{bangtan; taehyung/jeongguk} like a moon (i revolve around you) [ii/ii]
①
Taehyung sleeps the rest of the day away and blames it on his hangover when he wakes up after dark, not even upset about the classes he missed, or how behind he'll be if he keeps this up. It's less the hangover and more the fact that if he's awake, he'll have to face the music, which is a whole ton of shit right now. He doesn't even know exactly how he got home, but it happened and Taehyung's just going to take this one small good thing and be grateful.
When he looks at his cell phone, the whole screen is filled with a deluge of texts from Hoseok along the lines of "where r u???" "r u OK!?!??" "taehyung ANSWER ME" from throughout the day, the last one reading "KIM TAEHYUNG IF U DONT REPLY IM GUNNA CALL UR UMMA." Only the threat of his mom finding out about this shitfest he's gotten himself into has him dragging himself up to text Hoseok back.
"im fine leave me alone. dont call my mom" he replies, and then flings his cell phone off the edge of his bed and rolls back into his cocoon of blankets.
He's probably never been less fine in his life, and if he wants to be melodramatic about it, he's going to sulk in peace. Holy shit. Kim Taehyung does not hit ultimate, pathetic lows like this, and he most certainly doesn't get hung up about people who he's not dating kissing other people, nope, definitely not.
It's like if he tells himself that enough times, it'll be okay. By the time Hoseok stomps into his apartment the next day during his lunch hour, Taehyung's already up and about, showered, even finished with his laundry and eating food he cooked by himself.
"What," Hoseok says, staring at the pans in the sink in comic disbelief. "You cooked?"
"Yeah, want some?" Taehyung asks. He gestures with his fork at the fridge, newly stocked because a college student's diet of ramen and granola can only taste good for so long.
"No," Hoseok says slowly. "No, I'm good. Taehyungie…"
Taehyung swallows his bite of omelette (ham and cheese, hell yeah, look at that protein and dairy) so fast he almost chokes at the lump of food forcing its way down his throat. "Don't," he says, his voice sharp. "I don't really want to hear it. I have no idea what you know or what you don't know, but it's enough, I'm going to put this behind me. Okay?"
Helping himself to a seat, Hoseok pulls out the one other chair Taehyung has at his measly excuse for a dinner table and sits down. "No, listen to me. Please?"
He's never shot Hoseok down before, but now he doesn't think he can do this - hear what Hoseok has to say. He can't do it. "Hyung," he says, knowing it's his turn to plead, "listen to me. When I say I want to put this behind me, I mean it."
Hoseok looks down at the table, traces a whorl in the wood with his pointer finger. "I guess," he says softly. "If that's what you want."
"That's what I want," Taehyung says firmly. They sit in silence for a while, Taehyung finishing his omelette briskly before getting up, excusing himself because he has to go to class, sorry. And he very determinedly doesn't look at the expression on Hoseok's face - so, so sad, with too many words he wants to say, but Taehyung appreciates his not saying them - on his way out the door.
⊗
He moves along. Gets back on top of it with class and makes sure to hang out regularly with Jimin and Seokjin and Hoseok and even occasionally Yoongi, and even goes on a couple dates. One of them happens to be with that girl who told him he was cute on the night of Namjoon's party, and this time Taehyung tries so hard, she's so pretty it’s almost easy now.
"You're the one who looks cute when she laughs," he says, and she blushes across her cheekbones, looking so quietly pleased that he finds he wants to hold her hand.
They don't date, but they do go on a few more dates and she is lovely, only increasingly lovely, but that only makes Taehyung realize it's not fair if he were to ask her out if he couldn't do it right. She deserves better. Instead, he wanders by Frat Row a few times and Hoseok doesn't say anything when Taehyung takes people home, both boys and girls, fucking them on the same bed where he used to have sex with Jeongguk once upon a time.
"This is ridiculous," Yoongi proclaims when he sails into Taehyung's apartment, Hoseok scurrying in right after him. It’s like he knew, somehow, with some strange sixth sense, that this morning was an especially bad one, his body aching in all the wrong places and the lube leaking all over the mattress where whoever he slept with last night didn’t cap it properly. "Kim Taehyung, you're fucked up."
Taehyung flinches a little but looks up from his study guide as if nothing's wrong. Nothing’s wrong, besides the headache pulsing between his temples and the mess he still hasn’t cleaned up in his bedroom. "Hey, hyung. I think I'm doing okay, I’m fine."
