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When Taehyung first started looking for sugar daddies, what he had in mind was some middle-aged men—probably still in the closet—with lots of money to spare, that he’d meet up with and text sometimes. Probably send some spicy pictures as well, since they'd want to get something in return for their money, but that’s it. Never anything too stable, never anything too serious.

The last thing Taehyung imagined is that he’d stumble upon someone like Jeongguk.

When they first met, the most surprising thing about Jeongguk was, without a doubt, his age. Not only because he's an average 20 years younger than the rest of the men Taehyung was messaged by when he first made his profile, no. But because Jeongguk, strangely enough, is younger than even Taehyung is. 

Why a twenty-three-year-old like Jeongguk—who's handsome, rich, and stupidly charming—would need a sugar baby is absolutely beyond Taehyung. He's tried to figure out the reason why before, but to no avail; it simply makes no sense, and Jeongguk is not an easy one to figure out. Taehyung is still grateful, though: he gets to spend his time with a guy his age, who's very much attractive, funny, and that knows what he’s doing with his dick. 

No, Taehyung did not plan to end up in bed with any sugar daddy when he first got into this. But it’s not an exaggeration to say that Jeongguk changed everything.

It started out with a couple of meetings a month, Jeongguk paying him for each encounter. Then it escalated to a weekly thing, and they both agreed it would be more convenient for Jeongguk to give him a weekly allowance. And at some point the flirting and teasing turned into kissing, and the kissing led him to Jeongguk’s silky bed sheets, and really, Taehyung is not one to complain. He has eyes, and Jeongguk is easily one of the most attractive men Taehyung has ever laid his eyes on. Of course he isn't complaining. 

Some would look at it from a different perspective, but Taehyung prefers to see it like he's basically getting paid to have a fuck buddy. Jeongguk doesn’t ask him to pretend that they’re dating, doesn’t bother to share with Taehyung any details about his personal life, and doesn’t ask about Taehyung’s either. There are just two things that Jeongguk has asked from him: exclusivity and availability. For what he gets, Taehyung thinks it's a fair price.

He's become acquainted with Jeongguk’s bedroom, just like how the touch of Jeongguk’s hands on him has become almost routine. They feel him all up and down with as much greed as there is devotion, not leaving a single inch of his body unexplored. After all this time, Taehyung almost feels like he can anticipate every touch, every move. But right when he thinks he’s got him all figured out, Jeongguk does something, and Taehyung just writhes and arches on the bed, breathless like the first time. 

Tonight is one of those nights where they’ve met, with Jeongguk taking him to one of those incredibly fancy restaurants that he couldn’t even think of stepping into one year ago. Even just as the night began, Taehyung knew they would end up right where they are now—in Jeongguk’s bed, with Jeongguk on top of him, kissing him like there’s no tomorrow.

They're still fully dressed, but the heavy weight of Jeongguk inside of him as he kisses down his neck is enough to drive Taehyung insane. He lets out a choked-out moan, eyes rolling back white as Jeongguk presses wet, openmouthed kisses on the column of his throat. He looks fucking sinful like this, eyes dark with lust as Taehyung’s hand tangles in his hair and pulls at the dark locks. Between them, things are always like this—intense and heavy, and so enthralling that it’s easy for them to get lost in each other and forget there’s an entire world on the other side of the bedroom door.

That's never been an issue; if anything it's just made for some bomb sex. But it sure does become a little problematic when, just as Taehyung is about to let out another wanton moan, the door opens, a voice calling, “Dada!”

In all ten months that Taehyung has known Jeongguk for, he swears he’s never seen him move this fast. He gets off Taehyung’s body almost as if he was burning him, quick to stand up. Taehyung sits up on the bed, looking at Jeongguk with confusion. Because of how Jeongguk’s bedroom is arranged, Taehyung can’t see the door from where he’s sitting on the bed, but his questions are answered as a toddler, not much older than two years old, appears right in front of him. Taehyung’s eyebrows raise.

Wait a minute—dada?

“Hey, buddy,” Jeongguk says at the time he kneels down on the floor, easily placing his body right in between the little kid and Taehyung. “How come you’re here so soon? Where’s mommy?"

“Back,” the kid says, but he doesn’t seem too focused on where mommy is. He tries to suck his fingers into his mouth, but Jeongguk swiftly prevents him from doing so and picks him up.

It’s just a fraction of a second, but he looks back at Taehyung and makes eye contact with him, his face painted with a horror that for sure was not showing as he was talking to the kid. The kid, presumably his kid, Taehyung realizes. Oh, god.

“Sorry to be back so soon,” a woman says then, and fuck. The toddler for sure didn't see him, too focused on finding Jeongguk, but the first thing this woman’s eyes lay on when entering the room is none other than Taehyung. She looks at him with almost curiosity for a couple of seconds, but that’s all—no anger, no sadness, no jealousy. If anything, just a hint of amusement before her eyes find Jeongguk instead. “My mom had a fall down the stairs. I need to rush to the hospital.”

“Oh, wow,” Jeongguk says as the woman approaches, stopping a couple of meters away from him. Taehyung doesn’t know what the fuck he’s meant to do—should he just get up and leave? He feels like Jeongguk doesn’t want the kid to see him, so maybe he should just stay right where he is until they leave the room. “You should have called.”

“I did call. Your phone’s in the living room,” the woman replies, giving Jeongguk a pointed look. “I need to go now. His bag is in the living room with everything.”

“Is nana good?” the kid speaks again.

“Yes, baby, nana is good,” the woman reassures, reaching to gently cup the face of the toddler. “Give mommy a kiss. I’ll see you tomorrow, angel.”

Taehyung watches as the kid presses a noisy—and judging by the glistening of her cheek when she pulls back, wet—kiss on her face. “Bye mommy,” he says, muffled as he, again, brings his fingers back to his mouth. And again, Jeongguk stops him before he can, softly squeezing the tiny fingers between his thumb and index.

“Let’s get you to bed then, yeah?” Jeongguk asks, looking at the kid again. He mumbles something in response, but Taehyung doesn’t quite catch it.

“Sorry again. I didn’t mean to ruin your night,” she says, her gaze quickly falling on Taehyung before she averts it again, both her and Jeongguk walking out of the room. “Hopefully she can be out tonight.”

Taehyung can still hear the sound of their voices once they’re outside, but he really can’t make out the rest of what they’re saying—nor does he care to, either. Now that he’s alone in the room he quickly gets off the bed, walking to the nearest mirror and making sure that his appearance hasn’t made this entire situation even more embarrassing than it already is. He doesn’t look too bad; hair a little messy, cheeks flushed, but that’s about it. The fact that the two of them were in the bed is enough of a give away as to what was going on, but Taehyung has to remind himself that it could have been much, much worse.

He doesn’t dare sneak out while Jeongguk puts the kid to sleep; he doesn’t even let himself leave the room. Instead, Taehyung just waits there for Jeongguk to return almost ten minutes later, hair considerably less messy and with an apology written all over his face.

“I’m sor—”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it,” Taehyung interrupts. There’s quiet after he says that, the ambience turning awkward. He doesn’t know what to say, and he has the feeling that Jeongguk is feeling similar to him. “I’m… I should probably…”

“Yeah! Yeah, of course,” Jeongguk says, taking a step back. For a moment there, he looks lost in his own apartment, but he quickly starts walking back to the living room with Taehyung, as if Taehyung couldn’t make his way out with his eyes closed.

“We can arrange another meeting to make up for this,” Taehyung says, instantly regretting it; he’s meant to be making business out of his time. Even if their night was cut short, he still spent time getting ready, eating dinner with Jeongguk, coming here. He should have shut up and gone, but he just feels bad. Bad for himself and for Jeongguk, who is probably ten times as mortified as Taehyung is. “He didn’t…?”

“No! No, he didn’t see anything, don’t worry,” Jeongguk says, catching what Taehyung meant to ask.

Taehyung nods, reassured by that. “And that’s not your…” he trails off again, but Jeongguk just narrows his eyes at him. Taehyung tries, “Girlfriend?”

This seems to amuse Jeongguk, who lets out a breathy laugh. Taehyung was genuinely asking, but at least Jeongguk laughing is much better than the tension that was starting to build up. In the end, Jeongguk replies, “I told you I was single when we met.”

“C’mon. As if guys with wives aren’t on that site saying they’re single,” Taehyung says with a sly smile.

“Well, I didn’t lie,” Jeongguk says with a shake of his head. “It’s… a bit of a complicated story, I suppose.”

“But that’s your kid,” Taehyung deadpans, more a confirmation than an inquiry.

“That’s my son, yeah,” he says, to which Taehyung nods. “I can tell you about it another night. Unless this changes anything.”

And that’s what Taehyung was afraid of—not because he thought Jeongguk would want to end things because Taehyung knew about this, but because the existence of a partner is a line that Taehyung doesn’t really want to cross. Charging men for his time? He doesn’t feel remorse for that: they’re the ones who found him. But if he knew said men had someone else waiting for them at home, he wouldn’t be able to do this.

But Jeongguk has insisted that the woman is not his girlfriend, and she seemed far too okay with Taehyung’s presence for it to be an issue. So he’s going to trust Jeongguk on this one.

For that reason, Taehyung just scoffs.

“Please,” he says, “as if having some competition for your time is gonna scare me away.”

≋

The moment the door to Jeongguk’s bedroom opened, Taehyung knew the night was over, so Taehyung was smart enough to utilize his time alone in Jeongguk’s bedroom to book a taxi to get himself back home. He doesn’t have to wait once he makes it down to the street, the driver already waiting for him when he gets there. After giving him his address and checking the time, Taehyung decides it’s not too late for phone calls. He might as well call Jimin and fill him in with all of his new discoveries.

“Hey, babe,” Jimin says as he picks up the phone, cheerful. “What’s up? I thought you were with Jeongguk tonight.”

“I was,” Taehyung replies, emphasizing the last word. “Jimin, you’re never gonna believe what happened.”

“You’re kind of scaring me,” Jimin says, not a hint of fear in his voice. More so, he sounds profoundly amused. “What happened?”

“My sugar daddy,” Taehyung starts, not missing the drivers’ eyebrows frowning in the rearview mirror, “happens to be a sugar daddy.”

There’s silence for a couple of seconds, Taehyung impatiently waiting for a reaction, but Jimin says nothing. When he does speak, he says, “I don’t think I’m catching on.”

“Jimin! Jeongguk has a child,” Taehyung says, once again met with silence. “Why are you not reacting?”

“Isn’t he, like, twenty-two?”

“Twenty-three,” Taehyung clarifies. “And he’s single. But we were in bed, you know, making out, and suddenly a toddler runs into the room calling him dad. And like that’s not enough, twenty seconds later the mom walks into the room as well.”

“Jesus Christ, Taehyung,” Jimin says, now laughing. “And what? Were you presentable?”

“I was fully dressed. Plus, I kind of feel like Jeongguk’s bed is strategically placed so you can’t see it right when you enter the room,” Taehyung explains. “I don’t think the kid even saw me—he had, like, dad-tunnel vision. The mom saw me, though.”

“And what’d she say?”

“To me? Nothing. She didn’t seem mad or anything, though,” Taehyung retells. “Maybe they’re friends co-parenting.”

“That’s fucking weird.”

“Rich people are weird,” Taehyung retorts. “I can’t believe this is happening. The perks of the young ones are meant to be no family on the side. How did I not know he had a kid for all these months?”

“Can hardly imagine that coming up in conversation with him. But don’t worry, you won’t be the first sugar baby to have some competition for daddy’s inheritance,” Jimin jokes.

“Yeah, because I’ll be his sugar baby when I’m eighty and wrinkly as fuck,” Taehyung says, Jimin’s laughter almost distracting him from the driver shaking his head in disapproval. “I’m gonna need a drink when I get home.”

Without missing a beat, Jimin says, “I think a toddler guarantees at least two drinks, Tae.”

“You know what?” Taehyung says, smile spreading across his face, “I think you’re very right.”

≋

It doesn’t take too long for Jeongguk to take up on Taehyung’s—not very wise—offer to schedule another meeting. He texts him only a couple of days later, asking Taehyung when he’d be able to meet up again.

Had it been a boy he was genuinely trying to impress, maybe Taehyung would have tried to make himself seem busier and more solicited than he actually is. But Taehyung knows well that he doesn’t need to impress Jeongguk, and that if anything, what Jeongguk most wants from him is availability. So he keeps it real, texting back an I’m pretty much free any evening for the rest of the week.

Jeongguk doesn’t take too long to reply after that, saying, Is tonight good?, which makes Taehyung arch one eyebrow. Tonight? He didn’t think Jeongguk would be so eager for his company, but that works with him.

Tonight is perfect, he says.

I’ll text you the details later, Jeongguk says. Usually that would be it—no more messages to be exchanged, except maybe a looking forward to it from Taehyung if he were in a particularly good mood and wanted to indulge Jeongguk. After reading that message, Taehyung locks his phone again and goes back to the screen of his laptop, but he’s distracted when his phone vibrates. He sees Jeongguk’s name on the lit-up screen, so curious, he’s quick to unlock it and read his latest message.

And I’m sorry about the other night, once again. I shouldn’t have let my personal life bleed into it, it reads. Taehyung, who left the apartment feeling embarrassed and like was caught doing something bad, suddenly realizes the entire ordeal was probably more embarrassing for Jeongguk than it was for him. Sure, he could kind of tell by the awkwardness between them right before he left, but it didn’t really sink in until now. Yeah, they were both there, but the only one who has a connection to those people is Jeongguk. Not him. Unless Jeongguk likes to talk about those things, he doubts that the mother of Jeongguk’s baby knows about him. And of course, the kid is entirely clueless. 

It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It was a funny thing, Taehyung texts back, now being able to see the humor in it. At first, he was too mortified to laugh along with Jimin when he told him in more detail the following day, but now it does amuse him a little. Before Jeongguk has any chance to reply, Taehyung adds, See you tonight! And don’t you dare apologize again.

He doesn’t get a text back after that, but he doesn’t take it personally—the last ten months have taught him that Jeongguk keeps his texting and calls to a bare minimum, no more than necessary. The same could be said about the entire relationship, if it can be called that between them: they don’t really talk or ask about each other, just enough so they can spend a nice time together without feeling like strangers. Taehyung prefers it this way.

Tonight, though, he has some questions. Not too many; he doesn’t want to invade Jeongguk’s privacy. But the ones that he has, he plans to get answers to.

≋

Taehyung isn't quite sure what Jeongguk’s taste in many aspects of his life is like, but if he’s as good at picking other things as he is at picking restaurants, he might be the most tasteful man on Earth, really.

The restaurant is beautiful and the food is delicious, and the wine is simply amazing. For most of it, they decide to ignore the elephant in the room and just talk about anything that crops up, and Taehyung sort of feels like it’s one of the best dates the two of them have ever had. But despite that, Taehyung still wants to know. So without much grace and not very subtly, he brings up, “I didn’t know you had a kid.”

Jeongguk doesn’t reply right away, clearing his throat instead. This is what Taehyung was fearing—that bringing it up would ruin the evening, and make the mood tense and uncomfortable. Is wanting to talk about this that bad? He just feels like it’s something that should have been brought up. A kid is a big deal; the one reason why Taehyung didn’t ask directly when they first met, like how he asked if Jeongguk was single, is because he wrongly assumed Jeongguk wouldn’t have a kid because of his young age.

“I can imagine it was a bit of a surprise,” Jeongguk says. A bit of a surprise is an understatement, but Taehyung says nothing and lets Jeongguk carry on. “I’m sorry once again for the other night.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes at that, saying, “Please, no more apologies. I know what juggling a kid with emergencies like that is like.”

“You do?” Jeongguk asks, newfound curiosity on his face.

“Oh, yeah. I have two younger siblings, I’ve babysat them more times than I can count any time something came up for my parents,” Taehyung explains. “Same goes for my auntie. Any time something happened and someone needed to watch over my cousin, it was me who they called.”

“So you’re a bit of a qualified nanny, then,” Jeongguk teases.

“I don’t know if qualified is the word I'd use, but I am definitely experienced,” Taehyung replies, making Jeongguk crack a smile. “So… I assume you were not gonna tell me about your son, right?”

“Yeah, I wasn't planning on it, to be honest,” Jeongguk admits, lightly poking his lips with the napkin. “I didn’t think to mention it because it didn’t feel… relevant to the nature of our relationship.”

“It’s not relevant to us,” Taehyung clarifies, “but it is to you. I don’t want to cause problems.”

“And how would you be causing problems?” Jeongguk inquires.

“You have a toddler. I don’t know—I just don’t want to interfere with your family,” Taehyung replies. “And the mom—”

“Siyeon and I aren't together, so you don’t have to worry about homewrecking anyone,” Jeongguk replies, corners of his mouth tilting up almost like he’s amused. “We do co-parenting, so when she’s with him and I’m free, sometimes I meet up with you. No interfering.”

“That’s much better,” Taehyung replies, giving Jeongguk a wide smile as he feels his shoulders relax. Sure, Jeongguk told him the other day that the woman, Siyeon, was not his partner, but not understanding what the situation was exactly still made him nervous. “It’s just that things can get touchy when there’s young kids involved. I just wanted to make sure.”

“And I appreciate that,” Jeongguk says, “but don’t worry. I’ll do the worrying and the parenting.”

It’s subtle, and Jeongguk is so elegant in the way he tells Taehyung that it could be missed if he weren’t looking for the hint so hard, but it’s there—not a safe topic. Jeongguk’s family, his kid and how he raises him, are admittedly none of his business. Taehyung knows nothing about it, so what right does he have to have an opinion on it? None.

“And I do the sugar babying?” he asks as he rests his chin on the palm of his hand, voice mellow. The fingers on his other hand, which is resting right next to Jeongguk’s on top of the table, reach over and gently brush over his wrist.

Maybe it was too obvious an attempt to bring conversation back to safe territory, but it works. Jeongguk doesn’t hesitate to return the touch, taking Taehyung’s hand in his own as he says, “That’s right, pretty.”

Taehyung’s bottom lip catches between his teeth, watching as Jeongguk smiles at him at the other side of the table. Just like every other man in a position like this, Taehyung is sure that Jeongguk feels like he’s the one in the position of power, the one calling the shots. But the truth is that at the end of the day, Taehyung has Jeongguk right where he wants him.

≋

“I don’t know, Tae,” Jimin repeats for what must be the sixth time tonight, still sounding as unconvinced as the first. “If it were me, I would just get the hell out of there. Kids make things infinitely more complicated.”

“It shouldn’t get more complicated. It shouldn’t even change anything at all,” Taehyung says, repeating the same thing Jeongguk told him the day before. “He had a kid before I knew about it, and things were easy. Me knowing this doesn’t change anything, anyway. It’s not like he’s gonna bring him along to our dates.”

“But, like, don’t you feel strange?” Jimin asks, grimacing involuntarily. When Taehyung doesn’t reply, he adds, “Knowing he has a kid out there in the world. That sure must make you feel some type of way.”

“It’s his life. I don’t care if he has a kid or not,” Taehyung resolves, taking a sip of his Martini. “It’s not like we’re dating. It’d be different then because it would impact my life, but this is just... a service.”

“A service,” Jimin repeats, amused. “And shouldn’t baby daddy be at home taking care of his kid instead of seeking out those services?”

“You’re so rude. He’s allowed to have some nights off,” Taehyung says with a laugh. “Listen, it all makes sense. When we first started meeting up, he told me that it had been a while since he had gone on a date with anyone. I thought it was weird, but I assumed it was because of work or something like that, but now it makes sense. He had literally just had a baby.”

“And maybe back then he was still with the mom,” Jimin observes, to which Taehyung shrugs. He’s not making any guesses on that because he honestly has no idea of what’s going on between Jeongguk and Siyeon. If they were together, if it was a one-night slip up, or even if it was a slip-up at all.

“It’s none of my business,” Taehyung repeats, both to Jimin and to himself.

He’s curious by nature, so of course he does have lots of questions about the matter, but he knows Jeongguk wouldn’t appreciate him asking around. Up until now, the two of them have done a pretty good job at keeping things impersonal. Taehyung knows glimpses of Jeongguk, Jeongguk knows glimpses of Taehyung, and that’s it. But now, with all of this, Taehyung can’t deny he’s feeling... intrigued, to say the least. In his mind, Jeongguk was just this young guy who had a lucky strike when he was fresh out of college, and made a lot of cash because of an app. That was it.

But now, what he’s seen is that there’s another layer—the one of Jeongguk, the family guy, who has a young kid. And even if Taehyung told himself that he wouldn’t try to find out more than necessary, it’s hard when he’s so damn curious.

“If anything,” Jimin starts then, “we don’t have to call him the sugar daddy anymore. We can call him the DILF.”

“The DILF?” Taehyung repeats, almost spitting out his drink.

“You know, Dad I’d Like to Fuck,” Jimin says, giving him a pointed look he can’t believe he has to explain this.

“I know what a DILF is,” Taehyung says. “It just feels strange calling him that.”

“He’s a dad, and you two are banging,” Jimin says, almost a little bit too crude. Taehyung is glad that the tables closest to them are empty so no one can hear the conversation between the two of them. “He is, quite literally, a DILF to you. A DYLF.”

“That doesn’t sound quite as nice,” Taehyung replies. “Plus, he’s a DIDMF.”

Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up as he asks, “Now what the hell is that?”

“A Dad I Don’t Mind to Fuck,” Taehyung says, earning himself a scoff from Jimin. “What?”

“I don’t believe that for a moment.”

“Excuse me?” Taehyung says, unable to contain a laugh at the expression on Jimin’s face.

“C’mon, Taehyung. Don’t act like you don’t like that he’s a young, sexy guy who looks like a model. You’re not fooling me,” Jimin accuses. “I remember when he first found you and you literally said you hit the jackpot.”

“Look, it’s nicer to spend the evening looking at the face of a guy I find attractive, that much is true,” Taehyung tries to justify it. Just like he has for the rest of the evening, Jimin looks at him with utter disbelief. “But that doesn’t mean I want to fuck him.”

“You’re a liar.”

“I’m not!”

“You are because if you didn’t want to sleep with him then you simply wouldn’t have,” Jimin points out. Before Taehyung can argue, Jimin adds, “You didn’t have sex with the first guy, but you did with Jeongguk.”

Taehyung clicks his tongue because that much is true. Before he started meeting up with Jeongguk he had another sugar daddy, even though it didn’t last for long—just a couple of weeks. He was older, way older, and he didn’t take long to break the arrangement when it became clear Taehyung wasn’t interested in anything sexual. And then, just a few days after, Jeongguk came along. And the rest is history.

“That’s literally what ‘don’t mind’ means, smartass,” Taehyung attempts one last time.

“You can go ahead and lie to anyone else, but not to me, Taehyungie,” Jimin says. “I saw you react when you first saw him in pictures, I saw him in person, and I know you. So don’t even try it.”

Taehyung shakes his head smiling, but doesn’t give Jimin the pleasure of admitting he’s right. When Jeongguk first messaged and Taehyung saw his profile, he won’t deny that he thought he was terribly attractive—he has eyes, after all. Because guys like Jeongguk are not at all common on the app, Taehyung and Jimin both assumed he was a catfish. So just in case there was anything fishy going on, or something potentially risky, Jimin agreed to go to the restaurant where they’d be meeting up the first time and sit at a different table, just to make sure everything went smoothly.

But still, he’s not right. Taehyung doesn’t actively want Jeongguk. Is he Taehyung’s type? Yes. Would Taehyung try something in an alternate universe where they were just two strangers meeting in a bar? Possibly. But as things are right now between them, and with them being who they are, Taehyung doesn’t want anything with Jeongguk. He knows his place.

“Anyway, I’ve had enough of him now,” Jimin says, leaving his now-empty cocktail glass on top of the table. “He’s all I’ve heard about for the past week. If you say his name again in what’s left of the night, I’m not speaking to you for a month.”

“A month? That seems kind of excessive,” Taehyung says with a laugh.

“Not at all. I’m already sick of him,” Jimin replies, quick. “Now, do me a favor and finish your drink. We’re going dancing, baby.”

“And when did you decide that?” Taehyung asks, even if he obliges before getting an answer. He doesn’t have much of his Martini left, but he still winces a little when he gulps it down in one go.

“The moment my sources told me that there’s a new DJ at the Skyline, and that he’s cute,” Jimin says. “So c’mon. We’ve got places to be now.”

≋

The headache Taehyung wakes up with the following morning is enough for him to rethink all of his life choices, but hey, at least he had fun. And, at least Jimin did get to go home with the new DJ, who just as his sources had pointed out, was indeed very cute.

The thing is, he wakes up to the strident, not-very-pleasant sound of his ringtone, which could only be beaten in terms of how unpleasant it is to wake up to by his alarm tone. For almost five seconds he lies on his bed, arm thrown over his eyes and protecting himself from the sunlight, as he tries to figure out where his phone is. It takes him another 15 seconds to finally find it, as it’s on the floor buried under a pile of the clothes he was wearing last night—he did remember to strip before bed, so kudos to drunk him for that.

And then, finally, it takes him three seconds to pick up as he looks at the caller ID with curiosity. Jeongguk.

“Good morning,” Taehyung forces himself to chirp out, trying to sound far more cheery than he’s actually feeling. He doesn’t think his sugar daddy would like him in all of his hangover misery, to be honest.

“Good morning, Taehyung,” Jeongguk greets him, sounding far more awake than Taehyung himself feels. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

Taehyung takes the phone away from his ear, quickly checks the time as the screen lights up, and lies, “Not at all! I’ve been awake for a while. So tell me—what’s up?”

There’s not a need to lie, no, but Jeongguk strikes Taehyung to be one of those productive people. The kind that posts videos on social media of, All the things I did while my roommate was still asleep!

“I wanted to ask you if you were free on Tuesday,” Jeongguk asks him. “Evening.”

“I’m free, yeah,” Taehyung says, sitting back on the bed. He can’t help but wonder how Daehan’s time is split between his mom and dad—if he had known earlier he would have tried to notice some sort of pattern on his dates with Jeongguk. Maybe he should try to find a pattern from now on. Or is that weird? Yeah, probably weird. “Are you taking me out for dinner?”

“That was the plan, yeah,” Jeongguk replies on the other end of the phone. “Unless you’re not up for that.”

“Please, you know I’m always up for nice food,” Taehyung says as he lets himself flop back on the bed, the promise of going to a nice restaurant with Jeongguk more than appealing. “Anything you wanna tell me? Dress code?”

“Just do what you usually do. I do have a request, though. Although it’s a personal one,” Jeongguk tells him.

“And what would that be?”

“I would like it if you wore red.”

“Red, huh?” Taehyung asks, rolling onto his stomach and crossing his legs at the ankles.

“You heard me,” Jeongguk confirms. “You know I like red.”

And of course, Taehyung does. It’s not the first time that Jeongguk has asked him this, going as far as to gift him a deep red velvet shirt before.

“You might have mentioned it a few times,” Taehyung teases. “So... I’ll see you on Tuesday, then?”

“That’s right.”

“Good. Text me when you have the details of the booking then,” Taehyung says, Jeongguk humming in agreement.

“I look forward to seeing you,” Jeongguk says then, Taehyung biting down a smile at the words. Of course.

“I’m looking forward to it, too,” he humors him. “Oh, and Jeongguk?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s nice to hear your voice. You should call more and text less,” Taehyung says.

There’s a moment of silence then, probably because a comment like this from Taehyung is the last thing that Jeongguk was expecting. Taehyung’s smile widens during those seconds, and even if when Jeongguk speaks he doesn’t seem phased at all, Taehyung knows exactly what the words did to him.

“Will make a note of that,” he says, as Taehyung sucks on his teeth. “Bye, Taehyung.”

“See you on Tuesday, Jeongguk.”

