Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jimin was the last one to join their team for the Sowoozoo mission; before he did, the higher-ups asked Taehyung what he thought of him.

It was nice to be asked his opinion, although Taehyung was aware that this was a test for him, as well. So he said that Park Jimin's cartography skills were top-notch and a good complement to Jeon Jungkook's, and that for a long-term exploratory mission, he would be very glad to have him on their team.

What he did not say was:

He makes me crazy, and we're likely to have another knock-down, drag-out fight by day three of being trapped in the caravan vehicle together.

Or:

He's bossy, and needs a lot of attention, and he cares so, so much about doing his best.

Nor did he say:

He's so beautiful, and so kind, and I have vivid daydreams about biting his perfect lower lip and then marrying him on every planet I possibly can.

Taehyung did absolutely mean all of those things, though.

They perhaps got off on the wrong foot when they first met, back on base while Taehyung was already on the Bangtan team, preparing for their first long-term exploration mission, and Jimin was waiting for his next assignment. There was a disagreement that was sort of about dumplings, but really about alleged disrespect toward the older members of Bangtan. It ended with them yelling at each other and being asked to take it outside. By the time they stomped away from each other, Taehyung was furious, and also felt a niggling sense that Jimin might have had a point or two, and then was even more furious about that.

It wasn't his finest hour, and Seokjin did chastise him afterward.

"Kid, if you're going to explore space, you're going to have to accept that some people have different ideas, and you're going to have to work with them anyway," Seokjin said, and ruffled his hair. "You know he's a candidate for Sowoozoo. You'd better bury the hatchet in case he gets picked."

"He started it," Taehyung said sulkily.

"But you escalated it," Seokjin said. "You're an adult. A full-fledged member of this agency. Act like it, will you?"

Taehyung wasn't good at this part, but he had been on teams before, and he knew what he was supposed to do. Well, what he was actually supposed to do was show up with a bottle of booze, but he'd never really cared for alcohol, and so instead, he brought one of his carefully hoarded containers of tea leaves and pressed the buzzer to Jimin's dorm room. He didn't even know whether Jimin would be there, but he was in luck, because Jimin answered the door, and miraculously, although there were two sets of bunk beds in that room, they were alone.

"Hi," Jimin said cautiously. His expression was guarded, but he didn't look like he was about to close the door in Taehyung's face, so that was something.

"Jimin-ssi," Taehyung said, and gritted his teeth before bowing his head. "I'm sorry about the other day," he said. "I was out of line."

"Oh," Jimin said, sounding surprised. "Oh, Taehyung-ssi, that's not—you don't have to—"

Taehyung straightened up, and held out the container of tea leaves.

Jimin's eyes widened. "I'm the one who should apologize," he said. "I shouldn't have assumed that your team would find your actions disrespectful." He bit his lower lip. It was, Taehyung noticed suddenly, very full. "I'm new to the agency, and I have a lot to learn. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Taehyung said, aware that he was doing the thing that his teammates had told him he probably shouldn't, which was stare without blinking. He didn't think he could stop himself, though. "Would you like some tea?"

And then Jimin smiled at him, and Taehyung felt both of his hearts thump.

Jimin made them tea, and Taehyung continued to stare: at his small hands, at the graceful way he moved, at the way his eyes closed when he laughed. Jimin waited patiently for Taehyung to get his thoughts out, and didn't look at him weirdly when he got his wires crossed between Korean Standard and the nonvocal language of his mother's people.

Taehyung stayed longer than he meant to, longer than was probably polite, but Jimin hadn't looked uncomfortable. If anything, he had looked almost eager, as focused on Taehyung as Taehyung had been on him.

He told Hoseok that later, and Hoseok had smiled sympathetically. "He's new out here, and you remember how hard that is," Hoseok said. "He's probably lonely."

They did end up seeing a lot of each other on shift, because Jimin was cross-training with Yoongi, which meant he was usually scheduled with Bangtan. And that was how Taehyung learned that Jimin was a hard worker, and a perfectionist. Which, generally speaking, was something you wanted in a cartographer, unless you enjoyed being stranded on alien worlds.

It did kind of make Taehyung feel like a slacker, though. Jimin never settled for good enough—he would stay late, running and re-running simulations, after even Yoongi called it quits. Taehyung watched him do this for two weeks straight, and then absolutely lost his patience.

"Jimin-ssi," Taehyung said, as the rest of the team was getting ready to go off-shift.

Jimin was focused on a simulation, doing quick calculations that were far more math than Taehyung had ever wanted to know anything about. There was a reason that he was the flora and fauna expert and not remotely involved in navigation.

"Jimin-ssi," Taehyung tried again. "Come get dinner with us."

"Oh," Jimin said, blinking up at him with bleary eyes. "Please, go on ahead, I just want to finish this—"

"It'll still be here tomorrow," Taehyung said. "You've got to be hungry, right?"

Jimin darted a glance at the rest of Bangtan, already gathered at the door. "I don't want to intrude," he said softly.

"You're not intruding," Taehyung said. "I'm asking." And he knew he was staring again, but he couldn't look away from the tentative hope on Jimin's face. Taehyung held out a hand, and Jimin looked at it for a long moment, before delicately accepting it. It was impossible to miss how well Jimin's hand fit in his own.

