Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

serendipity: finding something good without looking for it.

“Daddy! Daddy!”

Nari is running out of her kindergarten, her legs waddling over to Jimin as fast as she can.

Jimin is quick to catch his daughter, picking her up and spinning her around until she’s giggling breathlessly. She wraps her tiny legs around Jimin’s frame and buries into him, hugging him as if they have been separated for a lifetime.

It has only been three months since Nari started her kindergarten classes but it still feels as torturous as the first time. Jimin had cried at the doorstep of the class, unwilling to let go of her hand, whereas Nari was excited and overjoyed with the prospect of going to school. The whole week Jimin had cried, in the security of his own personal space, as he realised Nari is getting older. One day, she’ll no longer depend on him.

“Hey, darling,” Jimin murmurs. He kisses her forehead, smoothing out her static hair. “How was your day?”

“It was good, daddy! I did paintings!” She looks to Namjoon, Seokjin and Hoseok, her face brightening. “Uncles! Hello!”

Namjoon was present with his husband, Seokjin. The three of them greet her, Hoseok kissing her cheek.

“You look so pretty today, Nari,” Hoseok compliments her. He fiddles with the red bow that is messily holding her hair back and out of her face.

“Daddy did it for me,” she says with a giggle.

Nari is a free-spirited four-year old. Usually toddlers are a handful and difficult to manage but Nari was so easy. She hardly throws a tantrum. Her temperament is calm and collected, her attitude years off her age. Nari is mature and well spoken, developing extremely well for her age.

It makes Jimin proud knowing he has had the privilege to raise and nurture a well-behaved girl all on his own.

Well, except alternative weekends where she stays at her mother’s begrudgingly.

“M’tired daddy.” Her words slur as she complains, resting her head on Jimin’s shoulder.

The new schedule at kindergarten has been challenging for Nari to adapt to. It forces her to stay awake and active for longer, effectively cutting into her nap times that used to be a rigid routine. By the time Jimin picks her up from class, she is depleted and can only stay awake for two more hours before she demands to be put to sleep.

“Shall we go home, hm?” He suggests.

Nari nods tiredly. “Yes, please.”

He turns to his friends, offering a tight smile. “Will you stay for dinner?” He ignores the almost desperate plead in his voice, hoping they pick up on it without Jimin having to spell it out.

Namjoon does, because he has a sympathetic glint in his eyes and a sad smile. “Of course, Jimin.”

It makes him feel sick. Jimin doesn’t enjoy pity, especially from his three best friends but he can no longer successfully hide that he is struggling. He has been feeling lonely and craving genuine attention and affection lately. It doesn’t help that Namjoon is tied to the hip with his husband, the two of them inseparable and unknowingly rubbing in Jimin’s face how successful their marriage is.

Being a single father is isolating. Jimin feels like there is nobody in the world he can relate to and talk to. He tried to join parenting groups but they’re usually unwelcoming, acidic single mothers who aren’t willing to include another man in their close-knit communities.

Jimin attempted other resorts: pouring his energy into his online business as a freelance writer, spending more time with Namjoon and Hoseok, taking Nari out more frequently to the park, talking to his mother and visiting his home. But no matter what he did, there was still a gaping hole in his chest. It’s suffocating and consuming, leaving Jimin feeling like he could die from this.

“If you’re busy, you don’t need to,” Jimin says, trying to sound dismissive.

“We’re not,” Hoseok assures. “We kept the evening free.”

“Great.” He clenches his jaw, ignoring the clench of his heart. He hates feeling needy.

They take public transport back to Jimin’s neighbourhood, climbing up a flight of stairs before they reach his apartment. Seokjin bids his farewell there, living just a few blocks down, claiming he had to get home early for tomorrow’s early morning shift. Jimin lets them Namjoon and Hoseok in, immediately ordering takeaway for dinner.

They eat their food on the couch with Nari curled up on Jimin’s lap, her head resting on his chest. Jimin feeds her bites of the grilled chicken as they focus on the TV, watching Nari’s favourite movie that Jimin has practically memorised the lines of.

It doesn’t take long before Nari is slowly falling asleep, her eyes drifting close with the movie serving as background noise. Jimin watches over her fondly, kissing her forehead and keeping her snug against him.

Namjoon is watching them quietly as he says, “Go put her to bed, love.”

Jimin hums. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he promises, picking Nari up and taking her to her bedroom.

Nari’s bedroom is decorated similar to a typical four-year old girl’s taste. The walls are painted pink and they’re covered with posters of her favourite Disney movies. Her furniture is white, selected by her biological mother as a gift to her. The entirety of her bed is taken up by plushies, purchased by various people.

Nari’s nighttime routine is simple. Most days, she is too tired to stay up and falls asleep as soon as she gets into her bed. Other days, she’ll demand some attention from Jimin that he readily supplies to her. He treasures nighttimes with his daughter, considers it their most valuable time.

He undresses Nari, putting her in her sleeping clothes, before joining her in bed.

“Goodnight, Nari,” Jimin murmurs, kissing her forehead.

Nari’s eyes are already fluttering shut, her body curling around Jimin’s for security. “Night. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Jimin’s compelled to stay in bed with her for at least twenty minutes, watching over his daughter.

He still remembers the day Nari was born, has been cemented into his mind. It has been a jubilant occasion. His mother had been present in the hospital with him, coaching Jangmi through her labour.

Jangmi’s labour had lasted almost over twenty-four hours. There was complications involved, leaving her incapable of having an epidural and rendering her bed crippled with intense pain. Even the gas and air hadn’t helped. Jimin remembers feeling completely helpless, pathetic to the core of his existence, to be unable to help his wife. Jangmi was incredibly irritable towards Jimin, scorning him.

When Nari was finally born, Jimin had been mesmerised. He held her later than night when Jangmi had fallen asleep, knocked right out, and Nari was sleeping against his chest.

The love he felt growing within him, in the pit of his stomach, was more intense than anything he had experienced before.

Jimin had always been overly involved in Nari’s life, more than Jangmi.

Jangmi had never considered the extent of responsibility that came with being a mother, had decided that she was not made for it. Jimin practically raised Nari on his own whilst Jangmi returned to work.

When Jangmi returned home from work, a year since Nari’s birth, with divorce papers — Jimin didn’t have it in him to act surprised.

“You’re not happy, are you?” He had questioned, looking between the wad of documents on the dining table and his daughter in his arms, reliant on him. Sleeping. Without an idea in the world.

Jangmi had shook her head and said, “Not for a long time.”

Jimin would cross to the other side of the earth to protect Nari. He would lay down his life if it meant Nari could live another healthy, happy day.

Fondness threatens to explode from him as he whispers another quiet goodnight to Nari before getting off the bed, returning to his friends downstairs.

Namjoon and Hoseok have a strange gleam in their eyes. Namjoon even has the nerve to seem… ashamed, a twisted apologetic smile on his face. Jimin picked up on the energy as soon as he came back into the living room, cutting straight to the chase.

“What did you do?” He demands to know.

Hoseok’s quick to retaliate, pointing right at Namjoon. “It’s him! All him!”

“Hey!” Namjoon scowls.

“I swear, it was him!”

Jimin crosses his arms disapprovingly, bracing himself. “What did you both do?”

“I…” Namjoon is begging for forgiveness with his expression, pulling out of his phone. “You seem lonely lately.”

Great. Fantastic. They pity me, they definitely do.

Jimin maintains a straight face. “I’m not.”

“You are.”

They resume eye contact before Jimin sighs, his bottom lip jutting out in an upset pout. “It’s normal. It’s growing pains, I spent my life looking after Nari rather than myself. I’m allowed to feel lonely.”

“And we’re here for you, all the time!” Hoseok interrupts.

“But!” Namjoon continues. “Well… we set you up on a date.”

Jimin pauses, narrowing his eyes as realisation slowly drips into him… a date? He doesn’t remember the last time he had even looked at another person twice with romantic interest, let alone a date. He hasn’t bothered to delve into the world after his divorce with Jangmi.

“What?”

“There’s a new dating site and well, we signed you up for fu—-”

“You, what?” Jimin whisper-yells, cautious of his daughter sleeping in the next room. “You did what?”

Hoseok holds his hands up in surrender. “We just thought it’d be good for you.”

Jimin wants to be annoyed but no offence is taken. He’s more touched than his friends had realised his loneliness had reached the extent of wanting to give him help, anyway they could.

“I don’t know if I wanna date,” Jimin confesses.

“I don’t think the guy does either,” Namjoon says. “We’ve been talking and well. Yeah. He seems like he’s just looking for a date, just for fun. If it works out, it does and if not, he’s fine.”

Jimin frowns. “Who is he?”

“It’s a blind date!” Hoseok grins playfully. “You won’t know what he looks like until you get there.”

“I. Well.” He pouts. “What’s his name?”

“Kim Taehyung. 26, like you. He fits the criteria, I promise.”

It still doesn’t sit right with Jimin. He hasn’t thought about himself and dating in a long time that now that he’s thrown into such a situation, he isn’t sure how to react.

“Well…” He sighs. “Has he seen pictures of me?”

“Of course! He kept saying you have a nice ass until we eventually told him we’re your friends, and it’s a blind date.”

Jimin’s eyes widen comically, mouth hanging open. “What photos did you pick!” He says, scandalised. Knowing his friends, they had probably gone for the photographs that he had taken off to show his figure to his friends. They were never meant for the public eye.

He lurches at them, wanting to steal the phone off Namjoon’s. Jimin is much smaller though so Namjoon pulls the man into his lap, laughing as he holds the phone away from him.

“You ass!” Jimin grumbles.

