Chapter Text
It was Taehyung’s turn for movie night, and of course, he pulled out all the stops and put way too much effort in. His little apartment was filled with fairy lights, candles, blankets and pillows. His couches were angled towards the TV and duvets were strewn across the floor in case anyone wanted to sprawl out. He ordered all kinds of food and filled many bowls with snacks. There was soju, beer, even wine.
“That’s it. Every movie night is now at Taehyung’s,” Jin demanded as soon as he walked in. Everyone agreed as they made their way in and got settled. Taehyung wasn’t sure if they were joking.
When Jimin finally arrived (he was always late), Taehyung leaned in and gave him a kiss at the door. Jimin wanted more! More! He leaned back in, capturing Taehyung’s lips.
“Ah, ah,” Taehyung pulled back with his chin tilted up, avoiding Jimin’s devilish lips. “Our friends are waiting.”
“Hmph,” Jimin pouted. He stepped forward and surveyed Taehyung’s apartment. It was bigger than his, but still cozy and obviously owned by an art-student. “Oh, I love your place, Tae-tae.”
“Thank you, munchkin.” Taehyung placed a hand on Jimin’s back and guided him towards the small living room. He stopped before they entered and looked at Jimin seriously. “Good brain day?”
“Yeah, I suppose. It’s never…good, but it’s not bad, I guess,” Jimin looked down.
Taehyung cupped his cheek with his palm. “That’s good, baby. May there be more ‘not bad’ brain days in the future.” He leaned in and kissed Jimin gently. He was beginning to wish their friends weren’t there after all.
—
After a successful movie night of getting way too drunk and talking right over Pulp Fiction, everyone left, minus Jimin.
“I just wanna help you clean up, that’s all,” Jimin beamed.
To be fair to Jimin, he did help tidy everything away, but he of course had an ulterior motive.
“Wow, would you look at that Taehyungie, we’re all alone in your apartment, the whole night ahead of us, no one to disturb us.” Jimin stalked forward, as a lion would a gazelle.
Taehyung crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Behave, minx.”
His words sent a shiver down Jimin’s spine. “I don’t wanna behave…I wanna be bad.” He sidled up to Taehyung, and leaned into his space.
Taehyung gulped. “Mini…I want to, I really do, but there’s an order to things…”
“What more is there to do? You took me to the countryside, we’ve stargazed together, we’ve kissed…we spend so much time together, Tae-tae, we’re pretty much boyfriends, aren't we?” Jimin was beyond frustrated.
“We are, baby, we are.”
Oh. This was news to Jimin. He hadn’t meant for the ‘boyfriend’ word to slip out. He blushed and tried to hide his smile.
“You’re forgetting something, though,” Taehyung said cryptically.
Jimin looked up, surprised. “What? Don’t…don’t tell me you wanna take me on a ‘proper’ date or something…”
“No,” Taehyung scrunched up his face, “God, no. Fancy dates make me cringe, and I know you don’t like them either.”
Phew. Jimin sagged in relief. “Yeah, I don’t. It’s always too formal. I can’t relax.”
“Exactly.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Jimin had half a mind to jump into his boyfriend’s arms and kiss him silly, until Taehyung forgot whatever he was talking about.
“Next time you’re having a bad brain day, call me. Okay?”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it, please.”
“Um…alright then. It’ll probably be tomorrow, or even in a few hours. Minutes Taehyung! I can slip into it right now if you want!” Jimin was bouncing up and down, eager for a bad brain day, for once.
“No way, you have too much energy. You’re fine. In fact, I’ve never seen you so present,” Taehyung smiled proudly.
“Fuck you,” Jimin snarled.
Taehyung just thought he was cute. “Let me walk you home, Mini.”
“Can’t I stay with you,” Jimin pouted.
“No, I don’t trust you…or myself.”
“Oh,” Jimin smiled. “Okay, then.”
He was frustrated, yes, but he was also smitten. Completely smitten.
—
By the time Taehyung got back to his empty apartment, it was extremely late at night and his lips were red, swollen and kiss-bitten. Jimin had stolen kisses the whole way home, until Taehyung couldn’t take it anymore. They ferociously made out against Jimin’s apartment door until Taehyung had to rip himself away and leave a whining Jimin suspiciously quickly, without a backwards glance.
He leaned against his door and sighed.
Park Jimin was going to be the death of him.
—
Taehyung didn’t hear from Jimin for the whole weekend. He was constantly on edge, his phone burning a hole in his pocket. Why wasn’t Jimin calling him? Wasn’t he having any bad brain days? Many times, he had to chastise himself - Jimin being mentally well was a good thing, of course. Why had he chosen to do this to himself? They could have been making sweet, sweet love all weekend, but alas, Taehyung had made a commitment to Jimin. There was something he must do first.
It was on Tuesday that Taehyung finally got the call.
His phone blared as he walked out of his last lecture of the day. He scrambled for his phone.
“Jimin-ah?”
“Tae-tae…I feel really, really bad today.” Jimin’s voice was glum and monotone.
“Bad as in…bad brain day?”
“Mmm,” Jimin confirmed quietly.
“I’m on my way.” He already knew Jimin was at home.
He raced through the streets, the lamps lighting up around him. It was so cold he couldn’t feel his hands, and it was hard to breathe. Finally, he reached Jimin’s apartment. It didn’t take long for Jimin to swing open the door.
“Tae,” he said mournfully.
Jimin looked pale with dark bags under his eyes. Somehow, the obviously struggling boy managed to muster up a smile for Taehyung.
“Angel, you must be freezing.”
