out of his bed. Taehyung watches him disappear to the bathroom and then his phone buzzes in his jacket. He retrieves it from his pocket and raises an eyebrow at the unknown number displayed on the screen. He swipes his thumb over the screen slowly.

FROM: Unknown Number
hey hyung, it’s jeongguk
is jimin doing okay?
SENT 08:26 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Hey, Guk. Jimin’s doing alright, I sorted him out.
How is Yoongi-hyung? Is Hoseok-hyung with him?
SENT 08:28 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
i think he’s still in shock, thb
hoseok hyung is here, he’s consoling him or whatnot
i guess it’s just a lot to take in
SENT 08:30 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Yeah, that’s to be expected.
You guys in the frat or what? Is Seokjin-hyung there too?
SENT 08:32 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
yeah, we’re in the frat
seokjin-hyung is cooking yoongi-hyung’s favorite food
said he wanted to cheer him up a bit
SENT 08:33 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Ah, that’s relieving.
This is gonna sound weird, but… did either Yoongi or Hoseok hyung seem…
I don’t know, put off by this whole thing?
Stupid question, but I want to make sure.
SENT 08:36 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
put off as in disturbed or disgusted? no
as i said, i think it’s mostly shock, dude
hoseok hyung isn’t mad, he just looks worried for both of them
SENT 08:38 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Alright, it’s important that they’re okay.
The three of them will sort it out.
And did you just ‘dude-zone’ me?
After all we’ve been through together?
SENT 08:41 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
you really think they will sort it out??
and sorry, kitten, it won’t happen again
SENT 08:43 PM

TO: Jeongguk
I don’t think they will, I /know/ they will.
Aish, I meant to call me hyung, kid.
SENT 08:44 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
i’ll trust you on that, then
you just ‘kid-zoned’ me
what kind of hypocrisy
SENT 08:45 PM

TO: Jeongguk
You text like a teenager.
SENT 08:46 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
close enough, man
and why would i call you hyung
when kitten sounds so much better??
SENT 08:47 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Respect your elder, brat.
SENT 08:48 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
please, taehyung, don’t act so coy
i know you’re blushing right now
SENT 08:50 PM

TO: Jeongguk
No hyung at all?
What did I do to deserve this disrespect?
SENT 08:51 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
i don’t hear any denial, so
and you spilled water on me in the hallway
i mean, i know i’m hot, but like
no need to /literally/ cool me down
SENT 08:52 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Why am I texting a fuckboy™?
SENT 08:53 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
pfft, you wish
and you also rode my thigh in the middle of practice
sooo… you should’ve seen the disrespect™ coming
SENT 08:55 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Wow, okay.
You’re acting like you didn’t enjoy that.
/You/ were the one that fell on your knees
once my knee /only/ brushed against your tiny dick.
SENT 08:57 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
considering how much you stare,
one would think you at least got the size right
and in my defense, you were being really disrespectful™
and shit, swaying your hips like that
SENT 08:59 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Don’t act like you didn’t like it.
I caught you staring in the mirror, bad boy.
SENT 09:01 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
you’re literally teasing me right now, kitten
SENT 09:02 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Or you’re just weak as shit. Step up your game, Jeongguk.
Jimin’s coming back from the shower, gotta go.
Text me updates on Yoongi-hyung.
xoxo
SENT 09:05 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
will do
sweet dreams, kitten
SENT 09:06 PM

■ ◌ ■

In mutual agreement, Taehyung and Jimin decide to visit basketball practice a few days later, so Jimin can sort it out with Hoseok and Yoongi.

“It’s gonna be fine, Chim, we talked about this, remember?” Taehyung said to his best friend once they were at the entrance door. Jimin is obviously way too nervous to even function, but he’s trying really hard to hide it– Taehyung just can’t stand to see him so anxious, “You can talk it out like an adult, I know you can.”

Jimin nods a little, squeezing the hand Taehyung put on his shoulder, before they head inside the gym. Like during a game, there is loads of squeaking of the sneakers and the thumping of basketballs, but there is a clear absence of loud cheering and crowds. Which is a glorious improvement, in Taehyung’s opinion.

“Hoseok-hyung!” He calls as soon as he sees the elder. Hoseok turns in their direction and immediately approaches Taehyung with a smile, although his expression forms into one of surprise once he spots Jimin next to the blond. With no hesitation, Hoseok immediately wraps his arms around Jimin and hugs him tightly, as if afraid to let go. “Oh my god, I was so worried,” he breathes out.

Jimin’s expression is a cross between guilt and shock and Taehyung gives him a small smile, having hopes for this going well.

“It’s been a few days and you didn’t respond to any of my texts, I was so worried about you,” Hoseok said as he pulls back from the hug, holding his hands on either side of Jimin’s neck and looking at him with concerned eyes. Jimin, who was a bit startled, finally managed to speak: “You’re not mad?” Is what first comes out of his mouth, his biggest insecurity.

Hoseok’s eyes widen to hear that and he shakes his head. “Of course I’m not mad! Are you alright, are you healthy?” He asks, hands moving to Jimin’s cheeks, “Please tell me you were eating well.”

“I– I’m fine, Taehyung took care of me,” Jimin says, voice wavering bit, “You– you’re really not mad, hyung? You can tell me if you are, I’ll understand.”

Hoseok shakes his head, as if in disbelief before he’s leaning in and kissing Jimin’s cheek gently, feeling the skin heat up beneath his lips. “I could never be mad at you,” he pulls away, smiling in amusement at how shocked and red Jimin actually looks, “But we have to talk, you know that right?”

“That’s what I came here for,” Jimin said, coughing to clear his voice before he glances around, “And Yoongi-hyung… Is– is he here?”

The basketball player suddenly looks a bit dejected, his gaze falling to the side before he turns it back to Jimin. “He hadn’t come to practice for the last few days. He’s stuck in the studio and– and I think he may need a bit of time,” he speaks, “Let’s talk somewhere more private, I’ll tell you more details.”

Jimin throws a look Taehyung’s way, as if asking him if it’s alright to leave him and the blond smiles, nodding his head. Hoseok seems to understand what they just shared and he smiles. “Tae, Jeongguk is still practicing. How about you pay him a visit?” He teases, hand finding Jimin’s waist. Taehyung eyes him skeptically, but then nods.

In a flash, Hoseok and Jimin are gone and Taehyung is left alone to look around the gym. The cheerleading team is practicing on one side of court, while the other is occupied by the basketball team. There are a few students in the crowd, but they don’t seem to be paying much attention. Taehyung adjusts his beret and then starts approaching the court slowly.

“Tae-Tae!” He is, of course, immediately called and Taehyung smiles to see Park Bogum approaching him, clad in the uniform of their uni’s basketball team. “No hugs, you’re sweaty,” Taehyung says and laughs to see Bogum pout, a bit disappointed. He gets on his toes and presses a kiss to the older male’s cheek, giggling to see him smile.

“Taehyung? You didn’t mention you’d be dropping by for practice,” Minho says as he approaches him, as well as Seojoon. Taehyung is very soon crowded, a bit overwhelmed by all the attention. It was like that until Park Chanyeol steps in, basketball balanced between his hip and arm as he sighs at everyone.

“Taehyung, you keep stealing my players away whenever we have practice,” he accuses, with absolutely no malice in his tone, “All of you, back to practice, come on!”

Taehyung grins to hear everyone groan in disappointment. “And whenever you suck face with Baekhyun in the middle of practice, we never complain,” Minho said and escapes a kick to the shin by Chanyeol once he passes him and runs back to his teammates.

“Right, where is Baek-hyung?” Taehyung asks Chanyeol, glancing around the court.

“Oh, he went to change. His pants ripped while they were doing the pyramid,” Chanyeol sighs, shaking his head, “I told him to wear leggings with those thighs of his.”

Taehyung stifles a chuckle at that, finding it a bit amusing. Baekhyun ripped his pants one too many times, Taehyung thinks and then hears someone call to him.

“Kitten?” He hears and before he’s turning around to see Jeongguk walking towards him, he sees Chanyeol cock an eyebrow his way. “It’s hyung to you, Guk,” Taehyung says, smiling rather shyly. He tries not to get distracted because Jeongguk is close to him in that godforsaken jersey again. A few days ago, when he bumped into him after the game, Taehyung didn’t actually pay attention to how low the jersey slips.

Jeongguk’s collarbones are as sharp as his goddamned jawline and even if he’s covered in sweat, face flushed and hair messy, Taehyung would definitely have no problem hugging him (or doing certain other activities). It’s really nice that the jersey has no sleeves, because all that definition in Jeongguk’s arms is on display and Taehyung has absolutely no problem with that.

“Hyung,” Jeongguk mocks, smiling teasingly, “Glad to see that I was right about the blushing, though.”

It takes a moment for it to sink in and Taehyung’s hand immediately flies to his cheek, eyes narrowing at the young basketball player. “I’m not,” he denies. He wasn’t that prepared for Jeongguk taking a step closer, hand coming up and moving Taehyung’s own away from his cheek, clutching his fingers in his hand gently. His lips press to Taehyung’s ear, a breathless chuckle escaping him.

“You sure about that, kitten?” He teases, his other hand touching the side of Taehyung’s neck where the blush definitely spread over his skin. Even the tips of Taehyung’s ears turn red, as he gulps audibly, a bit caught off guard by the sudden approach. Wasn’t Jeongguk supposed to be more shy?

“Taehyung!” Someone suddenly calls and it’s an excuse for Taehyung to pull away from Jeongguk, licking his lips swiftly because they suddenly became so dry. He catches the sight of Jeongguk staring at his mouth and then at his flushed cheeks, before Taehyung turns his head and sees Baekhyun and a few other cheerleaders waving in his direction, calling him over.

No hesitation, Taehyung heads in their direction after saying a simple “bye” to Chanyeol, but only giving a pointed look to Jeongguk. The younger male simply smirks, an obvious declaration of battle. He returns to practicing basketball, just as Taehyung reaches the cheerleading team.

“Baek,” the blond greets, smiling as if nothing just happened between him and Jeongguk. He lets Baekhyun hug him – they hadn’t seen each other in a while now, “Chanyeol-hyung told me you ripped your pants again?”

“Yeah, they were a bit tight,” Baekhyun laughs, “The giant keeps saying I should wear leggings, but he wouldn’t be able to focus if I did. I’m doing this for his own good.”

Taehyung giggles, because despite Chanyeol and Baekhyun being the most typical “basketball player and hot cheerleader” couple out of any high school chick flick, their relationship is rather sweet. Taehyung sometimes wishes he could have that again.

“We saw you conversing with Jeongguk,” Chaeyoung says, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, “What was that about?”

“Are you guys a thing or what?” Hakyeon asks with a raised eyebrow.

“You were basically flirting in the middle of the court,” Minhyuk pointed out, “There is no way you aren’t dating.”

“Minhyuk, you have no right to talk,” Heeyeon says this time, eyebrow raised and hand on her hip, “You sucked Eunkwang’s dick last year and still tried to convince us that there is nothing going on between you two.”

Chen Xiao laughs behind her hand at this bickering, while Minhyuk tsks, crossing his arms. “In my defense, it was a dare and Ilhoon was being a bitch about it, pestering me nonstop,” he said and Taehyung laughs, the conversation easing and relaxing him a little.

“To be honest,” he speaks suddenly, cutting off the friendly arguing, “It’s just fun and games between Jeongguk and I. We’re not dating or anything like that.”

Baekhyun looks rather skeptical to hear that, but then shakes his head. “Anyhow,” he says, “Now that you’re here, wanna practice our routine with us, Tae-Tae? You used to do cheer in high school, right?”

“Kind of,” Taehyung says, smiling faintly at the memory of high school uniforms, time spent ogling hot basketball players during practice and bickering in the locker rooms. What a time, “I forgot most of it, though. Probably lost a good amount of flexibility too.”

“Let’s try it out then!” Baekhyun says and then turns to the other cheerleaders, “You guys warmed up, right?” He asks and suddenly, everyone seems coy and silent and Taehyung is amused once only Xiao says she warmed up and Baekhyun pinches the bridge of his nose once Chaeyoung says: “Well… we are about to, but um– um…”

“Don’t blame us, the basketball team is full of guys with distracting biceps,” Myungsoo says, shrugging his shoulders. Amen to that, Taehyung thinks. That much he can vouch for, at least.

“That I know,” Baekhyun says, “You guys are hopeless without me. Come on, let’s get into formation and do some stretches.”

Everyone immediately scribbles around and Taehyung is directed to stand next to Baekhyun in the front row, who then calls: “Jieqiong, go lead the stretching!” Cheng Xiao shows Taehyung in which position to stand and he was so glad that he went for a looser pair of jeans that day. As soon as the stretching begins, Taehyung thinks he might as well be deceased.

He forgot how difficult this is, but he does catch the sight of the basketball team looking is way. Jeongguk was trying to make it seem like he wasn’t staring, but it was sort of obvious. Call Taehyung a tease or whatever, but this is the perfect opportunity to make it clear to Jeongguk that he isn’t winning the next battle. No way.

“Now, touch your nose to your left leg,” Jieqiong instructs as if that the simplest thing in the world to do. Taehyung is rather close, but not enough. However, he does make sure to ach his back as much as possible, causing his shirt to slip down a bit and show a slither of tan skin. There are even more eyes on them right now, but it’s important that Jeongguk’s gaze is the one locked on him.

As he straightens from the position, panting a bit and face flushed, he runs his hands up his covered legs, back still arched to make his ass pop a little. Really, if it was anyone else but Kim Taehyung, the sight would’ve been corny and ridiculous, but Taehyung’s strong suite was always being able to make things look effortlessly sexy. Sue him, he always liked a little flare to his seducing antics.

A few more exercises down the road and it’s time for the deepest part of hell of any stretching routine for Taehyung – doing the splits. “I can’t do this, no way,” he says. “It’s fine, not everyone here can do the splits either. Just try and see how low you can go,” Baekhyun says from his place on the floor, legs stretched in a clean 180 degree line and Taehyung gives him a blank look.

“Wait, let’s do it like this so you don’t hurt yourself,” Hakyeon says while he and Myungsoo lock their arms around Taehyung’s, keeping him balanced as they start to part his legs slowly by pushing his feet to the side with their own. Okay, so maybe wearing jeans at all wasn’t as good of an idea as Taehyung thought it was. Or maybe that’s just his hamstrings burning.

Trying to distract himself, Taehyung looks up towards where the basketball team was practicing. Earlier, Chanyeol yelled at them to stop paying attention to the cheerleaders (or Taehyung in particular, actually) and go back to practice. Jeongguk was (unfortunately) also included and he’d been working hard as he always does, probably trying to distract himself from the alluring blond.

It seemed like Jeongguk scored a perfect slam dunk and he high-fives his teammates before fisting the end of his shirt and pulling it up to his face to wipe the sweat off of his forehead. His godly body comes in display, abs glistening with sweat, the muscles in his biceps flexing and it’s not exactly clear whether he’s doing this on purpose to tease Taehyung or did the blond just look his way in the right moment.

Staring harder, he notices something glistening and it’s distracting, around the area of Jeongguk’s belly button. Upon further inspection, Taehyung’s eyes go wide and his mouth goes dry in realization.

Jeongguk has a bellybutton piercing. Fuck.

Before he knows it, Taehyung is falling out of his attempted split and landing flat on his ass, wanting the ground to swallow him alive. He saw Jeongguk shirtless before and there is no way he would just miss a silver, inverse bellybutton piercing like that. Taehyung only ever saw girls getting one and the only guy that he saw with the same piercing is Baekhyun.

But Baekhyun’s stomach is flat and slightly toned, while Jeongguk is more muscular and sculptured with the hands of Greek gods and Taehyung didn’t know this would ever turn him on like it has. This is honestly some shit he only ever saw in gay porn.

The cheerleaders are quickly helping Taehyung off the ground, some of them giggling on his expanse. Jeongguk drops his jersey down and smirks in Taehyung’s direction, as if he was staring at him this whole time and knew exactly what was going on. The little shit did that on purpose, the blond thinks to himself as he was raised to his feet.

“This isn’t fair, Jimin was in cheer too in high school, but he can still do his splits,” Taehyung pouts, trying to make it seem like he just didn’t fall on his ass upon the sight of shirtless Jeon Jeongguk (he already has bad rep concerning that). “Yeah, but Jimin is also a contemporary dancer, Taehyung,” Heeyeon points out.

“Speaking of the dumpling, where is he?” Baekhyun asks.

“You called?” A voice joins them and Taehyung turns to see Jimin approaching them, a big dumb smile on his face. It makes Taehyung grin, as he sees from the corner of his eye that Hoseok ran back to his teammates. He keeps glancing in Jimin’s direction, before Chanyeol is calling him for getting back to practice.

Jimin gives him a look of ‘I’ll tell you everything later’ and Taehyung moves the subject before anyone can question him. “You still have your splits, Chim?” He asks and Jimin gives him an odd look, not understanding why the sudden question. “I don’t know… I guess I can try,” he says as he does a quick warm-up, stretching his muscles before he gets into position.

In a swift movement, he falls down into his side split and the cheerleading team cheers, as well as Taehyung who giggles once Jimin falls out of his split, touching his groin in pain. “Bad idea…” He muttered under his breath, as Cheng Xiao helped him up on his feet.

“How about we try some tosses?” Baekhyun suggests, being the leader of the cheerleading squad. He gives a look in Taehyung’s way and the blond is mildly terrified for a moment. He forgot everything he used to do in high school and back then, he was often tossed like the girl cheerleaders instead of being the one doing the tossing (well, he did use to be pretty light in high school, before his growth spurt hit him).

“We’re gonna catch you, no worries,” Jimin teases, nudging his side, “Come on, you didn’t do this in a while.”

Taehyung complies, although gulping. Maybe it’s time to let some stress go.

A few guys gather up and begin lifting him, holding the soles of his sock clad feet (since he discarded his sneakers beforehand), while Taehyung fists his hands and takes deep breaths. “And now up!” Baekhyun instructs and it might’ve flipped gravity a bit for Taehyung, because he’s soon up in the air. He can feel his legs shaking a bit, but it’s not as bad as he thought. From this height, he can see the whole court in his peripheral vision.

“Okay, now do a Liberty!” Baekhyun calls to him and the moment it registers in Taehyung’s mind what the move is, he raises on leg up and throws his fisted hands in the air. While the others cheer for him, he moves his leg to the side and then extends it as much as he could (maybe his flexibility isn’t a complete lost cause). Once they start lowering him, Taehyung gets the gist and moves his leg back into position.

They toss Taehyung up and when he fall back down, their arms caught him in place and gently put him down. “Ah, that was fun!” He said, a bit surprised by this revived love for cheerleading that he used to have when younger. Baekhyun grins to hear this, pleased, “Told you,” he said.

Suddenly, a basketball rolls their way and it hits the bottom of Taehyung’s feet. Everyone looks in that direction and sees Minho calling for Jeongguk to go get it, since it’s apparently from his failed jump shot that it hit the rim of the basket and flew off to the cheerleading team. As the young star player approaches them, Taehyung bends down to pick the ball from his feet and twirl it around in his hands.

“Wanna join us, Jeon?” Baekhyun prompts with a smirk, sending a glance in Taehyung’s direction. The blond is actually a bit surprised to see Jeongguk look back in the direction of his team – only to see them pay him no attention –  at which points he turns back to Baekhyun, “Actually, I’m intrigued by how you do this,” he tells him, although his gaze keeps darting back to Taehyung.

“You can help us hold Taehyung up to do his liberty again,” Chaeyoung suggested with a small, evil smile. Taehyung looks so betrayed and Jimin tries not to laugh at his expression.

Jeongguk turns to Taehyung, amused. “I’d love to,” he says. Taehyung scoffs at his confidence, throwing the ball from his chest to Jeongguk. Even though it was sudden, the star player manages to catch it and bounces it off the ground a bit.

“Let’s see what you got then, hot-shot,” Taehyung says, arms crossed in a challenge, “Don’t drop me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, kitten.”

Taehyung scoffs once more, but he lets Baekhyun instruct Jeongguk on how he should hold Taehyung up by his feet along with a few other guys from the team. It’s a bit ridiculous that Taehyung feels slightly more safe, as if Jeongguk’s muscles are an assurance that he’ll hold him securely, when in fact he should be scared of getting dropped, since Jeongguk never did this before (and getting dropped is really unpleasant, he knows from first-hand experience).

Before Jeongguk’s hands find his foot, they discreetly go down his thigh and caress his skin through his jeans. The way he holds him before Taehyung does his extension is gentle, yet secure, and it’s really so unfair that Taehyung is so weak to that.

“One, two, three, up!” Baekhyun calls and Taehyung straightens his back as soon as he’s in the air. Glancing down, he sees that Jeongguk’s arms aren’t trembling while holding him up and fuck, how strong is he, okay, focus–

“Liberty,” Baekhyun said and instead of rising the leg he did in his previous Liberty, Taehyung goes with the opposite one, so he’s balancing on the foot that Jeongguk is mostly holding up. He’s doing this on purpose, both of them know it, but Taehyung can’t bring himself to care.

“Now toss!”

Taehyung’s eyes, like always, are closed once he’s getting tossed in and then he falls down in a quick second. What catches him off guard, though, is that when he falls back down, he lands in a pair of arms and not multiples of them holding him down. One arm is holding the small of his back and the other is hooked beneath his knees and once Taehyung opens his eyes, he meets Jeon Jeongguk’s amused face.

Of course Jeongguk would take the opportunity to catch and carry him princess style. He should’ve seen that one coming from miles away.

Suddenly, Jeongguk bounces him in his arms because he was being unresponsive and Taehyung squeaks, his own arms immediately winding around Jeongguk’s neck because of the sudden feeling that he’ll get dropped. Their bodies press close and Taehyung feels Jeongguk’s breathless chuckle booming from his chest. He gulps, face red, because – of course – he may have a bit of a kink for getting carried and this is fulfilling his wettest fantasies.

“You’re so light, kitten,” Jeongguk remarks, nosing Taehyung’s hair and fucking sniffing it (the blond is secretly glad that he took a shower that morning, so his hair probably smells of flowers). He gulps again, lips parted as he breathes slowly. Jeongguk’s fingers are rubbing soothing circles into his thighs and the smallest of touches are sending shivers up his spine.

He looks up to meet Jeongguk’s eyes, seeing something heavy in them. It seems like both of them are forgetting that they have an audience for this, because Taehyung is looking close to count the number of ear piercings Jeongguk has and Jeongguk’s lips are suddenly finding the side of Taehyung’s neck, firstly breathing against his tan skin before his lips press down on it.

Taehyung bites his lip, trying not to make a sound. His eyes squeeze shut and his arms tighten the hold around Jeongguk’s neck, thighs trembling because of anticipation. They never got this close and intimate, because kisses were unconsciously off-limits until now. It was like both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move concerning that and now here is Jeongguk – basically nipping on Taehyung’s neck.

Taehyung’s breath hitches once Jeongguk’s lips brush over the most sensitive spot on his neck. He feels the younger’s lips curl into a smirk against his skin, before he begins nipping in the area. Taehyung’s arms tremble when Jeongguk’s tongue swipes over his skin and once his lips close around his spot to suck in a hickey, a breathy sound escapes him.

“J-Jeongguk.”

