43Jin x Taehyung :)))))
i can’t help falling in love with you
“falling in love with their best friend’s partner au” (from this )pairing: taejin (ft. actual taeguk) genre: unrequited love (so fluff/angst-ish.. flangst… angfloof..)word count: 2.5k
“soundslike someone i should meet”, namjoon murmurs and then looking up atseokjin in amusement: “how ‘bout you? like him, hyung? think he’stoo much?” seokjinfaces the tv, bright lights reflecting on his dark hair, glisteningon the bridge of his nose and sparkling in his eyes, huge in thought.
“toomuch”, he says. yetabsolutely endearing,he thinks.
a/n: had this ask since last october, finally did it! this is my first time posting my english writing online so my anxiety lvl is 3000. also sorry if you mind me ignoring caps for my dear life. i was listening to this and this. enjoy!
whenjeongguk introduces taehyung to seokjin he doesn’t think that thismeeting will lead to great changes in his life.
so his best friend,five years younger than him, got himself a significant other who wasyounger than seokjin by three years and older than jeongguk by twoyears which seokjin questions because kim taehyung is even more of anovergrown child than jeongguk. seokjin didn’t think that waspossible as jeongguk and he himself are known as the mental kids intheir friend group: always talking about the newest video games,jumping from one argument to the next, their bickering oftenextending into some weird kind of karaoke in made-up languages, thelist extending each time they meet.
so his best friend jeongguk gothimself a boyfriend, taehyung, whom he is about to meet.
taehyungshares his family name and his hand is equally as big as seokjin’s,warm and the grip firm. he even copies the gesture of pressing hissecond hand onto taehyung’s so that taehyung cages seokjin’s witha sheepish smile that spreads over his handsome features and makeshim younger by round about 10 years. and the kid is only 22.
theyfirst meet at jeongguk’s place where taehyung will eventually movein as they both visit the same college, met on campus and immediatelyclicking it is a match made in heaven. they are disgustingly sweet,unsure and every look, innocent touch and gesture is almost too muchto endure but seokjin feels a teasing smile tugging at the corners ofhis mouth, smiling along and averting his eyes to pay more attentionto the screen and another round of mario party that he is eager towin. that evening is interesting, taehyung is interesting.
heis everything seokjin cannot imagine, not with jeongguk, not withanybody, not as a person that really exists and as the night growsolder he feels himself being more and more in some kind of awe,fascination.
he feels annoyance at how straight-forward taehyung is,almost on the verge of rude but seokjin is endured by apologeticsmiles and sheepishly sparkling half-moons lighting up not onlytaehyung’s whole face but the room, the building, maybe half ofseoul.
seokjinfeels a faint tingle of worry making his fingers twitch whenevertaehyung scoops too close to the edge of the couch, his long limbsall over the place in excitement matching with his restless mindset -he is talking about everything and nothing with either jeongguk orseokjin and the latter appreciates that the boy somehow manages tosound equally as familiar with seokjin as he must be with jeongguk.
hisways of expressing himself hold something childlike; using thephrases in the wrong context, his tone slipping here and there sothat one could almost think he is foreign and his choice of wordsblunt and direct. he isn’t sugarcoated yet very sweet in his ownways. his voice is surprisingly deep (sometimes it vibrates inbubbling excitement which is weird but a very cute weird) andsoothing to listen to, his face wavering in expressions that haveseokjin thinking he hasn’t seen one of taehyung’s faces twice.
thekid is a mixture of opposites, colliding contrasts that surely keep being around him full of surprises. it isn’t in a bad way but inthe evening seokjin feels exhausted like he just did a calculus examor run five miles in half an hour. at the door he turns around to hisbest friend, a lopsided smile on his lips he’s looking down a bit (insignificantlybut the few centimeters mean everything to competitive jeongguk andseokjin is never too tired to point it out).
afew seconds seokjin holds the breath he doesn’t know he is holding,eyes darting over the few pimples along jeongguk’s jaw, the scar onhis cheek bone (from that one time where they thought throwing flat stones across puddles on the street that were barely three centimeters deep to make them jump several times was a good idea), stubble on his chin he is scratching anxiously andfinally looking into the huge, glistening eyes that always haveseokjin thinking about bunnies or that trico creature in the lastguardian.
thenthe words stumble through his lips before he can reconsider, softenthem, swallow them, anything. he just goes: “he’s weird. veryweird but also very cute”, mirrors jeongguk’s furrowed brows andignores how jeongguk’s lips twitch in amusement and adds jokingly:“goodcatch, JK” and claps a hand on his shoulder (maybe he attempts tocrush jeongguk bones by hitting the younger real hard but that is toform his character - at least that’s what his brothers used to tellhim doing the same every goddamn time).
