Archive of Our Own

Mercury – 1. Moonlight.

Jeongguk has always believed that Taehyung looks the most beautiful when he’s kissed by the sweet rays of the sun. On a warm Saturday night without any warning, Jeongguk realises he is very, very wrong as the magnificent, yellow moon hangs above the Seoul skyline and illuminates Taehyung’s skin in a way that shames the most breath-taking ancient Gods.

His eyes are closed in relaxation as he lies against their fluffiest blanket, effortlessly awing Jeongguk by the way his eyelashes seem to sparkle. His black hair is longer than it’s ever been, curling around the back of his neck in a way that makes Jeongguk want to swirl his fingers around the silky strands forever. Without any stage makeup, Taehyung’s moles seem to become darker, and are at the gracious mercy of the moonlight that’s eager to light Taehyung up in every way for Jeongguk to gaze at. Without a spark of shame, Jeongguk’s eyes drink in the way Taehyung’s enticing lips part slightly as he sighs lightly.

Lost in his amazement, Jeongguk’s hand stretches out to touch the curve of Taehyung’s jaw and—

“I can feel you staring at me,” Taehyung says without opening his eyes.

With a gasp, Jeongguk jerks his hand back at the speed of light. Humiliation rushes over him like a tidal wave, for both almost touching Taehyung like that as well as openly staring like a stalker. “I—uh, I, sorry.”

Taehyung’s eyes are open when Jeongguk looks back at him—which he’s also unprepared for and almost embarrassingly whimpers at the beauty of the man. Jesus, why do his eyes look so brown in the moonlight? He’s smiling, a blessing in itself, and doesn’t seem upset at all of being the object of Jeongguk’s focus for so long.

The hotness of his cheeks reminds Jeongguk of how embarrassed he is, and he snaps his gaze back over the balcony at the moon. It floats in the sky, almost as beautiful as Taehyung and seems to mock Jeongguk for being in love with someone like Taehyung who he’ll never have a chance with.

It was Taehyung’s idea to have a little picnic on the balcony of their dorm, since they recently moved into a luxury one and had a huge porch at the back that offered a stunning view of Seoul.

Not nearly as stunning as Taehyung, though.

“You’re so cute when you’re blushing like that,” Taehyung’s low voice coos, and is even deeper tonight too, but Jeongguk knows that has nothing to do with the moonlight.

Jeongguk gulps, and the heat creeps to his neck and up to his ears at the compliment from Taehyung—majestic, heavenly Taehyung. “Jesus—stop it, hyung.”

Taehyung chuckles softly, and Jeongguk is drawn in by the wonderful sound—so he shamelessly turns back to his bandmate to admire the crinkle of his eyes and the boxy curve of his smile.

Jeongguk mindlessly wonders how he got so lucky as to end up being placed in the same group as Taehyung for debut. How did he get so lucky to spend every single day with Taehyung?

To know Taehyung?

Taehyung’s eyes glitter under the natural white light as he says, “you’re so easy to tease, Jeonggukie.”

Jeongguk is as red as a ripe tomato so covers his face with his hands and whines, “stop it, hyung.”

With another chuckle, Taehyung pulls his phone out from his back pocket and opens the Twitter app. He starts scrolling through the timeline of his private account, smiling at some of the sweet things he sees that the fans post. It’s a warm feeling for any Idol to see support from fans, from anyone. Although the hyungs don’t like to admit it much, Taehyung knows that they go on their respective social platforms and anonymously just look at nice things that fans say about them.

When Jeongguk’s cheeks don’t feel as hot anymore, he removes his hands and peeks at Taehyung—who isn’t even paying attention to him anymore.

“What are you doing?” he asks in a small voice.

Taehyung smiles at his phone and says, “I’m on Twitter. Someone posted a picture of me and captioned it When will Taehyung open his own museum of pictures of himself alone? Does he not know he’s the only art worthy of looking at anymore?”

Jeongguk studies Taehyung’s amused smile and considers whether or not Taehyung knows how true what the fan says is. Taehyung is art. Shyly, he says, “that person is right.”

Taehyung’s thumb pauses on his screen. He looks at Jeongguk’s face that’s starting to become hot again and he beams, “are you saying I’m art, Jeonggukie?”

Fuck. “I—uh, I, yeah. Yes.”

Taehyung’s thick eyebrows—bless them, honestly—raise slightly in surprise. He places his phone flat on his chest and then his smile grows wider and wider and Jeongguk’s heart pounds. “My God, are you being serious?”

So, so serious. Scared of heart failure at the sudden undivided attention while he’s so embarrassed, Jeongguk’s chest feels tight. “Yes,” he confirms quietly in a shaky voice, “yes, I’m serious.”

Taehyung looks genuinely flattered and Jeongguk doesn’t know why. The idol was given the fucking first place position for Most Handsome Faces of 2017—how could he not know that he’s actual art? “I—thank you, Jeonggukie.”

Before Jeongguk can stutter a reply, Taehyung is back on his phone and scrolling down his timeline.

Confess. Confess. Confess to him.

Jeongguk sits there, tense in his conflicting thoughts and suffocating emotions and even the unusually comfortable blanket beneath him doesn’t relax him. He glares at the moon slightly, for no reason whatsoever and tries to bring forth the courage necessary to say Taehyung-hyung, I’m in love with you, please fucking love me back, I’m going crazy.

After several minutes, Jeongguk finally feels slightly ready and he opens his mouth—

But Taehyung’s eyes are glassy as he stares at his phone and Jeongguk immediately asks, “what’s wrong?”

Taehyung doesn’t look at him. “It’s nothing. Just—somebody just said something particularly nasty about my halmeoni.”

Jeongguk heart lurches. “What—don’t read that stuff!”

“It’s just that I don’t understand,” Taehyung grumbles. His thumb taps against the screen with more force than necessary and he looks more angry than upset. “Who gives anybody a right to speak about her? Nobody knows her! They didn’t know her! So why do they think they can talk about her?”

Jeongguk doesn’t know what to say, because Taehyung is right.

“Especially negatively,” Taehyung continues, voice lowering in anger.

“Fuck, don’t—” Jeongguk reaches over and grabs the phone out of Taehyung’s grip. He places it at his side, far out of Taehyung’s reach. He turns to face the beautiful man, overcome with concern. “Don’t read that kind of thing. People can be really awful sometimes.”

Taehyung exhales sharply and directs his gaze straight up to the faint glittering stars. “Can I ask you something, Jeonggukie?”

“Yeah, anything,” he replies instantly.

“Do you ever . . . I mean, do you ever wonder if we’re meant to be here?” Taehyung asks softly.

Jeongguk stares at him, letting the question soak in. No, he’s never considered that before. He wasn’t expecting that. “What do you mean?”

Taehyung glances at the moon, who witnesses everything. “It’s silly, I don’t—”

“You can tell me.”

Taehyung turns his head, so he can look up at Jeongguk from his position. “It’s just—I was thinking about everything. You know that line in our song? The hidden track Sea? There are lyrics that say where there is hope, there are trials. We have to despair for all of those trials. I think about those lines a lot, about what they can mean. We’re idols. Internationally famous. Talented. I mean—do you think this is what we’re meant to be doing? What if this is one of our trials?”

“Trials? Like, if we weren’t idols, what would we do?”

“Well, kind of? What if this isn’t what we’re meant to be?” Taehyung thinks aloud, eyebrows drawn together in thought. “What if we’re supposed to be something else, be somewhere else and living another life? What if we’re just trapped here?”

Jeongguk’s eyes are wide as he looks at Taehyung. Is he okay? Is this what he thinks about daily? “What the fuck, hyung? Why would you think that?”

Taehyung looks sheepish. “It’s silly, right?”

“No! I mean—no, I just never thought about that before,” Jeongguk reassures quickly, “I just kind of accepted that this is what we are, you know. We’re idols and we can’t change that now. Do you mean in like some sort of alternate universe?”

Taehyung smiles at the thought. “Do you think it’s real?”

“An alternate universe?”

Taehyung nods and his dark hair washes over his forehead like a whisper. “Yeah, it’s possible right? I mean, there’s nothing to disprove it. But I think about it a lot. Not really like an alternate universe . . . more like another dimension?”

“You think that there are different dimensions?” Jeongguk tries not to sound too sceptical, so he won’t discourage Taehyung who is visibly excited at the idea.

“Maybe there are,” Taehyung muses, “do you think we’re happy there? Hypothetically?”

“Of course we’re happy there,” Jeongguk says, unable to look away from the lovely way that Taehyung smiles when he’s thoughtful. “I’m sure you’re a farmer in some dimension. Happy in your strawberry farm.”

Taehyung smiles angelically, and he admits, “I hope we’re together there.”

The air catches in Jeongguk’s throat and he chokes slightly. “Uh—what?”

“I hope we’re together there, maybe be farmers together? I hope in any dimension there is, we’re together,” Taehyung continues without faltering, voice strong in his surety.

Jeongguk gapes, and he looks so stupid with his mouth hanging open like that. Sounding like he has something stuck in his throat, he croaks, “uh, together in what way, hyung?”

Taehyung’s eyes snap up to meet Jeongguk’s at the same time that a breeze passes through, and Jeongguk shudders. But it has nothing to do with the wind. Taehyung’s eyes are slightly wide, and he seems surprised because he doesn’t say anything. Finally, he asks quietly, as though the moon will laugh at them if she hears, “what way do you want us to be together in?”

Jeongguk’s heart pangs to the rhythm of the distant rush of the cars far beneath them. Jeongguk knows exactly what way he wants them to be together, but he isn’t sure if he’s able to say it while Taehyung looks at him like that.

Does Taehyung look hopeful?

This is the chance. Confess now.

“I—uh, that’s—what a great question, hyung,” Jeongguk begins shakily, terrified. He audibly swallows and then continues, “that’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually—”

A dull humming begins in the centre of Jeongguk’s chest and he gasps in surprise at the uncomfortable feeling. Jeongguk is familiar with the tight, burning of aching muscles and the clenching of hunger—but the grating pull within his chest is something he’s never felt before.

It must be his nerves.

Jeongguk ignores the slowly increasing pain and focuses on Taehyung, who looks mildly concerned but mostly anxious. He continues, “I’ve actually wanted to say this for a—” He cuts off sharply at a striking blow internally to his chest that definitely isn’t normal. Is he really that nervous? Fuck. He grits his teeth through the pain, and says, “for a while, Taehyung-hyung. I—I’ve been feeling—”

“Are you okay?” Taehyung interrupts, eyeing the fine line of sweat on Jeongguk’s forehead.

“I’m fine,” Jeongguk insists in a broken voice that shakes through the inhuman stabbing of his chest, “I was saying that since that day we made our handshake together, I fell in—”

The pain rockets through him fully at this point, and Jeongguk doubles over gasping loudly. He draws in a ragged breath and then screams.

Taehyung jumps up from his comfortable lying position and hovers in front of Jeongguk with wide eyes. “Oh, fuck! Jeonggukie—what—”

Jeongguk wraps his arms around his chest tightly, barely withholding his shrieks. His entire body trembles violently and the pain turns his vision as white as the moonlight. He feels as though he’s fading in and out of consciousness at this point since he can’t see anything other than thick, searing pain. It pulses from within his ribcage wildly, like a beast unleashed and he wants to cry in frustration. He was just about to confess to Taehyung.

Lost within the waves of his unbearable pain, the last thing Jeongguk sees is the way the lovely moonlight brightens Taehyung’s horrified expression and mutes his screams.

Venus – 2. Pink.

As Jeongguk dramatically jumps over the tape that marks the finishing point of his 300-meter sprint, he feels like a new person. It’s a peculiar feeling, like he’s harvesting a body and that isn’t completely his. He dulls the unusual chill and focuses on the deafening roars of the crowd that echoes around the university’s stadium. He continues running, even though he’s already won the race and he throws his hands up and faces the endless faces surrounding him.

Seoul National is truly a great university, even better since they offered Jeongguk a full track-and-field scholarship—but the atmosphere is addicting. He loves the support and the bursting excitement that rushes through him every time he wins a race.

“Jesus, Jeongguk-ah,” his coach, Sejin, praises, “that was your fastest time!”

Jeongguk swallows the pride and runs his fingers through his wet hair modestly. “Thanks, hyung. It’s just a meet. Let’s see if I can do that again on Saturday.”

Sejin isn’t thrown off by the bashfulness, since Jeongguk isn’t one to boast in his talents. Instead, he smiles and says, “you’re done for today. Great work, again.”

Jeongguk manages to shyly avoid a group of his fangirls who are hovering around the men’s showering area by the changing rooms. He thinks he’s never going to get used to having the attention of so many persons—so many females—and he’s confused by the sudden tinkling feeling within that feels like he’s stood on a stage in front of 50,000 screaming girls before.

That’s absurd. Jeongguk can never be an idol. Where did that feeling come from?

“Are you coming to the afterparty?” Jimin, a team member asks as Jeongguk finishes getting dressed.

Jeongguk and Jimin are barely acquaintances, but Jeongguk knows it’s not entirely his fault. Jimin isn’t completely friendly, and Jeongguk prefers to keep to himself. He sees how rude Jimin is to some of the other team members, and how nasty he speaks to them when they don’t run fast enough, so Jeongguk definitely keeps away from the tiny man.

But when Jimin speaks to him, Jeongguk is respectful since he’s a nice person and Jimin is older then he is. Plus, Jimin hasn’t been outright rude to him personally before so he has no reason to act weird.

But tonight, as he shrugs his Demin jacket on and looks across at his honey-haired team member, Jeongguk gets that strange feeling again and at the back of his mind, he weirdly hears Jimin laughing sweetly and interacting in a loving way with him.

What the fuck is going on? He and Jimin have never laughed together. So why does he feel like he knows Jimin personally and knows that he’s a sweet person?

“Uh, no.” Jeongguk places his bag on his shoulder and prepares to leave. “I’m skipping the party.”

“You won your races,” Jimin argues, “everyone will be looking out for you.”

“At the afterparty for a meet?” Jeongguk asks incredulously, lifting an eyebrow. “It was a meet. Maybe I’ll go to the party on Saturday night when there’s actually something to celebrate.”

Jimin scoffs and throws his wet shirt off. “Alright, Jeongguk-ssi. If you change your mind, the party is at Hoseok-hyung’s apartment. You know where it is, right?”

Jeongguk doesn’t know where that is, and he doesn’t want to find out because he isn’t going to the party. “Yeah, I know,” he lies as he moves past Jimin, “enjoy the rest of your evening, Jimin-ssi.”

Jeongguk does well as escaping conversations with eager fangirls and makes his way to his favourite café on campus, Eat With Jin, like he does after every single meet. It’s a habit that he developed, after he tried the café’s spinach and cheese pie for the first time—and now he’s addicted.

It’s a chilly night, and the moon is bright and shining in the sky—but Jeongguk feels like she’s watching him.

God, it’s such a weird night.

Jeongguk manages to smile slightly at Jin, the owner, who as usual, doesn’t smile back or speak much. Jeongguk has never thought too much about Jin’s antisocial behaviour before but tonight, as he orders his usual, he gets that feeling again. It’s like he’s seeing everything in a new light. Just as he felt with Jimin, Jeongguk stares at Jin and can’t help but feel like he knows the man on a deeper level and that his weird behaviour is very unlike him.

He feels like he knows a version of Jin where he never stops laughing or talking.

Jeongguk grabs his pies and large bottle of water and hurries to the corner of the café, as though trying to escape how strange he feels. He settles into the furthest pink cushion and table he can find—since everything in the fucking café is pink and Jeongguk will never get used to it.

“Hi! You’re Jeon Jeongguk-ssi, right?”

Jeongguk looks up in the middle of a bite of his first pie at the sudden husky voice. At the voice alone, that feeling gets even stronger and drowns Jeongguk again. The male is tall with shoulders wider than Jin’s and his hair is a light shade of peach that Jeongguk has never seen before on a person and didn’t know it can look good until now. He’s wearing a loose abstract coloured shirt that looks like it’s three sizes too large for him and very baggy black joggers. Jeongguk doesn’t know how the abnormal sense of fashion can seem natural, but this male looks like some kind of fashion icon.

But as Jeongguk locks his gaze on the male’s—a striking, dark brown sight—an internal puzzle that Jeongguk didn’t know existed shifts slightly within his chest—as though getting closer to where it belongs.

Jeongguk’s jaw slackens and the pie falls onto the table messily.

That feeling is the strongest it’s been so far, and Jeongguk stares openly at the beautiful man who’s still standing there waiting for Jeongguk’s response. Everything about the stranger makes Jeongguk feel safe and warm, like he’s known the man his entire life and his entire being is at peace—even though he knows for sure that he’s never seen the man before in his life.

God, Jeongguk knows he shouldn’t have drank that energizer drink earlier. He’s going crazy.

“Oh! I didn’t mean to startle you!” The man gushes as he eyes the forgotten pie on the table, looking regretful and embarrassed. “I—I just wanted to say that you did really well today—at the meet.”

Jeongguk blinks. He glances down at the pie slowly then realises with a shock how absolutely disgusting he must look to this beautiful man. He swallows painfully and grabs the pie to place it back inside the bag quickly, trying desperately to hide the bite mark at the corner. His entire face gets hot as he tries to clean the table and he swipes a napkin at his mouth roughly, too roughly and hopes that he looks presentable.

What a fucking mess.

When Jeongguk glances back at the male, he’s smiling down at Jeongguk as though he finds the athlete adorable. It makes Jeongguk’s face get hotter.

“I—uh, I’m sorry about . . . that,” Jeongguk stammers like a child and his face is as pink as the walls of the café. He waves his hand to motion to the hidden pie. “Um, thank you. For what you said about the meet. I—yes. I’m Jeongguk.”

The peach haired man’s smile gets wider, and a blinding boxy grin slaps Jeongguk in a face. He says almost in a teasing manner, “you’re so cute. God, no wonder those girls fawn over you like that.”

Feeling as hot as the sun, Jeongguk’s mouth opens and closes wordlessly until he snaps his mouth shut in mortification. Completely flustered, Jeongguk’s eyes are wide and he can’t help himself when he drops his gaze to try to collect himself. Jeongguk is used to the helpless flirting of fangirls but he’s never had someone who looks and sounds like this man speak to him or compliment him this way.

This is completely new to him.

And the crazy feelings swirling within him don’t help.

“I’m Taehyung,” the stranger says, and his deep voice feels like a caress within the pink walls of the café. “Do you mind some company?”

“Um, no,” Jeongguk practically whispers, dying inside from embarrassment.

Why would he even want to spend even more time speaking to Jeongguk after seeing how much of a disaster Jeongguk is?

Taehyung beams and slides into the cushion opposite Jeongguk, grabbing one of the little pillows littered around the café and places it in his lap. Then he turns his gaze back on Jeongguk, and he continues smiling. His eyes feel like lasers, and he seems pleased when he studies how red Jeongguk’s face is. He just looks silently for a few moments, and then says, “it’s truly an honour to meet you, Jeongguk-ssi. I—I must admit that I’m a big fan.”

Jeongguk chances a glance at Taehyung’s extraordinarily pretty face and then blushes even deeper. “Thank you,” he croaks. Desperate to get the attention off of him, he asks, “do you attend meets often to support the team?”

Taehyung’s eyes seem to sparkle, and he nods. “The first time I came was to support my hyung, Hoseokie-hyung. I wasn’t that into the sport, I’ll admit but seeing it in person really opened my eyes. And then I saw you and—well, I had to keep coming back to support.”

Jeongguk curses how easily he blushes when he feels heat stinging his cheeks again. “Thank you. The team appreciates the support.” Taehyung is smiling that smile again that tells Jeongguk that he’s completely smitten for the athlete. He rushes to move past the praise and asks, “how come you didn’t go to Hoseok-ssi’s party tonight? You said he’s your hyung.”

Taehyung’s eyes don’t move from Jeongguk’s face. “I don’t like his parties. There are too many fangirls there that come to obsess over the athletes. It’s boring.”

Jeongguk smiles at that. He’s glad he doesn’t ever attend those awful afterparties. He’s especially glad he skipped out tonight and that now he’s sitting and talking to the most beautiful man he’s ever seen in his life.

Taehyung glows as he beams when he takes in the sight of Jeongguk’s smile. “Oh, God,” he squeals, “you are so cute, Jeongguk-ssi. Jesus, I didn’t expect you to be so adorable.”

Jeongguk whines in embarrassment and lifts his hands to palm his hot cheeks desperately. He groans, “yah—stop, please.”

“I’m sorry,” Taehyung doesn’t sound sorry at all. He sounds happier than Jeongguk ever thought possible. “It’s just—you—sorry.”

Jeongguk groans lightly again. Jesus, how does he change the topic now? He nods to his pies on the table. “Are you hungry? I have a pie left that I haven’t touched yet.”

This interests Taehyung. “What kind is it?”

“Spinach and cheese.”

“Oh,” the strikingly stunning peach haired man eyes the bag, intrigued. “I’ve never tried that one before.”

Jeongguk grabs the empty plate the side of the table and uses a clean napkin to place his second pie on it delicately for Taehyung. He sets the plate in front of Taehyung—who never stops looking at him with those hawk eyes—and hopes he isn’t trembling. Taehyung flashes Jeongguk a vibrant grin to show his gratitude and Jeongguk shivers. Thankfully, Taehyung doesn’t notice, and he gingerly takes a tiny bite of the pie.

Jeongguk doesn’t miss a second of the moment, and he uses the opportunity to fully admire the absolute beauty that is Taehyung. Truly, Jeongguk has never seen someone as gorgeous as this man. His peach hair glows in an alien like way—as though Earth can’t withstand such art—and under the harsh lights of the café, his golden skin seems dull.

Jeongguk wonders what he looks like standing under the sun—raw, and bare of flaws.

“Mhhm,” Taehyung mumbles in appreciation, giving a high thumbs-up to Jeongguk. His adam’s apple bobs as he swallows and then he says, “this is actually good, I didn’t expect it. Thank you for this, Jeongguk-ssi.”

Jeongguk is glad that Taehyung likes it. For a reason he can’t understand, he likes seeing Taehyung smiling and being happy—which can’t make sense since he just met the man.

So then why does he feel like he knows everything about him and is supposed to stay with him forever?

Jeongguk makes a mental note to never drink energizers again.

There are little flakes of the pie at the corner of Taehyung’s mouth and Jeongguk giggles softly at how adorable he looks. He picks up a clean napkin and holds it out. “Here you go.”

Taehyung tries to smile gratefully through his mouth full of the pie and he extends his hand to accept the napkin, but his fingers brush Jeongguk’s and—

“I told you that we’d be together in any dimension,” Taehyung mumbles smugly, curling his arm around Jeongguk’s waist to draw him nearer with open mouthed kisses to the side of his head. The stars above them sparkle blindingly, and the scent of strawberries is overwhelming but Jeongguk knows that he’s finally where he belongs—with Taehyung.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jeongguk grumbles, but relents and melts into Taehyung’s arms. “You were right, baby.”

Jeongguk snaps his body back violently, his heart racing a marathon. What the fuck was that?

Taehyung frowns in confusion at him from across the table but wipes the napkin across his lips. “Are you okay?”

No, Jeongguk is not okay. Jeongguk is going fucking insane. “Yeah.”

Taehyung doesn’t seem convinced, but he continues eating without argument. He remains silent, as though he knows that Jeongguk is facing the edge of a breakdown and is allowing him to collect himself. At this point, Jeongguk is positive that there were drugs in that energizer drink he drank before the meet.