The blond was on the edge of whining, especially when Jeongguk pulled away, lips a bit shiny and a dumb smirk decorating his handsome face. He pinches Taehyung’s thigh before he suddenly lowers him on the ground and Taehyung wouldn’t admit it, but he was disappointed – he might’ve wanted to get carried some more, actually. Jeongguk’s fingers brush over his blond hair, then he suddenly tugs at Taehyung’s lobe piercing.

That causes the older male to let out a soft yelp, causing the star player to chuckle until he leans in to smell his hair again. “Lavender, huh? Such a soft, pretty kitten, aren’t you?” He said, not even whispering, like he would usually do. Taehyung might’ve been caught off guard again, frozen and flustered because there is no way that Jimin and the cheerleading team didn’t hear that.

Jeongguk pulls away and winks at him. He gets the ball that previously rolled over to Taehyung’s feet and ran back to his teammates.

It’s silent until Chaeyoung wolf whistles and everyone begins clapping, slurring teasingly at the flabbergasted blond. Jimin is looking more than amused – in fact, it looks like he’ll topple over in laughter any moment now. Taehyung spots a few phones were out and he curses in his mind, because of course, if Jeongguk’s weak moments were to be captured on camera, so were Taehyung’s.

(It almost seemed like a natural reaction – to pull out your phone once Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jeongguk are even remotely close to each other).

The noise from the cheerleaders attracted the attention of the basketball team, that looks in their direction.

“Oi, Baek!” Chanyeol suddenly calls, gaining the attention of his boyfriend, “How about you rest for a bit and come play with us?”

“You’re just asking to get beat,” Baekhyun calls back, smiling in the direction of his teammates with a look that says ‘go have some fun’. It’s rare that there is a crack in the cheerleading team’s leader’s professionalism, so everyone cheers loudly at the opportunity of doing something else and runs to the basketball team to relax from practicing their routine for hours prior.

Taehyung leans into Jimin as they follow everyone. “Everything went alright with Hoseok-hyung?” He whispers, wanting to make sure. Jimin nodded, then bumped shoulders with his best friend. “I’ll tell you the deets later. But don’t try to avoid the subject – what was that, right now?” He asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Taehyung groans, rubbing his head. “I don’t know, it was sudden– he caught me off guard again. Asshole, I hate to admit defeat like this,” he says, huffing like a child not getting their way. “You froze like the first time when you interacted,” Jimin points out, stifling a chuckle, “Although you also moaned this time around.”

Taehyung’s cheeks tint red, before he’s hitting Jimin’s shoulder to shush him. “I did not moan,” he refuses to admit it, but his denial only makes Jimin laugh some more.

“J-Jeongguk,” Jimin echoes, doing a solid imitation of Taehyung’s voice going breathy and the blond looks so betrayed, “You moaned, admit it, bitch.”

“Ugh, what a friend you are,” Taehyung accuses, although he can’t help but smile a little. He’s really glad that Jimin is back to being his usual self after days of drowning is self-pity, guilt and anxiety. He’s had many rough times like these before, but it hadn’t ever been that bad ever since they entered uni.

They join the crowd of the cheerleaders and basketball players that started tossing the ball around, playing along and teasing each other. It was a fun crowd, not too loud, not too heavy. It was a relaxing group of close friends that just wanted to hang out and for a moment forget about the upcoming exams, assignments and all of their troubles.

“Okay, but why is the basket so high up?” Baekhyun said with a frown, bouncing the ball off of the floor as he glares at said basket with malicious eyes. Taehyung glances up and well, it may seem a bit far off, but not that much. At least not to him.

“It’s not that the basket is placed too high, it’s just that you’re too short, babe,” Chanyeol teases, pinching Baekhyun’s hip and earning himself a smack on the head, “I’m just saying that flexibility of yours ain’t working on making you any taller.”

“I don’t hear you complaining about my flexibility when we’re about to fuck,” Baekhyun gives his boyfriend a pointed stare, expression still sour when the taller male goes red in the face. Their friends laugh and Taehyung giggles, catching the ball that Seojoon just tossed to him. He attempts to shoot it through the hoop, but it ends up hitting the rim and bouncing back into his hands.

Alright, maybe basketball isn’t as easy as he thought.

Less than ten minutes later, Taehyung whines and begins complaining. “Baek-hyung was right, the basket is too high up,” he says, rubbing his nape. “You just need someone to raise you, Taehyung,” another player by the name of Yifan pointed out and Taehyung’s gaze slides to Jeongguk, lingering for a second. Before the younger male can speak up, however, the blond turns to his hyungs.

“Hyungsik-hyung, hold me up, please?” He asks with his best puppy-eyes and of course, who is Park Hyungsik to decline as he chuckles and gives him a small nod.

Taehyung grins and turns back to the basket, completely missing how Jimin pulled Hyungsik aside to whisper something to him quickly. Hyungsik nodded to the younger, before he approached Taehyung and gripped his waist, raising him from the ground.

Just as Taehyung was about to throw the ball, he’s being lowered and making a confused expression. “Ah, you’re heavy, Tae-Tae,” Hyungsik says and Taehyung is confused, before Hyungsik never complained about his weight when carrying him before, nor did Taehyung feel his arms shake as he held him up.

Before he can respond, however, another voice cuts in.

“He’s not,” Jeongguk says, moving to approach the spot behind Taehyung as Hyungsik moved away with a knowing smile, a bit amused by the small glare Jeongguk gave him.

Taehyung is late to reacting of course, feeling strong hands grip around his waistline and he’s being held securely whilst being raised up as far as he can go. No words said, Taehyung throws the ball and there is hopefulness as it circles around the rim, but then it falls off and he can hear Jimin laugh at his failed attempt. He pouts, almost forgetting the fact that Jeongguk is currently holding him and his ass may well be in Jeongguk’s face from this position, a light flush spreading across his cheeks at the realization.

“You need to hold me higher,” Taehyung says, glancing down at Jeongguk before the younger puts him on the ground.

“Let’s try it like this then,” Jeongguk said, crouching down to put his head between Taehyung’s legs and have the blond’s thighs rest on his shoulders, “Hold on, kitten.”

Taehyung doesn’t really know where to hold on to, but he grips Jeongguk’s shoulders once the younger male lifts him up. Jeongguk’s hands squeezed his thighs not so subtly before they moved down to hold his knees and Taehyung might’ve felt a bit giddy, because he likes getting carried like this, resting on someone’s shoulders as if he’s light as a feather. The contrast between his and Jeongguk’s strength is… a feat. One that makes him shudder.

This time, when he throws the ball, he lands the shot.

“Perfect score,” Chanyeol said with a grin and their group of friends cheer for Taehyung finally managing it. The blond grins, giggling a bit as Jeongguk pats his thigh like a small ‘congrats.’

Despite losing the battle, Taehyung actually feels satisfied.

■ ◌ ■

Okay, so the thing is, Jeongguk sort of understands why he may come off as a douche.

His sorta-resting-bitch-face, tattoos, piercings and the fact he drives a motorcycle might paint him as one of those “too-hot-for-you” bad boys that have different hookups every weekend, or one those angst filled punks that draw skulls in notebooks and write poems about how dreadful the world is. In fact, one time, Jeongguk got compared to one of those stoic-faced, emotionless guys on anime dating simulators, that just look like they’re far done with both life and love.

(Which is partially true and Jeongguk didn’t even get offended – it’s a compliment to get compared to anime, in his opinion).

Not many of his friends know he drives a motorcycle, although it fits his aesthetic. When he was a teenager and had troubles with everything around him, he always wanted to have something that he can get away with, something that will drive him off when it gets too difficult, too suffocating. His bike was that source until he finally turned the legal age of being able to own a motorbike, after passing his driver’s test for it. It has been his baby ever since (though the red color of it is a bit obnoxious– no wonder people may think he’s a douche).

Jeongguk has tendencies to drive off whenever school becomes too much and there is a spot just out of town, with a beautiful valley and several ponds that ducks like to occupy. The beautiful scenery is calming and relaxing for him, so it was a fairly nice weather the day he strapped his helmet on, hit the gas and headed out of town.

However, on his way there, his attention is caught when he stops at a red light and spots a familiar face at the only bus stop close to their uni. It was Sunday, so there was only person there and it’s not a surprise that it’s a student, but it was surprising that the student happened to be Kim Taehyung. He kept glancing around, shivering slightly because it was a bit breezy and he was underdressed.

Jeongguk bites his lip, contemplating something over and over in his mind. Fuck it, he thought, derailing from his road before the green light turns on. A few cards behind him honk in annoyance, but he couldn’t care less. He pulls up in the spot where the bus would usually stop to pick up people and he sees Taehyung’s confused expression, before he reaches up and removes his helmet.

“Jeongguk?” Taehyung voices, surprise tinting his tone, as said Jeongguk shakes his head to straighten out his black hair and brush it out of his eyes. “Hey, hyung,” he greets back, “Waiting for the bus?”

No wonder he seems cold, Jeongguk thinks, noticing how thin Taehyung’s clothing seems, dress shirt almost see-through and pants loose. His blond hair is messy, golden framed and thin round glasses make his eyes look pretty. Assuming by the small brown backpack he has slung over his shoulder, he is definitely heading somewhere.

“Yeah, though I got here a bit early,” Taehyung answers, smiling cheekily, “The bus will probably be here in fifteen minutes or so.”

“That’s too long,” Jeongguk says, balancing one foot on the ground. Taehyung eyes the way his thigh muscles strain around the leather pants, before they go back to his eyes when Jeongguk speaks, “Where’re you headed to?”

“Oh, just this small spot out of town,” Taehyung explains, “It’s a valley and it has ponds with some ducks, so I wanted to go feed them and take some pictures.”

Jeongguk pauses for a moment, realization settling in. “The valley with loads of white daisies?” He asks, before he can stop himself. Taehyung blinks a bit, before nodding slowly. “Yeah,” he said, “You know the place?”

“Just headed to it,” Jeongguk said, before patting leather seat behind him, “Hop on, come on.”

Taehyung gives him a query look, eyebrow raised and expression a bit amused. “You offering me a ride, Jeon?” He says, not giving a clear answer even if he was already rising from his seat at the bus stop.

“I wouldn’t mind you riding me– with me,” Jeongguk coughs, blushing upon his own mistake and succeeding at making Taehyung laugh prettily, as he shakes his head and approaches him. “I wouldn’t mind, too. Both ways,” he grins, slinging both of the straps of his backpack over his shoulders and catching the helmet Jeongguk threw his way.

He puts it on with ease and it seems like he may have done this a couple times before. “And this obnoxious red? How fitting for a bad boy,” he drawls and Jeongguk laughs as Taehyung sits behind him, arms curling around his waist and pressing his chest to Jeongguk’s back.

Jeongguk smiles, heart thumping loudly in his chest as he finds this so very cute. “Not a bad boy,” he says, voice light as he puts his own helmet back on, hitting the gas again and feeling his motorbike rumble beneath them. He faintly hears Taehyung’s laugh at his words, although he feels the booming sound from his chest against his back.

Once they hit the road, Taehyung’s arms tighten around him for security, but he doesn’t appear to be that frightened. Instead, it seems like he feels secure with Jeongguk driving and it makes the younger male feel at ease, as he slowly speeds up from time to time so they could arrive faster.

Just when they’re about to exit Seoul, Jeongguk stops at a big red light and curiously turns his head a bit to check on Taehyung. “You good?” He asks, loud enough so he can overheard over the honking and the growling of engines on the road. He feels Taehyung nod against his back.

“You feel strong,” Taehyung says, loud enough so only Jeongguk can hear, “I like that.”

Jeongguk might’ve blushed a little, his cheeks rivaling the color of the red stop he’s currently waiting on. “Tell me if you need me to stop for a moment,” he says once the light turns yellow and by time it goes green, Taehyung nodded once more and only tightened his grip around Jeongguk, pressing his body closer.

The sensation of the wind was rather nice, although Jeongguk hoped Taehyung isn’t feeling too cold.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrive at the valley, by the bottom of a few hills. There were several pounds located around the area, accompanied by various species of wildflowers, but white daises were the biggest in quantity. Evident noises included the breezes of the wind and the quacking of the ducks in the ponds. Jeongguk parks his bike where he always does, taking off his helmet and looking around. If there are other people here, they are around the valley, probably.

He hears a camera shutter going off and when he turns around he sees Taehyung has already gotten off the bike and took off his helmet, holding a camera up to the sky. His backpack is on the ground, open with a few things such as camera lenses and photo books visible inside. Jeongguk is intrigued, watching with awe in his eyes as Taehyung snaps a few more pictures of their surrounding area.

“It’s the same place, but the photos turn out different each time I take them here,” Taehyung observes with a smile, then looks at Jeongguk, “How about we go up the hill for now?”

With the sun kissing his skin so beautifully, Jeongguk is a bit break taken. He nods his head, setting his helmet aside and following Taehyung who started walking past the ponds after he put everything back in his backpack and picked it up. In a matter of five minutes, they were up on the hill and sitting beneath a tree that bloomed beautifully for spring season.

Taehyung took out some sort of picnic blanket out of his backpack and spread it across the grass so he and Jeongguk could sit down. It was still fairly early and the Sun was coming high up on the sky, but it was getting blocked by a few clouds, since it was a bit of a cloudy and breezy day. Another gush of wind passed by and Taehyung visibly shuddered.

Jeongguk took his black leather jacket off, then got close enough to wrap it around Taehyung’s shoulders in order to keep him warm. The blond seems a bit surprised, but nonetheless touches the jacket to bring it closer to himself. “Black leather? And you say you aren’t a bad boy,” he teases, earning a chuckle from Jeongguk, “Aren’t you gonna be cold though?”

“Nah, not really,” Jeongguk said, despite being left in a short sleeved shirt, “I handle cold really well. I also really like rain, but I guess that can be a little weird.”

“Why’s it weird?” Taehyung tilts his head, “Rain is relaxing.”

“It is, but I guess… I guess I also like the distorted nature. How it changes under different influences of the weather,” Jeongguk said, eyes captivated by the sunrise, “I really like storms, especially. The always seem to test the capacity of nature the most.”

He hadn’t realized he’d been rambling until Taehyung smiles at him, rather warmly too. “Interesting,” he said simply, noticing Jeongguk’s put-off expression, “I guess people you usually think you’re weird if you tell them this?”

“Kinda,” Jeongguk muttered, “My passing grandmother was the only one that liked to listen to me rant about it. She said I must be like this because I was born in a thunderstorm. I guess it does sound kind of odd.”

“Odd is good,” Taehyung pointed out, rummaging through his backpack and taking out a few essentials. They appear to be wire and tape and Jeongguk is confused until the blond continues to speak, “Now come here, bad boy, I’m gonna teach you how to make a flower crown.”

They pick out flowers that surround them – while Taehyung chose more captivating flowers of the colors of purple or red, Jeongguk was more subtle with his choice of white and lilac flowers. It was a nice contrast.

“Okay, so you make the base with the wire like this,” Taehyung explains, before he tests if the base fits his head. Jeongguk follows every instruction and tapes the flowers as gently and daintily as he can to the wire. He had a bit of struggle, until Taehyung chuckles and comes closer to show him how to do it more efficiently. Their fingers bush together upon the action and it’s a bit ridiculous that this makes them blush, after all the other stuff they’ve done to each other and together.

“Oh, I get it now…” Jeongguk muttered, intrigued as he decides to make a flower crown out of white daisies. Taehyung was making his out of violets and mukdenia that he found surrounding the rocks in the nearby area.

Flash.

Jeongguk blinks and by the time he looks up, the camera shutter goes off once more, taking a picture of his startled face. He wasn’t even mad, just confused as Taehyung grins at him. “Rare to see bad boys making flower crowns. I like the contrast,” he explains, going through the photos he took with his camera. The way he looks at them with delight in his eyes make Jeongguk smile on his own.

A few minutes later and the flower crowns were done.

Jeongguk was about to put his own on his head to test if it fits, but Taehyung stops him and takes it out of his hands. “No, no, this is mine. And this is yours,” he said, pushing his beautiful flower crown in Jeongguk’s hands. He’s smiling at him, genuine happiness displayed, “It’s no joy of making something if you don’t share it with somebody else.”

This is certainly a side to Taehyung that Jeongguk has never seen before.

And Taehyung’s flower crown is gorgeous, eye catching and sort of extravagant, over the top and beautiful. He somehow managed to match the purple of the violets and the red of the mukdenia, having them intertwine beautifully with each other. Next to his, Jeongguk’s flower crown was simple and subtle, with only daisies and not much shape to it.

Regardless of that, Taehyung smiled like it’s the best thing he ever saw, putting it on his head. Jeongguk did the same, finding it a bit interesting that they’re wearing flower crowns the opposite of their personality. Taehyung turns out to be correct – their flower crowns would blend in if they wore it themselves, but they stand out this way, because they are so different to the person wearing it.

Taehyung’s camera is in position again and Jeongguk smiles this time, the tinniest bit. He wasn’t that extravagant, but rather simple, actually.

“Now’s my turn, so give me that,” he said, snatching the camera away from Taehyung and turn it back on him. The blond seems cut off guard, usually being the one behind the camera and not in front of it, expression the same once the shutter goes off. Jeongguk takes a few photos, a bit amused by how ridiculous Taehyung looks with a leather jacket and a flower crown, but also breathtakingly beautiful at the same time.

“What a blooming day…” He comments, distracted by what’s before him.

By the time he moves the camera away from his eyes, Taehyung is in front of him, their lips faintly brushing against each other’s. They don’t kiss, just stand there as Taehyung’s hand reaches and takes his camera back. He’s pulling away, with the faintest blush on his cheeks and the shiest smile on his lips.

“Tell me more about you,” he says, “Tell me about your family.”

Their level of comfort is rather close, for some reason.

“Well, my parents are divorced–” Great way to start, Jeon “–and I have an older brother, who is currently overseas for school. My grandparents were also my closest family, but my grandfather passed away two years ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss,” Taehyung says with a sympathetic look, gaze softening and Jeongguk nods in acknowledgement. “It’s fine, thank you,” he says.

“How old were you when your parents divorced, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Not at all,” Jeongguk says, shaking his head. It’s been years since it happened, so the wounds healed, “I was around fifteen. I was kind of relieved actually, because they were fighting ever since I was born and it’s sort of tiring to hear arguing day in and day out. After they did it, my mother went off to my brother overseas and my father stayed here. The only annoying thing is how I was made fun of because of it.”

“Because your parents divorced?” Taehyung says, frowning when Jeongguk nods, “That’s unfair, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know, it’s fine now,” the younger male says, assuring him, “I guess I just sort of… closed off because of that. I used to do loads of things in school, but I stopped after the divorce so I wouldn’t garner any more attention. I was probably the same during freshmen year. Dance helped me sort of open up again, I guess…”

“Sounds like… a lot,” Taehyung breathes out, slowly but understandingly. Jeongguk appreciates him not meddling his personal thoughts into his past experiences.

“It is,” he said, “It was also so complicated, always so… overwhelming. I don’t want any more drama, I want peace, I want simplicity. I don’t like it when it’s so… complicated.”

Taehyung listens to him, then reaches for his backpack and takes out a pack of pistachios that he opens and then offers to Jeongguk, who takes them gladly. They snack in silence for a bit, before Taehyung speaks up, as if he thought about his words for so long: “We really are complete opposites, aren’t we?” He muttered, almost inaudibly.

Jeongguk doesn’t want to push him straight into talking about it. “What’s your family like, hyung?” He asks instead, looking at him with curiosity.

Taehyung brushes his nape, before sighing. “Well, I grew up with loving parents and two younger siblings, one brother and one sister. I was also close to my grandparents. We were very poor in the beginning, until my mother opened up her own business and began working her way up the ranks in the industry,” he explains, no filter to his past, “I was a weird kid in school, the other kids stayed away from me. I only gained the type of attention that I didn’t want.”

Jeongguk listens carefully, kind of sensing where this is going.

“Despite the money having us spend less time together because of work, my family was never divided – always supportive, always loving. They never once told me not to be who I am,” Taehyung breathes out, sounding like his throat is aching suddenly, “But I hated being a weirdo in middle school, so when high school came about, I wanted to change everything. And by everything, I mean… well, have you ever watched Mean Girls?”

“I’m like eighty percent gay, so yeah,” Jeongguk answers and Taehyung laughs a bit, the mood easing between them at the light joke.

“Okay, so, I wouldn’t say I was like Regina George, because I didn’t technically bully or use people that much but… ah, I was just… confused. My life was always so quiet, so boring that even money couldn’t fix it, and once I joined the cheer team, once I got a boyfriend, it seemed like everything was finally going it’s desired path. In my second year, I started playing around with the guys, dumping all of them, dropping friends just for the heck of it. My life finally became… exciting.”

Jeongguk frowns at how hurt Taehyung sounds, how much regret weights his voice down. His hands tremble as he speaks, “I don’t know why I did that, why… why I wanted things to be different, when my family was loving, supportive. There was no reason for me to become like that suddenly. Then my grandmother passed away and it was a huge slap to the face. I hit my lowest and really, I wouldn’t have pulled out of it if it weren’t for Jimin. However, third year and all of my boyfriends would dump me, none of my friends wanted me around anymore. It was understandable, I thought it was karma for everything I did.”

The younger male reaches out and touches Taehyung’s shoulder, rubbing it and massaging it. He’s surprised by the blond being so open about his issues with him, even if they were fairly new friends. He doesn’t realize that the reason Taehyung was so brave to open up was because Jeongguk did it first, concerning his own past. In this case, that bravery translated into trust and acceptance of what once was.

“I had no hopes for uni, but Jimin dragged me here,” Taehyung said and then he laughs, shaking his head, “I’m so happy for it now. I was so happy to escape to Seoul and do photography, because art is something that saved me throughout my second and third year in high school. I’m my honest self, who I want to be. Sometimes I still try to put up a front, but maybe… maybe it’s because I’m scared of getting hurt.”

Taehyung has been this open with new friends before, but it never felt like this. It usually went both ways, for each side to share their story and not just Taehyung, but there was never a connection such as now. Both Jeongguk and Taehyung had past experiences in which they were afraid to be themselves for the sake of getting ostracized. But they met each other when they finally found themselves.

“You’re very strong, hyung,” Jeongguk said, moving his hand down to where Taehyung held his palms in his lap. He touches his hand hesitantly, not sure if Taehyung is okay with that, but the blond has no trouble interlocking their fingers. Jeongguk flushes, before speaking, “From everything I heard, you’re a campus icon, hyung. And it’s not for being a dick, it’s for being who you are. You’re open and extravagant.”

Taehyung laughs faintly, then looks him straight in the eyes. “An icon? Do they really call me that?” He says, genuinely a bit surprised. It was not that he wasn’t aware of his popularity or anything, or that he had quite a reputation for being openly flamboyant, but he never thought people admired him for his antics or akin to that.

“Well, a gay icon, to be precise,” Jeongguk said and Taehyung grins a bit to hear that, “You’re outspoken and also pretty nice and you’re not popular for wrongdoings or such, you’re just being your authentic, weird self.”

“I’ll never be able to escape my inner weirdo,” Taehyung laughs.

“That’s okay,” Jeongguk grins, squeezing his hand, “I like weirdo’s, anyway.”