So that was how Jimin started coming to dinner with Bangtan every night. There were a few other candidates who came sometimes as well, but none as regularly as Jimin, who also sat next to Taehyung every time, without fail.

So Taehyung thought they were doing pretty well, actually. That was what made their second fight that much worse.

His last team was on base for a bit before heading out to their next assignment. Taehyung had spent three months with the Hwarang team, not entirely for his actual area of expertise, but because they were coordinating with another team of researchers, and they needed a translator as well.

So he'd gotten used to having his tentacles out around them. He'd needed to, in order to translate. And nobody on the team looked at him like he was a freak, and soon it felt second nature to have his tentacles out in a way that he generally did only with his family or when he was alone.

So he was really not prepared for Jimin to get upset when Taehyung beckoned him over to meet his former team.

It was thoughtless—he introduced them by waving at them with one of his tentacles, and his team laughed at one of the in-jokes he'd taught them in his mother's nonvocal native language, and Jimin's expression went from shocked to increasingly upset.

"Is something wrong?" Taehyung finally asked, a little upset himself, because he'd honestly expected better of Jimin. Was seeing his tentacles so much different from knowing he had them?

Jimin opened his mouth, and then closed it. His face was red, and he was a little choked up when he said, "We’ve been training together for a month, I thought—"

"What?" Taehyung snapped.

"Nothing," Jimin said miserably, and then excused himself and left without saying anything else.

Taehyung was not prepared for how much that stung. He was also not prepared for the judgmental looks from his Hwarang team.

"What?" he said defensively.

"Buddy," Minho said, both eyebrows raised in disbelief. "He didn't know you were half-Tata?"

"He knew," Taehyung protested, but when he thought about it, he wasn't exactly sure. He thought it was common knowledge, because most people knew about his mission with Hwarang. But it wasn't like he went around advertising it, and he looked human enough until he brought out his tentacles.

"That did not look like he knew," Minho said gently.

Taehyung slumped in his seat. "Fuck," he said. Jimin, after all, was new to base, and genuinely might have had no idea.

"You gotta go talk to him," Seojoon said.

"What's he so upset for, anyway," Taehyung muttered. "I thought we were friends."

"So did he, I'm pretty sure," Minho said. "If you want to stay friends, you should go after him."

Taehyung huffed, hurt and prickly and a tiny bit ashamed, and went to find Jimin. Jimin was nowhere Taehyung expected, and finally, in desperation, he went to Namjoon and Yoongi's lab to see if either of them had seen him.

He slowed to a stop outside the door when he heard Jimin's voice. "He doesn't have to tell me anything," Jimin was saying. "I'm not even on the team. It doesn't matter, they could send me home next week, anyway."

"They're not sending you home," Yoongi said firmly. "You think cartographers like you grow on trees?"

There was a pause, and a sniffle. Fuck, he'd made Jimin cry.

"He must think I'm the worst," Jimin said. "I couldn't even say anything, I was so surprised, and it seemed like—like his real friends knew, and I just stared, like a newbie who's never been to space before."

"You are a newbie who's never been to space before," Yoongi said dryly.

"Hyung!" Jimin protested, with a choked, wet-sounding laugh. Jealousy bloomed in Taehyung; since when were they close enough for Jimin to call Yoongi familiarly? Jimin was Taehyung's friend, first and foremost.

But Taehyung didn't call him familiarly; he didn't tell him about an entire half of himself. Jimin must have wondered if they were even friends at all.

Taehyung knocked on the door, and held his breath.

"What?" Yoongi hollered, because he enjoyed acting semi-feral, in between doting on every member of Bangtan and every stray candidate who came his way.

Taehyung exhaled, and opened the door. "I was looking for Jimin-ssi," he said.

"Congratulations, you've found him," Yoongi said with his typical sarcasm, but the look in his eyes warned Taehyung to tread carefully.

Jimin was sitting next to Yoongi on a ratty couch that had probably been shuffled between five different labs before ending up here. His eyes and nose were red; he'd really been crying.

"Jimin-ssi, can we talk?" Taehyung asked, feeling like his hearts were twisting.

Jimin nodded and wiped his nose again with a tissue before getting to his feet, and following Taehyung out into the hallway.

"Jimin-ssi," Taehyung started, and then stopped, because he had no idea what to say.

"I'm sorry," Jimin blurted out. "I didn't mean to—I was just surprised. You don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want to." His hands were twisting in front of him, and it was one of the closest analogs to Tata—both conveyed upset. He wanted to reach out with his tentacles and hold Jimin's hands, stroking them softly until Jimin was soothed.

"It's not because I didn't want to tell you," Taehyung said, and now he was on the verge of tearing up, himself. "I just—everyone else knows. I thought you did, too."

"I didn't!" Jimin said, and his lashes were damp, and his face was blotchy, and Taehyung knew he was staring again, but he couldn't bear to look away, and Jimin was looking right back. "I swear to you, I didn't. And I don't have a problem, I promise, I like you just the way you are—"

"Jimin-ah," Taehyung dared to say, so tenderly he felt like he might shatter into pieces. "Can we start over? My name is Kim Taehyung, I'm half-Tata, and I grew up in Daegu. I have six tentacles, and two hearts, and I'd really like to be your friend."

He let just one of his tentacles peek over his shoulder. And Jimin looked at it, not in fear, but in wonder. He reached out toward it with one hand, and then paused. "Is it okay to touch?" he asked anxiously.