“You have two moles on your arm, and when you squeeze them together you say that it forms an elephant,” Jeongguk says suddenly.

Taehyung’s head lifts sharply, eyes wide with surprise. He glances down at his vibrant, colourful shirt that’s long sleeved and covers his arms—confirming that Jeongguk didn’t just see them. He eyes Jeongguk weirdly for a second before smiling almost shyly and nodding. “Uh—yeah, I do. How did you know that?”

“I—” Jeongguk stops because how did he know that? There’s no way he could’ve known that before, since he met Taehyung tonight.

So, how the fuck does he know that about Taehyung?

“I—I don’t know,” Jeongguk says honestly, beginning to panic at how fucking weird he feels, and how weird the entire afternoon is turning out.

Taehyung seems to understand, though and he nods. He places the half-eaten pie on his plate and seems embarrassed. “I get it, I think? This is going to sound really weird, but, um,” he pauses, and Jeongguk’s eyes are frozen on the stunning way that Taehyung’s tanned cheeks colour slightly, “I feel like—weird with you. Like—God, I promise I’m not a psycho or anything, but it feels like I was supposed to meet you . . . does that make sense? What I mean is that—I’m sitting here with you now and I feel like I was supposed to be here with you my entire life.”

After his confession, Taehyung stares at Jeongguk’s shocked face and misinterprets the confusion and fear that he detects in Jeongguk’s large eyes. He grips the pie and takes another bite, so he doesn’t die from embarrassment at saying something so scary when he just met Jeongguk.

Taehyung’s words terrify Jeongguk because he feels exactly what the peach haired man said. It’s a wholesome type of fear that’s entirely different from the shaky anxiety that he feels before every race. This type of fear that he feels now resembles the type that you feel as soon as you fall off of a cliff accidentally.

“I have it too,” Jeongguk informs quietly.

Taehyung chews slowly, and frowns in confusion. His cheeks are still painted red.

“I have the moles too,” he elaborates, staring deep into Taehyung’s brown orbs and shaking slightly at how right it feels to let himself get lost into the beautiful man, “on my leg. I have two moles on my leg. And when I squeeze them together, it forms an elephant as well.”

Taehyung doesn’t try to hide his surprise. His cheeks are plump as he pauses in his chewing and he and Jeongguk just look at each other—unspoken words floating around with the light music playing around the café.

Then, Taehyung swallows. “That’s really weird.”

Jeongguk agrees, but on a deeper level to what Taehyung knows. Everything about this entire evening is weird. “Yeah, matching moles isn’t exactly a regular thing, I think.”

Taehyung smiles, and joking suggests, “maybe we’re soulmates.”

That alien puzzle within Jeongguk’s chest shifts again, and he squirms from how unusual it feels. Soulmates? Does that even exist? Is Taehyung mocking him by saying that? Jeongguk sounds like he has acid in his mouth as he repeats, “soulmates?”

Taehyung doesn’t think that the idea is strange at all. Instead, he frowns teasingly and asks, “let’s say that we are, indeed, soulmates—are you disappointed? I think I can be quite a catch, maybe.”

Jeongguk isn’t able to keep up with the teasing. He’s unable to wrap his head around everything that’s happening, around everything that he’s feeling. He proceeds to stammer like a child learning to speak, “what—no, um, metaphorically speaking, if we are soulmates . . . I’m not disappointed.”

Definitely not disappointed. With Taehyung’s beauty, he has to be God Himself.

Taehyung’s grin is as bright as a supernova and as warm as the sun. “I’m not disappointed, either.”

“You’re flattering me,” Jeongguk mumbles shyly.

“I wish I was,” Taehyung sounds appalled. “You are the sexiest, most adorable person I’ve ever met. The contrast of you is unreal, if I’m being honest.”

Jeongguk glances at the pink walls and he wonders if it’s possible for a human to turn that shade of pastel. He wonders if that human is him, tonight. As graceful as Bambi, Jeongguk sputters, “Jesus—you’re—do you usually fluster people this way?”

Taehyung’s features are terrifyingly sincere. “I’ve never met someone like you before. So, no.”

Well, they can agree there. Like a habit, Jeongguk jumps at the opportunity of a topic chance to avoid his embarrassment. “Yah, do you—would you like some water?”

Taehyung allows him to direct the conversation elsewhere with a glorious smile and glances over at Jeongguk’s unopened water bottle. Then he shakes his head in a bashful way. “I can just buy one, it’s okay—”

“I don’t mind.” Jeongguk grabs the bottle and holds it out to Taehyung.

Taehyung’s cheeks colour again in that unfairly stunning way and reaches out to accept it and their fingers touch again, of course, and—

“You’re so loud,” Taehyung whispers against Jeongguk’s lips, grabbing him at the hips and pulling their bodies closer together as easily as breathing. “We’ll get caught if you moan like that, baby.”

Jeongguk glares as best as he can through the high of Taehyung’s intoxicating lips and slides their mouths together again. Taehyung tastes like the sweetest honey and the loveliest of promises—and Jeongguk can’t get enough. He mumbles, “fuck your manager, hyung. I’ll be with you no matter what anybody says.”

Jeongguk drops the bottle and jumps back against the cushion wildly. Taehyung jumps too, startled from the grunt of the bottle lashing the table and the smack of Jeongguk’s back against the cushion.

Why the fuck did he even attempt to hand Taehyung the bottle? Couldn’t he be smart and just push it towards him? The table wasn’t even that big. But now that’s the second time they touched and the second . . . vision that Jeongguk saw.

Vision? Insight?

“I’m going fucking crazy,” Jeongguk groans, dropping his head into his hands.

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asks.

“No,” he moans, allowing the fear and confusion to swallow him. “I’m going crazy.”

“Well,” Taehyung begins as though he’s a philosopher, “where there is hope, there are trials.”

That fucking puzzle within Jeongguk’s chest shifts again, and Jeongguk lifts his head slowly to look at Taehyung. Why did that line sound so familiar to him? Jeongguk knows that he’s never heard those words before, but as he hears them now—caressed in Taehyung’s sinfully seductive voice, it feels like he’s been waiting to hear it his whole life. Why does Taehyung entire presence feel so right?

“Hope? Trials?”

“Please don’t look so scared,” Taehyung pleads, “I just thought that it would sound smart. Whatever you’re facing, we can work it through together. And I know that we just fucking met but you can’t tell me that you don’t feel this so can we just—can we do this again?”

Jeongguk knows that everything Taehyung is saying is true; and is right. It relaxes him slightly, and he decides to stop questioning it. He allows himself to bask in how much he trusts Taehyung, like it’s been rooted in him.

“Do what?” Jeongguk asks and jumps at the opportunity to tease Taehyung. “You sit here, and I give you my food and water?”

Taehyung looks offended. “No! I can feed you and give you water the next time!”

Jeongguk laughs then, a tinkling sound that bounces against the pink walls and settles between the pair easily. “I’d like to do this again, too.”

“Good,” Taehyung’s eyes twinkle sweeter than any star in any sky in any galaxy. “Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” Jeongguk finalises, giddy at the thought. He thinks about a way to get Taehyung outside tomorrow, so that he can see how the peach haired man glows under the sun.

Taehyung leaves Eat With Jin an hour later, after he tells Jeongguk almost everything about him—that Jeongguk somehow already knows. They don’t question how strange anything is. By the time Taehyung’s peach head disappears out the door, Jeongguk feels a lot more open to the idea of them being soulmates.

But before he can dwell on it, a dangerously fatal blow strikes at his chest and he curls into the cushion to muffle a cry. Jeongguk knows he’s never felt a type of pain like this before, but he’s unable to explain why he feels as though he went through the exact same thing before. The locking of his limbs after a run, or the tearing of a muscle that Jeongguk is all too familiar with doesn’t compare to the grating against his ribcage.

Like that fucking puzzle is rattling around and punishing Jeongguk.

As though he knows what’s happening, he accepts that this time is quicker than the last and Jeongguk closes his eyes amidst the searing pain and hopes that wherever he goes next, he’s with Taehyung.

Earth – 3. Soft.

Jeongguk knows without a doubt that Jin is the grumpiest person in the world. Throughout his year of sharing an apartment with the 27-year-old man who has an unhealthy obsession with the colour pink, Jeongguk knows that there can’t be anyone else in the world who can perfectly mix being rude, irritable and scarily silent at the same time.

He avoids the older man at all costs, doing his stray jobs to get little money as best as he can so that he won’t have to hear Jin say again Jeongguk-ah, you’re a fucking mess at 22-years-old and nobody told you to fucking drop out of university.

He’s never questioned it before, but as he sits at the kitchen counter and eyes the way Jin angrily dices the onions in preparation for his meal, Jeongguk feels like he doesn’t know Jin at all. They never speak much to each anyway, so Jeongguk uses the wonderful opportunity to just look at Jin’s wild pink hair—that somehow looks great—and he questions internally why Jin’s personality seems so out of place.

Why does Jin’s moody tendencies feel wrong?

It must be Jeongguk’s hunger that’s making him think weird thoughts again.

“What time do you think you’ll get back tonight?” Jin’s quiet voice split’s Jeongguk’s train of thought.

Jeongguk frowns in confusion at the question. “Back from where?”

Jin slides the perfectly diced onions into a tiny bowl and raises an eyebrow at Jeongguk. “Uh, your date?”

Jeongguk begins to say that he’s not going anywhere, especially not any date but then a loud song begins blaring through the room and something vibrates against Jeongguk’s leg. Big Bang’s song Bang Bang Bang is easy to recognise, and he remembers setting it as soon as it was released three weeks ago, but now it bounces around the tiny kitchen’s walls and Jeongguk feels like he’s hearing it for the first time. He slowly pulls the old iPhone out and just stares at it as if it isn’t his.

“Uh—”

Jin is looking at him like he’s the dumbest person on the planet. “Answer the fucking phone! He’ll think something is wrong!”

Jeongguk’s mind is working at the slowest pace possible. His confusion is swirling around, and he suddenly looks around the room and thinks that he doesn’t belong here. The strange feeling chokes him because he knows that his life is shitty, and horrible but he’s never considered that he’s supposed to be living a different life.

He stares down at the phone in his palm, that’s still vibrating and lifts an eyebrow at the incoming call . . . Taehyungie-hyung <3

Taehyung.

Something curls around Jeongguk’s lower ribs uncomfortably at the name, and he instantly slides his thumb to answer the call. He puts the phone at his ear cautiously, but Taehyung is already speaking.

“Hey baby,” Taehyung’s unfairly sensual drawl greets him.

The strange sensation wrapping around Jeongguk’s chest intensifies but then everything gets weirder because now he feels as though Taehyung’s voice is an anchor, and he finally feels like he can breathe for the first time this afternoon.

“Hey, hyung,” he replies softly. There’s an unmistakable innate trust burrowing into Jeongguk’s chest and he allows it to let him conversate with Taehyung as easily as slicing soft butter.

He knows that since he and Taehyung met at that his job interview at Kim Industries to be Kim Namjoon’s assistant—that Jeongguk didn’t get—they hit it off almost perfectly. As a main manager at the industry, Taehyung met Jeongguk as he was leaving the interview with a sulky mood. They’d been best friends for the entire time since that, and it was only recently that Jeongguk gathered the courage to let Taehyung know that he’s interested in Taehyung as more than a friend.

But as he speaks to Taehyung now, he feels much more than that. He feels like seven months of knowing Taehyung is spec of dust compared to how strongly he feels towards the chocolate haired man now as he stands in his kitchen with Jin. It feels new. And it freaks him out slightly because even though he knows that Taehyung is so, so special to him, this feeling aligns more with the idea that Taehyung is the only important thing in his entire universe.

“Did you forget about our date, Jeonggukie?” Taehyung questions, sweet and slow like a teasing breeze.

Shit, so that’s the date that Jin was talking about earlier. He remembers now, and he pushes away his new sensations to give way to his excitement. “Of course not—it’s at six, right? I’ll meet you in front in ten minutes!”

“You’re lucky you’re so cute, baby. I might have been mad otherwise,” Taehyung says. There’s a faint honking sound at the other end, and then an irritated sigh from Taehyung and then he continues, “I’m almost there. Hurry up.”

As Jeongguk gets dressed faster than he’s ever done in his life, there’s a stinging feeling that he’s been dressed in two minutes before, but he knows that can’t make sense. There’s an unusual wisp of memory that he’s surrounded by stylist women that press his hair and paint his face as he stands in front of his mirror and makes his hair decent—but he knows for sure that it’s his hunger making him hallucinate at this point, since only idols are dressed that way and Jeongguk is everything except an idol.

By the time Jeongguk ignores Jin’s judging glare and rushes out of the door, he’s wearing his most expensive looking jacket that’s covered in black sequins and light blue denim jeans. At the last moment, he decided against his Timberlands since they’re too old and practically ripped apart, and he settled for his newest pair of sneakers instead.

But he knows that despite how hard he tries, Taehyung will forever look like the more beautiful of them—in any world, of any dimension in any universe.

And Jeongguk is very okay with that.

Taehyung is leaning against the passenger door of his glorious black Lexus CT looking like some sort of unearthly magical creature when Jeongguk exits his apartment complex. His deliciously chocolate coloured hair is slightly curled and rests against his forehead sweetly, and he’s dressed in a loose, blindingly white silk shirt that’s tucked into leather pants that squeeze around his thighs and make his legs look like they run for miles. There’s a glittering tie wrapped loosely around his neck and it flutters slightly with the little breeze that also makes the little waves of his hair tremble wonderfully. His lovely almond shaped eyes sparkle dangerously at Jeongguk and his sinful lips are shiny with some kind of gloss.

Jeongguk’s steps falter and his legs suddenly feel numb. He gawks openly at the unfairly attractive man and can’t help but feel like it’s the first time he’s gazing upon the beautiful human.

But Jesus Christ, Taehyung looks gorgeous and Jeongguk can die a happy man now that he’s seen Taehyung looking like this.

“What the fuck,” Jeongguk hears himself whisper in awe, and thankfully the wind blows away his words before Taehyung can hear.

Taehyung studies the way Jeongguk’s eyes grow wide and the way his lips part in shock and he beams happily. He begins walking toward Jeongguk elegantly, who is embarrassingly frozen a few steps away from the building.

“Good evening, baby,” Taehyung says with charm, and his lovely lips spread to reveal his teeth in a dazzling smile.

Jeongguk looks at Taehyung from head to toe, and relishes in how much more breath-taking he looks at a closer distance. His hair appears softer to the touch, and his shirt looks as smooth as a river stone. Jeongguk can’t believe his eyes. “You look ravishing,” he manages to utter through his daze to Taehyung.

Taehyung’s cheeks colour at the compliment and he lifts a hand to touch Jeongguk’s flat, but silky hair. “And you pulled out your sexy jeans just for me, I’m honoured.”

“Why didn’t I make a move on you earlier?” Jeongguk mumbles, gazing fondly at the tiny moles on Taehyung’s face that complete his character.

Taehyung giggles, and the sound is the definition of the word perfect. He waves a hand at his car and says, “shall we?”

That feeling grows stronger and stronger the longer that Jeongguk sits in the car next to Taehyung. Jeongguk has been in Taehyung’s car multiple times before, so he’s familiar with how safe of a driver the beautiful man is. But tonight, as Taehyung has one hand on the steering wheel and the other across on Jeongguk’s lap where their fingers are interlaced in a manner that’s nothing short of meant to be, Jeongguk’s neck prickles like it’s the first time he’s experiencing everything. The bright lights of Seoul are a distant sight as Taehyung drives them through the city expertly, but Jeongguk’s eyes never leave Taehyung’s face.

What a perfect face.

“Stop staring like that, Jeonggukie,” Taehyung grumbles without looking sideways at Jeongguk, but the latter’s heart jumps at the way the man’s golden skin turn red.

You’re so beautiful, hyung. Instead, Jeongguk asks, “where are we going?”

Taehyung stops at a traffic light, and the red tint of the light makes his cheeks seem even redder. He squeezes Jeongguk’s hand slightly and flashes Jeongguk a smile that makes him feel like he’s looking into the sun. “You know I won’t tell you, so why are you bothering to ask?”

“If I planned the date, I would’ve told you,” Jeongguk argues. But he doesn’t care where they go. He doesn’t mind sitting in Taehyung’s pine scented car for the rest of his life and just staring at the unnaturally stunning man.

“You definitely wouldn’t have. You like surprising me too much,” Taehyung looks like he’s trying not to roll his eyes as the light turns green, and the car starts moving again.

What may have been two minutes, or fifteen minutes later—Jeongguk doesn’t know since he stared at Taehyung like a crazy stalker for the entirety of the drive—Taehyung parks the car like a professional in front of an unfortunately familiar building.

“Kim Industries?” Jeongguk questions sceptically. “Did you bring me here to mock me, hyung? Since I didn’t get the job?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes this time and jumps out of the car to get around to the passenger side to pull Jeongguk’s door open. “Don’t be silly. I have something planned.”

That feeling creeps up Jeongguk’s throat at Taehyung’s sweet actions, and he hops out of the car and touches Taehyung’s waist unnecessarily as he steps out. “What a gentleman,” he teases.

Taehyung scoffs, but his cheeks colour slightly, and he locks his car and begins leading Jeongguk into the abnormally tall glass building. He pushes the crystal door open to enter the lobby area of Kim Industries and admits seriously, “it’s only because I planned this date. For our next one, you better drop to your feet and worship me like I’m a fucking God.”

Jeongguk eyes Taehyung’s wonderful face as he ushers them into the elevator. “You are a fucking God, hyung.”

Taehyung runs his fingers through his chocolate strands after he presses the option inside the elevator to take them to the highest floor and smiles softly. “You’re so cute. We’re going to the roof.”

“The roof?” Jeongguk repeats. His stomach flutters at the implications, and he can’t help but assume that it’s going to be extremely fucking romantic. What exactly did Taehyung plan? Looking at the sunset from the tallest building in Seoul?

“Yes,” Taehyung’s lovely eyes glow under the harsh fluorescent lights of the elevator. “Namjoon-hyung is allowing me to use the roof for our date. You know, since I’m his favourite dongsaeng.”

“Yeah, well,” Jeongguk agrees in a tone that was almost bitter, “that position definitely isn’t mine. He hated me.”

“He’s just . . . particular,” Taehyung says mindlessly, trying to brush off the topic of Jeongguk’s unemployment. The elevator emits a subtle ding to announce their arrival. “Oh! We’re here!”

Taehyung rushes out of the elevator with a dazzling grin and into the corridor, and Jeongguk can’t help but grin giddily at the sight. He follows eagerly, and the churning in his chest hums almost excitedly at the anticipation of what Taehyung planned for their date. Taehyung’s fingers find Jeongguk’s as though they belong nowhere else, and they walk towards the large steel doors that lead onto the roof of the 65-floor building.

“Are you ready?” Taehyung asks with one hand against the door.

Jeongguk gazes into Taehyung’s eyes and knows that he’ll never be ready. But he never wants to leave Taehyung’s side. “Yes.”

The first thing that Jeongguk feels when Taehyung pushes the door open is the rush of the Spring wind, so much stronger at such a high altitude. It’s warm, and welcoming and almost beckons Taehyung and Jeongguk onto the rooftop happily.

The second thing that Jeongguk notices is that there’s a woman already there—that Jeongguk vaguely recognises as Taehyung’s assistant, Jihyo—and she’s chasing a vibrant red rose that’s being rolled along the rooftop with the wind.

Then Jeongguk realises that there are flowers everywhere.

There are tiny glowing daisies, large glorious magnolias, stunning white peonies and roses of every colour possible scattered around the entire rooftop. Jeongguk’s chest expands and then explodes internally as his eyes scan the petals of every single flower as quickly as he can to study the gentle curve of their beauty. Taehyung turned Namjoon’s rooftop into a rainbow garden and Jeongguk wants to cry. His glassy eyes linger on the black roses that he didn’t even know existed, and he wonders where the fuck Taehyung found black roses.

He isn’t sure how long he stares in amazement at the sea of flowers, but in the middle of the rooftop is a little picnic gathering set up with dozens of tiny pillows and blankets that look fluffier than the puppies that Jeongguk saw at the shelter the previous week. A gigantic wooden basket sits on it with a white box and Jeongguk assumes that there must be food in there but then he looks up and audibly chokes on air.

His eyes finally lift from the beauty of the rooftop and he gazes upon the sky, the sky that’s completely painted in various shades of purple as it says goodbye the sun for the day. From this altitude, the whole of Seoul is at the mercy of Jeongguk and Taehyung and he can’t help but feel like the luckiest man in the world.

“Oh my God,” he whispers.

He doesn’t even notice that Taehyung was staring at his reaction the entire time, but when he looks back to the beautiful man—the beautiful man that is still more ethereal than the sight in front of him—he almost feels his knees weaken. Taehyung looks so excited, but so anxious as though he’s afraid that Jeongguk won’t like what he prepared.

“Oh my God,” he repeats.

“Do you like it?” Taehyung asks, biting his shiny bottom lip as he studies Jeongguk’s face carefully. “Is it too much?”

Jeongguk looks from the expanse of flowers to the beauty of the sunset then back to Taehyung’s unfairly flawless face. When he speaks, he sounds hoarse from appreciation and shock. “Baby . . . this is amazing. I—what the fuck did I do to deserve this?”

The smile that illuminates Taehyung’s face is the most spectacular thing to exist. He squeals in elation and pulls Jeongguk further onto the roof. There is a clean path that’s carefully crafted free of flowers, so they can walk toward the blankets.

Jihyo smiles sheepishly as she approaches them, and she bows slightly. “Good evening, Jeongguk-ssi and Taehyung-ssi.” She gives Jeongguk a sweet, polite smile and then directly addresses Taehyung, “I’ve kept the flowers as neat as I can with the wind. I hope you two enjoy the rest of your evening.”

When she leaves, Taehyung turns to Jeongguk and smiles softly, “are you okay?”

Jeongguk feels like he’s in shock as he stares at everything. He’s never felt so appreciated before, so warm inside. When they first acknowledged their feelings for one another, Jeongguk was terrified that his inability to shower Taehyung with islands and stars—which is everything Taehyung deserves and more—would hinder their relationship. But his lack of money, and lack of a job never seemed to ever affect Taehyung at all.

After that one time that Jeongguk designed a little card and handwrote how happy he is being with Taehyung and provided it to the ridiculously gorgeous man with a tiny, handpicked daisy and Taehyung cried—Jeongguk stopped worrying.

Jeongguk’s eyes drink in the fondness in Taehyung’s eyes and before he can stop himself, he throws himself at the brown-haired man with as much grace as he can muster. He wraps his arms around Taehyung’s neck securely and that feeling intensifies to a point that Jeongguk feels like he’s about to implode. He’s so grateful and so happy and he isn’t sure how to let Taehyung know how he feels. His heart turns to mush when Taehyung’s solid body shakes with light laughter and then he encircles his arms around Jeongguk’s tiny waist and squeezes him as though to remind him that he belongs nowhere else.

He’s tightens his hold, and tries to keep in his screams about how amazing Taehyung is to fucking prepare all of this for a date but then Taehyung twists his head and presses a tiny kiss to the side of Jeongguk’s head and—

“You’re even prettier than our farm,” Jeongguk whispers to Taehyung, whose gaze is fixed on the seemingly endless strawberry field. Most of the strawberries are ready for harvest and glow with their vibrant red colour in the afternoon sun.