Hoseok is laughing, out of breath, as he hugs Jimin from behind. He’s sandwiched between Namjoon and Hoseok and he relaxes, the initial rush of exhilaration and shock rushing out of him and replaced with… adoration.

“Thank you,” is all what Jimin murmurs in the end.

Namjoon nestles into him. “We love you and we want you to be happy, that’s all.”

“You do make me happy. You two, that’s all I’ll ever need.”

Namjoon and Hoseok decide to stay over. They build a fort in the living room like children, using Nari’s spare bedsheets and holding them up with chairs. They cuddle, the three of them not knowing personal space, and fall asleep peacefully together.

------------------------------

Jimin is underdressed.

He stands in the waiting area of the address for the sushi restaurant he had been given. He just hadn’t expected it to be this… fancy. The restaurant is on the 39th floor, offering unparalleled, breathtaking views of Seoul. There is floor-to-ceiling glass windows, creating a magical experience.

Jimin, on the other hand, is wearing a loose fitted top and black jeans. He suspects there’s a dress code considering the suits and tight dresses that customers are wearing.

Jimin is also consumed with nerves. He hasn’t been on a date in four years. He hasn’t gotten laid in longer, ever since Jangmi had gotten pregnant. He is rusty and inexperienced and he feels too old to be going on blind dates. He has passed the age, now a responsible and mature adult that needed to focus on his daughter rather than fretting over dates.

This is also the first night he has been separated from Nari for a while. He spends all evenings with her, it is customary and being without her is causing waves of panic to wash over him.

Calm down, Jimin coaches himself. It’s fine.

“Jimin?” A gentle, but deep, voice draws him out of his spiralling thoughts.

Jimin looks up to follow the voice… only for his stomach to drop at the sight of the man.

The man is… beautiful, the kind of beauty that boys wish to be and girls want to be with. He’s tall and slim. He has toned arms and a small waist. He has immaculately symmetrical features, angular face with a sharp jawline.

The most striking feature is his eyes, though. A double-lid and a monolid, big and round, with a burning intensity behind them as if he can stare right through your soul. Jimin is pulled into a trance by them, powerlessly gawking at them. Jimin could drown in them.

He is wearing a patterned top, a clashing patterned blazer — somehow pulling it off in a way that shouldn’t be legal, and tight jeans.

“Y-yes?” He stutters.

Taehyung is amused, dripping into his tone when he replies, “I’m Taehyung. I believe you’re my blind date.”

“I am.” At least he’s gained some courage.

Taehyung is shamelessly checking Jimin out, not even trying to hide his wandering eyes. They make eye contact again and Jimin is tempted to shrink under the gaze, feeling like the man is chewing him up.

“You’re very beautiful,” Taehyung compliments. “Even hotter than the pictures.”

Jimin flushes, a deep red glowing on his cheeks. “Thank you. So are you.”

Taehyung offers a hand to the man and he takes it, still shy. Taehyung squeezes Jimin’s hand to prompt the initial nerves to wash away, simply listing his name to the waiter, as they are led to a table right by the window. It is open, supplying an impressive view of the city.

Taehyung pulls out his Olympus camera. It looks beaten down and worn out, the body of the camera has scratches all over it. He takes a few pictures of the high rise buildings in Seoul, snapping with practice, before turning his attention back to Jimin.

“Sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

Jimin waves a hand in dismissal. “I haven’t done this in a while. I’m out of practice,” he confesses, already offering an apology in case he ruins this and comes off like an awkward fool.

“It’s okay. I don’t do dates, either.”

It’s ominous but Jimin doesn’t ask the man to expand, wondering if it’s a little too personal for the first date.

“Let’s order, yeah?” Taehyung speaks again before Jimin can think of a reply, handing over the menu.

His eyes nearly bulge out at the prices, choking back his surprise. He knows that Namjoon had prepared this date, chosen the person and this venue. Had Namjoon forgotten Jimin was tight on money since he has opened his online business, still establishing a name for himself?

“I’ll get the sashimi set and edamame,” Jimin opts for eventually.

“Nice. I’m gonna have the California roll set,” Taehyung says, flagging down the waiter.

Sitting in front of the stranger, Jimin can’t help but mentally note down everything about the man. He’s enthralled by how confidently Taehyung speaks to the waiter, his friendly tone coming off as charming.

They’ve only been acquainted for less than thirty minutes but Jimin can confirm he’s attracted to Taehyung.

“What would you like for drinks, Jimin?”

He snaps out of his thoughts. “Beer, please.”

“Nice. I’ll have a glass of tap water.”

Once the waiter has taken their order, Jimin asks, “Not an alcohol guy?”

Taehyung shrugs, nose wrinkling in distaste at the mention. “Not really. The first time I tried alcohol, I was in Germany on holiday. It was this really strong German beer. It tasted like piss.”

“Beer is good!” Jimin defends.

“Questionable, babe.”

Jimin doesn’t blink twice at the pet name, just accepting it because it feels good.

“You had the wrong choice of drinks,” Jimin tries to convince the man. “You need to try the right drinks.”

“Yeah?” Taehyung tilts his head to the side. “You’ll show me them?”

The smooth talking, without a stutter, from Taehyung makes Jimin pause. He opens his mouth and then closes it before smiling.

“If you’d like me to.”

“If you’re not busy tonight, we could go to a bar,” he suggests.

A warning bell rings off in his head about Nari but he knows she’s spending the night at Namjoon’s apartment. She’s safe and she trusts Namjoon, sometimes even prefers being with him over Jimin. Tonight is his night, reserved just for him. He should flirt, he should banter with Taehyung, because it may be the only night he gets the chance to be liberated.

Once their food is delivered, they have already settled into a comfortable back-and-forth conversation. There is not a moment of awkwardness.

“So, how come you were on the dating app?” Jimin questions, his curiosity eating him alive.

Taehyung swallows over the bite of food. “Um, well. I was bored. I thought, why not?”

He giggles. “You ended up with me, unfortunate.”

“Nah. I definitely won. You’re beautiful.”

Heat rises in his face again and he has to look away, rolling his eyes. “Sweet talker.”

“It’s true! You are! Better than the photos, really.”

“Oh, shut up!” Jimin playfully kicks him under the table, barely harder than a tap which Taehyung returns back to him.

“I knew I wasn’t talking to you. Your friend, Namjoon, was very honest right from the beginning.”

He groans at the reminder, covering his face with a hand in humiliation. “They’re such protective friends, I’m sorry. They thought I needed to go back on a date and yeah… I didn’t even know what you looked like before I came here!”

Taehyung smirks. “Do I meet the expectations?”

Oh, so they’re flirting. This is flirting… this is okay, Jimin thinks. He may be unfamiliar with this but Taehyung makes it feel easy.

“You do,” Jimin boldly declares, the beer giving him a boost of confidence.

“Are you interested in dating, yourself?”

He shrugs, taking another sip of alcohol. “I haven’t thought about it lately, at least for a while.” He swallows. “I’m divorced. I haven’t been able to put myself back out there since.”

The impish grin is wiped clear off Taehyung’s face. “I… shit, I’m sorry.”

“They didn’t tell you that part, huh?”

“No… I’m sorry.”

Jimin shakes his head. “It’s been three years. I’m over it,” he assures, offering a tight smile. “I’m not really into dating unless it’s organic, just naturally happens instead of me trying to make it work, you know?”

“I get you. I’m the same,” he promises.

And just like that, the conversation drifts easily between them. They always have something to say, not spending a moment quiet. Jimin has never had such an effortless connection with somebody besides Namjoon and Hoseok and it’s thrilling to interact with someone new.

“So, what do you do for a living?” Taehyung asks.

“I’m self-employed, I work from home as a freelance writer.”

“Oh!” He’s dazed. “I definitely didn’t expect that.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know, something outgoing. Maybe dancing?”

Jimin barks out a laugh, smiling. When he was younger, he had liked dancing and had even considered taking the route into the idol industry. However, he had just gotten married and Jangmi was pregnant not long after. It was bittersweet, torn up as he gave up on dancing for family.

Now, he has an online business so he can spend more time with Nari.

“Nope. Just a writer,” Jimin confirms. “You?”

“Guess.”

“Guess?” Jimin repeats with another hearty laugh. He takes this opportunity to scan over Taehyung, properly checking him out. There’s a suggestive glint in his eyes, making it obvious that this was more than just guessing his career. Taehyung must’ve realised because his irises darken, his Adam’s apple moving where he swallows hard. “You seem preppy,” he decides. “Something… different, not a corporate job.”

“Really? Nice.”

“Something laid back.”

A wry smile tugs at his lips. “I’m an art curator.”

“Oh.” His mind goes blank, desperately scanning through his knowledge but it remains blanks. “... What’s that? Sorry to ask.”

“Well. I manage Seoul National Art Gallery,” he explains, so casually like that isn’t a big deal.

“Wow.”

The art gallery is prestigious, ornate and stores hundreds of historical Korean artists who have been marked down for their talent. It is decorated beautifully, marble pillars and white aesthetic running through it. To manage such a place would be such a privilege.

“Mm.” Taehyung’s smile is humble. “I manage the art pieces and the exhibitions. I also mentor groups of school children, leading talks and guides around the gallery. I’m also an artist myself.”

Taehyung keeps ticking the boxes in Jimin’s head: handsome, a gentleman, creative, thoughtful, good at words, charming.

Jimin is so attracted to him. He wants to get on his knees for him.

He’s startled by the realisation of his thoughts. He doesn’t know when he had looked at a man and simply wanted him, but there’s lust growing in him and he just wants Taehyung.

“That’s hot,” Jimin blurts out.

