Chapter Text
Jungkook turned the key with the delicacy of a surgeon performing open-heart surgery. A soft click, almost swallowed by the silence of the hallway. He pushed the door open carefully, holding it so it wouldn’t slam shut, and lingered there for a second, completely still, listening.
Nothing.
No music, no video games, no television in the background the way Taehyung usually left it, even when he wasn’t really paying attention. More than reassuring him, the silence settled somewhere uncomfortable in his chest.
He stepped inside slowly, slipping off his shoes without making a sound and placing them neatly where they belonged before moving forward. He made a conscious effort to keep his footsteps light, controlled, almost feline. There was something strange in the way he carried himself—tenser than usual, like he was aware, on some level, that he was doing something he shouldn’t, even if, in theory, there was nothing wrong with coming home late to his own apartment.
It’s not like Taehyung had ever minded before.
"Where were you?"
Of course, that was before.
That deep voice froze him. It wasn’t loud, nor particularly aggressive, but it carried a clarity that felt wrong for the hour. The idea that Taehyung might have been waiting for his return all this time suddenly became something real. Jungkook couldn’t move. his heart pounded against his ribs, startled at first, then weighed down by that unmistakable sensation of having been caught. And still, a part of him wondered why it felt like that at all.
As soon as he turned his head, he noticed the door to Taehyung’s room left ajar, a thin line of dim light spilling into the hallway—something he was almost certain hadn’t been there when he came in.
Taehyung appeared in the doorway a second later, his hair messy, that familiar sleeveless shirt hanging loosely from his frame, exposing his arms. His expression was difficult to read in the low light, but there was nothing about him that suggested he had just woken up. No sluggishness, no trace of sleep.
If anything, he looked… irritated.
"Hyung… you scared me" Jungkook managed to say, the words barely rising above a whisper.
Taehyung didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he stepped forward, closing the distance before Jungkook had time to react, and his hand wrapped around Jungkook's right wrist with a firmness that wasn’t violent, but wasn’t gentle either. He pulled him into his room and pushed him back until his spine met the door he had just shut behind them.
The impact echoed. and Taehyung stood there, close enough to make the air feel thinner, effectively blocking any way out.
"I asked you something, Jungkook"
He didn’t raise his voice. Taehyung never did, not even when Jungkook accidentally scratched the side of his motorcycle or broke one of his vinyl records during the move.
But Taehyung also never called him by his name.
"I went out" Jungkook replied after a moment, swallowing as the warmth of Taehyung’s body, this close, made it difficult to think clearly.
Taehyung tilted his head slightly, observing him with uneasy attention. When they were younger, Jungkook believed Taehyung had some kind of telepathy or psychic gift; the older boy could guess exactly what was going through his mind with just a glance, and that both amazed and unsettled him. Even now, sometimes, he still believed it.
"With who?"
The question lingered between them. Jungkook suddenly felt small, his eyes hidden behind his glasses resembling those of a lamb about to be led to the slaughter. Two seconds of hesitation were enough for the dark-haired man to suspect something; something in Taehyung's expression tightened, subtle but evident after so many years of knowing him, in the way his jawline tightened slightly, in the faint sharpening of his gaze.
"With Daehyun?"
Silence answered for him.
Taehyung let out a short, completely humorless laugh and leaned in just a little closer, invading her personal space even more, studying him as if every reaction mattered, every micro-gesture.
"Of course" he said, flatly. "How strange" he continued, his voice colder now, more controlled in a way that was worse. "I thought you already had plans for today"
Jungkook wrinkled his nose, confused for a moment, until he remembered the date and it hit him like a bucket of cold water. Taehyung had spent the last three weeks talking about it nonstop, at every opportunity, obsessed with the reservation he'd managed to get at this steakhouse that everyone was raving about online. According to him, if they were going to celebrate their 7th friendship anniversary, it had to be somewhere worth remembering. How could he have forgotten?
It was today.
For the first time in years, since they were teenagers, Jungkook had forgotten the day they became best friends.
But had he really forgotten?