“Well, I didn’t win number 1 on Most Handsome Faces of 2017 for nothing,” Taehyung grumbles in response, trying to sound cocky but unable to hide how his entire face turns redder than the ripest strawberry in their farm. Then, he smiles shyly and ducks his face into the curve of Jeongguk’s shoulder to hide and he whines, “stop fucking saying that kind of stuff when you shine brighter than all of these Daegu stars in my eyes.”

Jeongguk physically jolts in Taehyung’s embrace and the latter releases him in concern. Jeongguk blinks in confusion and looks around the stunning scenery that Taehyung created as though he’s trying to understand where he is. 

What the fuck was that?

Since when does Jeongguk see fucking scenes of him and Taehyung whenever the latter kisses the side of his head? He’s sure that’s never happened before. That is weird, and Jeongguk can’t begin to think of an explanation.

It’s definitely his hunger that’s making him hallucinate.

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asks worriedly.

Jeongguk’s gaze snaps to Taehyung and he nods. He brushes off that feeling and the tingling swirling within his chest and gives Taehyung a bright smile. “Yes. This is just fucking perfect. Thank you.”

Taehyung looks happier than Jeongguk has ever seen him. He accepts the compliment with a gentle curve of his lips and continues to lead them to the blankets. “Would you like to sit?”

Jeongguk nods eagerly and drops onto the colourful blankets happily. It’s soft, so soft and so thick and Jeongguk sinks his fingers into the material greedily. Taehyung’s contentment almost seems to radiate off of him in waves and he sits next to Jeongguk. He grabs two of the prettiest pillows—a red, heart shaped plush and a pink bunny one—and places them in Jeongguk’s lap.

“I’ve never seen these before,” Jeongguk muses, running his fingers over the surface of the pillows. “This is beautiful, hyung.”

A low hum escapes Taehyung’s throat and he grins elatedly. “Are you hungry?”

Jeongguk tries not to look too eager, but his eyes appear guilty and pleading nonetheless. “A bit.”

Taehyung laughs, an angelic rumbling sound that seems perfect to bid the orange sun goodbye and he reaches for the large basket. “I got us American food,” he informs Jeongguk lightly, “Burger King. I think it’s perfect for us.”

Jeongguk lifts an eyebrow at the choice of food and then glances around at the variety of flowers surrounding them again. He knows that Taehyung is right, though. Burger King is such a perfect choice of food for their style, and Taehyung chose to provide that with a rooftop of fucking flowers from around the world while they sit on a rooftop that’s 65 storeys high and overlook Seoul at sunset.

Jeongguk is never going to be able to top this for their next date.

He says, “how romantic of you.”

Taehyung scoffs and pulls out five burgers from inside the basket. He sets them on the blanket carefully and then reveals four packs of golden French fries, three sets of onion rings and two trays of chicken nuggets as side orders.

Jeongguk’s mouth waters, and he isn’t sure if it’s because of the food or because of the way Taehyung looks this evening.

“Oh my god,” Jeongguk says elegantly as he scans the lavish layout of enough food for an entire table of people. Taehyung bought all of this for their date?

Taehyung blushes. “It’s a bit of a feast.”

“You are the real feast here,” Jeongguk mumbles.

Taehyung’s eyes widen. “What?”

“Nothing,” Jeongguk dismisses instantly, and ignores the way that Taehyung’s intelligent eyes drink in how his cheeks turn pink. He reaches forward quickly to distract Taehyung from his embarrassment since he can’t believe that he just said that. “This is amazing, hyung,” he breathes honestly, “I’m practically in shock from how unbelievable all of this is.”

Taehyung squeals in happiness, and waves at the food. “Dig in.”

At that, Jeongguk eats like he’s been starved for his entire life. Every time that he starts to feel embarrassed from his behaviour, Taehyung laughs his beautiful laugh and shoves another tray of fries into his lap so that he keeps going. He eats, and eats and hopes that feeling goes away, since he assumes that he feels weird and is hallucinating because of his hunger.

By the time they consume almost all of the food, the sun is almost gone.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Taehyung muses, glancing across the view of endless buildings and the dip of the sun that’s surrounded by a brush of colours.

Jeongguk agrees, but he turns his gaze from the city and sunset and focuses on the way Taehyung’s skin darkens further with the orange tint of the sun. Then, frighteningly honest, he says, “it doesn’t stand a chance against you.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen in surprise, and then he giggles softly as he blushes. “I’ve turned you into a romantic, Jeonggukie.”

Jeongguk stares at Taehyung with stars in his eyes. He knows he must look dazed, but he’ll gladly remain lost within Taehyung’s beauty forever. He places the half-eaten burger against the blanket and turns his entire body towards Taehyung, suddenly overcome with emotion. Quietly, but strongly, he admits, “I want to give you everything, hyung. I really do and I’m—I’m sorry I don’t have much, but you deserve everything—y-you deserve this whole world at your feet and—”

Taehyung looks like he’s about to cry. “Baby—”

“And I promise I’m looking for job and I’m trying, I am because I want to give you everything that you deserve, and I want to make you happy and keep that smile on your face forever—”

Taehyung reaches forward and grabs Jeongguk’s hands in his own. He squeezes Jeongguk’s fingers as though to ground him and leans forward to seriously interrupt, “I’m happy, baby. I’m happy now, here with you. You’re perfect, perfect to me. You are everything I deserve. You—we don’t need expensive dates and thousand-dollar clothes—I have you, and you have me.”

Jeongguk’s chest clenches as the weird puzzle piece seems to twist and squirm. He reaches forward and embraces Taehyung again, nuzzling the beautiful man’s neck and drowns in the sense of contentment that overcomes him. He’s being silly, and he knows that Taehyung will never ask for anything else.

Taehyung eagerly pulls him closer and rests his head against Jeongguk. “You’re so cute, Jeonggukie. It’s adorable how badly you want to worship me.”

Jeongguk’s words are muffled against Taehyung’s neck but he speaks anyway. “You deserve to be worshipped.”

Taehyung’s entire body shakes as he laughs, and Jeongguk sighs happily at the sound. He tightens his arms around Taehyung, but the latter pinches his arm lightly and says, “we’re missing the sunset!”

“You are the only view I ever want to look at, hyung,” Jeongguk says.

Taehyung laughs again, and Jeongguk almost pulls away just to see the way his cheeks turn red. Taehyung slaps his arm playfully and exclaims, “you’re impossible. We’re going to cuddle and watch the sunset, so I can call this a successful romantic date.”

Jeongguk snickers at how cheesy that is, but releases Taehyung enough so that he can straighten his shoulders and lean against the stunning man easily. Taehyung hums happily and curls his arm around Jeongguk’s waist so that he’s supported, and they turn to look at the departing sun.

It truly is a breath-taking sight to behold. Jeongguk may be very biased in his belief that nothing can be more beautiful than Taehyung, but the sunset at this height is a close second place.

“Goodbye, sun!” Taehyung hollers, waving his free hand at the tiny piece of the sun remaining in the sky.

Jeongguk chuckles and glances at Taehyung’s crinkled eyes and plump cheeks in his laughter. He lifts his own free hand and waves with a little, “see you tomorrow!”

“You’re so cute,” Taehyung coos, and turns his head to stare at Jeongguk fondly.

“God, stop,” Jeongguk whines, and ducks his head into Taehyung’s neck so that the latter can’t see his flaming face.

Taehyung just giggles again, and Jeongguk’s heart melts. They remain silent for a moment and listen to the rush of cars far below them that mixes with the whistle of the warm air.

Then, Taehyung says, “sitting here looking at a view like this makes me feel poetic.”

“You are poetry,” Jeongguk grumbles.

“Shut up and let me feel poetic.”

“Well,” Jeongguk lifts his head and raises an eyebrow, “say something poetic then.”

Taehyung hums, and his eyebrows draw together thoughtfully. “It’s not like I can recite poetry, Jeonggukie. It just makes me think a lot. About a lot of things.”

“Like what?” Jeongguk asks curiously.

“Well, sitting here with you feels perfect. Being with you like this makes me so unexplainably happy and I never want us to leave this rooftop,” Taehyung admits, despite the way his cheeks become coloured. “And looking at a view like this makes me think about the world, like . . . it makes me think about what’s out there.”

Jeongguk smiles softly, and just stares at Taehyung so that the latter can continue.

“There are so many people out there that will never see this,” Taehyung says, waving a hand to the city, “and that’s sad but . . . there are so many other things out there to see, you know? But everybody is limited in a way, and I understand that. Everybody has their trials.”

Trials. The word makes the puzzle piece clench and Jeongguk tries not to wince. “Trials?”

Taehyung turns his eyes to him, and Jeongguk feels relief at staring into Taehyung’s almond shaped eyes. “Yeah, trials. Everyone has their own trials, and then their own solutions.”

Jeongguk’s chest is beginning to squeeze to point that it’s uncomfortable to breathe. Despite that, he asks, “what if you don’t have trials?”

Taehyung remains silent in his thoughts and then shakes his head. His silky hair shifts with the movement in an enchanting way. “Everybody has trials because everybody has hope for happiness. Where there is hope, there are trials.”

Jeongguk flinches violently and his entire chest contracts. Why did those words trigger him so much? Taehyung says crazy philosophical stuff often, but Jeongguk knows that he’s never said those words before.

But why does it mean so much to him—to them?

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asks, eyeing Jeongguk’s pinched face.

Jeongguk sucks in a deep breath, and fights through the pain. That simple three worded question from Taehyung feels so familiar to him at this point, and he gets a chilly feeling that Taehyung asks him that often, even though he doesn’t remember. He has no idea what’s happening, but he refuses to let anything ruin their amazing date. “I’m fine, hyung. Back to what you were s-saying, what do you, ah—what do you think our trials will be?”

Taehyung doesn’t seem to be able to focus on the question much. He removes his arm from around Jeongguk’s waist and lifts a palm to the trembling man’s forehead. But instead of questioning him, he answers the question with a vague, “maybe this is one of our trials.”

That fucking puzzle piece throbs and Jeongguk doubles over with a quiet whimper. Everything is perfect, with Taehyung at his side and such an amazing view but something in Jeongguk’s mind tells him that his time is up, but he fights—because he refuses to leave Taehyung.

“Jeongguk?! Oh, fuck—help, please,” Taehyung is screeching in fear with a phone at his ear, probably calling an ambulance but Jeongguk knows that nothing can help him.

He isn’t aware how long he lies there, grabbing at his chest with internal pleads to whatever is happing to stop and let him be happy, but the pain is relentless—so Jeongguk stops fighting and just screams. Jeongguk blocks out the pain the best he could, and mindlessly wonders why he feels like he’s been through this already. Why this time feels like the most painful yet.

This time, though, he keeps his eyes closed so that he won’t have to see the awful way that terror distorts Taehyung’s beautiful face.

Mars – 4. Magic.

Jeongguk knows that he isn’t doing well at concealing his excitement for his date with Taehyung tonight from Yoongi. For the entire day, he skips around the studio with too much excitement for a simple intern. When Yoongi asks him to double check the notes on the piano track, he presses into the piano keys with an unmistakable enthusiasm. When he completes his files for Yoongi, his usual scribbles are sweet and neat—and he doesn’t miss the way Yoongi has been eyeing him suspiciously for the entire time.

Just when he thinks that Yoongi will never question his behaviour, the man’s raspy drawl resonates within the large studio with a simple, “you got good dick last night or something?”

Jeongguk drops his pen and gapes at Yoongi. “Yah! Why are you so crude? And no, I didn’t.”

Yoongi’s breathy laugh makes Jeongguk scowl. It’s the second week of his internship at Min Entertainment, and he isn’t completely used to Yoongi’s very rash way of speaking yet. When he met Yoongi for the first time, he was completely taken aback by how talkative and outright bubbly the little music producer is. Jeongguk likes how happy Yoongi always is, but he has difficulty keeping up with the tiny man’s lack of filter sometimes.

“You got good dick last night, hyung?” Jeongguk asks snappily.

Yoongi’s smile is so wide that Jeongguk sees his gums as clear as day. “I did, thank you for asking.”

Jeongguk scoffs and turns back to his papers. He has one more sheet left before he can finally leave the studio and meet Taehyung for their date. But as he drops his eyes back to the music notes littered across the entire sheet, Jeongguk blinks at it in confusion. Did he suddenly forget how to read music?

He scans the notes and tries to brush off the sudden fluttering in his chest that definitely wasn’t there ten seconds ago. He knows he’s really excited for his date with Taehyung, but he usually has butterflies in his stomach, not his chest.

Since Taehyung opened a new branch of his art gallery in upper Seoul, he’s been too busy lately for him and Jeongguk to spend much time together. Tonight, however, he’s free at the same time that Jeongguk finishes at the studio so they are finally going out together.

He thinks about how blissful the past three months have been since he and Taehyung have officiated their relationship. But as he grasps the papers in his hands and looks at the music notes as though they’re a foreign language, he feels like he can barely recall the way that Taehyung dramatically dropped onto a knee to ask Jeongguk to be his boyfriend. He mentally sees a faint outline of he and Taehyung standing in an arena with five other males in front of thousands of screaming fans.

Why does he feel so weird?

“You okay, kid?” Yoongi asks.

Jeongguk sets the papers onto the table with a tight chest and offers Yoongi a closed lipped smile. “I think I’m just excited for Taehyung-hyung to pick me up.”

Yoongi grins at him, which Jeongguk is used to but this time his eyes are slightly wide as he scans the natural way that Yoongi glows in happiness. A flashing image of Yoongi sitting alone in a smaller studio crosses his mind, and Jeongguk frowns. Why does he feel like he knows a version of Yoongi where he prefers his own company and is mostly silent?

What is happening?

“You did well today, Jeongguk-ah,” Yoongi praises, “you can rush off to your date, I’ll finish up here.”

Jeongguk sighs a bit in relief and is about to thank Yoongi and inform him that Taehyung is picking him up at the company building so he can’t leave yet anyway, but as he opens his mouth, his phone starts ringing. He retrieves the up-to-date iPhone from his pocket and stares at the incoming call from Taehyung.

But the sickening feeling of déjà vu almost makes him drop the phone, and his chest hurts.

“Maybe he’s early,” Yoongi says teasingly.

Jeongguk blinks, and then puts the phone at his ear with a slightly breathless, “hey baby.”

“Jeonggukie,” Taehyung’s deep voice is soft through the line and it feels like a breath of fresh air to Jeonggukie. “My sweet, loving Jeonggukie. I have bad news.”

Instantly, Jeongguk knows he’s about to cancel their date and his rush of disappointment almost hurts more than the uncomfortable curling within his ribs. Still, he asks, “what is it?”

“Somebody fucked up the placements of the portraits on the east wing,” Taehyung informs regretfully, and Jeongguk hears loud voices that are wild with panic in the background—and he knows that Taehyung is at his gallery. “And I have to stay and fix it.”

Jeongguk’s entire mood dims like an outed candle, and Yoongi pouts at him from across the room. He tries not to sound like he’s about to cry as he reassures Taehyung, “oh. It’s okay, hyung. Whenever you’re free again, let me—”

“What?” Taehyung interrupts, “I’m not cancelling. I fucking miss you like crazy, baby. Is it okay with you if we postpone the extravagant date and we just relax at my apartment tonight?”

That sounds better than an extravagant date to Jeongguk. His heart trembles with bliss and he says, “that sounds great.”

“Fantastic,” Taehyung’s ridiculously deep voice sounds even lower with relief, “you can go on over to my apartment when you’re done at the studio. You remember where I hide the spare key, right? I’ll hurry up here at the gallery as much as I can and then I’ll meet you home. I’ll pick up some food on my way there.”

“I’ll be there,” Jeongguk promises, and a strange puzzle piece seems to twist in excitement within his chest. Jeongguk ignores it, and continues softly, “I can’t wait to see you, hyung.”

“Yeah,” Taehyung breathes, “I can’t wait to see you either.”

By the time Jeongguk places his phone back in his pocket, Yoongi is smiling brightly as though he’s the lucky one that’s in a relationship with Taehyung. Jeongguk rolls his eyes at his boss’s dramatics and moves to place the unfinished music sheets into the draw at his side. Yoongi teases him endlessly with his stunning gummy smile and says get some good dick tonight, Jeongguk-ah and by the time Jeongguk leaves the company building, he breathes a shaky sigh of relief that he’s out of Yoongi’s sight—since he’s completely flustered at Yoongi’s implications.

He feels like he’s floating above the clouds with Taehyung, but they haven’t taken that step yet.

Jeongguk considers taking a taxi to Taehyung’s apartment, but then decides to trek the thirty-minute walk since Taehyung won’t be back yet anyway. On his way, he stops at Taehyung’s favourite flower shop and purchases the most stunning bouquet of peonies that he can find.

By the time he takes a shower in Taehyung’s luxury apartment and is lying on his ridiculously expensive leather couch for an hour, keys tinkle outside and Taehyung walks in with a loud, excited, “Jeonggukie?”

Jeongguk jumps off the couch in excitement and is about to rush into Taehyung’s arms but as soon as he spots the man, he freezes.

Jeongguk remembers meeting Taehyung for the first time at an art exhibition over a year ago. He distinctly remembers singlehandedly labelling Taehyung as the most beautiful creature on the planet.

But the Taehyung that stands at the door now doesn’t do that fluttering memory justice.

Taehyung’s frame is transparent through the charcoal black turtleneck sweatshirt that sticks to his body like glue. He’s wearing black jeans that are ripped at the knees and he has a matching black baseball cap covering his head. It doesn’t do much to hide the breath-taking golden hair that peeks out from under the fabric, and Jeongguk doesn’t know what to do as he stares at blonde Taehyung who has to be the most beautiful yet. The gorgeous man looks like he’s just attended the most stylish funeral of the century.

It feels like he’s meeting Taehyung for the first time all over again.

“Oh my God,” he hears himself say.

Taehyung’s features illuminate when he spots Jeongguk and he kicks the door shut behind him to rush over. Before Jeongguk can think about saying oh my God again at how much better Taehyung looks up close, the latter squeals and throws his arms around the frozen man.

The puzzle piece buzzes happily inside Jeongguk’s chest, and it throws him out of his daze. As natural as breathing, Jeongguk melts into Taehyung’s larger frame and inhales for what feels like the first time in a millennium. Taehyung smells as classy and expensive as his furniture and Jeongguk loves it. He curls his arms around Taehyung’s waist and squeezes the man closer into him.

Taehyung’s chest rumbles as he hums happily, “hey baby.”

Jeongguk pulls away to gaze at his beautiful boyfriend in amazement. Should he have gotten used to Taehyung’s beauty by this point? He can’t seem to ever look away. “I missed you so much,” Jeongguk admits softly.

He doesn’t seem to realise how deep he actually means the statement. It goes way further than missing Taehyung for a few days for a date.

Taehyung giggles, and Jeongguk melts as his boyfriend begins peppering his face with little kisses. “And I,” a peck on his forehead, “missed,” one his nose, “you way more,” one on the side of his mouth.

Jeongguk’s entire face feels hot from the affection but he doesn’t ever want Taehyung to stop. His chest dulls with the uncomfortable prodding, as though Taehyung is the cure. “You spoil me too much,” he says.

“And I’ll never stop spoiling you,” Taehyung lifts his hands to cup Jeongguk’s cheeks lovingly, “you are my whole universe. Let me spoil you.”

Before Jeongguk can faint from how hot his entire face is, Taehyung leans in and presses his lips against Jeongguk’s tenderly.

A wild, shocking feeling slams within Jeongguk’s ribs and he gasps. He doesn’t understand what’s happening, because he and Taehyung have kissed many times before—so why does this feel like the first time?

First time or not, Jeongguk’s entire being shakes with how amazing it feels. Taehyung’s mouth is hot like a pair of lovers’ first confessions to each other, and soft like the petals of the peonies that Jeongguk bought and even though it makes Jeongguk’s chest physically hurt, he also seems to be the only thing that relaxes the strange beast within Jeongguk’s chest.

But before he can slide himself closer into Taehyung to kiss him properly—

“I don’t get your obsession with photographing me,” Taehyung grumbles, but looks at the camera anyway. “It’s not like you post the majority of it anyway, for the fans to see.”

Jeongguk studies the way that Taehyung’s vibrant golden skin glows through the lens and he snaps his pictures eagerly. The way Taehyung shames even the sun can barely be captured in a picture, but Jeongguk will continue to try. “These pictures are for me,” he says vaguely, “you are for me.”

Jeongguk’s sharp inhale makes Taehyung jerk back in surprise. Jeongguk stares at his boyfriend in shock at what the fuck just happened, something that has never happened before. Jeongguk knows that Taehyung’s entire essence is magical in itself, but what kind of magic does it take for Taehyung’s lips to make him hallucinate?

“Did I do something wrong?” Taehyung questions carefully as he strokes Jeongguk’s cheek.

“No,” Jeongguk breathes, shoving his weird visions and awful sensations to the back of his mind. He can’t focus on anything except how mind-blowing Taehyung is, and how right this feels. He stares deep into Taehyung’s dark eyes and says, “please do that again.”

Taehyung smiles softly, and then ducks his head to slot his mouth against Jeongguk’s again. This time, Jeongguk resists the weird pumping of his chest and he curls his arms to draw Taehyung nearer. He kisses Taehyung like it’s their last time together, and Taehyung grabs his waist tightly like he thinks that Jeongguk is going to disappear if he lets go. The way Taehyung sighs into Jeongguk’s mouth before fiercely capturing his boyfriend’s lips in his again is nothing less than terrifying passionate.

Jeongguk loses his sense of self within the heavenly sensation of Taehyung’s mouth moving against his. His entire mind expands and then explodes, so he loses any trace of rational thoughts and he grabs at Taehyung’s hips with a soft groan to press himself closer to the beautiful man. He lifts his hand and pushes Taehyung’s hat off of his head, and it falls to the floor so that Jeongguk can roughly sink his fingers into his gorgeous boyfriend’s heavenly silky strands.

Everything is so natural with their movements, and Jeongguk knows in any dimension of any universe, he and Taehyung will compliment and complete each other in ways that the other didn’t even know that they lacked.

The taste of Taehyung’s smile against his mouth is sweeter than anything Jeongguk has ever tried in his life. He never wants this moment to end.

Taehyung pulls back slightly with a fully flushed face and wild hair and Jeongguk wonders why Taehyung entire art gallery isn’t filled with pictures of Taehyung himself looking this beautiful.

“Let me at least feed you first, and then I’ll kiss you until you pass out,” Taehyung says, lips brushing against Jeongguk’s as he speaks.

Jeongguk tries to argue that he isn’t hungry, which is a lie, but now that he’s experienced the addicting taste and feel of Taehyung’s mouth, he never wants anything else.

Taehyung releases him despite his protests and he makes his way over to two bags that Jeongguk hadn’t even noticed that he brought in. He follows his boyfriend into the extravagant kitchen where Taehyung sets down the bags and retrieves two plates from an unnecessarily large mahogany cabinet.

“I got lamb skewers and bibimbap for us,” Taehyung informs, pulling out three large containers. He flashes Jeongguk an adorable smile and says, “I know you’ve been craving lamb for a while.”