"That's what both of you say, but you're both all acting torn up when you think no one’s looking and I'm fucking sick of it," Yoongi says flatly. "You can ace your classes and I've seen you at the coffee shop with this girl or that boy or whatever. But if you think that's going to make everything better, you're just deluding yourself." Hoseok hisses something like this isn't a very nice intervention, hyung in Yoongi's ear, but Yoongi just brushes him off.
"I am fine," Taehyung says. He's said it so many times he's made it part of himself, he's fine, everything is okay. Even if he wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night and has to go take a shower, trying to scrub off the weird, lingering sensation of someone else's hands on his body, he's fine. It's no big deal.
"Don't give me that shit," Yoongi snaps. He takes the notes straight out of Taehyung's hands and sits down heavily next to him, glaring up into his face, and Taehyung towers over his hyung now but Yoongi has never seemed so big, so much older. Kind of tired.
Taehyung snatches feebly at his notes instead of replying, and Yoongi passes them back to Hoseok without taking his eyes off Taehyung's face. "Leave me alone," he mutters when it's apparent Yoongi's waiting for an answer.
"I'm sick of Jeon Jeongguk wasting the day away on my sofa because Namjoon is too soft to make him fuck off," Yoongi announces. "And I'm even more sick of you walking around with that mask on like you don't give a fuck anymore, because I know you do. I know you, Taehyung."
"Jeongguk what?" Taehyung says, and bites his tongue, knowing he just gave himself away. Yoongi, of course, doesn't let the opportunity to give him a smug look pass by. "You're wrong. Jeongguk doesn't care about me."
"Please," Yoongi says flatly, crossing his arms.
"I know you're wrong because I saw him," Taehyung says, and suddenly the words are spilling from his mouth in the wrong way, all over again, this time for Hoseok to hear and Yoongi to judge. "At Namjoon's party that night. A - a couple months ago. I went to go look for the bathroom and found him making out with someone else, so don't try to tell me he's fucked up over me because I know he's not, I know it."
"Oh my fucking god," Yoongi says; Hoseok's face is pure shock and upset, and he looks like he wants to reach over and engulf Taehyung in a hug until all the badness seeps away. Taehyung wouldn't say no to that, to be honest. "Taehyung, don't be an idiot, I know I've seen you hooking up with people left and right these days too. And let me tell you, I don't see the point in having sex that you don't care for."
Taehyung glares down at his empty desk. He still has to study for his Econ exam, but his notes are currently held hostage in Hoseok’s hands. "He did it first."
"OH MY FUCKING GOD," Yoongi repeats. Hoseok does hug him this time, and Taehyung leans into it, feeling warm and secure and, slowly, slowly, relaxed. He didn't realize how long it had been since he last just hugged someone, sat in someone's arms completely platonically but still loved. Man, he used to be so touchy before, what happened?
Yoongi respects the sanctum of hugs for a minute or two before he launches back into his spiel. "You're stupid and he's stupid and you're perfect for each other or whatever. Taehyung, I know it's hard for you right now but not everyone can throw themselves into something big and scary just like that."
"What are you talking about," Taehyung says into Hoseok's shoulder, feeling Hoseok pet the back of his head soothingly, like he's a baby, or a puppy, and only the right touch can soothe him right now. It's working, though, so he won’t complain.
"I'm saying Jeongguk's the type to run away before shit gets too serious, and he was probably getting to that point with you so he decided to push you away first. You know. Hurt you so you don't hurt him, et cetera, but you guys are fucking stupid so now both of you guys are all messed up about the whole thing," Yoongi says impatiently.
Taehyung considers it, then scoffs and smooshes his face even harder against Hoseok's shoulder. "I don't believe you," he says, but his tenacity is weakening. He wants this to be true, he wants Yoongi to be right, he realizes. He wants Jeongguk to want him.
"Fine, believe me or don't," Yoongi says, sighing. "But you'll have to deal with this eventually and I prefer sooner rather than later because I write best on that couch and I need Jeongguk to move his ass. Please and thank you."
He breezes back out, and Hoseok squeezes him one last time before following him out the door, leaving Taehyung there by himself, with his own thoughts. Could Yoongi be right, he wonders, and for a second, allows himself to hope.