His eyes bulge, squeaking out the end of his sentence, and face heating.

Taehyung, on the other hand, is just amused. He smirks. “Oh, yeah? Tell me, what else is hot about me, Jimin?”

They had spent another hour at the restaurant, sharing dessert between the two of them, before Taehyung had paid for the bill. Much to Jimin’s dismay as he had demanded they’d go half but Taehyung promised Jimin can pay for the drinks to make it even.

They take a short train ride into Itaewon and find a discrete bar, located in the basement under two flights of stairs.

The bar is questionably shoddy. The small place is dark and there’s loud music playing, dominating over the conversations. They sit at the bar as Jimin orders them rounds of shots.

Taehyung doesn’t like it. He chokes on the substance, frowning as it burns.

“What the fuck is that?” He complains.

Jimin grins, downing another shot easily. “Tequila.”

“It’s disgusting!” He is like an irked child, pouting. “Gimme sweeter stuff.”

They rotate through some drinks. Jimin orders a cocktail, that Taehyung doesn’t like either and laments that it’s too strong. They have more shots that Taehyung criticises, but takes nevertheless. They end up with vodka lemonade.

“I like this!” Taehyung says, consuming one glass. Then another.

An hour and a half later, Taehyung has drank more alcohol than he could handle. He’s a lightweight, his words slurring and much more carefree than he was before. Any sign of nerves he may have had — which was rare, considering how confident he is
— has been replaced completely.

This Taehyung, head spinning from alcohol and intoxicated, is affectionate and touchy. His hand is resting on Jimin’s thigh, leaning in so his hot breath fans over Jimin’s neck, all regard to personal space is forgotten. The proximity between them is making the air between them thick with tension.

Jimin doesn’t mind, though. The heavy weight of his hand is turning Jimin on, squirming in his chair. He hasn’t had sex in so long that physical contact, as simple as this, is turning him desperate.

It’s when Taehyung’s lips are lingering on his neck, hungry for more that Jimin says it.

“Can we go back to your apartment?”

As soon as the door of Taehyung’s apartment closes behind him, the man has Jimin caged against the wall and they’re kissing.

The kiss is soft as Jimin processes what is happening. This stranger, this beautiful creature, is kissing him. His first kiss after years.

Jimin’s hand rests on Taehyung’s forearm, squeezing in a quiet encouragement to spur him on. The pace changes up quickly after that with the kiss deepening. Jimin’s hand reaches up to twist in Taehyung’s hair, tugging roughly down and relishing with how Taehyung gasps, Jimin.

That goes straight to his dick and God, he wants Taehyung.

Taehyung’s hand is travelling over his body, resting dangerously close to his ass as he grips. The kiss is passionate as Taehyung licks into his tongue, asking for permission, before it meets in a dirty, messy kiss. They’re exchanging saliva as Jimin moans against his mouth, rutting his hips down on Taehyung.

The friction is delicious, making him horny for more.

“S-Shit,” Taehyung whimpers.

“Bottom or top?”

“Both.”

“Fuck me tonight, then,” Jimin practically begs, not paying attention to his high and needy voice. All fucks to give are gone, interchanged with want, want, want.

“Are you sure?”

In response, Jimin pulls his hair harder. “Positive.”

Their kiss is broken apart so Taehyung can focus on Jimin’s neck once again. He takes his time, his lips wandering over the skin. He doesn’t hesitate to suck a mark into Jimin’s pale skin, rough with his teeth as he experimentally sucks on the skin, intending to leave a dark bruise.

Jimin moans breathily, his hand tangling deeper into his hair and yanking on it.

Taehyung is in no rush. He luxuriously sucks on the skin until he’s satisfied, smoothing it over with a lick. He pulls back, a cocky grin sprawled across his face as he observes the hickey.

“Looks good.”

“God. Just. Shut up,” Jimin whispers. “Fuck me.”

“Demanding, much?”

“Shut up.” He grits out, pulling Taehyung’s head to the side.

They’re kissing again, tangled up in each other, as they stumble into Taehyung’s bedroom.

Jimin barely pays attention to the unkempt room, noticing some art supplies scattered across the floor and an unfinished canvas of a breathtaking painting. He will focus on it later. Right now, his dick is speaking ahead of his mind.

He yelps when he steps on paint, still wet. “The fuck!”

“Sorry!” Taehyung laughs into his mouth, kissing him again. “I didn’t know I’d have a cute boy in my apartment tonight, I would’ve cleaned up.”

“Less talking, more kissing.”

“Yes, sir.”

They undress each other and Jimin has to stop, taking in Taehyung’s naked body. He’s astonished. The boy takes care of himself, no doubt, but not excessively. He has a toned and lean body. His stomach is flat but he’s well built and well, he has the best ass.

“Shit.”

Taehyung’s lip tugs upwards. “Like it?”

“Shit, yeah. Let me ride you.”

Jimin’s already half hard but when Taehyung’s hand touches over him and strokes him, he swears he could come right there and then. His own hand has served him well over the last few years but nothing compares to the euphoria that is Taehyung’s hand working over him.

“T-Tae…” He moans.

“You’re so beautiful,” Taehyung murmurs, still kissing him. “Come sit on my dick.”

Taehyung retrieves a bottle of lube and a condom from the bedside table, laying Jimin out underneath him. His own cock is fully hard but he neglects it, focusing his energy entirely on Jimin.

Jimin wraps his legs around Taehyung’s torso, trapping the man over him as they kiss. His lips are beginning to feel numb but he’s consumed with how addicting Taehyung tastes, whining as he licks into his mouth. He attempts to rut up, gaining some relief on his cock, but Taehyung pins him down to the mattress.

“Patience, baby,” Taehyung says.

He opens the lube bottle, drizzling it generously over his fingers. He lifts Jimin’s leg up onto his shoulder, sucking in a breath at the sight of Jimin’s plump ass.

“How long has it been since you’ve bottomed?” Taehyung queries, his finger grazing over Jimin’s hole. It clenches, wanting the finger inside him.

“A while,” he admits. “But I use toys.”

“Okay.” Taehyung continues to tease him, not pushing it, but just rubbing the finger over him until desperation crawls through Jimin and he’s not opposed to beg.

“Please,” he whispers.

“Please, what?”

“C’mon, open me up. Let me ride your big dick.”

“Since you’ve asked so nicely,” Taehyung teases.

He luxuriously opens Jimin up, in no apparent hurry even as Jimin leaks pre-come all over his stomach. Jimin’s tight as a vice around Taehyung’s finger, still not able to relax with three fingers deep. It burns a little but Taehyung is patient, pushing past the stubborn wall of muscle to open him up.

When Jimin adjusts, he’s washed over with blinding pleasure and he’s ready. He’s so so ready.

Their positions switch up and Jimin’s on top now, his hand splayed over Taehyung’s chest. His mouth practically water as he observes the size of Taehyung’s cock, wondering whether he can even take the man’s width.

“It’s okay. I’ll bottom next time,” Taehyung says. A little too fast.

The implication of his words hang heavy and Taehyung looks embarrassed, ready to retract his words.

Jimin chooses to ignore them instead. He sinks down on Taehyung’s cock instead, mouth hanging open from the delicious stretch. It does hurt… momentarily a lot, but eventually fading out. He slowly takes every inch and there’s stars in his vision, left dumbfounded.

“S-Shit.”

Jimin is whimpering. Taehyung’s hand is on his waist, squeezing him in encouragement as Jimin starts to bounce on his cock.

“So good, Jimin,” Taehyung groans, digging his heels into the mattress to resist the urge to fuck back up into him.

Jimin draws a sharp breath in, sweaty and needy despite the fact that he’s nearly completely taken Taehyung in.

“Fuck me.”

Taehyung obliges. He lets Jimin go at his own pace before eventually rocking back. The sensation makes Jimin delirious, his head hazy and his thighs shaking from the ache of rocking back and forth on Taehyung’s cock. Jimin keeps a steady pace but Taehyung eventually becomes impatient.

He flips Jimin over and underneath him and when Jimin gives the go ahead, he slips into Jimin in one fluid motion.

“Fuck,” Jimin hisses out. He clutches the bedsheets, knuckles white from the grip. “Fuck me. Please, Tae.”

Taehyung’s thrusts are slow but deep, the angle making them hit right up against Jimin’s prostate. Jimin is speechless, choked out moans falling from him as Taehyung continues to fuck into him. The thrusts are practised and he hurls into Jimin, purposely extracting whimpers from him.

“So beautiful,” Taehyung praises. “So gorgeous. The best body. So tight.”

“Need to come!” Jimin gasps out.

“Let it go, baby. Let me see you come.”

Taehyung’s spare hand reaches down to stroke Jimin at the same time and it isn’t long until they’re both coming at the same time, riding off the intense climax.

Jimin’s orgasm practically makes him blank out, his eyes opening a minute later at the substance on his stomach. Much to his surprise, Taehyung leans down and licks up the come.

He kisses Jimin, letting him taste himself and Jimin groans.

“Shit,” Jimin says a minute later, as an afterthought.

Taehyung is lethargic as he drops into the mattress next to Jimin. “It’s late,” he murmurs. “Just sleep here. We’ll talk in the morning?” He suggests.

Jimin is tempted to reject the offer. He doesn’t want to say and he definitely does not want to talk about this. It was a good fuck. There is not much to discuss but the thought of leaving during the early hours of the morning is not appealing.

So, he obeys.

And eventually falls asleep with Taehyung.

——————-

Taehyung is disappointed when he wakes up and there’s not a sign of Jimin anywhere, almost like last night was a dream.

It might as well have been.