Jeongguk’s heart rumbles in elation, and he thinks about how well-behaved he was in his past life to get so lucky to end up with Taehyung. He barely manages to not throw himself at his boyfriend to show how grateful he is. Instead, he grins larger than he ever thought possible and says, “thank you, hyung.”

Then he remembers the flowers.

“Oh!” He jumps off of the stool and hurries out of the kitchen to the side of the couch where he hid the bouquet, “I almost forgot!”

“Forgot what?”

Jeongguk grabs the bouquet and scans it to make sure that every single petal is flawless and that the ribbon is shiny enough and then strolls back into the kitchen with the flowers hidden behind his back. Taehyung pauses in the process of transferring the food onto the plates and lifts an eyebrow at Jeongguk curiously.

Jeongguk walks up to Taehyung, smiling giddily and declares, “I got these for you.” And he presents the bouquet to his boyfriend.

Taehyung’s hold on the empty container loosens and it falls onto the marble counter with a smack. His wide almond eyes move from Jeongguk’s face to the stunning flowers and then Jeongguk sees the moment that Taehyung melts. His chest deflates, and his lips are pouty, and he looks so soft as he exclaims, “baby, you got me peonies!”

Jeongguk’s ribs tickle. He wishes he had the ability to give Taehyung all the peonies in the world. Just to see that smile on his face. “I did,” he says quietly.

Taehyung takes the bouquet in one hand and wraps the other around Jeongguk’s waist to drag him in sharply for an unexpected kiss. Jeongguk’s instantly grabs at his boyfriend like a starved animal to deepen the kiss but Taehyung laughs into his mouth—like the sweetest kind of honey and pulls away.

“Thank you, Jeonggukie,” he says gratefully, pressing one tiny kiss against Jeongguk’s mouth before turning away completely. “Let me put these in some water. Will you take the plates to the living room?”

By the time the food is done, Jeongguk has laughed harder than he ever has in his life—that he can remember. He and Taehyung watch an old movie that the latter insisted is a sweet, romantic classic but it was everything except that. Jeongguk didn’t mind at all, though and he tucked himself into the fold of Taehyung’s arm and his thick, lovely scent and laughed heartily for every single one of his boyfriend’s cheeky comments throughout the movie.

When the credits start rolling on Taehyung’s frighteningly enormous television, Jeongguk reaches for the remote and mutes it. Then he turns slightly so that he can look at Taehyung and he says, “tell me about your day.”

“I missed you for the entirety of it, isn’t that all that matters?” Taehyung mumbles, twisting to press an open-mouthed kiss to the top of Jeongguk’s head and—

“When will you agree to see me outside of this ridiculously pink café?” Taehyung asks, eyeing the pastel walls sceptically as he puts his strawberry milkshake to his cherry lips.

Jeongguk’s heart shakes, and he smiles softly at Taehyung and says, “when you stop being prettier than these pink walls.”

Jeongguk jumps, although less violently than all the other times that he doesn’t remember, but somehow knows that these visions of Taehyung happen often. He’s beginning to think it has nothing to do with his hunger, his energizer drink or his nervousness.

And he has no idea how he knows about that.

Taehyung eyes his shocked face and asks for what feels like the millionth time, “are you okay?”

Jeongguk is aware of the swirling within his ribs, but he ignores it and says honestly, “I think you’re making me crazy.”

Taehyung smiles. “Is it the good kind of crazy?”

No. Jeongguk scoffs lightly, but he allows himself to drown in how sinfully right being in Taehyung’s presence feels. He turns his head and presses a light kiss against the side of his boyfriend’s throat. “Tell me more about your day, hyung.”

Taehyung shivers from the kiss, and then says, “it was exhausting. Those fuckers had one job and they fucked it up. Everybody knows that the portraits go in the east wing. Like—they gave me a migraine. I guess it was just the beginning of my trials.”

Trials.

Jeongguk winces slightly at the word, unable to contain the way the alien feeling trashes against his ribs. Almost as though it’s ingrained within him, Jeongguk knows without knowing how that the word trial is important—to him and Taehyung.

“Trials?” he repeats, almost in a squeak.

Taehyung nods, too lost in his thoughts to notice the way that Jeongguk’s face contorts in discomfort. “Yeah, I was thinking about it yesterday. I thought that it was kind of weird how everything was going so smoothly with me, with the way the entire gallery was happening so easily. I wondered why I didn’t face any trials yet, and well—I suppose they started today.”

Jeongguk remains silent, and then something hazy and painful dawns on him and he practically whispers, “I think my trials started today, too.”

Taehyung drops his gaze to his boyfriend, whose entire face is twisted in pain. “What kind of trials? Something happened in work today?”

“Not really,” Jeongguk mumbles, suddenly feeling as though he’s about to vomit. “More to do with you.”

Taehyung’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, and then his eyes widen in fear. “What do you mean?”

Jeongguk pulls away from Taehyung to position himself so that he’s staring directly into Taehyung’s eyes. “Hyung, I want us to be together forever.”

Taehyung reaches out and takes one of Jeongguk’s hands in his, so that they can stop trembling. “I’ll be yours forever, baby.”

“I—I just,” Jeongguk pauses, and without knowing why, he says, “in any world, in any universe—I want to be with you.”

Taehyung’s lips twitch and then he smiles, “I think in any universe there is, we are together. Happily.”

Jeongguk’s chest begins to throb in a way that’s familiar to him even though he knows it isn’t. He dips forward and slides a hand to the back of Taehyung’s neck to pull the beautiful man closer. He keeps staring deep into Taehyung brilliantly sparkly eyes and then he whispers, “I’ll tell you if we are at the end.”

Taehyung rubs his nose against Jeongguk’s playfully and asks, “at the end of what?”

Jeongguk doesn’t know. Jeongguk has absolutely no fucking idea what’s happening, but resisting it causes him pain. But deep within his ribs, that feeling curls almost into a comforting manner in a way to say it’ll be worth it in the end. And without knowing how or why, Jeongguk knows he’s on a journey to somewhere—even though there’s the very real fearful possibility that wherever he ends up, Taehyung may not be there.

So Jeongguk wants to hold onto Taehyung here, now and never, ever let him go.

Taehyung glows brighter than all of the stars in the sky in Jeongguk’s eyes, and he knows that in every single universe there is, Taehyung’s beauty is timeless and immortal. And the thought is comforting.

But that feeling stabs against his chest, and Jeongguk knows that his time is up.

So, he surges forward and kisses Taehyung in a manner that’s too passionate to put into words. Taehyung audibly chokes in surprise, and then he pulls Jeongguk’s completely into his lap so that he can grab at his boyfriend in all the right makes that makes Jeongguk a shaking mess. Jeongguk presses himself further into Taehyung’s lap, and shoves his fingers through Taehyung’s thick hair that is softer than the peonies and the little groan that emits Taehyung tells him that he’s doing everything right.

By the time Taehyung’s addicting mouth leaves Jeongguk’s swollen lips to mouth down his neck sensually, the pain within Jeongguk’s chest is too much to bare and he’s panting through more than the way Taehyung’s mouth leaves him breathless.

“I don’t deserve you,” he breathes against the side of Taehyung’s head, “but nobody in this world does either.”

“Don’t be silly,” Taehyung whispers against Jeongguk’s collarbones, and presses a wet open-mouthed kiss against the skin. “We don’t deserve anyone except each other.”

Jeongguk’s entire vision turns white with pain, but he grits his teeth and holds in his screams. Taehyung’s lips against his skin is a sensation that he may never feel again, and his expensive scent is all Jeongguk wants to inhale for the rest of his life. He grabs his boyfriend’s neck and even though he can’t see through his pain, he whispers incoherently, “we’re soulmates.”

Jeongguk doesn’t hear Taehyung’s alarmed cries as he goes limp in his boyfriend’s arms. All he focuses on is the way Taehyung’s long fingers curve around his waist like a puzzle piece finally slotting into the place it finally belongs. He lets go of his confusion and his fear, and he’s lost in the sensation of Taehyung’s husky voice breathing against his skin, and in this moment, he’s confident that wherever he goes next, Taehyung will be there waiting.

Jupiter – 5. Hide.

Truthfully, Jeongguk didn’t think he’d fall in love with Taehyung. When he auditioned to be a backup dancer for the idol, he didn’t think that Taehyung would be so flawlessly loveable, and unfairly talented at the same time. But now, as he stands backstage and looks at Taehyung on the screen on stage, he can’t imagine a life without stolen kisses and heated whispers to each other in the dark when they hide from the idol’s manager, Jin.

When he sees that Taehyung’s final performance is coming to an end, he excuses himself from the rest of the exhausted backup dancers—which isn’t much, since most are out on stage with Taehyung for the final performance—and says that he’s heading to the bathroom and then he’s heading home.

But he never does that. Ducking into Taehyung’s empty dressing room at the end of each show is a habit at this point, and when he drops onto Taehyung’s couch to wait for the idol, he feels like this time is different from the rest.

He looks around at the white walls, and range of makeup scattered in front of the mirrors, and he can’t help but think that the entire atmosphere is familiar to him. He looks at the empty chair in front of the mirror, and he sees himself sitting in it with noonas crowding him to make him look pretty. The dancers are dressed, not in the same way that Taehyung is, but this feeling tickles in a way that’s deeper than basic dancer makeup.

It feels like idol makeup—which makes no sense, since Taehyung is the idol.

Jeongguk tenses as the door is pushed open, and for a second Jeongguk is terrified that it’s Jin since he’s being horrible reckless by just sitting here in Taehyung’s dressing room. But then Taehyung enters with his ethereal silver hair that’s soaked with sweat, and his blinding glittery jacket with baby blue jeans and Jeongguk’s entire being jolts at the sight.

Taehyung’s beauty will never fail to render Jeongguk speechless.

As soon as Taehyung spots him, his eyes widen in alarm and he slams the door behind him roughly. Then he leans his back against the door and silently points to tell Jeongguk to hide dramatically. Jeongguk frowns in confusion and ignores how strangely his chest contracts.

“Taehyung-ah?” Jin’s voice calls from behind the door with two sharp knocks, and Taehyung’s eyes grow as wide as moons. He throws his arms more violently and points to the large rack of clothes at the side of the room. “You did amazing out there, are you okay?”

“Yes, Jin-hyung!” Taehyung replies loudly with too much enthusiasm in his voice. Jeongguk throws himself off of the couch and runs to hide behind the clothes. “I’ll just relax a bit, and then I’ll meet you to head home, okay?”

Jin agrees, thank God and then leaves quietly without entering the room or questioning why Taehyung didn’t allow him to come inside. Jeongguk peeks out from behind a thick jacket and watches as Taehyung waits until he can’t hear Jin’s footsteps anymore and the sharp click of the door locking makes Jeongguk smile.

Taehyung walks toward him with large steps the same time that he hops out from behind the rack and Jeongguk isn’t sure who grabs who first, but their lips slam together with too much passion and emotion for a relationship that has to hide constantly.

Jeongguk’s chest twists with a crazy puzzle piece that throbs happily, but he doesn’t pay attention to anything other than the way Taehyung wraps him up like a personal gift and kisses him like they haven’t seen each other in years. Jeongguk groans in the back of his throat as Taehyung sucks at his bottom lip teasingly, and the idol grips his waist to pull their bodies to a distance that there’s not even air separating them.

“You looked delicious out there tonight, baby,” Taehyung says into Jeongguk’s mouth breathlessly, but doesn’t give Jeongguk a chance to respond. His hands slide up the sides of Jeongguk’s body and he moans at the touch of pure muscle and he tilts his head and kisses Jeongguk deeper. Jeongguk is drowned in the way Taehyung touches him. Taehyung’s entire presence envelops him wonderfully—his expensive clothes, and his expensive cologne and his wet hair and Jeongguk whimpers at how the bliss spreads throughout his body.

He can’t ever imagine being anywhere else, without anyone else.

“I could’ve barely remembered my lyrics,” Taehyung continues, lips leaving Jeongguk’s for seconds to speak. He pants, “you almost made me forget my choreography.”

“You’re beautiful,” Jeongguk whispers, lifting his hands to grab Taehyung’s face so that he can pull the beautiful man forward to kiss him again.

Taehyung groans—an addicting, amazing sound—but obliges and his hands roam down the curves of Jeongguk’s stomach to touch, to feel everything and then he slides his hands to memorize every line of muscle along Jeongguk’s spine.

Jeongguk’s shivers at the feeling of Taehyung’s ridiculously large hands against his body, and he loves the way that feeling pulses to the rhythm of his erratic heartbeat. He barely remembers being on stage with Taehyung tonight, barely remembers anything about his job as the idol’s backup dancer but he doesn’t need to remember anything to know that Taehyung is beautiful, that he looks stunning in any situation he’s put in.

He barely remembers anything about himself except that he’s at peace in Taehyung’s arms, with Taehyung’s lips swallowing him and he’s never felt more content than he feels in this moment.

He doesn’t need to know anything except that he’s with Taehyung, and that Taehyung is happy.

“You’re so beautiful,” he repeats, choking and suffocating from the lack of air but he feels like he’ll die if Taehyung stops kissing him like that, touching him like that, moaning like that. He sucks in a breath and presses his lips harshly against Taehyung glorious pink mouth like it’s a drug, and he’s going through the most painful withdrawal of his life.

“You’re crazy,” Taehyung manages to say through the movement of Jeongguk’s lips against his. “Coming in here like that and waiting on me, what if it wasn’t me that came in?”

“Then I would’ve been fired, and I’d still find a way to be with you,” Jeongguk answers, like the solution is as easy as that.

Taehyung leans his forehead against Jeongguk’s and the fire that sparks between them is unthinkable. “You’re crazy,” he says again, but he’s smiling a smile that makes his cheeks plump and Jeongguk groans and kisses him again. The idol laughs against his lover’s mouth and says, “you’re as crazy as I am.”

“You’re worse than I am,” Jeongguk says seriously, studying every perfect pore on Taehyung’s face. “Who else would get this involved with a backup dancer and risk such a scandal?”

“And if you give me a chance,” Taehyung whispers, leaning in and twisting his head so that he can press tender kisses into Jeongguk’s sensitive neck, “I’d do everything all over again so that I can fall in love with you a second time.”

“I wish I could ask you to run away with me,” Jeongguk says breathily. He closes his eyes at the mind-blowing way that Taehyung presses his mouth into the right areas, and he leans his head back to silently tell Taehyung to continue doing everything that he’s doing. “But then millions of people will be looking for you, and your manager hyung will murder me.”

The curve of Taehyung’s lips against his neck makes Jeongguk whine loudly, and the idols says, “and I wish I could run away with you.”

“I want to be with you, hyung,” Jeongguk admits, high off of his lover’s mouth but speaking his mind nonetheless, “I want us to be together. I want to show you off and show everyone how beautiful you are.”

Taehyung lifts his head at Jeongguk’s confession, and the absence of his lips on Jeongguk’s neck makes the latter tremble. His chest pangs, but Jeongguk ignores everything except Taehyung—except the way that Taehyung is looking at him.

Taehyung’s glazed eyes rave Jeongguk’s flushed face and in a voice as deep as the ocean, he says, “I love you, Jeongguk-ah. I want you to know that—to understand that. I love you more than my career, more than my fans. I love you more than the exhilarating feeling of standing in front of a crowd. And my career stops me from being with you in the way that I want now but I promise you that I will love you in any universe, in any dimension, in any galaxy—no matter who I am, what I am. Where there is hope, there are trials but I will always love you, baby.”

Jeongguk’s chest contracts violently, and he closes his eyes. That feeling surges throughout his entire body violently, and Jeongguk gets a weird instinctual feeling that they fell in love with each other before they were supposed to.

But he wants to hear Taehyung say those words over and over again until he dies.

“That’s enough for me,” Jeongguk whispers, and grabs onto Taehyung’s hips to slam their mouths together again.

Taehyung moans a deep, breathy sound and melts into the kiss that’s a lot less rough than earlier. Jeongguk smoothly slides his mouth against Taehyung’s in every way he can to return his feelings. His entire chest curls uncomfortably, but the taste and feel of Taehyung drowns everything out. Taehyung’s hands slide into his hair and he whimpers at the sensation of the idol brushing against his scalp.

“I love you,” Jeongguk mumbles into Taehyung’s mouth, and manages to resist a flinch as his ribs rut painfully.

It’s time to go already.

It makes him kiss Taehyung with more passion than he thought could’ve been conveyed through a mouth. “I love you so much,” he breathes, clutching Taehyung’s body against his as if they would become one single being if they come closer.

Taehyung’s chest vibrates with an animalistic groan, and he presses his palms against the side of Jeongguk’s face to hold his lover tenderly as he kisses him softly. Against his lips, he says, “anywhere, I’ll be yours.”

Jeongguk’s ribs shudder so violently that he thinks that they crack but he grunts against Taehyung’s unbelievably soft lips to confirm and—

Taehyung grips Jeongguk’s fingers in his and tugs his soulmate further into the strawberry field with a loud, “for somebody so talented, you can be so slow! Hurry up!”

Jeongguk laughs, a scandalous and breathy sound that make the strawberries vibrate with life. He increases his steps to please Taehyung and cheekily says, “the only talent I need is to make you happy, baby.”

Jeongguk jumps, startled at the sudden flashing scene in his mind—clearer than the love in Taehyung’s eyes now. Taehyung pulls back with an alarmed expression and opens his mouth to ask are you okay, which feels to Jeongguk like a fucking routine at this point, but they both jump three feet in the air at the sharp knocks at the door.

“Taehyung-ah? It’s been a while, are you ready?” Jin calls from outside.

Taehyung curses quietly and he sighs audibly. Loudly, he says, “yeah, Jin-hyung. I’m coming out now.”

Jeongguk’s wide eyes move from the door to Taehyung’s resigned expression, and his heart hurts. He never wants Taehyung to leave.

“Come over later to my apartment,” Taehyung whispers, dipping to speak directly into Jeongguk’s ear. There a sharp exhale and then, “please.”

“I will,” Jeongguk promises.

Taehyung pulls back but Jeongguk grabs him and presses one last tender kiss to his lips. Taehyung smiles softly, and then motions for Jeongguk to hide again—the same time that Jeongguk begins feeling the prelude of his episodes.

Shaking and containing his screams, Jeongguk dips down behind the large rack of clothes. He lies against the carpeted floor, and scratches at his chest as if to ask why. He’s thoroughly confused, but he’s also in so much pain—far too much to form coherent thoughts. Deep inside his mind, he knows that this time is the least painful of his travels yet, and he’s grateful, even though he has no idea what’s happening.

He grits his teeth together, cursing the fucking puzzle piece grating inside him in every language he can remember—but the last thing that crosses his mind are flashing images of Taehyung with black hair, peach hair, brown hair, golden blonde hair and he weakly appreciates that Taehyung looks the most ethereal with silver hair.

Saturn – 6. Stay.

Jeongguk can’t ever imagine doing anything other than dancing—it’s all he’s ever wanted to do ever since he could’ve said his own name. And he loves his job, even though Hoseok is grumpy and a bit rude sometimes. He feels at peace when he dances, and it’s a sweet sense of doing what you love.

But at the end of latest choreography, he sits on the floor and stares at his reflection in the wall mirror as if he doesn’t recognise himself. His reflection stares back at him as if to say this is where everything starts to go wrong, prepare yourself.

He stares at his faded caramel coloured hair and doesn’t remember colouring it. He remembers black hair. He eyes the light scar on his cheek and he doesn’t remember how he got that. He doesn’t identify any of the clothes he’s wearing.

“Are you ready to run it through again?”

Jeongguk looks across at Hoseok who’s scowling, as usual, and he wonders why he isn’t smiling. He can vividly see a memory of Hoseok glowing as bright as the sun with happiness.

But he doesn’t remember it.

“Why are so upset? Did Jimin-hyung upset you by staying up late in the dorm again?” he asks gently as he stares Hoseok’s pinched expression.

Hoseok looks utterly confused. “Who is Jimin, and what dorm? And I’m not upset, this is just my personality. I’ve been told to be very stoic.”

Jimin. Jeongguk sees a memory of a light-haired boy that runs around a stadium at the speed of light, and then another that dances for a crowd. But now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t know who Jimin is either.

“Where am I?” he asks Hoseok quietly, calmly.

Hoseok lifts an eyebrow and crouches so that he can eye Jeongguk carefully. “Are you okay? You’ve been really out of it these last few days.”

Jeongguk doesn’t remember that. He doesn’t remember anything. “I have?”

His chest hurts, and a word pounds against his head. Trial. Trial. Trial. He has no idea what it means, and he doesn’t know who, or where he is but he knows it means that his trials have actually begun.

“Yes, you have,” Hoseok looks more sceptical by the second. “Did you hit your head or something? You’ve been horribly forgetful these last few days.”

Forgetful? “I have?”

“Maybe you should go home,” Hoseok suggests, and then he sighs, “we haven’t been able to make much progress with the new choreography because of how fucking weird you’ve been behaving lately, but I’ll work on it. Just—go home and get better.”

Jeongguk slowly looks around the empty studio. The lights are too bright, and the mirrors are frighteningly shiny. A dance studio. He turns back to Hoseok and asks, “choreography? Are we preparing for our comeback?”

Hoseok’s eyebrows shoot up and then he laughs with a bit of scorn. “Jeongguk, what the fuck are you talking about? Comeback? We’re not idols. We are the dance coaches at this dance studio.”

Jeongguk looks around the studio again and wonders why he assumed that they’re idols. He doesn’t know why he feels like he’s an idol. But he can’t shake the feeling that he’s been in a similar studio multiple times before, for idol purposes. But he can’t remember. He eyes Hoseok’s tinted pink hair and he sees a flash of a tall man with large shoulders that also has pink hair. Jin, the name comes to him easily. “Where is everyone else?”

Hoseok doesn’t know whether to be exhausted or confused at the questions. “There’s no one else, Jeongguk. We are the only two dance coaches. Do you want to go to a doctor?”

“I—I don’t know,” he says, and then a weird twist within his chest makes him wince. The sensation brings forward an image of the most beautiful man on the planet to his mind and he asks, “where is Taehyung?”

Hoseok looks like he’s about to laugh again, but then there’s a light knock at the side of the studio door and a sweet, husky voice says, “hello! I’m here to steal Jeonggukie away from you, Hoseok-hyung.”

Jeongguk’s chest throbs at the sight of Taehyung leaning against the door. He’s stunning, of course, and he’s casually dressed in knee length shorts that allow Jeongguk to ogle at his sun kissed legs, and a simple black jersey. The sight of his bleach blonde hair makes his shirt seem even darker in colour, and his skin looks even lovelier. Jeongguk knows nothing about where he is, and he can’t remember anything about his life—but the sight of Taehyung in front of him reminds him that nothing else matters in his life except for Taehyung.

He instantly sees flashes of several images of the beautiful man—in a pink café, in a strawberry field, standing on a stage and he wants to know nothing other than Taehyung.

“Hyung,” he says, stumbling over to the beautiful man. He stops directly in front of Taehyung, and his eyes study every inch of Taehyung’s glorious face that he can see. Then, he steps forward and wraps his around the beautiful man’s neck in a soft embrace. “I missed you,” he says softly, and he can’t even remember waking up this morning, but he knows that he’s missed Taehyung’s arms, Taehyung scent and Taehyung.

“Please take him,” Hoseok says to Taehyung, “he’s gone fucking crazy.”

“Is that so?” Taehyung asks, giggling quietly as he gathers a slightly trembling Jeongguk in his arms. He tilts his head and kisses the side of Jeongguk’s head sweetly. “I missed you too, baby.”