Jimin had only a baggy t-shirt on and his feet were bare. “I - I guess.” He hadn’t really noticed how violently he was shivering until then. Taehyung quickly made his way inside, closed the door behind him and began to bundle Jimin up in as many layers as possible.
“I don’t need earmuffs…,” Jimin protested weakly.
“Yes you do, your little ears are cold. Besides, I want to head to the roof,” Taehyung said as he helped Jimin put on his gloves.
Jimin stared at Taehyung in wonder. Who was this strange, strange man that had so suddenly come into his life, who had so suddenly become so special to him? It made his head spin. He moved on autopilot when Taehyung took his hand and led him out the door and up the rickety metal stairs to the roof.
Jimin refused to look up at the light pollution. No way. Not right now. Not when this beautiful enigma of a man was standing in front of him, looking at him like that.
“Mini?”
“Oh, did you say something?” Jimin blinked. The fog was heavy, so heavy.
Taehyung gave him a fond smile and shook his head. He had asked Jimin if he wanted a hug, but he didn’t bother asking again. He didn’t want to put Jimin through the struggle of deciphering his words.
Without saying a word, he stepped forward and pulled Jimin into him, wrapping his arms around him tightly.
The snow began to fall.
They stood together, in silence. Weakly, Jimin lifted his arms and placed his hands on Taehyung’s back. It was so cold - unbearably cold - but Taehyung was warm. Jimin closed his eyes and exhaled, his head resting on his lover’s chest.
“My love,” Jimin whispered. “Kiss me.”
Slowly, Taehyung placed his fingertips into the soft skin of Jimin’s cheeks and tilted his head up gently. He looked so adorable in his earmuffs with the snow catching on his eyelashes, it was painful.
They pressed their cold lips together and kissed slowly, the rest of the world melting away from them. Jimin couldn’t feel anything but Taehyung’s lips, couldn’t taste anything but strawberries. Taehyung always tasted like strawberries. The guy always carried around a pack of them, in case of 'emergencies'. Jimin chose not to question that. Their tongues met, sending shivers down Jimin’s spine. His awareness of his body came back to him slowly as Taehyung claimed his mouth.
Jimin should have known what Taehyung would do, should really have put two and two together. He had no clue what was happening when Taehyung suddenly pulled back, harshly gripped him by the shoulders and shook him harshly, a teasing smile taking over his face.
“Wake up!” he yelled in Jimin’s face. “I call on twenty year old Park Jimin, beautiful dancer, college student, Hobi’s best friend, Namjin’s second child other than Jungkook, and my love, the light of my life. Come out, come out, come out!”
Jimin giggled uncontrollably as Taehyung continued to bellow and shake him violently. He was probably concerning the neighbours and the people down on the street. “Okay, okay, I’m here, I’m here,” he laughed. "What am I, a Pokémon?"
Taehyung shook him a little more for good measure, before finally stopping. “I thought you’d cry,” he smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.
“No, no, I’m okay,” Jimin reassured him, wiping away the snow on his face.
“So…how do you feel? Fixed?” Taehyung beamed.
“Of course not,” Jimin scoffed. He slapped Taehyung’s chest playfully. “...But I do feel better. Certainly more…," he clears his throat, "present.” In truth, it was the hilarity of the situation that got Jimin out of the fog a little.
“Good, good,” Taehyung nodded. “I can do that every time if you like?”
“God no! I won’t ever want to hug you! I'd live in fear of your hugs! And I like hugging you,” Jimin pouted.
“I like hugging you too, angel.”
They smiled at each other. The snow was getting heavier, and Seoul was slowly turning white.
“Let’s get you inside.” Taehyung wrapped an arm around Jimin and guided him back down the stairs.
Jimin stared up at his face. “We can have sex now, right?”
Taehyung gave him a dark look, before manhandling a squealing Jimin into his apartment.
—
Taehyung never knew heaven could be found between a man’s thighs.
He shouldn’t have been surprised - Jimin was an angel, after all. The boy beneath him was so sweet, so kind, so funny and endearing, even though he had a struggle any other man wouldn’t last a day with. A struggle that Taehyung could never be able to understand. Jimin somehow smiled through it all, and Taehyung had nothing but respect.
I love you.
He breathed in Jimin’s breathy, needy noises as if they were the very air he needed to breathe. Jimin pulled him against him, his hands guiding Taehyung deeper. It wasn’t long before he was writhing on the bed beneath him. As a lover, Taehyung exceeded Jimin's expectations and then some. Jimin may never be able to understand this man, or predict his next move, but that was what he loved about Taehyung the most. He was a mystery - Jimin’s mystery.
I love you.
Taehyung made sure Jimin finished first. He was always putting him first - it was something Jimin maybe wanted to change one day. Taehyung deserved to be looked after too.
Taehyung finished shortly after, collapsing into Jimin’s neck. They breathed together, unmoving, silent. The neon lights across the street shone into the bedroom, painting Taehyung’s bare back in technicolors. Jimin had been suffering under light pollution all this time, when he could have been dancing in neon lights. He sighed and looked down into Taehyung’s eyes.
They stared at each other, and smiled softly. They both knew, of course they did.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
And maybe Taehyung never fixed him, and maybe Jimin continued to have bad brain days. They didn’t mind, it was okay. They looked after each other. They made each other laugh. Taehyung loved him through all his bad brain days, and Jimin loved him in return.
They had each other, and that was enough.
Jimin didn’t need the light pollution to clear to find his starlight. His most precious star was right here in front of him, in the shape of his lover.
—
The End.