"You can touch," Taehyung managed to say around the sudden dryness in his mouth.

Jimin brushed a fingertip lightly against his tentacle, which in turn coiled around his palm, and anyone who could understand Tata would know that Taehyung liked him so, so much.

Jimin looked back up into Taehyung's eyes, and he said, "My name is Park Jimin. I'm from Busan, and I'm nothing special, but I'd really like to be your friend, too."

Taehyung pulled him into a desperate hug that was probably close to too tight for humans, but Jimin didn't say a word and just hugged him back, curling his fingers gently around his tentacle, and Taehyung thought that he wanted to stay just like this, for a very long time.

Jimin did not get sent home; he was the last member assigned to the Bangtan team. Taehyung had hoped, of course, but it wasn't up to him. When Jimin came to see him with the news, Taehyung had whooped in joy and lifted him into a hug, his tentacles sneaking out to brush against Jimin's hands and his hair.

With the team assignment settled, they were sent out in short order. The first planet that they were exploring necessitated a ground vehicle due to a variety of unusual atmospheric phenomena. Taehyung had paid attention to that part of the briefing, because it was of professional interest when considering how the planet's flora and fauna had adapted to it, but he didn't really stop to think about the practical implications until they were on the planet itself.

The caravan vehicle was relatively spacious, considering some of the missions Taehyung had been on before. But once you crammed seven people into that space, with only themselves for company for at least the next sixty rotations of the planet, not to mention the strong possibility that it might not be safe to exit the caravan for days at a time, it was probably closer to claustrophobic.

But there was nothing to be done about it. The one bright spot was that they played rock-paper-scissors for the curtained-off two-person bunk at the back, and Taehyung won. Four members would sleep in the seating area in the middle of the van that converted into a large bed, and one person would be on watch.

Taehyung also won the right to choose his bedmate, to general groans of disbelief.

"That's not fair," Jungkook groused, because he was a very sore loser. "We all know he's going to pick Jimin-hyung."

Jimin still managed to look pleased and surprised when Taehyung held out a hand for him. Taehyung pulled him into a hug, and stuck his tongue out at Jungkook over Jimin's head.

Jimin offered Taehyung the choice of whether to sleep next to the wall or the curtain, and didn't fuss when Taehyung said that he wanted the curtain-side, even though that would mean that Jimin would have to crawl over him if he wanted to get out of bed in the middle of the night.

On their first night in the bunk together, they took companionable turns washing up before going to bed.

"Cold," Jimin complained, his teeth chattering in his standard-issue pajamas, which were a little big on him. Both of the planet's suns had set, and the temperature outside had plunged. It wasn't a problem for the front of the caravan, but the ventilation in the back was shitty on this vehicle model.

"Come on," Taehyung said, and ushered Jimin to the bunk with a hand on his back.

Jimin scooted in first, and held the blanket open for Taehyung, and Taehyung wasted no time crawling in and then making sure the bunk curtains were shut. It wasn't full blackout, but it was good enough.

Jimin held out for at least five minutes before he said in a small voice, "Taehyung-ah? Would you mind—would it be okay if—"

Taehyung opened his arms, and Jimin snuggled in almost immediately, and then sighed contentedly.

Jimin smelled of orange blossoms from Earth, and he fit perfectly in Taehyung's arms, and his hair was soft where it tickled Taehyung's chin.

Before he fell asleep, Taehyung had the presence of mind to say, "Jimin-ah, just so you know, my tentacles might come out while I'm asleep."

"I don't mind," Jimin said drowsily, eyes already closed.

Taehyung hoped that was true, and that his tentacles behaved themselves.

He woke up with a few tentacles wrapped around Jimin, under the covers for warmth, but not inside Jimin's pajamas, which he was very thankful for. Jimin was in fact cuddling one tentacle and drooling on it, a little.

It was definitely a novelty. The people Taehyung typically slept with didn't stick around until morning, and outside of sex, seemed ambivalent about his tentacles at best. Jimin treated them like delicate woodland creatures, which really made Taehyung wonder what the hell he'd found when he probably did a Tata research deep dive after their fight. If he'd found videos titled, "Tata tentacles annihilate twink's hole!", he was keeping that very close to the vest.

Taehyung really needed to not be thinking about hole, specifically Jimin's, while spooning him. He would move away, but again, Jimin was still cuddling one of his tentacles. One of the bigger ones. The kind that was featured in videos about twinks' holes.

Fortunately, Jimin woke up, then. "Oh," he said, looking charmingly embarrassed. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to drool on you."

"Don't worry about it," Taehyung managed to say as Jimin tried to wipe the tentacle dry with the cuff of his pajama sleeve. It was so cute and so sweet that it made Taehyung want to scream into a pillow.

The early days of their exploration weren't that exciting, largely because they couldn't leave the vehicle safely, and Jimin and Jungkook were entirely occupied with mapping their progress and the next leg of their journey. The topography was both unexpected and frustrating, apparently.

Taehyung had already made the decision to treat Bangtan like family, and use his tentacles around them. So he petted Jimin's hair with one during dinner, and curled another around Jungkook's waist.

Nobody really remarked on it, although Seokjin did look at him with some interest. "Can you use chopsticks with them?" he asked.

Taehyung shook his head. "Only like, the training kind for little kids. And I still drop stuff."

"I suppose opposable thumbs have their advantages," Seokjin said, and that was that.