They end up packing up and heading down the hill. Taehyung retrieved bread from his backpack and stopped by a few ponds so he and Jeongguk could throw the ducks some. They watched them flop and quack around, an idea constantly bugging Jeongguk’s mind, buzzing with something akin to anticipation. He finally garnered the courage to speak up, because he may not have another chance for this.

“Come to Gapyeong with me.”

Okay, maybe he didn’t mean to be that straightforward with it.

Taehyung was obviously startled, looking at him with wide eyes. Jeongguk chose to elaborate before he can say no: “I mean, we’re already out of Seoul and it’ll take us only about an hour to get there with my bike. We can visit the Bukhan river and the Cheongpyeong lake, as well as the mountains. There are loads of wildflowers in the area, perfect scenery for photos,” he rushes, “We can stop by gas stations on the way for food or drinks. Well, unless you don’t have time, which I will absolutely understand–”

“Okay, so it’s a date.”

Wait, what? Jeongguk gulps, his eyes now wide. Taehyung smiles, straightening from his crouching position on throwing the ducks some more bread.

“I’ll be so lucky if I get to find a white fawn lily,” the blond says, already passing Jeongguk and heading to his motorcycle, “Also the perfect opportunity for me to rant to you how much I love Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. Especially the Waltz of the Flowers, it’s a favorite of mine.”

Taehyung sat himself on the motorcycle, taking Jeongguk’s helmet and throwing it to the younger male, who was still a bit flabbergasted. The blond grins, amused, “You in, hot-shot?” He said.

Jeongguk didn’t even need to hesitate.

“For you, I always am, kitten.”

A date it is, then.

■ ◌ ■

It’s not that no one on campus knew what was going on, but it was just a bit confusing.

Jeongguk and Taehyung were known to be quite flirty with each other, teasing each other in public and being the biggest buzz at their uni, but no one really thought they might be romantically involved. Especially with Taehyung’s past concerning that – it’s quite known that the blond avoids dating like the plague, so imagine everyone’s surprise when Jeongguk and Taehyung post photos of each other on social media, enjoying their Sunday date.

Taehyung was happy for having found a white fawn lily and Jeongguk took a photo of him being mesmerized by the flower, with the dawning of the sun in the background. He captioned his photo as “two beautiful flowers” and Taehyung didn’t mind, praising Jeongguk for the composition of his photos, which were good for quite a newbie photographer.

Taehyung took a photo of Jeongguk from the back while he was looking at the sunset, bold letters on the back of his shirt reading “May the bridges I burn light the way,” which may as well screamed Jeon Jeongguk even if his face couldn’t be seen. Taehyung’s caption consisted of two Sun emojis.

They were making progress in their relationship, but they didn’t put a name on it. They weren’t ‘just friends’ but they weren’t ‘boyfriends’ yet, either. It was a comfortable middle ground for them, because they held hands, but they didn’t kiss; they would drop hints, but never advance further on them.

It was like a non-verbal mutual agreement between them was made, that they’ll settle it down once one of them loses the war. It’s not like either of them will lose, though, with each other’s hearts in their hands. It was just a matter of discipline.

That, but they also needed to resolve their sexual tension one way or another.

■ ◌ ■

After mid-terms passed, everyone was at ease.

Jeongguk was currently in the frat, backpack slung over his shoulder and beanie tugged over his head, looking around for a certain someone. He’s about to head to the library and he recalls Hoseok mentioning that he might need a certain book, so he wanted to do the elder a favor by getting it for him. Jeongguk looks around, until he finally sees Hoseok entering the main hall.

“Hoseok-hyung!” He calls, voice echoing in the empty hall of their frat as he approaches the older male, who looks in his direction, “Were you visiting Yoongi-hyung? How is he?”

Hoseok sighs a bit, obviously distressed. “He’s… fine. Or that’s what he tells me at least,” he said, “He always gets stressed whenever exams come along because that means he won’t have time for music, since he has to study. Ever since they finished, he’s been producing non-stop to get his mind off of things. I wanted to make sure he’s completely fine, but I got pushed out by Sunyoung-noona.”

Jeongguk remembers the girls from their sorority – the Alpha girls – come about and go to Yoongi’s studio. “They aren’t going to nag him, right?” He says, eyebrow raised.

Hoseok chuckles, shaking his head. “Nah. They baby him, actually, even if they’re the same age,” he explains, “The girls are always around to encourage him in the way he needs. It might be a nice change from me and Seokjin-hyung visiting him constantly.”

“And with Jimin… is Yoongi-hyung fine with it?” Jeongguk asks, biting his lip in hopes he hadn’t crossed any boundaries by asking that, but he is genuinely concerned for what’s going on.

“He is,” Hoseok seems content with answering it, trusting the younger, “But Yoongi, he… he has a certain way of dealing with things. He doesn’t want to jump into anything before being one hundred percent sure, although that takes a bit of time. Jimin is such a sweetheart, saying he’ll wait for him as long as he needs,” he says, chuckling faintly before shaking his head, “Anyways, why were you looking for me in the first place?”

“Oh, right,” Jeongguk remembered, “I’m heading to the library and you mentioned you need a book? I can get it for you, if you want?”

“Ah, it’s Caroline by Neil Gaiman, Namjoon recommended it to me,” Hoseok said and then it’s as if something dawns on him and he smiles faintly, “Say… today is Friday, right?” He suddenly questions, arm hooking around Jeongguk’s shoulders and leading him to the exit of their frat. The younger gives him an odd look, but he does nod at the question.

Hoseok smiles at the confirmation, as if he knows something that Jeongguk doesn’t. “Actually, you can get me the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher’s Stone. I wanna read it again,” he says, tapping Jeongguk’s back.

“Okay…?” Jeongguk says, eyebrow raised at the sudden change of heart.

He ends up going to the university’s library and it’s quite a foreign place to him, except for the times that Namjoon dragged him there to help him for his upcoming exams. Jeongguk was really thankful towards the elder (whom he met through Seokjin, since the two were apparently “good friends”), but he was also so tired of all the formulas and ambiguous words he had to learn.

This time, he’s there for his own sake and looking for a few things he needs for his semester. He decides to get Hoseok’s book first so he won’t forget it, so he asks the librarian on where the Harry Potter series is and she directs him to the fantasy section of the library, to which Jeongguk heads to.

The library is actually nice, since there aren’t that many students there during spring time (as they prefer to read outside in the nice weather) and especially after mid-terms passed. It’s quiet since no one is there, although when Jeongguk steps in, he spots a figure in the fantasy section, arranging the books on the shelves and making it look neat. Upon further inspection of those long legs and that gorgeous blond hair, Jeongguk realizes who it is.

“Taehyung?” He voices before he can stop himself and said blond turns around, giving him a bright smile. “Jeonggukkie,” he greets, paying no mind that he was called without an honorific. The younger approaches him, giving him an odd look. “What’re you doing here?” He asks, voice soft because he didn’t want to disrupt the silence.

Taehyung cocks an eyebrow, before smiling. “I probably forgot to mention that I assist in the library on Fridays. Especially in the fantasy section, since it’s my favorite,” he explains and Jeongguk bites his lip, thinking there is no way this is a coincidence (no wonder Hoseok changed his mind about the book once he heard it was Friday, gosh).

Taehyung’s wearing those thin and round glasses again, but they look so good on him, so who is Jeongguk to complain? “You seem really happy today. Something happened?” He asks, trying to make a conversation.

The older male gives him a mischievous smile, before he shrugs a bit. “Oh, it’s just that something I ordered arrived today and I’m extremely satisfied by the fit,” he says, rather innocently, actually. Before Jeongguk can question it, however, Taehyung continues: “What’d you need from the fantasy section, Gukkie?”

“Um, the first book in the Harry Potter series?”

“Hm, I know it’s around here somewhere… Look in these shelves here, while I look here. We may find it faster that way.”

Jeongguk stands behind Taehyung, where the elder instructed him to look through. He casts his gaze around and about, but he can’t seem to find the one title he is looking for. He furrows his eyebrows together, a bit displeased as puts his backpack on the ground and then crouches to look through the lower shelves. Still nothing.

“Hyung,” he said, straightening back up and turning around to look at Taehyung, “I don’t think it’s he–”

Jeongguk’s breath quickly gets stuck in his throat and his eyes go wide, because Taehyung is on his tiptoes to look through the top shelves, so his shirt is riding up and revealing his lower back, tan skin on display. The denim jeans are too tight, they hug his ass too well, and since they are low-rise, the fabric of Taehyung’s underwear is peeking from beneath the waistband, resting high on his hips.

Is that black lace? Jeongguk realizes, mouth going dry. Fuck, is Taehyung wearing panties?

“I– I… um, I– fuck.”

Taehyung glances at him over his shoulders, a pretty smirk dangling on his lips as he stays in the position he is currently in. “Something wrong, Gukkie? Cat got your tongue?” He teases, shimmying his hips the slightest.

Jeongguk really is having a hard time processing this, because he remembers the day Taehyung came to basketball and cheerleading practice and Jeongguk picked him up by the waist so he could score a shot – he can’t simply forget how thin Taehyung’s waist was when he held him up, how lightweight he was to him.

And now this? Jeongguk feels like he might lose his goddamn mind.

“Aw, giving up that easy, hot-shot?”

No, Jeongguk really can’t handle this anymore.

In a swift motion, Jeongguk’s hands find Taehyung’s hips and he’s pulling him back to press Taehyung’s ass against his crotch, while simultaneously pushing him into the sturdy bookcase. Taehyung’s hands grip the empty shelves, knees buckling and breathing laboring as a few books topple out of their shelves and fall on the ground, from the force of him getting knocked into them.

“You’re really testing my patience, kitten,” Jeongguk said, hot breath fanning over Taehyung’s exposed nape and the blond quivers once Jeongguk’s hands massage his hips. He isn’t moving or doing anything else besides it, but it’s driving both of them crazy as it is.

There is no audience this time (even though when there is, at least one of them isn’t usually aware of it), so the air is stiffer, the tension is more suffocating and Taehyung never really thought about getting fucked in the library before, but there can be a first for everything, right?

Taehyung isn’t going down, however. No way.

“Or you’re just weak, bad boy,” he teases, making an effort in moving his ass back and literally grinding into Jeongguk in the middle of the fucking library. Jeongguk’s breath hitches, earning a smirk from the blond, “You’re already hard and I didn’t even do jack shit yet.”

“Like you hell you didn’t,” Jeongguk growls, pressing his face into the space between Taehyung’s neck and shoulder, nosing at the skin before pressing his lips against it, “You look so needy right now, pushing your pretty ass back into me. Are you that eager to sit on my cock, baby?”

Taehyung might’ve been the one caught off guard now, because they never explicitly mentioned sex in their teasing before and this is the first time it’s being brought up. It’s making Taehyung’s mind go so hazy, because Jeongguk is so hot and Taehyung is a bit needy at the moment, but that won’t throw him off. Whatever Jeongguk gives him, he can give back more.

“You sure you can even handle it?” He prompts, smirking as he looks over his shoulder at the younger male. His glasses got crooked on his nose a bit, “I’m not a small fuck. You’ll have to step up your game to make me beg. I’m not that easy.”

Jeongguk bites his lip, wordlessly accepting the challenge. His trails one hand up to Taehyung’s front, teasing the waistband of his jeans before sliding up, gently gliding over the soft skin of his stomach. “Doesn’t sound that difficult considering how weak you already are for me,” he says, tone low, “Are you sure any guy can make you feel like this?”

Taehyung shudders, enjoying the sensation of Jeongguk’s rough hands on his soft skin. “You’re not the first,” he responds and it seems like the words had the desired effect, because Jeongguk is pressing closer into him, so close that Taehyung can feel the outline of his cock against his ass and through his jeans and he bites his lip, trying not to whimper out loud.

Whilst being pressed further into the bookshelves, Jeongguk’s hand travels back down and cups his crotch, palm pressing into his groin and Taehyung lets a small moan escape his lips, hands shuddering as he tries to keep himself as stable as he can. Jeongguk leans in until he bites at his neck, tongue lapping over the mark.

“I may not be the first, but I’ll be the last.”

Taehyung is being turned back around, Jeongguk’s arm circling around his waist before he pulls their bodies flush together and starts nipping down his jaw. It’s was erratic and sudden, but it was fire-inducing tension that brought them to this point and this is the first time they’re making any progress on it.

Jeongguk’s lips are hot on Taehyung’s skin, leaving marks whenever he can manage. He grips the blond’s waist and then pushes his hands up his sides, the shirt riding up and the sudden cold air hitting his exposed skin made Taehyung shiver.

The younger of the two pulls back, eyeing the pretty blond through a haze in his eyes. Taehyung’s glasses were crooked on his nose, cheeks flushed and lips parted to release small pants. His clothing and hair were so messy and disheveled that he looked thoroughly aroused and fucked out. Jeongguk never wanted someone so bad in his entire life.

Licking his lips swiftly, Jeongguk can’t resist it anymore – he begins leaning in, lips inches away from Taehyung’s and once the blond closes his eyes, he does realize that their first kiss will be in the middle of the library with thick sexual tension, but who is he to complain? With the air stiff between them, it was finally about to happen.

Jeongguk’s lips suddenly meet a flat, cardboard surface and when he blinks his eyes open, big and golden capital letters are screaming “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” at him. He pulls away quickly, cheeks flushed and eyes displaying confusion. Taehyung smiles and pushes the book into his chest.

“Here, this is the one you were looking for.”

He says it so simply, so casually as if nothing just happened and then he moves past Jeongguk. He doesn’t bother covering up his hickies or adjusting his messy clothing, as if he wants everyone to know that he just got disheveled by Jeongguk. The younger male doesn’t know if he should take that as admitting defeat or being proud of the win. Taehyung pushes the stroller with the books he should arrange down the hall, smiling back at Jeongguk.

“See you at dinner later, hot-shot.”

■ ◌ ■

Jeongguk is invited to said dinner later when he returns back to the dorm.

It turns out that Wu Yifan is making a big house party for most of the student body to come, being an annual celebration that mid-terms finally passed. Jeongguk was personally invited by Yifan since they’re in the basketball team together, but he declined because parties really aren’t his thing. He didn’t even know that he was supposed to decline, since Seokjin only informed him about the dinner later, once he got back to the frat.

Apparently, Namjoon has a nice apartment and a beautiful kitchen, but he can’t do anything in it without burning most of his utensils, so Seokjin comes over to make food for their Friday dinners. It’s a gathering, or whatnot, that they hold every two weeks – it’s apparently for their closest friend group.

This was the first time Jeongguk was invited and he couldn’t possibly decline once he realized that Taehyung would be coming as well (he might be a bit biased, but whatever), so he accepted Seokjin’s invitation. Jeongguk asked what he can bring to contribute, but he was told that Yoongi will be bringing the drinks and Namjoon has loads of video games, so the only thing he needs to do is ‘drag his ass there’ (Seokjin’s words, not his).

When Jeongguk arrived, he was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful interior of Namjoon’s apartment and it seems like only he and Seokjin arrived. Jeongguk shrugged his leather jacket off and then looked at Namjoon, who appears to have put his clothes on rather messily (guessing by the mismatched socks and the outturned shirt). His bruised lips and disheveled hair gave Jeongguk a lot of pause.

“Nice place, hyung,” he says dryly, although staring directly at him as he puts his jacket on the coat hanger by the door. Namjoon coughs into his hand rather awkwardly, nodding along. “U-Um, yeah– uh, thanks? It was a gift from my parents, for getting the scholarship for university,” he explains, showing Jeongguk to the nice living room.

“Seokjin-hyung is here too, right? I saw his car parked outside,” Jeongguk says, cocking an eyebrow Namjoon’s way. “Yeah, he’s the first one that arrived,” he says, although it sounds like a bad lie, “The others should be here soon.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rings and Namjoon excuses himself to go get it. In a matter of a few minutes, Hoseok is entering the living room and carryings bags full of drinks that seem a bit heavy, while Namjoon and Yoongi follow empty handed. Jeongguk immediately stands up from the couch to go hug Yoongi, since they haven’t seen each other in weeks.

“You okay, hyung?” Jeongguk asks, looking at the shorter male with sympathy in his eyes. He notices Yoongi’s deathly pale skin, huge eye bags and tired gaze, but that’s not different from the usual. It seems like he finally started recovering, considering the smile he manages to give him.

“I’m good, kid,” he says, ruffling the back of Jeongguk’s hair.

Seokjin suddenly emerges from the kitchen, waving a spatula around whilst having on mittens and an apron (the full package). “Yoongi, did you bring drinks?” He asks and the blond nods. “Well, I picked them out, Hoseok brought them here,” he says, gesturing to said Hoseok who was rubbing his hands in pain from carrying the heavy bags, “I got some nice scotch. Got some soda too, since all of ya’ll are a bunch of lightweights.”

The doorbell rings again.

“That must be Jimin and Taehyung,” Namjoon said, disappearing back into the hallway. He hears chattering and the sound of the door shutting, but only Namjoon and Taehyung re-appear back into the living room.

“Is Jimin coming by himself, Tae-Tae?” Seokjin asks, eyebrow raised while the blond exchanges greetings with everyone and takes off his light jacket. He sighs and shakes his head, speaking a bit reluctantly.

“He’s really sorry that he can’t make it,” Taehyung explains, “The thing is, Woo– um, the boyfriend he had through the entirety of high school just came into town for today and said he wanted to talk to him. To apologize for what happened and all… Jimin’s a sweetheart and he wants to put it behind them and get on good terms just for the sake of being adults now. You know how he is.”

Seokjin sighs to hear this and Jeongguk notices Yoongi’s gaze being cast away. Jimin probably thought Yoongi won’t even come to the dinner because he’s been really distant lately, so that’s why he went to reconcile with his old high school boyfriend. Hoseok rubs the blond’s back in comfort, whispering assuring words in his ear.

“He’s such a goodhearted soul, that kid,” Seokjin muttered, shaking his head, “Well, I hope everything goes well for him, then. Yoongi, come help me in the kitchen. The rest of you can set up the games for tonight, or we can watch movies if you want.”

Hoseok helps carry the drinks to the kitchen as he follows Seokjin and Yoongi there, whilst Namjoon goes to set up the game consoles. Jeongguk wanted to help, but then Taehyung approaches him, a small smile on his lips as he trails his fingers down Jeongguk’s arm. “Gukkie,” he greets, “Hyung didn’t mention you’d be coming too. I thought you might attend Yifan’s party.”

Jeongguk licked his lips swiftly, eyes concentrated on Taehyung’s collarbones because his shirt is so low-cut. “Parties aren’t really my scene,” he says, eyes sliding back up to lock their gazes together, “Isn’t that more appropriate for you?”

Jeongguk is just asking for the heck of continuing the conversation, since both of them know of Taehyung’s dislike for crowded parties.

Regardless, Taehyung laughs a bit to hear that from him. “Nah, I like to spend my Fridays at friend’s dinners and libraries,” he smiles teasingly, “You have to dress skimpy for parties and I… well, I prefer leather and lace myself.”

The younger male gulps a bit, Taehyung’s words somewhat feel heavy, but before he can react, Seokjin is calling from the kitchen and saying that the food is ready. With that in mind, everyone heads to dinner.

There is one empty chair that was presumably for Jimin and even if Jeongguk’s tasted Seokjin’s sweets before, he never realized that the eldest can cook traditional Korean food so well. Namjoon sat as the head of the table, while Taehyung sat across from Jeongguk. Yoongi usually doesn’t eat that much as it is, so Hoseok kept feeding him to get him to eat.

“The more whisky you drink, the less hungry you’ll be. Drop the goddamn bottle.”

Jeongguk found it a bit amusing though, never seeing Yoongi being so reluctantly compliant as Hoseok basically babies at him at the dinner table. It’s sort of cute, actually.

As he listens to the couple bicker, Jeongguk’s finger traces the rim of his opened bottle of bitter lemon soda. He was talking to Seokjin about whatever frat activities he has to be in lookout for, and it is then that he feels another gaze on him. Glancing from the corner of his eye, he catches Taehyung staring his way, but the blond was more concentrated on Jeongguk’s hand around his bottle.

Experimentally, he continues tracing the rim of the bottle and accidentally had his finger slip through. He thought Taehyung might laugh at his fail, but instead the blond turns a bit red and oh– Jeongguk really belatedly realizes how dirty the scene must’ve looked. Biting his lip, he pretends to keep listening to the conversation from earlier, but instead he keeps tracing the rim and pushing his finger in and out of it, in a thrusting motion.

He can sense Taehyung’s glare on him and it’s then that the table accidentally rattles and Jeongguk winces as his bottle almost falls over.

“Sorry, I bumped my knee into it when I went to cross my legs,” Taehyung apologizes loudly, although his red cheeks are quite obvious by now. Jeongguk wasn’t even mad – actually, he almost wanted to laugh at how something simple as that affected the blond to the point he had to cut it off himself.

“Be careful kid, you don’t want to knock things off the table,” Yoongi warns and Taehyung nods in understanding. “Okay, hyung,” he said.

Jeongguk thinks he can give Taehyung a break now, at least. So dinner goes normal from then on.

They exchanged conversations of how studies are going, how the uni life is and so on – it was all going perfectly well. That is, until Jeongguk felt a foot on his crotch and it caused him to choke on his bulgogi, gathering the attention of everyone around the table. Taehyung looks concerned when Jeongguk weakly glares at him, although there is an evil glint in his eye.

“You okay, Guk?” Seokjin asks, concerned, “Is something about the food off?”

“U-Um…” Jeongguk clears his throat, finding it hard to concentrate when all eyes are on him, but Taehyung’s toes are sliding around the outline of cock through his jeans under the table, “No, the food is great, hyung! I just– I was about to cough and forced it out badly.”

It’s a wonder his excuse was bought, although Yoongi did raise an eyebrow at him. “Ah, okay. Be more careful, Jeongguk,” Seokjin almost scolds and Jeongguk nods with a smile, trying hard to ignore the pressure he feels against his cock. He tries hard to ignore it throughout the whole dinner, but the flush on his face is expanding more and more against his skin and it’s becoming quite prominent against his black hair.

Taehyung suddenly puts pressure on the head of his cock through his jeans and Jeongguk ends up choking on his water next.

“Aish, what is with you today? Were you about to cough again?” Seokjin says, leaning over the table to hand Jeongguk a napkin, “Are you sick? You look so flushed.”

The youngest shakes his head, dabbing at the small droplets of water on his lips with the napkin. He breathes slowly, eyes concentrating on Taehyung who was apparently invested in a conversation with Namjoon (discussing the different meanings of doves in art, or whatever). A small smirk stretches across his lips once he glances at Jeongguk from the corner of his eye.

“I’m fine, hyung, just a bit hot,” Jeongguk explains, smiling to assure the elder. Seokjin gives him a suspicious look, but he does turn back to his food.

“Say, Jeongguk, you have bio this year, right?” Hoseok asks conversationally, continuing once Jeongguk nods to his question, “Who’s your teacher this semester?”

“Oh, I have Mr. Park,” Jeongguk answers, once again trying to ignore how Taehyung keeps pressing into his groin and stroking him slowly. The pleasure isn’t sudden anymore, it’s just a steady pace and slowly building up (it’s really not the capacity that’s gonna make him cum on the spot, that’s for sure), “He’s a bit loco, but nice enough.”

“Oh, the guy’s totally out of it,” Yoongi supplies, “I had him in my second year too. But like you said, he’s nice enough.”