Dates were his thing, just as spontaneous yet somewhat organized plans were Taehyung's. That was part of why they worked so well together. So perhaps that was why he had unconsciously moved with such caution from the moment he stepped inside, and although his conscious mind completely ignored the idea that Jungkook was doing anything wrong to Taehyung, the guilt came straight from his heart.
He felt his stomach suddenly sink.
"Tae, I—"
"You didn’t come"
It wasn’t a question. It didn’t need to be.
Jungkook opened his mouth, but there was no way to say it without it sounding bad, without it sounding exactly like what it was.
"You always come," Taehyung added, more quietly, each word more emphasized than the last, as if he had repeated them in his head. "Jungkook, I waited for three hours."
Jungkook looked away, feeling that the eye contact was too much for him. Everything Taehyung was saying was true, and there was nothing he could offer in return that wouldn’t fall short. He really had no other excuse than that he'd let Daehyun convince him to stay a little longer with her and forget about the rest of the world. She had something very persuasive, as did Taehyung. And comparing them only made the situation a little worse for his emotional state.
Taehyung brought his thumb and forefinger to hold his chin, forcing their eyes to meet once more.
"Where were you?"
It was a rhetorical question; Taehyung already knows the answer. But he was giving him the chance to come clean, to confess in his own words what he had done. Jungkook pressed his lips together, uncomfortable, trapped. He was a poor prey who had willingly fallen into the wolf's mouth.
"It slipped my mind" Jungkook said finally, the words coming out small, insufficient; it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.
Taehyung let out another laugh, this time more bitter.
"It slipped your mind?"
He shook his head; there was so little distance between them that their breaths mingled, so much so that Taehyung could smell the peach-flavored gloss on his lips and knew it wasn't his, because Jungkook preferred raspberry chapstick.
"Jungkook, your calendar is color-coordinated" Taehyung scoffed, with that intimidating look of his. "You even remembered my sisters' ballet recital, and you expect me to believe that you just ‘forgot’?"
"It wasn't on purpose" —it was, and it was killing him.
"No, of course not" Taehyung replied instantly, not giving him a chance to speak. "You were just busy"
Silence fell once more.
"With her"
Something tightened painfully in Jungkook’s chest.
"Tae—"
"What?" he cut him off, faster, more abruptly. "Did you have fun?"
It wasn't curiosity. Taehyung stared at him, searching for something in his face, something he clearly couldn't find, and that only seemed to irritate him more.
“A call would have been nice,” he added. “Hey, Tae, I won’t be able to make it to our reservation because I’m too busy trying to eat my girlfriend’s pussy.” He was being venomous, with a tone of voice and attitude he’d never directed at Jungkook before; he felt more than jealous. “You didn’t even text me.”
Jungkook wasn't doing that, definitely not when sexual contact with his almost-girlfriend still caused him anxiety. But Taehyung believing that's what had happened, that's what broke him.
Jungkook's eyes communicated too much; Taehyung wasn't sure if the youngest was aware of it, but at that precise moment, it was as if Jungkook felt guilty for each and every one of the seven deadly sins.
"I'm sorry," he said, and he was. With all his heart.
Taehyung didn't respond immediately. His gaze dropped for a moment, processing something he didn't want to process. This was more than just a restaurant reservation; his jealousy, his sleepless nights, this uneasy feeling in his chest when he thought about the girl who was stealing his—
He was beyond screwed.
And when he looked up again, there was no trace of that usual mockery that characterized him.
"Don’t do it again" it wasn't a suggestion. More like a promise he needed to hear. "Say it"
Jungkook frowned again. Taehyung never ordered him around; he always asked and gently requested, reaffirmed and suggested. So this sudden display of authority, this demand, besides sending shivers down his spine, made him feel a little defensive.
"Don't tell me what to do" he tried to regain some composure, although it was difficult considering he was still trapped in the dark-haired's strong arms.
"Jungkook"
Oh, his voice. How could a baritone make his knees tremble? It was then that he realized that the fake rebellion he was trying to show wouldn't work at all, not when Taehyung was breathing so close to him and his heart had started beating hard against his chest.
"Tae, let me go to sleep, please" he asked, changing the subject. "It's not that big of a deal" Jungkook murmured, and as soon as he finished speaking, he knew it had been a mistake.