In bed that night, he brought out his tentacles before he went to sleep. "Is this okay?" he murmured to Jimin.

"Yeah," Jimin said with a contented sigh.

Taehyung dared to wrap one arm around Jimin's waist, too, and had to move one of his tentacles out of the way in order to do so. It must have moved a little lower down Jimin's hips than he was expecting, because he gasped a little, but didn't move away.

Taehyung scooted it a little further back up toward his waist, just the same.

Taehyung had never fucked a teammate when on a mission before. He had only been on short-term ones, where there was either no one he was interested in, or no one with whom he was willing to roll the dice on the tentacle situation.

There was definitely fucking already happening on this mission, though, if the sounds from the big bed in the center of the van were anything to go by. His Hwarang teammates had warned him about it—apparently, stuff happened on long-term missions, specifically of the hormones and feelings variety.

He was experiencing both with Jimin, which was probably why he was losing his mind when Jimin started giving the tentacle closest to his mouth a peck in the morning when he woke up.

The tentacle in question always curled up in Taehyung's helpless delight. So what if he had the bluest balls in existence? Jimin cared about him, tentacles and all. He was over the moon with just this.

He did jerk off in the shower every morning, though. And then discreetly complained to Namjoon about his situation while they were cataloging local plant life.

"Taehyung-ah," Namjoon said with a sigh, "literally everyone knows about tentacle porn. There's no way Jimin doesn't know what you're bringing to the proverbial table. I think he just doesn't know that you've set a place for him. Metaphorically speaking."

Taehyung scowled at a perfectly nice plant that was probably only a little bit carnivorous.

"Have you tried asking him?" Namjoon said, which was rude and also hypocritical, because from what Taehyung had been able to ascertain, Namjoon had been propositioned for all big bed assignations, not the other way around.

"What if he doesn't want to?" Taehyung moaned in despair. "Hyung, he's my best friend and—and I think he could be my soulmate. What if he hates me?"

"He's not going to hate you."

"How do you know?" Taehyung groused. "You have four people tripping to get on your dick. Everyone wants you. It's not the same. This is the love of my life we are talking about, who I want to bone extremely respectfully with as many or as few tentacles as he wants."

Namjoon gave him a look. "Have you considered writing him a song?" he said gravely.

"Hyung!" he shrieked in outrage, and then Namjoon cracked up, and composed an annoyingly good rap on the topic, right off the cuff, which only infuriated Taehyung more.

He did his best to memorize it, though, in case it came in handy.

Jimin came with Taehyung sometimes on his plant-cataloging adventures. Mostly Taehyung thought it was just to get out of the van, but he didn't mind. He liked having Jimin with him while he rambled about the cool local flora. He also tried very hard to pay attention when Jimin talked to him about his own work, but mostly he just nodded, tried to ask reasonable questions, and then admired how very smart Jimin was. And then told him how smart he was, for the pleasure of seeing Jimin's cheeks go pink.

Sometimes, he held Jimin's hand to help him cross uneven terrain. On more than one occasion, he caught Jimin with several of his tentacles when he stumbled. Jimin patted his tentacles afterwards and thanked Taehyung; Taehyung's tentacles said in reply, I love you I love you I love you.

Taehyung wasn't sure if or how it would have changed if they hadn't both woken up in the middle of the night due to some very enthusiastic sounds coming from the middle of the van. Jimin was facing Taehyung when he opened his eyes, and he looked like he'd been awake for a while.

"I might need to get up," Jimin whispered apologetically, with a rueful twist to his lips.

Taehyung could feel how hard Jimin was against his thigh.

"Or you could stay," Taehyung offered, heart in his throat.

Jimin stared at him, and there was enough light for Taehyung to see the uncertainty in his expression. "You want me to jerk off here?"

Faint heart never won fair cartographer twink, Taehyung thought. "I'd like to jerk you off. And, um. Maybe use a tentacle on you. If you're into that."

Jimin licked his lips, which had been driving Taehyung absolutely insane since almost the moment they met. And then, incredibly, improbably, Jimin asked, "Can I jerk you off, too?"

"I am extremely okay with that," Taehyung said in a rush.

There was an awkward moment between them, and then Jimin said shyly, "Do we need lube, or, um. Is it true that your tentacles, you know—" he swallowed audibly. "Self-lubricate."

The tentacle resting on Jimin's lower back leaked out a little slick at the mere mention, and Jimin's eyes went wide.

"We don't need lube," Taehyung confirmed in a hoarse whisper.

"I didn't want to assume," Jimin said, just a little defensive.

"And I love you for that," Taehyung said impulsively, and then kissed Jimin before his brain caught up with what he'd said, and thought, fuck it. Because Jimin's lips were just as soft as he'd imagined, and moved against his own eagerly, and he wasn't going to stop kissing him just because he'd inconveniently blurted out his feelings.

And then Jimin wrapped his fingers around one tentacle, his palm delicately rolling over the end and gathering up slick before gently, carefully jerking it off while still kissing Taehyung. He felt it like a warm shiver down his spine, not exactly like a hand on his dick but still very, very good.

Taehyung's tentacles weren't separate from him; they did what he wanted, and it only sometimes felt like they had a mind of their own. So the only reason for one of his tentacles working its way down the back of Jimin's pajama pants was that Taehyung wanted it to, which meant there was no excuse not to make absolutely sure this was something Jimin wanted, first.