“He’s fun in class, though I only had him as a substitute once,” Hoseok adds in, their conversation going smoothly. Jeongguk smiles, adding along and pretending that his thighs aren’t quivering a bit from the tension that Taehyung is applying on him. It was a dirty trick, doing this to him suddenly when they’re around a bunch of their friends (but it’s fair game considering everything else they did to each other).

However, playing footsie under the table is a rookie game and Jeongguk may not have a sexual response to it, but he can deal with it another way.

Reach his hands unnoticeably down, Jeongguk suddenly grabs Taehyung’s foot and before the older can even respond or look his way, Jeongguk’s fingers are moving against the sole of Taehyung’s foot in a tickling motion.

The action has Taehyung let out a high-pitched squeak (which is a bit weird with his naturally deeper voice), his leg retreating back, but on the way his knee hit the table and caused it to rattle. The movement had Seokjin dropping his chopsticks and his glass of water got knocked over, spilling the beverage all over the table. The soup Yoongi was having got it’s plate rattle to the edge of the table before falling over, spilling completely over Yoongi’s lap.

“Fucking hell!” Yoongi cursed, getting on his feet immediately and Hoseok looked crossed between laughing and helping him. Seokjin looked like he was ready to heavily scold someone, while Namjoon just sat there dumbstruck, as if his brain was having a hard time processing what just happened in front of him. “Kim Taehyung, I swear to god, if you weren’t from Daegu, I would’ve killed you by now,” Yoongi said, hissing once Hoseok tries to get his pants off before the soup seeps through his underwear.

Taehyung flushes in embarrassment, throwing a glare Jeongguk’s way who had his mouth hidden behind his hands, trying not to laugh at the sudden debacle that escalated far beyond what he imagined to go down. Oh, how he wished he had his phone out for this.

Later that night, they sat and watched a horror movie together in the living room. Taehyung’s hand would mostly rest on Jeongguk’s thigh, squeezing whenever tension in the movie rose and Jeongguk would comfort him by simply wrapping his arm around his shoulders. The others wouldn’t say a word about it.

The dinner was better than any party Jeongguk could’ve attended.

■ ◌ ■

FROM: Jeongguk
what was that @ dinner??
SENT 02:12 AM

TO: Jeongguk
It’s two in the morning.
Why are you texting me?
SENT 02:13 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
it’s 2 am & you’re awake
so what’s your point
SENT 02:14 AM

TO: Jeongguk
You were saying?
SENT 02:15 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
i said
what was that @ dinner earlier??
and by /that/ i mean you putting your foot on my dick
SENT 02:17 AM

TO: Jeongguk
You got hard.
So why are you complaining?
SENT 02:18 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
kitten, we were at dinner
/dinner/ with our friends
SENT 02:19 AM

TO: Jeongguk
So?
SENT 02:19 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
and during the movie
you were halfway into my lap
they’re gonna think something is going on
SENT 02:21 AM

TO: Jeongguk
They already do.
You made it quite clear by carrying me princess style,
in the middle of the fucking gym and all.
Also, taking your shirt in front of me,
in the middle of the fucking hallway,
was sort of a clear invitation.
SENT 02:24 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
hey, /you/ spilled water on /me/
don’t turn the blame around
besides, you responded to that how?
by riding my thigh in the middle of practice?
SENT 02:26 AM

TO: Jeongguk
/You/ are the one that fell on their knees for it, /sweetheart/.
But that’s beside the point…
What’s up with that bellybutton piercing?
SENT 02:28 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
you mean the piercing you fell out
of your bad attempt at a split from??
SENT 02:30 AM

TO: Jeongguk
It was not because of you.
SENT 02:31 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
whatever helps you sleep at night
you would’ve failed that split either way, so
SENT 02:32 AM

TO: Jeongguk
I should’ve known better than to fall for a bad boy image.
Your goddamn tattoo and piercing fooled me.
You’re Satan’s spawn.
SENT 02:34 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
thank you, yoongi-hyung taught me well
and it’s *piercings. i have 10
also, *tattoos. can’t count the number on that one
SENT 02:35 AM

TO: Jeongguk
It was a typo, sorry.
And. Um. Ten???
SENT 02:37 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
yeah, 8 on my ears and one bellybutton
for the 10^th, you will have to find out
yourself ;)
SENT 02:38 AM

TO: Jeongguk
If it’s a dick piercing…
I swear to god, Jeon Jeongguk.
SENT 02:39 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
lmao chill. it’s not
and did i just misread, or
did you say you fell for me??
SENT 02:40 AM

TO: Jeongguk
You wish.
SENT 02:40 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
i don’t need to wish upon reality??
SENT 02:41 AM

TO: Jeongguk
Hey, you were the one that fell on their knees.
And you’re also the one that got hard during dinner.
Didn’t know you were that naughty.
SENT 02:42 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
me, naughty?? who are you to speak, kitten
you were on library duty and wearing pretty lace panties
teasing me like that in a public area
SENT 02:43 AM

TO: Jeongguk
I didn’t do anything.
You were the one that pinned me there.
SENT 02:45 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
it’s just that your ass looked great in those jeans
SENT 02:45 AM

TO: Jeongguk
How romantic.
SENT 02:46 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
so, you want me to wine & dine you
before you let me fuck you?
SENT 02:46 AM

TO: Jeongguk
You act as if you can handle me.
SENT 02:47 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
or you just seem /that/ easy
SENT 02:47 AM

TO: Jeongguk
Fuck you.
SENT 02:47 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
lmao, you wish baby boy
we both know it’d be the other way around
SENT 02:48 AM

TO: Jeongguk
What makes you say that?
SENT 02:49 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
it would be such a shame
for you to have that pretty face
and for me not being able to see it twist in pleasure under me
SENT 02:51 AM

TO: Jeongguk
You think you can pleasure me enough for that, Jeon?
SENT 02:51 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
i /know/ i can
you sounded so pretty, moaning breathily for me
i wanna take care of you, pamper you like a prince
SENT 02:52 AM

TO: Jeongguk
Mm, take care of me?
How would you do that?
SENT 02:52 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
i’d fuck you good and nice just like you deserve
open you up with my tongue and fingers slowly
before stuffing you so full with my cock that you can’t breathe
SENT 02:54 AM

TO: Jeongguk
And what would you do after?
SENT 02:55 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
i’ll do the aftercare, of course
make you a nice bath, help you get all cleaned and dried up
give you one of my shirts to sleep in and cuddle you
SENT 02:57 AM

TO: Jeongguk
Hm, I like the sound of that. I’ll consider.
Will you let me pleasure you too?
Get on my knees for you?
SENT 02:59 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
fuck baby, i’d let you do anything you want
you’d look so good on your knees
so pretty with your mouth open for me
SENT 03:02 AM

TO: Jeongguk
I don’t have a gag-reflex.
I could deep throat you.
Maybe I’d even let you fuck my mouth.
SENT 03:04 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
fuck, would you??
i promise i’d fuck your mouth good
so good your pretty voice would get raspy after it
you think you can take it all, baby?
SENT 03:06 AM

TO: Jeongguk
I would take your cock so well.
But I’ll only let you if you can fuck me good.
SENT 03:08 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
don’t worry
you won’t be able to walk after I’m done with you
SENT 03:09 AM

TO: Jeongguk
Mm, really?
Is that a promise, Jeon?
SENT 03:11 AM

FROM: Jeongguk
it’s a promise, kitten
SENT 03:12 AM

■ ◌ ■

Saturday – recreational dance practice.

“Hoseok-hyung,” Jeongguk said as he approached the elder once most of their choreography was perfect and every other dance student was trying to catch a breather, “Did you hear from Jimin? He was supposed to come to the gym with me earlier today, but he didn’t reply to any of my texts.”

After Jimin not coming to dinner last night and then not coming to dance practice either, Jeongguk thought that he had a bit of a reason to become concerned. Hoseok isn’t seemingly so short of it, although he appears to know something that Jeongguk doesn’t. “I heard from Taehyung,” he explains, “He said he’ll bring Jimin to practice, but I don’t know if they’re late or–”

Bam!

The door suddenly slams open, hitting the wall in a loud impact and Jimin storms in. He was dressed like he was headed to dance class, with his sports slung over his shoulder and all, but his eyes were red and wet and his and he was breathing heavily. Taehyung followed behind him – distressed would be a small word for what he appears to be, actually – grabbing Jimin’s arm on the way.

“Wait, I told you we can talk about it–” He begins, but his hand is pushed away by Jimin who turns his glaring gaze in Taehyung’s direction. “I said that I don’t want to,” he bites out and everyone in the room flinches, despite their shock of this situation suddenly being presented in front of them.

Jeongguk’s eyes are saucers, confusion written all over his features as he tries to comprehend what is actually happening.

“Chim, please,” Taehyung begs, voice cracking and eyes concerned, “Let’s talk about it, we’re here for you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Jimin’s bottom lip wobbles, tacking a few steps back until he eventually sits on the ground and hides his face in his hands, soft sobs escaping his mouth. Everyone is immediately surrounding him, trying to comfort him the best they can, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much.

“Step back, everyone, you’re suffocating him,” Hoseok speaks before Taehyung can, lifting Jimin by his arms and taking him to the side of the room, leaning Jimin’s back against the wall. He throws a look in Taehyung’s direction and the younger immediately understands, rushing out of the practice room and pulling his phone out on the way.

Jeongguk approaches Jimin and Hoseok cautiously and the older male lets him sit down by Jimin and slowly rub his back in comfort as he sobs into Hoseok’s chest. It takes a few minutes, but he does calm down eventually. Jeongguk never saw him so broken before and he was so sad for this going down, although he still wasn’t aware of what caused Jimin to react this strongly.

Taehyung came back with drinks, popping open a can of cola and handing it to Jimin who takes it with shaky hands and drinks slowly. He usually doesn’t like these types of sugary drinks, but he’ll accept anything that’ll take his mind off of things for just a moment.

“Jimin,” Taemin is the one that speaks this time, voice full of sympathy, “If you need to talk, we’re here to listen. You don’t have to suffer alone.”

Jimin nods thankfully as Taehyung sits on his other side, kissing the temple of his head in assurance. “Talk us through it, we’re here to help,” he encourages. Everyone in the dance team has a tight bond with each other and this isn’t the first time they’re listening and helping each other out.

“Alright, so,” Jimin breathes out, preparing himself, “Yesterday, my high school boyfriend contacted me and said he wanted us to reconcile. He’s in Seoul for just a day and I agreed, for the sake of old times. He took me to dinner and all, it was fine, we talked it all out and it was okay. It’s just that… we– we drank a bit too much.”

“He didn’t force you into it, right?” Jongin asks, just for assurance, and Jimin immediately shakes his head.

“No, no, I did everything by own will. He didn’t even peer-pressure me into it,” he explains, “I’m– I’m just so stupid, I should’ve known something is gonna happen between us when we have one too many drinks. It happened before, when our relationship kept being on-and-off nonstop. He said he’s staying overnight somewhere close and asked if I wanted to come and I said yes.”

“Did you…” Yugyeom starts, trying to approach this in the best way he can, “Did you sleep with him?”

Jimin is silent for a few seconds and his head is hung low when he nods in confirmation. “I– I’m so stupid,” he repeats, grief in his tone, “I didn’t mean for it to happen, I swear! I don’t remember anything that happened, either. Heck, I don’t even know which freaking role I took! My ass didn’t hurt when I woke up, so either I topped or his dick is as small as it used to be in high school.”

This arises some chuckles from the group, some sort of relief hanging in the air because Jimin must be calming down, if he’s able to joke about the situation so lightly. “Why do you feel so guilty then? Did something else happen?” Jeongguk asks, causing everyone to quiet down.

“He’s engaged,” Jimin blurts out, voice breathy, “He didn’t mention it, I had no idea and his fiancée walked in on us. She started screaming and throwing things and just– oh my god, he was so pale, so scared. He was surprised as much as I was and I– I just felt so guilty, I didn’t want to ruin someone’s relationship like that! It was just… I feel so guilty, it’s hard to wrap my head around it, around what just happened.”

Jimin sniffles once more and then looks at Hoseok, guilt displayed on his face. “When Yoongi– fuck, if Yoongi hears about this… tell him I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t– I didn’t mean for this to happen. I know we’re not… together or whatnot, but I feel bad because– because I don’t want him, or you, to think that my feelings are invalid because of this,” he says, shakily and Hoseok brings him close, hugs him tight and whispers soothing words for him.

“The thing is,” Taehyung speaks now, garnering everyone’s attention, “What’s done is done and frankly, it’s not all your fault. If he knew what happens between you two when you drink too much, he shouldn’t have drank himself, at least. Or he should’ve told you about his fiancée. If he did, I’m sure you wouldn’t drink that much, right?” He says and when Jimin nods, he gives him an encouraging smile, “You did nothing wrong, you just got involved without knowing what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Yoongi can never have ill feelings for you either,” Hoseok adds in, smiling at Jimin, “We talked about this and he only said he needs some time before the three of us take action in our relationship or put a name on it. I could never be mad at you either – both of us love and appreciate you, Jimin. Be it as friends or something more and you can rely on us to whenever you need to.”

Jimin finally finds it in himself to smile in relief, even if there was so much guilt in his heart. Jeongguk was glad to see the healing process begin and Jimin will probably carry guilt with him for a while more, but it’s important that he accepts the love and appreciation that surrounds him. It’s what will help him heal faster, concerning every issues he has.

“Ah, you guys are so cute,” Taemin smiles and Hoseok laughs a bit to hear that. Taehyung nudges Jimin teasingly once he blushes, because the mood is easing between all of them slowly. “So, are we not getting a kiss, or…?” Sehun prompts and the group wolf-whistles, teasing the two.

“Guys, I–” Jimin began, but Hoseok was already cupping his cheeks and turning his head to lock their gazes together. Jimin barely uttered a word before the elder leaned in and captured his plump lips in the softest kiss Jeongguk has ever seen in his poor gay bisexual life. The cheering that erupts from the group could probably be heard down the hall and Taehyung is none the less both amused and relieved as he watches this.

Hoseok pulls away and grins at Jimin’s flabbergasted expression. “Don’t worry, I told Yoongi that I’ll do it sooner or later,” he laughs, “He’s coming over in a bit, right?” He asks as he turns to Taehyung, who nods a little. “Oh yeah, he said he’s coming as soon as he can dunk out of Mrs. Lee’s class,” he explains, “Meanwhile, we should kill time and play some sort of party game.”

“Spin the bottle?” Yugyeom suggests, unsure.

“We don’t have a bottle,” Minghao points out.

“Truth or dare, then?” Jeongguk suggested, shrugging his shoulders when everyone turns to him, “I mean, we can’t exactly go wrong with that one, right?”

“Truth or dare it is then!” Taehyung said, clapping his hands and then looking around, “Who wants to go first?”

Around ten to fifteen minutes pass as they play the game and Jeongguk was, fortunately, not picked for any of them. Being the uni students and young adults that they are, the game quickly turned raunchy and sexual and it’s tension fueling to Jeongguk as it went on, because him not getting picked only increases the chances of it happening next turn. And maybe he isn’t that prepared for doing or saying something sexual in front of everyone, like that.

Taehyung is being picked for the first time by Jimin. “Dare,” he says before Jimin can even ask him and his best friend grins, an idea definitely occupying his mind. “I dare you to dance to Gashina by our bi icon and legend, Sunmi. With Jeongguk. While wearing heels,” he says and the group whoops in encouragement. Jeongguk takes a moment to process that he is also involved in this.

“Sure, but where am I supposed to find heels?” Taehyung says as he stands up from sitting on the floor, not in the least intimidated by this dare.

“Wait, I have a pair,” Wheein says, reaching for her bag, “I’m getting ready for a showcase and I have to wear heels then, so I carry them to practice.”

Taehyung nods thankfully and then looks at Jeongguk, a judgmental stare in his eyes. Jeongguk never felt so intimidated in his entire life. “You know the choreography to Gashina, right?” He asks. It almost sounded like a threat – like he would get his ass whooped if he said no. Fortunately for him, Jeongguk isn’t that setback on current trends and he would’ve probably known the dance to the song even if he hadn’t heard it as early as he did.

“Yeah, let me just re-watch some moves to make sure,” he says, pulling out his phone to find the video on YouTube, “I’m playing the guy’s role, right?”

“Of course, I don’t expect you to do our queen justice,” Taehyung says humorously as he takes the heels Wheein gave him, sitting on a nearby chair so he could put them on. Jeongguk grins at him, then proceeds to find the video and just watch through it quickly to pick up on some moves. Thankfully, he’s a fast learner.

As a few other people move the table (that usually holds their speakers and laptop for playing music during dance practice), to the center of the room as a part of the choreography, he hears Hoseok speak: “I’m actually surprised Taehyung didn’t do this already,” he says.

Jeongguk kind of agrees actually – with Taehyung’s reputation, this should’ve been first on his ‘to-do’ list.

“I just didn’t get the opportunity,” Taehyung answers, already having put on his shoes, “Jeongguk, you ready to go?”

“Coming,” Jeongguk said, putting his phone away. His eyes slide up and he gulps to see Taehyung staring intently at him (can’t blame him – the sight of blond Taehyung in a pair of five inch, Louboutin So Kate beige heels is a bit intimidating). He tries to think this through, because he has to do every guy role in the song and he’s probably gonna have to rush around to make it work.

“We don’t get any backup dancers, do we?” He asks dryly and Taehyung chuckles as he walks to the table and sits on it. Jeongguk realizes he walks in heels all too casually, with absolutely no difficulty. “Well, in the chorus, everyone who knows the choreography can join in with you two,” Jimin allows, “But you still have to play every guy role, Guk.”

“Alright, I get it,” Jeongguk said, getting into the position on the side of the table while Lalisa went to play the music on the speakers.

Jeongguk stands at the side of the table and as soon as the music starts, Taehyung moves, following the dance moves of the choreography perfectly. From the corner of his eye, Jeongguk glances at the mirror and follows the way Taehyung slides down on the table, arch his back in the most breathtaking way possible – as a part of the choreography, their lips barely pass each other and they breath in each other’s air before they began dancing.

Their friends are already cheering for this, being louder than necessary.

The singing began and soon, Jeongguk had to move behind Taehyung and place his hands on his chest as Taehyung lolls his head to the side with a captivating smile, his hands splayed over Jeongguk’s and sending sparks up the younger’s spine. It seems like he got into the aura and spirit of the song as soon as it began (and Jeongguk still wonders how he can sit on the table with those heels so comfortably?).

Going to the other side of the table quite efficiently, Jeongguk’s hand trails up Taehyung’s jeans clad leg and thigh, the simplest of his touches causing Taehyung to bite his lip and break out of character for just a second. As he pretends to kick him off with his heel, Jeongguk crouches and waits for the correct timing of the song to move in front of Taehyung who now sat facing the mirror.

Taehyung’s legs fall open to the sides to accommodate Jeongguk’s body between them and the room cheers as Taehyung grips Jeongguk’s hair and rolls his head around, then trails his hand down the younger’s back. Jeongguk’s hands rest on the blond’s thighs, gripping them slightly and not so discreetly.

Jeongguk helps Taehyung lower himself on the ground from sitting at the table, just as the dance required, before moving aside to let Taehyung dance to the parts of the female dancers. Just like when he saw him dance before, Jeongguk realizes that the older male is quite charismatic and his dance moves, for someone who doesn’t have any professional dance experience, are quite chic and smooth. He dances with no difficulty, expressions especially on point, and Jeongguk is so mesmerized that he almost forgot to jump back in for the chorus.

He barely noticed that no one joined them even if Jimin said they could, but that’s probably because they had their phones out to film the whole thing. Jeongguk can already see it spreading around uni like wildfire by tomorrow.

Second chorus comes in and Jeongguk picks up Taehyung alone with no difficulty, sitting him on the table and doing the rest of the dance moves with him. When he has to set him back on the ground after a few lines, he wraps his arms around his waist and lowers him gently, their palms pressed together as he gets on the balls of his feet. Taehyung’s hand gripes his bicep and his head turns, before Taehyung pushes him and he rolls away.

They repeat the pre-chorus and chorus again.

For the bridge, Jeongguk helps Taehyung get back on the table and whilst following the moves, he manages to gesture for everyone to join them. By the time the last chorus comes, almost everyone has joined the two and were pointing their finger guns to Taehyung, who couldn’t help but smile widely and the comfortable atmosphere surrounding them. The few students that stayed behind so they wouldn’t make a crowd in front of the mirrors followed the movements subtly and kept filming the performance.

Gashina, gashina. The last two words of the song echoed around the room and suddenly everyone was cheering and clapping, satisfied with the performance. Jeongguk grins as he bumps fists and shoulders with Hoseok and Yugyeom, as well as a few other guys, while the girls help Taehyung down the table. The blond, still panting and red from dancing, laughs as he takes of his heels and smiles at the all the compliments being thrown his way.

Whilst the table is being moved back to the place and Taehyung gave the heels back to Wheein, he approaches Jeongguk bare-footed and jumps into his embrace, giggling as Jeongguk grins and twirls him around. Both were obviously satisfied with how this played out and they might not even mind the video circulating around uni by tomorrow.

“My gay children, I am so proud,” Jimin coos, overdramatically, kissing Taehyung’s cheek once the blond sat back down next to him, “Such a queen, you make us so proud, Tae-Tae.”

“Gosh, stop it,” Taehyung laughs, a bit embarrassed by the attention (he really should’ve been used to it by now), though his feet do need to rest from those hills. Although, they did look killer on him (Jeongguk was mildly aroused, but he probably wouldn’t admit it to himself).

Fifteen more minutes of the game and it’s Jimin’s turn again. He turns to his best friend with an evil smile and Taehyung groans, wondering what the ginger could possibly have in store for him now. “Me again?” He groans, “Ugh, fine, I’ll take a dare. Not anything too physical though, my feet still need recovery.”

Jimin’s evil smile even intimidates Jeongguk, who might be a bit scared for what’s coming Taehyung’s way.

“Don’t worry, the dare is simple,” he says, “I dare you to wear a vibrator to class on Monday and leave the remote with me.”

The room falls silent.

“You have a vibrator?” Hoseok asks with an eyebrow raised and Jeongguk’s entire throat goes dry once Taehyung flushes at the question. He doesn’t seem that bothered that everyone knows, but he does send a betrayed look his best friend’s way. Taehyung slaps Jimin’s shoulder while the other laughs at his best friend’s misery.

“Fine, I’ll do it, but just because I’m not ruining this day for you,” the blond accepts, “I’ll pick which class and give you to the remote,” he sighs, touching his forehead, “The things I do for you… I can’t believe I’ll actually do it.”

“We’ve done worse things in truth or dare, don’t worry about it,” Momo assures with a small giggle and Taemin nods along in agreement. “You’ve done worse things in truth or dare. Remember last year, when you had to lick–” He begins, being cut off by Taehyung shaking his head.

“I get it, I’ll do it.”

Bam!

Like earlier today when Jimin stormed in, the door slammed open once more. Jeongguk’s, and everyone else’s, eyes immediately follow the direction from which the sound came from and they are extremely surprised to see none other than Min Yoongi storming in. He drops his bag on the floor and glares in the general direction of Hoseok and Jimin, who were currently sitting against the wall with Hoseok’s arm draped over Jimin’s shoulders.