≋

Taehyung thinks it’s funny how, despite not knowing much about each other and having been meeting up for over ten months, he and Jeongguk never seem to run out of conversations to have. It helps that Jeongguk is a good listener and seems interested in pretty much everything Taehyung babbles to him about—the crime documentary he binged last night, how disheartening it was to him when his go-to ice cream brand stopped making his favorite flavor, or how he’s so glad skinny jeans are officially out.

“I swear, I'll never wear a pair of skinny jeans again in my life,” Taehyung says, cheesing both on the inside and the outside. “I thought this era would never end. I’m finally free.”

“That’s such a shame,” Jeongguk replies, not looking the slightest bit offended despite the fact that he himself is wearing black skinny jeans. “You have nice legs for them.”

“I know I do,” Taehyung says, giving Jeongguk a flirty smile, “but I also have a skin condition. Tight clothes make me itchy.”

Jeongguk chokes a little on his drink, clearing his throat before he manages to ask, “Wait, for real?”

“Why would I lie about that?” asks Taehyung, eyebrows furrowing. “Would I try to seduce you with urticaria, perhaps?”

“Well, I’m feeling very seduced right now,” Jeongguk says, making Taehyung huff out a laugh. “So that’s why you’re always in loose clothes?”

“Mostly so. But also, they’re just comfy,” Taehyung says, to which Jeongguk nods. He nods his head in Jeongguk’s overall direction, adding, “Could never live like you, Mr. Tight-Fit.”

To be fair, Taehyung has seen Jeongguk in plenty of loose clothing before, from huge t-shirts and hoodies to cargo pants. But tonight, in addition to the jeans, he’s also wearing a dark shirt that clings to his body almost deliciously. Taehyung is, of course, not complaining—he’d never be that guy, but he likes that Jeongguk is. He’s got a nice body, and Taehyung happens to be an admirer.

Jeongguk looks down at himself, narrowing his eyes back at Taehyung to ask, “Is there a problem?”

“Not at all. The view is lovely from here,” he says, to which Jeongguk arches an eyebrow. “You have nice legs, too. Among other things.”

“So full of praise tonight,” Jeongguk says, probably referring to Taehyung complimenting him on his appearance when they met at the door of the restaurant.

“You’ve caught me in a good mood tonight,” Taehyung says, earning himself a grin from Jeongguk.

“Good enough for you to tell me about your skin problems,” he says.

Taehyung snorts at that, and still smiling, replies, “That comes with a prince, though. You’re gonna have to tell me something.”

“And what’s that something?” Jeongguk asks, narrowing his eyes at him.

“I wanna know,” Taehyung starts, “what your app is.”

“My app?” Jeongguk asks, corners of his mouth lifting into a smile that seems a little incredulous.

“Yeah! You said you and some friends developed an app and it blew up, and for months I’ve been wondering what the app is but not wanting to ask in case it’s, like, invasive,” Taehyung explains.

“You could have asked long ago, you know,” Jeongguk says. “It’s just a work matter.”

“I’m asking now,” Taehyung says, “so answer.”

“Fine,” Jeongguk gives in, leaning back on his chair. “Fitness.”

Taehyung’s eyebrows raise at that, as he repeats, “Fitness? A fitness app?” When Jeongguk nods, he inquires again, “As in, like, workouts and stuff?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Jeongguk says with a nod. “Why do you look so shocked?”

“I was expecting something like…  a game, or something,” Taehyung says, making Jeongguk chuckle. “So, do you make videos working out or what?”

“God, no,” Jeongguk is quick to deny. “I just coded for it. We sold the app to a big developing company for a lot of cash, anyway.”

“Wait, for real?” Taehyung asks, surprised. “So what is it you do now?”

“I mean, I invested the money I got from the app into property and stocks, and that’s been working out well,” Jeongguk explains. “And aside from that, I work as a software developer for a big company.”

“God, so you’re a stocks guy,” Taehyung says in almost horror, making Jeongguk laugh. “You work nine to five?”

“In the office, yeah, but with some extra hours at home,” Jeongguk replies. “It pays well, but it’s not very exciting to talk about. Not as much as what you do.”

“The sugar baby thing?” Taehyung asks, to which Jeongguk nods. “Oh, god—I suppose it is exciting. I get to hang around an interesting, sexy man.”

Jeongguk scoffs softly, saying, “Are you trying to sweet talk me?”

“Is it working?” Taehyung asks, making a show out of looking at Jeongguk through his eyelashes.

“You don’t need to do that, shh,” Jeongguk says. “How long have you been doing this for?”

“Who said you got to ask questions in return?” Taehyung says, Jeongguk just holding his gaze. “If I reply, then you’re gonna owe me some more answers, too.”

“That’s okay with me,” Jeongguk says. “It’s about time we learn some more about each other, isn’t it?”

“Fair enough,” Taehyung replies, taking a sip of his wine before he says, “A little over a year. Thirteen months.”

“So not very long before we met,” Jeongguk says, to which Taehyung just hums in confirmation. “Any… established things before we met?”

“One established sugar daddy,” Taehyung says, not missing Jeongguk’s wince. “You don’t like the word?”

“Not when applied to myself, not gonna lie. Sounds rather corny,” Jeongguk replies. “And was he good?”

“He was okay,” Taehyung replies, dismissive. “But I like you better.”

“Again with the sweet talk?”

“No, it’s not sweet talk. It’s just the truth,” Taehyung insists. “I like spending time with you. You’re much nicer to be around, and you’re attractive, and you’re my age. Also, you don’t want any weird things.”

“Which weird things?” Jeongguk asks.

“Like, to pretend we’re romantically involved, you know?” Taehyung explains. “My old sugar daddy wanted me to tell him that I loved him.”

“Well, isn’t that sweet,” Jeongguk says, looking far too amused. “Do you love me, Taehyung?”

“Fuck off,” Taehyung says, Jeongguk’s smile broadening. “Are you gonna turn into a weirdo too?”

“Hearing all about your other daddy has me realizing I might not be getting as good a deal as I thought I was.” It’s now Taehyung’s turn to wince at the word. “I want some perks, too.”

“I would say you’ve been getting way more perks than he ever got,” Taehyung says, holding Jeongguk’s gaze across the table. “Actions speak louder than words, don’t they?”

“A lot louder, I would say,” Jeongguk says. He visibly gulps then, as Taehyung softly bumps his foot against Jeongguk’s calf under the table.

“So then,” Taehyung carries on, “tonight, after dinner, we can go over all your perks. I can assure you they’re far better than some sweet lies poured into your ears.”

One corner of Jeongguk’s mouth lifts up in a half-smile, as he says, “I would like that a lot, pretty.”

And with that, Taehyung realizes, maybe the lines of want to and wouldn’t mind to are now more blurred than he told himself they were.

≋

There's nothing wrong with being attracted to Jeongguk, Taehyung comes to realize that night once he gets home. Not only that—there is nothing wrong with actively wanting to have sex with him. After all, it’s just that: sex. Nothing else, nothing more. Definitely not something that could potentially jeopardize the thing they've got going on between them. Nothing sticky and dangerous, like feelings.

Jeongguk is hot, objectively. Not only that, he’s also charming, fun to be around, and happens to have great chemistry with Taehyung, both in and out of bed. So what if Taehyung enjoys having sex with him? What if he wants it, and even initiates it? There’s nothing wrong with that.

Denial has never been good for anything, and instead of helping, it certainly only makes things far more complicated. So maybe it’s for the best that Taehyung comes clean with himself.

“Oh, god,” he says to himself, leaning back against the closed door of his apartment. Not for the dramatics, but because his legs still feel wobbly from how hard he came earlier. “He really is a DILF.”

≋

The last thing Taehyung was expecting on his Saturday morning was for Jeongguk to call, especially considering they had seen each other last night, but Taehyung doesn’t let himself be phased by it.

“Do you miss me already?” is what he greets Jeongguk with as soon as he picks up the phone, using his best flirty voice.

“Very dearly,” Jeongguk replies, humorous, but he quickly adds, “but I called for a different reason, I’m afraid.”

“Then I’ve made a fool of myself just now,” Taehyung replies, not in the slightest bit embarrassed. “Tell me, then. What is it?”

“Well… you did mention you had experience with kids the other day, didn’t you?” Jeongguk asks.

Taehyung finds himself frozen for a moment, at a loss for words. “I did, yeah,” he replies slowly, almost with caution. “How come?”

“I have a bit of a, uh… work emergency,” Jeongguk replies. “My ex is out of town, my friends are all busy, and I would rather not have a stranger I haven’t even talked to watch over Daehan. So, if you could do me a favor… But don’t feel pressured to say yes. Only if you can and want.”

Out of all the things that Jeongguk could ask him, this was for sure the last that Taehyung expected. He had the impression that Jeongguk was set on keeping the part of his life that Taehyung was a part of and his family separate, a decision that Taehyung obviously understood. And Taehyung himself, well—he also wanted to keep things as impersonal as possible, but he can hear the stress and urgency in Jeongguk’s tone. Plus, he and Jeongguk have somehow become friends over the course of the months. Not the most orthodox friendship, sure, but still.

“I can be there in… twenty minutes?” Taehyung estimates. “Does that work?”

“Perfectly,” Jeongguk sighs in relief. “I’ll give you a quick run of where everything is when you get here.”

And that Jeongguk does. In ten minutes, he makes sure to apologize to Taehyung a million times, introduce him to Daehan, and basically show Taehyung where everything he could ever need is—including the medicine cabinet, which Taehyung surely hopes he won’t need at all.

“If he’s too much, call me, seriously. I don’t want to inconvenience you even more,” Jeongguk repeats as he hurriedly puts on his jacket. “I won’t be gone for more than a couple of hours, and if you’re lucky he’ll nap through all of it.”

“I got it,” Taehyung reassures, the toddler draped around his neck as he watches Jeongguk get ready to go. “He’s going to behave so well, won’t you, Daehan?”

Daehan looks at Taehyung, eyes big and wide, and then at Jeongguk before asking, “Where are you going, daddy?”

“I have to leave for work, buddy,” Jeongguk explains, leaning down a little so he can look at Daehan in the eye. “You be good, yeah? Eat your lunch and take a nap, and I’ll be back before you can even miss me.”

“Okay daddy,” Daehan says with a little nod, moving to look at Taehyung again. Taehyung beams at him, which causes Daehan to—finally—give him a small smile in return.

“He’s just a little shy,” Jeongguk says as he reaches for the door, “but he’s a good kid. I’m sure he’ll give you no trouble.”

“I’m sure,” Taehyung reassures, following Jeongguk right to the door.

He watches as Jeongguk gives a kiss to Daehan’s chubby cheek, the toddler making grabby hands at his dad when he turns to leave. He doesn’t seem sad after Jeongguk leaves, but he’s still a little quiet around Taehyung at first. Shy, like Jeongguk himself said.

Taehyung is good with kids, and not just because of his experience taking care of them—he’s got a good instinct with them, too. It doesn’t take long for Daehan to agree to play with him, giving an extensive and very babbly explanation of every toy that he brings with him. Taehyung can’t help but internally coo, because Daehan is without a doubt one of the most adorable kids he’s ever seen.

He looks a lot like Jeongguk, to be fair. His eyes are what stand out to Taehyung the most, as they look exactly the same as Jeongguk’s: big, round, and so expressive. But if he looks closer, he sees other similarities, like the pouty bottom lip and the shape of their ears. It’s like a mini Jeongguk, right down to some mannerisms.

Taehyung makes sure to give Daehan lunch at the exact hour that Jeongguk told him to, not wanting to disturb his schedule. Luckily, Jeongguk wasn't exaggerating about Daehan being very well-behaved. He happily eats his lunch, and he also takes his nap without any disturbances. While he sleeps, Taehyung lets himself wander around Jeongguk’s apartment. Sure, he’s been here many times before, but he never really went anywhere past the bedroom, bathroom, and living room. He doesn’t touch anything, doesn’t open any drawers or closets, but he does let himself have a little look around. He knew Jeongguk’s place was big, especially by Seoul standards, but he’d be lying if he said he’s not impressed now.

It doesn’t take Jeongguk more than the two hours he promised to get back, and once he does, he finds Taehyung sitting on the couch in the living room and Daehan still asleep next to him. Upon entering and seeing the scene, Jeongguk nods his head in the direction of the kitchen, so Taehyung stands as quietly as possible and heads there.

“Everything good?” Jeongguk asks quietly once Taehyung gets there, coat still on.

Taehyung nods, then says, “Perfect. He’s very easy to handle.” When Jeongguk nods, Taehyung adds, “He’s been asleep for almost an hour now.”

“That’s good, that’s good,” Jeongguk says, looking much more at ease than he did before leaving.

“Everything good at work?” Taehyung asks, biting his tongue once the words are out of his mouth. He shouldn’t have asked that, should he?

But Jeongguk doesn’t seem to mind, replying, “It’s all good now. We had a security breach, but it’s all fixed now.” Taehyung nods, but before he can say anything in response, Jeongguk reaches forward and places a hand on his hip, gently squeezing as he says, “I don’t think you know how much you’ve saved my ass today.”

“The more you say that, the more I’m gonna milk it when you decide to make it up to me,” Taehyung teases, knowing Jeongguk would promise to compensate him incessantly.

Jeongguk chuckles softly, stepping close enough so Taehyung can smell the sweet tang of his cologne. “So what do you have in mind right now?”

“Something designer. I’ll have a look when I’m home and tell you,” Taehyung says, meeting Jeongguk’s eyes and giving him a coy look.

“Anything you want,” Jeongguk says, his hand easily slipping up and holding Taehyung’s waist. Taehyung meets him halfway when he leans forward, pressing a soft, long kiss against Taehyung’s lips. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Taehyung mutters against Jeongguk’s mouth. This time he’s the one to surge forward, stealing another kiss before he pulls back and announces, “The budget for my designer piece went up ₩100,000 just for that, by the way.”

Jeongguk laughs as he pulls back, softly slapping Taehyung’s ass before he fully steps away and starts taking his coat off, “And why exactly should I humor you on that, Taehyung?”

“Because you like keeping me around,” Taehyung resolves easily, leaning back against the kitchen wall. When Jeongguk gives him a funny look, eyebrows raised inquiringly, Taehyung adds, “And I saved your ass today, after all.”

“Shouldn’t have said that,” Jeongguk jokes as he shakes his head.

“Too late now for regrets,” is what Taehyung says in reply, pleased with himself.

Taehyung doesn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Daehan, as he’s still asleep when Taehyung leaves, but Jeongguk does walk him to the door and kisses him some more. When Taehyung gets home half an hour later, he does so feeling happy about how the day went. Not only did he have a lovely day, but he’ll also have a new designer something hanging in his closet in a matter of a few days. And for that, he only has Jeongguk to thank.

≋

As it turns, Jimin’s thing with the cute DJ he met the night he and Taehyung went out becomes serious—so serious that he ends up inviting Taehyung and Yoongi to dinner to introduce them to Hoseok. Hoseok, whom Taehyung has heard so much about over the past weeks that he almost feels like they already know each other. He’s so funny and so loud, and he matches Jimin’s energy so well, and so flirty, and his dick—yeah. Taehyung has heard a lot.

It’s still exciting to meet the man himself because even though according to Jimin, Taehyung and Hoseok did exchange a few words that one night, Taehyung has absolutely no recollection of them. Everything after they stepped into the club is a distant memory, to the point Taehyung didn’t really recognize Hoseok’s face when Jimin showed him a picture of his new boyfriend.

“I was really looking forward to having you guys meet him,” Jimin says with a cheesing smile, nodding his head to Hoseok, who sits to his right. Right across from them sits Yoongi and Taehyung, side by side. “Also, I really just wanted to meet up with you. It’s been ages.”

That last part is clearly addressed at Yoongi, whom neither Jimin nor Taehyung has seen for the last couple of weeks. Yoongi doesn’t seem particularly bothered by the accusation—he just shrugs, saying, “I have a job, you know.”

“That’s not an excuse,” Taehyung chimes in. “We all do.”

Yoongi snorts at that, as Jimin says, “But some of us work more hours than others.” Taehyung can see Jimin’s hand go to Hoseok’s leg as he leans a bit closer, saying in a tone hushed enough so only the three of them can hear, “Taehyung here has a bit of an unusual job.”

“Please,” Taehyung interrupts then. “It took you, what? Five minutes to bring it up?"

If anything, Taehyung is shocked that Jimin didn’t tell Hoseok before now. He doesn’t mind—it’s not like he’s secretive about what he does around his circle. If Jimin thinks Hoseok is trustable, then Taehyung doesn’t mind if he tells him.

“Okay, but what’s the job?” Hoseok asks, his gaze going from Taehyung to Jimin, back to Taehyung. “Because right now I’m imagining you’re a hitman and I don't know how to feel about that.”

For some reason, that makes Yoongi burst into laughter, so Taehyung ends up elbowing him. “What’s your problem?” His protests are not enough to shut his friend up, so bringing his attention back to Hoseok, he says, “It’s nothing illegal. I just have a sugar daddy.”

Hoseok seems surprised by that, his eyebrows rising up in his forehead. “As a job?” he asks, nothing short of incredulous. When Taehyung nods, Hoseok says, “I thought people did that as a side thing. I didn't know it could be that sustainable.”

“Well, babe,” Jimin says then, Hoseok turning around to look at him. There’s a small smile on his lips as he watches Jimin, and Taehyung almost feels like he’s looking at something he shouldn’t. At least Hoseok looks just as into Jimin as Taehyung knows that Jimin is into Hoseok. “He does give him a lot of sugar.”

“I had a job at first, when I started doing it,” Taehyung says, recalling his old days as an assistant for an asshole boss who treated him like dirt. “But I didn’t like it much, and what Jeongguk gives me is more than enough to get by. So…”

“That’s cool,” Hoseok says with a smile, not a hint of judgement in his expression. Not that Taehyung would care—he’s over paying attention to what people think of him—but it’s nice to be around people who are open-minded like that. He seems like a cool guy. “I mean, if I could get a hag to pay me to spend time with him, I would too.”

“He’s not a hag,” Jimin interjects, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “He’s actually a DILF.”

Yoongi frowns at that, saying, “Just because he’s a sugar daddy doesn’t mean you can call him a DILF.”

“See, this is why you need to hang out with us more often,” Taehyung says, stealing a glance at Jimin and seeing on his lips the same devious smile that is on his own. “If you did, you’d know Jeongguk has a child.”

Yoongi chokes on his drink at that, which makes Jimin laugh so hard he bumps into Hoseok. The latter, on the other side, seems like he's having trouble catching up with all of this.

“Jeongguk is the name of your sugar daddy?” he double-checks.

“Precisely,” Taehyung confirms. “And he’s not a hag, he’s only twenty-three—younger than me actually. Which is why it’s so shocking that he has a child.”

“This is the most unconventional sugar daddy situation I’ve ever heard of,” Hoseok mumbles almost to himself. Jimin giggles again after hearing that, at the time Hoseok adds, “Your sugar daddy is younger than you.”

“I’ve never been a traditional person,” Taehyung replies with a grin.

Truth be told, at first he was just as surprised as Hoseok is, but he guesses it’s not exclusive of older people to feel lonely and resort to this. Maybe not even due to feeling lonely—it could be that Jeongguk wanted some casual company, and this simply was the most convenient way. He guesses it’s more common to see older people seek these services because they’re usually the ones who can afford it. Not all twenty-three-year-olds have as much money as Jeongguk, after all.

“He’s basically getting paid to date a sexy man,” Jimin explains.

“It’s not like dating—” Taehyung tries, but Jimin interrupts.

“Except it is because you go on dates and all that jazz,” Jimin says, Taehyung perfectly aware that the jazz that Jimin is referring to is none other than sex. “Just without the feelings part.”

“Isn’t that pretty fundamental to date?” Yoongi asks, Taehyung pointing at Yoongi with both hands like he’s made the smartest comment of the evening.

“Not necessarily. People can date casually without having feelings for each other,” Hoseok observes.

Unexpectedly, Jimin replies with, “That better not be the case with you because I’m looking for something meaningful here.”

He’s facing ahead, but still looking at Hoseok from the corner of his eye. He for sure notices Hoseok approach, and doesn’t move as he slides an arm around his shoulders and presses a kiss to his cheek. “Of course it’s not.”

Taehyung once again feels like he’s invading, so he averts his eyes and looks at Yoongi instead, who is doing the exact same thing as Taehyung is. “I wonder how long the honeymoon phase is gonna last for these two,” Yoongi whispers. “This is making me feel more single than I’ve ever felt before.”

“You’ll get through it,” Taehyung says. “Wanna date?”

“Sorry, I don’t date taken men,” Yoongi replies, making Taehyung chuckle loudly. “I hope you understand.”

“Fuck you.”

“Again, I don’t fuck tak—”

“Enough!”

≋

Ever since he was little, Taehyung has always loved dogs. If there’s something that he knew from a young age it's that the moment he had the money and the means to, he’d adopt a dog. Now, thanks to Jeongguk, he does have the money, and he certainly has the time as he doesn’t really have to spend hours and hours in an office. Unfortunately, what he doesn’t have is an apartment where dogs or any pets are allowed. So there he is, twenty-five and dogless.

The good news, however, is that Jimin has a dog. Taehyung thinks there's some unspoken pact between them that has gotten them to the point where they acknowledge that one’s pet is also the other’s pet. This way Taehyung gets to live vicariously through Jimin, and Jimin gets a break from being the one that has to pick up dog shit from the sidewalk during walks. It’s full of advantages if you look at it from the right angle.

Plus, it’s just another excuse for them to hang out more. And there’s nothing that Taehyung loves more than hanging out with Jimin and chatting so much that Yoongi sometimes has to just shut down and ignore them for a while.

So, yes. Taehyung likes to come by and just spend some time with Jimin and his dog, whenever Jimin has time to spare. Today is one of those days, where he drops by Jimin’s place unannounced and convinces him to go out for a walk to the nearby park.

On the way there, Jimin tells him all about the awful job interview he had today.

“I’m serious, everything that could have gone badly, went badly,” Jimin protests. “I stained my shirt, part of the outfit I carefully put together last week, with my morning coffee. Then I missed the subway. Then I tripped in the reception, in front of all of my potential co-workers. And then I had the worst interview of my entire professional life, Jesus.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. You do have a tendency to dramatize your stories,” Taehyung replies. He’s looking ahead to the dog, watching her take quick, tiny steps to keep up with their pace, but still can sense Jimin looking at him with—probably—narrowed eyes. “You’re the smartest person I know. I’m sure it was amazing.”

“It better be,” Jimin groans. “I need an upgrade from my current job. If I have to see my boss’ face for one more day it’s actually over. I’ve never felt so hated by anyone in my entire life.”

Taehyung can’t help but roll his eyes at that, the two of them stepping into the park. “What about the old days with the, oh, I love my new job so much! Oh, my boss is the nicest?” Taehyung asks.

“Listen, I’m a very pro-active member of society and I’m constantly looking for upgrades,” Jimin says, making Taehyung laugh because of how full of shit he is. “If I don’t hear from them tomorrow—”

“You’re not gonna hear from them tomorrow,” Taehyung interrupts but Jimin doesn’t care.

“If I don’t hear from them tomorrow I’m assuming the worst,” Jimin resolves. Taehyung doesn’t even try to argue this time around—he knows Jimin, and he knows it will be useless. And also because he knows Jimin, there’s not a shadow of a doubt that he’ll get the job. “Well, that’s enough from me now. How’s your day been?”

“It’s been good. Uneventful,” Taehyung says, bumping into Jimin when he steps to the left to swerve a jogger. “I was thinking of getting a gym membership.”

In times like these, where Jimin offers a very real and serious concern and all that Taehyung has to offer is that he’s thinking of signing up for the gym, he feels so out of touch with reality. Almost like he’s a Kardashian, or a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, or something like that. He was once part of the active population, waking up at seven in the morning every day, commuting to and back from his job, spending endless hours in the office. But working as an assistant for what could only be described as a tyrant for a year and a half gave him burnout, and when he saw the chance to get by without having to work, Taehyung took it.

He’s not stupid, though. He knows the sugar daddy thing is fleeting and won’t last him for more than a couple of years. He needs a Plan B and that’s where his degree comes into it. But he knows he can’t just lay there too comfortably and spend too much time outside of the workplace because then coming back will be much harder. 

He’s got it, though. He’s just trying to enjoy the ride while it lasts, but he plans to get back to work relatively soon.

“Oh, are you gonna get beefy?” Jimin asks, jokingly. “Will I go to bed daydreaming about your toned arms?”

“You should go to bed daydreaming about your boyfriend’s arms,” Taehyung says, looking at Jimin. He rolls his eyes, yeah, but there’s also a far more sincere smile appearing on his lips as Taehyung says that. Jimin may try to fool him with the unbothered act, but Taehyung sees right through it.

“So what you’re saying is that you want to ruin my relationship,” Jimin resolves, making Taehyung snort a little.

“That’s exactly what I mean, yes,” Taehyung replies, playing along. “I guess this is as good a time as any other to tell you that I’m deeply in love with you, Jimin.”

“Well, that makes me very happy to hear,” Jimin says dramatically. “You should let your sugar daddy know, though. I refuse to share you with another man.”

“Is that what it takes for you to take my love? Because I will,” Taehyung replies.

“Go do it now, then,” Jimin tells him. Taehyung frowns in confusion, but before he can ask what he means, Jimin discreetly points ahead with his hand, saying, “Isn’t that him over there?”

And with that, Taehyung freezes, the dog tugging at the leash before he looks back at Taehyung in what looks like annoyance. Usually, the disappointment in a dog’s eyes when looking at him would be the main cause of his concerns, but right now, he’s too occupied looking at Jeongguk standing next to a bright red slide, Daehan standing right on top.

“Shit,” Taehyung says, mostly to himself. Jimin hears it, though, and he giggles. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

Not that the park they’ve gone to is some hidden gem, but Taehyung just wonders what the odds are of running into Jeongguk randomly like this. Seoul is big enough to warrant that you never randomly encounter someone like this without meaning to. What’s overpopulation good for if not to avoid awkward encounters?

“You might wanna have your little realization away from the main path,” Jimin says, pushing Taehyung and making him take a step to the side. “I wouldn’t want for a jogger to lunge at us to get us out of the way.”

“We’re turning right back. I don’t want to run into him right now,” Taehyung urges, but Jimin doesn’t move.

“Why the hell not? Are you afraid he’s gonna dump you when he doesn’t see you all dolled up in your Gucci?” Jimin teases. When Taehyung gives him a death stare, he adds, “C’mon, Tae. You’re acting like a fifteen-year-old who's scared to walk past his crush. Get a grip, bro.”

“Shut up, bro,” Taehyung says, imitating Jimin’s tone. For some reason, it just makes him laugh even harder. “If you think I’m gonna let you interact or even get close to him, you’re out of your mind.”

“Are you scared he’s gonna want me as his sugar baby instead?” Jimin says, and something about that comment has Taehyung laughing now, instead. “Hey! What’s so funny?”

“Just for the record, you’re not his type. I’m just scared you’re gonna say the stupidest thing that’s gonna cross your mind,” Taehyung says, which earns him Jimin’s fakest angelic smile. “I don’t need you to convince Jeongguk that I’m in love with him.”

“Then stop acting like it,” Jimin says. Taehyung doesn’t move, just giving Jimin his best poker face. “C’mon! I just wanna see the kid. You say he looks just like him, but with fatter cheeks. That’s promising.”

“Boundaries, Jimin,” Taehyung reminds him, seeing Jimin deflate a little. “I don’t wanna go over there when he’s with his kid. That might be overstepping boundaries.”

“Fine,” Jimin says with a sigh, finally turning around and following after Taehyung. “But I don’t think you’d overstep any boundaries. He asked you to babysit for him, after all. He wouldn’t have done that if he wanted you away at all costs.”