He nibbled on Jimin's lower lip, the way he'd been fantasizing about, and it was even better than he imagined. "Jimin-ah," he murmured against Jimin's lips. "Baby, do you want—"

"It's one of the big ones, isn't it?" Jimin said breathlessly, and he did not sound alarmed by the prospect.

Taehyung nodded, and was about to offer to swap it out for one of the smaller ones, or change its trajectory altogether, when Jimin said in his ear, "Go slow, okay?"

"Fuck," Taehyung said meaningfully.

Taehyung used a few of his other tentacles to push their pajama pants and underwear out of the way, and the noise that Jimin made into his mouth at that was very, very promising. Still, he went slow, just as requested. He didn't even put a tentacle in Jimin, at first—he just petted Jimin's hole with it, and let him get used to the feeling. In the meantime, he gathered slick on his palm from a couple of tentacles, and fuck, they were already leaking so much. He wrapped his hand around Jimin's dick, spreading the slick all over his cock, learning the weight and shape of him, and he was so fucking cute, absolutely perfect in Taehyung's hand.

And then Jimin tentatively slid a hand down Taehyung's stomach. "Is there anything I should know?" he asked, and delicately touched the tip of Taehyung's dick.

"It's mostly the same as yours," Taehyung said.

Jimin looked intrigued, but instead of asking questions, he just finally put his hand on Taehyung, and fuck. His cute, small hand wrapped around Taehyung perfectly, and his grip was perfect, and then he had the absolute nerve to turn his head a little and suck the tip of the smaller tentacle he was jerking off earlier.

Taehyung groaned, and the expression on Jimin's face was pleased and a little smug, and the way he fluttered his tongue against the tip of the tentacle was so stupidly good that Taehyung couldn't think.

Jimin must have done really good research. Or he was lucky. Or both.

He was also shifting his hips back on the tentacle still playing with his hole, so Taehyung took the hint and slowly pushed the tentacle in. Jimin stopped jerking him off, and he pulled his mouth off the tentacle he'd been tonguing.

"Is it okay?" Taehyung asked worriedly. Some people didn't like it, when it came right down to it. Some people got scared. More than one night had ended abruptly after his hookup got a taste of what they thought they wanted.

"Mmm," Jimin said, and his forehead was creased in thought. "It feels different? Not bad. Just not like anything I've had before."

Taehyung exhaled in relief. He could work with different. "Tell me if you want me to slow down, or stop, okay?"

Jimin nodded, and Taehyung kissed him. He was so tight around the tentacle, and Taehyung wondered if he should maybe swap it out with a smaller one, but then again, it seemed like the newness was what Jimin was getting his head around, not the size.

He'd show Jimin that different could be very, very good.

Unlike fucking someone with his dick, he didn't have to worry about positioning with his tentacles—he could get any angle he wanted, he could rub the tentacle right against their sweet spot, and he didn't even particularly need to focus to do it. He could go back to kissing Jimin and jerking them both off together while giving Jimin as much tentacle as he wanted.

Which was a lot, if his moans were anything to go by.

Still, Taehyung wanted to be very sure Jimin was having a good time. He didn't want one night; he wanted Jimin every night, and he wasn't going to miss the chance to show Jimin exactly how good they could be together.

He experimented a little, until Jimin mewled, "Like that, oh my god, like that—" and then he kept doing that, kept jerking them off, and he could barely believe this was real, that Jimin was making helpless noises of pleasure in his ear as he touched him, inside and out. Jimin was so warm and so tight around his tentacle, and sloppy with all of the slick his very enthusiastic tentacle was pumping into him. And this was just one tentacle—he wanted to give Jimin more, give him his cock, stuff him just as full as he wanted—but that would have to wait, because Jimin whined and clenched around his tentacle as he came all over his fist.

He waited for Jimin to catch his breath, watching him anxiously. He hoped it had been good. He hoped Jimin wanted to do it again—ideally, for the rest of their lives, but definitely at least again.

"Should I pull out?" he asked quietly, stroking Jimin's hair.

Jimin opened his eyes, and his mouth looked so full and kiss-bruised in the light of the three moons that was making its way through the gaps in the curtain. He was lovely and wonderful and Taehyung desperately wanted to keep him.

"Would it make it good for you to leave it in?" Jimin asked.

No one had ever really asked him that before, and he found himself nodding a little shyly. He couldn't really orgasm from tentacle stimulation alone, but there was something very good about having them in a warm, tight, wet place when he did come.

"Then keep it in me," Jimin said, and wrapped his small hand around Taehyung's dick. "You can put another one in, too, if you want," he added as he started to jerk Taehyung off.

"Oh fuck," Taehyung breathed, and it really wasn't long after he slipped his smallest tentacle in alongside the one already in Jimin's hole that Jimin took a tentacle back into his mouth, and that was it. He was coming, and he didn't even have time to warn Jimin that when he came, all his tentacles did too—

Jimin swallowed around the tentacle as if he'd been expecting it. Afterward, he had a contemplative look on his face, which might have been about the taste. Tata jizz was not at all like human semen in either flavor or texture, but Jimin didn't seem to hate it. He sucked gently at the tip until Taehyung gasped and pulled it out of his mouth.

"Sensitive," Taehyung said, and Jimin patted the tentacle apologetically.