Jimin’s mouth falls open in surprise, especially from not having seen the elder in weeks, backing up a bit and as he gulps, mouth gaping like a fish. “Hyung, uh–” He tries to say, no words escaping him, because he assumed by Yoongi’s annoyed expression that he changed his mind about the relationship and that him kissing Hoseok meant all sorts of horrible things in Yoongi’s book.

No words said, Yoongi storms over and before anyone can say anything, he moves his feet on either side of Jimin’s legs before he’s dropping down in the younger’s lap. Jimin is too shell-shocked (like everyone else in the room) to actually react, trying hard to keep his hands to himself when Yoongi is in his lap like that, bottom pressed against his groin and back arched.

Yoongi’s fingers curl around Jimin’s collar and his lips curl into a snarky expression as he scoffs.

“Just kiss me, you idiot,” he muttered before tugging Jimin closer by the collar and pressing their lips together in a rushed kiss, far from the soft one Hoseok and Jimin shared. Everyone’s cheering is rather slow because all of this happened so suddenly and even Hoseok seemed a bit surprised by Yoongi’s unexpected actions. Jimin is also slow on responding.

Yoongi pulls away from the kiss, a pretty frown dangling on his lips. “You gonna run away like that day at the gym or you gonna kiss me back?” He challenges, fingers threading through Jimin’s ginger hair. Jimin is slow once again, but he does end up placing a hand on the small of Yoongi’s back and pulling him close, tipping his head up to press their lips together again.

As soon as Yoongi’s arms wind around Jimin’s neck, the rest of the dance team breaks into cheers. Taehyung claps and whistles in encouragement with a big grin on his face and Jeongguk is finally so glad to see happiness come from all of them, no worry or doubt in sight.

Yoongi pulls away and gets back on his feet, tugging up Jimin (who already had bruised lips and a flushed look on him), before grabbing Hoseok’s arm and pulling both of them to the exit. The two dancers barely managed to grab their sports bags before the blond is psuhing them out of the dance studio, no words said because his actions speak loud enough.

“They’re totally having a threesome,” Sehun drawls dryly and everyone erupts into fits of laughs and giggles.

Jeongguk grins, realizing that his and Taehyung’s cover of Gashina may not be the only buzz of uni for tomorrow.

■ ◌ ■

Taehyung wakes up on Monday when noon is closing in, feeling a bit groggy.

He barely drags himself out of bed because he overslept, stumbling to the kitchen with messy hair and one sock missing. Jimin is already there, opening a carton of milk and doing a smell-check, at which his face scrunches up in disgust and he mumbles something about spoiled milk under his breath as he throws the carton in the trash. He proceeds to rummage through the fridge to find not-spoiled milk that he can use for his morning (noon, actually) cereal.

“Chim,” Taehyung whines, throwing himself in the chair by the dining table. Jimin turns around and cocks an eyebrow his way as he smell-checks another carton. “Oh, you’re finally awake? You’re so lucky you don’t have morning classes,” he drawls.

Taehyung groans, putting his head down on the table. “It’s Monday, I’m miserable. Let me live, okay?” He mutters and doesn’t see Jimin rolling his eyes at him, before he goes through their cupboard to find some ibuprofen. Taking one pill and pouring him a glass of water, Jimin slides the items over the table to his best friend with a worrisome gaze.

“Here, take this,” he says, “I know you stayed up all night to finish that assignment you have for this Tuesday. Take it easy, please, Taehyung.”

“Thanks, Chim,” the blond muttered, nodding in his direction as he takes the pill and forces it down with water. He clears his throat, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, “Anyways, I heard something big happened at campus last night? Baekhyun texted me about it, but I was so deep in studies and so tired that I can’t even recall it…” He muttered, confused.

“Oh, yeah, it was a mess this morning when I dropped by the convenience store near uni,” Jimin explains, setting his bowl of cereal on the table, before sitting down himself, “Okay, so you know Mrs. Kim and Mr. Jung that teach art history, right?”

“Yeah, of course, I have Mr. Jung this semester,” Taehyung replies, “They’re two of the four professors on art history that we have.”

“They’re involved in this whole shitstorm,” Jimin explains, “As well as Ms. Gwon that teaches chem and Mr. Sang that teaches bio. It seems like some student reported seeing them doing ‘suspicious’ things last night near campus grounds and the police was called. Once they arrived, however, only turns out the four of them were smoking weed together. And got arrested for illegal possession of it.”

Taehyung blinks, wide eyed at this as he stops tapping his fingers against his glass of water. “Huh?” He said, in disbelief because the news were so sudden and unexpected. “Are you for real?”

“Of course!” Jimin says, almost offended that he would be doubted like that, “Everyone’s got their panties in a twist because it’s hard to find quick substitutes for today, since all four of the professors had lots of classes. They said they’ll cramp some years together so they manage all of it. Some classes would probably get canceled too.”

“I was supposed to have art history today, anyways,” Taehyung mutters into his water, “Damn, no wonder Mr. Jung was so fun and out of it during class. This explains so much…”

Jimin laughs a bit, arms stretching upwards and it’s then that Taehyung realizes that his best friend is shirtless, for whatever reason. Taehyung raised an eyebrow, his laps parting to question this, but the door to the kitchen suddenly slides open and in wobbles none other than Yoongi, wearing no more than black knee socks and Jimin’s oversize shirt (it appears to be big on him, but it’s also big on Jimin whenever he wears it).

“Hyung?” Taehyung said, a bit surprised to see him at their apartment since he didn’t even notice him coming the day prior (although he locked himself in his room since six pm to study, so it’s no wonder).

“Morning, Tae,” Yoongi greets groggily, yawning a bit as he walks to Jimin and then leans down to peck his lips chastely. Taehyung never saw Jimin smile so happily as he did now, especially as he slaps Yoongi’s thigh once the elder heads to the counter to look through the cupboards. “You guys got any black coffee?” He asks, the shirt slipping off his shoulder slightly.

“Maybe in the far right cupboard?” Jimin suggests, scratching his nape, “I needed something strong to get me through my last semester, so I just hope it hasn’t expired yet.”

Yoongi hums noncommittally as he goes on about searching for what he needs. “Don’t tell me you two did… stuff while I was literally in the next room to yours? Separated only by a thin wall?” Taehyung says, realization settling down slowly and Jimin blushes, coughing into his hand and trying to make it seem like he can’t answer by stuffing his mouth full of his cereal.

Yoongi, however, doesn’t seem that bothered. “If you’re asking, then that means you didn’t hear us. I’m not nearly as much of a screamer as you are, Taehyung,” he says, nonchalantly, face still blank upon Taehyung’s scandalized expression, “Besides, it’s Monday today. Don’t you have a dare to do?”

Taehyung’s face goes pale at first, before he turns red. Jimin, being the good friend that he is, laughs at the blond’s misery and when Yoongi comes around the table, he pats his lap for the elder to sit down on it. Yoongi huffs, but complies, hands wrapped around his coffee cup.

“I should’ve known better than to shop sex toys with you,” Taehyung mutters, glaring at Jimin, “I’m your best friend and this is how you repay me?”

“I know you have sex toys outside the ones you shopped with me. Like Yoongi said, you’re pretty loud,” Jimin points out, not giving Taehyung time to interject, “Besides, I gotta embarrass you in public – get back at you for the shit you pulled at dance class with Ariana-noona.”

Taehyung scoffs, crossing his arms. “You mean how I pushed you to dance with Hoseok-hyung? I was doing you a favor, mind you,” he says, in disbelief, “Not my fault you two were embarrassed and knew your dicks mutually liked each other, yet refused to act on it. I had to give you a little push.”

“Their dicks mutually like each other…” Yoongi muttered into his coffee cup, crossed between being amused and wanting to dig his own grave.

Jimin rolls his eyes, although he pretends to nose Yoongi’s neck in order the hide the fact that he’s blushing from Taehyung stating the truth (more or less so). “Anyways,” he said, “Did you decide for what class you’ll wear it? You have to give me the remote, need I remind you?”

Taehyung leans back into his chair. “I definitely won’t do it for my first class, I have Mrs. Lee in psych,” he speaks, arms crossed, “But I can’t go back here later if I want a chance of making it to classes…”

“Just put it in now and give him the remote later. Easy,” Yoongi said as he sips on his coffee, “Or if you have time, you can drop by the frat and I can give you some of my new ones. Since they haven’t been used yet.”

“You… you have vibrators?” Jimin stutters out, eyes looking like they’re about to pop out of his head at this newfound information. Yoongi rolls his eyes at him, scoffing. “Of course, what do you think I am, a fucking plebian?” He said, rising an eyebrow his boyfriend’s way, “I’m in the studio 24/7, of course I gotta have supplies.”

Taehyung’s would’ve laughed at Jimin’s bewildered and flustered expression, if he wasn’t so distressed about himself. “Thanks for the offer, hyung, but I think your first idea is good enough,” he says, “I guess I can just wear it and… give the remote right before the class I choose. A shower sounds good about now.”

He pushes his chair back to stand up, stretching his stiff arms. “By the way… were you two alone or was Hoseok-hyung with you too?” He asks, eyebrow raised. Taehyung is really hoping that everything is going completely fine between the three.

“Oh, he was. But Jeongguk called him early to get to basketball practice and he had to make a run for it,” Jimin explained.

At that, Taehyung raises an eyebrow Yoongi’s way. “Weren’t you supposed to go to practice too, then?” He questioned.

The other blond shrugs his shoulders. “My hips are too sore. I ain’t taking responsibility for it,” he says.

“And since I already mentioned Jeongguk,” Jimin says, averting the topic quickly, “Aren’t you supposed to be getting to that warm shower of yours, Tae-Tae?”

Taehyung flips him off, although there is no anger in his face. As he disappears back to his bedroom, he can still hear Jimin’s giggling from the kitchen.

After picking clean underwear and socks from his closet, he sits on his bed and pulls open the middle shelf of his bedside drawer, where he usually leaves some of his most used and newest sex toys, as well as some lube. His fingers skim over the few dildos and his favorite pair of anal beads, before he takes out the one he was looking for – a new, pink silicone toy that looks a lot like a typical butt plug, but is actually a vibrator accompanied with a remote.

He’s been looking for one like this in a while – especially the ones with the gem attached to the flared base (they’re called princess plugs, if he recalls correctly), but Taehyung didn’t exactly anticipate that the first time he has to use this toy it’ll be like this.

He gulps – feeling like his gut is on fire from slight anticipation, Taehyung ventures to the bathroom and closes the door, locking it. He gets into the shower, turns hot water on and sighs in relief once it hits his naked skin. He rubs shampoo into his blond hair, leaving it as he soaps up his body with his favorite body wash (he just really likes the smells of flowers, okay? It’s not girly, it’s relaxing).

After rinsing out his hair, he comes to the most the most troubling part of this – cleaning himself… there, but it’s what’s gotta be done for this to work. Halfway through the job, Taehyung realizes that this means he won’t be able to have heavy food until tonight, but you gotta do what you gotta do. His legs are shaking and knees buckling by the time he has to put the toy inside.

“What a hassle…” He mutters under his breath, leaning against the tiled wall, shivering because it’s cold against his skin, although the warm water washes that away. Taehyung knows he has time, no need to hurry and just stick it in, so he decides to ease himself into it.

He slides his hand down his chest, brushing over his nipple and letting himself release a breathy moan. Wrapping his other hand around the base of his soft cock, he tugs slowly and presses his finger into the frenulum, rubbing gently to get himself worked up a bit quicker.

“You look so needy right now, pushing your pretty ass back into me. Are you that eager to sit on my cock, baby?”

Fuck, of all the times for those words said in the library to ring back into his mind, it’s gotta be now?

He has no denial about his attraction towards Jeongguk and due to the numerous things they’ve already done, Taehyung has no trouble recalling how good Jeongguk’s hands feel on his chest, on his waist and hips, on his ass and groin. With his cock growing to hardness in his hand, he trails the other one behind and gently grips one of his asscheeks, squeezing like Jeongguk did that day at dance practice.

Just recalling how rough his hand felt, how he touched him, it’s really enough for arousal to spike in Taehyung’s gut, making him shudder throughout his whole body. He teases the pad of his finger around the rim of his hole – he imagines Jeongguk would drive him crazy like this, open him up slowly like he said he would. Taehyung bites his lip, trying to stay quiet as he pushes two fingers inside at once.

Not much patience is left, because all Taehyung can think about is Jeongguk – Jeongguk’s smile, his eyes, but mostly his godforsaken body with those abs that he would love to trace with his tongue, those biceps that could hold him up against the wall as he fucks him, those thighs that he would like to ride until he came completely untouched and dry.

He drags his long fingers against his sensitive walls, avoiding his prostate on purpose. It’s more for simply opening him up, even if the cleaning and fingering he did beforehand should’ve already gotten that done. It’s just that he tends to tight up quickly, so it’s a bit of a bother to have to stretch every time (though it can also be a joy, it really depends).

Taehyung manages to grab his silicone toy, pulling his fingers out after he stretched himself open enough. Lining the vibrator up, he nudges it against his entrance and whimpers as he simultaneously pressed a finger into the slit of his cock. He breathes slowly, especially when pushing the toy inside until the base hit his rim flat.

This was supposed to be it, he was supposed to be done, but Taehyung is already far too gone into his arousal and it’s been too long since he masturbated, so he thought fuck it. He pulled the toy out and slowly pushed it back inside, going deeper each time until he started hitting his prostate dead on. His knees were buckling so much, thighs quivering as he panted from lust.

The hand he had wrapped around his cock moved to lean him against the wall as he slides down to the floor of the shower, not even being able to stand anymore. Taehyung doesn’t even know what’s he moaning at this point – are they pointless pleads, Jeongguk’s name cut off at various syllables or is it just simple whimpering? His mind isn’t exactly coherent at the moment.

Pinching his nipple, he twists it and nearly cries when the toy presses hard into his prostate, because he’s imagining Jeongguk doing all of this to him, torturing him slowly and taking him apart piece by piece. With a hand around his cock, tugging distractedly as his orgasm builds up, Taehyung edges himself as much as he can take before he paints his stomach white, a whine of Jeongguk’s name resting on his lips.

His cum is washed away by the water of the shower and he was about to pull the toy out because he feels sensitive when it keeps just lightly hitting against his prostate, but then he realizes he has to keep it in almost the whole day. Taehyung’s legs are wobbly as he gets back on his feet, panting and leaning his head against the wall.

Jeon Jeongguk is really driving him fucking crazy.

■ ◌ ■

Later that day, Taehyung has to go to art history class.

Since he’ll have a substitute for that class, he thinks it’s his best deal to give Jimin the remote now. The whole day has been rather… edging, so to say. And it’s especially rough when he bumps into someone from the dance team because they exactly know what’s wrong with him if he acts out of the blue. With having a reputation to uphold, Taehyung tries to act as normal as possible.

He texted Jimin, but his best friend simply wasn’t responding. As he heads to class with a begrudging sigh, Taehyung bumps into Hoseok, with all of his luck. “Hobi-hyung,” he greets, smiling a bit, “Have you seen Jimin? He isn’t answering to any of my texts.”

Hoseok seems to think for a moment. “I think I saw him head to the frat?” He said and Taehyung’s face pales. The freaking frat is all the way across campus, he thinks to himself, cursing Jimin in his mind. There is no way he can make it there and return to class in time. And the little bitch isn’t answering his phone – what fucking luck.

“Is it urgent, Tae-Tae?” Hoseok asks and Taehyung shakes his head. “No, it’s fine,” he smiles, “You heading to class, hyung?”

“Oh yeah, I have chem. Since they got Ms. Gwon this morning, I think they’re either gonna give us a bad substitute or pair our classes up with the freshmen for today,” Hoseok sighs, “Please pray for me.”

“Why do they even bother mixing the years for classes?” Taehyung asks, genuinely confused by this decision.

“It’s just for today, I guess,” Hoseok says, “With all the assignments that should be handed in and the end of the semester nearing, it’s probably because they don’t want us to lose any vital classes. As if it makes a fucking difference.”

The bell suddenly rings and Taehyung sighs, nodding to Hoseok. “See you after class, hyung. I got art history now,” he said, passing by the dancer to head down the hallway.

“Saw a few second years heading there, you probably gonna have class together. See you later!” Hoseok calls.

Fucking great, Taehyung thinks in his mind, sighing as he sees the door for the art history class become crowded with the students that are entering inside. Taehyung approaches them and as soon as the younger students see the pretty upperclassman, they move to the side to let him get to the classroom. Taehyung stifles a chuckle, because it’s kind of cute, but he doesn’t understand why they have to be so intimidated by him? Sure he’s older, but it’s not like he’s the Queen of England or something (maybe that’s part true).

As Taehyung was about to enter the classroom with a thankful smile directed to the younger students, he hears a voice call to him: “Hyung?” He said, the tone surprised but oh, so familiar and when Taehyung turns around, he spots none other than Jeon Jeongguk looking at him with expectant eyes.

Like on most occasions, Jeongguk sports blue jeans and a white t-shirt, though he finally changed up his timbs with some converse. “Guk,” he greets, noticing the eyes of the public going back and forth between them, “You have this class too?”

“Yeah, I probably didn’t mention that I take art history this term,” he says, “Were you taking Mr. Jung’s class too?”

“Yeah. Wasn’t exactly surprised when I heard he’s been smoking weed, though,” Taehyung laughs, then reaches to grab Jeongguk’s arm and tug him along into the classroom, “Come on, don’t just stand at the door.”

They end up sitting in seats side across from each other, since the student desks were designed just for a singular person. They chatted each other up and watched the whole classroom get filled up with other students before the professor is also entering.

“Alright everyone, sit down!” The female substitute professor calls and everyone is immediately scrambling around the classroom to get to their seats. As Taehyung was about to do the same, he ends up bumping into another student and immediately apologizing. “Sorry, wasn’t watching where I was going,” he says and hears Jeongguk chuckle while by the time he sits back down.

“Since you know of the… um, incident that involves Mr. Jung, I will be substituting for you today…”

The female professors’ words drift off as she continues speaking and out pure checking habit, Taehyung’s hands drift to the pockets of his newest Gucci jacket, patting against them just to ensure that the remote is still there, safe and sound. Pressing his palm into his pocket, Taehyung finds it flat and empty – weird, he thought he left the remote in this one? It’s probably the other pocket then.

It’s when he realizes that both of his pockets are empty that Taehyung starts panicking. He checks the pockets of his jeans and even checks inside his bag (where he should’ve actually put the remote, he realizes belatedly), but there is nothing that he can find. Taehyung gaze’s drifts around the classroom – he’s sitting next to the window thankfully, so there isn’t much space in which the remote could’ve disappeared.

He turns to his right and finds that Jeongguk, who is sitting right across on his right, has probably been staring at him for a bit – assuming by the blush on his cheeks and how he averted his gaze immediately. Any other time, Taehyung would’ve found that super cute, but he’s in a bit of a rush now and he examines the ground as discreetly as he can. The remote probably fell out of his pocket when he bumped into that one student.

Lo and behold – the pink remote to his pink vibrator is resting just near to Jeongguk’s chair.

Taehyung gulps, hoping that Jeongguk will turn his head or something so he could get it (because it’s far and it’d be awkward if he suddenly just stood up to pick up a remote – he can’t have the substitute questioning him on what it’s for), but the younger doesn’t even blink in his direction, pretending to be paying attention to class.

It seems like the professor called a student out and there is sudden loud whispering about the students about it, so Taehyung takes his chance to lean slightly in Jeongguk’s direction and call for him in a tone just above a whisper: “Guk,” he said.

Jeongguk turns his head and raises a questioning eyebrow. Taehyung’s eyes gesture down to the ground and the whispering suddenly dies down, so he turns back to his proper sitting position. From his peripheral vision, he sees Jeongguk discreetly crouching the slightest bit to retrieve the pink item and Taehyung sighs in relief because it’s at least not in a stranger’s hand now.

His joy lasted only so long, though, because the vibrator was suddenly turned on and the impact had Taehyung hit his knee on the desk and immediately winced as he let out an: “Ah!” That would’ve sounded like a moan if it wasn’t obvious for everyone that he hurt himself (thank god for that). The toy is suddenly turned off.

“Is everything alright, Kim?” The professor asks and Taehyung doesn’t know where she got his surname from, but he nods, hoping his face isn’t as flushed as it feels, because the fucking vibrator just hit his prostate on the spot (he really should’ve positioned it differently). Taehyung breathes slowly, trying to speak as clearly as he can manage.

“Y-Yes, I just accidentally hit my leg when I went to cross it,” he explains, hoping no one caught onto the shiver in his voice. “Just be more careful,” the professor says and Taehyung nods, glad that she let him off the hook. Absently, he wonders if anyone from the dance team is in this class (they’re probably on the verge of laughing right now, if they are).

Taehyung glances at Jeongguk and sees the younger’s bewildered expression, although there is a blush resting high on his cheekbones. He probably belatedly realized what he just did (if he recalled the dare Taehyung got on Saturday) and the poor kid looked so embarrassed by his actions. Jeongguk probably didn’t turn on the vibrator on purpose (he most likely didn’t know it was a remote for it, actually), so Taehyung wasn’t nearly as bothered as he was aroused.

It’s obvious he can’t just pass him the remote like that in the middle of the classroom, but Taehyung sees him reach for his pocket and pull his phone out underneath the desk. It’s soon that Taehyung’s own phone buzzes since it was thankfully only on vibrate and he fetches it because he knows from who the text is.

FROM: Jeongguk
kitten?
you okay??
SENT 01:52 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Fine.
It’s just the fucking toy.
SENT 01:53 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
oh, um
the one you got dared to wear on Saturday right??
SENT 01:55 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Yeah.
SENT 01:55 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
isn’t the remote supposed to be with jimin
SENT 01:56 PM

TO: Jeongguk
Didn’t get the time to give it to him.
SENT 01:57 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
oh
okay
uh
SENT 01:58 PM

TO: Jeongguk
fucking hell, Jeon
you have the remote now, do something about it
SENT 02:00 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
fuck
can i??
SENT 02:00 PM

TO: Jeongguk
yes, didn’t I already give you permission
SENT 02:01 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
your hands are shaking as you type
are you 100% sure??
i don’t want to do anything /you/ don’t want, kitten
SENT 02:03 PM

TO: Jeongguk
you sap
fuck, it’s okay, i want it
SENT 02:04 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
give me a safeword
SENT 02:04 PM

TO: Jeongguk
i don’t know
pineapple??
SENT 02:04 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
good kitten
that’ll do
SENT 02:04 PM

TO: Jeongguk
please
the war isn’t done, Jeon
win me over
SENT 02:05 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
fuck, okay
i’ll make sure, don’t worry
i’ll take care of you
SENT 02:06 PM

Taehyung discards his phone as soon as he can, panting as he shifted in his seat. Bad idea, he immediately realizes as the vibrator then pressed flush against him, curving in the exact direction where his most sensitive spots are and it’s pressed against his prostate, but not head on, so it’s not bothering him.

He tries parting his legs a bit, but that only has him feel more pleasure spike up his veins. Taehyung scribbles things down into his notebook, ruining his otherwise perfect notes, but he has to distract himself, has to think about everything else but the fact that he has a vibrator inside him right now and he gave the person who has the remote permission to do whatever he wants.