Jimin was dreamy, a little jarring that somebody could be so attractive and not even be aware of his own power. He was charming. With alcohol in his system, Jimin loosened up and unleashed a flirtatious, exciting side to him.

Taehyung had really wanted to keep talking to him but he’s gone.

He grumbles, falling back into his pillow with dismay. There’s a crumbled piece of paper on the pillow case next to him where Jimin had slept. Taehyung picks it up, his heart race picking up.

Gotta go. My number: ###-###-#####

Oh. Taehyung hadn’t expected that but he suspects their date had gone successfully well if Jimin had even given his number though he was in a rush to leave.

Hope blossoms in him.

When Taehyung’s finished with his first group of high school students, giving a speech about Van Gogh’s tragic life and the fame he accumulated after his death to dull, uninterested faces, he’s grateful for his break.

His second group is due in an hour, the same talk will be repeated.

Taehyung appreciates Van Gogh. The man was overrated but his art remains timelessly beautiful, worthy of the decades of marvelling over. Each piece holds an intricate story behind it that Taehyung is honoured to talk about.

But talking to students who are forced to be at the gallery as opposed wanting to, it really kills his enthusiasm.

Jungkook slides into the chair next to him. They have been best friends since childhood, the young boy following him into his workplace as a cashier at the gallery’s gift store for part-time work during studying.

“You got laid!” Jungkook declares loudly, poking at the prominent mark on Taehyung’s collarbones.

“Shut up!” He hisses back with narrowed, dangerous eyes.

The reminder of the hickey makes goosebumps break out on his voice. The memory of Jimin’s lips hovering over his, leaving a piece of himself onto Taehyung’s skin, cementing it into him. Jimin and his plump lips.

“Who was it?” Jungkook says. “Was it Jihun?”

“What? No! I wouldn’t sleep with my colleagues!”

“You don't sleep around, at all!” He frowns, never letting Taehyung forget that he’s married to his job and this gallery, often spending overtime here and doing more hours than required. “So, Who was it?”

“Nobody you know.”

“Yoongi hyung and I have been placing bets all morning.”

“Jesus Christ,” Taehyung murmurs with a roll of his eyes. “Of course you two have.”

“You sure it’s not someone from work? I’ve seen you eyeing up the other manager.”

Taehyung wrinkles his nose in disgust. “Kook, he’s like… 20 years older than me.”

“And he’s rich. So why not?”

“You’re repulsive,” he says, though tenderness pokes through his voice as he swats at Jungkook.

“It’s none of your business.”

Jungkook pouts, doe eyes staring into him with a quiet plead. “I wanna know! Is it something serious? Are you cuffed?”

“I’m not cuffed,” he huffs. “I don’t know. I only met him last night.”

“And you fucked?”

“Yup.” Taehyung pops the ‘p’, cringing at the internal embarrassment when he remembers he had mentioned next time to Jimin. There must be a next time, right? Considering Jimin left his number for him.

Jungkook is smug. “I won the bet!”

“Oh, fuck’s sake! Stop betting on my love life!”

“Non-existent more like. You’ve never been in a serious relationship.”

He frowns. He pulls apart the sandwich he had purchased, overpriced and not even appealing in the slightest with how stale the bread is.

“I know.”

“You’re always at work, it’s not healthy.”

“I know.”

“This may be good for you,” Jungkook says. His voice had dropped an octave, now full of genuine concern. Taehyung has gotten so lucky he has a best friend like Jungkook, never giving him a day feeling lonely. “You should embrace it and go for it.”

Taehyung smiles, pulling the boy into a side hug. “Thanks, Kook. I’ll see how it goes.”

——————

It takes some courage, a day later, after a pep talk from Yoongi and Jungkook and a bottle of grape soju, before he messages Jimin.

Taehyung: Hi
Is this Jimin?
It’s taehyung. The blind date

He has to distract himself before he thinks into overdrive whether he’s making a mistake. He’s inexperienced.

Taehyung cleans his apartment instead. It’s a small, but homely, place in Mapo-gu. It is on the pricier side but Taehyung has been able to afford it through his job role, accumulating a decent amount of wealth.

There is a painting he has been working on for months now, but unable to complete it. Maybe Taehyung is lacking the muse or just doesn’t have the energy. It’s a half finished piece, splashes of yellow and pink, with the back of a person. Taehyung isn’t sure what he was aiming for and he despises seeing it. It lacks… passion, lacks Taehyung’s sentiment.

It’s an hour half when he gets a response, picking up his phone.

Jimin: hey. Of course I remember you
How’re you?

Taehyung’s heart skips a beat. He had been anticipating this reply, making the nerves scatter all over as he replies embarrassingly quickly.

Taehyung: I’m good
Would you like to meet again?

Well, damn. Straight to the point, he had been so eager he even forgot to redirect the question back to Jimin and enquiry if he’s okay as well.

Jimin: lol, you’re cute
Can we meet for coffee? We should talk

That doesn’t sound promising but Taehyung doesn’t want to read into it, not until he receives confirmation of what the talk is about. Taehyung hasn’t dated for a while but he’s willing to make sacrifices for Jimin if necessary, break his own rules.

Taehyung: name a place and time I’ll be there

-----------------

The coffee shop they choose is in Hongdae, not far from Taehyung’s apartment.

Jimin is already seated inside. He’s on his own, in the far corner with his iced espresso. Taehyung’s nose wrinkles at the thought of the distasteful drink, putting in an order for milk chocolate milkshake, before he takes his seat opposite to Jimin.

Jimin’s dressed as casual as their blind date but he’s pulling it off exceptionally well.

He has a red checkered shirt, tucked into jeans along with dress shoes. He has the bare minimum makeup defining his features, shiny lip gloss on his lips that make them look more plump. Mostly, though, Jimin looks drained as if he has been spending nights awake. Maybe his business has been busier than usual, Taehyung suspects.

“Good afternoon,” Jimin smiles. He smiles with his eyes, crinkling up, and his mouth widening. It’s kind of beautiful, Taehyung feels like he’s in a trance as he stares helplessly. “I hope I didn’t disturb you.”

He waves a hand in dismissal. He might’ve taken a day off work just for this, dedicating it to Jimin. His boss was more than happy to give it to him, claiming he’s a workaholic and has annual leaves untouched.

“You didn’t,” he assures. Taehyung squirms in his seat, their last meeting’s events scanning through his mind. It’s almost hard to believe he had this man in bed, undressed, moaning for him. “How’ve you been, Jimin?”

“Okay. Tired,” the man confesses. He looks tired, too. “Yourself?”

“Busy, to be honest.”

“I bet. Your work sounds hectic.” Jimin’s eye lingers on the fading mark on Taehyung’s collarbone. He has made no attempt to conceal it, out in the open through his unbuttoned shirt.

Taehyung smirks when he realises Jimin is looking at it but pretending to ignore it.

“It is.” He thanks the barista when his milkshake is delivered, stirring the straw in the thick substance. “Is your online business picking up?”

“Mm. Apparently so.”

There’s no conviction in his voice. Taehyung just sips at the straw, lips wrapped around his straw, whilst staring right at Jimin. There is no innocence behind the act.

The last time they had fucked, he had stated that he wanted Jimin to fuck him.

Taehyung is usually the bottom, not inclined to switch. He likes it when the control is taken away from him, forced into a headspace of submission. He is always in charge of his life: at work as a manager, in the family as the eldest sibling, and there is nothing more rousing when he can do something but take it.

Jimin clears his throat, irises shimmering under the lighting of the shop. “We should talk… about this.”

“Yeah.”

Taehyung is usually not a commitment man. He just hasn’t been able to afford the time to do a date, or more. He doesn’t think he’d be opposed to it when it comes to Jimin. They hardly know each other but their connection is effortless, their sexual chemistry is off the scales — it wouldn’t be so bad to take it seriously, get to know each other whilst dating, right?

He doesn’t want to lay his heart out to Jimin, however. They’re still strangers essentially and he refuses to face humiliating rejection.

“I don’t do relationships,” is what Jimin says.

Taehyung freezes. Okay, so not what he expected. He’s a fool.

“Okay…”

“I’m busy,” he continues with an apologetic smile. “And I got divorced 3 years ago. It’s terrifying for me to jump back into something… with implications, and commitments.”

“I understand.” He does, he’s the same but he thought Jimin could be different. Apparently not.

Jimin must sense his crestfallen expression because his hand is reaching out to hold Taehyung’s across the table, delicately offering a squeeze.

“But,” he whispers. “I like our sex… I haven’t had fun like that in a while, Taehyung. I haven’t been reckless. I’ve been a hermit since my divorce, trapped indoors and doing nothing. This online business is affecting me, too.” He speaks honestly. “I’m lonely… like all the time, hence why my friends put me up to this blind date.”

“Oh.”

“Do you ever feel lonely, Tae?”

Taehyung ponders over the question. He has a close-knit group of friends. He has been able to retain contact with his high school friends, they usually hang out every other weekend whenever they’re free from their schedules. They go for drinks and on bike rides where they spent their formative years.

Then there’s Yoongi and Jungkook. He has known Jungkook since he was a baby, their mothers forcing them to grow up together. Yoongi he had met at work and watched him start to date Jungkook, now a happy couple.

“I don’t know,” he answers when a minute passes. “I have good friends.”

“I do, too,” Jimin interrupts. “But at the end of the day, I’m left feeling… alone.”

“I don’t want to be your solution to loneliness.”

“O-oh, no!” Jimin’s eyes widen. “I have my own solutions. I’m just explaining, Tae. Our night was good to me and well… I wouldn’t mind just fucking around sometimes? Me and you?”

Oh… oh.