“That was different,” Taehyung says, resisting the urge to turn around and look at Jeongguk and Daehan one last time. “It was a last resort and it was on his terms. His decision. It’s his family and I respect that.”

Jimin clicks his tongue, but he doesn’t argue that—Taehyung is right about this, he knows. It’s not like he and Jeongguk are just friends or merely acquaintances. The relationship between them is different, and it’s definitely not one that you explain to your kid. So he’s going to limit his presence in Daehan’s life to fit whatever Jeongguk considers appropriate.

“As you wish,” Jimin says. He still sounds disappointed with the turn of events, but at least he’s not fighting anymore. “Now, crouch down. Someone has a little gift for you.”

It takes Taehyung a moment to realize what Jimin means, but when he follows his line of sight and looks at the dog, he finally understands.

See? Another reason why he’s glad they turned around, instead of going over to Jeongguk. Picking up dog poo in front of him seems too humiliating, something he doesn’t really wish to experience.

“Oh, fantastic,” Taehyung says, getting a little plastic bag from the container attached to the leash. “Just what I needed right now.”

“Fate works in funny ways, Taehyungie,” Jimin says, cheesing as he watches Taehyung crouch down next to the dog.

And really, it does. When Taehyung steals the quickest look over his shoulder, catching Daehan going down the slide with his hands in the air and a happy smile, Taehyung realizes it does.

≋

There was a day that Taehyung always feared as a sugar baby: the day he’d hear the words I have an unusual request. According to what he saw online when he was doing his research about whether he wanted to do this or not, those words rarely ever prefaced anything normal. It was always weird shit, like some humiliation fantasy from those men, or there was even one case of a man asking his sugar baby to dress up in his dead wife’s clothes. Weird, creepy, and never good.

With Jeongguk, Taehyung always thought he was safe. He seemed pretty normal, and after months of having sex, the truth is he never pulled out anything strange. No icky names, even. So when Jeongguk calls him one morning, saying the cursed words, Taehyung can’t help but tense up.

“Unusual?” he asks, Jeongguk humming in confirmation. “And what’s this unusual request?”

“I know we usually don’t do this,” Jeongguk starts, and oh, god. He’s going to ask something weird. God, Taehyung really hopes Jeongguk doesn’t want him to put on some leather and whip him or something like that—no hate to those that like to whip or be whipped, really, it’s just not his thing. “But I was wondering if you’d be up for accompanying me somewhere.”

The words, far from easing Taehyung’s mind, just create new questions that his imagination quickly gives answers to. A swingers club, maybe? Oh, maybe one of those sex dungeon clubs. He really is expecting the worst.

“Depends on where that is,” Taehyung replies cautiously, trying not to rope himself into a situation that he won’t like. After all, when he and Jeongguk first met, they did say Taehyung had the right to decline anything that made him uncomfortable.

“Well...” Jeongguk says. “Some people from my high school senior class are meeting up this weekend, down in Busan. I was wondering if you’d be up for going there with me. It’d just be some drinks and dinner, and we’d be back in Seoul that very same night.”

Taehyung frowns. Wait—what?

“What? A high school reunion?” Taehyung asks, feeling a weird mixture of disbelief and relief. “That is unusual to you?”

“Well, I mean unusual in the sense that usually we don’t go out with other people. It’s just the two of us,” Jeongguk replies, which—fine. It’s true. “What did you think I meant?”

“Oh my god, I don’t know, I—” Taehyung starts, stumbling upon his own words. “Jeongguk, I was shitting myself! I thought you wanted to take me to some BDSM club of sorts.”

He sounds serious, but his concern seems to be the funniest thing Jeongguk has heard in a while. He laughs so much that it almost hurts Taehyung’s ears, as he has his earphones in. Taehyung rolls his eyes as he listens to him cackle and cackle, but he can’t deny that the smallest of smiles appears on his lips.

“Why on Earth would you assume that?” Jeongguk asks, still laughing. “Do you think I’m a daddy dom?”

“That—that was a possibility, but I was thinking more the opposite,” Taehyung starts. He feels a little bit embarrassed about jumping to such wrong conclusions, so he babbles, “Listen, when I was thinking of doing this, I found so many forums online, and a lot of sugar babies said that powerful men have these power fantasies where they’re not in control. I thought you wanted me to spank you and call you my little bitch.”

That sends Jeongguk, who had already calmed down, into yet another laughing fit. This time, however, Taehyung can’t help but join in. Maybe at the absurdity of the situation, maybe at the image that his own words have created in his head, maybe because of how contagious Jeongguk’s laugh is.

“I can one hundred percent guarantee you that I will not be asking that from you,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung scoffs softly. “But about Busan... are you coming with me?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Taehyung replies, not thinking too hard about it. “Sounds fun. What’s the story? Are we boyfriends or...?”

“Just the truth,” Jeongguk says, “that we’re seeing each other casually.”

Taehyung’s eyebrows raise, but he guesses that's a less complicated way of looking at it. There’s quite a few details missing in that version, yeah, but it’s not entirely a lie.

“Perfect, then,” Taehyung says. “This weekend?”

“On Saturday. We’d leave Seoul in the afternoon. I’ll drive us there,” Jeongguk says.

“Ooh, so I get to ride in the nice car,” Taehyung says with excitement, eliciting a chuckle from Jeongguk. “And when are we coming back?”

“That evening, after dinner,” Jeongguk replies. Taehyung can’t help but raise his eyebrows.

“On the same day?” Taehyung asks, not bothering to conceal his shock. “Are you crazy?”

“I enjoy the drive. Plus, it gives me an excuse not to stay too late,” Jeongguk says, making Taehyung shake his head as a smile climbs to his lips.

“I would offer to drive in turns, but I highly doubt you’ll let me,” Taehyung says.

“No way. I trust you with one of my babies, but the two of them is pushing it,” Jeongguk replies. “So... see you on Saturday?”

“See you on Saturday,” Taehyung confirms once again. And then, just because he likes to tease and because he can, he adds, “Be good while I’m not there.”

≋

Just like Jeongguk promised, the two of them leave Busan and get on their way back to Seoul right after dinner with Jeongguk’s old classmates. It’s already night, but they’ll get back to the city way before midnight without any issues.

Jeongguk’s classmates are okay. Some of them have a bit of a big head, egos fueled by successful careers that are impressive for people of such a young age. They don’t come close to Jeongguk’s, that much is true, but Taehyung guesses that Jeongguk had a very lucky strike. Not many people get that.

“I have a question,” Taehyung asks when they’re driving back. Jeongguk hums inquiringly, eyes on the road. “Why’d you invite me tonight?”

He’s been trying to figure it out. It’s not like Jeongguk asked him to pretend that they have a perfect relationship in front of his old classmates. Taehyung wondered if he only invited him to keep up appearances at first, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. He’s been wondering.

“Maybe I just wanted you to come with me,” Jeongguk replies, Taehyung letting out a soft scoff. “It’s true. I like spending time with you, you know? I have Daehan tomorrow and I had this thing today, so if not today, then we wouldn’t have seen each other this weekend.”

“So it’d be because you’d miss me too much otherwise, huh?” Taehyung ventures, Jeongguk letting out a soft chuckle.

“Gosh, you’re onto me,” he plays along. “Plus, you’re hot.”

“Huh?”

“You’re hot. It’s a power move to turn up to a high school reunion accompanied by a hottie,” Jeongguk says, to which Taehyung makes a sound of disapproval as he shakes his head. He’s still smiling a bit, though.

“So you get Daehan tomorrow?” Taehyung asks, Jeongguk humming again. “I thought you guys split the time through the weekdays and weekends.”

“It’s a bit complicated to work out proper schedules because Siyeon works as a nurse and she has to work odd hours sometimes,” Jeongguk tells him. “We do three days at a time each and work around her shifts.”

“At least you guys seem to get along. I’m sure that makes everything way easier to handle,” Taehyung observes.

“I don’t even want to imagine what it’d be like if we didn’t. She’s there to help me and I’m there to help her,” Jeongguk replies. “I don’t know if it could work out otherwise.”

They're quiet for a couple of seconds, then Taehyung says, “I saw you the other day.”

“Saw me where?” Jeongguk asks, sounding slightly surprised.

“In the park. I was with my friend, and you were on the slides with Daehan,” Taehyung explains. “I think it was Tuesday?”

“And why didn’t you come say hello?”

Taehyung shrugs, letting out a sigh. “I don’t know. I didn’t know if it’d be okay for me to,” he explains. “Because of Daehan.”

“You can always come say hi to me. No matter who I’m with,” Jeongguk says, averting his eyes from the road to meet Taehyung’s for a split second. “Anyone. I have no reason to hide you.”

Taehyung knows that’s true, so it makes his previous concerns sound a little silly in his head. “I just don’t want to force my presence on your kid,” he tries again.

“It’s not imposing or anything. I did ask you to babysit for me before, after all,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung clicks his tongue.

“But it’s different. It was on your terms,” Taehyung says. “I wasn’t sure if you’d like it, so I thought it’d be better to be safe than sorry.”

“Well, now you know for next time,” Jeongguk says. “Can’t believe you didn’t greet me.”

“Listen! It was probably for the best, anyway,” Taehyung says. “I was with my friend and he’d end up saying some embarrassing, uncomfortable thing around you.”

“Embarrassing for who? For you or for me?” Jeongguk asks, amused.

“For both of us. He knows no limits,” Taehyung replies, making Jeongguk laugh.

“Does your friend happen to be the one who came along to the restaurant the first time we met?” Jeongguk asks. At that, Taehyung feels his eyes widen. “You didn't think I didn’t notice, did you?”

“How did you know?” Taehyung asks. “And why did you never say anything?”

“Okay, let’s put it this way. He was sitting at a table right across from me, and you were also sitting right across from me, yeah? So I could see the two of you perfectly,” Jeongguk starts to tell, a bit of a smug smile on his face. “And not only was he there, sitting alone and looking at us more than at his food, but every time he used his phone, yours got a notification. It wasn't that hard to figure out.”

“Oh, god,” Taehyung says, feeling his cheeks heat up. “I thought we were being sleek.”

“Not at all, but don’t worry, I took no offense to it,” Jeongguk says. “Safety first, right? I’m glad you have friends willing to watch over you like that.”

“He’s an angel,” Taehyung says, sincere. “Even if he’s clearly not very good at being incognito.”

“It was probably a good thing. I felt a bit of a protective aura coming from him. If I had been one of the bad guys, I would definitely have felt intimidated,” Jeongguk jokes.

“I know you’re taking the piss, but you are more right about that than you think,” Taehyung warns in a teasing tone. “He might be small, but he’s also full of rage.”

“Sounds threatening,” Jeongguk comments. “Wait—huh?”

“What’s up?” Taehyung asks, watching Jeongguk frown as he looks down at the dashboard of his car.

“We’re slowing down. I think there’s something wrong with the engine,” Jeongguk mutters. “I’m gonna pull over, yeah?”

Out of all the things that Taehyung was expecting to happen tonight, Jeongguk’s very fancy and very expensive-looking car shutting down mid-drive was the very last of them. He watches from the driver’s seat as Jeongguk lifts the hood, disappearing then from his sight.

“Hey, Tae,” Jeongguk calls then, right as Taehyung opens the passenger’s door to get out as well. “You don’t happen to know how to fix cars, do you?”

Taehyung lets out a choked-out noise. “Do I look like the kind of guy who enjoys fixing cars as a hobby, Jeongguk?” he says, Jeongguk snorting. “You have no idea of what’s going on, do you?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Then call your insurance. I refuse to believe you’ve got that car anything less than full coverage,” he suggests. Something about Jeongguk’s expression tells him that his guess was not a wrong one.

They wait there for a bit—firstly, while Jeongguk phones the insurance company, and then they wait for the car trailer to pick the car up, before waiting again, but this time for a taxi. As it turns out, it's far too late for the company to supply them with a replacement car. Instead, and because Jeongguk has some sort of premium package, they promise to supply them with a taxi and a hotel for the night.

“It hurts to see it get taken away,” Jeongguk says as they watch the trailer drive off. “My baby.”

“You’ll be reunited with your baby tomorrow,” Taehyung says, thinking about how Jeongguk told him they could resume the trip tomorrow at noon. “I’m more concerned about what type of hotel we’re gonna end up in. You better not be taking me to a dodgy motel," he jokes. 

“They said hotel,” Jeongguk says, at the same time they see the taxi approach. “What? Aren’t motels classy enough for you?”

“Hanging around you is turning me into a bit of a snob,” Taehyung says, earning himself an arched eyebrow from Jeongguk.

The ride to the hotel isn't very long, and Taehyung must say he’s pleasantly surprised when they arrive. The car broke down in the middle of the highway, closer still to Busan than it was to Seoul, but luckily it was close to a small town with a hotel. Nothing too impressive or big. There can’t be more than around fifteen rooms, judging by the size of it, but it’s better than what Taehyung had pictured, and it’s plenty for one night.

The two of them approach the desk, Jeongguk stating his name for the nth time that evening. The lady at the desk gives them a room key and points down the corridor, telling them their room is at the very end of it. It’s only when they make it there, opening the door to the room and seeing the inside of it, that they realize.

There’s only one bed. A double bed.

Taehyung turns to look at Jeongguk who, finally enough, turns around to look at him at the exact same moment.

“I can go down to the reception and ask for another room,” Jeongguk starts babbling. “Or ask for a supplementary bed. I did tell the insurance company that I was traveling with someone else, but they must have assumed it was a partner. Hold on, I’ll—I’ll be right back.”

Taehyung has no time to slip a word in before Jeongguk turns back around and makes his way to the reception, leaving Taehyung standing under the doorframe. Now alone, Taehyung has a look around the room—it’s not very big, definitely not big enough to fit a supplementary bed like Jeongguk mentioned. But it’s cozy. It’s not that long before he comes back, hands shoved in the pockets of his coat.

“Well?” Taehyung asks, not knowing what to think when Jeongguk enters the room, silent.

“There are no more rooms available,” Jeongguk announces, looking almost apologetic. “And they said there’s no way they can fit another bed in here.”

See? Taehyung knew it.

“That’s okay,” Taehyung replies.

“We don’t have any clothes to sleep in,” Jeongguk says, starting to pace around the room. There’s not much space, so he just ends up walking in circles, saying, “Maybe I can sleep on the armchair.”

“Are you crazy?” Taehyung asks, successfully catching Jeongguk’s attention. He steps closer to Jeongguk, placing his hands on his shoulders and saying, “Jeongguk, this shouldn’t be a big deal. We’ve had sex—surely we can share a bed for a night.”

“It’s not the same,” Jeongguk says. “If you’re uncomfortable—”

“I’m not uncomfortable,” Taehyung interrupts. Jeongguk’s mouth shuts, and so Taehyung asks, “Are you uncomfortable?”

“I’m not.”

“Then we can share a bed for a night,” Taehyung resolves. “I must warn you, though, that I’m a very active sleeper.”

“How active are we talking about?” Jeongguk asks, now starting to take off his coat.

“Very active,” Taehyung says, emphasizing the first word. He’s standing close to Jeongguk now, looking into his eyes as he says, “I wake up upside down in the bed with my feet on the pillow kind of active.”

“Oh, god,” Jeongguk says, his hands slipping down to Taehyung’s hips with ease. “We’re about to have a very fun night, then.”

“You think so?” Taehyung asks, his finger gently tracing a line from Jeongguk’s clavicle down to his chest.

“Yeah,” Jeongguk replies with a nod. “It seems we’re both about the same.”

Taehyung laughs at that, but he’s soon shut up when Jeongguk leans forward and catches his lips into a kiss. He’s not certain about whether they’ll get lots of sleep tonight, or if it will be good sleep. But what’s for sure, like Jeongguk said, is that they have a fun night ahead.

≋

That night, Taehyung doesn’t get the best sleep of his life, but that’s to be expected. First of all, he always needs a night or two to adjust to a new bed. And second of all, he also needs time to adjust to the fact that there is another body next to him in the bed. Jeongguk’s body.

He wakes up through the night a few times, luckily enough not in any weird positions—not upside, not thrown all over Jeongguk, not clinging to him too much. He does cuddle into him a little bit, or maybe Jeongguk is the one that cuddles into Taehyung. Not that it really matters, to be fair. What Taehyung knows is that he wakes up to Jeongguk’s arm slung over his waist, his thigh slotted between Taehyung’s legs and their faces close.

Almost like Jeongguk’s body burns him, Taehyung pulls back.

Luckily, it seems like Jeongguk is quite the heavy sleeper, so he doesn’t really notice as Taehyung leaves the bed and slips into the bathroom. He runs a hand through his hair, looking at himself in the mirror and deciding he urgently needs a shower. He obviously doesn’t have a change of clothes, but it doesn't matter too much—he'll just put on the same outfit as yesterday since he only had it on for a few hours. Right now, though, he really needs to fix the mess that his hair has turned into overnight.

At home, Taehyung takes his sweet time to shower, but the pressure in the hotel room isn't the strongest and the water is lukewarm at most, so he finishes fast. He’s in the midst of drying himself up with the towel when he hears a noise on the other side of the door. It takes him a couple of seconds to recognize the sound as Jeongguk’s voice, and so Taehyung frowns. Who is he talking to? Maybe he’s on the phone.

And it’s then that, very muffled, the sound of a second voice grazes his ears. It’s easy to recognize the childish timbre to it, so it all suddenly makes sense to Taehyung—it’s Daehan. After all, Jeongguk did say last night he was meant to spend the day with Daehan today. He’s probably called Siyeon to tell him he won’t be making it back to Seoul until later in the evening, choosing to speak with Daehan in the meantime.

It makes Taehyung hesitant to leave the bathroom, but he guesses as long as he stays quiet it should be alright for him to leave, right? He’s not going to stay half-naked in the tiny, steamy bathroom, waiting for them to be done talking. Plus, maybe Jeongguk is waiting for him to leave so he can use the bathroom himself.

And so, careful so the door doesn’t creak too much, Taehyung pushes the door open and steps back into the bedroom area. He finds Jeongguk sitting on the bed, his shirt from last night back on as he holds the phone in front of himself. He’s still only wearing his boxer briefs, though. So a video call, Taehyung guesses.

“I need to go now, buddy,” Jeongguk says, stealing the quickest of glances at Taehyung. “Give the phone back to mommy?”

“Mommy, here’s daddy,” says Daehan. His voice isn’t too high, making it hard for Taehyung to make out the words.

“I’ll text you when we’re about to leave. We’re, like... two hours away,” Jeongguk estimates.

“No worries. We’re having lots of fun over here, aren’t we?” says Siyeon. Taehyung hears Daehan laugh, then. “Don’t rush here, either. I know you like speeding.”

Taehyung watches as Jeongguk rolls his eyes at that, deciding to ignore it. “I’ll see you later, noona,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung finds himself surprised—noona? He didn’t know Siyeon was older. But then again, he doesn’t know many things about her. He’s never bothered to ask, and Jeongguk has never bothered to tell. So…

“Bye, Jeongguk, see you later,” is the last thing Taehyung hears before the line goes dead, and Jeongguk stretches his arms over his head with a groan.

“Good morning,” Taehyung greets him, now moving freely around the room as there’s no cameras that could involuntarily catch him. He only has his underwear on, droplets of water dripping from his hair and sliding down his back. When he moves to the free chair, where his clothes from last night are resting, he feels Jeongguk’s eyes on him.

“Good morning, you,” Jeongguk greets back. “I didn’t peg you for a morning person.”

“Oh, that’s because I’m not one at all,” Taehyung says, giving Jeongguk a quick smile before he recovers his pants from the chair and starts putting them on.

“What is it, then?” Jeongguk presses. “Eager to get out of bed with me?”

“It’s almost like you want me to insult you and be repulsed by you,” Taehyung mocks. “I simply woke up and decided to take a shower. No biggie.”

“Well, the car won’t be ready for at least a good... four hours,” Jeongguk says, looking at the screen of his phone. “So I can have a shower, then we can go down to the dining area for some breakfast, and then we can rot until then.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re incredibly dramatic?” Taehyung says, to which Jeongguk huffs out a laugh. He finishes buttoning up his slacks, wiping his back with the towel one last time before it’s time for the shirt to go back on. “Maybe we could have a little walk around town. I don’t think I’ve ever been here.”

“Me neither, actually,” Jeongguk confesses as he stands from the chair, hands working on undoing the buttons of his shirt. Funny, Taehyung thinks. He’s buttoning his own up, as Jeongguk unbuttons his own. They’re certainly a sight to behold. “That sounds fun. Maybe I can get something for Daehan to make up for not being there today.”

“Bribing your child?” Taehyung jokes.

“Thought we agreed I’d do the parenting and you’d do the sugar babying,” Jeongguk says, bringing up their own words from last month. God, Taehyung has almost forgotten he had said that, Christ.

“We have, but lately I've acquired new functions,” he retorts. “I also do the nannying. So you better not turn Daehan into a spoiled brat.”

Jeongguk actually laughs at that, walking in the direction of the bathroom.

“He’s turned out quite well up until now, don’t you think?” he asks. He’s stepped into the bathroom now, but his head peeks out from the doorframe as he looks at Taehyung with inquiring eyes.

And really, between the two of them, there’s always been a lot of teasing and a lot of joking around, even in the beginning stages where they didn’t know each other that well. But Taehyung reads people well, and he can tell when there’s something genuine behind what’s masked as a joke. He knows that this topic, his parenting, is important to Jeongguk. And he knows right now, as he looks at Taehyung and waits for a response, he’s looking for what could be interpreted as praise or reassurance, or a little bit of both.

So Taehyung gives him it. But not just to please Jeongguk—but because he thinks he deserves it.

“He’s turned out wonderful,” he says, and this might be one of the biggest truths he’s ever told Jeongguk. “You’ve done an amazing job raising him.”

Jeongguk’s smile right then is toothy and sincere, and Taehyung feels his heart warm up a little as he sees his eyes crinkle before he fully disappears inside the bathroom.

≋

After four hours of waiting by walking around town, and then another two hours of driving, Jeongguk and Taehyung finally arrive in Seoul. It doesn’t feel long to Taehyung, though—he’s used to spending time with Jeongguk, conversation flows easily between them, and it’s refreshing to be with him in a setting different from their usual: dinner dates, then going home to Jeongguk’s, where things get a little flirtier and steamier.

He already knew that he enjoyed spending time with Jeongguk, but this just further reaffirms it. To the point where Taehyung kind of forgets what they are, the peculiarities of their relationship. When Jeongguk asks where he should drop him off, Taehyung just blurts out his address. Only after Jeongguk logs it into his GPS, does Taehyung realize what he’s done.

When he first started, this was a line he said he wouldn’t cross—giving out his address. But so was his number at some point, and so was his real name. Over time, those lines became blurrier, as Jeongguk progressively earned his trust and proved to him he wasn’t just another weird, creepy man. This was the last hard limit that Taehyung had crossed, and as Jeongguk pulls up into his street and parks right outside of his complex, Taehyung realizes that he’s broken this one, too.

Oh, well. Not that he has anything to worry about. Not with Jeongguk.

“Thank you for driving me back,” Taehyung says, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting ready to leave the car. “It’s been a fun yet unexpected couple of days.”

Jeongguk smiles a little, says, “It has been fun, yeah. I had a really good time with you this weekend.” There’s silence for a couple of seconds, then he says, “Maybe we could do it again sometime.”

“Go for a drive and have your car strand us on the highway because of a faulty fuel pump?” Taehyung says, repeating the words that the mechanic said to them earlier in the afternoon.

“Hopefully not that. I’d dare say that’s my least favorite part of it all,” Jeongguk says. “But I mean, going on a getaway for a weekend? It’s been lovely to get out of the city.”

Lovely, Jeongguk says. It’s a bit of an understatement but Taehyung won’t say that. It’s also a bit of a surprise that Jeongguk is the one suggesting this, considering he was almost having a meltdown over having to share a bed last night. But Taehyung guesses that now the ice has already been broken, it’s easier to bring it up.

“I’d love to,” Taehyung says. He doesn’t let himself think too much about it and leans forward, pressing a kiss to Jeongguk’s cheek. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Very soon,” Jeongguk says, as Taehyung opens the door and finally gets out. Leaning over the console to look at him one last time, Jeongguk says, “I’ll call you.”

“Good,” Taehyung says, beginning to close the door. Before shutting it, Taehyung adds, “You know I like to hear your voice.”

He doesn’t let himself look back as he makes his way to the door of his building, not even as he hears the engine of Jeongguk’s car start again. Not because he doesn’t want to see Jeongguk, no. He’s just afraid that if he looks back, Jeongguk might see the blush on his cheeks.

≋

That night when he’s in his bedroom about to get into bed, Taehyung’s phone vibrates with a notification. He sees the logo of his bank app pop up on his screen, and then it sinks in. It’s Sunday which means it’s payday. Taehyung gets his phone from where it’s lying next to him in bed and unlocks it, opening the app to check his balance. Once he puts his login details in, though, something surprises him—Jeongguk sent him more money than he should have. Every week he sends the same amount, so it’s not easy for Taehyung to miss the additional thousands of won that have been added to the total. He’s about to ask Jeongguk about it in case there were any mistakes, when he notices that Jeongguk sends a message along with the transference.

Sent something extra for last night. Get yourself something nice, pretty.

Taehyung looks down at his phone for a couple of moments, feeling like he can’t accept this. But hey, why shouldn’t he? Maybe the problem is that he’s been getting too into his head about this whole thing and has seemingly forgotten that this is what he does for money. Spending more time with Jeongguk than they had initially agreed to does justify Jeongguk paying him more. As nice as last night and this morning were, and as much as they felt more real than anything between them up until now, Taehyung has to remind himself that this is business.

So he’s going to accept it. He gets his phone, sends Jeongguk a text thanking him—which he does every single week when his allowance comes, except today he makes sure to send extra heart emojis—and goes back to his laptop. He has some cash to spare, so he better find something to invest it in. Jeongguk did tell him to get something nice, after all.

≋

There are many things about Jeongguk that Taehyung has been discovering over the course of the months he’s known him for. He’s a bit of an introvert, but once he got comfortable around him he became really loud and quick-witted; he’s into gaming, he’s a good cook, he’s a bit of a perfectionist. And he is, to put it delicately, a devoted lover.

Or to put it more—he knows how to fuck.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration that some of the best orgasms Taehyung has had have been thanks to Jeongguk. Not only does he pay attention to him and what he wants, but he’s also enthusiastic about satisfying his partner. More often than not, when the two of them have sex, Taehyung ends up feeling mushy and happy, knees wobbly for embarrassingly long after it. He’s not complaining, though—it’s actually a blessing.

Today is no different. Taehyung lies on Jeongguk’s bed with his arms open, content and sated as he looks up at the ceiling.

“You good there?” Jeongguk asks, sounding the slightest bit amused as he sits by Taehyung on the bed. He lets out a happy hum, then opens his eyes and looks up at Jeongguk, who’s watching him with a smile that looks almost fond.

“Feeling pure bliss,” Taehyung replies. His hand finds its way to Jeongguk’s face, palm gently cupping his cheek as he presses his thumb against Jeongguk’s lips. Without thinking much about it, Jeongguk kisses the pad of his thumb. “I’m full of come, though.”

“You know where the shower is,” Jeongguk says, nuzzling into Taehyung’s palm and pressing another kiss there. It doesn’t stop there—he moves to Taehyung’s wrist, his forearm, then his elbow, until he ends up lying in the bed next to him and kissing him on the mouth again, Taehyung laughing.

“What’s up with you tonight? You’re so affectionate,” Taehyung comments, earning himself a hum from Jeongguk.

“Can’t a man kiss his sugar baby?” Jeongguk asks, one hand settling on Taehyung’s waist. His arm is lying right on top of Taehyung’s come, which is still covering the skin of his stomach, but he doesn’t seem to mind too much. “But, yes. You need to shower.”