And that person just happens to be someone whom he had sexual tension with for the past few months and had rather forward sexual contact with before – Jeon Jeongguk. Taehyung feels so aroused by the idea that’s it’s impossible. He never tried out a fantasy like this before – accidental, but assuring and safe.

Even with that knowledge in mind, Taehyung is still a bit caught off guard when the vibrator is turned on. It has three settings – this is definitely the lowest one.

The pleasure is steady, building up to a certain point and then just staying there, not increasing or moving. Taehyung’s ankles clink together and he presses his thighs closer, but that only gives more friction to his restrained cock and makes it much harder for him to keep up a calm façade.

He glances at Jeongguk – the younger is looking back, eyes heavy. There is something in his gaze that is gentle, but at the same time, it’s like he’s aroused by his position of power and it’s the purest example of a soft dom, the purest epitome of Taehyung’s dirtiest dreams. While their gazes are locked together, the setting on the vibrator is suddenly up and Taehyung lets out a startled noise of surprise, immediately covering his mouth.

“Kim, are you sure you’re alright?” The professor questions again and Taehyung squeezes his legs together even closer, because all eyes are on him and the attention is making his breathing irregular. He just knows that Jeongguk is trying to hide his smirk right now.

“Y-Yes, I’m just… I’ve been having a bit of fever lately,” Taehyung explains, his voice sounding sore – it’s not because he has an actual fever, but because his throat feels so dry and constricted. He hugs his jacket tighter to himself, not because he’s getting cold from being sick, but to cover how much his body is actually shuddering from the pleasure he’s currently experiencing.

With the vibrator steadily touching his prostate and his cock getting friction from his thighs rubbing together, Taehyung might feel like he’ll combust. It’s so good, but it’s still not enough.

“Do you want to get excused, if you’re feeling unwell?” The professor asks, concern in her voice.

Taehyung gulps because he can feel Jeongguk’s gaze on him and he puts up the best smile he can manage. “I’ll be alright, I took medicine this morning,” he assures and the professor nods, although she gives him another look of worry. Oh, if only she knew what was causing all of Taehyung’s troubles at the moment.

As soon as the professor turned away, Taehyung squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could to the point that they’ll probably turn red. He can’t touch himself – he’ll be way too obvious, that’s for sure, but asking to get excused would be admitting defeat. Instead, he chooses to lean his forearms on the table and rest his face in them. Since there are other students in a similar position in the classroom (although probably for the purpose of sleeping), he hoped the professor won’t call him out on it.

The intensity of the vibrator suddenly goes up to max and Taehyung unnoticeably and unconsciously bites at the material of his jacket so any noise won’t escape him. He’s embarrassed to find himself pushing down into the chair as if it could make the vibrator go any deeper than it already is, because it’s drilling directly into his prostate and not by it, so there is definitely a possibility for him to cum on the spot.

His jeans are denim and his shirt isn’t long enough for him to be able to cover up when he’s standing – if he were to cum in the middle of class, it would definitely be a hassle. The intensity of the vibrator suddenly goes back to medium.

Taehyung turns his head, lips parted so he could breathe slowly as he looked at Jeongguk. His eyes were lidded and face flushed, but Jeongguk looked far satisfied with the state he got the blond into. Taehyung can’t really take it anymore, because his pride doesn’t allow him to give up, but maybe losing is better than embarrassment. I’ll get back at him outside, he thinks, rationalizing that this isn’t losing because he doesn’t have a fair shot.

“Please,” he mouths at Jeongguk, hoping no one noticed he did that. Taehyung isn’t entirely sure that he can reach for his phone and get it without dropping it from his hands quivering so much. He gestures to the door with his eyes, hoping that the younger would understand.

Oh, Jeongguk understood, alright – but he wasn’t going to comply just like that.

Taehyung almost wanted to whine at the lack of response he got, so he decided to take matters into his own hand and ask the professor to exit. However, as soon as his mouth opened and his hand was about to be raised, the vibrator goes back to max and Taehyung – thankfully – managed to seal his lips shut in time. He fisted his hands at his sides, glaring at Jeongguk who only smirked back at him.

He hates to admit the good idea – if the vibrator is on max, it renders Taehyung completely speechless except for moans and whimpers and it’s a dirty trick to turn it on when he wants to ask the professor to get excused. It would be really awkward if he opened his mouth to ask and then just ventured off into moans.

Jeongguk knew how to play the game right.

Taehyung already felt tears forming, because he really wants to cum, but holding back hurts like a bitch and it’s only making him more aroused. He really wished he could just rock his hips into the vibrator, ride it until he finishes all over himself and then shake from overstimulation. Actually, scratch that – he wishes he could ride Jeongguk, instead. It’s not a rare occasion for him to think of Jeongguk while experiencing pleasure and now the young dancer is right there, putting Taehyung through this blissful torture.

He just can’t risk it anymore – he needs to get out of the classroom.

Hesitatingly, Taehyung fetches his phone. It seems like Jeongguk noticed and lowered the intensity back to the lowest (he probably assumed Taehyung was about to use the safe word), letting the blond type his text out as quickly as he could.

TO: Jeongguk
get me out of here
please
SENT 02:21 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
not using the safeword??
SENT 02:22 PM

TO: Jeongguk
no
i want you to fuck me
please
SENT 02:23 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
you sure??
SENT 02:23 PM

TO: Jeongguk
yes!
i can’t handle it anymore
i’m gonna cum on the spot if you don’t get me out of here
SENT 02:24 PM

FROM: Jeongguk
and you don’t want that??
SENT 02:24 PM

TO: Jeongguk
no
i want to cum with you inside me
SENT 02:25 PM

After he confirmed to Jeongguk that he’s not going to use the safe word, the intensity of the toy went up to medium and by the end of the conversation it went up to max. Taehyung had a hard time staying coherent, almost dropping his phone when he pushed it back into his bag. Tears already escaped his eyes and stained his flushed cheeks, so he brushed them away as he calls for the substitute.

“Professor,” he said, gaining her attention, “M-May I– I be excused? I’m not f-feeling that well.”

He hopes she bought it.

“Lord, you look like you’re about to cry!” The professor said, walking around the numerous desks and then coming to Taehyung’s. It’s hard not to make it seem like he’s shuddering, especially when she reaches down and touches his forehead, “You’re burning up, Kim! You ought to visit a doctor right now.”

Taehyung nods shakily, breathing steadily through his mouth and nose. Closing his eyes, he wishes he could soothe this down, although he can feel the vibrator still going, seeing from his peripheral vision how hard Jeongguk gripped the remote – he’s jealous even if the female teacher is touching him, how cute.

“C-Can– ah, can someone take me to the infirmary?” Taehyung manages out, voice cracking and holding back a few tears that were threatening to escape his eyes.

“I’ll do it,” Jeongguk’s voice immediately sounds in and before the professor even approves, Jeongguk is out of his seat and approaching Taehyung (after he pushed the remote somewhere into his pocket and then slung his backpack over his shoulder), before getting Taehyung’s bag as well. It seems like the professor wasn’t quite keen on saying anything – either denying or approving of Jeongguk’s request.

“A-Alright,” she says, almost missing the way Jeongguk glared at her a bit, “Take him out.”

Taehyung’s arm gets wrapped around Jeongguk’s shoulders and Jeongguk’s arm wraps around Taehyung’s waist to help him out of his seat and guide him around the classroom, before exiting, opening and closing the door with his foot rather ungraciously. As soon as they’re headed down the hallway, Taehyung’s arm drops from being around Jeongguk’s shoulders and his hand grips the younger’s shirt instead.

“Please,” he begs breathlessly, leaning his head into Jeongguk’s neck and nosing at his skin, too eager and needy to think of anything else. Couldn’t Jeongguk at least turn the vibrator off in the meanwhile? “Fuck, the frat and apartment are too far, just take me to the b-bathroom, Jeon.”

Jeongguk doesn’t appear to have any objections, as he simply nods and kisses the side of Taehyung’s head gently. “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry,” he assures as he takes him to the unoccupied bathrooms.

As soon as they’re inside, they stumble around and kiss messily. Taehyung pushes Jeongguk into one of the empty stalls and drops both of their backpacks down on the floor (he hopes the floor is clean as it usually is, because that’s his favorite Gucci bag). He locks the stall and pants as he unzips his jeans and struggles to get out of them.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” he hears Jeongguk say as soon as he unbuttons his shirt, after having discarded his jacket somewhere as well. Taehyung is being crowded into the stall, getting covered fully by Jeongguk’s brick wall of a body and he sighs in relief as he gets to trail his hands all over Jeongguk’s abs and biceps.

“That was so hot,” Jeongguk repeats, tongue lapping at Taehyung’s neck and then moving to his collarbones, kissing and biting at the skin to leave marks, “Fuck, watching you squirm like that was so lewd. You’re so lewd, kitten, so pretty.”

Taehyung keens at the praises and crooks his neck to the side to give Jeongguk more access to his skin. He hooks his fingers into the younger’s pants, eagerly tugging them down. He feels Jeongguk breathlessly chuckle against him, before hands are being slammed on each side of his head and Jeongguk pulls back to smirk at him, leaning in enough for their lips to be millimeters apart.

“You gotta wait for the grand slam, kitten,” he whispers against his lips, “Being the star player that I am, I’m gonna make you see stars.”

Taehyung panted a bit, before glaring at Jeongguk for his bad dirty talk. “Grand slam isn’t basketball, idiot, it’s fucking tennis,” he hisses and Jeongguk actually laughs, the lightest red dusting his cheeks before he leans in and swipes his tongue over Taehyung’s lips, then probes it inside his mouth and makes out with him messily.

Taehyung feels saliva drip down his chin and he whines because he’s so messy and aroused and Jeongguk isn’t doing anything about it – all the while the vibrator is still assaulting his prostate. “Get my fucking pants off, fuck,” he mutters against the dancer’s lips, hands tugging at Jeongguk’s shirt impatiently, “P-Please, I can’t take it anymore.”

“So needy and demanding,” Jeongguk says offhandedly, but he does comply and remove Taehyung’s pants, having a bit of a struggle pulling them down his thighs. The blond tugs his briefs down right after, his knees buckling as he kicks his pants and underwear away.

Jeongguk breathes slowly as he looks Taehyung up and down – he looks so fucked out, naked except his unbuttoned white dress shirt that rests nicely on his tan and flushed skin. This is his first time seeing Taehyung practically naked and oh boy – it’s nothing short of his fantasies, and maybe it’s even more than he imagined. Taehyung really was perfect beyond belief.

Jeongguk trails his fingers up Taehyung’s legs and the most feathery of touches has the blond keening, quivering for more. His thighs appear to be rather soft and sensitive. Crowding him into the space more, Jeongguk grabs under Taehyung’s knee and pulls his leg up to the side. The blond makes a startled noise of surprise, but he doesn’t complain as Jeongguk ducks his head down, pressing his tongue flat against Taehyung’s nipple and then taking it into his mouth in  a suckling motion.

“A-Ah, fuck…” Taehyung moans, head tilting back into the wooden stall, “T-Take it out, I’m– I’m gonna cum too early.”

Jeongguk glances up at him, but he does nod. “Hold your leg up like this,” he instructs and waits until the hand he has beneath Taehyung’s knee is replaced by Taehyung’s, so he can move it to the blond’s inner thighs, caressing them and listening to the male above him whimper.

Jeongguk feels around until his fingers brush over the silicone base of the vibrator and he presses his fingers into it, tapping rather hard and having Taehyung let out small whines every time the toy goes just a bit deeper that it already is. Jeongguk smiles absently, then wraps his fingers around the base and slowly tugs the toy out.

“Thank god– ah!” Taehyung’s relieved sigh ventures into a squeak, his tone gaining a high pitch once Jeongguk pushes the toy back inside, the thrusting motion edging him because it’s almost like Jeongguk is avoiding his prostate on purpose, “J-Jeongguk– ah, fuck yes, do it just like that…”

Jeongguk’s other hand, that had been groping Taehyung’s ass by that point, slides to his front and then wraps itself around the base of his cock and Taehyung doesn’t know when he started crying, but he just knows that Jeongguk’s hand is rough and it feels so nice on his sensitive skin and maybe he’s been holding out for too long, because it only takes three strokes and one hard thrust of the vibrator for Taehyung to weakly cum all over his stomach.

He leans his head into the space of Jeongguk’s neck, staining his skin with tears as he sobs and Jeongguk holds him through his orgasm. “Ride it out, come on,” the younger male says, his gentle tone quite contradicting to the hard jabs he’s delivering to Taehyung’s prostate with the toy inside him. Taehyung whimpers and sobs, because he listens and rocks his hips throughout his climax, although they begin twitching when oversensitivity kicks in.

Jeongguk’s hand is relentless against his shaft and his mouth is merciless on his skin whilst he plunges the vibrator inside him over and over again. Every thrust stabs Taehyung’s nerves and he knows – he ventured into oversensitivity before – that this orgasm will be painfully blissful and he’s more than aroused at the idea.

“O-Oh– ah, fuck…” Taehyung breathes, mind clouded as his hands scramble around, grabbing Jeongguk’s shirt and tugging it as he whines and whimpers, “I-I can’t– fuck, I can’t cum a-again.”

“You can kitten, you can,” Jeongguk coos, kissing his neck softly, but his hands are still fucking Taehyung out of his goddamn mind and it’s almost hard to hear Jeongguk’s words when his prostate is being abused and cock assaulted by Jeongguk’s skilful hand, “One more, one more, baby.”

Taehyung cries weakly once his pending orgasm hits him and his cock pathetically spurts out cum that rolls down his shaft and collects on where Jeongguk hand his hand wrapped around the base. Taehyung rides out his mostly dry orgasm out, once again, hiccupping and straining his cheeks with tears when Jeongguk digs his finger into the slit of his cock to finally ebb his orgasm away.

“Fuck, you’re so damn relentless,” Taehyung breathes, hearing Jeongguk laugh at him before he’s slowly pulling the vibrator out of Taehyung’s wanton hole, though with a bit of a struggle because Taehyung kept squeezing around it involuntarily. It seems like Jeongguk held the remote in his pocket, because he turned the toy off and then set it aside.

“You already came twice,” he points out with a small smirk and that causes Taehyung to pout, before he tugs at the younger’s jeans impatiently. “Yeah, I wanna get a piece of you too,” he sniffs, his pouty lips and glistening eyes rendering Jeongguk incapable of denying – he simply nods, because maybe his comprehension is slow and he has a hard time realizing that after all the teasing and tension, he might actually get to fuck the blond.

Taehyung immediately drops to his knees once he gets Jeongguk’s confirmation, unzipping the younger’s jeans and unbuttoning them before pulling them down, pooling them around his ankles. His mouth basically waters at the outline of Jeongguk’s cock in his boxer briefs, because fuck, Jeongguk does look like a mouthful and even if he already came twice, Taehyung probably won’t have much trouble getting aroused again.

Leaning in, Taehyung presses his lips to the outline of Jeongguk’s cock, mouthing at his member and placing kisses through the fabric and Jeongguk’s fingers thread in his hair before he even did much, which made him secretly smile to himself.

“You are so fucking breathtaking,” Jeongguk muttered, watching the blond lick a strap across his cock before sucking on the head through his briefs, making the younger groan, “Fuck, I wanted this for so long. To see you on your knees for me.”

“Mm, have you?” Taehyung asks just for the sake of it, not doubting Jeongguk’s words in the slightest. Although the flattery might be doing something to him, “You did promise to fuck my mouth good.”

Jeongguk groans both at his words and at Taehyung nibbling on his shaft while slowly tugging his red boxer briefs down (really, what is with Jeongguk and this obnoxious red?). Taehyung thinks he might’ve let out a guttural moan before he could help himself at the sight that greeted him. “Well, well,” he mutters, wrapping his pretty fingers around Jeongguk’s girth, “Aren’t you the perfect boyfriend, hm?”

Jeongguk laughs a bit at that, breathless as he gently strokes the spots behind Taehyung’s ears and ruffles his already messy blond hair. “Lift that shirt, hot-shot,” Taehyung says, licking his lips as he slowly strokes Jeongguk’s cock, making the younger male have trouble concentrating on what Taehyung is speaking, “I know you got more tattoos under that.”

Complying to what the blond wanted, Jeongguk grips the hem of his shirt and then slowly lifts it up, revealing inch after inch of gorgeous skin stretched across taut muscles. Taehyung’s mouth might’ve watered a bit, because Jeongguk’s has a rose tattoo on his left hipbone, his bellybutton piercing is even better up close and there are numerous small tattoos scattered across his chests and sides, some that probably won’t be seen from afar.

“I see the secret tenth piercing isn’t on your dick,” Taehyung says as he wraps his lips around the head of Jeongguk’s cock, his tongue flicking over the frenulum and his fingers slowly stroking at the base. Jeongguk groans, his hips bucking a bit, but Taehyung pins them down with his free hand.

“Nah, it’s here,” Jeongguk breathed out, eyes concentrated on the way Taehyung is scattering soft kisses down his length, but his hand lifting his shirt higher up.

Taehyung licks his lips as he stares and then laughs a bit. “A nipple piercing? Really?” He said, a small smile on his lips as he eyed the silver stud in Jeongguk’s right nipple and the younger shrugs, before dropping his shirt back down.

“I was seventeen and a bit too eager to get pierced, I guess,” he says and then tugs at Taehyung’s hair, “Now– you gonna let me fuck that gorgeous mouth of yours, kitten?”

Taehyung bites his lip, before he removes his hands from Jeongguk’s cock completely, instead bracing them over Jeongguk’s thick thighs (and okay, wow, this is definitely a kink he wasn’t aware of having). “Take me apart then,” he says as he looks up at Jeongguk through his thick eyelashes and he resists pulling his lips into a sly smile when Jeongguk can’t help but growl a bit at this admission.

The grip on his hair tightens a bit, before Jeongguk moves one of his hands to his cock, gripping the base and just jerking himself a bit. His licks his lips once Taehyung whines impatiently, the free show making arousal pool in his stomach. “Open up, kitten,” he demands and the blond has no trouble following, those full lips parting and tongue sticking out invitingly.

“So gorgeous, look at you so pretty and ready to take my cock,” Jeongguk praises, tugging at Taehyung’s hair and brushing the tip of his cock over Taehyung’s pretty lips and staining them with precum, before slapping it on his tongue lightly a couple of times. Taehyung’s eyes slide closed, a moan escaping him before he can help it and his fingers tighten their grip of Jeongguk’s thighs.

“Wanna take my cock, baby?” Jeongguk said lowly, brushing Taehyung’s hair again and the older male nods, although he tries so hard to stay still, especially when Jeongguk slowly pushes his cock in his mouth and his lips deliciously stretch around the girth, “A-Ah, fuck… you take it so well, kitten, so good.”

Taehyung doesn’t think he’s ever gonna get tired of being praised, especially with Jeongguk’s voice when it gets such a raspy tone to it. He bobs his head to get used to the length sliding down his throat and he reminds himself to breathe through his nose, because he really wanted this for so long. It’s not like Taehyung can say he hasn’t been with bigger guys – that would be a straight up lie, honestly – but it’s not like Jeongguk’s cock is average either. And his girth is definitely something to write home about.

Jeongguk fucks his mouth slowly at first, he would pull back enough for the head of his cock to hit the back of Taehyung’s throat, before going deeper and Taehyung would whimper and dig his nails into Jeongguk’s thighs, impatient to be taken hard like he was promised.

“Tsk, tsk, so needy,” Jeongguk shakes his head and pulls away completely, causing Taehyung to pant as he finally caught some air, almost collapsing into Jeongguk’s groin, “Let’s get this back in, then.”

Taehyung barely had the time to react, to raise his head or question what Jeongguk meant, because the dancer is suddenly leaning over and Taehyung’s eyes widen as his entrance is being breached by two fingers, that part so wide so suddenly– it makes him let out a gasp that turns halfway into a moan.

“Still stretched, aren’t you,” Jeongguk mutters and his fingers are suddenly being replaced by a phallic object that the blond is oh so familiar with, passing his rim and sliding against his prostate. As soon as the base hits his rim flat, the vibrator is back on and Taehyung is really gonna start sobbing again.

Jeongguk tips his chin up, to lock their heavy gazes together, before he brushes his thumb over Taehyung’s plump bottom lip. As the blond lets out a whimper, Jeongguk tips his mouth open slowly. “Gonna be patient this time, kitten?” He said and Taehyung immediately nods eagerly, “Good, let’s try it again, then.”

It’s kind of hard to focus on Jeongguk’s cock sliding down his throat, when Taehyung feels the vibrator doing the usual of driving him fucking crazy. He already came twice from it, but now it’s doing the most in boosting all of the lust overwhelming his body.

And the way Jeongguk’s fucks his mouth now is definitely harder, but it turns sloppy and uncoordinated very quickly, with Taehyung feeling saliva drip down his chin and it’s probably because they’ve been working each other up so much, so the foreplay is maybe more than they bargained for. Taehyung presses his tongue flat against the underside of the thick cock on his tongue, hallowing out his cheeks and sucking as he bobs his head.

He does this until he feels the muscles of Jeongguk’s thighs clench under his fingers and then he’s pulling back, stroking his cock two times so all the cum manages to land on Taehyung’s face, though the blond opens his mouth and captures most of it, immediately swallowing it down.

Taehyung leans in, kissing over Jeongguk’s abs and tongue flicking over the belly ring and the sensation has Jeongguk giggling, tugging Taehyung’s head back and then leaning in to lick over his lips, taste his own cum before kissing the blond messily and urgently. They scramble around and Taehyung is then being pressed into the stall, his chest meeting the wooden surface as Jeongguk sinks to his knees behind him.

Okay, this is happening, this is real, Taehyung assures himself, letting out a shuddering breath as Jeongguk’s hands trail over his soft and quivering thighs, before he tugs the vibrator out of his wanton entrance.

“Fuck, you are so fucking thick,” Jeongguk curses from behind him, strong hands fondling Taehyung’s asscheeks and spreading them apart and the blond has to really support himself on the stall at the action, “God, you could suffocate me with your ass and I wouldn’t complain.”

“Yeah, cause you’d be fucking dead,” Taehyung laughs out, finding it a bit amusing at how aroused this is making the younger male. He wiggles his hips a bit on purpose, teasing Jeongguk. “You gonna pleasure me or not, Alpha boy?” He teases, words venturing off into a squeak as Jeongguk surges forward and licks a broad stripe up his cleft.

“A-Ah– fuck, that’s so good, baby,” Taehyung moans wantonly, placing his palms on his own cheeks and spreading them apart to give Jeongguk more space as he swirls his tongue around his hole, then sucks on his rim eagerly. Taehyung’s knees buckle, especially when Jeongguk squeezes his thighs and pulls back once in a while to place wet kisses on them.

Taehyung whines with a high pitch, feeling so satisfied with Jeongguk’s tongue inside him – soon joined by two of his fingers that brush over his soft walls and push on his prostate with light pressure – but also so unsatisfied because no matter how much he wants to ride Jeongguk’s tongue and fingers until he cums, he’s been waiting for this for so long, not having enough patience to edge it anymore.

“J-Just– ah, fuck,” Taehyung tries to get a word in, but it’s kind of hard with fingers hitting his prostate nonstop, “Jeongguk, just fuck me already, please.”