The grating of his ribs eases noticeably as he stands in Taehyung’s arms. He never wants to leave, and he knows that whatever trials he’s facing that begins with a fucking identity crisis can only be cured by Taehyung.

“Can we go home?” he asks in a barely audible whisper. He has no idea where his house is, but with Taehyung holding him this way, home can be anywhere as long as they’re together.

And suddenly, Jeongguk isn’t scared by his scramble of memories anymore.

“Of course we can, baby,” Taehyung agrees. He releases Jeongguk and begins to walk deeper into the studio but Jeongguk grabs onto his hand like an abandoned child, and Taehyung smiles softly at him and interlaces their fingers. He walks over to Hoseok to collect Jeongguk’s bag and then without a goodbye to Hoseok, Jeongguk silently follows Taehyung to the latter’s vibrant red car.

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asks, and Jeongguk feels like it’s the millionth time that Taehyung is asking him that question.

No. Jeongguk is not okay. He thinks, for sure this time, that he actually did go crazy. But he turns to look at how attractive Taehyung radiates when he drives, and he says, “I’ve never been better.” He pauses and then glances at the barely recognisable Seoul streets and asks, “are we going to Kim Industries again?”

Taehyung’s spectacular eyebrows furrow in confusion, but he keeps his eyes on the road. “Kim Industries? Where is that?”

“We had one of our dates there,” Jeongguk says, mostly on instinct. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. He doesn’t remember the date, or what Kim Industries looks like, but he knows that he’s been there with Taehyung and that there were flowers everywhere.

Taehyung smiles slightly and then flashes Jeongguk a concerned look. “We didn’t, baby. As far as I know, there is no Kim Industries in Seoul. And why would we go there for a date?”

Jeongguk doesn’t know. The name and sight of flowers came to him like a whisper but now he doesn’t remember what they look like anymore. So, he says, “I don’t know.”

Taehyung frowns, and Jeongguk thinks that nothing else looks better on Taehyung than happiness. He says to the hopelessly confused man, “did you hit your head or something, baby? You’ve been saying weird things for the last few days.”

He stares at Taehyung, knowing that the beautiful man holds all of the answers. His chest feels tight. “What kind of weird things have I been saying?”

Taehyung’s stunning lips curl in amusement, because he doesn’t realise how serious the situation is. He says, “well, at the beginning of the week, you started talking about a pretty pink café and that I was a big fan of you. By Wednesday, you were asking why we weren’t preparing for our comeback, and you were confused when I said that we weren’t idols. Yesterday, you started mumbling about us on a pretty strawberry farm together in Daegu in your sleep. And, well today, you’re talking about a Kim Industries where we apparently had a date.”

Jeongguk’s mind races with the new information and a weirdly shaped puzzle piece inside his chest buzzes. He gets a flitting image on Taehyung standing in an arena and he says, “you were an idol, too. I was your backup dancer.”

Taehyung remains silent for a tense second and then he pulls the car over to the side of the street. He sets the car into park and turns to Jeongguk. His eyes aren’t wide or panicked. Instead, his beautiful eyes look so scarily concerned, worried and he says seriously, “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Jeongguk grabs his wrist before he can change the gear. He doesn’t know what’s happening, but he knows that a hospital won’t help him. “I’m okay. Please, hyung. I don’t want to go to the hospital. Let’s go home.”

Taehyung’s eyes scan his face, and he looks so scared. Then, he says, “If you keep saying these crazy things, and keep forgetting details about your life by the end of the week, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Jeongguk wants to argue, but he just nods. Taehyung drives off again, and they remain silent on the way to their home. The silence is deafening, the Jeongguk’s heart clenches. When Taehyung parks in the underground carpark of a moderately sized apartment complex, he retrieves a little box from the back seat.

“What’s that?” Jeongguk asks.

Taehyung smiles across at him and locks the car. “You promised me that I can dye your hair today, remember?”

Jeongguk doesn’t remember.

Taehyung doesn’t seem to notice, because he continues with a delighted, “and you let me choose the colour!”

Their apartment is small, but incredibly cosy. Without knowing why, Jeongguk walks around and looks for a gigantic wooden cabinet, a ridiculously expensive leather couch and a humungous television—but he doesn’t know why he’s looking for that because he knows that neither he, nor Taehyung is rich, and they are not in Gangnam.

“This is our home?” Jeongguk asks quietly, strolling through the hall and smiling softly at the various picture frames of him and Taehyung—one in an amusement park, one on the shore of a beach, one on a plane and one in snow. He doesn’t remember any of that, but he knows that they are happy in each picture and that’s all that matters.

Taehyung pauses at the question, and frowns worriedly. “Jeongguk—let’s please go to the hospital—”

“Humour me, hyung. Please,” he says pleadingly.

“Yeah, this is our home. We moved in here about four months ago, when we saved enough. You chose the paint colours and I chose the furniture,” Taehyung relents and explains, waving around at the cute little living space.

“You had an apartment in Gangnam,” Jeongguk says with his back to Taehyung, because he doesn’t want to see the worried expression on Taehyung’s face that he’s talking about them as though he was in a past life when even he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “You had a really nice leather couch.”

Jeongguk walks over their little couch and sits down carefully. He looks around the cute place, and the sense of familiarity washes over him. He knows he’s been living here with Taehyung, he knows this is home. Taehyung disappears into the kitchen and then returns with a tiny bowl, the box of hair dye and two bottles of water.

“And what did we do on that couch?” Taehyung asks lightly, truly deciding to humour Jeongguk and his wild imagination.

Jeongguk’s eyes move from the items to Taehyung’s face and he feels his cheek heat slightly at the implication. “Kissed . . . and cuddled.”

“Oh?” Taehyung teases, settling beside Jeongguk on the side and reaching a hand out to touch his hair tenderly. “We didn’t do anything else on my expensive leather couch?”

Jeongguk curses his flaming face and he shakes his head roughly. “No. We didn’t do anything else.”

Taehyung’s wonderful laugh echoes within the walls and then he leans closer to ask, “what about this couch?”

Jeongguk’s heartbeat increases and his ribs feel like they’re about to shatter. “W-what about this one?”

“What kinds of things do you want to do on this couch?” Taehyung’s voice is soft, and dark—like a menacing call and a gentle caress at the same time. He brushes his face against the side of Jeongguk’s softly and twirls his hair soothingly.

Jeongguk gulps, and wonders where the distance between them went. Taehyung’s platinum blonde hair is so pale in colour that it makes his eyes seem blacker, more sinful. Static crackles between in all of the places where they weren’t touching, and he stammers, “uh, we can—uh, I want you do that hair dye thing you mentioned earlier.”

Taehyung pauses, clearly not expecting that but then he chuckles heartily. He coos, “you’re so cute. I love you,” and he presses a soft peck on Jeongguk’s cherry red cheek and—

“You promised me that we can be together forever, that we can be happy together anywhere at any time,” Taehyung whines, and his pout is so adorable that Jeongguk almost leans forward to kiss the beautiful man.

“And I meant it,” Jeongguk says. He lifts a hand and cups Taehyung’s plump cheek tenderly and admits, “we can, we are, and we will. It’s just—everything is going wrong. I don’t know what’s happening and everything is—everything is getting mixed up but don’t worry, baby. I’ll never leave you.”

Jeongguk doesn’t jump or feel shocked at the sudden vision. He sits there, and his cheek tickles at the spot that Taehyung kissed. He remembers very little about his life, or lives, but these visions that attack him when Taehyung kisses him a certain way feels expected at this point.

But he does panic at what he saw in the vision. He had a dark instinctual prickle that everything has started to go wrong, but he doesn’t know the extent of how wrongly.

And then, in a heartbeat, Jeongguk remembers.

He remembers every single detail of his life with Taehyung. He remembers the sweet backstory to every picture of them that’s decorated around their little apartment. He remembers about placing the selca on their trip to Jeju Island in their bedroom, instead of the living room. He remembers the conversation that he and Taehyung had that officiated them as boyfriends. He remembers proposing that they move in together. He remembers waking up to a sweet kiss from Taehyung this morning, and then being dropped off to the dance studio by his boyfriend.

His sense of identity settles within him like sweet candy, but Jeongguk doesn’t feel relaxed. His memories make him even more confused as to what’s happening to him—since it doesn’t provide an explanation for how he knows things that haven’t happened between him and Taehyung.

Maybe he does have a wild imagination after all.

His chest tightens, and he smiles at Taehyung and says, “I’m ready for the change in hair colour.”

Taehyung looks delighted. He grabs the box and empties the contents onto the tiny table in front of them. He slides on the gloves that’s provided by the package, but it’s slightly small for him since he has extraordinarily large hands. It doesn’t bother him at all, though and he holds a tube in one hand and a black bottle in the next hand.

Jeongguk eyes his boyfriend sceptically and asks, “do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“Of course I do!” Taehyung exclaims with a dramatic scoff. He grabs the instruction sheet and skims the words too quickly for Jeongguk to feel confident in his expertise. Then he opens the tube and empties the contents into the little bottle—then he closes the bottle and begins shaking it vigorously to mix it.

“What colour is it?” Jeongguk inquires curiously, mildly terrified that Taehyung will majorly betray his trust by choosing some kind of neon colour hair dye.

“You’ll see at the end when I’m—hey!” Taehyung grabs the box and shoves it under the table before Jeongguk can see the colour displayed on the outside. “Don’t look at it!”

Jeongguk scowls at his antics but his entire heart jumps at how absolutely adorable Taehyung is. He stretches over Taehyung and grabs the instruction sheet. He reads it over and easily ignores Taehyung’s whining of why the fuck can’t you trust me enough to know what to do, what the fuck.

He sets the paper down and studies the bottle in Taehyung’s hand that he’s still rattling violently and casually says, “the mixture has ammonia in it.”

“Yeah, so?” Taehyung mumbles, glancing down at the paper without stopping his shaking.

“The instructions clearly said to chip the top of that bottle so that it doesn’t explode because of the ammonia.”

“Fuck,” Taehyung scrambles off of the couch and runs into the kitchen wildly with a panicked, “please don’t explode bottle, please!”

When he returns, the tip of the plastic at the top of the bottle is cut so that air can get in and out. He places his finger against it to keep the mixture inside and continues shaking his hand to mix the dye properly. Jeongguk remains silent and studies the stunning pinch of Taehyung’s eyebrows as he diligently shakes the bottle.

“Aren’t you supposed to not use mixtures with ammonia in it?” Jeongguk asks.

Taehyung waves his free hand dismissively and grumbles, “only idols follow those kinds of rules, anyway.”

“Taehyung-hyung,” Jeongguk begins in a controlled tone, “if my fucking hair starts dropping out because of this—”

“It’ll be fine, baby,” Taehyung sounds entirely unbothered, “I’ll love you even if you’re bald.”

Jeongguk snorts in disbelief but trusts Taehyung nonetheless. His chest buzzes more and more the longer that he looks at Taehyung, and he doesn’t know if that’s a good or bad thing anymore. When Taehyung deems the dye perfectly mixed, he ushers them into the bathroom and sets Jeongguk down on the closed toilet seat. He places an old towel across Jeongguk’s shoulders to protect his clothes from stray dye that can stain.

Taehyung coats every strand of Jeongguk’s hair in the liquid dye in a manner that is too sensual. At certain points, Jeongguk asks him if it’s actually a massage, by the way Taehyung’s wonderfully long fingers linger against his scalp. Every single time, his beautiful boyfriend giggles and denies it.

They wait the twenty-five minutes that’s recommended to keep the dye in, and then Taehyung brings in a chair from the kitchen so Jeongguk can sit comfortably while the dye is washed out.

Taehyung handles him so gently, and every time that he touches Jeongguk, the latter’s heart spasms. He lifts their shower head so carefully to Jeongguk’s hair and makes absolutely sure that not even one drop gets on his face.

“I love you,” Jeongguk suddenly says as Taehyung applies the instant conditioner that was given in the package to be applied directly after the dye.

Taehyung’s eyes are soft, softer than Jeongguk’s wet hair and the rush of the water against his scalp with the after-brush of Taehyung’s fingers. He lets a hand move from Jeongguk’s hair to his cheek and he strokes the skin there lightly. “As I love you, baby.”

Jeongguk remains silent as Taehyung washes out the shampoo and then he grabs their fluffiest towel and presses it against Jeongguk’s hair. As though Jeongguk will shatter, Taehyung sits carefully against the edge of the bathtub and rubs the towel against the wet strands with a touch softer than a cloud.

“The colour suits you better than I could’ve ever imagined,” Taehyung utters, almost in awe. “You look so beautiful, baby.”

“What colour is it?” Jeongguk asks, closing his eyes as he feels heat dominate his cheeks at Taehyung’s heart-warming words.

“Let me dry it a bit more and then you can go look in the mirror.”

“I don’t want to leave,” Jeongguk admits suddenly.

“Leave?” Taehyung repeats, hands pausing against the towel in Jeongguk’s hair briefly. There’s a silent second, and then he resumes drying Jeongguk’s hair. “Where are you going?”

Jeongguk doesn’t know. He doesn’t know where he’s going, or why, or how but he knows that he can’t stay here with Taehyung despite how much he really wants to.

Journey. Hope. Trials.

The words cut against his skull like a curse, and he feels his chest twist in disappointment. He wants nothing more than to stay with Taehyung here forever. He’s been through places with Taehyung as a main manager in Kim Industries, Taehyung as an idol, Taehyung as the owner of art galleries, Taehyung as his biggest fan when he ran but here, now he feels the happiest.

They have a home together, and they’re both working hard at their moderate jobs and they’re so happy together.

He doesn’t remember the details of his lives with Taehyung in the other dimensions, but he wants to stay in this one with Taehyung.

The increasing thrashing within his ribs remind him harshly that what he wants isn’t exactly possible. His time is up.

“You’re scaring me,” Taehyung’s voice trembles with nervousness.

“No,” Jeongguk’s voice is like a caress as he twists his body. He grabs the towel and brushes away the wet strands of his hair from his forehead. He reaches up and places his hands on the sides of Taehyung’s face to stare deep into his starry eyes. He holds his whole word and seriously says, “don’t be scared. I love you so much, hyung—you can’t even begin to fucking understand how much I love you.”

Taehyung leans forward into his touch, and his entire heart expands painfully. He seems to relax and then playfully nudges Jeongguk’s nose and teases, “I love you more.”

“I want to stay,” he whispers, more to himself because he has no fucking idea what he’s talking about.

“Mhm, what did you say?”

Jeongguk knows the clench of his chest is a nasty sign. He pecks Taehyung’s pouty mouth and smiles tenderly. “I want to see my new hair colour.”

Taehyung’s grins, and Jeongguk stares like he’s seeing an angel for the first time. Taehyung is timeless, his beauty is angelic. He wonders why this entire universe isn’t laid at Taehyung’s feet.

Jeongguk gets off the chair and follows his boyfriend—who is bouncing in excitement—to their heart shaped mirror above the sink. He takes a deep breath in anticipation and then steps in front of the mirror.

Jeongguk stands there and stares at his reflection, and all he can think about is how much better Taehyung looks with the exact same colour.

“Silver,” he says in surprise.

“Silver Ash Grey, to be precise,” Taehyung informs giddily. “Do you like it?”

Jeongguk loves it. He lifts his fingers and touches the wet strands gingerly, as though he’s unsure if it’s real. His light brown colour is gone, and now this new darker shade of silver makes his eyes stand out in a way that still cannot ever compare to the way Taehyung looked like God himself with silver hair.

“I do,” he practically whispers.

“I think you look fucking amazing,” Taehyung gushes in delight, “this colour on you just makes me want to start a cult so that people can worship you.”

Jeongguk laughs at the exaggeration, and he turns away from the mirror to stare at the way Taehyung’s eyes glitter when he smiles. Then, he says, “you had silver hair.”

He doesn’t know why he said that. He can’t conjure an image of Taehyung’s silver hair in his mind, but he knows that Taehyung looks beautiful with any hairstyle of any colour, in any universe.

“And you looked an angel and a demon mixed into one,” Jeongguk continues, “your beauty is out of this world, hyung. You are out of this world.”

Taehyung giggles to the rhythm of the agitated crashes against Jeongguk’s ribs, but Jeongguk would endure any kind of pain possible to hear the sound forever. He leans forward and kisses the tip of Jeongguk’s nose and says, “what did I do to deserve you? I grew up hoping for someone like you and bam, I’m thrown the most amazing person in the world.”

“Where there is hope,” Jeongguk hears himself whimper painfully, “there are trials.”

“We’re too perfect to have trials,” Taehyung consoles brightly, dropping little kisses over every inch of Jeongguk’s face.

Jeongguk closes his eyes and allows the heavenly sensation of Taehyung’s kisses wash away the unbearable pain of the puzzle piece rattling in his chest. He knows what’s about to happen and he refuses to let Taehyung see, refuses to see the look of terror on Taehyung’s beautiful face so he easily lies, “can you take the chair back to the kitchen? I just want to wash my face and then we can watch a movie or something.”

Taehyung agrees without a single question or ounce of suspicion and lightly grabs the chair and leaves the bathroom. As soon as he disappears out of the door, Jeongguk drops to the fluffy mat on the floor and grabs at his chest with barely audible whines. He isn’t able to withhold the pain anymore, but he can’t scream so he grits his teeth so tightly that it feels like they crack. That feeling curls around his ribs almost in a comforting manner, and Jeongguk closes his eyes and allows the pain to wash him away.

Uranus – 7. Animal.

Jeongguk wakes up knowing that he’s going to have a bad day. He doesn’t have them often, since Taehyung lights up every aspect of his life every single day—but he knows that today is very different. There’s an unusual, unfamiliar throbbing within his chest, and he knows it’s more than just his anxiety that’s waiting for something bad to happen.

He looks around his apartment, feeling slightly lost within his own home and he instantly knows that he needs to find Taehyung. He lives alone, and he isn’t sure why he’s looking around his apartment for Taehyung, but he feels like he needs to see the beautiful man to be able to breathe.

Jeongguk knows he’s ridiculously in love with the man, but this feels clingy even for him.

He walks past the large wall mirror at the side of his bedroom door and freezes as soon as he glimpses himself. He’s wearing long sweatpants, and a cotton shirt—typical pyjamas but he’s shocked at the sight of his face and hair.

His hair is a glistening shade of ash grey, and longer than Jeongguk ever remembers growing it. It curls around the back of his neck and hangs across his forehead, and he wonders how the fuck he didn’t notice it until now. At the edge of his left eyebrow is a single piercing and even though he’s very aware that he owns his own piercing and tattoo shop, he stares at the silver pierce of jewellery on his face like he’s never seen it before. But the hair—

When the fuck did he dye his hair silver grey?

Almost like a trigger, Jeongguk lifts a trembling hand and touches his silver strands and just like that—he remembers.

There are wild flashing images the make him gasp, and promptly choke. He sees himself sitting on a balcony in Gangnam with Taehyung, talking about the possibility of other dimensions. A glance at himself running around a stadium, and then meeting Taehyung in a pink café. Staring at the sunset with Taehyung who’s wearing white silk surrounded by flowers.  A peek of himself and Taehyung lounging on a glamorous leather couch. A second of a glance of himself dancing behind Taehyung in an arena while the beautiful man sings. And then a scene of himself sitting in a bathroom as Taehyung dyes his hair grey—

The sudden rush of scenes provides Jeongguk absolutely no explanation or peace of mind. He still has absolutely no fucking idea what’s happening, but he’s seeing more, remembering more and that’s important. He stands there, and blinks at himself and as he practically glares at his silver hair he realises what’s happening.

He feels weird, and there’s a crazy buzz in his chest that he knows, and he remembers enough to understand that he’s travelling through different dimensions.

Trials. Trials. Hope. Trials.

His grey hair shines back at him in the mirror, and he realises with a pang of dread that everything is beginning to get mixed up.

And he panics.

He grabs at his phone, and he’s unable to shake off the weird chill that’s pulsing through him. He finds Taehyung’s contact and calls three times, but each time goes unanswered. Taehyung doesn’t even have a voicemail message.

“Fuck,” he says, beginning to shake due to his fear. Trials. Trials. Trials. He scrolls through his contacts wildly and dials his only employee’s number, praying he picks up. The phone rings, once, twice and—

“Morning, Jeongguk-ah,” Namjoon greets dryly.

“Namjoon-hyung, I need you to go into the shop today,” Jeongguk speaks quickly, stumbling through his panic to find Taehyung before everything goes wrong and he loses Taehyung forever. He runs into the bathroom and brushes his teeth as quickly as he can.

“I asked two weeks in advance to get today off, Jeongguk. You’ve been gone all week and I’ve had to fill in every single day for you and I just need today off,” Namjoon’s voice is like ice, but Jeongguk doesn’t have the time to care about Namjoon’s usual unapproachable attitude or worry that he may lose his only employee due to his soulmate crisis. He barely contains his irritation when he continues, “I made so many plans today, I can’t—”

“Please, hyung, it’s an emergency,” Jeongguk begs, rushing over to his closet to throw on whatever hoodie he can find. He doesn’t care much about his sweatpants. Namjoon said that he’s been gone the entire week, but he doesn’t remember ever going anywhere. What was Namjoon talking about? “There are a lot of clients today, can you please fill in—”

Namjoon barely sounds apologetic. “I can’t today—”

“Fuck!” Jeongguk loses his cool and he almost throws his phone in frustration. He throws on a pair of sneakers without putting socks on first and angrily pleads, “fine. Can you at least call the clients and reschedule? Fucking please, hyung.”

“I—I can call some of them—”

“Thank you, hyung,” Jeongguk interrupts, ending the call and shoving it into his pocket as he rushes out of the apartment and into the cold streets of Seoul.

His fear is almost as painful as the clenching of his chest, but Jeongguk can’t focus on anything else besides finding Taehyung. He doesn’t want to think about all of the wrong things that can happen if the dimensions get mixed up, because of Jeongguk and he can’t let anything happen to Taehyung.

He has an idea to go to Taehyung’s apartment and hope that Taehyung is actually there, but just in case he isn’t, he retrieves his phone and finds Jimin’s number with trembling fingers and puts the phone to his ear—already halfway jogging to Taehyung.

“What, Jeongguk?” Jimin snaps aggressively on the third ring. Jeongguk has no time to even question why Jimin is extra rude today because he continues speaking with a loud, “what do you want?”

“Is Taehyung with you?” he asks urgently.

“Oh, so now you’re looking for Taehyung? Fuck you, Jeongguk and don’t call me again,” Jimin basically screams into the phone and before Jeongguk can even ask what the fuck he means, Jimin hangs up.

“Fuck,” Jeongguk shoves the phone back into his pocket.

He runs down the street, mapping a cognitive path to get to Taehyung’s apartment as fast as possible. Taehyung always answers his calls, despite anything. Even when he was meeting the parents of his students that he tutors for the saxophone, he answered Jeongguk’s call in case it was an emergency.

He’s a sweaty mess by the time he gets to the front of Taehyung’s apartment building. It was a fifteen-minute run, but every second felt too precious for him to not run as quickly as possible.

The security in the lobby recognises him, thank God and he madly dashes to the elevator. The seconds spent inside the elevator feels like wasted time to Jeongguk but it’s a better decision than to sprint up six floors of steps. He almost trips as he runs down the hall and when he finally stops in front of Taehyung’s door, he pounds his hand against the surface boisterously.