“That’s what I was saying,” Taehyung asks, the smile on his face growing wider as Jeongguk kisses his jaw again. “Gonna need you to let me go to do that, though.”

“No,” Jeongguk says, “I need a shower, too.”

“I can see where this is going,” Taehyung states, stealing a glance at Jeongguk, who takes that as his chance to press a kiss on the corner of Taehyung’s mouth. “Sounds like a plan.”

“And how about...” Jeongguk says, trailing off. Taehyung cranes his neck a little, trying to look at Jeongguk to urge him to continue. “We wash and then we get in bed.”

“We,” repeats Taehyung. When Jeongguk doesn’t bother to correct himself, Taehyung jokes, “That might cost you a little extra.”

Jeongguk huffs, but he says, “That’s okay. I think my wallet can handle it, pretty boy.”

≋

For the second time that month, Taehyung wakes up in bed with Jeongguk. Not only that, no—Taehyung wakes up in Jeongguk’s arms. Cuddled against him, their bare skin pressed against each other. 

This time, however, he doesn’t have the time to peel his body away from Jeongguk’s before he wakes. It’s the sound of Jeongguk’s phone that wakes Taehyung up, and naturally, Jeongguk doesn’t sleep through it. He’s a heavy sleeper but not that heavy.

“Shit,” Jeongguk says with a groan, and his voice is just so close to Taehyung’s ear that he almost jumps. There’s an arm wrapped around his waist, with Jeongguk’s chest pressed firmly against his back, and fuck. Taehyung can’t believe they're spooning.

Jeongguk moves away from him, reaching for his phone on top of the bedside table, and Taehyung takes that as his chance to sit up and try to properly wake himself up. He has no idea what time it is, but it feels late, as if hours have passed. He’s slept like a rock, and not only that, he also feels like he's slept for ages.

So much for taking time to adjust to new beds. In his defense, Taehyung will say that even if it’s the first time he sleeps in it, Taehyung is not at all a stranger to Jeongguk’s bed.

“Hey, noona,” Jeongguk greets when he picks up the phone. It must be Siyeon, Taehyung assumes. He can hear her voice muffled, but can’t make out a single word she’s saying. She doesn’t sound pleased, though. “Wait—already? I didn’t know it was that late.” Jeongguk shuts up again, then replies, “What on Earth—yes, he’s here. You can come! We were just sleeping.”

“Oh, god,” Taehyung says, mostly to himself.

“Just drop him off. And stop saying nonsense,” Jeongguk says, brushing his hair with his fingers. Unexpectedly, that just makes it even messier. “Okay, okay. See you soon.”

Jeongguk huffs out in frustration, quickly getting out of bed and looking for his underwear on the floor.

“Everything okay?” Taehyung ventures to ask.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s all good. Just—it’s eleven,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung’s eyes widening when he hears the time. “Siyeon is coming to drop Daehan off.”

“At least this time she called,” Taehyung says, earning himself a quick grin from Jeongguk as he starts putting his clothes on. Taehyung snaps out of his daze then, getting out of bed too. His clothes are scattered all over the room, right where Jeongguk carelessly threw them to last night. “I should go.”

“Sorry you have to leave in such a rush,” Jeongguk offers, apologetic. Taehyung waves his hand, dismissively. “I would have liked to offer you some breakfast, or at least a coffee, but—”

“I don’t like coffee,” Taehyung blurts out. Jeongguk cocks his head to the side, apparently perplexed by the confession, so Taehyung adds, “So don’t sweat it. I’ll have lunch when I get home.”

“Can I at least offer you a muffin?” Jeongguk asks, something about the innocence of the offer almost making Taehyung want to coo. “You need to eat something.”

“Thank you, mom,” Taehyung says, sliding his slacks over his ass and zipping them up quickly. “Could use a muffin, though. I’m kinda hungry.”

“Come to the kitchen when you’re done,” Jeongguk says, now fully dressed. Unlike Taehyung, who has his clothes from last night half-on, Jeongguk is wearing sweatpants and a huge t-shirt. “She’ll be fifteen minutes so you don’t have to rush that much.”

“I’m just gonna use the bathroom first real quick,” Taehyung announces to Jeongguk, who just replies a sure, go for it. Taehyung doesn’t waste time before getting to the ensuite connected to Jeongguk’s bedroom, splashing some water on his face and staring at himself in the mirror as the droplets stream down his face.

There he is, about to flee a man’s house in a hurry because the mother of his child is coming to drop said toddler off. If you told him a year and a half ago that he’d find himself in this sort of situation, Taehyung would have laughed. He’s always running away from complicated, muddy situations where he should usually tread carefully, and this is precisely that situation.

Despite that, he still hasn’t left. And when he steps into Jeongguk’s kitchen, finding him sitting on one of the stools by the island with two muffins carefully placed on a plate, he realizes he doesn’t particularly want to leave.

≋

As if Taehyung’s morning hadn’t been unusual enough so far, it all turns a tad weirder when he steps out of his complex’s elevator, just to find Yoongi sitting right in front of his door. Taehyung freezes in place for a second, reminding himself to step out of the elevator as he blurts out, “What are you doing here?”

That’s enough to bring Yoongi's attention to him, as the elder looks up from his phone and instead watches Taehyung approach his door. Only when he’s standing next to him does Taehyung notice the carton box next to Yoongi on the floor.

“So happy to see you too,” Yoongi says, standing up and taking the box with him. “I thought you and Jimin said I should see you guys more often.”

“That, yes,” Taehyung says, looking over his shoulder as he enters the code to unlock the door to his apartment. “I’m just surprised. What you got over there?”

“Just your stuff from the apartment,” Yoongi replies. Shit, Taehyung had forgotten all about that—he and Yoongi were roommates for a while, during Taehyung’s last year of college and his first year at his old job, and when they moved out of their old place some things were misplaced and Yoongi ended up taking them instead. It’s been a long time since then, though. Taehyung didn’t even remember about the things he left behind. “Thought I might as well drop by and return them to you.”

“It’s about time,” Taehyung says, flashing Yoongi a smile as the two of them walk into the apartment. Yoongi makes himself at home—he quickly leaves the box on top of the kitchen counter, sitting at the table. “You weren’t waiting out there for too long, right?”

“Just a couple of minutes. I was going to leave if you didn’t turn up after ten minutes,” Yoongi says, drumming his fingers over the surface of the table.

“You might wanna text beforehand, you know. We have phones for a reason,” Taehyung teases. “How come you remembered about it now?”

“I was tired of seeing the duck mug lying around,” Yoongi says, making Taehyung laugh as he opens the box. The mug is something that Jimin brought him back from a trip abroad, so as obnoxious as it is, it holds a special place in Taehyung’s heart. “So where were you?”

“I can’t believe you’re coming into my home just to interrogate me,” Taehyung says, but his evasion techniques don’t work on Yoongi. He doesn’t reply, staring straight into Taehyung’s eyes until he ends up blurting out, “I stayed over at Jeongguk’s.”

“At Jeongguk’s?” Yoongi asks, nothing short of incredulous. “And since when exactly do you stay over at his?”

“Since last night. We had sex, he asked me to stay and I said yes,” Taehyung explains. It really is as simple as that. “We already slept together a few weeks ago in a hotel.”

“Because you had to,” Yoongi points out, familiar with the story. Taehyung can feel his friend’s eyes on his necks as he walks to the fridge, picking up a bottle of cranberry juice and taking it with him. “This is different. You could have come back to your place and yet you didn’t.”

“Well—it was late, I was tipsy and Jeongguk’s bed is the comfiest one I’ve ever laid my ass on. Trust me, if you tried it you’d want to stay over as well,” Taehyung says, reaching for a glass on his cabinet. “Juice?”

“If you have orange, yeah,” Yoongi says. Taehyung does have orange, and luckily for Yoongi, he doesn’t really mind making another trip to the fridge. “I’m just saying, sharing a bed is... a different level of intimacy.”

“Higher than sex?”

“I think it can be, yeah,” Yoongi says. “Not all sex is intimate. Him asking you to stay the night, and you saying yes, now that is intimate.”

“I didn’t know you were such a romantic, hyung,” Taehyung teases, walking to Yoongi and handing him his glass of orange juice. He sits across from him at the table, and adds, “I think you’re looking too much into it.”

“And I think you’re loosening up around him way more than you thought you would,” Yoongi says. “But hey—don’t let me tell you what to do.”

“I won't, thank you very much,” Taehyung says, his hands closing around the cold glass. “Any other advice?”

“Not really,” Yoongi answers. “You’re the experienced sugar baby here, aren’t you?”

“Damn right I am,” Taehyung says. “I know what I’m doing.”

He says it with confidence, like he believes in the words. But deep down, he’s not all that sure whether he’s trying to convince Yoongi or himself.

≋

There are many, many little discoveries Taehyung has made thanks to Jeongguk's knowledge of things, but the first that comes to mind if anyone were to ask for a recommendation, is a place to eat. Restaurants. Not even the fancy restaurants per se—Jeongguk, for some reason, is always up to date with where's good to eat in the city, and without things necessarily becoming expensive. And because sharing is caring, Taehyung shares this knowledge with his friends. 

For over a year, Taehyung has been taking his friends to some of the places that Jeongguk has introduced him to, or at least, the ones that all of them can afford. And during those months, not even once have Taehyung and Jeongguk ran into each other by chance. What are the odds, right? Sure, Jeongguk showed him the restaurants, but the chances of both of them going to the same place with two separate groups of people at the very same time are low. Low, but not impossible.

And one night, the unthinkable happens.

This time, at least, Taehyung is the first to spot Jeongguk, unlike that one day at the park. He’s sitting almost at the other side of the restaurant, along with two other men. Taehyung, who's with Yoongi, Jimin, and Hoseok, feels his stomach turn upside down as soon as he spots him. It’s not nerves, he doesn’t have any reason for it to be nerves. It’s just shocking. He wasn’t expecting Jeongguk to be here.

Jeongguk is far away and has his back turned to Taehyung, so of course, he doesn’t see him. Taehyung considers just ignoring him and getting on with his night, but that turns out to be an impossibility—he finds himself looking back at Jeongguk every ten seconds.

Plus, Jeongguk did tell Taehyung to come say hi the next time he saw him around, and he seemed serious about it. But how could Taehyung just stand up and approach them in the middle of their meal? That seems too awkward to do. So instead, he settles for the next best thing, a far more discreet option. He sends a text.

You look good tonight, is what he says. After pressing ‘send’ his eyes go back to Jeongguk, watching expectantly as Jeongguk checks his phone. It’s something Taehyung noticed during their outings: every time Jeongguk got a message, he checked. He didn’t reply to over 90% of them, but he always made sure to check what they said, or at least, who they were from. Taehyung assumed at first it was because of work, that he found it hard to disconnect, but now he has a different theory. Now, he’s pretty certain Jeongguk just checks if the messages are in some way related to Daehan. And if they aren't, he simply ignores him.

For that reason, it doesn’t come as a surprise when Jeongguk immediately checks his phone after Taehyung sends the text. For a few seconds after unlocking his phone he seems frozen, staring down at the screen. But soon he reacts, looking around himself as if trying to find Taehyung. It takes him a little too long, enough to elicit a teasing smile from Taehyung. When their eyes finally meet each other's, though, Taehyung waves his fingers at Jeongguk. Even from the other side of the restaurant, it’s easy to see the toothy smile appear on Jeongguk’s lips as he lifts his hand to wave back at him.

“Excuse me, Earth to Taehyung,” he hears Jimin call, diverting his attention away from Jeongguk. “What are you looking at?”

Jimin knows Jeongguk and what he looks like, but not nearly as much as Taehyung does. Taehyung doubts Jimin could recognize him without looking at him directly. And he’s not even sure of how good he can see him from his seat. Not wanting to go into detail, Taehyung says, “I was just greeting someone I know. You were saying?”

“I’ve been saying, there’s someone at my new job that keeps stealing my cold brew coffee,” Jimin says. “I bring one with me for after lunch, right? And I leave it in the fridge in the break room so it doesn’t taste like shit, but every time I go to get it, it’s already gone! I’ve even been labeling it in big letters.”

“Have you tried telling your boss?” Taehyung looks, seeing Hoseok smile as he shakes his head—it seems like it’s not the first time he’s heard this conversation play out.

“No way. I don’t want to be the new guy who starts complaining about the co-workers less than a month in,” Jimin laments. “Maybe I should take one of those thermoses. That’d keep it cold without it needing to be in the fridge.”

“Your boss is not gonna be upset if you complain about someone taking your stuff, Jimin,” Yoongi says.

“I’m not gonna make any complaints until it’s been at least a year of me working there,” Jimin says, his tone indicating that it's not up for debate. At that moment, Taehyung’s phone vibrates against his knee. He straightens up, moving to unlock it under the table as Jimin adds, “What if my boss is the one taking it?”

“That seems very unlikely,” Taehyung comments, tapping the notification and waiting for his messaging app to fucking load.

And you look gorgeous. Didn’t think I’d see you here tonight, Jeongguk texts him.

Taehyung isn't sure about how he gets away with it, but he and Jeongguk sneakily text during the rest of dinner. His friends don’t seem to notice, or if they do, they say nothing about it. To be fair, despite the texting, Taehyung has still been paying attention and participating in the conversation. He prides himself on being a very good multitasker.

And then, he gets a text from Jeongguk that says, Meet me in the bathroom in 2 minutes? He looks up again from his phone, their eyes meeting across the room, and gives Jeongguk the most subtle of nods. He still catches it, though; Taehyung sees him say something to the people he’s with, probably excusing himself, as he’s then standing up and walking in the direction of the restrooms.

There’s an excited, bubbly feeling in his stomach as he waits for the two minutes to go by, time trickling by almost painfully slow. He’s not too sure if he succeeds, but he tries to conceal the excitement as he stands up, three pairs of eyes suddenly on him.

“Be right back,” he offers, smoothing down his shirt with the palms of his hands. “Gonna quickly go to the toilet.”

And really, he must be a great actor because there’s not a single sign that any of his friends suspect anything. He makes his way to the bathroom, trying not to hurry too much as he walks across the restaurant, following Jeongguk’s steps from just minutes ago. He walks into the men’s bathroom then, stealing a glance at himself in the mirror. There are two doors to his right—one of them is wide open, the toilet area empty. The other one is closed, so Taehyung assumes that’s where Jeongguk went.

“Jeongguk?” he asks, rasping his knuckles lightly against the wooden door. “You there?”

And at that, the door is pulled open and Jeongguk appears. Before Taehyung can even take a look at him, the first proper and up-close one all night, Jeongguk is reaching out for him, grabbing his forearm and pulling him into the stall with him.

“Took you long enough,” Jeongguk replies, seemingly hurried. Taehyung lets out a scoff as a smirk makes its way to his lips. “Those were the longest two minutes of my life.”

Taehyung is sure that Jeongguk's just being dramatic, but he lets himself get tangled in the hyperbole, leaning forward and kissing Jeongguk. The door closes behind him then, Jeongguk quick to press him up against it as his lips move against Taehyung’s, eager.

“Easy there,” Taehyung says, his fingers curling around Jeongguk’s biceps as he presses tightly against his body. “Fuck.”

That’s the last thing he gets to say before Jeongguk’s lips catch him in another kiss, hands on the door to either side of Taehyung’s waist. He has him caged against the wall like this, but Taehyung doesn’t care—he’s not going anywhere.

The two of them have shared many kisses over the course of the last year, most of them hurried and hungry. But there’s something different about this one; maybe it’s the build-up from talking all night but without really being in each other’s company. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone outside is waiting for them, unaware of what the two of them are really doing. Or maybe it’s simply the fact that this isn't something they should be doing, kissing in the restaurant’s bathroom like they can’t keep their hands off each other.

God, it’s hard to figure out what it is, but it doesn’t really matter. Not when Jeongguk’s mouth is keeping every single conscious thought away from his mind, tongue intertwined with Taehyung’s in a kiss that leaves them both breathless. His hands eventually leave the door and find their way to Taehyung’s body, traveling down to his ass and giving it a generous squeeze that makes Taehyung moan into his mouth.

Taehyung’s hands climb up Jeongguk’s arms as they kiss, locking around his neck as he softly digs blunt fingernails into his neck. He swears things don’t usually get to him this fast, but god—Jeongguk’s body feels divine against his, his mouth even more so. Especially when he pulls back from Taehyung’s lips and starts kissing his way down Taehyung’s jawline and neck, as far as his buttoned-up shirt allows.

“That’s it, baby,” Taehyung says, words slipping past his lips before he can decide whether they’re appropriate or not. He buries a hand in Jeongguk’s hair, who hums against the column of his neck. He starts making his way up there, and Taehyung breathes out, “You always kiss me so well.”

“I can do more than kiss you well,” Jeongguk whispers then, hot breath fanning against Taehyung’s ear. It’s a little embarrassing how Taehyung’s body reacts to it, jolting forward and pressing against Jeongguk’s. “Maybe you can come back to mine when you’re done, and we can finish what we started.”

“Fuck, yes,” Taehyung says, letting Jeongguk press another lewd, wet kiss against his lips. “We only have dessert left.”

“Then I’ll wait for you to be done,” Jeongguk says. His hand is on Taehyung’s hip, thumb feeling his hipbone through the material of his slacks as he says, “Just give me a text.”

“Will do,” Taehyung says, voice low. He kisses Jeongguk again, but this time it’s nothing more than a peck. Taehyung knows that if they let things get more out of hand, chances are they go too far. “You go first?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jeongguk says with a shrug. “I’ve been here for a while now. My friends are gonna think I have—”

“Not what I wanna hear when I’m about to go to yours for sexy times, no,” Taehyung says, finger pressing against Jeongguk’s lips. “C’mon, go. I’ll follow soon.”

Luckily, the bathroom is still empty when Jeongguk leaves, so Taehyung leaves the toilet stall while waiting for a couple of minutes to go by. He splashes water on his face, pressing his palms to his burning cheeks. It wasn’t more than a couple of measly minutes, the time they spent together, yet it was enough to stir that funny feeling at the pit of Taehyung’s stomach. Jeongguk gets to him like no one else does, for some silly reason.

When he considers it’s safe to, Taehyung leaves the bathroom and makes his way back to the table. He almost thinks he’s safe, especially because none of his friends seemed to think anything strange when he left, but as soon as he sits down, Jimin says, “You.”

“Me?” Taehyung asks with confusion, index finger pointing to his chest.

“Tell me why I’ve just seen Jeongguk come out of the bathroom two minutes before you, and don’t you dare use the word coincidence,” Jimin says with a devious smile. Judging by Hoseok and Yoongi’s expressions, they're both as shocked as Taehyung himself is.

And really, Taehyung might do some things that are in the grey area of morality, like the whole sugar daddy ordeal or making endless burner accounts to get discounts on his take-out food. But he isn't, and will never be, a liar. Especially not the kind of liar that lies to his friends.

So he doesn’t bother to deny it or anything of the sort. Instead, he simply says, “I didn’t think you could see him from over here.”

“I can’t see him now,” Jimin says. “But I could see him when he came back from the bathroom. Him, and the stupid sheepish look on his face. Like he just got a hand—”

“He did not get such a thing,” Taehyung interrupts. Jimin is all grins, lifting his glass and taking a long sip of wine. Of course he knew that none of that happened—there was no time, and they both know that. He just wanted to get a reaction out of Taehyung, and he succeeded. “Nothing happened.”

“I’d be expecting you to look a little more disheveled if something had,” Hoseok points out. “Especially after all the good things we’ve heard.”

Sure, maybe Taehyung has told them—very briefly—about how Jeongguk is in bed. Nothing detailed, nothing that could be considered too private to share, just the fact that Jeongguk is very good in the sack. Last thing he could have expected is that said information would be used against him in an ambush like this.

“I'm feeling targeted,” Taehyung complains. He swears he’s not looking, but he then sees from the corner of his eye how Jeongguk and his friends stand up. Now is a chance as good as any other to announce, “I'll be going to Jeongguk’s after dinner.”

Yoongi lets out a dry laugh, says, “Of course.”

“I hope you know this is you thinking with your dick and not your brain,” Jimin declares.

“You two are not the only ones who are getting some tonight,” Taehyung says, wiggling his finger at Hoseok and Jimin. “I know how to recognize a good chance when fate puts it in my way.”

“I have heard enough about all of your sex lives for one night,” Yoongi says, digging into his cake. “I’m done hanging out with you.”

“I told you to make a Tinder account! You’re withering away, hyung,” Taehyung says, earning himself what could only be described as a death stare. Hoseok, on the other hand, cackles loud enough that they earn themselves a few looks from the tables around them.

“You need to shut up,” Yoongi says, his tone light. He doesn’t show it, but Taehyung knows that deep down his hyung is the slightest bit flustered. Turning to Jimin, he says, “And you, don’t even dare say anything.”

Jimin lifts both hands in the air, taking his finger and sliding it over his lips as if he were zipping them close.

“This is tyranny,” Taehyung complains, “I will not be censored like this.”

“You will be shut up in other ways later tonight, I’m sure,” Yoongi says, making Taehyung snort.

“I don’t know about that. I can get pretty loud,” Taehyung says.

“You’re incorrigible,” Yoongi says with an eye-roll, but a smile still escapes his lips.

“Maybe,” Taehyung agrees, not bothering to deny it. With a mischievous grin, he adds, “But at least, I have fun.”

≋

Sometimes, Taehyung wishes Jeongguk would leave his car at home so they could go to places by cabs instead. Times like now, when all he wants to do is kiss Jeongguk’s face off, but he can’t because he’s driving. And god, he swears that the drive between the restaurant and Jeongguk’s place is not that long, but it seems eternal tonight—both because of traffic and because of his own impatience.

So, of course, once they arrive at Jeongguk’s place and the two of them step into the elevator together, it’s like they’re magnets being pulled to each other. Taehyung latches himself onto Jeongguk, mouths pressed together into a kiss heated from the start, neither of them letting go. Not even when Jeongguk's trying to key in the passcode to his apartment, failing once before he finally gets it right.

They stumble into the apartment tangled up in each other, Taehyung’s back bumping into the nearest wall as Jeongguk kisses the life out of him. “Bedroom,” Jeongguk mutters against his lips, getting away. Taehyung is having none of that—he tangles his hands in Jeongguk’s hair, pulling him closer and kissing him again and again.

Taehyung makes no move to get to the bedroom, so Jeongguk takes matters into his own hands—quite literally. He hitches Taehyung up by his thighs, making Taehyung yelp in surprise as his arms tighten around Jeongguk’s neck. This time, it's Jeongguk who quietens him with his mouth, lips swallowing down the sound.

It’s Jeongguk’s place, and he should be able to blindly stride through it without so many difficulties, but the two of them still run into a couple of walls on their way to the bedroom. It’s not much of a problem, though—they just take those moments as chances to make out more, the kiss deepening.

By the time they finally make it to Jeongguk’s bed, Taehyung’s slacks are already starting to feel uncomfortably tight against his crotch. Jeongguk lies him down on the bed, kneeling over him as he undoes the top buttons of his own shirt. But Taehyung can’t wait—he sits up and grabs Jeongguk by his belt, tugging him closer as he says, “C’mere.”

Their lips meet again, Taehyung’s hands replacing Jeongguk’s and working on popping the buttons of his shirt open. He’s clumsy but he still gets rid of it pretty fast, discarding it onto the bedroom floor without a care for where it lands. Once the garment is off, he lets himself feel the expanse of Jeongguk’s back with his hands, palms running over the smooth skin and toned muscle. It’s hard for him to keep quiet as Jeongguk’s hands find his body, untucking Taehyung’s shirt.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all night,” Jeongguk says, words grunted against Taehyung’s jaw. He undoes the first few buttons of his shirt, but soon loses patience and reaches for the hem, instructing, “Arms up.”

Taehyung obliges, even if it means being away from Jeongguk’s lips for a few seconds while he lifts the shirt over his head. Pulling back from him gives him a chance for his eyes to greedily run down Jeongguk’s body; from his chest all the way down his abdomen, not missing the way his thighs bulge in his dress pants. And, of course, not missing the erection tenting in his crotch.

“You have no idea how badly I wanted you to stay in that bathroom with me,” Taehyung finds himself blurting out, sliding an arm around Jeongguk’s neck. He doesn’t pull him in for a kiss this time, though; instead, he flips them both around, Jeongguk lying on his back as Taehyung moves to straddle his thighs. Moving his hands to Jeongguk’s belt, he adds, “Could have at least let me suck your dick.”

“Didn’t take you for the type to like to be stuffed with dick in public bathrooms,” Jeongguk says, almost smug. Almost, because the sound he lets out as Taehyung presses his palm against his hardening cock ruins the façade a little bit. “You can suck it now if you so badly wish.”

“I could do that,” Taehyung says, undoing the zipper. Once that’s done, he tugs at Jeongguk’s pants, pulling them down and revealing his underwear. Like this, it’s even easier to tell how hard Jeongguk is, especially with the small stain of pre-come on the front of his boxers. “But I just really want you to fuck me right now.”

Jeongguk lets out a breathy laugh, but it soon turns into a moan when Taehyung leans forward and grinds, his erection pressing against Jeongguk's. From there, everything becomes frantic—Jeongguk quickly finishes undressing himself, getting rid of both his pants and his underwear before he moves on to Taehyung’s slacks. Every touch of Jeongguk’s hands on his bare skin makes him melt, especially after Jeongguk retrieves his lube and pours some onto his fingers, taking them to Taehyung’s rim.

He’s good, he’s so good. He fucks them in and out of Taehyung, making him moan and writhe as his cock twitches against his stomach, begging to be touched. But Taehyung likes to edge himself, and he wants to make sure that when he comes while Jeongguk is fucking him, he does so hard that he can't even remember his own name.

So build up, it is. He takes Jeongguk’s fingers until he feels like he’s going to explode, demanding Jeongguk to hurry up and get inside him.

“I love it when you beg,” Jeongguk says then, and Taehyung wishes that on any other occasion he’d have a quick-witted comment to wipe the smug smirk away from his face, but not now.

“Shut up,” Taehyung says, hand tangled in Jeongguk’s hair as he feels Jeongguk's cock brushing up against his entrance. It makes his breath catch in his throat, grumbling out, “I don’t remember saying please.”

“Maybe you should change that now,” Jeongguk says, leaning down so his mouth brushes up against Taehyung’s when he speaks. His cock presses against Taehyung a little more insistent then, and fuck. Of course it’s not a coincidence. “Come on, baby.”

“Please,” Taehyung blurts out. He doesn’t want to wait anymore—can’t wait anymore, actually. “Please, fuck me. Jeongguk.”

And that’s all it takes—Jeongguk pushes inside, his cock sliding into him slowly, and thick, and fucking perfect. Taehyung’s eyes flutter shut, feeling himself clench around Jeongguk, who doesn’t stop pushing until he’s all the way in. Taehyung forces his eyes open, meeting Jeongguk’s gaze and feeling himself get weak at the heat in his eyes.

“That’s it,” Jeongguk says, his hand moving so he can wipe his thumb against Taehyung’s swollen bottom lip. It makes Taehyung’s dick fucking throb. “Good?”

“So good,” Taehyung says with a nod. It takes all of his restraint to keep it at that, instead of inflating his ego even more with endless praise. “Fuck me now, Jeongguk.”

Jeongguk doesn’t like to be given orders in bed, Taehyung knows, but maybe it’s the fact that it sounds more like a plea that makes Jeongguk oblige. He pulls back until he’s almost all the way out, just to then thrust as deep as he can, building a pace that has Taehyung’s eyes rolling in the back of his skull.