⊗
"We need to talk," he types out into a text, and then backspaces so hard he almost flings his phone off the bed, again, except he's got his shit together now so he just puts it down on his bedside dresser roughly. He's not some broken-hearted teenage girl, he's an adult. A man. In college. Yes. And he can deal with his relationships maturely and with composure.
He doesn't. Instead, he avoids Yoongi's apartment at all costs now that he knows Jeongguk is there so often, and considers taking on knitting or underwater basket-weaving as a hobby since his improv group kicked him out for missing too many practices when he was out and sleeping around.
"I don't think you'd be good at underwater basket-weaving," Jimin says, his head in Seokjin's lap, looking like he's considering putting his feet into Taehyung's lap next. "It seems to...require a dexterity. Of hands. That you lack."
"Excuse me, my hands are perfect," Taehyung says, mock-affronted. Seokjin snorts.
"But it'd like, make your hands all pruny too, if you were underwater basket-weavin' for a long time, you know?" Jimin says. He stretches his hands up over his head as if trying to imagine them in the pool for so long, and Seokjin raises a hand to intertwine his fingers with Jimin's, bringing them back down into Jimin's lap. Gross as always, Taehyung thinks, and ignores the tiny pang of envy.
Seokjin and Jimin are the type of boyfriends who have no idea they're flaunting their relationship in front of everyone to see with every little thing they do, because they're way too busy being actually head over heels in love to notice everyone else making faces whenever they do cutesy shit like Seokjin kissing Jimin on the temple or Jimin tucking himself against Seokjin's side. Taehyung is a romantic though, and does think that Jimin fits perfectly against Seokjin like a puzzle piece. Cute fuckers.
"That's true," Taehyung says. "Can't have my fingers looking like the skin of tiny wrinkly bulldog puppies or something. They're really cute but somehow my fingers probably would not look that cute, you feel?"
"You sound high," Seokjin tells him, "But I've known you for so long I know this is just how you normally think, Kim Taehyung."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Taehyung says and winks at him, even though he knows Jimin will roll his eyes at him for that. The nice thing about this whole Jeongguk mess is that he's so, so over Seokjin by this point - he doesn't feel a thing when he goes to the bathroom and comes back to find Jimin and Seokjin making out (more like kissing softly, Seokjin's hand cradling the back of Jimin's head, bodies curling into each other like they can't stand to be apart) besides the urge to fake-retch and beg for some decency. It does not need to be said that Taehyung indulges this urge a lot.
Doesn't mean he's not jealous, though. It's been so long since he's seen Jeongguk up close, in the flesh, properly - its hard to get your fix when you're ignoring each other - but he thinks he can still remember Jeongguk's laugh when Taehyung says the right thing, the way he looks when he wants to smile but doesn't want to give the expression away. And ends up smiling for Taehyung anyways. Yes, more than the kisses and the hickeys, more than anything, Taehyung doesn't want to have anyone else see that Jeongguk.
"You're thinking sappy things, I can see it on your face," Jimin singsongs and Taehyung aims a kick in his general direction.
He can think all the sappy things he wants, really, but it's not going to make Jeongguk come back to him. Here he is, vigorously third wheeling his best friend and his best friend’s boyfriend, and there Jeongguk is, of doing who knows what (but part of Taehyung hopes he's still there, on Yoongi's couch, the weight of his unhappiness taking up more room than his physical body). The other day he'd gotten a text from Yoongi that just said "move your ass" and replied with a ":(" but besides that Yoongi's stopped pushing. He's said his part, and the ball is in Taehyung's court now. (He still goes to Hoseok for more hugs, though, and is never disappointed.)
Somehow, he doesn't see it coming at all when he walks out of the lecture hall and basically collides with Kim Namjoon, who is always taller and lankier than he remembers him to be. "Uh," Taehyung says. "Hi." He hasn't talked to Namjoon since that disaster of a party, nearly three or four months ago.
"Hello," Namjoon says. "Got a minute?"
⊗
Namjoon is late. Jeongguk checks the time on his phone and then puts it back down on the table in the cafe they frequent, impatient; Namjoon is never late for anything, never has been in all the years Jeongguk has known him.