As much as he did not want to move, clean up was not exactly optional when you had tentacles, and also, Taehyung aspired to be a gentleman. "I'm going to pull out, okay?" he murmured to Jimin, who looked half-asleep already.

Jimin made a cute grumpy face about it, but nodded.

Taehyung came back with a wet washcloth and did his best to clean them up before calling it good enough and pulling the covers back over them. There were at least five wet spots, but that sort of unavoidable. When they did this again—if they did this again, god he hoped they would—he'd have to put something down on the mattress first.

"Taehyung-ah," Jimin whispered. He snuggled in close, so that he was almost half on top of Taehyung. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," Taehyung whispered back.

"Would you—would you want to put one back in?" Jimin said in a rush.

Taehyung froze.

"Was that weird to ask?" Jimin said, sounding anxious, and before Taehyung could even respond, he muttered, "It was weird, wasn't it."

"No," Taehyung said hurriedly. "I mean—no one's asked me that before, but that doesn't mean it's weird. It just surprised me." He bit his lip for a moment. "Why did you ask?"

Jimin was silent for a moment. "I just want to be close to you. As close as we can be."

"Oh," Taehyung said, and he tightened his arm around Jimin. "Me too. Like, always."

Jimin pulled him in for a kiss, and Taehyung's tentacles said, I love you I love you I love you.

He slid one of the smaller tentacles back into Jimin's hole, and Jimin shifted his hips a little and sighed contentedly, like this was everything he wanted.

Taehyung hardly knew what to do with the wild joy that was bubbling up in him, at being wanted this close, at all of him being wanted this close. But Jimin had fallen asleep, so Taehyung closed his eyes, certain that he couldn't dream anything better than this.

He woke up to Jimin cuddling one tentacle, with another one in his hole (but a different one than when they had gone to sleep), one more snuggled up to his rim but not in him, and the rest wrapped around him against his skin.

But if some part of Taehyung still feared being only a matter of curiosity, discardable once satisfied, it was put to rest by Jimin, who kissed his tentacle when he woke up, then kissed his lips, and smiled at him.

“Good morning,” Jimin said, just a little shy.

“Good morning,” Taehyung said in reply, feeling dazed and stupid with happiness.

“Good morning,” Seokjin said loudly, and they both jumped a little. “It’s definitely Jimin’s turn to make breakfast, in case that slipped your minds.”

“Sorry, hyung, just a minute,” Jimin called. Taehyung kissed him again before letting him out of bed to wash up first, and really, wasn’t it a beautiful day?

In reality: no, there was some kind of noxious dust storm outside. But what was that, when faced with Jimin’s bright smile and the way he left all the chilies out of Taehyung’s bowl?

“Tone it down at least two notches and do not ask him to marry you this morning,” Yoongi said under his breath.

Taehyung sniffed in response. He wasn't an idiot; he was at least going to take Jimin on a date, first.

That did necessitate a little negotiation, a little planning: first, he needed Jungkook to tell them when they were likely to stop somewhere atmospheric; next, he had to check with Hoseok to see if the weather was going to call for rain or dust or the really unpleasant dirt-hail that just seemed to be adding insult to injury. Then there were supplies to gather from Seokjin, who did make a lot of jokes about it but nonetheless put together a very nice picnic. Yoongi gave him a bottle of Tata fizzy nightflower syrup that he'd stashed in what was supposed to be a secondary equipment compartment in the floor, which they'd just taken to calling the booze hole—it wasn't alcoholic, but it was fancy, and Taehyung was very touched. Namjoon gave him a portable speaker and a playlist he swore up and down was peak romance, all crooners singing about love in a beat you could sway to.

And then finally, on the evening in question, Jungkook was a real bro who kept Jimin occupied with—math?—while Taehyung was outside, making sure everything was perfect.

The second sun was just setting when Jimin came out of the van, wearing a very cute sweater that was a little big on him and showed his collarbone. "Taehyung-ah?" Jimin called, and then came to a full stop when he saw him.

Taehyung had, he thought, done a pretty good job. They had stopped for the day in a field of tiny purple flowers (very non-toxic, Taehyung checked and then made Namjoon double-check), and he had a blanket spread out with Seokjin's picnic container and the fizzy nightflower syrup. Hoseok had helped transform a couple of emergency lanterns into mood lighting, and with the speaker playing music softly, he thought the overall effect was pretty romantic.

And then Jimin, perfect, wonderful Jimin, bit his lip and said, "Do I have a reservation?"

"Of course," Taehyung said. "Right this way, please."

He made a big fuss over pouring a drink for Jimin, making up all kinds of nonsense about the vintage of the fizzy nightflower syrup (Yoongi probably had actual thoughts about this, but he hadn't shared). Jimin kept smiling, and Taehyung's hearts felt as fizzy as the drink they were sharing.

Under the light of the moons, Taehyung fancied that Jimin looked like a fairy prince. "You look really pretty tonight," Taehyung murmured, entranced.

Jimin laughed a little. "Yoongi-hyung said you needed to see me outside, and then Jungkookie spilled water all over my uniform shirt, shoved this sweater into my hands to change into, and then Hoseokie-hyung told me my lips looked dry, and put this gloss on me before he pushed me out the door."

Taehyung made a mental note to do something nice for them later, but right now he had to kiss Jimin, and then kiss him some more.