They’re both eager and desperate, and that’s easy to see in the way that Taehyung’s hands desperately move over all of Jeongguk’s body—he touches his face, pulls at his hair, feels his biceps and the sides of Jeongguk’s abdomen. And then there’s Jeongguk, who keeps fucking into him relentlessly, pressing the lewdest of kisses against Taehyung’s lips. He can just take, take, take; he swears he’s never taken this much before.

“Holy shit, yes, yes, yes,” Taehyung moans, back arching as he tightens around Jeongguk. He can’t stop himself from wrapping his thighs around Jeongguk’s body, ankles locking behind his back in a desperate attempt to bring him deeper inside him. “You feel so fucking good.”

“Look at you,” Jeongguk says, muffling both the squelching of the lube and the slap of skin on skin with his words. “So fucking hungry for my cock. Did you miss it?”

“God, yes,” Taehyung says. He wishes he could say it’s a lie, one that slipped out too easily in the heat of the moment, but that wouldn’t be true. “So fucking much.”

“Yeah?” Jeongguk says, leaning down to whisper against Taehyung’s ear. “Must make sure all the waiting for it is worth it, then.”

And with that, he delivers a sharp thrust, more to follow right after. His hips speed up, Taehyung feeling himself shake when Jeongguk’s cock hits right against his sweet spot. He moans loudly, which only encourages Jeongguk to hit the same spot over and over, again and again.

“Holy fuck,” Taehyung curses, now having lost all control over the words that escape his lips. “Fuck, Jeongguk, harder.”

It's hard to string a single coherent thought together, let alone a sentence, when he has Jeongguk fucking into him like this. His hips mercilessly thrust into him, pushing Taehyung closer to the edge with each pump—an edge he’s been tethering close to for ages.

“That’s right, baby doll,” Jeongguk chants into his ear then, lips brushing against his lobe softly. They’re wet, which is to be expected after Jeongguk kissed a trail all up his neck and to the back of his ear that has him almost shaking. His legs are still wrapped around Jeongguk’s waist tight, hands holding his shoulders. He can’t help but scratch a little, but it’s not a big deal—Jeongguk likes that, after all.

Maybe it’s something about the pet name, maybe that Jeongguk’s cock feels so fucking good fucking into him, hitting his spot over and over, but Taehyung arches off the bed then, chest pressing further against Jeongguk’s. He can’t hold on for much longer now and they both know it.

“I’m gonna come,” is all he can get out. When Jeongguk pulls back only slightly, he has an almost mocking smile on his face, like he knew without Taehyung having to tell him. And, well—of course he did. Because Jeongguk has come to know his body so well, in ways that only lovers knew it before. It sends Taehyung’s mind spinning, how good Jeongguk can read every sign, how he’s become such an expert at making him crumble little by little. “Fuck, Jeongguk.”

Taehyung’s lips welcome Jeongguk’s eagerly when he leans down again, mouths melting into a kiss that lacks much finesse. It’s wet, hurried, desperate—Jeongguk moans into it, his pace becoming sloppier as his hands tighten around Taehyung’s thighs.

Jeongguk knows him so well, plays Taehyung’s body as he wants, but he’s not the only one who's learned something over the course of all these months. Taehyung has been paying attention too, and he knows that Jeongguk is just as close as he is now. He can tell by the frantic rhythm of his hips, by the messy kisses and the wanton moans poured into his mouth.

“Can you come untouched?” Jeongguk asks, words dirty as they’re whispered against Taehyung’s skin. Taehyung nods, writhing out a yes in response. “Yeah? Good boy. Do it for me, pretty. I want to see you come.”

It’s the praise and the sweet words that get Taehyung to moan loud, nails scratching, digging into Jeongguk’s skin again as his body goes into complete overload. A string of curses leave his mouth as his orgasm washes over him, come spilling all over his stomach. It feels wet, Jeongguk making a mess of it every time he moves and thrusts into Taehyung.

“That’s it, baby,” Jeongguk says, voice strained. His hips falter, and when Taehyung feels him throb inside of him he knows he’s about to come, too. “Fuck, I’m gonna—”

He interrupts himself with a moan, loud and pretty, and Taehyung barely has time to catch his lips into one last kiss right as Jeongguk comes. His body still feels like jelly, but he buries one hand in Jeongguk’s hair and strokes his scalp, both of them panting heavily as they ride out their orgasms.

“Fuck,” Taehyung breathes out after seconds, voice airy and a little raspy still. Jeongguk buries his face in the crook of Taehyung’s neck, body heavy on top of him. “Jeongguk.”

“Tae,” Jeongguk says in response, his lips brushing against Taehyung’s skin. “I’m dead.”

Taehyung laughs a little, arguing, “You’re not.”

“I might be,” Jeongguk says, starting to move. Taehyung lets out a sound of discomfort as Jeongguk slides out of him, feeling the slightest bit lonely without his body pressed right against his. “You gonna stay?”

Taehyung looks at the man who is in bed with him, kneeling up and looking at Taehyung with wide, expectant eyes, and fuck. Maybe it’s the afterglow of his orgasm speaking for him, or maybe he’s become much softer in recent weeks than he was before. Whatever it is, Taehyung finds himself saying, “Yes. Yes, I’ll stay.”

≋

There are many virtues Taehyung has, but being a good cook is unfortunately not one of them. He tried to learn, for a while, but Yoongi told him it was best he gave up. Not only because his food looked less than edible, but also because he was worried it’d end up in him setting their shared kitchen on fire.

For that reason, he usually relies on pre-cooked food or eating out. Whenever he goes grocery shopping, his cart looks sad in comparison to everyone else’s. No fresh vegetables, no real ingredients. Just some frozen goods, juice, and fruit. Fruit is good; healthy and easy to consume. Taehyung likes fruit a lot. Someday, when he has a more patient teacher than Yoongi, Taehyung will learn how to cook. But right now, with no supervision and no one to make sure everything goes okay, Taehyung is fine the way he is. He will not, by any means, starve to death.

For this reason, he usually doesn’t shop heavily. That allows him to be a little more flexible with where he goes shopping, being able to go to places that don’t necessarily have to be close to his apartment. There’s this organic food place that, even if it’s not in the same area he lives in, he particularly enjoys. Sure, it guarantees a subway trip to come and another to go, but it’s so worth it if you ask him. One of those things that, once you try it, you can’t go back on.

That’s where he is today, already heading to the checkout after picking up all of the stuff he came here for. It’s then, when he turns the corner at the end of the aisle, that he feels his—half-empty—cart bump against someone else’s. He’s ready to tell the other person to look where he’s going, even if he himself wasn’t really looking anyway and has the same part of the blame as the other person. But then, as his eyes momentarily land on the other cart in front of him, he finds a familiar face staring right up at him with a hint of recognition. Daehan.

“Jeongguk?” he asks, sounding just as surprised as he feels to see him here. “What are you doing here?”

Jeongguk’s eyebrows furrow then, like the question has him confused. “I’m... shopping for groceries?” he replies, voice tilting up into a question at the end. “Also, like—this is where I live. Right next to here.”

And well, that much is true. The reason why Taehyung knows this place is because he's seen it when he's been at Jeongguk’s apartment. He really has no reason to be surprised by Jeongguk’s presence here, does he? If anything, he’s the one embarrassingly far from home.

“Right. Right!” Taehyung says, a little embarrassed. He looks down at Daehan again, who's sitting in the cart looking up at him with big, wide eyes. Looking at Jeongguk again, he asks, “Is he okay? With the carts banging, and all.”

“Maybe just a little shaken, but he’ll be okay, right, buddy?” Jeongguk asks. “Probably not very different from bumper cars.”

“Doesn’t sound like the most appropriate thing for a toddler,” Taehyung comments, Jeongguk shrugging a little. “So... Tangerines, huh?”

He’s obviously referring to the insane amount of tangerines that are in Jeongguk’s shopping cart, of course. Unlike Taehyung’s, Jeongguk’s is quite full—there’s some whole wheat bread there, oats, plenty of vegetables, and that’s all he can see on the surface. It almost makes Taehyung feel bad about his own purchases. 

“Daehan really likes them,” Jeongguk replies. Taehyung cracks a grin when the toddler nods, repeating tangerines as he—fruitlessly, punnily enough—reaches for them. “We’re stocking up.”

“Can’t say I agree with his tastes. I’m more of a strawberry guy myself,” Taehyung says. He diverts his attention back to Daehan then, asking, “Do you like strawberries, Daehan?”

At that, Daehan juts his bottom lip out and shakes his head, replying, “I don’t like.”

“He doesn’t like the texture,” Jeongguk explains. “The seeds. They get stuck in his teeth which he's really not a fan of.”

“That’s not very nice of them, is it?” Taehyung asks, Daehan shaking his head again. “So what else do you like, then? Tell me.”

Taehyung doesn’t know how long he stays there, listening to Daehan tell him about how he likes pears and apples but bananas are his absolute least favorite fruit ever. Jeongguk just watches with a small smile on his face, probably having heard it all before a million times, and assists him whenever he gets stuck on a word. He’s incredibly good at figuring out what Daehan means, even when Taehyung isn’t certain if Daehan himself knows.

“C’mon, that’s enough, Hannie,” Jeongguk tells him. “Taehyung hyung has to finish shopping and we are taking up his time.”

“I’m actually done,” Taehyung says, not missing the way Jeongguk’s eyes dart down to the contents of his cart. “I’m heading to the checkout.”

“Shopping light,” Jeongguk comments, to which Taehyung shrugs. “You don’t know how jealous that makes me.”

“Please—it’s not like you live far and have to carry your bags for too long,” Taehyung says.

“Everything seems twice as far away as it actually is when you have a toddler,” Jeongguk retorts quickly. That Taehyung doesn’t dare deny.

“True that,” Taehyung agrees. “Need some help with the bags?”

“Oh—no, no. Don’t worry, I just like to complain. I can manage,” Jeongguk replies, giving him a bit of a sheepish smile. Taehyung finds himself mirroring the gesture.

“Well, your loss,” he replies, straightening up as he grins at Jeongguk. “I was feeling generous at giving away favors.”

“So very kind of you, Taehyung,” Jeongguk says, using the same teasing tone as Taehyung. “You know? Since you’re offering, I might take one. How about a drink with me tomorrow?”

“That is in no way a favor,” Taehyung is quick to reply. “You know I’d love to, though.”

“Happy to hear that,” Jeongguk says. “But... I mean, more of an afternoon drink, not evening. And with some company.”

Jeongguk drags his eyes to Daehan then, who is now trying to reach a pack of smoked salmon that is conveniently out of his reach. He quickly gazes back at Taehyung, who already has a smile plastered on his face.

“The answer is the same,” he says. “I would love to, Jeongguk.”

≋

Taehyung and Jeongguk end up meeting the following afternoon at a coffee shop that Jeongguk suggests. Taehyung can’t say that he has heard of it before, but he likes it as soon as he steps foot in it; it looks cozy and small, enough people inside to make it not feel terribly empty, but not excessively crowded either. He spots Jeongguk right away, sitting at the far end of the shop. As he approaches them, he notices that the wall right next to their table is actually a blackboard. Daehan is standing next to it, drawing something with colored chalk as Jeongguk watches.

“Hey there,” Taehyung greets once he’s by their side, drawing the attention of the two of them to himself. “I hope you haven’t been waiting for too long.”

Taehyung may have a bit of a tendency to be the slightest bit late, but today he did try to leave his apartment early enough so he’d have time to spare. Unfortunately, the subway didn’t seem to be on his side.

“Not at all. We’ve just ordered,” Jeongguk reassures him. Taehyung isn’t sure if Jeongguk really means it or if he’s just being nice, but he just nods. He takes off his blazer, taking a seat next to Jeongguk as he asks, “How have you been?”

“You mean since we last saw each other yesterday?” Taehyung asks, teasing. “I’ve been good. You two?”

“We're doing well,” Jeongguk tells him. “It’s good to see you again.”

Taehyung is about to reply, saying that it’s also good to not only see Jeongguk, but to also see him in a different setting. Usually, they meet up at night, go to dinner or drinks and then end up at Jeongguk’s, so it’s nice to break out of the same routine. Not because it bores Taehyung—it could never, but when they went down to Busan together, he got to see a different side of Jeongguk. He has the feeling that today, especially considering Daehan is here, he’ll also get to see a new part of him.

But as he’s about to tell him the waitress comes, bringing with her two gigantic milkshakes on a tray. Taehyung hears Daehan stomp his feet on the floor excitedly, right before Jeongguk picks him up and sets him back on the chair.

“The vanilla over here,” the woman says, leaving the first milkshake right in front of Jeongguk. Her voice pitches up a little then, as she says, “And chocolate for the handsome boy.”

Daehan claps his hands excitedly, too focused on the milkshake to say something in reply until Jeongguk softly says, “Oh, wow—look how much you have all for yourself. Hannie, say thank you to the nice lady.”

“Thank you, nice lady,” Daehan repeats happily, mispronouncing lady, and already reaching for the straw.

Jeongguk shakes his head, the waitress laughing lightheartedly before he turns to Taehyung and asks, “Would you like something to drink or eat?”

“Actually, just another chocolate milkshake,” he says, to which the waitress nods before taking a step back. Before she’s too far not to hear, he adds, “Thank you!”

“Chocolate, then,” Jeongguk says when it’s the three of them again. “I actually thought you’d be on my team here.”

“I’m sorry but I have to agree with Hannie on this one,” Taehyung says. “Vanilla is okay, but chocolate is clearly superior.”

Jeongguk presses a hand to his heart, eyes furrowing dramatically as he utters out a, “You wound me, Taehyung.” Daehan laughs at that, covering his mouth with his hand. Taehyung can’t help but notice that when he smiles his eyes crinkle just like Jeongguk’s. Looking at Daehan, Jeongguk adds, “What you laughing at, huh?”

“Laughing at daddy,” Daehan replies. Jeongguk fakes a scoff. “Daddy is funny.”

“Sure thing, you rascal,” Jeongguk mutters under his breath.

It’s refreshing to see how Jeongguk is around his kid, much sillier than usual. It’s not like Jeongguk isn’t relaxed around Taehyung—he likes to think that he is after all this time, but it’s different. Taehyung can’t help but feel endeared by the pair and the dynamic, and how goofy Jeongguk acts just to make his son giggle.

Eventually, Daehan’s attention goes back to the blackboard, drawing what Taehyung can only guess is a yellow house with a bright red floor. Taehyung watches him for a little bit, but eventually turns to Jeongguk and asks, “Do you come here often?”

“Are you flirting me up?” Jeongguk asks, to which Taehyung raises an eyebrow. He’s a little shit and he knows it. Jeongguk laughs, then he replies, “Sometimes, yeah. Daehan’s daycare is close by so sometimes we come here after I pick him up.”

“It’s a cute place,” Taehyung says, looking around himself. It’s intimate, homey. And the cakes they have, may Taehyung say, look delicious. He’s too full from his milkshake to stomach a slice, but if he ever comes back, he’ll make sure to try one of them. “I’m happy you brought me here.”

“I just wanted to see you,” Jeongguk replies, the sincerity throwing Taehyung a little off guard. He hopes it doesn’t show on his face. “Siyeon got the week off at the hospital, so she’s away and I’m with Daehan all week. We wouldn’t have been able to meet up alone, that’s why I suggested this. I’m glad you agreed.”

“Aww, you’d miss me too much if we didn’t see each other for a week?” Taehyung says, straw resting against his bottom lip. Jeongguk says nothing, choosing instead to drink some more of his milkshake, but Taehyung swears there's a blush on his cheeks.

“Well, I—” he starts, but then he looks to his left and interrupts himself. “Hannie! Buddy, we’ve talked about that. Chalk is for painting, not eating.”

Maybe it’s the absurdity of the situation, or the puppy eyes that Daehan gives Jeongguk then, but Taehyung can’t help but laugh a little at that. It also makes him think, though; Jeongguk is always keeping an eye on what’s going on with Daehan. Just now the two of them were talking, but from the corner of his eye, Jeongguk was looking and was able to stop Daehan even before he could take the chalk to his lips. Whenever they’re out and alone, he always keeps his phone close, quick to check any incoming messages and calls.

And really, Jeongguk is young. So young that the thought of him having kids wasn’t even a possibility that occurred to Taehyung. He finds it hard to imagine himself in a position where he had the responsibility and dedication necessary to raise a kid, and that’s with him being two years older than Jeongguk.

“I have a question but I don’t know if it’s too invasive,” Taehyung prefaces. He lowers his voice, stealing a glance at Daehan; he seems too absorbed in the drawing, not really paying them any attention. Jeongguk just looks at him attentively, almost like his eyes are inviting him to continue, so Taehyung carries on and asks, “Did you plan for him?”

It takes a second for Jeongguk to react, one where Taehyung feels like his heart is about to beat its way out of his chest, but in the end, Jeongguk just smiles softly and shakes his head. “No. No, it was... a bit of a surprise, to say the least,” he explains. “A good one in the end. But a surprise, nonetheless.”

“I thought so. I mean—not that it had to be, but you know. Because of the circumstances... yeah,” Taehyung babbles. It’s hard for him to not sound like he’s treading too carefully, as he’s scared he might say something wrong and offend Jeongguk. And really, he usually is not like this, and finds it easy to talk about anything. Maybe he just doesn’t want to fuck things up with Jeongguk. “Were you two together?”

“Kind of? Not properly. We were never together, but it was exclusive back then,” Jeongguk replies. “We tried it for a while when we found out, but it just wasn't working for us. I’d rather be friends and on good terms with her than forcing ourselves to be together, and in turn, making family life hell, you know?”

“That makes a lot of sense, yeah,” Taehyung replies, nodding.

There is a moment of silence, Taehyung filling it by drinking some of his milkshake. Then, Jeongguk says, “You can ask anything you want about this.”

“I just don’t want to overstep any boundaries,” Taehyung excuses himself.

“Forget all about those.” Taehyung blinks at Jeongguk. “I know I used to be more distant, and not telling you about him in the first place makes you feel like you can’t ask. But things between us have changed a lot ever since, haven’t they?”

Taehyung thinks about the last couple of months, about the shift that there’s been in their relationship. He’s right, yes. Things have changed drastically since all that.

“They have, you’re right,” Taehyung says.

“So you don’t have to hesitate if you want to know something,” Jeongguk adds. “Just ask.”

“You’ll regret saying that,” Taehyung says, changing to a more lighthearted tone. “You don’t even know just how many questions I’m capable of coming up with.”

“Like an interview, huh?”

“I was about to enroll in journalism in uni so exactly like that,” Taehyung says.

“I think I can handle it,” Jeonggul says. “If you can ask all those questions, can I say something in return?”

“Bring it on, yeah.”

“You have chocolate on top of your lip,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung’s hands darting to cover his mouth. Jeongguk laughs, Taehyung feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. How long has he had chocolate on his face without Jeongguk not telling him anything? “Don’t cover up! It’s cute.”

“Go to—,” Taehyung starts, but he interrupts himself before he can finish. He looks at Daehan, makes sure he’s still not looking at them, and lifts his middle finger up at Jeongguk as he mouths, fuck off.

“Really classy, Taehyung,” Jeongguk says with a chuckle, leaning back in his chair. “You’re a delight to be around.”

“I wouldn’t be so sarcastic if I were you,” Taehyung is quick to snap back. “After all, you wouldn’t be so adamant about keeping me around if you didn’t like my company at least a bit.”

Jeongguk huffs out another laugh, still looking at him, but he doesn’t bother to deny it. And that, Taehyung thinks as he cleans his mouth with a napkin, must mean something.

≋

After all the time they've known each other, Taehyung considers himself to be familiar with Jeongguk’s car. So when Jeongguk offers to drive him back to his apartment, an offer that Taehyung gladly takes, he walks out into the street and starts looking for Jeongguk’s car—the silver, sleek sports car that he's always seen Jeongguk drive.

“Where is it?” Taehyung asks with confusion, looking behind himself so he can meet Jeongguk’s eyes. “Where’s your car?”

“It’s right there,” Jeongguk says, nodding ahead of himself. He keeps walking, carrying Daehan in one arm as the other digs in the pocket of his jacket. “I don’t think you’ve seen this one yet, have you?”

And, no. The car in front of him right now is completely different from what he’s seen Jeongguk drive before, although Taehyung guesses it makes sense. He should have guessed—of course he’d need something more family-friendly than the two-seater Taehyung is accustomed to. The offer alone should have been enough for Taehyung to figure it out when he thinks about it for a second. How else was he supposed to drive Taehyung home?

“What a subtle flex,” Taehyung says, looking down at the black car right in front of him. He watches Jeongguk pull open one of the backdoors, leaning in to place Daehan in his car seat. “So you have the sports car and the SUV. What else is in your garage? A sedan?”

Jeongguk laughs a little then, replying, “Nothing else, I’m afraid. But that sounds like a good investment.” He’s done securing Daehan then, pulling back and gently closing the door before he tells Taehyung, “Come on. Climb in.”

Taehyung doesn’t need to be told twice, opening the car door and getting in. He likes Jeongguk’s other car—it’s fancy and luxurious, and he definitely can tell that people on the street stop and stare at it. This one, however, is more up Taehyung’s alley; he bets it’s also scandalously expensive, but in a more elevated way. It’s elegant, Taehyung would say. And from what he can see, also fully equipped.

“Do you remember where I live?” he asks as he buckles his seatbelt.

“Of course I do,” Jeongguk says, sounding almost offended by the doubt. “You don’t drive, do you?”

“I do drive,” Taehyung clarifies. “But I don’t have a car. Expensive.”

It’s not just the car itself—but the gas and insurance, and it’s also hard to find a parking spot. If you rent one in a garage, that’s yet another expense. Seoul’s public transport works well enough; and whenever that’s not an option, he can take a taxi.

Jeongguk doesn’t ask for any more explanations, just nods as he starts the engine and drives off, heading in the direction of Taehyung’s place. It’s not a long drive, but Daehan still makes sure to keep them entertained with multiple rambles about—well, anything. From the people and cars that he sees out of the window, to the toy that he dropped under Taehyung’s seat—that Taehyung can’t for the life of him reach—to a nursery song he babbles the lyrics too. It makes Taehyung laugh, especially as Jeongguk joins in, a happy smile on his face as he drums his thumbs on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the music.

They get to Taehyung’s and for some reason, Taehyung wishes that the ride had been longer. After parking, just as Taehyung gets out of the car, Jeongguk does too, determined to rescue Daehan’s toy from under the seat.

“Thanks a lot for driving me,” Taehyung says, watching Jeongguk walk around the car until he gets to the sidewalk, next to him. “You’ve saved me from a very busy subway ride.”

“Guess that kind of makes me a hero,” Jeongguk says, leaning against the side of the car. Taehyung rolls his eyes, but there’s no real bite behind the action. “It’s the least I could do.”

“Tell me when you next want to meet up,” Taehyung says, to which Jeongguk nods. Taehyung looks down at his feet, then back at Jeongguk and after taking a breath asks, “See you soon?”

“As soon as I can, since, you know,” Jeongguk says, nodding back to the car—to Daehan.

“No worries. I'll see you, Jeongguk,” Taehyung says. He ducks down a little then and looks inside the car through the window, waving his hand. Raising his voice so Daehan can hear, he says, “Bye-bye, Hannie.”

He sees Daehan smile widely, waving both his hands in front of the window as he says, “Bye, Taetae-hyung!”

“See you soon, Taetae-hyung,” Jeongguk repeats, giving Taehyung a painfully charming smile before he opens the door by Daehan’s seat, ready to start his rescue mission.

Taehyung is almost tempted to stay and watch until they drive off, but he forces himself to turn around and start walking towards his building. Not even when he hears the engine start does he look back at the car—he’s said goodbye already. No reason to.

His fingers still tingle afterwards, though, almost like they were ready to wave Jeongguk off once again. And when he gets home, looking at himself in the tall mirror he’s placed right in front of the door, he notices he’s sporting the biggest grin in the world.

And for the first time in a while, Taehyung doesn’t have to ask himself why. He knows this time—their time today, from the moment he walked into the café until now that Jeongguk dropped him off, felt like a real date.

≋

Things change after that. And Taehyung, who always found himself dreading to think of what a shift in their relationship could imply, discovers that they seem easier than ever. The differences are so subtle at first, but they’re there—they stay at Jeongguk’s more often now, and Jeongguk drives him home on the occasions where he doesn’t stay the night, but that seldom happens these days. They've always talked, so it’s not like they talk more, but Taehyung feels like in the last months he’s gotten to know more of Jeongguk than he ever did before, even more than he had learned over the space of almost a year. 

And he likes it. Even though he knows he shouldn’t, because the shift and the fact that he likes how it feels, makes everything far more complicated than it was before. Taehyung starts looking forward to seeing Jeongguk; not looking forward to a nice evening out, or to an evening of sex. He looks forward to Jeongguk, and even to spending time with Daehan, who has now grown more than comfortable in Taehyung’s presence.

What point is too much? In which moment do the lines between a transaction and their personal affairs become so blurred that Taehyung doesn’t really know what’s going on anymore? Maybe it’s when Taehyung ends up confessing how he ended up signing up for the website where they initially met, feeling a mixture of shame and uncertainty upon not knowing how Jeongguk would react to the story. Or, perhaps, it was the fact that Jeongguk doesn’t seem to be in the slightest bit judgemental, and even squeezes Taehyung’s hand lightly as he says, If I were you, I would have done the same. Is it a joke? Maybe, but it makes Taehyung’s shoulders feel a lot lighter.

Maybe it’s in bed, when Jeongguk kisses down Taehyung’s body before taking him in his mouth, making him come with his fists clenched around silk sheets. Or maybe after that, still lying together naked as Jeongguk tells him about the absolute worst date he’s ever had. There’s an amusement park, untied shoelaces and a big drink of cola involved, and Taehyung can’t help but laugh as Jeongguk recalls how he ended up drenching the guy he was going out with. Needless to say, the date ended right there and he didn’t call or text back.

“If you could go on any date,” Jeongguk starts then, words slurred against the juncture of Taehyung’s jaw and neck, “without money being an issue, what would you do?”

“Dunno. The opera sounds nice,” Taehyung says as he tries to think of something, making Jeongguk laugh breathily. “But do you know what I’ve always really wanted, but never had?”

“Hmm?”

“An aquarium date,” Taehyung admits. “I went to the one in Daegu once when I was a kid, and I saw so many couples, and thought it’d be nice to do that when I was older. But I guess people aren’t that into aquarium dates because I’m yet to go on one.”

Jeongguk laughs again, and nuzzling Taehyung’s neck says, “We could do it sometime.”

“Seriously?”

“One of these days, yeah. Daehan can come with us if you don't mind,” Jeongguk says, now Taehyung’s turn to chuckle gravely.

“That’s really romantic, Jeongguk,” he comments, words laced in irony.

“I’m a romantic guy,” Jeongguk says, arm wrapping tightly around Taehyung’s middle as his fingers brush his ribcage. The touch is gentle, tickling Taehyung and raising goosebumps on his skin. “I can prove it to you.”

“How so?”

“With kisses,” Jeongguk says, getting to action straight away. “All night long.”

Taehyung doesn’t complain—that sounds about perfect to him. Right now there’s nothing he’d like more than getting lost in Jeongguk’s lips until the sun rises.

≋

“Oh, look who’s calling,” is the first thing Jimin says when he picks up the phone. “Seems like someone finally remembers about me.”

Taehyung laughs, as he can tell by Jimin’s tone that he’s teasing, but even if his friend doesn’t really mean anything by his words, he has a point. He hasn’t seen his friends much for the past few weeks, which might have something to do with the fact that he’s been seeing Jeongguk a lot more. Before, he met up with Jimin almost every day. Now, maybe twice a week.

“You don’t mean that. I’ve been busy, but I’ll do better,” Taehyung says, Jimin humming on the other line. “Are you gonna get all possessive now?”

“I might,” Jimin replies. “Everything okay?”