Jimin wants to keep seeing him for sex. No strings attached.

Taehyung’s mouth is dry and the offer is overwhelmingly tempted. “What does that mean?”

“No commitments. We have sex when we’re free and want to, become friends because I’d really like to get to know you. You’re so interesting. If we get bored or don’t want to continue, the sex stops and the friendship continues.”

“No strings attached?” Taehyung asks.

“Absolutely none,” Jimin promises.

“Do I get to bottom next time?”

Jimin barks out a laugh in surprise at his candid question, glancing around the coffee shop in case anybody was nearby. “Sure, baby. Whatever you want.”

And well, Taehyung just can’t refuse the deal. Not when it’s laid out in front of him and it all makes sense, there’s no hidden surprises that could break him.

So, he nods and says, “Sure.”

They’re back in Taehyung’s apartment after the coffee is finished.

Clothes are strewn off across the floor and Jimin is on his lap on the couch, kissing him senselessly.

It’s all passionate and teeth clashing, not a moment to slow down. Taehyung’s head is spinning at the pace, both of them moving like they’re hungry and have been starving for months. Taehyung’s hand grips Jimin’s waist, stilling him as he slows down the kiss, licking into the man’s mouth. They grind dirtily on each other as they kiss.

Jimin’s jeans have a tent on them, his cock growing and desperate for more. Taehyung is being reduced to a mess, has never felt so drunk whilst sober over the taste of Jimin’s lips.

They’re so far gone that they don’t have it within them to move to the bedroom, remaining out in the living room.

Taehyung sinks to his knees, parting Jimin’s legs who sits on the couch. Jimin curses under his breath, his fingers tangling into the man’s hair and guiding him closer to his crotch.

“You’re so sexy, Taehyung,” Jimin murmurs in praise.

Taehyung unbuckles his jeans, pulling down the belt and jeans. His mouth waters at the sight of Jimin’s cock, half hard and he wants the man inside his mouth.

He kisses down Jimin’s shaft, more concerned with drawing out high whimpers from Jimin’s mouth. It’s working. The man is growing impatient, his fingers tightening in Taehyung’s hair in a slight warning. Taehyung pays no attention to it, though, moving at his own time.

“C’mon.”

“Shush.”

“Brat,” Jimin whispers.

Taehyung takes the head of the cock into his mouth, suckling on the sensitive area.

Jimin reacts immediately, cursing under his breath as he bucks his hips up. He’s beautiful like this, all drawn out and body rigid from anticipation. There’s sweat rolling down his forehead, his bare chest exposed under the dimmed lighting of Taehyung’s apartment.

He wants to make Jimin feel good. He wants to be good for Jimin, wants the man to show what his dominant side is and take him apart.

When he gets an irritable tug in his hair, he decides to take Jimin down into his mouth.

It’s not a hard fit but Jimin’s wide, filling out his mouth. He moans around the size in his mouth, eyes glancing up to Jimin through his lashes. Jimin closes his eyes, letting the pleasure wash over him.

Taehyung gets to work immediately. He sucks him all the way down, licking the underside of Jimin’s cock as he comes back up. He bops his head up and down until his mouth aches, fondling with Jimin’s balls with his spare hand.

Jimin is far gone already, garbling out nonsensical words as he controls Taehyung’s movements with the hand in his hair.

“Can I--” Jimin’s words are stuttered out, groaning. “Can I fuck your mouth?”

Taehyung pulls off the cock, a string of spit attached from his swollen lips to Jimin’s fully hard, leaking cock. He nods and says, “Please.”

Jimin guides him back and this time, there’s no wasting time. He holds Taehyung still as he ruts his hips back into the man’s mouth, relentlessly chasing his orgasm. He moves carefully at first but when he realises Taehyung is encouraging him to go faster, he keeps going.

Taehyung chokes and his eyes tear up but he doesn’t budge, wanting to be good.

When Jimin is close to his orgasm, he quickly pulls off. “Wanna come when I’m fucking you.”

Taehyung smirks. His own cock is neglected, hasn’t even touched it once, but it’s leaking pre-come.

Jimin reaches down to grasp it in his hand, slowly thumbing over the slit. He’s giving Taehyung the bare minimum touch, a smirk present on his lips. “Can you come untouched, Tae?”

Oh. A spark inside him, his stomach tightening. “I - I don’t know.”

“Can you try for me?”

“Oh. Y-yeah.”

“C’mon. Where’s your lube, condoms?”

“In my bedroom.”

“Wanna get fucked on the couch?” Jimin laughs. “Okay. I’ll be back.”

Taehyung has repositioned himself, bent over the couch with his ass on display. He works hard on his figure and he knows it pays off when Jimin approaches again, a gasp ripping out of him at the sight of Taehyung.

“Fuck, Tae,” he whispers.

It happens all too quickly from there. Jimin is extremely turned on and he doesn’t bother drawing out the moment any longer.

He lubes up his fingers and opens Taehyung up, impatiently. He starts with one finger and ends with three, stretching him out and scissoring him until he’s met with lack of resistance. He keeps a heavy hand on Taehyung’s back, forcing his face into the couch as he fucks the fingers into him. He crooks them inside, massaging Taehyung’s prostate.

“J-Jimin.”

“You like that, hm?” Jimin asks, prodding them against the bundle of nerves.

“Please!”

“Can you come just like this?”

“No,” he says adamantly. His head is still pushed into the couch, mind swimming and hazy from the pleasure. He groans. “I need your cock. Want your cock inside, please. Cock.”

“Desperate, much.”

“Mhm. Please.”

“I got you,” Jimin promises.

He pulls his fingers out, rolling the condom onto his cock as he slicks it up with lube. Once he gets the second go-ahead and consent from Taehyung, he slowly starts to push into Taehyung.

The size is much bigger than his fingers so Taehyung tenses up initially, not adjusted to the size.

Jimin notices and he slows down, rubbing Taehyung’s back soothingly. Once Taehyung nods again, he starts to sink down again.

When Taehyung’s adjusted to his cock, Jimin shows him no mercy. He hammers into Taehyung repeatedly, lifting one of Taehyung’s legs up on the leg of the couch. The position forces Taehyung to stretch his body out, a dull ache in his limbs from it, but it feels good. Like this, each time Jimin fucks into him, he feels it deeper.

Taehyung’s begging. In the cloud of his own arousal, he hasn’t realised he’s doing that.

“Jimin, please, please. I wanna come!” He’s practically screaming.

Jimin doesn’t slow down even for a minute. His thrusts are precise and smooth, repeatedly hitting Taehyung’s prostate.

Taehyung’s rutting his hips back desperately, rolling down to take Jimin down and meet back in the thrusts. The combined pleasure, the thrusts making his cock rub against the surface of his couch and giving him friction, is enough for his mind to be numb.

“Gonna come!” Taehyung warns.

“Before me?” Jimin is amused, to say the least. “Come, then, doll.”

Doll. That’s enough for him and Taehyung is reaching his climax, a consuming high as he comes all over himself. His mind blanks out as he comes down and the oversensitivity drags as Jimin continues to fuck him.

It’s not long before Jimin’s pulling, throwing off the condom and coming all over Taehyung’s ass.

“Shit,” Jimin hisses as he comes, streaks of come painting Taehyung. “Now, that’s art.”

Taehyung giggles, a tight coil in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Jimin’s come all over him.

It takes a few minutes before he stands up straight again, legs wobbly and unable to support himself. Jimin cleans him up and leads him into the bedroom, laying him down to recover from the orgasm.

“I’m calling off this arrangement if you refuse to cuddle me after sex,” Taehyung warns. Through all the playful side, he means this. This is a hard limit. “I need it after sex, okay? I can’t be alone.”

Jimin is standing at the foot of his bed, his face melting into understanding and fondness.

“Of course, Tae,” he promises. He crawls into bed after Taehyung and pulls the man into his chest.

This is awfully comfortable. Something Taehyung can get used to. He buries his head into Jimin’s chest, breathing in the smell of cologne mixed with scent and sex. He likes it.

They end up taking a nap together like that.

---------------

The sex happens again and again.

They have sex out on Taehyung’s balcony, a view of Seoul underneath them as Taehyung fucked into Jimin shamelessly, giving his neighbours a show. They have sex in Taehyung’s bedroom, Taehyung laid out underneath him as Jimin fucks him desperately. They have sex over Taehyung’s kitchen counter. They christen every part of Taehyung’s apartment.

And he realises, a month or so after their arrangement, he doesn’t even know where Jimin lives.

The sex is always at Taehyung’s apartment.

-----------

“So, you’re planning on never telling him about Nari?” Hoseok deadpans, unimpressed.

There’s a hard frown on his face. He’s disapproving.

Jimin feels like he’s being drilled underneath his hyung’s stare and he has to look away. He’s waiting for Nari to finish her breakfast so he can take her to kindergarten. He’s grateful that Taehyung’s neighbourhood is not near Jimin’s, the chances of them running into each other are low.

Nari is happily eating away, kicking her legs, unaware to Hoseok’s fury.

“Why should I?” Jimin eventually asks.

The topic of Nari hadn’t arisen during their blind date and when they had sex, Jimin thought it wasn’t appropriate to bring up his daughter. As they continued to see each other, he realised he didn’t have to tell Taehyung anything. Jimin’s daughter is his personal life that he wants to guard, protect away from any potential evil, and Taehyung is temporary.

A temporary fuck buddy.

There’s no need to complicate the situation by announcing his daughter.

Hoseok, on the other hand, is close to throwing a temper fit. He crosses his arms, levelling Jimin with a seriously questionable look.

“You’re lying about something serious, a huge part of your life.”