Seokjin had really outdone himself with the picnic, considering their supplies, but Taehyung felt like he barely tasted it. When they were finished, he took Jimin's hand, and said, "Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to," Jimin said.

They slow danced to Namjoon's playlist, Jimin's hand in his, one tentacle stroking Jimin's hair, his ears, and the nape of his neck. Taehyung never wanted the night to end; he wanted to stay, just like this.

"You know," Jimin murmured, "I think this is the nicest date I've ever been on."

Taehyung felt his cheeks warm.

Jimin slowed to a stop, and pulled back to look at him. "It is a date, right?" he asked, with just a hint of worry, and Taehyung couldn't stand the idea that Jimin was in any way unsure of how Taehyung felt.

"I like you more than anyone," Taehyung blurted out, staring into Jimin's eyes for far longer than ordinary humans could without blinking.

"I like you, too," Jimin said softly, and leaned up to kiss him.

Taehyung felt his hearts thump madly in his chest.

And then Jimin pulled back and kissed the tip of one of his tentacles. "Do you want to maybe take me home?" he asked.

"Yes, please," Taehyung said, and then escorted Jimin, both of them giggling a little, to the picnic blanket.

Jimin hadn't prepared for this, to the best of Taehyung's knowledge, but he was good under pressure. He pushed Taehyung back onto the blanket, and straddled his hips, before leaning down to whisper, "Get me wet, I'm going to ride you."

Taehyung made a strangled noise of agreement, and they hurriedly got rid of their pants, and Taehyung's tentacles were everywhere, flicking over Jimin's nipples underneath his sweater, coiling around his waist, teasing the head of his cock.

Jimin was sucking and nibbling on Taehyung's earlobe, and then he said, "Taehyungie, come on, please—"

Taehyung had to actually concentrate to put a singular tentacle in Jimin, and not like, all six. One was enough to make Jimin's hole plenty slick; he really didn't think his tentacles used to leak this much before, but he wasn't complaining, and neither was Jimin.

And then Jimin braced himself, and Taehyung's tentacles lined his cock up for Jimin, and Jimin sank down slowly until his ass hit Taehyung's thighs.

"Take it at your own pace," Taehyung said faintly, and the look on Jimin's face promised nothing but trouble.

They'd had sex since that first night, but they tried to sort of keep it down and not do anything too athletic. Which was a shame, because Jimin's ass and thighs were a work of art, and Taehyung was very much looking forward to being able to appreciate them fully.

Jimin rode him like he could do it all night, only pausing to plead for a tentacle in him, too, and Taehyung swore and put the smallest one in, and Jimin moaned and rode him harder.

But when he started to flag, his thighs trembling, Taehyung said, "Can I help?"

Jimin looked very fucked out already, and his brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"Like this." He let his tentacles curl around Jimin's thighs and waist, and lifted him a bit, before lowering him down again.

Jimin stared at him. "How strong are they?" he asked, licking his lips.

"Very, very strong," Taehyung promised.

"And you won't get tired?"

"I'm going to fuck you like a toy," Taehyung said tenderly. "And then I'm going to put the tips of all of my tentacles in you when I come, and make the most beautiful mess of you. If that's okay."

"Oh my god," Jimin said faintly, and then he let the tentacles take his weight.

They did have arguments, as Taehyung had predicted before the Sowoozoo mission began. He really didn't even know what they were about, sometimes. It was probably that Taehyung was stubborn, and so was Jimin, and also, when they couldn't leave the van for days on end, everyone got on everyone's nerves. Things that ordinarily wouldn't have been a big deal got all blown out of proportion. A small communication breakdown could lead to a blowout.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jimin said during one such argument. The whole team had an agreement about not raising their voices to each other, but Jimin was really creeping up to the line.

"You tell me," Taehyung said back heatedly. He couldn't yell in frustration, but his tentacles could, and they shouted, unreasonable and unfair and how can you not understand?

And underneath all that, one of his smaller tentacles, the one that Jimin cuddled in the night most often, shook in a mournful, Jimin-ah, Jimin-ah, you hurt my feelings.

"Just to be clear, this argument is about…shrimp?" Namjoon said.

"Please stay out of it, hyung," Jimin snapped.

Seokjin rolled his eyes extravagantly. "That's enough. Opposite sides of the van, the both of you. Cool down for a few minutes before you say something you'll regret."

Jimin stalked off to the front of the van and more or less threw himself into Hoseok's lap. Taehyung stomped to the back and threw himself into their bunk and pulled the curtains shut.

Yoongi was the one to knock on the bed frame. "Hey. Can I come in?"

Taehyung wanted to be petulant and say no, but he took a deep breath, and held open the curtain a little.

Yoongi climbed in, and they sat in silence for a bit. Then Yoongi stirred and said, "It's not that you don't have a point. But he has one, too."

Taehyung scowled at his lap.

"I know he gets you better than anyone else ever has, but he's not a mindreader. And when you talk like that to him, he feels like he's not good enough."

"That's not—that's not what I mean at all—"

"But he doesn't know that," Yoongi said quietly. "You both need to bend a little. He's worth that, isn't he?"

Taehyung heaved a sigh and nodded.

There was another knock on the bedframe. "Taehyung-ah," came Jimin's voice, subdued.

Yoongi clapped Taehyung on the knee and climbed out of the bed.

"Can I come in?" Jimin asked.