“Everything is good, yeah,” Taehyung replies, immediately asking, “You?”

“Everything's all good on my end, too,” Jimin says. “So to what do I owe the honor?”

“Jimin! Don’t say that,” Taehyung protests, to which Jimin lets out a lighthearted chuckle. “I just wanted to meet up soon. Are you free tomorrow?”

“Hm, I’m free at dinner time. Does that work for you?” Jimin inquires.

“That’s perfect, yeah.”

“So you can come over to mine and I’ll make us something,” Jimin resolves. “God, I can’t believe I have become someone to fill the gaps in your schedule with.”

“Don’t you dare say that. You come first,” Taehyung rushes to reply. “Bros before hoes.”

“Are you calling Mr. DILF a hoe?” Jimin asks, amused.

“He might as well be one,” Taehyung says, a smile spreading across his lips.

“You know I’m just kidding,” Jimin reassures him. “Plus—this gives me more boyfriend time, so I’m not really complaining.”

“What about Yoongi?”

“Oh, god—I think he's finally listened to us and is seeing someone,” Jimin says, voice going down to a whisper even though Taehyung doubts he’s around anyone now. Much less around Yoongi. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it,” Taehyung says, sincere. “Eight tomorrow?”

“Sounds lovely, Mr. Kim,” Jimin replies. “I’ll see you then.”

≋

Taehyung knew, after the conversation he and Jeongguk had that one night, that Jeongguk would eventually end up taking him to the aquarium—but he didn’t imagine it’d happen the very next week.

Jeongguk doesn’t tell him where he’s taking them when he picks him up in the afternoon, Daehan sitting in his car seat in the back. He doesn’t really realize where they’re heading until they’re there, the words Lotte World Aquarium written in big, white luminous letters.

“No way,” Taehyung says, looking at Jeongguk with wide eyes. Jeongguk is smiling almost smug, his hand around Daehan’s as the three of them walk to the entry. They won’t be in the aquarium for too long, and they came by car anyway, so Jeongguk hasn't bothered to bring the stroller with them. And anyway, as far as Taehyung knows, both Jeongguk and Siyeon are trying to get him into the habit of walking rather than being carried.

“Yes way,” Jeongguk says, reaching into his pocket with his free hand as he says, “I already booked the tickets online.”

“I’ll pay you back,” Taehyung interjects, but Jeongguk doesn’t acknowledge his words.

“I can’t hear you, sorry,” he says. Before Taehyung can protest, he adds, “Hannie, tell Taetae-hyung how excited you are to see all the animals.”

“Daddy said sea lions,” Daehan says happily, skipping a bit in his step. Taehyung can’t help but crack a smile at that, endeared. “And big tuh-tles.”

“Yes, buddy, there’s turtles too,” Jeongguk says, gently slipping in the correction. “And so many penguins.”

Thanks to Jeongguk booking the tickets beforehand, the three of them get in fast and without any trouble. From the very start, Daehan looks at everything in wonder, hands glued to the windows as he looks inside the tanks. Taehyung catches himself grinning more often than not—both because being here makes him happy, and because seeing the way Daehan reacts to his first time being at an aquarium is priceless. He gasps when a big group of fish swim right over them, hiding behind Jeongguk’s leg when he spots a beluga.

“But Hannie, look, it’s smiling,” Jeongguk replies, Daehan peeking from behind his legs to look at the whale that is now right in front of them. “See?”

At that, Daehan stops hiding behind Jeongguk and takes a couple of steps closer to the glass, looking at the animal. Taehyung watches as the fear gets replaced by wonder, then the toddler says, “It looks happy, daddy.”

Taehyung’s eyes fleet from Daehan to Jeongguk, who, as if he felt Taehyung’s gaze fall on him, glances at him. The two of them share a quick smile, one that is filled with complicity and intimacy and just a spark that makes Taehyung feel like he’s about to melt on the spot.

The feeling doesn’t go away, not even when Jeongguk looks away, asking Daehan, “Do you like the beluga, Hannie?”

Taehyung gets a little lost in thought then, thinking about Jeongguk and what it means to be here, and why he feels his heart beating so loud inside his ribcage. Ultimately, what pulls him back to reality is Daehan when he calls, “Look, Taetae-hyung!” He’s pointing at some bright blue fish, dozens of them swimming in the same direction.

Taehyung crouches down next to Daehan, who points at all the sea life he can see from where he’s standing—anything that catches his attention. Listening to his babbling is when it really clicks. Things are far different than what he signed up for initially, and there is so much that he—and they—have to figure out still, but at the moment, he doesn’t really care. Right now, he’s happy exactly where he is; where they are. He’s not going to be the one to ruin it.

≋

There’s nothing that makes Taehyung feel worse than tardiness, but he’s late to dinner with Jimin that evening. It’s a mixture of many factors—first, he gets a little too carried away and doesn’t notice the time until it’s quite late. Jeongguk very kindly offers to drive him, but Taehyung still decides to get an Uber instead, one that takes ages to arrive. To add to the matter, he gets stuck in traffic for a while on his way, too. He sends Jimin a couple of texts, but they’re still unopened when he finally makes it to Jimin’s, over twenty minutes after the time they had agreed to meet up. Taehyung is up for taking all of the blame, though.

As soon as the door opens, the first thing that leaves Taehyung’s mouth is, “I’m so, so sorry.”

Jimin gives him a pointed look, the corners of his lips pointing downwards in a pout that Taehyung knows he’s unsuccessfully trying to hide.

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up,” Jimin says, pulling the door open all the way and stepping aside so Taehyung can come in.

“I’m really sorry,” Taehyung repeats, taking off his shoes. “I texted you.”

“I saw, but I didn’t feel like replying,” Jimin says, honest. He crosses his arms over his chest, watching Taehyung. He’s not mad, or at least, not angry. But still, Taehyung can tell that he’s bothered. “You were with Jeongguk?”

“I was, yeah,” Taehyung admits, standing back up and meeting Jimin’s eyes. “I was with him and Daehan at the aquarium and lost track of time, and then my Uber took ages to arrive, and then... well, you’ve read it, right?”

“I read the notifications, yeah,” Jimin says. He sighs, his arms falling to his sides as he says, “It’s okay. You were just late—it’s not the end of the world.”

“But you’re upset,” Taehyung points out.

“I’m not—well, yes, but...” Jimin starts, stumbling over his words. He makes a pause, then adds, “Not about you being late.”

“What about, then?” Taehyung asks.

“What’s going on with Jeongguk?” Jimin asks. Taehyung doesn’t find it in himself to reply right away, probably because he’s not sure what the answer is right now. When he remains quiet, Jimin insists, “Because it seems like things are different, but I wouldn’t know from you. You can talk to me about him or anything for that matter. It just feels like you’ve been more distant recently.”

“It’s not like that at all,” Taehyung rushes to add, Jimin still unconvinced. At that, Taehyung rushes and explains, “I haven’t told you because I don’t know myself, either. I don’t know what’s going on between us, and that’s why I haven’t said anything. That, and because I know you’d say I should stick to keeping it strictly business.”

“Who do you think I am? Yoongi?” Jimin asks with a wrinkled nose. That makes Taehyung huff out a laugh, making him relax a little. “It’s okay not to know just yet. You know I don’t want to pressure you into talking about things you don’t feel like talking about, yeah?” Taehyung nods. “But also, remember two heads think better than one. Maybe we can figure it out together?”

“I’m done trying to figure it out. I don’t think I need to right now,” Taehyung confesses, voicing the decision he came to earlier today. “But I’ll still tell you. Happily. You know I’m happy to tell you about anything.”

“And that’s the way I like us,” Jimin says, cracking the first smile of the evening. That’s all Taehyung needed to be completely at ease—he lets Jimin lace their arms together, starting to walk towards the kitchen as he says, “You can tell me over dinner. Luckily for you, I was also running late, which is why I didn’t really have time to reply to your texts. Otherwise, food would be cold by now.”

Taehyung laughs at that—maybe him being later was just a lucky twist of fate. It got them to have a conversation that was very much needed, and that means they won’t have a cold dinner.

“Fine,” Taehyung agrees, the smell of food almost making his stomach grumble when they step into Jimin’s small kitchen. “But only if you tell me about Yoongi and his new person.”

“Oh, baby,” Jimin says then, laughter laced with his words. “Wait ‘til you hear all about it.”

≋

Taehyung knows that there are many people who, despite not having strict work hours, try their best to build a routine for themselves to give their lives some structure. So even if they don’t have an office to get to, they still wake up early, get dressed every day and follow some sort of schedule. Taehyung, however, is not one of those people.

Ever since he quit his job, he thinks he can count on his fingers the times he's bothered to set an alarm for himself to wake up early. Sometimes he goes to sleep scandalously late, waking up at noon the following day without any remorse. The time when he decides he’s had enough of this and goes back to work-life will be a bitch to adjust to, no doubt.

So when his ringtone wakes him up on a Friday morning Taehyung finds himself groaning and considering ignoring whoever the fuck it is that’s calling. The only reason why he doesn’t is because ignoring means listening to his ringtone go on and on for longer, and that sounds like cruel, sick torture. So without even bothering to check who the person calling is, Taehyung reaches for his phone, picks up and takes it to his ear as he grumbles, “Hello?”

There’s a few seconds of silence then, which kind of pisses him off, but right when he’s about to snarl, someone on the phone with a familiar voice says, “It’s the second time we find each other in this predicament.”

Jeongguk. Suddenly, the irritation that Taehyung felt upon being woken dissipates into mild annoyance. Said annoyance, he knows, won’t really last longer than a couple of minutes. Jeongguk gets special treatment, after all. Not only because he’s the one paying for all of Taehyung’s shit, but also because... feelings.

“Huh?” Taehyung asks, not sure of what Jeongguk means. His voice is rough, and so he clears his throat before forcing himself to ask further, “What predicament?”

“It’s the second time I wake you up when I call. You didn’t admit that you were asleep the first time, but you have a very obvious just-woken voice,” Jeongguk tells him. Taehyung scoffs softly, smiling a bit. “Sorry I woke you. Both times.”

“It’s okay. There’s nothing like waking up to the sweet sound of your voice,” Taehyung says, making Jeongguk laugh. It’s a joke, mostly because what actually woke him up is the ringtone of his phone, not Jeongguk’s voice. But it’s still nice talking to Jeongguk on the phone, rather than just having sex. He can handle being woken for this, even though it still doesn’t beat waking up in the bed next to Jeongguk.

“Now you’re just stroking my ego,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung humming but not confirming nor denying anything. “I’m calling to ask for a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” Taehyung asks, the admission piquing his interest and effectively waking him. He sits up on the bed then, taking the duvet off his lap.

“Come over if you can. I’ll explain when you get here,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung arching an eyebrow.

“Is everything all right?” he still asks, wanting to make sure. It’s funny, he thinks; for ages he never understood why his parents’ minds would always go to the worst scenario possible when there was something they didn’t know the details of, but now he’s almost becoming that person.

“It’s all good, I promise,” Jeongguk says. “I just need to keep an air of mystery to get you to come fast, don’t I?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, even if Jeongguk obviously can’t see him, and finally gets out of bed. “As if it depends on me,” Taehyung says, reminding Jeongguk that he’s not the one doing the driving. “I’ll be there soon, okay?”

The phone conversation ends with that, and so Taehyung moves around the apartment for a quick breakfast, an even quicker shower, and then gets dressed. Jeongguk did reassure him that nothing bad was going on, and Taehyung trusts him, but it’s also very unnerving that he’d call asking for a favor and not tell him what’s going on. He really must be becoming his parents, because he feels something akin to worry nagging at the back of his mind all the way to Jeongguk’s.

Once he gets there, when Jeongguk opens the door and Taehyung finally gets to see him, the reason why Jeongguk called becomes abundantly clear, without any need for him to open his mouth and explain. Not that he gets to, either.

Before Jeongguk has the chance to greet him, Taehyung exclaims, “Jeongguk. Your arm.”

Jeongguk looks devastatingly handsome as always, even in stay-at-home clothes like a huge t-shirt and grey sweatpants, but that’s secondary right now. Jeongguk’s left arm is in a sling. A sling.

“It’s not that bad,” Jeongguk says, with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“You said everything was fine!” Taehyung accuses. Jeongguk steps aside from the door, and so Taehyung interprets that as his invitation to come in. “What happened?”

“To put it bluntly, I fell on my ass,” Jeongguk says. “I landed badly on my hand, and my wrist is sprained. It’s nothing serious, I promise.”

“When did it happen?” Taehyung asks.

“Earlier this morning. I was playing with Daehan and lost my balance,” Jeongguk replies. The mention of the toddler’s name makes Taehyung look around himself, looking for him, but Jeongguk quickly adds, “Siyeon picked him up and drove me to the ER. Figured a toddler and a freshly sprained wrist are not the best of combinations.”

“And she was right. You need to rest,” Taehyung resolves, now really believing he’s turning into his parents. He places his hands on Jeongguk’s shoulders, gently spinning him around and pushing him in the direction of the living room, “Did you call me to take care of you, huh?”

“Mostly for company. Usually when I’m home alone I try to get some work done, but I’m too groggy from the painkillers to do shit. And they told me to take the day off when I phoned work,” Jeongguk says. “But if you want to be my nurse for the day, I’m not opposed to the idea.”

“More than happy to be,” Taehyung replies, surprising himself by the sincerity. He’s never been one to have huge protector instincts, always enjoying being protected more, but he does want to take care of Jeongguk and help him out now that he needs it.

Plus, the fact that Jeongguk called him makes him feel... happy? Of course, with Daehan being in his care, the first person that Jeongguk would contact is Siyeon. But he could have called literally anyone else to assist him, yet he chose him. Taehyung feels happy about that, figuring that what he’s been feeling lately isn't completely one-sided. Not that he thought it was—not at all. But it’s good to have some more confirmation that Jeongguk is in it just like he himself is.

Jeongguk happens not to be too whiny of a patient, so that makes things for Taehyung infinitely easier. He doesn’t do a lot of taking care of him—they cuddle, they kiss, they watch TV together with Jeongguk’s feet propped on Taehyung’s lap. Special treatment for the sick boy. It’s a side of them that they had yet to uncover, the lazy and domestic stay-at-home part. They’ve gone on fancy dates to restaurants, they’ve gone to cafés, high school reunions, and even to the movies with Daehan, but they've never just soaked up each other like this, enjoying the simplicity of the day. Taehyung thinks it might as well be his favorite out of all of them.

But then comes the time for—a very late—lunch, and Taehyung, lacking any self-awareness, says, “I can try to make something with what you have.”

He's told Jeongguk before that he doesn’t really cook and just resorts to take out or things that don’t require much—if any—effort or cooking skills. What he might not have said, however, is that the reason why he never cooks is because he sucks at it.

Had he offered to cook in Yoongi’s or Jimin’s presence, they would have stopped him, but Jeongguk was so blissfully unaware of Taehyung’s lack of culinary skills. So the two of them move to the kitchen, Jeongguk sitting as Taehyung stands by the counter, facing the cutting board and a bunch of vegetables. This can’t be that hard, right? It’s just chopping, then stir-frying, and he’ll be done.

Turns out, it’s harder than it looks. Not just to do, but also to watch.

“Hyung,” Jeongguk calls out then, his tone gentle as he does so. Taehyung's still looking down at the board, too scared of looking away for one second and slicing his hand open, but he still can hear Jeongguk stand up from where he’s sitting and come closer to him. He stays still, feeling Jeongguk’s left arm press lightly against his back as he places his hand over Taehyung’s. “You have horrible technique.”

Taehyung has never been one to feel embarrassed about being a bad cook; he simply doesn’t care. It’s not something he sees himself enjoying doing, so he never bothered to learn, and that’s something that the rest of the world has to deal with. He has many other virtues and talents to make up for it.

But now as Jeongguk’s hand guides him carefully, first changing the hold he has on the chopping knife and then teaching him how to slice the cabbage he’s working with, Taehyung finds himself blushing a bit. He feels embarrassed, and so he mutters, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung doing his best to ignore the fact that the words have been whispered right against his ear and instead focus on what they’re doing. “We could have ordered takeout.”

“It just felt nice to offer. I thought you’d suggest the takeout yourself, and then we could eat something nice and I’d look good for offering,” Taehyung says, making Jeongguk laugh a little. “We've still got time to give up. So far, the loss is just one cabbage.”

“That might be best. I’ll just wrap it up and use it throughout the week,” Jeongguk says. He lets go of Taehyung’s hand, who leaves the knife on top of the counter and turns around a little, facing Jeongguk.

“Sorry,” he repeats, careful not to squish Jeongguk’s wrist between their bodies. He meets Jeongguk’s eyes, unable to hold back a small smile.

“You’re good,” Jeongguk reassures him. His eyes glisten with mischief then, before he says, “You know, someday you’re gonna have to stop being a sugar baby, and then you’ll find out that eating out is way more expensive than cooking at home.”

“And who’s to say that I’ll be short on money? That’s not going to be a problem,” Taehyung bites back, playing along with the joke, “because when I stop being a sugar baby, I'll become a trophy husband, and my partner will for sure be able to afford eating out every day.”

Jeongguk laughs at that, shaking his head in almost disbelief. He asks, “You have a reply for everything, don’t you?”

“I do. A life skill much more valuable than cooking, if you ask me,” Taehyung says, Jeongguk scoffing a little. “I can get you to cook for me, anyway. When your hand is good again.”

“Was that your plan all along? Making me into your personal chef?”

“Just sporadically. You’ve bragged about it before, but I’m gonna need proof,” Taehyung says.

Jeongguk leans forward then, pressing a long yet chaste kiss to Taehyung’s lips. It still makes something that almost feels like butterflies stir in his stomach, happy and warm and exciting.

“Get ready to be amazed.”

≋

Their—mostly—quiet day at home gets interrupted in the early evening, when the doorbell goes off. Taehyung looks to his left, dragging his eyes to Jeongguk, who doesn’t look too amused at having to leave. His arm retreats from where it’s sitting around Taehyung’s wide shoulders, legs untangling from his before he stands.

“Are you expecting someone?” Taehyung asks, curious.

“A couple of friends are dropping off something from work so I can take a look at it over the weekend,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung nodding along with a hum. “My boss insisted I stay home on Monday as well, but I think that’s pushing it.”

“You have a sprained wrist and work at a computer,” Taehyung points out, watching as Jeongguk starts walking towards the hall. “You should listen to your boss.”

“I know better,” Jeongguk says, taking one last look at Taehyung before leaving the living room. Taehyung rolls his eyes, hopefully fast enough for Jeongguk to see.

He doesn’t mean to listen in, but it’s hard not to when Jeongguk paused the show they were watching on Netflix and there’s nothing else for him to focus on. He hears Jeongguk pull the door open, greeting a Seokjin and a Namjoon. The words feel familiar to him somehow, so it’s possible that Jeongguk has mentioned them in the past.

“So how are you feeling?” one of them asks, not giving Jeongguk time to reply before he adds, “Does it hurt?”

“Only if I move it, so I have the sling,” Jeongguk says. “I’m good. You got the flashdrive?”

“Right here,” the other voice says. There’s a short pause, presumably as he gives Jeongguk the USB stick, then, “We brought over some beers to have with you, but you seem in a bit of a rush to get rid of us.”

There’s humor in his words, Taehyung can tell, but Jeongguk still replies, “I’m gonna have to say no. I have someone over already.”

“Ohh,” Taehyung hears then, the exclamation tainted with realization. “Is he...?”

“Yep.”

In a hushed voice, but not low enough for Taehyung not to hear, one of them asks. “Taehyung?”

“Well, who else?” this time, the one replying to the question isn’t Jeongguk, but his other friend.

“Guys—”

“It could be anyone. Even Siyeon,” the guy who initially asked replies.

“He wouldn’t tell us to leave over Siyeon.”

“Guys!” Jeongguk calls again, and despite not being there, Taehyung can sense the embarrassment in his voice. It brings a smile to his face, wide and sheepish. “He’s right through there. He can hear you.”

“Really?” Another pause then. “Well, then he should know that if he’s looking for a bit of a more sophisticated guy, with a nicer car and a more handsome face, I am avail—”

“Hyung!” Jeongguk exclaims then, sounding mortified. At the same time, the other guy—Seokjin, he guesses—exclaims Namjoon! The difference is that, unlike Jeongguk, he sounds terribly amused by the words.

Taehyung doesn’t give himself too much time to overthink. He gets back to his feet and rapidly makes his way to the hall, watching the three men standing there. Jeongguk’s there, cheeks as red as Taehyung anticipated. Right in front of him, there’s two guys, both taller than Jeongguk. One of them has caramel brown hair, bangs swooping over his forehead but not hiding his handsome face. The other one has dyed blonde hair, swept away from his face.

“The sugar baby is fine, but the offer is very much appreciated,” Taehyung says as he walks in, feeling all three pairs of eyes land on him at the same time. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Taehyung.”

“This is Namjoon, and this is Seokjin,” Jeongguk rushes to introduce them, gesturing first at the brown-hair guy and then at the blond. “And they were just leaving.”

“You are such a brat.”

“At least take the beers, and we can have them another day when you don’t have company,” Namjoon says with emphasis on the last word, drowning out Seokjin’s complaints.

Jeongguk doesn’t reply, taking the six-pack with his good hand that Namjoon was carrying. At the same time, Seokjin says, “It’s nice to meet you too, Taehyung. Hopefully, we can hang out someday, when Jeongguk stops hogging you.”

“You—”

“I’d love to,” Taehyung says, giving each one of them a smile as they pull the door back open and start to step outside.

“See you soon,” Namjoon says as well. “Don’t have too much fun and mind the arm.”

“Hyung!” Jeongguk complains again, at the same time Seokjin and Taehyung burst into laughter.

It doesn’t seem like Jeongguk is in the mood for any more teasing, because without waiting for the elevator to arrive so his friends can go back down, he takes a step further and—softly—kicks the door closed with his foot. He’s still blushing when he turns around, Taehyung’s grin widening in endearment.

“Gimme that,” Taehyung says without waiting, reaching for the bag with the beers.

Jeongguk tries to pull back his arm, saying, “I can take them. I’m not useless.”

“You are in my eyes,” Taehyung insists, and this time Jeongguk doesn’t argue. He lets Taehyung take the six-pack from him, following as he heads to the kitchen. “So you talk to your friends about me, huh?”

“Huge mistake on my end considering they seem to want to ruin every single thing that makes me happy,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung laughing in reply.

“Dramatic much,” Taehyung comments, Jeongguk clicking his tongue in response. Taehyung opens the door to the fridge and puts the six-pack on the bottom shelf where he finds some space. Turning around, he starts, “So, your friends...”

“What about them?”

“How rich are they exactly?” Taehyung asks, joking. Jeongguk scoffs at that, but he still smiles.

“Fuck right off.”

“Maybe it is time for an upgrade. We’ve been together for a while now, Jeongguk. It’s about time we part ways so I can move onto bigger and better things,” he says, earning himself another scoff.

“Just so you know, they’re not richer than me. They’re not rich,” he says. “And Namjoon—he doesn’t even have a car. He was lying out of his ass.”

“Really?”

“Really. And more handsome? That’s debatable as well,” Jeongguk adds, Taehyung laughing again.

“Are you worried I’m gonna dump you for your friends, Jeongguk?” Taehyung asks, taking a step closer.

“I’m simply stating the facts as they are,” he says looking away, Taehyung giggling in response as his hands go to Jeongguk’s hips.

“But you’re not jealous, right?” he pushes.

Jeongguk looks at him then, going a bit cross-eyed because of how close they are.

“Not one bit,” he says. Whether that’s the truth or not, Taehyung can’t judge.

But what he can do is say, “Good. You have no reason to be, anyway. I’m not going anywhere.”

And just like it was his choice to believe whether Jeongguk saying he wasn’t jealous was true or not, right now it’s up to Jeongguk to choose whether he trusts Taehyung’s word or not. But god, Taehyung really hopes he does.

≋

When the two of them first met, because of the nature of their relationship, it was always Jeongguk who was in charge of deciding what their dates would be, when, and where they’d take place. Taehyung didn’t take part in any planning; he was just told to meet Jeongguk at a certain location and at a certain hour, and so he did.

Their relationship has progressed, and now things are in a strange stage. Taehyung wants more, and he knows that for there to be more, the money exchange needs to stop. And he doesn’t mind that—he’d rather keep what he thinks has the potential to be a good relationship and look for a new source of income. He’s willing to do just that. The thing is, he needs to bring it up, and he doesn’t know how to. Jeongguk hasn’t commented on it, either.

That aspect aside, the nature of their relationship has changed, and Taehyung no longer feels like it’s an actual sugar daddy and sugar baby situation anymore. For that reason, he takes the liberty to take some initiative and actually plan something for the two of them to do that weekend, now knowing when Jeongguk’s days with Daehan land and working around them.

“I’ve booked a date for us,” Taehyung announces to Jeongguk as soon as he picks up the phone, not even waiting for a greeting. “For Saturday.”

“And how do you know I’m free on Saturday?” Jeongguk asks, teasing. Taehyung rolls his eyes, seeing right through it.

“I can reschedule if you’re busy,” he lies. He read it on the webpage when he made his booking, no changes or refunds. “But something tells me you’re not.”

“You think I don’t have a life,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung not bothering to deny. It’s not true—Taehyung knows Jeongguk has a life, yes, but he knows he’s not the type to make lots of plans on his free days. He’d rather chill at home. “I hate to admit this now, but yeah, I’m free.”

“I had no doubts about it,” Taehyung pushes, Jeongguk chuckling on the other end of the line. “Now, onto my second proposition.”

“Huh?”

“So, obviously, I want the date to be a surprise,” Taehyung starts, getting a hum from Jeongguk. “And I didn’t want to tell you where it was so you can’t figure out what we’re doing.”

“And how will I not like that?” Jeongguk inquires. “I like surprises.”

“Well, we have to get there somehow,” Taehyung points out. “And I don’t have a car.”

“Carry on.”

“Now, this is the part you won’t like,” Taehyung announces, hand reaching up so he can play with the hair at the back of his head. “We can take a taxi there or I could drive. Your car.”

There’s a bit of silence, Taehyung feeling something akin to nervousness gnawing in his stomach as he waits for an answer. Eventually, Jeongguk says, “You know, a car is one of those things you’re told to never lend to someone you care about. Just in case.”

“Are you scared I’m gonna crash your car, Jeongguk?” Taehyung asks, not knowing whether he should feel mildly offended or amused. “I’ll let you know I’m a good driver. I use my parents’ car when I go back home, and I’m pretty good, reliable. It’s not my fault this city makes it almost impossible to have a car unless you’re filthy rich.”

“Filthy rich is a bit of an exaggeration,” Jeongguk says, Taehyung rolling his eyes once again. “And I trust you.”

“So then what’s the issue?” Taehyung asks.

“There’s no issue. You can drive us there,” Jeongguk says, a broad smile appearing on Taehyung’s face at the words. “Which one?”

“Family one,” Taehyung replies, not missing a beat. The sports car is nice and all, but not really Taehyung’s style. “Why’d you say that, then?”

“Say what?” Jeongguk says, clearly playing dumb.

Taehyung can see right through it, but he still humors him and insists, “The thing about lending your car.”

“Oh, you know,” Jeongguk starts, Taehyung able to hear the smile in his voice, “I was just saying.”

“Stop flirting with me,” Taehyung says, earning himself a chuckle from Jeongguk. Of course, he doesn’t mean it. “That’s embarrassing.”

“I do like myself some humiliation,” Jeongguk teases.

“Kinky,” Taehyung interjects. Before they lose track even further, he clears his throat and says, “So, come by mine this Saturday at noon, and then I’ll drive us there. Okay?”

“Okay,” Jeongguk agrees then, before adding, “Can we go back to the kinks now?”