Something possessed Taehyung at that precise moment.
His hand closed around Jungkook's shirt, pulling him close, instantly erasing any distance between them, and the kiss came without warning, direct, charged with everything he'd been holding back. It wasn't gentle, it was rough, urgent, with a sharp edge of irritation in the way he held him, in how he kept him there, as if he didn't want to give him the chance to pull away. Jungkook gasped, his breath escaping through his nose for a second, but he didn't move away. He couldn't.
He didn't want to.
His eyelids felt heavy and his hands found Taehyung's shoulders almost immediately, clinging to them without thinking; he needed to hold on to something, he needed that minimal stability as Taehyung thrust his tongue into his mouth with intoxicating voracity.
The kiss deepened quickly, without transition, with ragged breaths and movements that went from tentative to more insistent, more chaotic. He could taste the peach lipgloss, and there was nothing he disliked more, but Taehyung was determined to claim those lips as his own, to bite them and leave them glowing, sore, until the only thing Jungkook could remember was how it felt to be devoured by his best friend.
Taehyung lowered his hand beneath the fabric to Jungkook's waist, the smooth skin feeling warm under his touch, and he swore it had always been the perfect curve for the size of his palm. He held him firmly, setting the pace without softening anything, and Jungkook responded unconsciously, leaning closer, as if trying to fit into that space that no longer existed. He took off his glasses as soon as they started to bother him, letting them fall to the floor, more careless than usual.
"Look at yourself" Taehyung murmured against his mouth. "And you say it's not that big of a deal?" Jungkook let out a shaky breath, unable to respond, his head light and his pulse racing, feeling each word pierce him deeper than it should. "Come on, say it"
“Hyung, please” Jungkook pleaded.
He doesn't know why, but at this point, he just wants Taehyung to give him something. Anything.
Taehyung grinned, like the bastard he could sometimes be, and his knee slipped between the brunette thighs, pressing against the bulge that was starting to grow from just a kiss. His hands moved up and down, never still, touching with intention that could no longer be disguised, and Jungkook reacted clumsily, clinging to him.
"Say it" he asked once more.
Jungkook felt like he could die.
"I won't do it again" his voice trailed off in a whisper. Taehyung was playing with his nipples, and he was incredibly sensitive there. Just like anywhere else his hyung dared to touch. Jungkook was actually quite sensitive to Taehyung.
The rest was a blurry.
The moment Taehyung's mouth claimed his again, Jungkook lost any remaining lucidity and melted into the raven-haired's expert hands. He let himself be guided, moved, and manipulated by those hands, completely lost in the growing sensation in his belly. He felt himself fall onto the oldest on the bed, his legs wrapped around Taehyung's hips, their chests pressed so close that their hearts beat in unison, while Taehyung's hands shamelessly ended up holding his ass. A moan escaped the smacking sounds of their mouths, and Jungkook's shirt was the first to fall to the floor.
Taehyung didn't stop there; on the contrary, he seemed even hungrier for him. Having full access to the Jungkook's snowy complexion had only made things worse. He turned him over with a measured movement, as if he weighed less than a feather, and settled between his thick thighs, still covered by jeans that Taehyung was beginning to hate. His hands were on either side of Jungkook’s head, supporting his weight so as not to crush him. He didn't give him a chance to breathe, thirsty for his lips and his entire being, with a possessive feeling, as if he were trying to drain the oasis so that no one else could drink from it. He felt selfish, he felt territorial, and he couldn't care less.
His mouth trailed down the brunette's neck, gently biting with his incisors, sucking softly but with enough force to steal gasps that ended up in his ear. For someone so introverted, Jungkook's mouth was surprisingly loud when they were like this. And Taehyung thoroughly enjoyed how audible it made him.
"Good boy..." he murmured against his skin, without softening his tone, more as a statement than a compliment.
Jungkook immediately whimpered, a shiver running through him from head to toe, and his fingers gripped Taehyung's back even tighter. That simple phrase had robbed him of what little sanity he had left. He didn't know when he'd developed this fixation, why he reacted this way, why he needed to hear it again, but his body demanded it before his head could even process it.
Because when Taehyung told him he was a good boy and then kissed him as a reward, he felt like he could cry from pleasure.