Somewhere at the back of his mind, he recalls Taehyung saying that his neighbours are sensitive about noise and that they file complaints about his late-night jam sessions but right now, Jeongguk doesn’t care at all about any of the neighbours.

“Taehyung!” Jeongguk shouts desperately, slamming his fist against the door and prays that Taehyung answers. “Taehyung-hyung! It’s me!”

Taehyung doesn’t answer the door. In fact, Jeongguk can’t hear anything from inside of the apartment.

Instantly, he thinks that the dimensions have fucked him over already, and something happened to Taehyung.

What if the mix up completely erased Taehyung from this dimension entirely?

The thought makes Jeongguk act irrationally—even more irrationally than he’s been acting all morning—and he grabs at the spare key that Taehyung hides at the top of the doorframe, under the little cut of the wall and he enters the apartment.

He’s completely lost within his blind fear, and his entire chest feels too tight to breathe.

“Taehyung?” he cries, rushing inside and closing the door behind him. He scans the living area quickly and then pushes the door to the kitchen, without stopping his calls. “Taehyung! Hyung, are you—”

Jeongguk’s turns into a living statue at the sight of Taehyung in the kitchen. He’s safe, and healthy and he leans against the kitchen counter with a cup in his hands and wide eyes. He’s unbelievably beautiful, of course, and judging by the faint lines across his puffy cheeks and his uncombed black hair with streaks of brilliant green to the front, he just woke up. His polka-dotted silk pyjamas are oversized, and it makes his entire body seem smaller than it really is.

But Jeongguk has never seen anything more beautiful.

Jeongguk stares at him wordlessly, and Taehyung stares right back with an utterly shocked expression. His pink lips are parted in surprise, and his eyes seem to grow even larger in bewilderment as he scans Jeongguk from head to toe.

In this moment, the sight of beautiful Taehyung in front of him, living, existing, healthy in front of him crashes over Jeongguk like a tsunami. Taehyung is here; Taehyung isn’t affected by the mix-up.

And Jeongguk’s so happy.

“Hyung,” he whispers, allowing himself to drown within the relentless waves of relief. Taehyung blinks, and then sets the cup onto the counter silently. Jeongguk scrambles forward and throws himself against his boyfriend, almost in tears as the solid feel of Taehyung in his arms. He curls his shaking arms around Taehyung’s neck and breathes in his expensive scent deeply and doesn’t notice how frozen Taehyung is until he’s roughly shoved away.

“Get the fuck away from me, Jeongguk,” Taehyung instructs coldly. He pulls Jeongguk’s hands from around his neck and steps away harshly until they’re no longer touching and there’s a painful three feet between them.

That three feet feels like an ocean to Jeongguk.

The sound of his name as just Jeongguk coming from Taehyung’s icy voice instead of a warm baby or Jeonggukie makes Jeongguk violently flinch. He can tell, from the cutting expression on Taehyung’s stunning face and the raw ice in his glittery eyes that he isn’t welcome in the apartment, and that Taehyung is livid. He’s been through six dimensions with Taehyung, and he’s never seen Taehyung angry before—angry at him before.

He recoils in shock, and stares at his boyfriend with gigantic eyes. In barely a whisper, he says, “what?”

Taehyung’s eyes never leave his face, and he seems to crack slightly at the utter hurt on Jeongguk’s face, but he doesn’t break. Sounding like he was the sole cause of the entire Ice Age, Taehyung growls, “what the fuck are you doing here?”

Jeongguk can’t comprehend how so much anger can fit inside soft, loving Taehyung. He gawks at the fierce expression on his boyfriend’s face, and he wonders how, even in his rage, Taehyung is still the most beautiful creature to exist. “I—I came to see you, I don’t—why are you so mad at me?”

Taehyung breathes a scornful laugh and the question seems to infuriate him further. “Why am I mad at you? You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

Jeongguk isn’t kidding. He’s seen glimpses of them in other dimensions, and he remembers his life here with Taehyung, but he has no idea what would make Taehyung so mad at him. His throat is dry, and his tongue feels like cotton, but he says, “no, I—I’m not kidding. What’s wrong?”

Taehyung’s eyes blaze and he narrows his eyebrows dangerously. “What’s wrong?” he snarls. His voice is quiet, low and cutting. “What’s wrong? Jeongguk—just, get the fuck out.”

Jeongguk jerks like he’s been shot, like Taehyung’s words are bullets and are coated with poison. The puzzle piece within his chest shifts, and Jeongguk feels ready to die. He can’t begin to consider coping with such a cold Taehyung, with Taehyung speaking to him like this. It hurts, more than all of the pain he’s ever had to endure in his life. He can see how visibly pissed off Taehyung is, but he doesn’t know why and he refuses to leave. “What? I—I don’t—can you tell me what’s wrong, hyung, please?”

Taehyung’s beautiful features tighten, and Jeongguk can tell he’s trying to control himself. “Jeongguk,” he begins in a controlled tone that trembles with rage, “I would like you to leave please.”

“No,” Jeongguk says, willing to face angry Taehyung head-on, if that’s what it means to not lose him. Taehyung’s eyes look like liquid fire and he seems like he’s about to scream so Jeongguk quickly explains, “I want to respect your wishes, I do but I don’t know why you’re angry at me and I can’t—I can’t leave you. I—”

“You know,” Taehyung cuts him off harshly in a tone that’s so cold, it burns, “I can’t believe that you have the fucking audacity to show up here like you don’t remember what happened this week—”

“I don’t,” Jeongguk takes a tiny step forward and hopes that Taehyung can see how sincere he is, how serious he is that he genuinely has no idea what’s happening. “I don’t remember, can you please tell me so that we can talk about it—”

“And look at your hair,” Taehyung continues without an ounce of apology, practically glaring at Jeongguk’s thick silver strands, “you’re fucking hair is silver. When you threw me out on Wednesday, your hair was black. So, what did you do, then? Go out that night, get drunk and change your appearance to move on from me?”

Jeongguk is gawking at Taehyung, and his confusion increases with every single word that comes out of his mouth. He has no idea, nor any memory of what Taehyung is talking about. Kicked him out? Move on from him?

It comes to Jeongguk like an electric shock, and suddenly he remembers the past week.

He was confused and had no idea of where he was or who he was. He’d been stumbling around Seoul looking for some sort of answer, and he was terrified. He didn’t go to his shop, because he didn’t know that he had a shop or a job—which was probably what Namjoon was talking about when he said that Jeongguk’s been missing for the entire week—, and every single time that Taehyung called him, he didn’t answer. When Taehyung came to the apartment on Wednesday, he didn’t recognise him. He told him that he doesn’t know who the beautiful man is. Taehyung assumed it was a sick joke and told Jeongguk to stop pretending to not know him, he gave into his fear and told Taehyung to get out, and Taehyung left in tears.

And now that he remembers, Jeongguk feels his own eyes begin to sting.

The mix-up has been happening for longer than he’s thought. He knows that his identity crisis this entire week isn’t his fault, and his entire mind has been in scrambles because of the various dimensions mixing into one because he’s going against the natural order by moving from one realm to another.

He didn’t recognise Taehyung and now he really wants to die because he can’t imagine how hurt Taehyung must be—

“How dare you come here?” Taehyung’s voice begins to increase, and his anger hits its top, “you—you fucking pretended to not know who I was! Who the fuck does that? I mean, was I that bad of a boyfriend? So bad that you had to choose such a shitty way to break up with me?”

“No,” Jeongguk’s voice is almost a whisper, and he feels as though he’s in shock. His entire chest feels like it’s about to implode, and he kind of wants it to. He doesn’t want to be in a world where Taehyung is hurt, where Taehyung is unhappy and where he is the cause of the beautiful man’s sadness and anger. He looks directly into Taehyung’s fiery eyes as best as he can through his blurry vision and says, “no, hyung. No, you—you have it all wrong—oh my God, I’m so fucking sorry—”

Taehyung snorts loudly and shakes his head. “Oh? You remember now?”

“I—It’s so complicated, hyung—I’m so sorry, I,” he feels like he’s about to start sobbing but he needs to explain to Taehyung even know he barely understands what’s happening himself, “I love you, hyung—I fucking love you and this week—”

“How dare you fucking say that?” Taehyung looks like he’s about to cry too, and the sight makes Jeongguk’s heart shatter. “How can you say that right now? You—just, why—”

Jeongguk ignores all of Taehyung anger and stumbles forward, needing to be closer because he feels like he’s already lost Taehyung. Taehyung instantly moves away but Jeongguk rushes forward and grabs his hands tightly and amidst Taehyung’s struggling, he pleads, “please, hear me out, hyung, please.”

Taehyung stares at him, and something shifts in his eyes as though he sees how close Jeongguk is to absolutely breaking. He stops his struggling and allows Jeongguk to hold his hands. He audibly gulps and then nods once.

“I—” Jeongguk begins, but then realises with a pang to his heart that he has no idea what to say. He settles for honesty, “I think something is wrong with me. Something is happening to me, and it’s—it’s fucking with my mind and I—this week I think I faced an identity crisis and I didn’t remember anything about my life and I—”

“Are you making this up right now?” Taehyung asks, voice sharp as glass.

Jeongguk’s eyes widen and he shakes his head violently. He grips Taehyung’s hands tighter and explains, “no! It’s true and I don’t understand it. I remember everything now. I didn’t remember that I had my shop, and Namjoon apparently had to be there all week and I’ve been walking around Seoul and I—I’m so sorry for not recognising you and I’m so sorry for hurting you and—” his voice cracks, and it feels like a split in an iceberg.

He has Taehyung standing before him, and it feels like Taehyung’s already gone.

“It was a shitty way to break up with me,” Taehyung whispers brokenly.

Jeongguk’s heart cracks into little pieces and the splinters choke him. “No,” he whispers back in a choked whimper, “I didn’t break up with you, I can’t—I understand now why that would seem like a breakup but I didn’t know what was happening this week, I didn’t remember anything or anybody but this morning I woke up and I—I remembered.”

Taehyung just looks at him, but Jeongguk would prefer Taehyung screaming at him as opposed to the silence. He waits for Taehyung to speak, to say something but Taehyung just stares.

“I love you, hyung,” he breathes, almost in a plead because he can’t lose Taehyung and he’ll do anything to get Taehyung back and to gain his forgiveness. “I love you, and I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, please forgive me. I can’t—I can’t be without you.”

Taehyung still doesn’t say anything. Jeongguk stares at him helplessly, and prays, hopes that Taehyung forgives him, even though he doesn’t deserve it. Taehyung’s eyebrow twitches, and Jeongguk assumes it’s a negative sign. The ice in his eyes is mostly dissipated, and he looks mostly pained now. After several seconds of suffocating silence that forces Jeongguk to listen to his own heart crack, he realises that Taehyung is going to kick him out—and he feels a sob creep up his throat.

But then Taehyung turns his palm in Jeongguk’s hand and squeezes slightly. He says absolutely nothing, but that tiny squeeze feels like the world to Jeongguk.

When Taehyung finally speaks, he quietly asks, “did you eat breakfast?”

Jeongguk opens his mouth to say that breakfast isn’t fucking important when he may possibly lose Taehyung, but he glimpses the familiar soft tinge in Taehyung’s beautiful eyes and he drops his gaze to their hands and shakes his head.

Taehyung hums lightly, as though he expected it. He slips his hands out of Jeongguk’s and motions to the stools against the kitchen counter. “Have a seat,” he says, “let me make you an egg toast sandwich.”

Jeongguk swallows his words, and mentally tells his heart to pause. He walks with hunched shoulders over to the closest stool obediently and stares at Taehyung lovingly as he moves around the kitchen.

Nobody speaks, but Jeongguk doesn’t feel like he’s about to start bawling anymore. Taehyung doesn’t look angry or hurt anymore.

Taehyung silently cracks two eggs into a pan on his stove and adds a handful of grated cabbage and a pinch of brown sugar—just the way Jeongguk likes it. He toasts two slices of bread on a separate pan and gets a jug of water from the fridge.

Jeongguk never looks away. He doesn’t know if Taehyung is aware of the way he’s staring, but he can’t help it. Taehyung is so effortlessly beautiful, moving around the kitchen with his dark hair and pretty pyjamas while he whips up breakfast. He can easily just look at Taehyung forever.

When the beautiful man slides the sandwich towards him in a purple plate with a tall glass of water, Jeongguk grabs onto his hand and says, “thank you, hyung.”

Taehyung doesn’t immediately pull away, which Jeongguk knows is a good sign. He smiles a soft smile that sadly makes Jeongguk hope and then he moves away to lean against the counter to just look at Jeongguk with a tiny, “enjoy.”

Jeongguk eats quietly, and at the taste of the eggs he groans in satisfaction, since he didn’t realise he was so hungry. Taehyung just stands there and looks at him, but neither of them speak.

When he’s halfway through his sandwich, Taehyung asks, “why did you dye your hair?”

Jeongguk gulps painfully, then sips his water and says, “I didn’t, not really. It’s . . . hard to explain, but you did it.”

Taehyung raises an eyebrow, and Jeongguk doesn’t understand why the simple action is so attractive.

“Earlier, you asked if I went out and got drunk and uh, changed my appearance to get over you,” Jeongguk says, trying to not sound like he has acid on his tongue, “but none of that is true. I didn’t go out anywhere, with anyone and I definitely did not get drunk. As for the getting over you part, I never want to get over you, and I will probably never try. My hair, uh, well,” he pauses and decides what to say, “it’s one of the complications of the situation I mentioned earlier. Of the thing that’s wrong with me. I can, uh, I can dye it back to black today.”

The silence that settles over them when Jeongguk stops talking is deafening, and Jeongguk knows he didn’t provide a proper explanation but he hopes that Taehyung believes him. He gulps, and then takes another bite of the sandwich so that he doesn’t start rambling again.

Then, Taehyung says, “it looks great.”

Jeongguk freezes, and then chews slowly. “My hair?”

Taehyung nods, eyes trained on Jeongguk’s silver strands. “It suits you.”

Jeongguk feels his cheeks heat slightly, and he can’t help the sense of déjà vu that overcomes him. He caught a glimpse of Taehyung dying his hair in another dimension, but he doesn’t recall exactly how Taehyung felt about the change in colour. Did he say something similar to what Taehyung’s saying to him here, now? “Thank you, hyung.”

“Are you,” Taehyung begins, and then stops himself. His eyebrows are furrowed in his confliction, and he seems like he doesn’t know what to say. Then, he looks scared as he continues, “are you telling me the truth? It’s just—it’s not that I don’t trust you. But what you’re saying is a bit unrealistic and I—it really hurt me when you ignored all of my calls and then said you don’t know who I am.”

“I’m telling you the truth,” Jeongguk sets his remaining piece of sandwich down so that he can focus all of his sincerity so that Taehyung can see, “I never want to ever hurt you, and I’ll never stop apologising for that. I don’t deserve you, hyung,” he drops his gaze then, suddenly overcome with deep sadness with the pinch of reality. He sucks in a breath and then says, “I don’t deserve you. And I know that you’re hurt, I hurt you but I want you to understand that I didn’t know anybody or anything this week and that’s something that’s crazy and I should probably go to a fucking doctor but now I remember everything and I—” his voice breaks and he knows he’s going to cry, “I love you. I—I love you, and I’m sorry.”

He grabs at the little piece remaining of the sandwich and eats it quickly and hopes that Taehyung can’t see the tear that’s making its way down his face. He gulps the water, and almost starts full on crying because Taehyung isn’t fucking saying anything.

As soon as Jeongguk’s heart breaks apart into pieces, Taehyung says, “I believe you. And I forgive you.”

Jeongguk’s head shoots up, and his wide eyes scan Taehyung’s beautiful face that’s creased in sadness, but acceptance. But the hope that shines in his sparkling eyes get Jeongguk on his feet and he rushes over and he grabs Taehyung’s hands in his own again. “Really?” he whispers, that feeling twirling around inside of his chest almost happily, “really, you forgive me?”

Taehyung looks down at their hands, and he turns his palms so that he can grasp Jeongguk’s hands properly to interlace their fingers. The remaining ice melts from his eyes, and Jeongguk feels the cracks of his heart melt as well. He nods, a tiny smile on his face and he says, “yes, I forgive you.”

Jeongguk’s chest caves inward in relief and he closes his eyes, unable to contain the burst of emotions inside. He didn’t lose Taehyung. Taehyung is here, and Taehyung forgives him. “Thank God. Thank you. I love you. I’ll make it up to you, I promise—”

His breath catches in his throat as Taehyung pulls one hand away to reach up to tenderly stroke the side of Jeongguk’s face. The look in his eyes has Jeongguk practically shaking, and he doesn’t know how he went so long without Taehyung looking at him like this, touching him like this.

“I missed you so much,” Taehyung whispers.

Jeongguk’s entire body vibrates with the words, and he finds himself leaning forward into the touch desperately. His insides feel like mush, and he isn’t sure how his knees are still working. He scans Taehyung’s beautiful face and then murmurs, “I missed you, too.”

Taehyung’s sweet dark eyes glisten at the words and he leans forward too, until their foreheads are leaning against each other’s. Jeongguk is positive that Taehyung can hear his furiously his heart is racing, almost in competition to see who can capture Taehyung first.

He rubs the tip of his nose against Taehyung’s perfect one and mumbles, “please, be with me again.”

Taehyung visibly looses himself in this moment, and he leans further into Jeongguk. His deep voice is soft, and barely audibly as he breathes, “we’ll always be together, baby.”

At the sound of the familiar sweet name, Jeongguk allows the puzzle piece in his chest to vibrate in elation. He feels everything slip into place, and he’s never been happier.

It’s Taehyung who closes the distance first, and grabs Jeongguk around the waist to pull him in. Jeongguk eagerly slides closer and with one final glance at Taehyung’s beautiful face, he surges forward and kisses his boyfriend. Taehyung doesn’t waste a single second to press himself into Jeongguk, using those glorious lips of his to render Jeongguk breathless. The energy between them is electric, and Jeongguk feels himself get high off of it with the touch of Taehyung’s lips sliding against his, and those large, sexy hands gripping his waist.

Taehyung’s hands have always had a sinful tendency to roam at any opportunity given, but standing against him in the kitchen, Jeongguk’s entire body is on fire and he can’t get enough. He groans deep in his throat, and grabs at Taehyung’s neck to twist his neck and kiss him deeper.

They haven’t had sex yet, and Jeongguk has never felt readier than in this moment. He wants to give everything to Taehyung, everything that he has.

“Hyung,” he breathes, “I—I want,” he breaks off in a little whine as Taehyung’s fingers squeeze against his hips and he sinks deeper into Taehyung’s body to taste again.

“What do you want, baby?” Taehyung asks breathlessly.

“I want you,” he says, gasping then whimpering as Taehyung’s tongue brushes against his. His chest buzzes, and Jeongguk has never felt more alive. His head spins.

Taehyung hums a deep, throaty sound that ignites a heat inside of Jeongguk and he mumbles, “I’m yours.”

“I want you,” he repeats, pulling his lips away from Taehyung’s so that he can touch the ground again. His thoughts are scattered, but he blinks one, twice and then says, “I want you in every way.”

Taehyung smiles, sweet and dangerous. Jeongguk’s heart explodes. “Mhm, you want us to—”

Jeongguk nods and wills away his spark of embarrassment. He’s shy, at his proposition. What if Taehyung isn’t ready, isn’t in the state of mind for that right now? Before he can blush and say never mind, hyung, Taehyung curls his fingers around the side of Jeongguk’s hip and says, “then let’s go to the bedroom, baby.”

Jeongguk leads the way there, mostly in his eagerness but slightly in shyness. Taehyung’s bedroom isn’t an unfamiliar sight, but he skips inside like he’s never seen it before and kicks off his sneakers. The large bed has never looked so inviting before.

Taehyung closes the door behind them, for no reason whatsoever since they’re in the apartment alone but he assumes it’s for his peace of mind. Jeongguk stares at him, suddenly not knowing what to do but he acts entirely on how he feels—so he steps forward and meets Taehyung’s lips in a molten kiss.

Taehyung sighs into his mouth happily, and grips at his hips to slam their bodies together. “Are you sure?” he asks, breaking away in little breath, “we can—”

“I want you,” Jeongguk cuts him off unapologetically, grabbing the front of his pyjama shirt and begins unbuttoning it. His mind and heart roars, but he knows nothing other than Taehyung. “I want to make you feel good, please you.”

Taehyung’s smile is soft, amused but he wants to duck his head at the attention. He revels in seeing this new side of Jeongguk. He allows Jeongguk to undress him and when he slips the shirt off, Jeongguk steps back and simply admires Taehyung for the beauty that he is.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jeongguk says, breathless from his awe. He lifts a trembling palm and skims his fingers from the gentle curve of Taehyung’s neck, down to his shoulders and his mouth waters at the bronze tint of Taehyung’s stunning skin. He slides his hand down lightly, not missing the way Taehyung shivers, and strokes the soft skin of his stomach.

Taehyung is sight to live for.

He has no idea what he’s doing since he’s never done this before and he has no idea what to do first, or what to say. He expects to feel fear, or nervousness but instead he feels eager happiness and like everything else, this comes to him and Taehyung as easy as breathing. With anything, they can work through.

“Lie down,” he says gently, nudging Taehyung towards the bed. “Let me admire you.”

Taehyung stumbles a bit, obviously flustered but he makes his way over and lies down on his back. Jeongguk buries his anxiety of fucking up something he’s never done before, and he dives headfirst into this unchartered territory.

He crawls over Taehyung, looking like a shaking baby animal despite his muscles, and Taehyung’s hooded eyes on him makes him almost whimper. He tries to look as confident as possible and he supports himself with his hands at the sides of Taehyung.

He leans forward slightly, tense and brushes his lips against Taehyung. Taehyung is easy, opening up for the kiss and tries to hold Jeongguk to pull him closer but Jeongguk shifts his head and begins mouthing down the side of Taehyung’s glorious neck. The beautiful man shudders under him, and Jeongguk smiles against his skin. He peppers the lightest, gentlest kisses along the lines of Taehyung’s collarbones and then slides his mouth across his chest.

Taehyung isn’t on the hairy side, and Jeongguk just tastes and appreciates him. He slips his tongue out and slides it roughly and messily down the middle of Taehyung chest. The response is immediate, and Taehyung lets out a breathy sound that goes straight to Jeongguk’s cock. He uses the positive response to move forward confidently and he lets his hands slide up and down Taehyung’s tender sides.

Without thinking twice, Jeongguk lifts a hand and pinches one of Taehyung’s nipples softly.

“Ah! Mhm,” Taehyung jerks, with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. “What are you—”

Jeongguk ducks his head again and sucks the nipple as lightly as he could, and Taehyung instantly squirms, gasping deliciously. Jeongguk smiles and murmurs teasingly, “do you have a nipple kink, hyung?”

Taehyung grunts, and looks as though he’s trying to shake out of his gaze. He lifts one of hands and reaches for Jeongguk’s chest, roaming over the fabric lightly before he finds the plump nipple there and he squeezes at it. Jeongguk isn’t expecting it, and his breath hitches at the sensation. It’s weird, but he likes it.

Taehyung’s eyes drink in his reaction, pleased. He begins massaging the nipple through the shirt and when Jeongguk groans at the pleasure, he teases, “seems like we both have a nipple kink, baby.”