Taehyung snorts, which probably isn’t the best thing for setting the mood. It also doesn’t help that he says in a very joking tone, “Why? Do you want to get called a little bitch?”

“That’s very tempting, but I was thinking of something a bit more vanilla today,” Jeongguk says, halfway between a joke and a truth.

“Very good,” Taehyung says, rolling back from where he was lying on his stomach onto his back. “So, what are you wearing?” 

≋

Loyal to his word, Taehyung gets them to their date without any incidents. Taehyung wouldn’t say he’s nervous—in a way, it feels like he and Jeongguk are past that stage. They’re still nothing, officially, but there’s no big ball of nerves in the pit of his stomach as they get there. At first, when they got to know each other, Taehyung didn’t let himself get nervous because it wasn’t real—he didn’t like Jeongguk, he was just getting paid to be there, so there was no reason to be nervous. Now he does feel something for him, yes, but they’ve been on enough dates that it seems unthinkable to start getting nervous now. It’s paradoxical, but Taehyung guesses things between them have always been unconventional.

So he’s not nervous, no, but he is excited. He’s been holding up well, ignoring all of Jeongguk’s requests all week to tell him where they’re going. It was especially hard in the car since he had no chance to ignore Jeongguk and walk away, but he held up well.

“You can tell me now,” Jeongguk says as he waits for Taehyung to get out of the car. He has his hands locked behind his back and is bouncing on the balls of his feet, like a kid on Christmas morning. “We’re almost there.”

“Surely you can wait one more minute,” Taehyung says, amused. He closes the car door and locks it, offering the key to Jeongguk. He’s good with driving, but keeping the key on him is a responsibility he’s not willing to take. “There’s no point in telling you now when we’re almost there.”

“There’s no point in keeping it a secret anymore,” Jeongguk argues, putting the key in his pocket. “Where to?”

“Over here,” Taehyung instructs, circling his fingers around Jeongguk’s wrist and starting to walk ahead. “Where’s your dad patience now?”

“That’s reserved for Daehan only,” Jeongguk replies, giving Taehyung a charming smile. “You get the impatient side of me. You’re the elder, after all.”

“So now you wanna dwell on age dynamics,” Taehyung mutters, Jeongguk letting out a breathy laugh. “Come on in. We’re here.”

Jeongguk turns to look at the building they’re standing in front of then, his eyes scanning the words on the window of the ground floor. Taehyung watches as his eyebrows raise before he asks, “A cooking class?”

“I thought it’d be fun,” Taehyung says, mirroring the smile that spreads across Jeongguk’s lips. “Can’t have you make fun of me anymore, can I?”

“I wasn’t making fun!” Jeongguk protests. “I even offered to cook for you.”

“Which you still have to do,” Taehyung says, Jeongguk humming in response. “This is a beginner’s class, so you’re gonna have to pretend to be worse than you are so I can feel better about myself.”

The comment makes Jeongguk laugh, as he asks, “How bad are we talking about?”

“Not bad enough to hurt yourself or set something on fire, but just enough so I don’t feel like a waste of a human being,” Taehyung says. He still has his grip on Jeongguk’s wrist, and so he tugs and says, “C’mon. Let’s go in. It’ll be fun.”

And fun is one way to put it, really. They get aprons in the class, but that doesn’t stop Jeongguk from splattering sauce all over Taehyung’s shirt. He’s clumsy, to the point where Taehyung gives him a death look that has Jeongguk whispering, “I’m not doing it on purpose, I swear.”

They both end up with stained clothes, but all through the lesson the two of them end up giggling with each other so much that some of the other people in the class give them dirty looks. At least they get to eat their creation later on, that despite not looking in the slightest bit like the teacher’s, was still tasty. Taehyung ends up leaving the place feeling happy, even if his favorite shirt is most likely ruined.

“Oh, god,” Taehyung says once they’re on their way back. He’s back in the passenger seat now, letting Jeongguk drive him home. “I don’t think I’ve learned anything at all. That was completely pointless.”

“You must have retained something,” Jeongguk says with a laugh, taking his eyes off the road for a split second to look at Taehyung.

“Nothing at all. It was your fault, though—you kept distracting me,” he accuses, Jeongguk faking an offended gasp. “You’ve ruined my plans.”

“What plans? The date?” he asks, and again, he sounds offended. Except this time, Taehyung thinks it might be real.

“Not the date. The date was lovely,” Taehyung admits, feeling his fingertips tingle at the admission. Jeongguk’s hands tighten around the steering wheel then, but it might be Taehyung just looking too much into things. “I wanted to learn a little so I can cook you a meal too, someday. To repay you.”

“You still have lots to learn for that, though,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung reaches forward at that, lightly punching Jeongguk in the arm, who says, “Hey! I’m driving!”

“Don’t be a dick! I’m trying to have a moment here,” Taehyung scolds, Jeongguk once again chuckling softly. “You better hurry with the meal, though.”

“And what’s the sudden rush?” Jeongguk inquires.

“After today, I’m not sure I believe you’re a good cook anymore,” Taehyung says, teasing. Of course, he believes Jeongguk’s words—today, he was clearly messing around and being playful with Taehyung. It’s just that teasing Jeongguk is fun, so he can’t really help himself. “You’re gonna have to prove yourself to me.”

“Give me a time and a date,” Jeongguk replies with no hesitation. “I can’t believe you’d doubt me.”

“I’m sticking to what I’ve seen, that’s all,” Taehyung says, looking at Jeongguk just in time to see him narrow his eyes at him.

The banter that accompanied them from the very moment Taehyung got in Jeongguk’s car, lasts until Jeongguk drops him off back at the apartment. Maybe it’s selfish of him, but today has been so good that Taehyung simply doesn’t want it to end already. It’s still fairly early, even if they’ve been together for a few hours, and Taehyung just wants to be greedy and keep Jeongguk for himself for a bit longer.

So, once they’re parked outside, and before he has the time to properly rationalize the thought, he blurts out, “Do you want to come upstairs?”

Ever since they’ve known each other, Taehyung has been to Jeongguk’s so often that he could probably make his way around the apartment blindfolded. Jeongguk, on the other hand, has never stepped a foot in Taehyung’s apartment—and that’s how Taehyung prefers it, to be honest. Jeongguk’s place is big and spacious, tastefully decorated, and very tidy. Taehyung’s is the opposite: a shoebox with far too many of his belongings stored wherever fits, and very messy.

Regret comes immediately, because had he anticipated this would happen, he would have at least tried to make the place look decent. He’s torn now, halfway between hoping Jeongguk says yes because he wants to be with him for longer, or for him to decline because his apartment is a hot mess.

“I’d love to,” Jeongguk says, and fuck. Taehyung’s heart fucking jumps in his stomach at that.

“That’s—that’s good! But before we go,” Taehyung rushes to add, Jeongguk freezing as he was moving to unbuckle his seatbelt, “my apartment isn’t nice.”

Jeongguk’s eyebrows furrow as he asks, “How do you mean?”

“Just that it’s not nice,” Taehyung repeats. “It’s not like yours.”

For a moment there, Jeongguk stays quiet. He looks at Taehyung, tilting his head to the right before he finally speaks and says, “You know I haven’t always had money, right? Like—I told you.” Taehyung nods at that, the story of how Jeongguk got his fortune still clear in his mind. “When I was a student I also lived in a tiny apartment. That’s not gonna bother me.”

“And the mess?”

“I had roommates throughout uni, and I have a toddler,” Jeongguk replies. Taehyung raises his eyebrows, skeptical, as Jeongguk’s place always looks tidy, and Jeongguk adds, “You think my place always looks as nice as it does when you come over? That’s simply not realistic with a kid involved. One day you’ll see it in its natural state, and then you’ll know.”

“That a promise?” Taehyung asks, meeting Jeongguk’s eyes. His hand moves over the console, but it’s Jeongguk who takes the final step and laces their fingers together.

“It is,” he answers, squeezing Taehyung’s hand in his own. “Let’s go up, yeah? I’m not judging.”

“Come on, then,” Taehyung urges, letting go of Jeongguk’s hand so he can unbuckle his seatbelt. “Before I change my mind.”

The two of them make their way up to Taehyung’s apartment then, Jeongguk keeping him busy enough with conversation to avoid Taehyung getting caught up in thoughts. It’s funny, he thinks, how this is the side of him that he’s scared of Jeongguk seeing, after all that’s happened in the last year. But in the end, what are feelings if not lots of irrationality?

After unlocking the door for them both to go inside, shoes discarded by the entrance, Taehyung is about to offer Jeongguk the grand tour—irony—of his apartment, but he doesn’t get to. The words are about to leave his mouth, but then there’s arms being wrapped around his waist, pulling him back.

“Have I told you that you look really good today?” Jeongguk asks then, firm chest pressed flush against Taehyung’s back as he speaks the words right against his ear. It makes Taehyung almost shiver.

“You have, when you arrived here,” Taehyung replies, recalling the happy feeling in his chest when Jeongguk complimented him. He, of course, returned the praise—not just because Jeongguk said it first, but because Jeongguk does indeed look good. Not that that’s news, anyway. “But it’s good to hear it.”

“Then,” Jeongguk starts, dropping a kiss right behind Taehyung’s ear, “you look really good, Tae.”

Taehyung lets out a giggle, shoulders shrugging involuntarily because Jeongguk’s mouth is tickling him. But then Jeongguk kisses again, this time with a little more intent, and oh—it doesn’t tickle anymore, and rather than shrugging, Taehyung tilts his head to the side to give Jeongguk more room.

“Someone’s in a kissing mood,” Taehyung says with a sigh, reveling in the feeling of Jeongguk’s hands settling on each side of his waist. His fingers feel good on Taehyung’s body, even if there’s a layer of clothing separating them from his skin.

“Not the only one,” Jeongguk mutters against his skin, Taehyung humming in response. His hands move on Taehyung’s body, gently spinning him around as he says, “Look at me.”

And there’s Jeongguk, who has never before looked as out of place as he does now, standing in Taehyung’s apartment. Yet at the same time, Taehyung doesn’t think he has ever looked so tempting. It’s almost second nature, the way that their mouths slot together when they both lean in and meet each other halfway. Taehyung’s palm cups Jeongguk’s cheek, letting the kiss deepen as Jeongguk’s touch on his body turns more daring.

He’s never felt himself be so affected by anyone’s touch before, just the mere feeling of Jeongguk’s hands on him making his head spin. They go down from his waist to his hips, not wasting time before going back to Taehyung’s ass and squeezing. And god—it’s almost embarrassing how that gets to him, how it makes him let out a whine into Jeongguk’s mouth, body pressing impossibly closer against his.

“Fuck,” Taehyung mutters, his thumb stroking Jeongguk’s cheekbone as the other hand rests on his neck, skin scorching hot under his fingertips. “I want you so bad.”

The admission seems to trigger something in Jeongguk, who just brings his mouth to Taehyung’s and kisses him again, deeper this time. Taehyung doesn’t even realize they’ve been moving until he feels the edge of the kitchen countertop right against the small of his back, making him yelp in Jeongguk’s mouth. Before he can properly register what’s going, Jeongguk hoists him up, sitting him on the counter and slipping in between his parted thighs.

“Cute kitchen,” he says, hands dragging around the outside of Taehyung’s thighs.

Taehyung scoffs. “As if you’ve taken a single look at it.”

Jeongguk doesn’t argue his case, choosing instead to kiss Taehyung one more time. He cannot lie—every kiss, every brush of Jeongguk’s tongue against his, makes it harder for Taehyung to stay composed. It feels like the temperature in the room rises, his clothes starting to feel more like a bother than anything else.

It’s him who takes things one step further, hands slipping under the hem of Jeongguk’s t-shirt and feeling the planes of his abdomen with his palms. Soon that doesn’t feel like enough, and so he lifts up the garment and completely gets rid of it—even if it means they have to stop kissing for a fraction of a second. He throws it behind Jeongguk’s back, aiming for the sofa, but he’s back on Jeongguk’s lips before he has the time to check if the clothes landed where intended.

And god, kissing Jeongguk like this simply feels different. Feeling the warmth of his skin right under his palms, how the muscles of his back and shoulders move when Jeongguk feels him all over. Taehyung can’t help but moan, letting Jeongguk’s own hands slip under his sweater and just feel. It makes his cock twitch inside his pants, knowing that the two of them are just as desperate to touch each other.

Eventually, Jeongguk also gets rid of Taehyung’s sweater, not wasting time before he starts kissing a path down Taehyung’s neck and chest. Taehyung leans back, watching as Jeongguk works his mouth on him with flushed cheeks and cherry lips. “Hyung,” Jeongguk calls, Taehyung humming inquiringly—the sound unavoidably turns into a moan, as Jeongguk drags his tongue over Taehyung’s nipple right then. “Have you been going to the gym?”

“What the—yes,” Taehyung replies, taken by surprise by the question. His face was already feeling warm, without a doubt a direct consequence of his growing arousal, but he can feel it get even hotter now. “Shut up.”

And Jeongguk laughs, pretty and lighthearted, and a stark contrast with the way that he licks over Taehyung’s nipple again, making him throw his head back in a moan.

“So fucking hot,” Jeongguk whispers then, words alternated with kisses that he presses back up Taehyung’s chest and throat, getting back to his lips. “Makes me wanna do things to you right here on the counter.”

“So do them,” Taehyung dares him, meeting Jeongguk’s eyes with intent. He sees the lust flash in them, aware that they’re probably a mirror of Taehyung’s own right now. “Fuck me right here.”

Jeongguk ducks down to kiss him again, whispering against his lips, “Your wish is my command.”

That’s all it takes for Jeongguk’s hands to go down to Taehyung’s body once again, this time reaching for the zipper of his pants and undoing them skillfully. Taehyung lifts himself up with his arms, allowing for Jeongguk to slide both his pants and his underwear down his legs. The counter is cold under him when he sits back down, but the discomfort is gone as soon as Jeongguk kisses him again. This time it’s Taehyung who reaches for Jeongguk’s belt, using it to pull him closer before he opens it.

“Gonna have to go to the bedroom,” Taehyung says in between kisses, fingers now moving to the button of Jeongguk’s jeans. “For lube and condoms.”

“I think I have some on my wallet—wait,” Jeongguk says. His hand leaves the spot where it was placed on Taehyung’s thigh to reach for his pocket, which makes Taehyung suddenly feel cold.

“Didn’t know you were that kind of guy,” Taehyung teases, watching as Jeongguk opens his wallet and looks through it.

“Neither did I,” he replies. “Not until we made out in the bathroom of a restaurant, anyway. That’s when I figured out it might come in handy sometime.”

“That’s wishful thinking,” Taehyung says, watching as Jeongguk pulls out two foiled wrappers—one for lube, the other for a condom. Taehyung snatches them from his hands, looking at them as Jeongguk closes his wallet and tosses it on the counter.

“It’s called being prepared,” Jeongguk teases. Taehyung looks away from the packets then, watching almost with hungry eyes as Jeongguk pulls his trousers and boxers all the way down. “And it spared you a trip to the bedroom.”

Taehyung huffs out a laugh, taking the lube to his mouth and ripping the wrapper open with his teeth. The lube leaks out from it, falling on his fingers and a bit on his lips, too.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to fuck there, then?” he says. Jeongguk is about to reach for the lube, but Taehyung doesn’t let him—he squeezes some lube on his fingers, bringing his hand down to his spread legs.

“No,” Jeongguk says, eyes following Taehyung’s hand closely. His jaw clenches as Taehyung rubs the pads of his fingers against his entrance, unable to contain a gasp at how cold it feels. “Said I wanna fuck you here, didn’t I?”

“So bossy,” Taehyung says, Jeongguk arching an eyebrow. He’s still not meeting Taehyung’s eyes—instead, he looks as Taehyung slides one finger into himself, then a second, and slowly thrusts them in and out. His breath catches in his throat, having to remind himself to exhale; not only because it feels good, but also because he likes that Jeongguk is watching him. “Like what you see?”

This happens often—the banter during sex, the teasing. But sometimes, when he’s too riled up, Jeongguk just completely forgets about it. He leaves it aside, along with his shyness and reservations, and gets honest in a way that Taehyung thinks would make them both blush, were they to think about the conversations after they take place.

And so, he says, “So fucking much. You’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, Taehyung.”

Jeongguk leans down and kisses him, and Taehyung can’t help but let out a loud, obscene moan into his mouth as he keeps fucking his fingers into himself. It feels good, especially when Jeongguk wraps one hand around Taehyung’s cock, jerking him off at the same time. And really, Taehyung has to crane his neck a little to keep his mouth under Jeongguk’s, and his thighs are sore from keeping his legs spread like this, but he loves it. He loves the burn, loves the feeling of Jeongguk’s hand around him, loves the press of his hard cock against the cleft of his ass. Eventually, it all becomes too much, and Taehyung’s hunger for more becomes unbearable.

And so, he says—no, begs, “More. Fuck me now, Jeongguk.”

“Hell,” Jeongguk mutters to himself, pulling back a little. He has one hand on the wall behind Taehyung, holding himself up as he leans forward. “Gonna fuck you so good, baby. So damn fucking good.”

“Less talking and more doing, then,” Taehyung says, impatient. He meets Jeongguk’s eyes, knowing there’s no better way to guarantee a good fuck than to rile Jeongguk up like this, and again urges, “C’mon.”

And that’s all it takes, really. Jeongguk reaches for the condom wrapper, forgotten on the counter right next to Taehyung’s bare ass, and rips it open without wasting a single second. He slides it over his cock, giving himself a stroke and groaning; watching makes Taehyung’s cock throb, already anticipating the feeling of Jeongguk sliding into him, stretching him open.

“I know what you’re playing,” Jeongguk says, his lips brushing against Taehyung’s chin as he guides the head to his cock to his entrance. The pressure of it alone is enough to make Taehyung exhale sharply.

And of course Jeongguk knows—he knows Taehyung well. And, after all, this is a game he can play on his own.

“So are you gonna give me what I want?” Taehyung asks. Jeongguk pushes in then, Taehyung’s eyes fluttering shut as his back arches, like his body is being pulled against Jeongguk’s. Jeongguk kisses his chin again, sliding into him inch by inch, and Taehyung can’t stop himself from cursing, “Fuck.”

His legs find their home around Jeongguk’s waist, calf pressed against his ass and pulling him closer, closer, closer. Jeongguk’s lips kiss him softly, almost delicately—not all that different from his hips, that move slow until he’s all the way in, until there’s no more for him to push inside.

For a moment there, Taehyung feels completely out of breath, like the air has been punched out of his lungs. He reaches for Jeongguk’s shoulders, nails sinking down into the skin of his shoulder and leaving crescents in their wake. He manages to blink his eyes open, finding Jeongguk’s eyes staring down at him.

“You feel so good,” he says, before Jeongguk has the time to ask. His voice is deep with desire, already sounding somewhat fucked out after just making out and fingering himself. “Baby, fuck. Move.”

Jeongguk lets out a grunt there, almost primal and so strikingly different from the sweetness with which he always talks to Taehyung—even in bed. Taehyung asked him to give him what he wants, and it’s clear Jeongguk plans to do just that; it’s clear even in the first thrust of his hips.

He fucks him slow and deep, the feeling so delicious as he slides in and out of Taehyung that Taehyung’s eyes roll back into his skull. They’ve fucked hard and fast before, with Jeongguk’s hips pistoning into him and filling the room with the sound of skin slapping against skin, but this is different. Jeongguk takes him on top of the counter, with Taehyung’s silent moan slipping into Jeongguk’s mouth, and for some reason, Taehyung feels closer to him now than he ever has before.

He wants him. He wants him so bad, in ways that go past sexual and physical, and that he himself finds hard to understand. Jeongguk’s hands are firm on his thighs, gripping the meatiness of them as they wrap around Jeongguk’s thin waist, and Taehyung swears he’s never felt anything like this before in his life.

“So fucking good for me, hyung,” Jeongguk says, his face nestling in the crook of Taehyung’s neck then. “Made just for me.”

It’s a sick twist of fate, Taehyung thinks, because Jeongguk is right. Because it started as business, and now Taehyung doesn’t know what they are, and it feels like they were just made for each other, but where does that leave them? Where does this leave them? Taehyung wants Jeongguk, but that’s not all. He’s falling, he’s been falling for a while now. Where does the want end to leave room for something else?

“That’s it, Jeongguk,” Taehyung calls, one hand tangled in Jeongguk’s hair as the other grips the edge of the countertop, tight. “Keep going—just like that. I’m—I—”

He doesn’t get to finish, biting down hard on his own lip to quiet the long whine that threatens to slip past them then. Jeongguk’s hips don’t stop, though; not even when his hand finds its way back to Taehyung’s cock, starting to stroke him in tandem with his hips.

“If you do that—” Taehyung starts, but Jeongguk interrupts.

“I know,” he says, pressing a kiss to Taehyung’s shoulder. For some reason, Taehyung’s heart aches a little at that. “Me too.”

Taehyung lets out a sharp breath at that, leaning back and away from Jeongguk’s body, who starts to jerk him off faster now. The angle is perfect like this, with Jeongguk hitting the right spot over and over as his pace turns sloppier with each thrust he delivers. Not that it matters—Taehyung is close, so close. He braces himself on both hands, palms pressed against the countertop as his fingernails desperately scratch the cold surface.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Taehyung moans, his heels digging in the small of Jeongguk’s back. Jeongguk is moaning now, the sounds like honey in Taehyung’s ears. He can’t even see straight—all he knows now is the feeling of Jeongguk’s cock inside of him, the hand jerking him off, Jeongguk’s voice. “Fuck, I’m—oh, Jeongguk.”

He comes with Jeongguk’s name on his lips, feeling himself clench around the cock inside of him before Jeongguk ducks down again, kissing him. His lips falter, and only a couple of seconds later he reaches climax as well, spilling inside the condom. They’re both out of breath, kissing languidly as they ride out their orgasms. Jeongguk’s hips move still, slow, which has Taehyung’s back arching as he hisses.

“Gukkie,” he calls, voice a little broken still.

“Too much?” Jeongguk asks. Taehyung nods a bit, and so Jeongguk kisses him again, his fingers tucking a strand of dark hair behind Taehyung’s ear. “That’s enough, then. You’re amazing.”

Taehyung’s stomach twists pleasantly at that, but the feeling gets overshadowed by the sensitivity when Jeongguk slides out of him, getting rid of the condom. Taehyung’s thighs, sore from being spread and up for so long, scream at him as he lets them down on the counter, legs still spread so Jeongguk can stand between them. His body has sweat all over and lube has slid down his thighs and the cleft of his ass, making a mess.

“This is disgusting,” he grunts, fingers reaching down to touch the puddle of lube. Not to mention the come that’s on his abdomen.

“I guess it’s a good thing you don’t cook much,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung smiles at that, feeling too sheepish and happy with his afterglow to give Jeongguk the death stare he deserves for a jab like that. “I think it’s about time you show me your bathroom, Taehyung.”

“Yeah?” Taehyung says, Jeongguk humming as he drags his palms up Taehyung’s thighs. “And then what?”

“Then we should probably disinfect the counter,” Jeongguk suggests, eliciting a laugh from Taehyung, who leans forward to rest his cheek against Jeongguk’s shoulder. “And then we can eat some takeout.”

“Sounds good to me,” Taehyung says, feeling ticklish as Jeongguk’s fingertips lightly feel over his spine. “Anything else in that plan of yours?”

Jeongguk seems to think about it for a second, then he adds, “I could stay the night.”

“Would you?” Taehyung says, his heart skipping a beat.

“I would like to,” Jeongguk replies, tone sounding almost cautious. “If you let me.”

“I want you to,” Taehyung says. The words seem too easy yet too hard to say out loud, all at once. “Will you stay?”

“Yes, I will,” Jeongguk says, fingers still dragging down Taehyung’s vertebrae. There’s a pause, and Taehyung can’t help but wonder if Jeongguk feels the same turmoil of emotions that he feels. “I think I’m gonna stay.”

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, and he’s expecting far more than he should from a situation like this. But right now, Taehyung wishes Jeongguk meant it in more ways than one.

≋

Something that Taehyung was incredibly grateful for, from the very first time that he met up with Jeongguk, is that he never felt uncomfortable in his presence. Sure, Jeongguk was a lot quieter at first than he is now, but being around him still felt easy. Taehyung never ended up feeling like silences were too long, or conversation too forced. He always felt at ease.

Until today, at least. He’s out for dinner with Jeongguk, the two of them sitting across from each other, but in a way it almost feels like Jeongguk isn’t there. Taehyung finds him looking down at his phone a lot, or down at his plate, or simply like he’s getting too caught up in his thoughts and not listening. All night he’s been trying to push through that and make the situation a little better—he’s been trying to create conversation, to distract Jeongguk from whatever it is that’s worrying him, but to no avail. Rather than bringing up Jeongguk’s mood, it seems like the apathy has somehow rubbed off on him.

Taehyung bites the inside of his cheek, cracking his knuckles against the edge of the table as he looks down at his food. Of course, over the past year there have been occasions where Jeongguk was off. Sometimes because he was stressed at work, others he simply was tired. But on those occasions, he told Taehyung. Sometimes, he didn’t even have to ask; Jeongguk confided in him willingly.

It’s different now. And given all that has been happening between them now, and given that his feelings about what they are have become clearer recently, Taehyung can’t help but worry.

“Jeongguk,” he calls, Jeongguk looking up at him then. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, everything is good,” Jeongguk says, falling silent once again. A couple of seconds go by, and then he seems to think about it again and adds, “Why are you asking?”

“You seem a little off tonight, that’s all,” Taehyung says. Somehow, voicing this makes him feel almost embarrassed. His fingers tighten a little around his chopsticks, telling himself that there’s nothing wrong with asking. Communication and all that.

“Just got some things on my mind, that’s all,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung nods, almost expecting Jeongguk to elaborate a little on said things, but it becomes clear that he has no plan to when he remains quiet. “I’m sorry I’m ruining the evening.”

“You’re not. We all have our days,” Taehyung says, forcing out a smile. He also tries hard to believe the words he’s saying. “You can talk to me about whatever is worrying you. Or we can talk about something else, take your mind off things?”

“Something else is better,” Jeongguk says. “What were you saying, about Jimin and his boyfriend?”

Ah, yeah—in Taehyung’s desperate attempt to keep every second of silence filled he ended up telling Jeongguk about how Jimin’s dog, who didn’t seem to really enjoy Hoseok’s presence to begin with, has ended taking a liking to him after months. Jimin was happy about it at first, but now he claims to be jealous, since it seems like his dog likes his boyfriend more than he likes him. He’s joking, of course. And, of course, Jeongguk doesn’t care about this, but Taehyung doesn’t know what else to talk about. Not when he’s the only one speaking. But hey, at least Jeongguk is listening.

But again, he won’t allow this to dampen his mood. If there’s something he can do, that’s carrying an entire conversation by himself. So he forces another smile, and starts, “Well, it’s kind of funny. You should have seen Jimin—he’s gone from being what they fought over to being the one that’s excluded.”

That night, for the first time in months, Jeongguk drops him off at his apartment after dinner, not inviting him to go back to his place. Taehyung can’t say he’s surprised. But what he is, as much as it hurts to say, is relieved.

≋

The next time Taehyung and Jeongguk see each other is the following week. Which, Taehyung knows from what Jeongguk told him last month, happens to be the week of Daehan’s birthday. Jeongguk actually asks him to go to his place on Wednesday evening, which is convenient, because Taehyung got something to Daehan for his birthday, and it’d be awkward to bring that to a restaurant.

Now, over the course of the last month he’s been debating a lot about whether he should get something for Daehan’s birthday or not. He wanted to, and his friends all agreed it wouldn’t be weird. When he got the gift two weeks ago, he also thought it was cool—he’s been hanging around the kid a lot lately, with him and Jeongguk meeting up some afternoons after Daehan finished his time at daycare. He should have asked Jeongguk before, yeah, but he also wanted it to be a surprise. He decided not to ask and give it to Jeongguk in private before, and so, if there were any issues, they could talk about it.

