Chapter Text
the party lasted until about eleven before the group decided to head back to the hotel. yoongi had been the one to tell everyone it was time to go as taehyung had nearly fallen asleep on the table after his fourth drink. the majority of the crowd looked pretty tipsy while the minority looked awfully ready for bed, jeongguk being amongst that group. the moment he parted ways with jimin, he crashed on his hotel bed harder than a car wreck.
the following morning, a loud blaring sound awoke jeongguk with a start. he quickly sat up in bed and looked towards the device that was currently screaming spit blood by weasel king at him. his hand reached for his phone and hurriedly turned the sound off as a sigh escaped his mouth. the time read 7:25 am. he didn't know when he set the alarm or why he set it for so early, but the longer he sat in the darkness of his room, the more sleepy he was becoming. he rubbed his face with his hands, then decided to lie back in bed for a bit longer. breakfast wasn't over until nine, anyway. he was able to afford a bit more sleep, especially after the way he awoke.
as he lay there, jeongguk couldn't help but drift his thoughts towards taehyung, their gorgeous tour guide with the most beautiful voice. that seems like where a lot of his thoughts drift to now. damn him. from the two brief talks he's had with taehyung, jeongguk immediately became a shy mess of a man who's never spoken to a person in his entire life. this was the complete opposite of who he was usually able to portray himself as. the "fake it to you make it" sort of mindset that's gotten him pretty far, until now where he can no longer fake it at all.
jeongguk groaned, pushing the palms of his hands on his closed eyes and rubbed lightly against them. maybe he could rub the thoughts out of his mind if he pushed hard enough. as he took his hands away, his vision had spotted black dots, and he still thought of taehyung. he only gained more thoughts, if anything. oh, damn him indeed. deciding he had had enough thinking about the honey toned male, he got ready to head downstairs for breakfast. it was 7:35 am now.
at around 7:50 am, he had his black shoes on, a black beanie covering his messy black mullet, and his phone in his back pocket. he was still wearing his black sweatpants and sweatshirt he'd gone to sleep in, not feeling the need to change out of those until after. although his outfit made him look as though he was dark and mysterious, he felt quite the opposite. a little ray of sunshine lay beneath all that darkness and was about to be unleashed as he ate with his friends.
once jeongguk arrived at the lounge, he saw the rest of the groups eating quietly and talking to each other. over the course of the previous day, small circles of people began to form. there was about five distinct groups, including his own, with a few stray people sticking to themselves. the group of men he was sitting with last night stayed the same, minus jimin, who was talking with yoongi at a different table. jeongguk watched with a confused stare as the two interacted. they seemed rather comfortable with each other, or as comfortable as two near strangers could be after one day and night together. did they spend a night together? jeongguk decided to figure out what this was about and approached the pair.
"i think we should get them to walk together on the way- oh hey jeongguk," jimin interrupted himself with a knowing smile towards the newcomer as yoongi stared up boringly. his facial expression hardly changed, except for a slight widened eyed look that quickly dissipated the moment he locked eyes with the boy.
"oh, hi jimin, hi-?" "its yoongi," he replied and jeongguk nodded slowly at first, then progressively got faster. "hi yoongi, um, how long have you guys been down here?" "eh, an hour or so? we're just getting to know each other," jimin answered with another smile. he was speaking in a secretive way, like a parent would to a child when they don't want them to know about a party. it all felt very meticulous: giving just enough information that it didn't need much more explanation, but so little that it felt like there could be more to it. jeongguk squinted his eyes slightly as he looked back and forth between the pair. he felt suspicious, but with the dead eyed look he was getting from yoongi, he sure as hell wasn't going to question it. "okay..." he trailed off, then turned on his heel and walked quickly towards the food bar.
yoongi shook his head, "he's awkward." "no, he's just awkward towards new people. plus, you're like, really intimidating. i'd be nervous too if some new guy was staring me down as i talked to my friend," jimin shrugged, writing something down in the journal they were sharing. they hadn't written much down besides small bullet points on what to do with the boys today, and a few little doodles from jimin as yoongi talked. he drew a smiley face, a dog, and a sun in the corner of the paper.
"how'd you talk to me last night then?" yoongi asked, scrunching his brows down as he crossed his arms and leaned them against the table. "after three champagnes, anyone is approachable," jimin responded with a smile. his eyes resembled little crescents, or maybe a sunrise. the sun drawing the sun, how ironic. yoongi felt his face grow warm and he looked down towards the journal to quickly occupy himself.
jeongguk was still by the bar, already holding his food in one hand, but unsure of what drink to grab in the other. yes, chocolate milk is good and all, but is it as good as banana milk? and if he gets it, will it seem too baby-ish? eh, maybe he'll just get orange juice-
"the banana milk's really good. im goin' onto my second one now." a voice broke through his indecisive thinking and he quickly turned towards the intruder.
seeing as it was seokjin, he smiled and grabbed one for himself as he asked, "anything happen between you and mr. bartender last night?" a laugh escaped the elder male as he grabbed another banana milk. he was wearing some sort of matching pajamas with little animals all down it. he had such an older brother energy that it immediately put jeongguk at ease.