Jeongguk pulls back, licking his lips and chuckling as he places small kisses on Taehyung’s cheeks, before nipping to leave marks. He grips the blond’s hips hard enough to leave bruises and then stands to his feet. “Whatever my kitten wants, he will get,” he teases, “Now, you have a condom on you, right?”

Taehyung nods, although accidentally hitting his head on the stall because of it. He whines at the pain and answers as Jeongguk soothingly rubs his hips and kisses his head. “I-It’s– it’s in my bag, hurry,” he said, feeling Jeongguk move to fetch the condom. He hears unzipping and shuffling, then hears Jeongguk mutter something akin to like: “Is this fucking Gucci, what?” at which the blond rolls his eyes, saying: “yes, now get that fucking condom on already.”

There are sounds of the condom packet tearing, followed by the younger male’s chuckle as he slicks himself up with the lube he also found in the blond’s bag.

“Really kitten, you’re so impatient,” Jeongguk said as he settles behind Taehyung again, sliding his cock between Taehyung’s cheeks. Whenever the head would catch Taehyung’s rim, the blond would let out a whimper.

“Jesus, just fucking take me already– aaah,” Taehyung drawls, sighing in content at how smooth the slide is of Jeongguk’s cock inside him and the thickness feels so nice against his walls, stretching him out in the most delicious way possible. There is haze in front of his eyes once Jeongguk finally bottoms out.

“Need a minute, kitten?” Jeongguk asks as he grips his hips tighter, lips scattering kisses over Taehyung’s shoulder blades in assurance. He presses his nose into Taehyung’s nape, discreetly sniffing the lavender shampoo the blond puts in his hair and Taehyung can’t help but giggle a bit, wiggling his hips.

“Fuck me out of my mind, Alpha boy,” he drawls.

Jeongguk definitely didn’t need more than that, pulling back almost all the way and then slamming back into Taehyung with the force that had Taehyung lean on his elbows for support, a startled noise escaping his throat at the impact. Jeongguk’s cock is long enough to hit his prostate on the way in and on the way out, which is the perfect combination to his own cock rubbing against the stall in front of him, giving him the slightest friction.

“Lemme get that leg up,” Jeongguk muttered, hooking his arm under Taehyung’s right knee and pulling it up against the stall, like he did earlier in their rendezvous. Taehyung’s body presses flat against the stall (thank god for the bits of flexibility he had left) and he lets out a guttural moan because Jeongguk can go even deeper this way and it’s almost like Taehyung can barely breathe, like it’s too much for him to take.

There is a distant sound of the bell ringing for ending of the classes, before the bathroom door clearly slides and there is talking following it. Taehyung’s eyes widen – partially because of that and partially because Jeongguk suddenly turned him around, grabbing the backs of Taehyung’s thighs and hiking him up the stall. The blond wraps his long legs around the younger’s waist, a squeak escaping his mouth as Jeongguk slides into him again, although the noise is swallowed by Jeongguk who presses their mouths together in the moment.

He doesn’t thrust as hard as he did before, instead he just thrusts shortly and hits Taehyung’s prostate every time he does, in such small time intervals that Taehyung feels like he might start crying out of pleasure.

“Man, did you see what happened at class earlier?”

“Yeah, that shit was crazy.”

Students are talking between each other with no care in the world and it would be definitely too obvious if Taehyung’s moans could suddenly be overheard over that. But Taehyung has always been a screamer and this is definitely a very big restriction on him – but it’s also lustful, how the fear of getting caught has his cock, that is currently sandwiched between Jeongguk’s abs and his soft tummy, spurt out strips of precum.

Jeongguk pulls back from the kiss with a smirk and then leans into the blond’s shoulder as he keeps thrusting, the grip on his thighs hard and possessive.

“Keep your voice to yourself, kitten,” he whispers soothingly, “No one besides me is allowed to hear you like this.”

The words alone were making Taehyung suffer, giving him difficulties with keeping his whimpers and moans in. He bites his lip so hard that he thinks it might begin bleeding. Tears strained his cheeks wet and his whole body was spasming from his impending orgasm building up. He wanted to cry out, he really did, but he can’t because people will hear him and it seems like the bathroom keeps getting fuller and fuller in purpose to spite him.

Jeongguk’s hand wraps around his cock and tugs it time with his thrusts. It’s clear that he only wants to make Taehyung cum now – he isn’t thrusting for the purpose to get himself off, but for the purpose of hitting Taehyung’s prostate on and on again (most of his cock isn’t even inside Taehyung and the thought makes the blond whine in displease in his mind).

Taehyung shakes his head because he doesn’t think he can just cum like this, because it hurts how aroused he feels at this point, as if Jeongguk’s hard grip on his base is equivalent to one of the cock rings he has at home and it’s preventing him from cumming way too soon.

“You can cum like this, kitten, come on,” Jeongguk whispers just so only he could hear, words encouraging as he keeps driving Taehyung crazy with his touches, “Wanna see you cum all over yourself.”

Taehyung pulls Jeongguk into a kiss so he can whine into his mouth once he’s pushed over the edge and he cums in waves, spurts of cum dirtying both his and Jeongguk’s stomachs. With the blank noise in his ears from the strong force of his orgasm, he almost misses the bell ringing again and the students scurrying out of the bathroom to head to class. Once the bathroom door slams closed, he lets out a shaky breath.

“You fucking asshole,” he panted and Jeongguk laughs as he leans in to kiss him again. It’s a bit sloppy and their teeth accidentally clink together, lips already bruised from the many things they’ve done beforehand, “Fuck me until you cum, come on.”

Something akin to growl erupts from Jeongguk’s chest and he has no mercy as he slams into Taehyung with everything he’s been holding back and Taehyung holds onto his shoulders, nails digging crescent marks into the younger’s skin. Oversensitivity is kicking in once more and pleasure is slowly being built up as Jeongguk continues to stroke his cock in time with his thrusts.

Taehyung whines weakly as Jeongguk finally cums and fills up the condom, pulsating inside him. He keeps thrusting as he rides his orgasm out and Taehyung’s mind goes blank and he doesn’t know if he perhaps came completely dry, the pleasure just itching his skin and ebbing away quickly once he comes down from his high and tries to comprehend if this actually happened.

Jeongguk lowers the blond on the ground gently and still holds his hips as he kisses his head and asks if he has some tissues in his bag. Taehyung shakily nods and Jeongguk ends up fetching said tissues and cleaning both of them off the cum, on the way taking off the condom and tying it before throwing it in the trash. He helps Taehyung get dressed and kisses every mark he left on the way, apologizing whenever he thought that he was too harsh.

Taehyung giggles at the softness, arms wrapping around Jeongguk’s neck and bringing him closer to bump their noses together before they kiss chastely. Jeongguk’s hands find Taehyung’s waist and he smiles amusedly.

“So, about you saying that I’m the perfect boyfriend,” he begins, a timid blush on his cheeks, “After I take you home and clean you up, allow me to take you out, yeah?”

Taehyung grins, more than compliant. “Please do, bad boy,” he says.

■ ◌ ■

More than five months later – they are still going strong.

It’s almost half a year since they’ve been together and sure, there have been fights and disagreements (and some great make-up sex), but Taehyung was finally happy with what he had. The campus got to see their relationship progress from two guys with sexual tension for each other to affectionate lovers and honestly, it’s probably the most ridiculous campus love story, but it’s a sweet one regardless.

It was nearing the end of the student year, there were upcoming graduations and many more, but it was all good and well. Feelings of anxiety were low and it’s almost like the year breezed by, like a simple gust of wind.

It was a Friday, and Taehyung was heading to the basketball gym to pick up his boyfriend from basketball practice (well, technically, Jeongguk is the one who’s gonna drive him home, but whatever). He enters the gym and looks around, first noticing the nearby cheerleaders that are practicing their routine. It seems like the basketball team was taking a rest, sitting at the sidelines and talking between each other while drinking water and patting towels on their damp foreheads.

“Okay, guys, catch a break!” Baekhyun calls to the cheerleaders that immediately head to grab their water bottles, tired from practicing their hard routine since the basketball team soon has their last game for this year’s season. Taehyung smiles as he approaches them, glad to see them so hardworking. “Baek-hyung,” he calls and the black haired beauty turns to look at the younger male.

“Tae-Tae,” he greets with a grin as he envelops the blond into a hug, “Came for your boyfriend, didn’t you?” He said and Taehyung giggles a bit, nodding.

“Yeah,” he confirms.

“You should join the cheerleading team next year,” Baekhyun suggests as he nudges Taehyung’s side, “With Jeongguk being the star player of the team and you being the blond cheerleader, you ought to be like a couple out of any chick flick.”

Taehyung laughs heartily like that. “That spot belongs to you and Chanyeol-hyung, already. Well, it did while you were still blond,” he muses, “Anyways, how’s the practice going?”

“Exhausting,” Baekhyun sighs, although with a smile on his lips, “But everyone’s fired up for the last game, it’s definitely gonna be a night to remember.”

“I bet,” Taehyung grins, then hears his name being called and turns around to see a few guys from the basketball team approaching him.

“Taehyung,” Yoongi greets, the flush from practice standing out against his pale skin, “Good thing you came when practice is almost finished, otherwise Jeongguk wouldn’t be able to concentrate.”

A few months ago, Jeongguk might’ve blushed and been embarrassed, but at this point in their relationship, he just leans into Taehyung to kiss him chastely in front of everyone, humming in agreement to Yoongi’s words. “True that,” he says, “Especially in these jeans.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes and then flicks the younger’s forehead, tsking even when Jeongguk pulls back with a whine as he rubs the spot Taehyung hit. “You horn dog, keep your eyes on your sport,” he scolds.

“But you’re also a sport,” Jeongguk pouts, “Like basketball, I also do you every night.”

“I swear to god, Jeon Jeongguk.”

Their group ventures into laughing as Chanyeol and Hoseok eventually approach them – Chanyeol tips down to kiss Baekhyun in greeting and Hoseok wraps an arm around Yoongi as he grins. “Hey, Tae,” he greets, “Didn’t Jimin say he’s gonna come with you?”

“Got caught up in practicing a routine for his showcase,” Taehyung explains, “He’s been so busy– I hope he at least got home to take a shower and get some rest. Though, he did mention he’ll be ready for tonight’s date.”

“That’s good,” Yoongi said, although Hoseok seems a bit worried.

“The kid works really hard,” Baekhyun points out, “It’s a shame he refused to join the cheerleading team – he definitely would’ve been a nice addition.”

“He declined to be in the frat as well, after getting accepted,” Minho points out, confusion written all over his face, but Hoseok seems content with averting the topic as he turns to look at Chanyeol. “Team captain,” he calls him with a grin, “Gonna let us off the hook for today?”

“I guess,” Chanyeol said with a wide smile, “It’s Friday, so we can leave early. There is a lot to go home to.”

Taehyung grins and tugs at Jeongguk’s hand, pulling him close as their friends bicker around about whatnot. “It’s been almost six months,” he says, arms winding around Jeongguk’s shoulders to pull him close, “I have something prepared for you back home.”

Jeongguk hums and leans in to kiss his boyfriend, a smile on his lips. “Can’t wait,” he said, “Lemme just take a shower and change, okay?”

Most of the athletes disappear into the locker rooms, although Baekhyun stays behind for a bit with Taehyung. “Tae,” he starts as he looks at the blond, who looks back expectantly of what his hyung is about to say, “You’re really happy with Jeongguk, aren’t you?”

Taehyung blushes, but he also smiles brightly. “Is it that obvious?” He says and Baekhyun chuckles breathlessly, nodding his head.

“Perhaps,” the older male says, “I… I’ve known you for a few years, but I never saw you so happy as you are now. Or at least it seems that way. When you told me about your hesitance in dating, I told you that I used to be the same until I met Chanyeol. You didn’t really believe that someone could come around and change your mind, but… Jeongguk did that for you, didn’t he?”

Something settles deep down, some sort of confirmation within Taehyung, because Baekhyun is right – there is a lot that happened in the past that had him doubtful, even with Jeongguk. But Jeongguk is really probably the first to give him some hope, some reassurance that things can work out. They just clicked so nicely together, they fit each other like a puzzle piece and Taehyung wouldn’t give this relationship up for the world.

“Maybe he did,” he says after thinking for a bit, “Our relationship is still fresh, but I’m not that anxious for the future somehow. I imagine him next to me at all times so– so perhaps my fear is disappearing little by little. I guess love isn’t that frightful anymore. Neither is happiness.”

Baekhyun smiles in relief, hand reaching out to touch Taehyung’s shoulder. “You deserve love and happiness just like anyone else, Taehyung,” he said, “Maybe even more.”

Jeongguk comes back from the locker rooms, he steals Taehyung from Baekhyun and says goodbye to the lead cheerleader, even if he doesn’t understand the knowing smile that Baekhyun gives him. He and Taehyung go out with hands locked together, fingers intertwined until they arrive to the parking lot of their uni and get on Jeongguk’s motorcycle.

Jeongguk drives Taehyung home and the blond holds tightly onto him throughout the entire ride.

Taehyung unlocks the door to the apartment and enters inside, hearing the TV blasting from the living room. Taehyung smiles in relief, because that means that Jimin is home and he gave himself some rest. Jeongguk and Taehyung turn about in the hallway and peek inside the living room, where Jimin is laid across the couch and is flipping through the channels. He looks up once he senses a presence in the room.

“I was wondering if you’re gonna come home,” he said as he stands up from the couch. Jimin’s clothing is pajamas and his hair is disheveled, which means he hopefully got some sleep, “I’m not gonna even ask, I’m just sexiling myself.”

He passes to his bedroom without further word and Taehyung grins as he pulls Jeongguk to the couch. On the way, they kiss and stumble around a bit, eventually falling over on the couch, with Jeongguk on top of Taehyung who just can’t stop giggling at his boyfriend’s apologetic expression. Jeongguk grabs Taehyung’s thighs and winds his legs around his waist, before leaning down and capturing the blond’s lips in a hot kiss.

Taehyung moans into his mouth and his hands reach up to push Jeongguk’s leather jacket off his shoulders, feeling up his boyfriend’s muscles and whining into his mouth upon doing it. Jeongguk pulls back enough to chuckle against Taehyung’s lips, his hand trailing underneath Taehyung’s shirt and stroking up his side, until he eventually reaches a nipple and pinches it, gaining him a high-pitched squeak of surprise from the blond.

“So sensitive, baby,” Jeongguk coos with an amused smile, as if this is new attainted information that he just got. He teases Taehyung for this whenever he gets the chance, which is why the blond glares at him and then kicks him in the shin.

As Jeongguk groans in complaint about the pain, Jimin emerges back from his bedroom – now fully dressed and hair styled – and for a moment, he just stands there and observes the risqué position in which his best friend and his boyfriend are.

“Can’t you at least wait until I’m gone, geez?” He says, annoyance itching on his tongue and Taehyung rolls his eyes in his direction. “Hey, I once walked in on you blowing Hoseok-hyung and you don’t hear me complaining about it,” he says and Jeongguk stifles a small laugh.

“Ugh, I’m so done, what betrayal,” Jimin says, heading to the door, “I’m staying at the frat tonight, don’t wait for me.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Taehyung sing-songs, fingers threading in Jeongguk’s hair once the younger male begins sucking on his neck.

“Boo, you whore,” Jimin calls from the hallway and Taehyung laughs, followed by the sound of the front door closing and getting locked.

As soon as his roommate is gone, Taehyung makes an effort to stand up from the couch, although it’s a bit hard with his boyfriend sucking hickeys into his neck and pinning his hips down with strong hands. Taehyung needed to get away before he turns putty in Jeongguk’s hands and therefore, he would forget about the surprise that he prepared. He tries to push Jeongguk back by his chest, which is hard considering how much the younger male is stronger than him.

“Gukkie,” he whines, half-moaning because Jeongguk bucked his hips forward and grinded their crotches together, “Let’s go to the bedroom, please.”

“Will do, kitten,” Jeongguk complies, standing up from the couch first, but not giving Taehyung the time to do it himself – he picks the blond up in his arms princess style and bounces him in his arms as if he weights absolutely nothing. Taehyung sighs contently as he wraps himself around his boyfriend – he just loves being carried, even for the simplest of things.

They head to the bedroom and Jeongguk has a bit of a struggle to get the door open and close it once they’re inside, but he manages. He plops Taehyung down on his bed and pillows, then looms over him, fingers squeezing his thighs as he leaves soft marks all over Taehyung’s skin, wherever he noticed that the old ones have faded.

Taehyung manages to flip them over, sitting himself on Jeongguk’s lap as the younger male is beneath him. Taehyung pins Jeongguk’s hands together on the headboard and leans down to kiss the dancer swiftly. Jeongguk played along, because both of them know he could easily break out of the grip if he desired and pin Taehyung back down, but he let his boyfriend have the control that he wants.

The blond breaks the kiss and pulls completely back, hips rocking forward as he grinds into Jeongguk and elicits moans from the both of them. “I– fuck, what’s the safe word?” Taehyung has to ask before he does anything and asking means that Jeongguk knows he’s going to do something, without ruining the surprise of telling him exactly what it is.

Jeongguk licks his lips – he eyes the way Taehyung’s plump lips part as he asks that question, irises ablaze with lust – and then he regains composure for a quick bit. “Pineapple, right?” He says, smiling as he is reminded of the day when Taehyung chose that safe word and the blond giggles at the memory, leaning down to kiss him again.

“Mm, yeah,” he mutters against his lips, “Be a sweetheart and hold your hands in place while I fetch the items, okay?”

Jeongguk nods and then watches his boyfriend reach for the bedside table, looking through the sex toys that he keeps there and pulling a few things out.

It’s not like Jeongguk didn’t know where this is going – he’s heard of Taehyung’s power bottom reputation many times before they started dating, but he just didn’t want to think about Taehyung being with other people and thus ignored it. Jeongguk likes being in control in sex, as much as he likes his partner taking control too. Taehyung is the same in that way, mostly preferring to switch in the submissive and dominant roles.

It’s just that the first time they had sex (in the bathroom after the vibrator incident), Taehyung was more prone to being taken care of and Jeongguk had no trouble complying. When they’re in the bedroom, however, the older male likes to take control. It tends to suit his persona at times.

“Hm…” Taehyung mutters as he examines the item in his hand, “These are too thin, so they won’t do it for you.”

Jeongguk’s eyebrows furrow together and he tips his head up to try to examine what the item may be. “What is that? A tie?” He asks, although it’s a stupid question because the item is obviously not a tie.

“No, they’re my Chanel ribbons,” Taehyung explained, “I had spares from wrapping the gift I gave Jimin for his last birthday.”

Jeongguk really shouldn’t be surprised.

In the end, Taehyung settles for handcuffs and traps his boyfriend’s hands to the headboard – Jeongguk’s biceps flex from his arms being held over his head and Taehyung appreciates the sight as he takes the rest of their clothes off. He presses their bodies together and loves every contrast between them – his soft tummy against Jeongguk’s abs, his smooth thighs against Jeongguk’s muscular ones; it’s something that burns arousal beneath his skin.

With a rock of his hips, their erections brush over each other and Jeongguk lets out a guttural moan once Taehyung does it again, although with a smirk plastered on his face now. He keeps Jeongguk’s hips pinned down with his hands so the younger male can’t grind back and he just continues brushing their members together, all the while riding Jeongguk’s thigh sensually.

The handcuffs clink on the headboard and a curse escapes Jeongguk’s lips at which Taehyung leans down. “Already moaning, baby?” He teases with a glint in his eye and Jeongguk bites his lip, trying not to say anything that will drag him further down. It takes a bit for his pride to crack and Taehyung enjoys that game very much.

“No answer, hm? Let’s do it like this, then,” Taehyung says as he moves back, just so he’s sitting on Jeongguk’s thighs instead. Jeongguk’s comprehension is rather slow at this point, especially when Taehyung gets another item and slides it down to the base of the younger’s cock. Jeongguk’s breath might’ve hitched a little because he doesn’t even need to look down to know Taehyung put a cock ring on him.

Oh, he’s sure in for a hell of ride today.

Taehyung moves so his back is turned to Jeongguk as he sits on his stomach, long fingers wrapped around Jeongguk’s cock but not moving instead of the steady finger pressing hard into the slit of the head. Jeongguk doesn’t know why he might go crazy – from Taehyung’s small touches or from the breathtaking view that he has of Taehyung’s back in all of his naked glory.

His body is always so nice to look at from this angle – Jeongguk especially loves the small curvature Taehyung has at his hips because his waist is thin, mostly when they outline his figure so beautifully and his perky ass looks so good when it’s resting upon Jeongguk’s abs. Gosh, doesn’t he just have the best boyfriend?

He’s dying to touch him right now – which might actually be the point, because he can’t.

“Tae,” Jeongguk groans in mixed frustration and arousal, trying to buck his hips again, but Taehyung was stubborn on keeping them pinned down to their bed. The blond lets out a light chuckle, shifting backwards enough so he could lean down to give a small, kittenish lick to the tip of Jeongguk’s member, but nothing more.

Jeongguk really was having a hard time from Taehyung driving him crazy – especially because as he moved back, his ass was just closer and his cheeks spread the slightest bit of their own to reveal the blond’s small, pink hole. Jeongguk cursed inside his mind, mostly because he’s aware that he loves getting tortured like this.

“Fuck, Tae– please,” Jeongguk breathes out, face flushed and black strands of hair sticking to his forehead, “Just– just let me eat you out, please.”

“Oh?” Taehyung cocks an eyebrow in amusement, hands trailing down Jeongguk’s thighs and appreciating every bit of muscle. He kind of expected of the dancer to beg to get sucked off, but this was a plead he wasn’t that willing to ignore, “Hm, you gonna be good, babe?”

“I’ll make you feel so good, please, Tae,” Jeongguk begs, tugging at his handcuffs again and letting out a small whine when he remembers that his hands aren’t capable of moving at this point.

Taehyung chuckles at this, but decides to take it easy on his lover – he moves back enough for Jeongguk to have  enough space to do the deed that he wanted, whilst he could also still bend down to continue what he was doing.

The blond wiggles his ass a bit, cheeks unintentionally spreading because he arched his back on purpose. “Eat me out then, bad boy,” he coos and Jeongguk absolutely wastes no time, mouth watering at the sight as he tips his head up enough to get his lips on Taehyung’s hole, sucking wantonly as he circles his tongue around the rim.

Taehyung lets out a low moan, licking a broad stripe up Jeongguk’s shaft, all the way from the base to the head. He wraps his plump lips around the crown and sucks slowly and gently, Jeongguk’s moans vibrating through his body as he eats him out like a full coarse meal. Taehyung bobs his head down Jeongguk’s cock and deep throats as much as it allows him whilst his body is mostly responding to the rim job he’s receiving.

Jeongguk’s always been so good at this and Taehyung eventually has to pull away with a shuddering breath, straightening his back as small moans escape his mouth. He rocks his hips against Jeongguk’s tongue, before reaching his hand back and grabbing a fistful of the younger’s black hair. Looking over his shoulder at his lover, Taehyung can’t help but smile in amusement.

“Good, so– ah, so good, baby,” the blond encourages, feeling Jeongguk hum appreciatively at the praise. Taehyung doesn’t bother spreading his cheeks for him, since Jeongguk seems to have enough leverage to do this and instead wraps his free hand around his neglected cock, stroking in the rhythm he rides Jeongguk’s tongue in, “A-Ah, fuck– right, there… so good, Jeonggukkie.”