Taehyung noticed. He shifted his weight onto one forearm, while his now free hand traveled shamelessly across the younger man's chest. He moved down his abdomen with a torturous slowness and easily unbuttoned Jungkook's pants, slipping his hand between the denim and the fabric of his underwear, squeezing the outline of his dick. Jungkook arched his back, completely lost in the sensation, in the way Taehyung was making him feel too fast, too intensely. All he could do was respond to the kisses, letting himself be held in the arms of someone who knew exactly how to make him feel alive.
Their movements became more desperate, unrestrained, the heat in the room increasing with each passing second. Everything was reduced to sensations, to breaths, to the need for contact. And little by little, something changed in the way Taehyung kissed him. He didn't pull away immediately, but the rhythm slowed and he began to move heavily. His breathing was still uneven, but he no longer felt tense; that initial rage with which he had greeted him had dissipated into thin air. Meanwhile, he stayed there, above him with their noses touching and his hand still inside his pants.
Jungkook was still trying to catch his breath, his chest rising and falling noticeably, still clutching Taehyung's shirt, crumpling it between his fingers. His eyes were glassy, his lips swollen, and his body sensitive even though they had barely done anything. For a second, he thought Taehyung would move, say something sarcastic, and break the moment with his usual attitude.
But he didn't.
Instead, he reached out to take one of Jungkook's hands, intertwining them without breaking eye contact, and placed them beside his head. Jungkook glanced at the intertwining of their fingers for a moment, before returning to find Taehyung's deep, brown eyes still fixed on him.
"Koo" his voice came out low, even a little hoarse. The nickname that made him feel warm was back, and that relieved the youngest one.
"Mhmm…?" he was a little lost, he didn't understand why they had stopped.
"Don't do that again"
Jungkook blinked, confused. It took him a second to recognize the request.
"What thing…?"
Taehyung licked his lips, searching for the right words.
"Disappear"
Jungkook felt something tighten in his chest, and suddenly a small knot formed in his throat.
"It only happened once, hyung," he murmured, though he no longer sounded convinced it was something so simple. "It won't happen again, I promise."
Taehyung barely shook his head, moving a little closer, just enough so that their foreheads touched.
"You know I don't talk about that"
And then there was no doubt.
Jungkook felt the weight, the way those words dragged something bigger, something they hadn't said but that was there nonetheless. Taehyung lowered his voice even more.
“Don't disappear like that.”
It wasn't an order, but it wasn't something he took lightly either. Taehyung was honest about many things, even those he shouldn't be, and that's why he always ended up getting into trouble. But when it came to his feelings for Jungkook, he had sworn to keep the secret for the sake of their friendship. Of course, it was robbing him of his sanity enough that the secret was becoming his own grave.
Jungkook looked at him, unsure how to respond, feeling that intensity return between them, but in a completely different way than before. One that frightened him. But, paradoxically, it also filled him with a kind of excitement he couldn't describe or explain.
"I wasn't going to..." he began, but fell short.
The grip of his hands tightened a little more at his side.
"Say it"
The silence that followed was short, but it felt eternal, as if measured by an hourglass. Jungkook took a deep breath, glancing down at Taehyung's lips for a moment, wondering how such sweet kisses, such confusing declarations, could come from them. Why now? Why after stealing his reason with caresses? Why?
When the words became too loud in his mind, he looked up again, meeting those eyes that didn't look away, that gave him no room to dodge. And he wondered if Taehyung had always had the ability to consume him with a single glance, and he hadn't realized it until whatever it was between them had become bigger than they could handle.
"I'll stay, hyung"
The phrase came out in a whisper, but clear. Taehyung said nothing, he just looked at him, as if he needed more than that.
Jungkook understood.
"With you"
And that changed everything.
Something in Taehyung's expression relaxed slightly, almost imperceptibly, and his eyebrows curved, giving him an air of relief. He leaned in a little closer, closing the small distance between them, and this time the kiss he placed on his lips was delicate, slow, seeking to savor patiently rather than devour without restraint. As if, for the first time all night, he could stop to feel completely, as if he weren't trying to win someone over.
How had they reached that point?