"i went to thank him for the drink and he was a mess, mumbling things and what not, and me being me decided to say a few jokes to ease him," he walked the two of them over to the table he was sitting at, and a few people greeting jeongguk as he sat. "i told him my favourite one and he actually laughed. like, laugh laughed. we talked for awhile, and before i knew it, i got his number again - since i threw away the napkin with his number on it originally - and we've been talking since last night," he said, taking a sip of his milk as his phone vibrated on the table.
"looks like that's your man now," taehyun joked as kai elbowed him with a laugh. jeongguk rolled his eyes fondly at the pair and began to eat his food. his plate was full of a strange assortment of things; he had scrambled eggs, a blueberry muffin, a banana, and two sausage patties. after a few bites, he asked the boy across from him, "hoseok, did you do anything fun last night?"
disappointed flashed in hoseoks eyes as he said, "sadly, no. after i got drunk, i went back to my room and immediately slept. must've needed it, i guess."
"well, don't worry too much! we still have the rest of our time here for you to find someone," jeongguk encouraged with a smile. he went in for another bite of his eggs before drifting his focus away from them and towards the beautiful man who walked in.
taehyung was wearing plaid pajamas with a white ball cap on and a white mask resting below his chin. some sort of furry slippers accompanied the look with such elegance, jeongguk suddenly felt under-dressed for breakfast.
the man must've felt his intense gaze and looked in their tables direction. he looked at everyone's expressions and faces until he found the one. taehyungs eyes locked onto him as though the whole reason he came downstairs was to stare at him a little longer. their eyes glued to each other so quickly and easily, it almost felt like they'd done this for longer than a day. he smiled lightly, using his right hand to give a little wave as he walked towards the bar to grab an orange juice. jeongguk let out a small breath he hadn't known he'd kept in and hoseok and seokjin let out loud laughs.
"this guys got you wrapped around his finger, huh!" hoseok enthused with a laugh and jeongguk scolded him, attempting to get him to lower his voice as those chocolaty eyes lingered towards him once again. jeongguk wished all his darkness could suck him in like a black hole.
"hoseok, hush!" he whisper-yelled as a fire-like warmth crept up his neck. he could feel honey toned eyes watching his every movement, including the one where he swatted at his friends to stop their laughter. seokjins windshield wiper laughter erupted once more at his poor attempt at quieting them down. today, jeongguk was the groups selected entertainment, even if he didn't mean to be.
-
after the embarrassing breakfast fiasco, the group set off for a "turtle canyon snorkeling adventure," as taehyung called it. they decided to walk to their destination as it wasn't too far away from where they were staying and the weather this morning seemed rather pleasant.
taehyung had told the group to bring an extra pair of clothes for after so they didn't have to walk back to the hotel soaking wet. most listened, others - such as jeongguk - did not. he was too busy watching the boy speak rather than listening to the words he uttered, so it'll be his loss later.
as the sun was rising higher in the sky, most of the walkers were beginning to strip of their shirts or sweatshirts. it was quickly growing much warmer than everyone anticipated it being, especially at 10:30 am. taehyung, who has since changed from his pajamas to a flow-y button up and a pair of tan shorts, hadn't participated in the stripping, but rather laughed at some of those who complained of the heat.
jeongguk was trailing slightly behind as he enjoyed the walk and, enjoyed even more than that, listening to the angelic laughter from up ahead. although silly to admit, even the laughter itself brought a warmth to his cheeks, but he'll say its a growing sunburn.
"hey koo," jimin spoke up, earning a light 'hm?' from the boy kicking a stone beside him. he had set himself a challenge: try to see how far he can kick this rock without losing it. "im gonna catch up with yoongi, but i think you should join us at the front with mr. tour guide." jeongguk let out an airy laugh and shook his head, "i dont think i should." "the only way you two will ever get closer is if you actually communicate," jimin said teasingly, causing his friend to roll his eyes and shake his head again.