Jeongguk tries to scoff, but it sounds like a tiny whine instead. He leans into the touch and closes his eyes, soaking within the flashes of pleasure.

“You appreciated me enough?” Taehyung asks, sliding his free hand under the curve of Jeongguk’s shirt. Jeongguk is helplessly responsive to the attention, the touches and he breathes out harshly. Taehyung slowly pulls Jeongguk back up the slope of his body and coos softly, “let me take care of you, baby. You can appreciate me more later.”

“O-okay,” Jeongguk agrees in a little whimper.

Taehyung’s smile illuminates the entire room. Jeongguk drops against the mattress and Taehyung shifts to reverse their positions. Jeongguk isn’t prepared for the switch in Taehyung. This Taehyung is firm, but soft against him but his features are more attractive, sharper and Jeongguk wants to be fully dominated by the beautiful man.

His duality is mind-blowing.

Taehyung may have been shy earlier, bashful under the little of kisses and heart-warming compliments, but now he moves without hesitation as he slides his arms to the side of Jeongguk’s shoulders to hover with a dangerous sense of confidence that makes Jeongguk shake.

“Can you take this off for me, baby?” Taehyung purrs, fingering at Jeongguk’s shirt, voice softer and more sensual than Jeongguk ever remembers hearing it before.

Jeongguk’s eyes are dazed, and his mind is scattered but he lifts his body when Taehyung slides the shirt upward to curve it around his shoulders. He throws it off to the side and dips into nuzzle soft flesh of Jeongguk’s neck.

Taehyung proceeds to scatter wet open-mouthed kisses along the length of Jeongguk’s throat gently, smiling every time that Jeongguk lets out a heated whimper.

“Look at you,” Taehyung pulls away and coos. He slides those wonderfully large hands against the bare skin of Jeongguk’s toned stomach, and they both shudder at the same time. “Look at my baby, so sexy lying here all for me.”

Jeongguk squirms, whimpering lightly at the words. He reaches a hand to grab for Taehyung, to pull him closer to get some kind of friction but Taehyung is having none of it.

“All for me?” he asks, sitting back despite Jeongguk’s protests and sliding his fingers against the ridges of Jeongguk’s stomach.

“A-all for you, hyung,” Jeongguk breathily agrees. “Touch me, touch me, please—”

“Okay, baby,” Taehyung croons, “let me taste you, first.”

Jeongguk lifts to ask what he means, exactly but then Taehyung twists his head, leans over his trembling body and licks his way up the slope of his stomach. Jeongguk’s entire chest expands at the wet sensation of Taehyung’s tongue running along his body. His back arches slightly, but the sight of Taehyung, beautiful Taehyung with his glorious, pink tongue sliding so sensually along each curve of his abs makes him fully whimper loudly.

“Fuck, fuck,” he gasps, “oh, fuck.”

Taehyung licks, and it’s nasty really, but Jeongguk wants him to keep doing it. He hadn’t been joking when he said that he wants to taste but he has no time to recover because Taehyung’s hot, sinful mouth moves all the way up the expanse of his body and he promptly begins sucking relentlessly on Jeongguk’s right nipple.

“Oh—ah, that’s so—so good,” Jeongguk mumbles, lost in the sensation of Taehyung’s heated tongue flicking over the sensitive skin.

“Do you like the way I satisfy your nipple kink, baby?” Taehyung purrs in that illegally alluring voice, and Jeongguk’s entire body jolts.

“Yes, yes—fuck,” he whines, then breathes a needy sound as Taehyung shifts and touches the tip of that bizarrely sensual tongue against Jeongguk’s left nipple.

“Good,” Taehyung smiles in pleasure, at the sight of Jeongguk whining, squirming under him.

“Touch me more,” Jeongguk demands desperately, body twitching.

Taehyung breathes a light laugh and sits back, which makes Jeongguk whine loudly at the lack of contact. He gazes up Taehyung with glistening eyes and is about to ask why the fuck he stopped when Taehyung softly instructs, “tell me what you want me to do to you, baby and I’ll do it.”

Jeongguk groans quietly and is about to say fuck you and your teasing, hyung but then he thinks about the way his body is shaking, the way his entire heart and soul is begging Taehyung to take, to taste and to enjoy him like he’s a meal. He wants to be touched, and his desire is enough confidence he needs.

He lifts his head slightly to look Taehyung directly in the eye, and he lists in the steadiest voice he can muster, “I want you to kiss me, and then I want you to take my pants off. After that, I want you to take your pants off. Then I want you to use those sexy fingers of yours to stretch me open. Then I want you to fuck me until I cry.”

Taehyung’s eyes are wide, eyebrows high in surprise. It’s clear he wasn’t expecting that. “Fuck,” he breathes, looking dizzy for a second before he nods quickly, “fuck, you’re dirty. Yes, baby. I’ll do that.”

Jeongguk drops his head and takes a deep breath, knowing he’s going to need it. His body buzzes in agitation, and then he scrambles off of the bed.

Taehyung looks at him, startled. “What—”

Jeongguk grabs the hem of his sweatpants and pulls his boxers right off with it. Taehyung immediately shuts up, and Jeongguk melts at the way his eyes get huge. Jeongguk is an impatient person, and it’s showing but Taehyung doesn’t seem to mind. His eyes rave Jeongguk’s toned, naked body greedily and he looks like he’s in shock.

“Fuck,” he says, low and breathy, “fuck, baby.”

Jeongguk stands there, bare in front of Taehyung and he doesn’t know what to do next. He likes the way Taehyung is eyeing him like he’s an angelic meal, so he doesn’t move—despite how hot his entire body feels and he’s sure he’s as red as Taehyung’s saxophone case. He’s increasingly aware of his painfully hard cock curved against the bottom of his stomach, and it twitches when Taehyung’s eyes linger on it.

“Come here,” Taehyung murmurs. He scrambles to the edge of his bed and sets his feet on the floor, knees apart so that Jeongguk can stand between them.

Jeongguk steps forward, slowly but eagerly and when he gets close enough, Taehyung reaches out and jerks him in firmly. Even though he’s the one with the strength and muscles in the relationship, he loves the way Taehyung takes control and handles him. Taehyung grips him at the hips, and his breath leaves him in a loud whoosh at the contact.

“You’re stunning, baby,” Taehyung mumbles headily, leaning his face forward to kiss the bottom of his stomach, right next to his cock.

Jeongguk shivers, and the sight of Taehyung’s mouth so close to his cock makes him practically whine. His neglected cock twitches, as though begging for attention.

“I’m going to devour you,” Taehyung whispers against the skin, breath blowing against the head of his cock teasingly.

“Touch me, please,” Jeongguk begs.

“I’m supposed to take my pants off first, remember?” Taehyung asks, and he’s such a fucking tease that Jeongguk almost begins violently cursing.

Despite his words, in the next second Taehyung curls his hand around the base of Jeongguk’s cock, and he groans deliciously at the feel of Taehyung’s hand, at contact. Taehyung smiles up at him, obviously enjoying the way he’s whining and groaning at the simplest things, but then he moves forward and licks at the head of Jeongguk’s cock.

“Oh—oh, fuck! Fuck,” Jeongguk’s entire mind is scrambled, but he can’t decide if the feeling of Taehyung wetly licking at his cock is better than the visual of Taehyung licking his fucking cock. “Oh my God,” he moans, throwing his head back as Taehyung’s licks become surer, fuller.

“Do you like that, baby?”

Jeongguk mumbles an incoherent affirmation, and positively begins shamefully moaning as Taehyung’s tongue slides all the way from the head to the base of his cock and back up. “Fuck, that’s, ah—fuck,” he cuts off in a whine, about to explode at the Taehyung’s long, wet tongue against him.

Taehyung groans against him, and Jeongguk jolts at the vibration in addition to the licking. Taehyung licks his way back up, and then begins swirling his tongue around the head in a manner that is so vile, so dirty but Taehyung is so beautiful.

“Fuck, fuck,” Jeongguk cries, unable to handle the erotic ministrations. He could’ve never prepared himself for this. “F-fingers, hyung. I want you, I—I want—”

“Ssh, baby,” Taehyung coos, pulling away from Jeongguk’s mouth with soaked lips. The sight is enough to make Jeongguk want to hop on his cock. “I’m going to take care of you. Lie down.”

Jeongguk obediently climbs back onto the bed on wobbly legs. He lies on his back and watches Taehyung move over to his bedside table. He walks back over the bed with a large bottle of strawberry lube and a condom. He sets it at the side of the bed and begins to crawl back to Jeongguk.

“Can you take your pants off?” Jeongguk asks, almost shyly.

Taehyung pauses, and then smiles at Jeongguk. Jeongguk thinks he’s about to say something teasing or say no but then he gets back to his feet and he slides his silk pyjamas off extra slowly. Jeongguk hasn’t asked for a show, but he accepts it happily. Taehyung’s eyes are locked on Jeongguk’s as he slips the pants down to his ankle and in that moment Jeongguk wonders how he didn’t notice before that Taehyung isn’t wearing underwear.

It’s amazing that he didn’t notice, because Taehyung mouth-watering cock lies flat against his stomach, fully hard. Jeongguk isn’t sure what he was expecting, since Taehyung’s hands are so large, and he’s so tall and his feet are gigantic, and his shoulders are so wide—he should’ve known that his cock would be huge too.

But the sight still renders him speechless and all he can think is that he can’t wait to get it inside of him.

“Hurry the fuck up, hyung,” he whines, eyes locked on the stunning way that Taehyung’s cock twitches. “Come here and shove those pretty fingers of yours inside me.”

Taehyung’s low laugh rumbles against the walls, but he successfully crawls back over to Jeongguk with a quiet okay, baby. Jeongguk’s eyes are large, body trembling and he waits as he watches Taehyung coat his fingers with the pink lube.

“Strawberry, huh?” He can’t help but tease.

Taehyung blushes, frankly adorable despite his confident aura and argues, “you know about my obsession, don’t be mean.”

Taehyung is about to put the bottle back down, but Jeongguk says, “I want it wet. Make it wet for me, hyung.”

Taehyung’s cock twitches again, and Jeongguk’s mouth waters some more. Precum leaks out of his poor, neglected cock shamelessly, pulsing for attention. His body is shaking in anticipation.

Taehyung’s eyes snap to Jeongguk’s face at his words, and then he breathes a soft, “fuck.” He reopens the bottle and squeezes more lube onto his fingers.

Jeongguk opens his legs without any prompt from Taehyung, eager. Taehyung’s lips curl in pleasure at the enthusiasm and he slips his fingers into the crease of his cheeks. Jeongguk squirms slightly at the sensation but he can’t wait a second longer.

“Such a nice ass, pretty thick thighs you have here,” Taehyung mumbles appreciatively.

“Stick your fucking pretty fingers inside me,” Jeongguk begs, trying to sound firm but sounding needy nonetheless.

“Pretty, huh?” Taehyung purrs, and Jeongguk feels the first press of a finger against his hole. He spreads his legs wider, awaiting the penetration and then breathes a quiet whimper when Taehyung finally slides one inside. “Do you have a kink for my hands too, baby?”

“Y-yes,” Jeongguk cries, nodding eagerly as Taehyung shifts the finger slightly. He seems to be waiting for Jeongguk to get accustomed to the sensation of having a finger inside, but Jeongguk is an impatient motherfucker so he whimpers and asks for another desperately. “Fuck, yes—your pretty fingers, so pretty, so long and s-so pretty, ah—” he breaks off as Taehyung slides the finger in deeper and curls slightly against the tight muscles.

“Well, let my pretty fingers prepare you for my cock, baby,” Taehyung purrs, like a siren beckoning Jeongguk further into the sea to get lost.

“Y-yes,” he whines, writhing against the sheets as Taehyung adds a second finger.

Taehyung leans over him, eyes on his face intently to see every crease of his face as he responds to the sensations. He doesn’t miss a single expression that crosses Jeongguk’s face as he whines and moans.

“Stretch me,” he pleads brokenly, arching slightly to unconsciously get the fingers deeper into him. He succeeds slightly and moans lightly at the wonderful feeling of being filled. “Stretch me open for your cock, hyung.”

Taehyung’s cock twitches again, and Jeongguk sees it and asks for another finger impatiently. “Fuck,” Taehyung breathes, “you have a dirty mouth, you know that?”

Jeongguk hums, and squirms for more penetration. The fingers aren’t satisfying him enough, but he knows that Taehyung won’t fuck him yet. Still, he whines, “make it wetter, hyung, ah—wet and wide—deeper, uh, yes.”

Jeongguk jerks wildly when Taehyung pulls his fingers out and squeezes more lube onto them. He watches darkly as Taehyung makes a show of dripping the lube against his hole before sliding three fingers back inside him. The wet squelch along with the sudden feeling of being filled again makes Jeongguk arch and cry headily.

“Y-yes, ah—mmh-hhmm,” he whimpers hotly, blind in his white pleasure.

“Just like that, baby?” Taehyung coos sweetly, rubbing against the right spot to watch the way Jeongguk squirms and whimpers.

Jeongguks moans highly and asks for another which surprises Taehyung, but he obliges nonetheless and stretches his fingers inside of Jeongguk experimentally. Jeongguk groans in pleasure—loves the feeling of his tight intimate muscles expanding in preparation for Taehyung’s cock.

Taehyung lifts his upper body to lean into the side of Jeongguk’s neck, sinking his fingers deeper inside of Jeongguk before stretching again. Jeongguk doesn’t wince or complain. Instead, he whines for more in a manner that implies that he’s made for this and it makes Taehyung’s cock pulse.

Taehyung presses a deep, wet kiss against Jeongguk’s throat and then lightly licks his way up to the whining man’s ear to mouth at his single piercing. Jeongguk breathes a sensual whimper, and Taehyung whispers directly into his ear, voice as deep as the ocean, “let me fuck you, baby.”

Jeongguk jolts, and then nods rapidly, shaking as he agrees in all the ways he can think about. “Oh, y-yes, please—f-fuck me, please,” he cries.

Taehyung pulls away, and although Jeongguk whines at the loss of fingers, he lies there in completely anticipation of Taehyung’s cock. He watches with stars in his eyes and a hot face as Taehyung rips the condom pack open and rolls it onto his pulsing cock. He takes the bottle and squeezes a generous amount of lube onto his cock, and he uses his fingers to spread it around evenly.

“Are you ready, baby? Tell me what you want me to do to you again?”

Jeongguk’s entire chest vibrates, and he whines—out of patience. “Fuck, hyung—fucking—I want you to fuck me, fuck me hard until I cry.”

Taehyung visibly shivers, and he applies even more lube onto the condom. His voice is sinfully deep when he purrs, “your wish is my command, baby.”

He dips his body into the curve of Jeongguk’s, and the perfect way they fit together is unmistakeable. Jeongguk wraps his legs around Taehyung’s slender hips securely and tries to rush him in. Taehyung laughs, a sweet, breathy sound and watches Jeongguk impatiently line his cock against his wide, gaping hole enthusiastically.

“Fuck, do I need to repeat myself?” Jeongguk groans sassily when Taehyung doesn’t enter. That feeling wraps around his ribs eagerly and Jeongguk whines loudly at the feeling of Taehyung cock rubbing against the outside of his hole teasingly. “You’re such a fucking—”

Taehyung slides inside his welcoming hole easily, the amount of lube making the entrance as smooth as butter. It’s wet, and tight and Jeongguk feels like he can cum already. The sudden feeling of being filled makes him feel choked, and he audibly gasps and then moans throatily, “ah, ooh—fuck, y-yes.”

Taehyung’s body seems to shudder at the sound, and he growls, “you feel so fucking good, baby.”

Jeongguk grabs at his hips and jerks him forward so that he can go in deeper. Taehyung, thankfully, understands and he begins sliding in and out slowly, deep and sensual—the wet sounds of each movement making Jeongguk feel like he’s in his own type of personal heaven.

It’s raw, explicit and Jeongguk loves it.

“S-so good, hyung,” he whimpers, and then cries as Taehyung increases his pace slightly. “Your cock is so good, so filling—”

“All yours, baby,” Taehyung coos in an animalistic growling sound, and he shifts slightly so that Jeongguk can angel his body to get it deeper and they both moan at the pure pleasure.

“All of my trials are worth it, for you,” Jeongguk whispers, lost in his pleasure—in the reality that this is real, and that Taehyung is his.

Taehyung heightens the force of his thrusts, and Jeongguk’s thighs tremble. “Trials, baby?”

Jeongguk brushes away any talk of his—their—trials and he grabs Taehyung’s hips and writhes with a loud, “harder, hyung. Fuck me h-harder.”

Taehyung makes that attractive snarling sound deep in his throat again, and then he grabs onto Jeongguk’s hips to hold them tightly as he begins furiously slamming their hips together.

Jeongguk moans a hot, heavy sound and sighs in pleasure, twisting so that Taehyung can go even deeper because it feels so fucking fantastic that he wants Taehyung to bury himself inside. “Y-yes, hyung—”

Taehyung jerks and pounds even harder. His black hair is wet, soaked with sweat and the green streaks at the front seems to glow. Jeongguk feels himself slowly going insane at how marvellous the entire situation is, how amazing this feels.

“Do you feel that?” he asks Jeongguk in a low growl, “do you feel my cock throbbing inside of you?”

“I f-feel it,” Jeongguk sobs, grasping at Taehyung’s waist to touch, hold, “I’m close, hyung, please, d-deeper—”

Taehyung doesn’t disappoint. He fucks Jeongguk like he’s been training for it his entire life. The force and power he’s moving with utterly gets to Jeongguk and his cock twitches violently. Taehyung grabs at him, gripping into his skin with delicious strength and Jeongguk arches with a deafening moan as Taehyung’s cock slams against his prostate.

The pleasure makes him shake, and cry shamelessly and Taehyung grips even harder, pounding into Jeongguk at the angle to attack his prostate and he starts going even harder.

“You’re going to cum untouched for me, baby?” Taehyung asks in a mind-blowing growl.

Jeongguk looks at Taehyung through blurry eyes. Taehyung is beautiful, thrusting into him with power he didn’t even know that the man possessed. His whole face is flushed, and his eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, lip bitten in pleasure and Jeongguk knows in this moment that dominant Taehyung is his favourite Taehyung.

Taehyung growling like this at him in that sexy voice is all he ever needs in his life.

The sight, with the simultaneous pounding against his prostate tips Jeongguk against the edge of his pleasure and with a searing, white flash of bliss, he cums with a messy spurt against his stomach. He trembles violently, his body unable to contain so much pleasure even as Taehyung keeps thrusting even harder inside him and he breathes a teary, “fuck, oh—oh, fuck.”

The euphoria that settles over him is unexplainable, and Taehyung slams forcefully one, two, three more times with the aggression of a tiger and then cums as well, sagging slightly and cries out a, “fuck, baby.”

Jeongguk’s back is still slightly arched as Taehyung pulls out with a low hiss, but Jeongguk’s bliss seems to curve around every vein inside his body and when he meets up with that feeling curling inside of his chest, the two seem to dance together.

In this moment, he’s never felt happier. He giggles softly, turning his gaze to Taehyung—who’s smiling down at him softly. The look in Taehyung’s eyes makes him giggle more, and Taehyung looks the most beautiful post-sex.

“You did so well, baby,” he whispers then, leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to the side of Jeongguk’s mouth. “So, so well.”

“That was so fucking amazing,” Jeongguk whispers, eyes dazed in his euphoric state.

Taehyung looks exhausted, but he agrees heartily and manages to coax Jeongguk off the bed and into the bathroom to have a shower. They spend the entire time under the show head kissing, and giggling as they exchange little I love yous every three minutes.

Jeongguk throws on one of Taehyung’s gigantic sweatshirts and pulls out Taehyung’s dirty sheets. When they smoothen over the new sheets, they curl up against each other silently.

Jeongguk’s eyes are closed as he relaxes against the soft skin of Taehyung’s chest, and he sighs happily at the tickling sensation of Taehyung stroking the curve of his hip. It’s so soft, so domestic and Jeongguk never wants it to ever end.

“Do you have plans today?” he asks quietly.

Taehyung’s chest vibrates as he speaks, “I’m free today. All yours.”

A light, familiar buzzing begins in Jeongguk’s chest but he ignores it to smile into Taehyung’s shirt. “Good,” he breathes, “because I don’t think I’m able to let go of you right now. What do you think of dying your hair grey like mine?”

“Silver?” Taehyung asks in surprise. “I—I don’t know, what if I don’t look good—”

“You’re beautiful,” Jeongguk interrupts, sure and positive in Taehyung’s timeless beauty. “Trust me, hyung. I am so pale in comparison next to you, and with your silver hair—we can be a silver couple.”

Taehyung still seems wary, but he says, “okay. Let’s be a silver couple.”

“What a visual,” Jeongguk murmurs mindlessly.

Taehyung giggles, softly and adorable. He brushes his fingers against the surface of Jeongguk’s hair and presses a light kiss against the strands and—

“I was so scared, Jeonggukie,” Taehyung cries, reaching out and grabbing the front of Jeongguk’s denim jacket to jerk him into his arms. He nuzzles the top of Jeongguk’s head and continues, “The ambulance didn’t come fast enough, and I didn’t think that you were breathing and—”

Jeongguk lifts his head slightly, allowing himself to be wrapped up in Taehyung’s arms. Taehyung’s silk shirt is soft and feels nice against the side of his face. He kisses the side of Taehyung’s neck soothingly and says, “I’m okay, baby. It was just a little chest pain.”

Jeongguk doesn’t jump or feel alarmed by the sudden vision. Instead, he wonders why it didn’t happen sooner. He feels relief, that nothing fell apart in the other dimensions.

“I forgot to ask earlier, baby,” Taehyung begins quietly, oblivious to Jeongguk’s mind running a mile a minute, “but is your chest feeling any better?”

Jeongguk instantly frowns, and his ribs begin to throb dully. He lifts his head to look at Taehyung and asks, “what’s wrong with my chest?”

Taehyung frowns too and strokes the side of his face. He explains, “The last time we spoke, right before your, uh—identity crisis, you were saying that your chest was hurting. Did it stop?”

Jeongguk doesn’t remember that, but he assumes that it’s another complication of the mixing of the dimensions. His entire chest is currently beginning to buzz with an uncomfortable pinch, but he smiles softly at Taehyung and says, “yeah, hyung. It stopped.”

“Good,” Taehyung seems to content to hear the news, and Jeongguk drops his face against his boyfriend’s chest again. “Earlier, you mentioned something about trials? What trials were you talking about?”

Jeongguk winces at the grating of his ribs. He won’t be here much longer, but he weakly knows, appreciates that the pain is the most bearable of all the times before. He tries not to stammer when he explains, “uh, our trials. I—I thought that I lost you, but I hoped that you were still here and—where there is hope, there are trials. Today was one of those trials.”

Taehyung hums, allowing the words to soak for a moment before he says, “well, our trials have ended then, because you’ll never lose me.”

Jeongguk wants to laugh at the irony of the words, especially as his chest rattles with a punch that makes him wince. He’s content, in his happiness and the reality of his wonderful life with Taehyung. This time, the pain is a little dull and slowly, the feel and scent of Taehyung against him fades. Jeongguk tightens his grip in Taehyung’s hand unconsciously but doesn’t fight it as the pain sweeps him away.

Neptune – 8. Supernatural.

Jeongguk instantly knows that he’s in Busan. The air is cleaner, gentler on the lungs compared to harsh, polluted Seoul air. Jeongguk glances around the cosy kitchen, and then he wonders why the fuck he’s in Busan.