After last week, however, he’s not so sure now. He only saw Jeongguk once, who canceled plans with him last minute over the weekend alleging he was busy. Taehyung tries not to overthink—he reminds himself Jeongguk has a job and a kid, that he is busy, and he has no reason to second guess. So when Jeongguk texted him on Monday, asking if he could meet on Wednesday, he was relieved. Actually, relieved was a fucking understatement—he was already visualizing a hundred different outcomes, all bad.

So there he is, taking an Uber with a relatively big box in flashy dinosaur-print wrapping paper. He got Daehan a play keyboard, something that he knows Jeongguk will eventually end up hating the sound of. But his siblings had similar ones when he was younger, and so did he, and he remembers the fun he had with his.

He’d be lying if he said he’s not nervous, but he pushes all that away and steps into Jeongguk’s building with confidence—some of it real, some of it fake. The doorman greets him, familiar with him already; Taehyung smiles back at him, getting in the elevator for what feels like the longest ride of his life. Sure, Jeongguk lives on the 46th floor, so it always takes a while, but Taehyung swears it has never felt as long as it does today.

He finally steps outside the elevator, pressing Jeongguk’s doorbell with the corner of the box. Less than ten seconds later Jeongguk opens the door, appearing behind it wearing a white pristine shirt, his hair styled to the side. Even if they’re staying home.

“Hey there, handsome,” Taehyung greets him, watching Jeongguk grin a little before his eyes go down to the box. “Let me in? This gets heavy after a while.”

“Let me,” Jeongguk says, reaching for the box. Taehyung allows for Jeongguk to take it, as he asks, “What’s this?”

“Just a lil something for Han’s birthday,” Taehyung replies, taking his shoes off and following Jeongguk inside the apartment. He closes the door behind himself, taking off his coat as he asks, “How come you’re all dolled up?”

“Figured you’d dress up, so I didn’t want to look like a rag next to you,” Jeongguk says, making Taehyung laugh. “I made us dinner.”

Ever since he first promised Taehyung that he’d cook them a meal, Jeongguk has fulfilled that promise a handful of times. And no, he was not exaggerating when he said he was good; if anything, that was saying too little.

“Smells good,” Taehyung comments. “Is it ready?”

“Have you ever known me to be late?” Jeongguk asks, Taehyung rolling his eyes at him a little. “Come on.”

Not only is the food ready—it’s also ready to be served in the dining room, and so Taehyung makes himself at home and makes his way to his usual seat. His mouth waters at the sight and smell of the food, letting Jeongguk serve them before he sits across from him at the table.

Jeongguk actually talks to him this time: he talks about his week and asks about Taehyung’s, tells him how he’s been helping Siyeon prepare a small birthday party for Daehan with some friends from daycare, and how his parents are coming from Busan over the weekend so they can also celebrate. It feels good to be like this with Jeongguk, and to have him talk to him, and the food is amazing, and Taehyung thinks that after the blip last week, they’re back to having perfect nights. And so he lets his guard down.

Until Jeongguk says, “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” Taehyung asks, lacing his fingers together and resting his chin on top of them.

“Right, um...” Jeongguk starts, stopping to clear his throat. That alone is enough to make the smile freeze on Taehyung’s face, feeling his heart drop. “I don’t... know how to say this. I just—I think from now on we should keep Daehan separate from this thing between us. Like—no more spending time together with him, as the three of us.”

Taehyung looks at Jeongguk, who is avoiding his gaze. “I don’t understand,” he mutters, more to himself than to Jeongguk. He raises his voice then, adding, “Have I done something to make him or you uncomfortable?”

The thought makes Taehyung’s chest feel tight, like there’s a hand squeezing hard around his lungs and leaving him breathless. He tries to think back to the last time he saw Daehan, analyze if maybe he did or said something that caused a bad reaction for either Daehan or Jeongguk. But nothing comes to mind—all there are is happy memories. Maybe he missed something?

“No, no,” Jeongguk denies. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Then?”

Jeongguk sighs, then replies, “I just don’t think he should be around us when we’re together anymore.”

“You’re the one who has decided to bring him around,” Taehyung says, swallowing down hard. Of course, Jeongguk is in his right to make this decision. Maybe he’s being selfish now, asking for explanations, but it’s hard for him to understand why Jeongguk has decided now that Daehan shouldn’t be around him. Especially after all these months. “You’re the one who invited me to spend time with you two. I haven’t imposed—”

“I know. I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung knows that the words have the intention to comfort him, to ease the ball of nerves that has settled in the pit of his stomach, but the truth is they don’t help. “I don’t want him to get confused about us.”

Taehyung lowers his eyes, because that he understands. He is confused about their relationship himself, so that’s a very reasonable concern for Jeongguk to have. The thing is, when this matter was at least brought up, Taehyung thought it’d be a different setting.

“Well, the lines are very blurred now, don’t you think?”

He can’t bring himself to look at Jeongguk, just like Jeongguk can’t bring himself to look at him. If anyone saw this scene they’d think it’s pathetic—there’s a lot that Taehyung wants to say, a lot he could bring up. He’s known that they’d have to clarify what happened between them these last few months, and now is the perfect opportunity, but he can’t bring himself to say anything. Same goes for Jeongguk; maybe what he feels or thinks doesn’t align with what Taehyung has been thinking and feeling, but there for sure must be something he wants to say. Yet they both stay quiet for torturously long, the silence growing more and more overbearing.

“I shouldn’t have let it get to that point,” is all Jeongguk says after a while. The words feel like salt being poured in the wound; they feel like, while Taehyung has been falling and falling deeper in love, Jeongguk has simply let things develop to a point he now regrets.

There’s a lump in his throat, and he feels like he needs to get away. He needs to think, rearrange his thoughts, and then he’ll talk to Jeongguk again. Then they can discuss this. But right now, now he feels too dizzy.

“I think I’m gonna go home now,” Taehyung announces, moving his chair back and standing up.

“Wait—Taehyung, please,” Jeongguk says, mirroring him and standing up from his chair again. Taehyung doesn’t listen, walking to his coat when Jeongguk says behind him, “At least wait until I pay you.”

That makes Taehyung freeze on the spot, slowly turning around with his coat in his hands. “You’ve always paid me through bank transfers so I don’t see why you need to pay in cash tonight,” Taehyung says. When Jeongguk doesn’t reply, he adds, “I don’t want your money anymore, Jeongguk. I haven’t wanted it for a while.”

“What?”

“I said, I don’t want your money anymore. I don’t want you to pay me,” Taehyung repeats. Gesturing between the two of them, he says, “This is more than a transaction to me, but I see it doesn’t go both ways.”

“We haven’t discussed any of that,” Jeongguk splutters, Taehyung letting out a sharp exhalation.

“I thought it was obvious. It was obvious to me,” Taehyung says. “That’s what I meant when I said the lines were blurred.”

“I see,” Jeongguk says.

The two of them look at each other for seconds, silence reigning around them. It feels like longer than that, though.

“Is that all it is to you?” Taehyung asks. “An arrangement and nothing else?”

“We...” Jeongguk starts, voice shaky, “we haven’t discussed anything else.”

Taehyung can’t help but scoff, maybe a bit bitter. “Right,” he says, starting to put on his coat. “We haven’t discussed it.”

“Tae, wait, please,” Jeongguk says. For a moment it looks like he’s about to take a step closer to Taehyung, but then he stops himself. “I didn’t mean you have to leave. I just meant—”

“I know what you meant, and I understand, and I respect it,” Taehyung says. He feels embarrassed—humiliated, even. He feels like a fool, like he should have listened to Yoongi when he told him to be careful, instead of just letting go. The great flaw in all of this was assuming that Jeongguk felt the same as him all along. He understands, yeah, but that won’t stop him from feeling hurt and rejected. “Leaving is my decision. I hope you can respect that as well.”

“I—” Jeongguk starts, interrupting himself with a sigh. “I can, yeah.”

“And I think it’s best to stop this altogether,” Taehyung blurts out. The words come out easier than he expected them to, but they still leave open wounds inside him on their way out. “The arrangement. It’s best we don’t see each other again.”

Jeongguk looks down at his feet, taking a second before he says, “I understand that, yeah.”

Taehyung nods, more to himself than to Jeongguk, and says, “Good. I’m... I’m gonna go.”

Neither of them says anything else, and for the first time, Jeongguk doesn’t walk him to the door on his way out—he stays standing in the middle of the dining room, unmoving, as Taehyung walks to the entry and puts his shoes back on. By the time he makes his way out, his eyes sting with unshed tears and his hands are shaking. He can’t bring himself to care about those—not when he feels like his heart has been broken in two halves.

On his way down in the elevator, and as he storms out of the building before muttering farewell to the doorman, Taehyung tries to distract himself with thoughts of anything but Jeongguk. Anything that will keep him from crying his eyes out, at least until he gets home.

And as he gets in the taxi, making his way back to his place, Taehyung can’t help but think about the box that he left standing in a corner of Jeongguk’s dining room when he came in, wrapped in bright greens and reds. He wonders if Jeongguk will keep it for Daehan or if, like Taehyung himself, it’s bound to just disappear.

≋

The best way to describe what comes after is, without a doubt, strange. The lack of Jeongguk’s presence is far more noticeable than Taehyung could have anticipated—there are no texts from him, no random calls at the oddest times, no meetings to look forward to. He doesn’t let himself stay alone at home, instead trying to fill his hours; from job interviews to meeting with his friends, who have more patience with him than Taehyung feels like he deserves.

Yoongi tells him Jeongguk is an asshole, and Taehyung is almost tempted to agree just for the sake of feeling better, but he knows it’s not true. Jeongguk has been nothing but sweet and caring all these months, and just because he didn’t want to take things a step further like Taehyung did, doesn’t mean he’s an asshole. Even if he does feel led on, he still doesn’t find it in himself to think that badly of Jeongguk.

Jimin, on the other hand, gives him a pep talk.

“There was life before Jeongguk and there will be life after him,” Jimin resolves, not a shadow of doubt in his head. He even slams his fist down on his open palm as he says the word, determined. “No man is worth feeling like this. You just need to get out there and forget all about him.”

As tempting as it sounds, just going out and forgetting all about Jeongguk, and about them, it still is too soon. He wouldn’t feel good afterwards. A part of Taehyung still wants to cling to the memories that he and Jeongguk have together, and to the feelings that haven’t had a chance to fade in so little time. He’s done rebounds before in his life, and he knows they’re just a temporary fix; one he’ll regret when morning comes.

So in order to avoid feeling bad, he just keeps himself busy all the time, applying to as many job positions as he can, being home alone as little as he can manage. But it’s hard because he also forces himself to avoid every single place he’s ever been to with Jeongguk, for two reasons: one, he doesn’t want to think about the times he was there with him; two, he doesn’t want to risk running into Jeongguk.

Days go by like that, and eventually, it turns into a week; it’s been nine days since he left Jeongguk’s apartment and last saw him, and even though it’s easier to keep thoughts about Jeongguk quiet these days, Taehyung isn't sure that means much at all. It feels like his wounds are only healing on the surface; they might seem closed now, but they’re still bleeding beneath the skin. When he goes to bed every night, in the long minutes it takes for him to fall into slumber, he thinks about Jeongguk. And he misses him like crazy.

See, the thing is, he knew he should never fall for Jeongguk. The risk of developing unrequited feelings was too high with an agreement like the one they had. The two of them got caught up in the end, but it seems not in the same way. And Taehyung gets it, he does--Jeongguk has more at stake, he has a kid to think about and a family to take care of. So he understands, and he doesn’t blame Jeongguk, even if it hurts. But he couldn’t keep the agreement up like that after Jeongguk put some distance between them. He couldn’t keep going out with Jeongguk, pretending it doesn’t hurt that he wants more than Jeongguk is willing to give. After all, he needs to think about himself, too.

For the first couple of days, he still had some hope that Jeongguk would call, maybe tell him that he wanted to talk things through, but it disappeared as days went by. It’s only then, when he stops checking his phone every five minutes hoping to see Jeongguk reaching out, that it happens. That Jeongguk texts.

Can we talk?

Just three words--concise, straight to the point. They still manage to turn Taehyung’s world upside down. He stares at them for long, his stomach twisting both pleasantly and unpleasantly. He doesn’t know what to make out of it--it’s probably good, right? Why else would Jeongguk want to talk, if everything is said and done? But if they are, is this the smart thing to do? Getting tangled up in Jeongguk, just for them to have things go all wrong again?

It takes embarrassingly long for him to reply, even if all he sends back is Sure, when?, and even that alone makes him feel like he could start shaking. Jeongguk, who Taehyung knows isn't the fastest texter, gets back to him much quicker.

Today, if you can, Jeongguk tells him. The thought of talking to Jeongguk today makes a lump appear in his throat, but he guesses it’s best to do it soon. Otherwise, if he postponed it until later, all he’d earn himself is more time to feel nervous about it.

Taehyung is now on the bus, getting back home from his latest interview, so he sends back an I’ll be back in 15 minutes, come by whatever. And after that, he locks his phone and doesn’t let himself check it again for the remainder of the ride. He knows that if he was to do that, it’d just make the journey feel twice as long as usual.

He doesn’t get stuck in traffic or anything, nor does he feel like there are any delays, yet when he arrives in his street, he finds Jeongguk’s car already parked outside his apartment. He checks his phone, noticing the fifteen minutes he promised Jeongguk have not yet gone by, and swallows down—again, he doesn’t know what to make out of Jeongguk’s rush getting here, so he doesn’t let himself think about it. He walks to the car, seeing that Jeongguk is still sitting in the driver’s seat, looking down at his phone. He takes a deep breath and softly knocks, catching his attention.

Jeongguk looks startled when he looks up, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. The surprise turns into a mix of recognition and relief when he sees Taehyung, then something else that Taehyung can’t decipher. At least it doesn’t look like dread, he tells himself as he takes a step back, allowing for Jeongguk to push his door open and exit the car.

“You got here fast,” Taehyung comments as he watches Jeongguk stand, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“I was dropping Daehan off at Siyeon’s so I came straight from hers,” Jeongguk explains, Taehyung nodding. He didn’t expect Jeongguk to be willing to give explanations after what happened, nor was he needing them, but it’s nice to hear Jeongguk not be... reserved, he guesses. “Where were you? If that’s okay to ask.”

“I had a job interview,” Taehyung explains, shrugging a little.

“And did it go okay?”

“It went well, yeah,” he says, honest but vague. No need to go into specifics.

“Daehan loved the keyboard, by the way,” Jeongguk tells him. Taehyung is surprised that he even gave it to him, but he doesn’t let the shock show in his expression. “I was gonna tell you, but… yeah.”

“I'm really glad to hear that,” Taehyung says, his words honest despite the circumstances. “Do you wanna come in… or?”

Jeongguk didn’t come to his place much after the first time, just a few sporadic nights, but every single time he did, they ended up tangled in bed, with Jeongguk staying the night. It’s almost strange to see him walk in the building again, the two of them going up the elevator making small talk that Taehyung thought they were past long ago: how have you been, what are you up to these days, how’s work; that kind of small talk.

In the end, it’s Taehyung who addresses the elephant in the room, figuring there’s no point in skirting around the matter for any longer. He’s typing the door passcode in, back to Jeongguk so he can bring himself to say it, when he comments, “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again.”

There’s silence then, the sound of the door clicking and creaking open almost unbearably loud. Taehyung has already walked inside his apartment when Jeongguk speaks, replying, “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

“Come on in, then,” Taehyung says, making room for Jeongguk to squeeze into the small entry. Jeongguk closes the door behind himself as they remove their shoes, Taehyung asking, “Do you want something to drink?”

“No, thank you,” Jeongguk declines politely. “I just--I just want to talk.”

“Let’s talk, then,” Taehyung says, leaning back against the wall.

He looks at Jeongguk with expectant eyes, not missing the tongue that darts out to wet his lips or the nervous look down to his shoes that he steals. “It’s just hard to know where to begin.”

“Tell me what you’re here for, then,” Taehyung says. “Just to clear things up and leave them like they are? To end them for good?”

“I was hoping we could make them right,” is what Jeongguk replies. Taehyung bites the insides of his cheeks, waiting for Jeongguk to elaborate. “Go back to go how they were—no. Maybe how they were, but... a different kind of situation.”

Taehyung exhales, crossing his arms over his chest, “You’re gonna have to say things more clearly.”

“I miss you, Taehyung,” Jeongguk says, and wow—that’s clear. And unexpected, too. “I regret what happened. I didn’t want for it to happen that way.”

“You didn’t want things to end?” Taehyung asks.

“I didn't,” Jeongguk replies. “And I realize why you did, because I pushed you away, but...”

“But what?” Taehyung urges when Jeongguk falls quiet. “But what, Jeongguk? Be honest with me now—do you have any feelings for me?”

Jeongguk swallows down harshly before he replies, “Of course I do.”

“Then, if you do, what was the other night all about?” Taehyung asks, unable to keep the hurt away from his voice. He knows he sounds reproachful, and he doesn’t want to, but it still stings. “Do you have any idea of how much it hurt to stand there and have you tell me that there’s nothing going on between us? You said it was nothing more than an arrangement because we hadn’t discussed it.”

“I know.”

“So if you know that, then why did you do it?” Taehyung asks. Jeongguk doesn’t reply right away, and so he adds, “I don’t believe for a moment that you didn’t notice at the time how much that hurt me.”

“I was just scared, Taehyung.”

“Scared of what?”

“Of everything,” Jeongguk exclaims then, followed by a sigh. He doesn’t sound mad or angry—just incredibly frustrated. And not at Taehyung; more so at himself. “Everything I do, every decision I make, I have to stop and second guess if it's the right one to. make. If what I’m doing is going to affect Daehan negatively. Do you think I didn’t want you? Do you think I don’t just wish I could say fuck it and just be with you? I’m just scared, because I don’t know if I can do that and still be a good dad.”

Taehyung sighs, trying to sound as understanding as he can when he says, “I get that, I really do. But that doesn’t mean you get to break my heart just because you’re scared.”

“I know it doesn’t. Hell, I—I've regretted it every single day since it happened,” Jeongguk says. “I’ve been miserable, Taehyung. Because I know I hurt you and I feel shit about it, and even Daehan has noticed. He’s been telling Siyeon that daddy is sad, and he’s been asking about you and I–I know I messed up.”

“Hey, hey—Jeongguk, it’s alright,” Taehyung says, trying to calm him down when Jeongguk starts to stumble upon his words. He doesn’t know when they managed to move closer to each other—the entry is small, sure, but Taehyung wasn’t standing right next to Jeongguk minutes ago. Definitely not close enough to reach out and touch his arm, trying to get him to relax. When Jeongguk takes a long, shaky breath, he adds, “I’m not... I’m not angry at you, Jeongguk. I never was in the first place. I understand you need to put Daehan first, and that there are certain things that have to come before a potential relationship. I understand that.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do,” Taehyung says. “It hurt—when you said you wanted to keep me separate from Daehan again, it hurt. I thought I had messed up somehow or overstepped a boundary, and that you regretted ever letting me into his life. But at the end of the day, that’s your decision and I don’t get to have an opinion on whether it’s right or wrong.”

“I was... I was just scared,” Jeongguk repeats. “I had a talk to my friends earlier that day. I told them about you, and I told them I was falling, and they told me to be careful. Because this is your job, and I...”

“And you?” Taehyung insists.”

“And I was worried it wasn’t the same for you. I mean—I guess you were feeling the same way. You said it the other day. You said that it was more than a transaction to you, but you guessed it didn’t go both ways,” Jeongguk says. It makes Taehyung look down, the words bringing back painful memories of the other night. “I wanted to tell you it was much, much more than a transaction to me, too.”

“So why didn’t you?” Taehyung asks, voice barely above a whisper.

“Because I’m scared, Taehyung. Because meeting up with me, spending time together, talking to me—that was your job. And it’s so hard not to second-guess whether it’s real or not when I’ve had to pay you to be with me,” Jeongguk says. Taehyung swallows down, as Jeongguk adds, “Daehan is starting to understand things, you know? He knows you, and it won’t be long before he notices how different his home life is compared to the ones that the rest of the kids in his school have. Siyeon has a boyfriend, and she’s going to tell him about that eventually. So what if I brought you into his life, and one day you just left?”

“Why would I leave, Jeongguk?”

“I’m a job to you. I’m a job, and you might meet someone eventually that you want to be with, and I just—” Jeongguk says, interrupting himself. “I don’t know how I’d handle seeing you go, and breaking my heart and Daehan’s. Because he’s starting to love you as much as I do, and if you leave... I don’t know. He's growing attached and that's a huge deal.”

Taehyung watches Jeongguk dumbfounded for a moment, lips parted as he lets the word sink in. His ears are ringing now, mind dwelling on the entire confession, but especially on the last part—because he’s starting to love you as much as I do. As much as I do. Love you.

“Jeongguk,” he says, with an exhalation. “Please don’t take this wrong, but you’re such an idiot.”

Jeongguk’s eyebrows pinch together into a slight frown. “What?”

“I’ve already met someone that I want to be with, and it’s you,” he says, eyes looking straight into Jeongguk’s brown ones. “Please, believe me when I say none of what I feel for you has anything to do with money or the arrangement we had. Nor does it affect how genuine my feelings for you are. That doesn’t matter to me. None of that matters.”

“I... I need to remind myself that,” Jeongguk says, looking down.

“I’ll remind you until you believe me,” Taehyung says. He reaches forward, gently catching Jeongguk’s chin with his fingers and making him look at him. “I’ve wanted to bring up the money thing for weeks. That was my fault—maybe if I told you before it wouldn’t have made you have doubts about it. I just didn’t want to scare you away, being all, don’t pay me anymore, we’re dating for real now. I didn’t want to impose since I knew you had a lot more to think about than just yourself.”

“I wanted to bring that up, too, but I was scared of how you might have reacted to it,” Jeongguk says. “Maybe you weren’t quite there yet, and thought I didn’t want to pay anymore, or—I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“I should have said something,” Taehyung repeats. “But it’s true, Jeongguk. I l—”

“No, wait,” Jeongguk interrupts. Taehyung must look surprised, because Jeongguk rushes to add, “Before you say that, I wanted to say I’m sorry. For shutting you out when I panicked instead of sitting down to talk things through like right now. And I’m also sorry it took me over a week of being miserable to be brave enough to come here. I’m so sorry.”

“And I’m sorry for not talking to you about what I felt, either. It goes both ways,” Taehyung says. He gives Jeongguk a smile, happy to see the corner of Jeongguk’s mouth curl into a small grin as well. “I accept your apology. Can I say it now, then?”

“You can say it,” Jeongguk says, his eyes crinkling around the corners as he says that.

“I love you,” Taehyung says. The words feel good to say—liberating, even. It’s been something he’s given himself so much shit for feeling, so much trouble. He convinced himself he was wrong for falling in love with Jeongguk, so being able to say it, to say it to him, feels like a huge step. Yes, liberating seems adequate. “I love you, too. Don’t think I missed the sly confession just before.”

“Are you sure?” Jeongguk says. “Not that you love me, but—Daehan. Everything that implies. Are you sure?”

“I’m twenty-five,” Taehyung replies. “I have so much to learn from you, and from him, and from life itself. But where I'm at now, I can make those decisions on my own. I've known you for quite a while, Jeongguk. I’ve had my time to think about it and make up my mind, and I’m certain I want this. You.”

Jeongguk’s hand creeps up to Taehyung’s then, taking it and lacing their fingers together as he lowers it from his cheek. “Good,” he says, using his grip on Taehyung’s hand to pull him a little closer. “Because I’m in love with you, Kim Taehyung.”

Taehyung’s knees almost go wobbly at that, but he manages to hold himself up for the moment Jeongguk leans in and presses their lips into a kiss. It comes as second nature for Taehyung to reach up then, curling his arms around Jeongguk’s neck and bringing their bodies closer. Flush against each other, with Jeongguk’s hands on his hips. And god, he’s missed this. He’s missed Jeongguk’s lips on his so much.

“You’re sugar daddy no more,” Taehyung says against his lip, feeling Jeongguk smile broadly at the words. “You’re boyfriend now. Which means you don’t get to boss me around anymore.”

Jeongguk laughs at that, using his hands on his hips to bring Taehyung impossibly closer as he says, “I think I can live with that, boyfriend.”

It’s cheesy to say, but Taehyung feels as if the words are like honey poured right into his ears. They make him smile sheepishly, leaning forward again and bringing Jeongguk in for yet another kiss. And another. And another, this one with Jeongguk’s back right against the wall.

And it occurs to him how silly it was of them, how complicated everything became just because they were too scared to talk to each other, in case they heard what they didn’t want to hear. But it’s okay now—just something they can learn from for the future. For now, things have worked out. In the end, he did get the boy.

≋

“And that,” Taehyung says, raising his glass of wine as he looks to Jeongguk, who's sitting to his right, “is how I got the DILF.”

The last part makes their friends laugh, Jeongguk chuckling lightheartedly as Taehyung reaches under the table and gives his thigh a squeeze. He’s tipsy, face feeling warm and cheeks probably flushed from the alcohol, but he also feels drunk with happiness. Like the content he’s feeling right now is making his head dizzier than the wine itself.

It’s funny, Taehyung thinks, because it’s the first time since he and Jeongguk officially got together, now over three months ago, that they've brought their friends all together, to the same dinner table. They invited them over to Jeongguk’s place, with him cooking dinner and Taehyung helping lots—he’s getting a lot better at cooking, thank you very much, but in no way good enough to dare relieve Jeongguk of his duties.

All five of their friends were more or less there during the ride, seeing all the stages of how they went from an arrangement to what they have now—a relationship. A stable, healthy relationship that Taehyung hopes lasts for a long time. Despite that, it was Hoseok who asked for the specifics of how on Earth they managed to fix things.

“I just don’t understand how they went from Taehyung sulking on Jimin’s couch to this,” he had said, nodding at Jeongguk and Taehyung being all over each other during dinner.

Yoongi groaned when Taehyung went into a dramatic explanation, earning himself a napkin thrown to his face, but Taehyung still saw him laugh along with the rest of them. He also clapped along, after Hoseok asked for a very deserved cheer.

“A truly moving story,” Jimin says, with a smile almost as cheesy as the one plastered on Jeongguk’s own face. “Congratulations, guys. That was long overdue.”

Taehyung turns around a little and looks at Jeongguk. In that very moment, all of the events from the last year and a half flash past his eyes—meeting Jeongguk, growing closer and closer to him, developing feelings, all of the pining. It did take them a long time to get here, to where they are now; some misunderstandings, too, and some pain.

But as odd as it seems to say, Taehyung doesn’t think that he’d do things differently if given the chance. If they had to do it all over, even if he knew that Jeongguk would break his heart before things finally worked out, Taehyung would let it happen.

Every misstep, every little change, puts at risk what they have right now. And that is the kind of love that Taehyung always doubted he’d ever get—not because it’s like a fairytale or anything of the sort. It’s not perfect; many mistakes were made, and there was pain, but Taehyung thinks that’s all part of what makes it what it is today. Loud and happy, and so fiery that sometimes it even seems scary to love someone so much. But above everything, it’s honest. Despite how it started, Taehyung thinks loving Jeongguk is the most honest thing he’s ever done in his life.

He never thought he’d end up meeting the love of his life in the circumstances that he met Jeongguk in. And, for sure, he never thought he’d get anything more than some cash from a sugar daddy website, but life works in funny ways. 

Whatever it is that brought them here, Taehyung is grateful for it. Why would he ever want perfection when what he has with Jeongguk is real, honest, and good?