The smells of the coffee shop soothe him, filling his senses with coffee bean and sweet caramel and light touches of cinnamon, mint, other flavors he doesn't know well enough to identify. It's moments like these when he thinks he's okay again, that everything in his life hasn't flipped itself over on its head and then struggled to get back upright again, swaying, wobbling, lost. He remembers once he went from the cafe straight to Taehyung's, having gotten a text ("you free?") in the middle of his study session with a classmate. No time to stop at home, he went with the scents of the shop still clinging to his clothes and his hair, and he still remembers Taehyung said something dumb and cheesy, like "you smell good enough to eat" or something, and Jeongguk had just kissed him to shut him up.
The way Taehyung opened his mouth to Jeongguk's, body burning hotter the closer they got. Jeongguk could tell from the beginning that Taehyung was happy to give - happier to give than to receive sometimes, scooping out his heart as if he intended to put it right into Jeongguk's palms, and that scared the shit out of him.
The waitress comes by with his drink, setting down a gently steaming latte, and he thanks her quietly. Checks the time again. Namjoon is almost 15 minutes late, and Jeongguk's having a hard time trying to remember anything stranger because Namjoon's always punctual, always running to the schedule in his mind, knocking each task out with almost brutal efficiency. When he finally does spot Namjoon walking into the cafe, he's so relieved he nearly stands up to call him over to his table.
Then he notices Taehyung behind Namjoon, looking lost and frazzled as if Namjoon dragged him across campus without telling him why. And then he realizes Namjoon did.
"I'm leaving," he hisses once Namjoon's in earshot, resisting the urge to seize Namjoon by the collar of his coat to shake him. "How could you do this to me?"
"I'm doing this for you, Yoongi's right," Namjoon says in that horribly mature way of his. Usually, Jeongguk admires him for it, wants to take that kind of composure into his own demeanor, but right now it just makes him want to scream.
Taehyung pulls his jacket tighter around himself, glancing between Namjoon's calm face and the poorly suppressed anger, betrayal on Jeongguk's like a skittish animal. "I can leave," he says quietly. "I'll go now."
No, shouts a voice in the back of Jeongguk's head, and he's reaching out to catch Taehyung's wrist even as Taehyung is turning away, even as Namjoon opens his mouth to start to persuade Taehyung to stay. "Wait," Jeongguk says, finally finding his voice even though it's hard, with Taehyung staring him straight in the face. God, he looks so good. The angles of his face have sharpened a little bit like he’s lost some weight recently - not so much that it'd be instantly noticeable and exclaimed over, but just enough, a small change that Jeongguk probably only sees because he knows Taehyung's face so well he could map it out blind.
It's like the world's come down to the two of them again, just them, this moment. Taehyung's gaze moves down to Jeongguk's hand on his arm like he can't believe it's there, then up to Jeongguk's face. Like he can't believe Jeongguk is here, before his very eyes. "Okay," he says, and the knot that had built up so gradually Jeongguk hadn't even noticed it now loosens a little.
Namjoon gets the fuck out once he establishes neither of them is going to run away from this conversation (probably off to report his successful intervention 2.0 to Yoongi and Hoseok, who will pass it on to Seokjin and Jimin, because Jeongguk's friends are all fucking gossips). Taehyung slowly pulls the chair out across from Jeongguk and sits down, studying the table before him instead of looking at Jeongguk's face.
"Want something to drink?" Jeongguk says finally, to break the silence.
"I'm good," Taehyung says, then looks up at Jeongguk's face and falters. "I guess I'll have a cappuccino." He starts to get up and order but Jeongguk springs up first, saying, "I'll get it, don't worry" and books it to the cashier before Taehyung can.
The cup in his hands is smooth, pearly white porcelain with a little saucer to catch the drips. Jeongguk thinks about dirty glasses and red solo cups for a moment and laughs to himself wryly, carefully carrying the drink back to their table. He used to wonder why Namjoon liked to come to a place like this so often, when his real passion lay with hip hop - spitfire rap, fuck society, all that. They'd gotten to be friends when Jeongguk wandered into the music producers club's first general meeting and Jeongguk was there, right there, when Namjoon had gotten signed on to produce a mixtape with an actual distribution company. Namjoon had been so fucking happy he'd thrown a party.
When he sits back down and slides the cup to Taehyung, he watches as Taehyung raises it to his lips, blows on it to cool it, sips. Taehyung fidgets under the weight of his gaze, so there's no question about whether he can feel it, the way Jeongguk could tell Taehyung was watching him, all those months ago. Maybe even a year, now? Since it all began?