Taehyung hated the hesitancy in his voice. He hated that they were fighting, he hated that he was still mad, but Yoongi was right. Jimin was worth yielding a little. "Yeah," he said.

Jimin crawled into the bed, but not straight into Taehyung's arms. They sat side by side, their backs against the wall. And then Jimin took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I blew up at you. I felt like you weren't listening, but that wasn't an excuse for losing my temper."

Taehyung bit his lip. "I shouldn't have accused you of being weird about my tentacles. I know you're fine with them. It just didn't feel like it, then, but that's not an excuse either. I'm sorry, Jimin-ah."

He reached out for Jimin's hand, and Jimin interlaced their fingers, and some of the tension in Taehyung eased.

"I feel like I'm missing half of what you're saying, sometimes," Jimin said eventually. "Like you say things, but your tentacles are also saying things, but I don't understand them. And I feel like you think that you've been clear, and then I feel bad about myself for not getting it."

"Don't," Taehyung said. "I don't ever want you to feel bad about yourself. Not because of me, or anyone or anything else."

Jimin squeezed his hand a little at that. "For the record, it's not that I didn't appreciate what you were trying to do. I just…kind of hate all seafood."

Taehyung turned to stare at him. "But you've eaten it. I've seen you eat it this entire mission so far."

"Because other people made the meal, and I don't want to be seen as, you know, picky," Jimin said in a low voice. "But you kept putting the shrimp in my bowl, even when I asked you to stop."

"Oh," Taehyung said. "I'm sorry. I thought you meant that you weren't okay with my tentacles touching your food, not that you didn't want any at all."

Jimin shook his head. "I don't mind you wanting to take care of me like that. Just—not seafood, okay?"

"Okay," Taehyung said, feeling almost dizzy with relief. "All shrimp get fired into orbit. Problem solved."

Jimin laughed a little. "We don't need to go that far. I think that counts as mission waste. We'd have to file a report."

"Shrimp in space!" Taehyung sang to him, and his tentacles said, we're okay? and we're okay! and Jimin-ah, my love.

"Let's never fight again," Jimin said, and then crawled into Taehyung's lap.

"Never," Taehyung vowed.

They lasted almost a full two weeks before they had a spat about a detour, but at least they had already had practice at kissing and making up, and knew what to do.

Taehyung started teaching Jimin some Tata.

"Oh, is that what we're calling it?" Seokjin said, to general merriment.

It was really hard to speak Tata without tentacles, but Jimin was very focused on learning to understand some basics. He had a notebook that started to fill up with little doodles of the tentacle that Taehyung used to teach him the gestures and movements that made up the language, along with meticulous notes.

Taehyung wasn't working from a set curriculum; he just taught Jimin things that he thought would be useful. General mission vocabulary, in case they needed to communicate without speaking out loud. Some standard greetings and meeting etiquette, for when Jimin met other Tata (and by other Tata, Taehyung meant, his mom. Who he was bringing Jimin home to meet at the earliest possible opportunity).

But in between all of that, he taught Jimin sweet nothings, the kind of things he'd been saying to Jimin all along. Which was mildly embarrassing, once Jimin cottoned on, but on the plus side, they could now secretly flirt across the van without anyone knowing.

"We do know, but that's because of the dumb looks on your faces," Seokjin said.

"Leave them alone, hyung, they're in love," Hoseok said reprovingly.

But the thing was, while Taehyung had said it, Jimin hadn't, exactly. And Taehyung didn't want to rock the boat, or rush Jimin. They cared about each other, and that was a lot. That was really good, actually. Taehyung was prepared to be patient. Or a coward, depending on one's perspective.

They were in the van alone one afternoon, because the others had gone out to investigate a lake with water that seemed to shimmer. Taehyung wanted to go take a look, as well, but not more than he wanted to have some actual privacy on an actual bed with Jimin.

It was all going really, really well, by which he meant that he was railing Jimin with his biggest tentacle, and he was more focused on how gorgeous Jimin looked when he was stuffed full of tentacle than he was on what the tentacle in question was doing.

But suddenly, Jimin's very good noises trailed off, and his brow furrowed. "Baby, are you telling me you love me while you're fucking me?"

Taehyung and his tentacle went very still. "Um."

Jimin narrowed his eyes. "You are, aren't you? It's this one." He wiggled his fingers in a pretty good approximation of the phrase in Tata.

"Well," Taehyung temporized, and then gave up. "Yes."

"Do you mean you love me, or you love my ass?"

"You," Taehyung said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you have a real peach of an ass, I'm so fucking lucky, but I mean you. I love you."

Jimin smiled at him then, and instead of saying anything with his mouth, he wiggled his fingers again.

I love you.

"I want to marry you as soon as possible," Taehyung said, too giddy to have any filter left.

"Before or after you lay your eggs in me?" Jimin asked, far too sweetly, squeezing around what was, after all, Taehyung's mating tentacle.

"You're going to let me lay my eggs in you?" Taehyung said, amazed.

"Maybe," Jimin said, smiling up at him, as if Taehyung was absolutely everything. "Ask me and find out."

Taehyung did—but in Tata, with the tentacle in Jimin, and Jimin hiccuped out a laugh, and then moaned when Taehyung kept asking, and Taehyung thought: he didn't need an answer, just yet. Knowing that the question was welcome, that he was wanted, and that the future stretched out in front of them, was enough.