“I’m not lying!” Jimin excuses himself, furrowing his brows. His hand reaches out to run through Nari’s tangled hair, smiling to himself at the sight of his girl. “I’m purposely keeping information away from him that he doesn’t need to know, hyung. It’s none of his business.”

“You’re doing the thing together!” He censors the words for Nari’s sake.

Jimin shrugs. “It’s nothing serious.”

“You’re seriously telling me it’s no strings attached, even after a month?”

Jimin raises a brow. “Yes? I have no feelings for him.”

“You’re spending practically all spare time with him!”

“Because! We’re good friends?” He’s bewildered by Hoseok’s onset of heavy questions, full of implications.

Jimin doesn’t like Taehyung. They vibe well together, like two peas in a pod that were ultimately going to meet in this world. It was inevitable. They’re good friends. When they’re not having sex, they’re always up to mischief together. They have the same interests and can never spend a minute in dull or silence.

So perhaps, Jimin should’ve told Taehyung about Nari.

But he stands by his words, Taehyung doesn’t need to know and it’s too late to now break the news about his baby girl.

Hoseok shakes his head, finishing the last drop of his coffee. “I hope you know what you’re getting into, Jimin.”

The tone is patronising and it rubs Jimin the wrong way. He’s fired up but he doesn’t want to jump to a conclusion and speak rudely to his friend. Instead, he bites down the annoyance bubbling inside him.

“I’ll be fine, hyung.” After all, Hoseok is just worried about him and he needs to placate the man, promise it’s fine. “It’s nothing serious and I’d rather not get Nari used to a man she’ll have to forget eventually.”

“Okay.” With that, Hoseok bids his farewell and Jimin finally breathes.

------------------

Pillow talk has become Jimin’s favourite pastime with Taehyung, maybe even more than the actual sex itself.

The sex is brilliant, mindblowingly fantastic and Jimin doesn’t remember the last time he had been so sexually active. He went from being celibate after his divorce to having sex once a week, maybe even more if he can find a babysitter for Nari, but he doesn’t like to jeopardise any time he has with his girl.

But he enjoys this too.

When they’re both still naked and they talk about each other, about their lives.

Jimin has come to learn a lot about Taehyung. He comes from a small village just outside of Daegu but he just says Daegu for ease, and because nobody knows his village. His family are farmers but they had wanted Taehyung to have a more prospective future. When they noticed Taehyung’s love for painting, they sent him packing to Seoul.

Taehyung came to Seoul on his own with Jungkook by his side, the childhood friends making the move together.

Eventually, a lot of Taehyung’s high school friends made the move to the capital too. Whether it was for study, for work or to enrol into an entertainment company to chase their dreams as an idol — they had their independent reasons, but they were able to reunite with Taehyung through this.

Taehyung’s nature is well-mannered and calm. He isn’t quick to react to anger. He has thought out, considerate words. He speaks articulately. He’s creative and spends a lot of painting. He can be emotionally restrictive but Jimin has been encouraging him to speak his mind more often.

Taehyung is still naked, approaching him with two coffee cups.

“Thank you,” Jimin murmurs. He’s curled up on the couch, a blanket covering his body. He takes the mug, blowing on the warm substance. “I thought you don’t like coffee?”

“I don’t,” Taehyung confirms. He shows his own cup; a glass of strawberry milk.

Jimin giggles. He invites Taehyung under his blanket and rests his head against the man’s shoulder, sipping on the coffee.

They’ve become comfortable with physical affection, neither of them hesitating to initiate it. With their boundaries breaking down and their sex becoming more intimate, Jimin has felt complacent to touch Taehyung even after sex.

“We’ve been having sex for nearly two months now,” Taehyung says. “And we’ve never discussed our kinks.”

“Hm.” He hums in agreement. He looks up to Taehyung with a smile. “Should we?”

“Well, I’ve discovered some of yours. You like choking.”

“Yeah.” Jimin nods. “But that’s tame.”

He chokes out a laugh, swallowing the strawberry milk. “Tame?” Taehyung repeats. “Okay, what else do you like?”

“I’m not sure. Me and my ex-wife were… very vanilla so I never got to experiment. I like bondage, like tying people up and being tied up. I like degradation… calling someone my slut.”

The casual conversation makes Taehyung weak, Jimin can see it, and he smirks off the power high he gets from it. He wants Taehyung to squirm. Maybe they could even go for round two here on the couch.

“What about you?” Jimin directs the question to him.

“Um. Well, I like degradation too on the receiving side. I liked being tied up, too. I like edging but I also like overstimulation. I like a lot of things. I like being completely out of control, sometimes.”

“I’ve noticed,” Jimin says. “You’re cute. The best sex partner I’ve had.”

“Really?”

“Are you kidding?” He laughs. “Of course. You’re so sexy, Taehyung.”

Taehyung flushes, placing a chaste kiss on the man’s forehead.

“Have you seen more people besides your ex-wife?” He asks.

They rarely breach on the topic of Jangmi. Taehyung avoids it, presumes it is a sore reminder that shouldn’t be talked about. Jimin, however, doesn’t feel a pang from talking about Jangmi. He still sees her regularly and has used the pain from his heartbreak and divorce towards Nari rather than fretting over his broken marriage. He has forgotten what it is like to be hurt over Jangmi.

Regardless, it’s a rude indication that Jimin knows so much about Taehyung. He’s an open book about his past but enigmatic about his current life and emotions. Whereas Jimin has barely revealed much about himself, more vocal about his current daily life excluding Nari.

“Nope,” Jimin says. “Just one boy before her but it was short. It’s nearly always been my wife.”

“Wow. I’ve had a few sexual partners but never a serious relationship.”

Shock crosses Jimin’s face, slack expression. “Never…?”

“Nope. Just flings here or there.”

“But…” Jimin helplessly gestures to Taehyung who is everything a man or woman would want. “It’s hard to believe.”

“I got too busy with my new job and then I guess I just lost the will to date.”

“Mm.” Jimin sighs as he buries into Taehyung’s neck, purposely biting a mark there. It’s impulse, if anything. “Well, I’m honoured to be another fuck partner for you. I hope I’m better than the others.”

“Incomparable.”

------------------

“You need to stop this.”

Taehyung glowers at Jungkook. “Why?”

“Because you’re going to end up falling in love with him! Have you not watched any friends with benefits movies, Tae? They end badly!”

He pays no attention to his best friend’s rambling. He knows Jungkook cares, way too much for his own good, but Taehyung isn’t prepared to give up what he has with Jimin. It’s easy, happy-go-lucky, mutual arrangement that works well for the both of them.

“I’m not in love with him,” Taehyung reminds him.

Taehyung certainly isn’t. He may have an inkling for Jimin, finds him cute and relishes his time with the man but he isn’t sure if he has feelings for Jimin. Or maybe he just isn’t aware what that feels like, has been deprived of a real relationship in his whole life.

“You blush every time I mention him.”

“Because I remember how I take it up in the ass, idiot.”

Jungkook scowls, hitting his shoulder. “Shut up, this is a family event!”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. As an art curator, working in a gallery, he even offers personal one-to-one sessions with enthusiasts who want to learn more about the art. It is a guided, personal tour around the gallery and usually costs a lot more than just a group booking it out.

He checks his schedule and finds he has a personal one-to-one guided tour today and then a high school group two hours later. He has an exhibition preparation later in the evening and his day ends up much later.

“Your 1pm tour is here,” Yoongi communicates to him through the walkie talkie.

Taehyung hums. “I’ll be down!”

He turns to Jungkook, who is still staring at him pointedly, there is almost a hint of disappointment written over the young man’s face and he hates seeing that. He hates that so much.

Taehyung sighs. “I’ll be fine, Kook. Don’t worry about me.”

Jungkook just exhales. “Go do your tour.”

When Taehyung comes to the entrance of the art gallery where he meets his tour guides, he is thrown into shock when he notices… it’s Jimin.

Taehyung’s heart stops, his breath catching in his throat as he’s rooted in the place he stands. His stomach twists… something akin to butterflies erupting in his stomach, a sight he had not been expecting. Jimin had booked out a two-hour tour in the art gallery with the curator, with Taehyung. A tour that costs a fortune.

Yoongi is smiling from where he stands. “Park Jimin, your 1pm tour.”

“Thanks.” Taehyung scribbles his signature down to confirm his attendance to the 1pm tour before approaching Jimin.

Jimin has attempted to make an effort for the tour in the gallery. He’s wearing a white t-shirt, the painting on it that Taehyung recognises as Jean Michel Basquiat. It’s none of Taehyung’s shirt the man must’ve stolen, paired with a striped full sleeve underneath and distressed jeans. The style is unlike Jimin’s usual: elegance and class replaced with… artistic, hipster.

He pulls it off well, nevertheless.

“Jimin…?”

Jimin glances up, a smile growing on his face at the sight of Taehyung. He crosses the distance between them, coming to greet him.

“Surprised?”

Taehyung laughs, for real shocked. “Yes?” He says, pulling Jimin into a hug. The embrace is warm, arms wrapped around Jimin tightly. “Why are you here?”

“I know you like art,” he murmurs against Taehyung’s neck, snuggling further into him. “And I wanted to know more about it.”

“Really?”

“Of course. You like it, so I wanna know more about it.”

There is a tingle in Taehyung’s gut and he ignores it, eyes fluttering shut. The hug is tender.

Nobody has ever taken interest in Taehyung like this, wanting to know the hobbies he has. Wanting to know about him and his art and more about his job. This is a foreign feeling, settling into Taehyung’s bones and consuming him whole.

“Thank you,” he whispers, pulling away. “You booked for the Van Gogh exhibition tour?”