"he's not wrong, jeongguk," hoseok spoke from beside him, earning a nod from taehyun and hueningkai. they were all quickly becoming invested in his potential romantic life. "you guys better leave him alone. young love is cute!" seokjin said from in front of them, turning around and beginning to walk backwards as they all talked. "yeah, its cute, until its not. it'll become annoying if they dont start talking soon, and then we'll have to hear his complaints for the rest of the trip," jimin explained, earning a groan from his friend, who put his face in his hands.
"nonetheless, im heading up front. bye guys!" jimin called back, jogging up to where yoongi was, and warmly smiling to his newly-found friend. jeongguk sighed, watching the way jimin and yoongi immediately sprung into conversation. he made it seem so easy, and maybe it was. maybe it was just as easy as it was made out to be. it's just talking, what's so hard about that? so, he listened to what his friend said and stopped his rock game to begin walking towards taehyung. this earned a group of howls and teases from hoseok, seokjin, taehyun, and hueningkai.
jeongguk turned around with a smile and flipped them off, gaining attention from the other people in the tour group and causing more loud laughter and teases from his friends. he laughed too, as the strangeness of this whole event began to dawn on him; people he just met yesterday are encouraging him to talk to a man he's just begun to like. oh, what a strange and incredible time to be alive.
he quickly walked towards taehyung, who had heard the commotion and turned around to be met with the face of an embarrassed jeongguk. his face was a pretty pink and the sound of hoseoks laughter could still be heard from not-so-far away. taehyung chuckled at his expression and said, "hi jeon." "hi taehyung," he copied, smiling coyly towards him.
from afar, jimin was watching in awe as yoongi rolled his eyes. "awkward with only new people, huh?" he asked with a cock of his eyebrow and jimin glared. he lightly hit his arm. "new people, and people he has a crush on. be supportive that he's actually doing something to progress this since we've been slacking," jimin replied and yoongi scoffed, putting a hand on his chest as though to clutch his pearls.
"we haven't done anything because you've been talking to him this whole time," he grumbled half heartedly. "to make him feel more comfortable! what was i supposed to do, walk away?" jimin questioned as he crossed his arms. the two stared at each other for a moment. "whats the plan for getting them together?" he asked, averting the conversation from where it was and dropping his arms back to his sides. "whenever the two of them need one of us, we direct them towards the other and hide. simple as that," yoongi stated, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. he said it with such confidence, jimin couldn't help but feel as though it truly must be "as simple as that."
"..simple as that?" he asked, still feeling a bit unsure about this. "yeah, simple as that," yoongi replied just as confidently as before. this truly must be a bulletproof plan.
however, it turns out it wasn't as simple as that.
the entire time, the two boys would cling to their friends, not to each other. and although jimin and yoongi tried to get them to go to the other, it always led them back to their friends feet. who would've thought that two people who may have crushes on each other would be a bit reluctant at going to the other so freely? by the end of the snorkeling fest, the pair were completely worn out.
"simple as that, huh?" jimin scowled, crossing his arms over his sunburnt chest as he walked side by side with yoongi, who was in a fresh pair of clothes. jimin hadn't felt like changing, so he decided to keep his swim trunks on for the walk back. yoongi scoffed, copying jimin as he too crossed his arms, "it was supposed to be! i didnt realize that they would want to hang with us during the first actual activity." "yeah obviously, dumbass," jimin said in an irritated tone, flicking the side of yoongis face, which lead to the two of them swatting each other as they continued their walk to the hotel.
not so far away, taehyung and jeongguk were walking side by side. taehyung wore his dry clothes and jeongguk wore his swim trunks as he'd missed the part where his tour guide said to bring extra clothing. taehyung, with much difficulty, was desperately trying not to let his eyes drift down to the boys stomach or muscles. out of the corner of his eye, he kept catching sight of jeongguks tattoo sleeve and he wanted more than ever to ogle at it and him. he wanted to properly stare at him and everything about him, but he was also painfully aware of jeongguks friends trailing a short distance away. so, to keep them both from getting relentlessly made fun of, he averted his eyes.
as taehyung was attempting to keep his eyes from anything that was below jeongguks neck, he noticed how brilliant his side-profile was: perfect jawline, beautiful proportions, sharp eyes that stayed focused on the road ahead. he was even more gorgeous than taehyung realized. his heartbeat sped up.
noticing he had been checking the younger man out, he quickly redirected his attention to his feet as they walked in sync. 'that was unprofessional, taehyung,' he scolded himself, but for some reason, he couldn't help but feel no regret. he felt good, and maybe even pleased. he knows he should feel bad, this is a bad thing; this is unprofessional, to fall for someone you're just supposed to be educating and then forgetting about in days time. but maybe he didn't want to just forget about him so quickly. maybe he wants to enjoy this moment before it's gone.
maybe forming a little crush on jeongguk wasn't bad at all.