jeonggukonly barks out a laughter that has his nose scrunching up and all of hishuge teeth showing and seokjin feels his tensed insides relaxing abit whilst laughing along until he sees something moving overjeongguk’s shoulder out of the corner of his eye:
taehyungis leaning in the door frame to the living room, his head hanginglow, barefoot and his posture telling that he never had nor will havea single care in the world. there is the ghost of a smile wrinklingthe corners of his dark eyes that focus as soon as seokjin is lookingat him. apparently he heard what seokjin said because the glisteningin his eyes becomes a nuance darker, then his whole face lights up asa smile blossoms over his features and then he does the most taehyungthing he can do: he makes a very deep and amused sound in the back ofhis throat and waves at seokjin which has him looking a bit dense butmaybe that’s just how seokjin feels in that moment.
seokjinpresses his lips together, blinks rapidly and sniffs before bringingup his hand to wave as well. “uhm. bye taehyung. take care”, hesays and means it. taehyung has to be someone who gets in troubleeasily so he could need a bit luck, right?
“solong, jin-hyung!”, taehyung answers, the bright smile never leavinghis face. seokjin bites back the smile by pressing his lips togetherand he nods at jeongguk once before leaving, his feet bringing himdownstairs and onto the dark streets, painted in frosty white as itwas that time of the year, on their own.
seokjin doesn’t realizethat he is deep in thoughts until he stands in front of the apartmentthat he shares with namjoon, his cold fingers already in search forthe keys. he finds the keys and is about to open the door when heturns around, gaze ghosting over a slippery side street with thatflickering street light on the other side. he found his way home andhis keys are in his pocket just like everyday - yet seokjin has thefeeling that he is missing something. something..
enteringthe living-room in his pajamas he flops down onto the couch next to asleeping namjoon whose head is rolling off the arm of the couchoccasionally, his snoring louder than the bass-boosted surroundsystem he got for christmas and his mouth hanging wide open. seokjinslaps a hand down onto the old book laying on the ugly reindeer thatcovers the front of namjoons fuzzy christmas sweater and the snoringrips off as namjoon coughs and gets up a little, rubbing sleep fromhis eyes with his knuckles.
“how’sgoin’? guk got ‘imself a sweetie?”, he asks immediately as ifto carry on with the conversation where they stopped (which was asseokjin was leaving the house five hours ago and back then namjoonwas already doomed to fall asleep) and blinks up in seokjins generaldirection, his brows knit together, one eye open. seokjin doesn’tlook at him but at the screen as he turns on the tv, nodding slowly.
“mh. he did”, he admits and the dull longing in his chest throbs.which is weird. seokjin didn’t forget something at jeongguk’s,did he?
“mh.cool.” namjoon sniffs. then opens his mouth again, voice stillhoarse and words heavy with sleep: “yoongi-hyung said he’s abit.. how to say.. weird. weird?”
seokjin’snodding gets more enthusiastic. “very weird! could be the cause ofyoongi’s daily migraine by merely existing somewhere.” namjooncoughs out a laughter, now rubbing his face with both hands as ifgetting rid of dead skin cells means getting rid of his everlastingtiredness. seokjin recommended a healthy sleep schedule but to quotethe patient himself “beenthere, done that, not working, thanks for nothing doc!”
“soundslike someone i should meet”, namjoon murmurs and then looking up atseokjin in amusement: “how ‘bout you? like him, hyung? think he’stoo much?”
seokjinlooks at namjoon for a few seconds, the anticipating dimples like aghost’s fingers pressing into his cheeks, his ridiculously tousledhair and then he thinks about taehyung. how the corners of his eyes crinkle when hesmiles, how deep his voice is but how childish his ways of expressinghimself. his endless facial expressions and antics, one more ridiculous than the next,his warm fingers on seokjin’s.
seokjinfaces the tv, bright lights reflecting on his dark hair, glisteningon the bridge of his nose and sparkling in his eyes, huge in thought.
“toomuch”, he says.
yetabsolutely endearing,he thinks.
_
standingup, clapping like everybody else, seokjin’s lips break into a smilethat may reach his eyes but leave his stomach cold and his heartnumb. he’s practiced that over the years because for one he got agood amount of occasions where it was necessary and he learned thatis was easier this way, so much easier.
ormaybe that is what he tells himself because as the sun itself comeshis way, all breath-taking smiles and warm hands reaching out, hisheart flutters and the smile wavers a bit. the younger looks gorgeousin his suit, a different color than jeongguk’s but with matchingbows they’re terribly adorable. as jeongguk stops by namjoon, jiminand hoseok to let himself be mashed into a big (and obnoxiously loud)hug, taehyung reaches his long arms out towards seokjin. yoongi nextto him makes a noise in the back of his throat and practicallyvanishes, very much aware of taehyung’s ability to hug as manypeople as possible at once.