Jeongguk looks down at his own drink, the latte art in the milk foam melting away, seeping into meaningless swirls, so he doesn't think too hard about wanting to kiss Taehyung again. Besides, now Taehyung isn't watching him anymore. His eyes have stopped asking for kisses.
"I'm the one who fucked up," he decides to say after a few long minutes, Taehyung sipping and sipping at his drink without ever making eye contact. "It was me. I freaked out on you."
"But I'm the one who suggested it in the first place and messed everything up," Taehyung says to his cappuccino. Jeongguk can still hear his words - Well, it's not like you didn't know what you were getting into when we first started doing this thing, okay? It's just to help you let go, and feel good. That's why we fuck, Jeongguk, you don't have to make this so complicated. - but he knows better now. He's figured it out.
"No," he says. "No, it was me. When you said the aphrodisiac was to help me 'let go,' I lost it."
"What do you mean?" Taehyung says, finally, finally looking up from his drink. The look in his eyes is wary, like he's just waiting for Jeongguk to hurt him again, but now Jeongguk's coming clean. Laying himself bare and vulnerable on the wooden tabletop for Taehyung to break down if he so pleases, because that’s better than whatever they’ve stagnated into nowadays.
"I'm saying that even then I was in love with you and the idea of letting go scared me because I didn't want to let go around you. If I let myself loose, I'd do something stupid, like ask you to be mine or whatever, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't want to risk whatever it was that we had." Jeongguk pushes his latte aside, leaning forward, "Taehyung, I didn't even think I could have whatever we had for so long before that, you don't understand. Every time you invited me over, I would think 'this is the last time, he'll want it to stop, this won't be good enough for him for long' but I wasn't good enough to break it off so you could get someone better."
Taehyung is silent but his cappuccino goes untouched. Jeongguk looks at his face, the face he used to read so easily ("more kisses," or "don't rush it," or "give it to me, fuck") and realizes he really doesn't understand Taehyung outside of the bedroom.
"Hyung," he says quietly. "I've done a lot of stupid shit in my life. Like, I once rode a motorcycle and didn't have a license or a helmet because I thought somehow that was a good idea at the time. Really risky things. When I realized I was too scared to be myself around you, I had to listen to the music, Taehyung, and pushed you away first so, you know. So it wouldn't be me and you'd find that someone better and wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. We were just fuck buddies. I knew you were going to go to Namjoon's party, I knew. You know I can't even remember the name of the guy I was making out with? He wasn’t you. I just remember your face. The way you looked when you saw. Fuck."
"You're a piece of shit," Taehyung says, voice hoarse like his throat has closed up with unshed tears, and Jeongguk wishes he wasn't the one who did that.
Jeongguk laughs humorlessly. "I know. And it didn't even work. I couldn't stop thinking about you, I probably loitered in Namjoon's apartment so much Yoongi was gonna strangle me but I couldn't be alone or else I'd just keep thinking about you, and what I did, and how much I regretted it. I thought it'd like, be worth it, if you were happy. But Yoongi's friend Hoseok came by and told me I even messed that part up."
"I thought you didn't want me anymore," Taehyung bursts out, louder now, voice breaking over the buzz of the cafe but Jeongguk doesn’t even care if anyone’s looking at them strangely. "I thought I'd stopped being enough for you, and you weren't satisfied with me, and it all sucked for a while. And I just -"
"Taehyung," Jeongguk interrupts him. Taehyung quiets, watching him, waiting for every single precious word now - and Jeongguk doesn't waste words. He needs to say them so bad, he doesn’t even care they sound like a romance movie’s worst cliché. "I always want you. And I always will."
He watches as Taehyung shudders, pupils dilating a little in the low lighting, and wishes that they weren't in this public little cafe, but rather in Taehyung's room all over again, no Jimin and no one else around, just the two of them and the shrinking distance between their expectant lips.
⊗
"I don't - I don't have anything," Taehyung gasps out, but Jeongguk kisses him again and he surrenders with a moan, happily, taking everything he possibly can. So far, they'd taken off their shoes (at the door), their socks (Taehyung doesn't like them on his bed), and Jeongguk's shirt is off.