“Mm. I was intrigued by the other artists, but you like Van Gogh and well… who doesn’t know about him?”

“Very well.”

In a moment of boldness, Taehyung grabs Jimin’s hand. He weaves their fingers together, leading them through the gallery. He avoids Yoongi’s look scorning into them as he takes them up the elevator to the fourth floor where the exhibition is. The affection is welcomed by Jimin, holding their hands tightly.

The exhibition contains some of Van Gogh’s most remembered, notable works… as well as some of the least recognised art.

The room is lit up with a minimal aesthetic running through it, white walls and white lighting, with the paintings scattered across the walls in various places. Jimin is quiet as he appreciates the sight before him, snapping pictures of the overall exhibition.

“Educate me, sir,” Jimin teases.

Taehyung is still holding his hand, doesn’t have the will to let go but Jimin doesn’t either.

“So.” He takes a deep breath, unusually anxious. He is good at his job, doesn’t even stutters over the words he has memorised over and over before an exhibition starts. When a new artist is headlining at the gallery, Taehyung is already accustomed to the artists having studied them. But right now, his heart is pounding… he almost feels like he’s taking an exam. “Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most popular impressionist painters, though he was not appreciated during his lifetime. His work is remembered to be emotive, expressive and thought provoking.”

“Mmm. Sexy.”

“Shut up,” Taehyung says with a giggle, a deep flush on his cheeks. “He was born in Holland but travelled to London in 1873. He enjoyed London very much.”

There is a quote printed on the wall above them. How I love London, Vincent Van Ghogh, 1875 that Taehyung points out.

Jimin is intrigued and hanging off every word, drinking in the knowledge with genuine curiosity. It spurs Taehyung on, doesn’t usually have the privilege of interested tours.

“He has very famous pieces that we will be looking at and exploring today. Starting with the known, The Starry Night.” Taehyung points out the painting on the wall, seeing Jimin’s face light up in recognition. Everybody has seen this painting.

“What does this painting mean?” He asks.

“It’s instantly recognised for its unique style. He painted this in a mental asylum, a year and a month before his death. The painting includes 11 stars and a crescent moon, in the background of a Dutch city. He mentions it briefly in a letter he has written as a study of the night sky.”

Jimin is marvelling the painting. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is,” he confirms.

The pair walk through the exhibition, analysing each of the paintings available.

They stop at the self portrait Vincent Van Gogh as Taehyung explains it, how the man painted it during his last months in Paris. Another painting called ‘Sorrow’, done by graphite and ink paper, that portrays a seamstress who happens to be in a desperate circumstance.

“Van Gogh describes the lady as ‘one foot in the grave when I met her’,” Taehyung murmurs to Jimin. They’ve somehow themselves in this position; Taehyung hugging Jimin from behind, his arms wrapped around Jimin’s shoulder, as they gaze at the painting.

“It’s… heartbreaking,” Jimin says.

“His paintings are often very striking,” he agrees.

“I see why you’d want a career in this,” he mumbles. Jimin leans back into the touch, warmth radiating from his back pressed against Taehyung’s front. “It’s… enlightening.”

“It is, right?” Taehyung isn’t thinking when he presses a kiss in the man’s hair.

They walk around the exhibition for an hour longer. They learn about Van Gogh’s time in France, in the Netherlands, in the mental asylum before the end of his short life and how he accumulated fame for his captivating paintings after his passing.

“I can’t believe he died,” Jimin says as they walk out of the exhibition, hand-in-hand. “He was so talented and he didn’t get recognition for it.”

The thought makes Taehyung’s heart heavy. He works relentlessly at his art and if his paintings were only appreciated after his death, he’d feel like his lifetime would go to waste only to be a prodigy afterwards.

“He’s appreciated now. That’s all that matters.”

Jimin glances at his phone, noticing the time is hitting further in the afternoon.

“I need to go, Tae,” Jimin mutters, leaning up to kiss Taehyung’s kiss in a chaste, quick kiss.

“Oh. Okay.” Disappointment sinks into him, wanting to spend all his time with Jimin, but knows that’s implausible and truthfully he has another tour in an hour time that he has to prepare for.

“Sorry.” He hugs Taehyung before bidding farewell and walking off out of the gallery, looking over his shoulder to offer a wave and a cheeky grin.

Taehyung’s heart. His heart is pitter-pattering against his chest and God, he doesn’t know what this is.

But he thinks he’s falling for Jimin.

---------

Jimin: you have to come!
Bring your friends, too.

Taehyung is on his way home, the commute from Gangnam to Mapo-gu taking around 45 minutes. He savours this time alone. It’s his time to read his books, catch up on some work, text back his friends.

Jimin had unexpectedly, in a last minute plan, invited Taehyung to drinks with Jimin’s friends.

He almost wants to decline. He isn’t sure he’d feel comfortable interacting with strangers, nonetheless the same people who had faked being Jimin in the first place and are now aware they’re fucking around in bed. But Taehyung is a natural extrovert and he doesn’t want to turn down Jimin’s kind offer.

Taehyung: I’ll come
My friends probably can’t make it on the short notice, though.

Jimin: That’s fine. Bring ur fine ass over.

So that’s how Taehyung finds himself outside the low-key bar located in Itaewon, having had to change directions halfway through his journey home. He double checks the address, it’s definitely the one located in the basement of a shady alleyway.

He jolts out of surprise when a pair of arms wrap around him, tiny hands covering his eyes.

“Guess who!” A very familiar voice calls to him.

Taehyung rolls his eyes, immediately leaning into the touch and chasing after Jimin’s warmth. “Hm. Who’d be able to guess?”

“You have two guesses or you don’t get a blowjob in the toilet.”

“Jimin,” he scolds, but it comes off as a guess rather than him telling the man off.

Jimin giggles. “Guess you’re the lucky winner of the blowjob.”

Taehyung jabs his elbow behind into Jimin’s ribs before turning over and pulling the man into an embrace. They sway side-to-side, their chests flushed against the other.

“You guys are gross,” a man says with disgust behind him.

Jimin just pinches Taehyung’s side in mischievous before pulling away, presenting Taehyung to his friends with a grin.

“Hoseok, Seokjin and Namjoon hyung, this is Taehyung,” he introduces. “You guys already know since you chose him.”

Taehyung bows politely to them, shaking their hands. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says.

Once the formal introductions are over, they head into the bar. Jimin claims it’s one of his favourites, most visited places and Taehyung can’t imagine why. He must be accustomed to the surroundings because Jimin greets the bartender behind the counter with familiarity glint in his eyes, offering the man a heartfelt hug. They even get the first round of drinks for free as Jimin chooses a booth for them.

This feels like a test, almost. Like he’s trying to prove his worth to Jimin’s friends.

“So, what do you do for a living?” Namjoon makes casual, light-hearted conversation. His arms are looped with Seokjin, both of them sharing a drink. They’re cute.

Taehyung smiles. “I’m an art curator. I manage, and take care, of an art gallery.”

“Wow,” Hoseok says. “That’s so interesting! Do you like it?”

“Yeah. I love art, really.”

“It seems as though its rubbed off on our Jimin, too. He’s always talking about artists and some specific artworks.”

That really shouldn’t make his chest tighten, unexplainable adoration filtering into him… but it does anyway. Jimin has actually talked to his friends about art, has taken Taehyung seriously, absorbed his words and knowledge and passed it on. It’s the best feeling.

“Really?” He glances to Jimin, who adamantly looks away but has redness growing on his face.

The night continues in the same manner.

Taehyung finds himself effortlessly slotting into conversation with Jimin’s friends, never a dull moment between them with the help of alcohol to loosen them up. They bond over Jimin’s embarrassing moments as Namjoon has the courtesy to share Jimin’s childhood and teenage pictures.

Jimin is flushed, down to his neck, as he pouts. “Put it away, hyung!” His eyes are glossy, the alcohol taking a toll.

Drunk Jimin is clingy Jimin.

He hangs off Taehyung, a hand on him at all times. Whether it’s on Taehyung’s thigh, hand or even just his arm. A hint of suspicious is written on Hoseok as he observes them carefully, keeping an eye on their every move, but Jimin doesn’t alter his behaviour at all.

It’s when Jimin’s pressing sloppy, drunken kisses on Taehyung’s neck shamelessly in front of their friends when Hoseok says.

“Is someone taking care of Nari tonight?”

Nari? That name is not even close to familiar, completely new to him.

Jimin’s body grows frozen, as straight as a rod, as there’s a kick under the table and Hoseok has to stifle a surprised cry. Namjoon’s gaze darts between them and then effectively changes the topic, the name Nari long but forgotten.

And as promised, Jimin does get on his knees in the toilets of the bar.

The blowjob is messy and there’s spit everywhere and when Taehyung fucks the man’s throat ruthlessly and comes on his face, Jimin licks off it off and swallows it all.

Jimin’s dreamy.

And Taehyung thinks he’s falling dangerously deep.

--------------------

“Daddy. Can I have cuddle?” Nari requests that night.

Jimin is still tipsy, his head light from the amount of alcohol and beers he had kept pouring down his system. He has a pounding headache. Regardless, he did not want to miss the chance to tuck his baby girl into bed though it’s past her nighttime routine.

“Of course, honey,” Jimin promises.

He feels guilty, consuming him whole. He usually spends all day, everyday with Nari. It had been unusual to tailor a new routine that didn’t include Nari at every moment and rather, incorporate Taehyung. Jimin knows he’s still young, that he still has the liberty to act his age, that he can have fun without beating himself up over it.

But the lack of Nari he has seen is gut wrenching. He desperately does not want to fail as a father.