“thanks”,seokjin mutters under his breath, resignation painting his nasalvoice deep and husky, before smiling again at the beaming boy thatfinally reaches him. he’s pressed against taehyung and immediatelyfeels too much at the same time:
there’s his belly growing all warmand bubbly from the inside out, his headache seems to be gone and hisfingers twitch as he rests them against the fabric of taehyung’ssuit. the boy, who’s a man by now almost being 30, smells like healways does and feels like he always does. he’s warmth andsomething incredibly soothing yet seokjin feels more alive than heusually does and as cheesy as it sounds, taehyung’s scent is homefor seokjin.
whentaehyung let go he puts his hands on seokjin’s cheeks and squishesthem together, his eyes glistening, all teeth and giggles escapinghis throat in a strained manner and seokjin is glad that the cake isyet to come because otherwise taehyung would probably eat backwardsright about now as excited as he seems.
“congratulationskid”, seokjin mumbles and ignores how hot taehyung’s fingers areagainst his flushing cheeks. taehyung hops up and down a few times,giggles and then hugs seokjin again, twirling them around slowly andalmost knocking some old relatives from jeongguk’s side of thefamily off their feet. seokjin mutters an apology and awkwardly patsthe youngers back, feeling strangled not by taehyung’s arms but hismere presence, being so close to him.
“thankyouuu jin-hyung! who looked better today, guk-ah or me? be honest”,he warns and once again rests his hands on seokjin’s shoulders, tobe exact the gape of his neck on both sides, thumbs rubbing partiallyover the texture of his jacket, partially grazing his bare skin andsetting seokjin’s bones on fire so that he could almost hear theflames gnawing on his insides, fire licking along his achingskeleton.
why does taehyung have to be so touchy, he was always likethat. his hand on seokjin’s neck, his thigh against his, bumpingknees and his nose pressed into the crown of seokjin’s head.sometimes he wonders if he was older than taehyung or the other wayaround.
“i’malways honest”, seokjin answers bluntly, eyebrows scooping up slowly andgrin growing one-sided to tease before he laughs at taehyung’sfurrowed brows, an expression of childlike impatience, and nodstowards jeongguk who is wrestling (maybe it is a hug but honestly whoknows when it comes to these two) a laughing yugyeom.
“JKof course! sorry tae but the purple of your suit is so obviously notstraight whilst jeongguk’s midnight blue is as timeless as it isclassy!” at that taehyung pouts and hangs his weight onto seokjinwhen he is slouching over, hands still resting on seokjin’sshoulders and seokjin laughs and can’t help it but bringing a hand up hetousles taehyung’s hair in a playful manner but then the problemoccurs that his fingers don’t want to leave the silky strainsalone.
theylinger carefully, ghosting over hot skin and dark strains and takingcare of the chaos they created. taehyung doesn’t even bat aneyelash at that, if anything he tilts his head a bit to side and intoseokjin’s touch, straightening his back. taehyung’s eyes dartaround slowly whilst seokjin is organizing his hair and there’sthat faint glow right underneath taehyung’s skin, in the dark brownof his eyes making them shine like orbits, the curve of his mouth ashe’s smiling ever so faintly. he’s radiating happiness and thatalone feeds the distant pounding of seokjin’s heavy heart.
whenseokjins throat grows tight, his chest aching with the throbbing echoof a pain that is part of him since he first saw that stupid face infront of him and got to know the soul living in that shell, he dropshis hand and shoves it into the pocket of his trousers, numb fingerscurling inwards, nails digging into his palm. taehyung does thatrapid move with his head to bring all the loose strains back onto hisforehead, falling into his face he looks up at seokjin and beams:
“howdo i look?”, he asks, voice deep, tripping over a syllable ever soslightly. seokjin looks at taehyung, really looks at him and for asecond he thinks he might burst into a thousand pieces and coveringeverything around him in red; the white dresses and roses, the tabledecor yoongi took care of, the cakes he made, the light wooden groundunderneath his wobbly knees and clumsy feet. then again he has beenliving with that dull ache inside of his middle for the longest timeso why couldn’t he just live with it a little bit longer? aneternity alongside the one that jeongguk and taehyung promised eachother today?
“likeall the other love foals that just got married. silly”, seokjinsaid, the smile on his face somehow keeping his flesh together,taehyung’s laughter being curse and blessing at once.
andabsolutely endearing,seokjin thought, his love for taehyung remaining a bitter taste inthe back of his throat amongst the words he will never say.