Or rather, Taehyung dragged it up and off his body, dropping it off the side of his mattress in something rather like clockwork, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Jeongguk on his part channeled a lot of his moping and angst to hitting the gym enough times to threaten Jimin's biceps and abs. "You really are good enough to eat," he whispered, the corniness of the words almost enough to make his fingers curl, and Jeongguk kissed him to shut him up all over again. Because today is a day of new and old beginnings, apparently.
"Are you serious, please don't be serious," Jeongguk whispers against his skin. He leaves a trail of burning kisses down Taehyung's throat before following up with blotchy, red hickeys, on the side of Taehyung's neck and down to his collarbones, up too high for most of his shirts to cover. Like suddenly a switch has been flipped and he's taking it all, letting go, marking Taehyung as his very own.
His enthusiasm is as good as any aphrodisiac. Taehyung thumbs at one of Jeongguk's nipples and feels him shudder at the touch, return the favor with a little tooth in the next kiss, Jeongguk's own hands coming up to weave his fingers into Taehyung's hair as if he needs the reassurance of holding Taehyung here in his own hands.
"I'm afraid so," Taehyung groans. It's been a while since he had sex at all, and before that he stocked condoms in his wallet and found more in the purses and pockets of his one night stands. He can feel the rumble in Jeongguk's chest when he growls in frustration, and drags Jeongguk up for more making out, more, more.
Even kissing has Taehyung wired, hypersensitive, his cock hard in his pants - because only he would be wearing jeans in this moment, like an actual idiot - and it's less about how it's been so long and more about how this is real, this is Jeongguk in his bed, the solid weight of his body against Taehyung's, kissing him like he's been starving for it just as much. Maybe more, Taehyung dares to think, and is filled with warmth. He didn't even realize it, but he's been cold for so long, staved it off with the illusion of keeping his life together and cuddling Hoseok, leaning heavily against Yoongi when his hyung would permit the display of gratitude even if he wasn't taking Yoongi's words to heart. It was good that he cared. And Taehyung is going to have to buy Namjoon flowers or get him another mixtape deal (no party of bad decisions this time though, please) because without him there wouldn't be this - there wouldn't be Jeongguk back in Taehyung's bed, kissing him sincerely, vehemently, fingers working to undo the buttons of Taehyung's shirt as quickly as possible for the sensation of skin on skin.
"You're gorgeous," Jeongguk whispers quietly a little later, both of them now naked, Taehyung moaning and gasping as Jeongguk jerks him off with a hand slicked with spit and the last bit of lube Taehyung could procure. Taehyung's hard and leaking enough pre-come that it isn't too bad - well, it's fucking amazing, actually, in Taehyung's humble opinion - and Taehyung can't stop his hips from jerking into Jeongguk's touch. Even after all this time, Jeongguk knows exactly how he likes it, the right grip and the right pace.
"Don't," Taehyung whimpers, pressing his face to Jeongguk's neck. His heart fucking flutters a little when Jeongguk turns to kiss his cheekbone without faltering in the rhythm of his hand, pulling Taehyung closer and closer to climax with each stroke. "Jeongguk - Jeongguk - "
He comes so hard it steals the breath from his lungs a little, body trembling from the force of it, the slide much easier now but he's painfully over-sensitive, whining at the discomfort when Jeongguk rubs at the head with his thumb.
Jeongguk nuzzles at his face and finds his lips, kissing him tenderly, without urgency, even though Taehyung is 100% aware of Jeongguk's own erection. Make that 10000%, he wants to get his hands and mouth on that as soon as possible once he regains use of his limbs after coming so hard. All he can for a few seconds is kiss Jeongguk back languidly. Kissing for the sake of kissing.
With the dearth of condoms on the premises, Taehyung is about to sadly offer to suck Jeongguk off (deep throating is also on the table) and take a rain check for the actual sex when he realizes that there may be a condom around after all. "Hold on," he says sternly to Jeongguk, pecking him on the lips before scrambling off the bed and scouring the ground around it; he remembers buying a new box of condoms sometime before he started sleeping around in earnest - not the best decision, now that he thinks about it, especially since he's probably never going to find someone with stroke game as bomb as Jeongguk - and accidentally knocking it over while opening the box. Condoms went flying, et cetera, and if he's lucky enough and the gods of sexuality and whatever decide to smile down upon him, he'll be able to get the d after all.