His orgasm quickly begins building up and Taehyung tries to drag it on by squeezing the base of his cock. “Baby, I’m gonna cum– ah, oh my god…” The blond drawls, because he really was about to pull away, but Jeongguk was relentless in eating him out like he deserved and Taehyung can’t resist, responding to the touches eagerly.

A few more strokes to his cock and a few whines escaping his throat, Taehyung paints his stomach white as he squeezes his thighs around Jeongguk’s head, his orgasm spasming through him. Some small droplets of cum end up falling on Jeongguk’s chest and Taehyung pulls away to turn to his original position, looking down at the chaotic look on Jeongguk’s face.

His lips were swollen red and cheeks flushed, black hair messy and eyes blown out – Taehyung could feel his limp cock just twitch at the sight alone. Jeongguk’s eyes are trained on Taehyung’s stomach, the white cum standing out on his tan skin and Taehyung smirks once he notices the gaze. “Wanna taste, babe?” He teases.

Jeongguk actually lets out a chuckle, somewhat raspy from his dry throat. “Come down here, kitten,” he says and Taehyung had no trouble leaning down far enough for Jeongguk to lick a stripe up his stomach, collecting the cum on his tongue before he moves further up and wraps his lips around Taehyung’s nipple, flicking his tongue over it.

“Mhm, aaah…” Taehyung moans lazily, enjoying the simple sensation of Jeongguk sucking and teasing his nipples while his cock rubs across Jeongguk’s abs.

Eventually, he does pull away to kiss over Jeongguk’s chest, licking away the cum that landed there and then moving up to tug Jeongguk into a messy kiss by gripping his hair. Jeongguk lets out a startled moan into his mouth, especially as their tongues envelop together and their lips bruise against each other.

“So good, Guk, you always please your baby boy so well,” Taehyung mutters as he pulls back. Jeongguk might’ve anticipated that this is the point where the handcuffs are going to be removed, but he was slightly surprised when Taehyung moves back, knees locking around Jeongguk’s hips as he grabs the younger’s erect cock and positions it at his entrance.

“W-Wait, Tae, you forgot to take the cock ring off–” Jeongguk was about to say, but his words turn into a chocked moan as Taehyung lowers himself down on his cock, only taking the head at first and just rolling his hips around it. Jeongguk’s mind is going haywire because after the blowjob and teasing that he got, he might cum embarrassingly soon. But he can’t from the appendage around the base of his cock.

“Oh, I didn’t forget anything,” Taehyung coos, cheeks a gorgeous red and a stupidly attractive smirk on his face as he humps against Jeongguk’s cock, but does no more than taking barely half of younger’s length in. Jeongguk feels a gut wrenching sensation of his upcoming climax and groan escapes him because the cock ring is edging him for so long that he might cum dry at this point, “T-Tae, please.”

“You wanna cum? Beg for it,” the blond says, his domineering aura overwhelming Jeongguk’s entire being in the best way possible.

“B-Baby, please, I’ll fuck you so good, just let me– please,” Jeongguk chokes out, head tilting back and handcuffs rattling against the headboard, “You always take my cock so well, kitten, just– ah, fuck– let me cum, I promise I’ll take care of you.”

Taehyung licks his lips, satisfied with the answer that he got. He removes himself from Jeongguk’s cock long enough to get rid of the cock ring and toss it somewhere aside. The blond was ready to sit on the younger’s cock and ride him for real, but as soon as the tip of Jeongguk’s cock is enveloped by his rim, Jeongguk lets out a low groan as he cums in waves and Taehyung pulls back in time for the cum to only land on the surface of his hole and drizzle down his thighs.

“So sensitive… I edged you for too long, didn’t I, babe?” Taehyung said, stroking Jeongguk’s cock throughout his orgasm until the younger finally came down from his high, pants escaping his lips as he tries to regain his conscious mind after that hard climax. The blond leans down and pecks his parted lips gently, “You up for one more? Or should we call it a night?”

Jeongguk pants a bit more and then shakes his head, tipping his chin up to capture Taehyung’s lips in a deeper kiss. “I still wanna fuck you like I promised, kitten,” he said against his lips, “Just give me minute, okay?”

In the meantime, Taehyung decides fetch the condom and lube from the bedside drawer, before sitting back on Jeongguk’s thighs and just barely rocking his hips against them as he unwraps the new bottle of lube and pops it open. He drizzles some on his fingers and reaches back to push them inside himself, just for the sake of getting a bit more relaxed and loosened up. He didn’t come about taking Jeongguk’s entire shaft early and no doubt it can hurt without prep because his boyfriend is pretty thick.

So Taehyung lets Jeongguk enjoy the small show, his long fingers easily finding his prostate and just pressing on it with light pressure, rubbing in a massaging motion and making his cum stained thighs quiver from pleasure. He hears the handcuffs clink against the headboard, so Taehyung looks up with a smirk to Jeongguk who had been staring at him this entire time, through a rather hazy vision.

“Fucking hell, just sit on my cock already,” Jeongguk groans, already getting worked up by his boyfriend without even being touched. Taehyung lets out a breathless laugh, grabbing for the condom with his free hand and then tearing it open with his teeth. Whilst still thrusting the fingers inside his wanton hole, he grabs the condom and rolls it down his boyfriend’s cock with no difficulty.

“What an overachiever you are,” Jeongguk drags and Taehyung hums as he finally pulls his fingers out and then wraps it around the younger’s cock to spread some lube on it, but he was far too impatient to put this off any longer. The blond positions himself again, his back turned to Jeongguk this time, and then slowly lowers himself down, feeling inch after inch of Jeongguk’s member brush against his sensitive walls and having him let out a shudder breath.

Jeongguk licks his lips as he watched this, whole body already tensing up when he experiences Taehyung’s welcoming heat so steadily. It really doesn’t take much for him to become hard again, especially with the sight of Taehyung’s hole so eagerly swallowing his cock and with no hesitance or difficulty to it. The way the older male arches his back and his entire body trembles is absolutely breathtaking.

“So cruel… at least let me see your pretty face, kitten,” Jeongguk groans once Taehyung’s ass presses against his groin and he just slowly rolls his hips to get used to the intrusion inside of him, little breathy moans escaping him. Once hearing his lover speak, Taehyung looks at him over his shoulder and that pleading look in his eyes, accompanied by that stupidly attractive smirk makes Jeongguk want to fuck him into oblivion (well, more than he usually wants, that is).

“Hmm… perhaps I tortured you enough for today,” Taehyung said, twisting his body uncomfortably to manage to reach the handcuffs to undo them, but he does eventually manage.

As soon as Jeongguk’s hands are free, he straightens up and presses his chest to Taehyung’s back, his fingers gripping possessively at the blond’s hips and he buried his nose into his neck, kissing his every inch of exposed skin he could manage. Damn, this felt so good after he’d been restrained for so long.

“J-Jeongguk, I– ah!” Taehyung moans, as Jeongguk lifts him up by his hips and then slams him back down on his cock, making calculated thrusts, hard enough to drive Taehyung crazy.

“Rock those hips, come on, kitten.”

Jeongguk’s voice is encouraging and Taehyung whimpers as he complies, sliding up and down his boyfriend’s cock once his hips are released from the tight grip they were held in. Jeongguk’s hand splays across his stomach and the other plays with his nipple, tugging the hard bud while teasing his ear between his teeth. Taehyung’s mind is going completely blank, only leaving an urge deep in his gut.

Taehyung whines suddenly, unsatisfied.

“Want your control back, kitten?” Jeongguk whispers into his ear and from his position, Taehyung can only nod a little. Some other day, he’ll be content with Jeongguk fucking him like this, pressing their bodies together as he drives him insane from pleasure, but Taehyung has different plans for today.

“We’ll do it like that, then, but let me see your pretty face this time, okay?” Jeongguk said before he leans back into the bed, hands drifting back to Taehyung’s hips. The blond scoffs and pushes them away, pulling off his cock so he could turn around and face his lover. He keeps their gazes locked together as he sinks himself down on Jeongguk’s cock.

The dancer groans, eyes watching as Taehyung takes no time to rest and immediately starts riding him. Jeongguk can only admire the way Taehyung’s thighs strain around him, his glistening tan skin making Jeongguk salivate. Gosh, Taehyung is always so beautiful, so perfect– but there really is no sexual experience in Jeongguk’s mind that can rival the sight alone of Taehyung riding his cock.

The room gets filled with their groans and moans, accompanied by the lewd sounds of skin slapping against skin and the squelching of lube. Taehyung’s deep moans sound so sultry and inviting, Jeongguk barely pushes his hips up to accommodate, but he lets Taehyung do whatever he seems most fit. It’s not like he can complain when his boyfriend is being as dominant as he likes.

Noticing the hesitance, the blond licks his lips and then places his hands on Jeongguk’s chest. He leans down to press their lips together and flicks his finger against Jeongguk’s nipple piercing, causing his boyfriend to groan into his mouth.

“Fuck me as you would like, come on,” Taehyung whispers, lips ghosting over each other as he takes Jeongguk’s hands and guides them to his ass, “Pleasure you baby boy, would you?”

Needing to further encouragement, Jeongguk’s strong hands squeeze Taehyung’s asscheeks, groping them as he guides his cock in and out of the blond with no more restraint. Taehyung buries his head in Jeongguk’s neck as the younger fucks him hard and steady – after all of the position switching and edging, it’s bound for both of them to cum pretty soon at that point.

“J-Just there, ah! Fuck, I’m gonna cum, keep going, keep going…” Taehyung chants over and over, his whole body going completely numb with their bodies pressed so close together and his cock rubbing up Jeongguk’s abs, he needs no more friction than to reach down and press a finger against the head before he finishes all over himself.

Jeongguk fucks him throughout his orgasm and he eventually reaches his own, filling the condom up as he rides it out and Taehyung holds on, waiting for Jeongguk to cease his thrusts. He kisses his boyfriend once he does, staying like that for a minute so both of them could catch their breaths. Taehyung eventually gets off – he goes to be the one that gets the condom off and throws it away.

“How about you get the shower ready? I’ll quickly change the sheets,” the blond suggests and Jeongguk nods, getting out of bed immediately – after all, aftercare is something both of them really love and it’s not gonna be missed because they’re simply tired. Jeongguk goes to the bathroom to get the shower running and Taehyung changes the dirty sheets up for new ones.

Once Taehyung enters the bathroom, Jeongguk is already in the shower. Taehyung smiles, throwing the dirty sheets in the washing bin and then cleaning the toys they used in the sink – he eventually sets them aside on a towel so they could dry while they get clean. He gets in the shower with Jeongguk, humming in satisfaction of warm watering hitting him.

Even if Jeongguk likes cold showers usually, he keeps them warm when taking them with Taehyung. The shower is big enough for them to have enough space, kissing and giggling as they shampoo each other’s hair and clean each other up. Jeongguk cleans Taehyung, rubbing flower scented shampoo into his skin and then cleaning his hole of any extra lube.

“Hm, I like how you always smell so pretty and comforting,” Jeongguk had hummed as he kissed the small mole on Taehyung’s nose and the blond giggled as he blushed at the compliment.

Taehyung ran his hands across Jeongguk’s body, admiring every crevice of muscle and every inch of skin that is covered with tattoo ink. With admiration in his eyes, he eventually takes Jeongguk’s hands and kisses the red circles around his wrists that are left there from the handcuffs. It’s silent appreciation and comfort that has Jeongguk hold Taehyung even closer.

They get out of the shower once the water starts going cold and tap themselves dry with the towels. They switch the hair dryer between them and eventually stumble back to the bedroom. Taehyung puts the toys back in their place and then suggests food, which is something Jeongguk can’t decline.

“Can we get pizza, please?” Taehyung pleads with phone clutched in his hands, knowing his boyfriend usually avoids all of junk food for the purpose of maintaining his figure for the sport he’s playing, but he doesn’t think it hurts to get loose once in a (big) while.

Jeongguk hums from his place on the couch, switching through the channels on the TV and trying to find a suitable movie for them to watch. “Sure. Get some fried chicken and cola with that too, would you?” He said and Taehyung grins delightfully, dialing up the closest fast food restaurant he can think of to place their orders in.

About half an hour later, the two of them are on the couch with their foods and drinks scattered across the table in front of them. They were watching some random romantic comedy they stumbled upon, but Taehyung was currently more focused on examining Jeongguk’s biceps and forearms.

“You know,” he says suddenly, fingers reaching out to trace the colored tattoo on Jeongguk’s arm, “When I first saw you on campus, I remember you were wearing these pink timbs with a white shirt and this tattoo really caught my eye.”

Jeongguk raises an eyebrow at this, as this is the first time he’s hearing about it. “Really?” He asks, a bit surprised. Taehyung chuckles and nods a little. “You never told me which tattoos are your most important ones,” he says, biting his lip in hopes this isn’t a boundary that he crossed.

“You never asked,” Jeongguk says, “I have a lot of small tattoos and not all of them have very deep meanings, but I guess– I mean, if you want, I call tell you the meanings of a few important ones that I have?”

Taehyung smiles wide and nods. Jeongguk feels a smile of his own tug at his lips and then he reaches for his old shirt, tugging it up while simultaneously pulling his basketball shorts down to reveal the rose tattoo he has on his left hipbone. It takes up most of the space on the left side of his pelvis, beautiful green leaves stretching out of a peach colored rose.

“It’s an ode to my grandparents,” Jeongguk says, voice gone soft, “They basically raised me and I loved to spend time at their house when I was little. They always had a garden full of roses that both of them took care of and I always admired that, although I pricked myself on them one too many times.”

Taehyung chuckles faintly and Jeongguk smiles as he lets his lover trace fingers across the rose tattoo. “I got this when my grandfather passed away,” he says, “Peach colored roses symbolize appreciation, a way to say thank you to someone. I got it on my skin permanently because I always need to remember to be thankful for my grandparents. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”

Taehyung smiles – it’s really warming his heart to hear that. Because despite tattoos being associated with troubled youth, gangs and convicts, Jeongguk has a soft approach to what he likes and it’s like some sort of vulnerability and sensitivity to his hard exterior.

Jeongguk tugs his shirt further up to show Taehyung the word he has tattooed on the left side of his chest. The blond leans in to inspect it further – the word is written in Hangul and it almost looks handwritten by Jeongguk himself, below which was a bow with no arrow. Upon reading what the word says, his lips quirk up into a smile.

“Crow-tit, huh?” He smiles amusedly.

“I prefer the term baepsae,” Jeongguk chuckles, “You know the idiom, right? ‘If a crow-tit walks like a stork, it will tear it’s legs.’ It’s been something I’ve been hearing ever since I know of myself. I was called a weakling, a disappointment to my family because I ‘gave up’ on children, on marriage, on employment. I was told to try hard, put in effort and effort and it was borderline sounding like mockery.”

“Oh yeah, especially with what they like to call passion pay,” Taehyung drawls with a sigh, “It’s just a justification of the elders not to pay for the work the youngsters do because ‘the youth should have enough passion to work for free.’ It’s bullshit, I swear to god. They expect us to do the same things as the older generations, but they don’t care that they had it easier economically.”

“The comparisons to spoons also drive me crazy,” Jeongguk groans, shaking his head, “It’s like it’s my fault that I wasn’t born as a golden spoon. They kept calling me a soil spoon or a baepsae, so I thought ‘fuck it’ and got it tattooed on. Keeps me going every single day.”

Taehyung laughs lightly and then leans in to kiss Jeongguk appreciatively. They talked about this subject before and raged over the inequality, but Taehyung didn’t realize Jeongguk had a tattoo dedicated to that. It seems to fit somehow – a small rebellion for the words that haunted him ever since he was a child. It’s a bit ironic that it’s in a form of a tattoo, though – something the elder generations have quite a distaste for.

Jeongguk pulls away with a smile and then turns his back to Taehyung. He takes his shirt off completely because it will be easier that way and Taehyung gulps at the sight off all the ink of Jeongguk’s back, although the young dancer pats his hand on his right shoulder blade. Taehyung tries not to get distracted by the small diamond Jeongguk has tattooed on his nape and focuses his eyes on where Jeongguk wanted them.

“This one,” he informs him to pay attention to the tattoo which appears to be a small landscape of a storm with dark clouds and thunders, as well as rain and stars. It was done so beautifully, the colors gorgeous on Jeongguk’s skin and it didn’t look like it was too much or too sloppy, “I’m sure you can guess why I got this one.”

Taehyung’s fingers trace the tattoo and he seems to be in awe for a moment. “You love the sky,” he says eventually, “You grandmother used to say that you were born in a thunderstorm, no? And you like rain too, because it’s relaxing, but… why the stars?”

Jeongguk lets out a soft chuckle at that. “Stars are interesting,” he said, “It’s fascinating to think that some of the stars we see in the sky may already be dead because they took so long to travel here. And as you said, I really like the sky – the stars fall into that too.”

“And the person in the sky?” the blond begins, referring to the flying figure that is painted with a slight tint of green to them, “It looks like Peter Pan.”

“That’s because it is,” Jeongguk chuckles, “When I was a kid, I somewhat admired him. The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up was my favorite book at that age.”

Taehyung hums in understanding and then sets his eyes on another tattoo on Jeongguk’s lower back. “This one is also with stars, no?” He said, reaching out to trace it, but Jeongguk is turning back around before he can do that.

“It’s the constellation of Virgo, my birth sign,” Jeongguk explained, stretching out his right forearm to Taehyung upside down to show him the insides of his wrist. There, he rubs the pad of his finger against a familiar tattoo. Taehyung takes his hand and brings it closer to look at the small tattoo.

“This is the yang,” Jeongguk said, “They say it represents brightness, passion and growth – those are the things I wish to never lose in my life. When I first got it, people would ask me where the other part is– referring to the yin, I guess. The idea is that the opposite forces complement each other, so everyone would say that there is no point in just getting the yang, because it’s nothing without the yin. I believe in individuality, however, as much as fellowship.”

Taehyung leans his head on Jeongguk’s shoulder, humming softly. “Another person can be that yin to you, perhaps,” he said and he knows Jeongguk is smiling without even having to see it on his face, “I like the tattoos that seem to be complimentary to something else. Is the O tattoo that you have on your ankle the same?”

Jeongguk wraps his arms around him, tight and protective. “In a an X to my O kind of way? Maybe,” he said.

The blond reaches around until he grabs the spot on Jeongguk’s right arm, just above his elbow. “You have your King of Spades tattoo here, right?” He mutters, even if both of them know he doesn’t need to ask for confirmation. Regardless to that, Jeongguk nods with Taehyung’s head tucked beneath his chin. “I like that one. It suits you because you are self-disciplined and hard-working. You shoulder tremendous responsibility and thrive for success in life. Which I know you will achieve.”

Jeongguk’s hold tightens around him at those words, as a silent thank you when he kisses the top of Taehyung’s blond head. He told him about that tattoo before – the one he get when he was only nineteen and it’s of a capital K with a black spade beneath it and a crown above it; a representation of the King of Spades, so to say. A thriving dream, a thriving lifestyle that he wishes to have one day.

“By the way,” Taehyung said as he pulls back for a moment, then reaches to touch the inside of Jeongguk’s left bicep, “Is this a Joker tattoo?”

Jeongguk lets out a stifled laugh and taps his hand over the tattoo, interlocking his fingers with Taehyung’s. “Oh, yeah. But that’s cause I’m a giant nerd and this is the reason why,” he explains, “That’s why I was a bit amused when I heard you were Harley Quinn for Halloween. Seems like your costume then is quite famous around campus.”

Taehyung snorts and rolls his eyes a bit at that. “Well, I did show up without a Joker, so,” he drags, touching Jeongguk’s lap with a smile, “This year, I can go back as Harley, since they seemed to love it that much. And you can tag along as my Joker.”

Jeongguk beams at that, leaning in to kiss the corner of Taehyung’s mouth. “I like the sound of that,” he says, more excited by the seeming promise that they’ll stay together up to that point and maybe even longer. Or, well, it sounded like a promise at least.

Taehyung’s fingers soothingly rub into the inside of Jeongguk’s right wrist, across the heartbeat line tattoo he has there. He finds it all so complimenting, all of it – the small key tattoo Jeongguk has on the side of his middle finger, the small cage on the side of his wrist or the to the two thin lines circling around his ring finger like a commitment. All of it seemed like Jeongguk should have a person that has complementing tattoos to his.

But Taehyung doesn’t have any tattoos on his body. However, he likes to think that he’s covered with them in another life.

Trying to ease his mind, the blond grins a bit suddenly. “Also, that lion tattoo that you got on your arm is pretty sick,” he said.

Jeongguk grins too, flexing his right arm proudly and tapping his bicep from his newly done lion tattoo. “It’s my pride and bravery,” he says and Taehyung laughs a bit. Jeongguk goes out to pay a good amount of money for his tattoos and they always end up looking really professional – the lion head is accompanied by three vertical scratches that look like they were made with claws of a beast.

“I like animal tattoos,” Jeongguk said, “I have a stag tattoo on my thigh, as well.”

“All I’m getting from your animal tattoos is that you’re a Harry Potter fan,” Taehyung jokes and earns a smile from his boyfriend, “I never got around to asking, but– well, you like most of your tattoos to be in color, right?”

“It seems off for me, doesn’t it?” The younger male said and Taehyung nods a little, “I’ve been told so, before. Well, to be fair, my entire closet consists of white, black, denim and different shades of grey – it’s kinda off for someone as monotone as me to be that colorful with tattoos, but I think that’s why I like them that way? I like my color permanent and my aesthetic complementing to it.”

“That makes sense,” Taehyung affirms with a nod, although he is more impressed than his words might give off. Jeongguk was a lot more personal with his tattoos than he might give off, that’s for sure. And Taehyung liked the style they were done in – minimalist looking outlines, but with a warm color splash.

“The last two tattoos that mean a lot to me are the ones on the back of my thighs– you saw them, you know which ones I mean,” Jeongguk added and Taehyung nods. The younger male is referring to the two triangles he has on each of his thigh. On his left one, the triangle is turned upside down and filled with a sun that blasts out rays of light; the right triangle has a road that is surrounded by pine trees and disappears between two mountains.

“Well, those represent fire and earth for me,” Jeongguk explained, “At first, I wanted it to be one tattoo, with the fire one above the earth on– I had in mind that together they would like, form a rhombus shape or whatnot. But I kept them separate, because... well, the fire is representing my passionate spirit and the earth represents the strength of my body to carry that passion out. But it’s not like they can’t exist without each other– I guess I just like the idea of individuality.”

“It suits you. I really like your tattoos.”

Taehyung smiles, warm and welcoming and then pulls Jeongguk into a soft kiss. They have leftover pizza and friend chicken on the table, the TV is still playing the movie in the background; they are almost six months into their relationship and just at the end of their school year – it can’t be more beautifully imperfect than it already is, as they sit here in their old clothes and just kiss each other fervently on the couch.

The blond pulls back and smiles wider at his lover, contented.

“I kind of really like you, as well,” Taehyung says and it earns him a chuckle from Jeongguk, who pulls him closer for a softer peck on the lips.

“I kind of really like you, too.”

The only tattoo that Taehyung missed on Jeongguk’s body is a red string behind his ear. Maybe it represents his belief in fate.

■ ◌ ■ the end ■ ◌ ■