Then he remembers.

It was Taehyung’s idea to move to Busan. When Taehyung got an amazing offer that he couldn’t refuse to get ownership of a kindergarten, he proposed the idea of moving to Jeongguk’s home town together. So, they purchased a little house right near the beach.

But why does everything feel so weird, and why is there a crazy buzzing in his chest?

And where the fuck is Taehyung?

“Hyung?” he calls, moving through the living area to the bedroom in search of Taehyung. “Taehyung-hyung? Are you here—”

Jeongguk freezes in front of the bedroom mirror. There’s nothing wrong with his appearance; his shoulders are still broad and he’s still tall. He’s wearing no shirt, and loose sweatpants. But his hair is a glowing ash grey.

Why the fuck is his hair silver?

Isn’t he an idol? He doesn’t remember Sejin saying anything about a change in hair colour—wait, isn’t he unemployed? Jeongguk stares at his reflection helplessly and feels sure that he’s a backup dancer for the idol Taehyung—but that can’t make sense because Taehyung is a kindergarten teacher and they live here in Busan. However, the longer that he stares at his silver hair, he remembers his job as an intern at Min Entertainment for that sweet, little music prouder Yoongi. His eyes shift to his eyebrow, and he wonders where his piercing is, even though he doesn’t ever remember piercing his face.

In this moment, Jeongguk has had enough. He loses all of his patience and allows his confusion turn into frustration and in the next second—he’s screaming.

There’s no one to scream at. It’s not like he can scream to the different dimensions. But he’s confused, and so, so angry that he feels so weird and so terrified that something happened to Taehyung.

“I’m so fucking tired of this,” he screeches, grabbing at his hair roughly, as though it’s the cause of everything. “I’m so fucking sick of feeling like this, fuck—”

He curses the bitter since of déjà vu that tells him that he’s been through this exact same situation before, and just like that time, as soon as he touches his hair—

He remembers.

Not everything, not yet. But he sees almost everything, all of his experiences through his journey of dimension hopping. It doesn’t make him any less frustrated, but it provides him with enough explanation that Taehyung is missing from their home—and something may have happened to him.

His hair colour is following him through the dimensions, ever since Taehyung dyed it in their bathroom that night and Jeongguk is positive that that isn’t supposed to happen.

The mix-up better has not touched a single hair on Taehyung’s perfect head.

So, just like the last time, Jeongguk panics.

He doesn’t think that Taehyung is gone from this dimension. Instead, he thinks that due to the fuck up of his travels, he may have had another identity crisis and not remember Taehyung again.

Therefore, he prepares himself to find Taehyung, and beg for forgiveness again.

He sweeps around the house in a final search for his boyfriend but comes up empty. As he gets dressed, he calls Taehyung’s phone endlessly, but his boyfriend doesn’t pick up. He leaves the house and makes sure that his phone is set on the loud profile so that he’ll hear if Taehyung returns his calls. Then, he gets an idea of where to find Taehyung. He retrieves his phone, and calls Taehyung’s assistant.

The phone rings once, twice and then Jimin answers with a blatant, “Good morning, Jeongguk-ssi.”

“Jimin-ssi,” Jeongguk says without pleasantries, “is Taehyung with you at the school?”

“What?” Jimin asks, and he sounds confused. “It’s a fucking Saturday, Jeongguk. Are you okay?”

Jeongguk pauses in the sidewalk, and a lady walks directly into him due to his sudden stop. She scowls slightly, and then walks around him. He pulls the phone away from his ear and glances at the date on his phone and sees that it is, indeed, Saturday. “Fuck,” he says when he puts the phone back to his ear, “I didn’t realise. In that case, have you heard from Taehyung today?”

“Not since yesterday,” Jimin says, sounding completely disinterested but polite nonetheless. “You sound paranoid, is everything okay? How are you feeling?”

Jeongguk crosses the street so that he can make his way over to the flower shop. He’ll buy Taehyung a bouquet of peonies and hopefully by the time he gets back home, Taehyung is there. He almost forgets that Jimin is on the phone, and he thinks about what the man asked. There’s a crazy curl around his ribs, and he’s very bewildered as to what’s happening to him, but he says, “I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Well, Taehyung-ah told me about the . . . the thing,” Jimin says vaguely, sounding uncomfortable. Before Jeongguk can say what the fuck are you talking about, Jimin continues with a forceful cheer to his tone, “well, I’m glad you’re better. I’m in the middle of running some errands right now, so is there anything else I can help you with?”

Jeongguk decides not to ask and says no before he thanks Jimin and ends the call. He purchases a huge, extravagant bouquet of peonies for Taehyung, and then begins making his way back to the apartment with a sickening hope that Taehyung is there.

He’s about to cross the street when—

“Jeongguk-ah?”

Jeongguk spins at the wonderful, low croon of Taehyung’s voice. Three feet away from him stands Taehyung, beautiful as ever, holding two little white bags in his face and a shocked expression on his face. He’s dressed casually, in an oversized jacket and jeans along with boots and Jeongguk is awed at his effortless beauty. His hair is a gentle shade of lilac and is shorter than Jeongguk remembers it to be—but Jeongguk is grateful that the mix-up didn’t affect Taehyung.

Before his relief can swallow him whole at seeing Taehyung in front of him, his boyfriend dashes forward with the most panicked expression that Jeongguk has ever seen in his life. He’s frozen in surprise as Taehyung grabs his elbow with one hand, almost supportively and presses the other to his forehead as though he’s checking for a fever.

“Hyung,” Jeongguk breathes, mesmerised by the way Taehyung’s purple hair highlights his beautiful eyes even further. “I missed you—”

“Jeonggukie,” Taehyung’s voice trembles in agitation, and he grips his elbow tighter. “Do you feel okay? What are you doing out of bed?”

Jeongguk frowns at the question, so similar to what Jimin asked him earlier. Why do they think something is wrong with him? “I came out, because I—you weren’t at home and I was worried and I—I figured maybe you were mad at me, so I came out to get you flowers.”

Taehyung’s eyes are wide with a level of concern and worry that Jeongguk doesn’t understand. At his words, his gaze drops to the bouquet in Jeongguk’s hands and he scoffs slightly. “You left bed to get me flowers, baby? You—God, you’re so thoughtful but baby, the doctor said not to leave your bed until a week—”

Jeongguk is completely and utterly confused. “Doctor? Hyung, I’m fine—I feel fine—”

“Let’s go home, baby,” is Taehyung’s sharp response, wrapping a steady arm around his waist as though he’ll break. “We’ll talk more about this when we get home, okay?”

Jeongguk wants to argue that he’s fine, and he doesn’t need to be bedridden at all—but Taehyung looks so terrified, and Jeongguk just wants him to relax. They don’t speak much on the way back to the house, and Taehyung tried three times to get them to take a taxi there because apparently Jeongguk isn’t supposed to walking around so much either, but Jeongguk insisted that he’s fine and it’s a fucking ten-minute walk.

As soon as they enter the house, Taehyung immediately begins ushering Jeongguk into the bedroom to lie down and relax but Jeongguk has none of it. He’s fine, and not sick.

He sits at the kitchen counter, and watches Taehyung place the flowers in a vase but he’s unable to miss the worried looks that Taehyung shoots him every ten seconds.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” he finally asks, lifting an eyebrow at his boyfriend’s unusual behaviour.

Taehyung looks even more panicked at the question, and he sets the vase down quietly. When he turns to Jeongguk, it’s with soft, concerned eyes and he quietly says, “you’re sick, Jeongguk-ah.”

Jeongguk stares, speechless. He feels fine, except for the little buzz inside his chest. He opens and closes his mouth a couple times, but the only thing that he says is, “what?”

“You’re sick,” Taehyung repeats gently, eyes boring into Jeongguk like he’s afraid he’ll suddenly disappear. “Last week, you were hospitalised for severe chest pains.”

“Chest pains?” he parrots, paling slightly. As if on cue, an annoying puzzle piece shifts inside of his ribs, and rattles a bit like it’s announcing its presence.

Taehyung nods, looking pained. Jeongguk’s heart clenches at the sight. “The doctors couldn’t find a reason for it—they did all kinds of tests on you and you’ve been unconscious mostly for the past few days. You woke up twice, but you had some kind of memory loss and the doctors said it’s because you’re probably disoriented.”

He isn’t disoriented, not really. He can’t believe what he’s hearing. The mix-up of the dimensions is the only explanation. His chest pains have been consistent since the beginning, but he could’ve never imagined that it would cause something this severe.

But as he thinks about, he feels no pain now. The puzzle piece vibrates, almost happily, and that feeling wraps around his ribs, but it doesn’t hurt. They seem to know that the end is near.

He’s fine.

“Hyung,” he hops off of the stool, making Taehyung audibly gasp in fear at his quick movements but he rushes towards his loving, worried boyfriend and takes his larger hands in his own. “Listen to me, I’m okay. I feel better now.”

“No, you’re not okay,” Taehyung argues instantly, but grabs his hands tightly. “I went out this morning to get your pain medication, that’s why I wasn’t here when you woke up. I’m sorry I left you, but I didn’t expect you to wake up so soon. I’m sorry—”

“I’m sorry,” he interrupts, his entire heart melting at how worried Taehyung is about him, how terrified he is. “I’m sorry you worried so much, I can’t imagine what you went through this week. But now, I’m okay. I don’t feel any pain at all. I think the sickness is gone.”

Sickness—trials. His trials are over.

Taehyung doesn’t look convinced, but Jeongguk moves forward to brush their lips together sweetly. “I’m okay, hyung. And I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Taehyung murmurs, and then closes the distance and kisses Jeongguk passionately.

Jeongguk sighs into the beautiful man’s mouth in content, and is about to deepen the kiss when Taehyung pulls away and says, “no, no. No physical activity in case the pain comes back.”

Jeongguk exhales roughly and protests, “there’s no pain anymore—”

“Better to be safe than sorry, baby,” Taehyung decides firmly, pecking the tip of Jeongguk’s nose before moving away to warm up leftovers for breakfast.

“Why is my hair silver?” he asks, when Taehyung places a glass of banana milk in front of him.

“Oh, that happened during your second MRI. There is no explanation for that, it’s almost supernatural,” Taehyung says, eyeing the silver strands, “it just . . . turned grey. It freaked the doctors out, and they were sure that you’re some kind of alien. They tried to say that it was the radiation that changed the hair colour, but even they know that’s complete bullshit. Everyone expected it to change back after a few days, but it just stayed.”

Jeongguk knows exactly why it stayed, and why it changed in the first place. He chooses to just laugh lightly at the explanation, and then he asks, “do you like it?”

Taehyung doesn’t sugar-coat it. He nods appreciatively, and then gushes, “I love it. It looks amazing, and I think I’m going to dye my hair grey, too.”

Jeongguk was just about to suggest the exact thing, and his chest rumbles eagerly. “I think that you should definitely do that. We’ll be the silver couple.”

In this moment, Taehyung doesn’t do anything to trigger his memories; it attacks him like a truck head-on.

He remembers; everything.

It’s almost an information overload, seeing everything clearly from the beginning. He flashes through all eight dimensions, and at the end—he knows exactly what’s happening, and he knows it’s almost over.

He smiles softly at Taehyung who’s eating his kimchi silently with those adorable puffy cheeks and he says, “I love you, soulmate.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen, and then he blushes. “Soulmate?”

Jeongguk looks at Taehyung with heart eyes and nods confidently, knowing it’s the complete and utter truth and he isn’t sure who to thank for blessing him with Taehyung as his soulmate. “Let’s say that we are soulmates, metaphorically,” he asks teasingly, recalling the exact words that Taehyung himself used that night on him in the pink café, “are you disappointed?”

Taehyung’s cheeks heat beautifully, and he shakes his head and says, “I’m absolutely not disappointed.”

“Good, then we’re stuck together here in our paradise” he says, chewing his kimchi happily and gazing at Taehyung’s beautiful face.

Taehyung hums, cheeks still slightly red and then suddenly, he asks, “are your trials over?”

Jeongguk can’t think of anything else to say except, “what?”

Taehyung is looking at him curiously, and he elaborates, “while you were unconscious, all you kept saying was trials and my name over and over again. Do you remember anything about that?”

“Yes, where there is hope, there are trials—I think that’s what I meant,” Jeongguk explains, knowing exactly what the statement means to him now. He thinks about the confused way that Taehyung said the statement that night on the balcony when there are idols as members of Bangtan, and he wonders if in that moment, Taehyung had any idea what he was talking about.

His boyfriend smiles, looking slightly impressed. “That’s poetic.”

Jeongguk smiles widely. He thinks about the wonderful date that Taehyung planned on the rooftop with flowers, and he instantly knows that he’s going to try his best to recreate it for Taehyung in this dimension. So, he says, “I want to take you out tonight.”

Taehyung looks up, surprised. He swallows his kimchi, takes a sip of water and says, “we should wait until you feel better—”

“I’m better,” he says, and he is. He knows that everything is okay now, that the dimensions won’t get mixed up anymore and that Taehyung won’t have to worry anymore. “Trust me, hyung. The trials are over. Everything is okay now.”

Taehyung studies his sincere, sure expression and then nods.

This time, when Jeongguk leaves, it’s in Taehyung’s arms and there’s absolutely no pain. The puzzle piece shifts restlessly, and it knows that it’s about to go home. Mindlessly, he wonders why he didn’t have any visions in this dimension, but then he realises that there’s no need for them anymore—he knows everything now, understands everything. Taehyung kisses him sweetly, and holds him tight—but there’s no panic, no worry and no agony. That feeling wraps under his ribs, and he smiles because he knows that their trials are over, and paradise is finally here.

Pluto – 9. Strawberry.

Jeongguk has always thought that Taehyung’s obsession with anything strawberry related is adorable. Whenever Taehyung comes home with new strawberry scented shampoos, strawberry flavoured milk, strawberry flavoured water, strawberry scented candles, strawberry scented condoms, strawberry flavoured lube—Jeongguk just smiles softly and says I love it, baby.

Taehyung’s obsession is never satiated, even though they have acres of their strawberry field outside.

Jeongguk gets off the bed, looks around and instantly recognises the house as Taehyung’s grandmother’s farmhouse that she left for her grandson after she passed—and the home that Taehyung and Jeongguk have been living in since then.

The puzzle piece in his chest shakes rapidly, painlessly, and Jeongguk isn’t sure whether it’s because he’s finally in paradise, or because he hasn’t seen Taehyung yet.

There’s not an ounce of panic within him, no worry and no fear. He’s somewhat confused, slightly disoriented but there’s a newfound sense of peace and happiness that rockets through him.

“Hyung?” he calls, walking through the empty house in anticipation. He peeks into the kitchen, which is empty, and he takes a second to smile in amusement at the strawberry cake that’s sitting on top of the stool, most likely lift there to cool. He opens the main door and strolls outside, still in search of Taehyung.

The sight that lies outside of the farmhouse makes Jeongguk pause—endless strips of green that’s decorated with spots of vibrant red. It’s a sight that’s never failed to make Jeongguk still in awe before, and he knows that he never wants to leave their strawberry farm. The air of Daegu is magical to inhale, thick with the sweet scent of strawberries and open to the wrath of the mountains. Jeongguk smiles, soft and peaceful at the calming aura of his home; soothing in the way similar to the rush of cool water down his throat on a searing summer day.

“Baby! You’re back!”

Jeongguk’s body thrums at the energy that dances inside of him at the sound of Taehyung’s deep voice. He turns instantly, to see the beauty that is Taehyung approaching him. He emerges from one of the rows of the strawberry strips, holding a large basket in his hands that’s stacked with dazzling, red strawberries.

But the sight of Taehyung makes the spectacular sight and aura of Daegu seem dull.

Jeongguk gawks at Taehyung the entire time that it takes for him to approach. He’s stunning, casually looking like he was sculpted by the most generous Gods dressed in a demin jumpsuit that’s over his long sleeved green plaid shirt. He’s wearing boots, too stylish for a stroll through the field—but who is Taehyung if he isn’t gloriously stylish? His face glows in a way that Jeongguk knows can’t be natural, and his sun-kissed skin is darker than it’s ever been. Taehyung’s beauty is inhuman. Jeongguk thinks he’s beautiful, beautiful enough to die for but then his eyes move to Taehyung’s hair, and his hair—

“Your hair is red,” he cries in awe.

Taehyung chuckles at his tone, placing the basket at their feet and then moving to stand right in front of Jeongguk. Jeongguk is staring at the crimson sight of Taehyung’s hair, and he’s shocked. He has an entire field of strawberries in front of him, but nothing in this world can compare to how startlingly red his hair is. It’s thick, and slightly wavy and it bounces as Taehyung laughs again.

Taehyung with red hair is a sight too spectacular for this universe to contain.

“Do you like it?” he asks, grinning in a dazzling way that almost makes Jeongguk squint.

“I—I love it,” Jeongguk admits. “Oh my God, you look amazing.”

Taehyung’s smile widens, and Jeongguk’s heart flutters. “Come here,” he prompts, opening his arms. “I missed you while you were gone.”

Jeongguk jumps into his arms without being asking twice. He curls his arms around Taehyung neck, and the latter wraps him up eagerly and squeezes their bodies together. Taehyung doesn’t smell like an expensive cologne, but he smells warm, sweet of strawberries—and Jeongguk knows this is the scent of paradise.

The puzzle piece shakes violently, and then moves around painfully. It crawls deeper into his chest, until it seems to seep into his racing heart and then the sensation disappears altogether.

Jeongguk knows it’s because he’s finally where he’s supposed to be.

“Where did I go?” he asks, shamelessly sticking his head into Taehyung’s smooth neck and peppering it with little kisses.

“You went travelling, baby,” Taehyung says, almost teasingly.

With the rush of wind and jolt of his heart, Jeongguk suddenly becomes aware. His skipping through the dimensions and the experiences with Taehyung isn’t something he remembers—it’s more like it’s been at the back of his mind the entire time and he didn’t know until now. He blinks against Taehyung’s throat, and thinks about how many different things happened, how different every dimension is and how nothing was the same except for him and Taehyung.

He pulls back with wide eyes and exclaims, “Hyung! There are different dimensions and we—we’re together in all!”

Taehyung’s eyes sparkle, and his beauty seems like it’s increased in this particular dimension. “I know, baby,” he coos, letting one arm remain securely around Jeongguk’s tiny waist. “I did it too.”

Jeongguk stares in confusion, mind still wild. “Did what too?”

“I travelled through the different dimensions as well,” Taehyung explains, leaning forward to kiss the Jeongguk’s cheek. He’s giddy, and happiness is the most stunning when Taehyung wears it. “I’m so glad you’re back, baby—I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too,” Jeongguk admits, then he leans forward and captures Taehyung’s heavenly lips in a searing kiss. Taehyung smiles against his mouth, sweeter than the taste of strawberries, and pulls him closer enthusiastically to deepen the kiss. Jeongguk pulls back slightly before the question can escape him, and he questions, “why did you travel the dimensions?”

“You were gone for too long,” Taehyung explains with a peck on his nose. “This is Pluto,” he waves an arm around to motion to the breath-taking sight of the fields, “and yes, we’re still on Earth. Pluto is just the name of this dimension. Pluto is our home, our paradise. This is where we belong, baby—here in Daegu together, away from the city, away from capitalism as farmers, together.”

Jeongguk smiles, allowing the crazy sense of bliss to sink around his heart and make him shiver.

“You were trapped in Mercury for a while,” Taehyung continues gently, voice as low as the darkest area of the ocean but as smooth as the tiny wind, “we’re idols there. I’m not sure what triggered your sudden movement through the different dimensions to get back here, but—”

“It was you that triggered it,” Jeongguk explains, allowing the missing puzzle pieces of knowledge to fall together in explanation. “You asked if you think that we belong as idols. You even asked if I think that we’re trapped there.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says, and then he giggles, “well, that’s good. After that, you moved through the eight dimensions to get back here. It isn’t supposed to be as messy as it was, but everything started going wrong because we were out of sync. You weren’t supposed to be trapped in Mercury in the first place. I started panicking because you were taking too long, so I left Pluto to find you. That was where everything went to shit. And that’s why your hair is silver now.”

Jeongguk didn’t even notice that his silver hair followed him into this dimension as well. He isn’t scared, nor does he have any intentions of dying it back. He opens his mouth with a tiny smile to ask Taehyung if he likes the colour, but Taehyung beats him to it.

“I love this colour on you. You look so beautiful, baby,” Taehyung coos sweetly with a tiny squeal. “I’m happy that I made it back before you and that we’re back in sync together, because I missed you so much.”

Then Jeongguk hears the barking. 

He and Taehyung turn at the same time to look at the littlest bundle of brown fur dashing towards them. He instantly recognizes the tiny dog as Yeontan, their whole pride and joy. Yeontan scurries around their legs hurriedly, barking excitedly. 

Jeongguk’s familiar with the buzz of happiness; he experienced it through all eight dimensions—but nothing compares to way that his heart vibrates with life now. The puzzle piece in his chest hums in content from inside of his heart, and Jeongguk knows that he’ll never feel a grating against his ribs again—because he’s back where he belongs, and he’s never leaving again.

“You’re timeless,” he says, “your beauty is timeless. Your personality is the same for all eight dimensions.”

Taehyung doesn’t look surprised. He blushes, as red as the strawberries and says, “of course. It’s us in those dimensions—they’re not different people. They are us, just in another dimension facing different situations—different trials. Thank God we don’t have to worry about those trials anymore, we faced and despaired for each one. They’re over now.”

Jeongguk wonders why he didn’t think about it that way before, and then he cries, “we have the elephant moles in every dimension, too!”

“I love you, you’re so cute,” Taehyung squeals, leaning forward to peck his lips lightly. “Of course we have the moles, silly—it’s our soulmate mark.”

Jeongguk’s mouth opens in awe. “Oh my God,” he says.

Taehyung breathes a laugh, and tugs Jeongguk into his arms. He nuzzles their noses together, and says, “tell me the truth, baby, am I just as amazing in every dimension? Because you are so cute in every single one.”

Jeongguk pretends to think to tease Taehyung, and hums thoughtfully. “I’m not sure—I think I like fanboy you the best, where I was the athlete.”

Taehyung tries to look offended, but then he practically moans. “Jesus, but you look so sexy when you run like that. You know that now I’m going to make you run through these fields for me, right? The way those thighs moved, and your ass—that firm, round—”

Jeongguk blushes, deeper and crimson almost like Taehyung’s hair. “Stop it, hyung.”

Taehyung laughs, a deep rumbling sound that washes over the field and throws Jeongguk into a daze of bliss. “You’re so cute, baby.”

Jeongguk wants to say something snappy, but he can’t bear to even pretend to be stern. He’s too happy, too secure in the way the aura of this paradise is curling around him and Taehyung lovingly. He called it, from the first dimension that Taehyung would be happy in his own strawberry farm in Daegu—but in that moment he had no idea that it’s true or that he’d be here with Taehyung, together.

He curls into the home of Taehyung’s arms, glad that he had the opportunity to fly through each dimension and fall in love with beautiful Taehyung so many times.

Now, though, he’s in Pluto—paradise, and he hoped, despaired, fought and suffered through each of his trials. And he’d do it all over again, just to stand in Taehyung’s arms—a religious experience in itself—overcome with the scent of strawberries in Daegu.