"YES," he shouts, snagging the foil packet off the ground and holding it over his head victoriously. Jeongguk bursts out laughing, that kind of full-belly laughing and laughing until you cry a little from the force of your mirth, and Taehyung finds himself smiling, the laughter contagious, and they end up just giggling at each other until the tide of the laughter subsides naturally. Taehyung probably still has a silly smile on his face when he drops the condom on Jeongguk's stomach, fingers skimming a little too close to Jeongguk's cock. "Want me to ride you?" he asks mischievously.
"Fuck," Jeongguk says, sounding a little punch drunk. "Yes. Please, Taehyung. Always yes."
Yeah, so maybe there isn't enough lube (though it seems now Taehyung will have to go buy more) and the stretch goes slow because it's been so long since Taehyung was fucked (but Jeongguk is patient, his long fingers sliding in deep and perfect, so perfect Taehyung could almost cry at how right the sense of fullness feels), it's everything Taehyung's ever wanted. He eases himself slowly onto Jeongguk's cock and feels Jeongguk's moan of pleasure as vividly as he hears it, slipping a little when Jeongguk's hand comes up to tug lightly at Taehyung's own cock - thank god for short refractory periods.
Taehyung settles into his seat, shifting a little, getting used to the sensation of Jeongguk inside of him again but his body somehow remembers even after all this time and it's easy, it feels good. He rides Jeongguk at a leisurely pace, thoroughly, that has Jeongguk growling at him for more and making each kiss pressing and urgent.
"You look so good," Jeongguk groans at one point, like the compliments can't stop. Like he's finally let down some filter and everything that crosses his mind for Taehyung just comes slipping out of his mouth. Each word has Taehyung flushing hotter, real proof that Jeongguk wants him so bad like this, can't stop thinking about Taehyung like this. "Babe, you're so good at this, fuck, fuck."
"Jeongguk, oh," Taehyung moans, nearly toppling over when Jeongguk figures out how to get enough leverage to snap his hips up to meet Taehyung coming down. It feels good this way, bodies rocking to meet each other, building upon each other now with nowhere to go but up, up, up.
Taehyung comes all over his stomach and Jeongguk's again before Jeongguk gets to, and pulls off of Jeongguk's cock with trembling thighs so he can get onto his hands and knees, aware of every little detail - even Jeongguk's hands shaking with urgency, desperation as he adjusts the condom, shifting positions, sliding back to home easy. "Fuck," he says again, and drives the pace hard now that he has free reign, Taehyung moaning and calling out encouragement, turning back for a kiss every so often but Jeongguk can't kiss him for long and keep up this kind of rhythm at the same time so Taehyung just lets his head drop to the pillows and spreads his thighs apart a little farther so the angle is right. Jeongguk can't stop touching him, everywhere, hands running up and down the muscles of Taehyung's thighs or the slopes of his back or his shoulders; he nips at the smooth skin and kisses the back of Taehyung's neck, eventually just rests his forehead on the vertebrae of Taehyung's spine as he thrusts in deep, every time.
He shudders apart a little when he finally comes, gasping, Taehyung's name on his lips. Taehyung's pretty confident there won't be anyone else's name to follow in the future, especially when Jeongguk comes back from stumbling across the room to throw away the used condom and snuggles right up to Taehyung, allowing Taehyung to cuddle close, pillow his head on Jeongguk's arm. "Hey," Jeongguk whispers, sounding spent but happy. So happy.
"Hey yourself," Taehyung says, and kisses him again, because he can. Because he's so fucking thrilled that Jeongguk is staying for once, and the orgasm isn't just his ticket out the door or anything like that. Because they finally have this.
⊗
Everything doesn't go back to normal or automatically become perfect after that, but it comes pretty damn close.
Jeongguk as a boyfriend is so different from Jeongguk as a friend with benefits that even Taehyung is surprised when Jeongguk doesn't mind doing things so cute they give Seokjin and Jimin a run for their money (okay, fine, so they probably won't ever be that cute but Taehyung is more than happy with what they're doing now). He'll hold Taehyung's hand in front of all their friends and just smile good-naturedly when they're teased, and when Taehyung wants a kiss, he gives it to him, right in front of everyone. Yoongi will never stop huffing but Taehyung knows he's happy as fuck for them.
And as for Taehyung, well. “Happy as fuck” - with Jeongguk here beside him giving him those soft eyes that say hey, I love you without any reserve at all - doesn't even begin to cover it.