Jimin crawls under her covers, squeezing into the small bed with her. Nari sighs sleepily, wrapping her body around him.

“Missed you,” Nari says, yawning.

Another stab, deep enough to pierce. The girl doesn’t sound mad but he’s not okay with spending less time with Nari, even if he’s allowed to do so.

“Sorry, I missed you too.”

“Daddy, you happy?” Nari’s drifting into unconsciousness but she asks. “You seem happy.”

His chest glows. He is happy.

“I’m always happy with you,” he replies, but he knows a part of this newfound contentedness… Taehyung plays a huge part to it.

Jimin doesn’t sleep all night, mind heavy with Taehyung running through it.

Chapter Text

forelsket: the euphoria you experience when you are falling in love for the first time

-------------

“You like him. You’re in looove.”

Taehyung’s gaze darts over to Jungkook and Yoongi, delivering them a successful dagger eye.

Both of them are undeterred by the death stare. In fact, it spurs on their mischief of the day to pass the time at the art gallery. They had been aching for some sort of entertainment since Taehyung has been sectioned at the gift store, stocking the new shipment of Frida Kahlo as she’s the artist headlining at the gallery next week.

“I’m not,” Taehyung grits out.

The more Taehyung attempts to deny his feelings for Jimin, the more convinced his friends become that he’s a taken man and he’s waiting to spontaneously break the news. It’s the furthest from the truth. Their relationship has remained stagnant, not moving forward from regular sex.

He has been seeing Jimin regularly but lately, he’s… noticing things, to put it lightly.

There is an obvious distance between him and Jimin. Almost as if Jimin’s keeping him at arm’s length. Almost as if Jimin can retreat painlessly if required, not infiltrating Taehyung deep enough in his life to leave a scar that will sting permanently. Taehyung is reminded how temporary this all us. How he’s just a fuck buddy at the end of the day.

He doesn’t know much about Jimin’s life. He doesn’t even know where Jimin lives.

This week has been hectic at the art gallery. With the new exhibition approaching, he finds himself staying behind more often, doing stock intakes and prepping the room. Frida Kahlo’s art is different, requiring more colour to splash through their exhibition room as opposed to Van Gogh’s minimal aesthetic.

Taehyung distinctly wonders if one day, his paintings will adorn these walls. He knows it’s unrealistic. He hasn’t been able to complete a successful piece in months, is lacking the inspiration that often springs upon him unexpectedly. His mind runs dry whenever he picks up a paintbrush.

They say pain is valuable to an artist. Pain can bring out unfiltered, raw emotion that the artist presents through the only form of medium they know: their art.

Taehyung’s best pieces were produced when he was suffering. Once when his grandmother passed away, the second when the first man he ever loved revealed he was actually straight and used Taehyung as an experiment for his sexuality.

Right now, Taehyung is not in agony. So he is struggling to present anything worth sharing in his art. Happiness is useless to an artist.

He’s drawn out of his self-deprecating thoughts as Yoongi says, “Deny it all you want. We know you like him.”

As much as Taehyung wants to argue, he has lost the will. “Sure,” he decides on saying instead, accepting defeat.

Taehyung checks off the list of the Frida merch he has began to install in the gift shop. Technically, this is meant to be Yoongi and Jungkook’s job but he had a spare hour before his next tour group and he didn’t want to spend it alone.

“You should go for it.”

He raises a brow. “Go for what? I told you, we’re friends.”

“But do you have feelings for him? More than friends.”

Does he? Taehyung isn’t entirely sure. He is an expert at being emotionally restrictive, usually resorts to painting as a form of coping mechanism. He represses his feelings to the point he isn’t sure what emotion he fakes and what one is real. Jimin had drawn their boundaries rigidly: just sex, no strings attached. They’ve manifested that well and Taehyung doesn’t want to complicate it.

Does he have feelings for Jimin?

“I don’t know,” Taehyung confesses candidly. “I just know I like his company. I think about him.”

“What do you think about?” Jungkook asks, eyes wide like he has discovered gold.

Taehyung shrugs. With the stock intake list now completely checked off, he has accomplished one task of the day.

“Him.”

“Vague.”

“I don’t know. Anything that reminds me of him, I guess?” He supplies.

Yoongi has softened. “You should just tell him. You have to take that jump and just go for it.”

Taehyung’s heart races at the prospect of having Jimin as more than friends. It has been a fleeting thought, nothing he has delved on to make a dream. He imagines the privilege to kiss Jimin in the morning when they wake up, to be the first person Jimin contacts during a time of difficulty, to have the chance to guide Jimin through his dark times and celebrate his high points.

Taehyung wants to be that for Jimin. Yeah, he does, he realises.

He wants to sleep with the man and whisper his secrets to Jimin in the darkness of the night, to be swallowed along with that night’s moon. He wants to prepare breakfast for Jimin and kiss him with Jimin on the counter, him standing between Jimin’s legs. He wants to just do things with Jimin.

Taehyung can’t pinpoint when he had started to fall for Jimin. He suspects it could go back to their first meeting and how Jimin had smiled at him, how Jimin laughs, throwing his whole body into the motion. He remembers being completely endeared, swooned with an emotion that is hard to describe.

But his own inexperience at relationships and romantic feelings would put him at a downfall. Taehyung wouldn’t dare jeopardise what he has with Jimin.

“We’re going to stay as friends,” Taehyung continues. “And now, I’m going to go and do work. Don’t disturb me.”

Taehyung works for the rest of the day and even when he’s surrounded by his favourite thing — art — his thoughts find themselves crawling back to Jimin the whole day.

----------------------------------------

Jimin has a glass of red wine in one hand, Taehyung’s portfolio in the other.

Taehyung is laid out across the couch, still naked, with a silk gown loosely tied around his waist. His legs are resting on Jimin’s lap as the other man sits upright, his attention completely dedicated towards the portfolio he is analysing.

They just finished three rounds of mindblowing sex. Taehyung’s dick is sore, sucked dry of all come, and he is completely depleted from the intense climaxes he’s had three times over in a short span of time. Being the bottom has never felt so good. Jimin knows all the buttons to push and what gets him off, has learnt every bump, curve of Taehyung’s body.

“This is so amazing?” Jimin’s voice is awed. He flicks through the pages delicately, taking in every page like it has enlightened him.

Taehyung blushes. He is not new to compliments but coming from Jimin, it means more. He sips at the glass of water, watching Jimin’s expression as they scan over the paintings and drawings he has put in his portfolio.

“I haven’t updated it in months,” Taehyung says. “I needed a portfolio to apply for my job and since, I got lazy with keeping it updated. These are old.”

Jimin hums. He pauses at one particular painting.

The painting is hard to look back on, remembering the anguish he had been in. The turmoil he had been experiencing to throw splatters of paint all over the paper, not caring for technique and for a meaning behind it. The painting depicts his village — what is meant to be his fondest memory — but there is a woman drawn in the middle of the farm, her face covered with black, prominent streaks of paint that cover her.

Around her, the farm is… normal. The crops are growing, his parents are smiling. Everything is normal.

Jimin is drinking the painting in, attentive to each inch of the masterpiece. “What is this meant to be?” He enquiries, but his voice is tender as if he knows he’s infringing something he should not.

Jimin’s finger grazes over the rough texture of the woman’s face, feeling over the pained jabs of the Taehyung’s paintbrush.

“My late grandmother,” he explains.

Jimin’s face falls, sympathy imploring through. “Oh. I’m. I’m sorry, baby.”

His throat thickens but he preserves, wanting to talk about it. “I painted it not long after her death. After her funeral, my parents tried to continue normally with their lives, encouraged me to return to Seoul. I was devastated, though. I was so angry that she’s gone and everyone has to continue like nothing has happened. She raised me, you see, and … yeah, I was not in a good place.”

Taehyung still recalls that night. His face was puffy with tear streaked cheeks, his hands trembling as he had sobbed over his own piece.

“The painting is beautiful. It speaks so much,” Jimin promises.

Affection is not rare to them but his heart still skips a beat when Jimin grabs his hand, idly kissing the back of his knuckles as if it is the most normal occurrence.

“What’s your most recent painting, then?” Jimin changes the subject swiftfully, for which he is grateful.

“Mm. Wait here.”

Taehyung walks into the spare bedroom of his apartment that he has converted into his art study. The canvas — unfinished, glaring back at him like a reminder of his current failure as an artist — is on the easel, mostly untouched. He grimaces, the painting feeling like a black spot on his work.

He brings the canvas back to Jimin who observes it.

“What’s it meant to be?”

Taehyung sighs. “I don’t know. I’m lacking muse.”

“There’s a sunset…” Jimin points out, noticing the colourful blend of watercolours and the sun. “And a man. He’s staring at the sun. He’s talking to the sun.”

Taehyung scoffs. “Nobody talks to the sun. We talk to the moon.”

Jimin is silent as he considers this before his face breaks out in a grin. “Can you draw people?”

“Not my strongest point but, yes.”

“If I pose nude, could you draw me?”

Taehyung’s mind hotwires and blood rushes through him, so loud that he can’t hear over the pounding of his heart that has pathetically picked up. Jimin is looking at him, so eager and so innocently, as if he doesn’t know what that does to Taehyung.

Jimin wants to pose naked for him.

“I… you’d do that for me?”

Jimin smiles. “Of course!”

He clears his throat, ignoring how arousal pools in his stomach. “I… okay.” He’s just had three orgasm. He needs to get a grip. “Let me set up. Get comfortable on the couch, then.”

Taehyung spends ten minutes in his art study just coaching himself through his extreme gay panic, telling himself to calm down.

He has seen Jimin naked a million times by now. He can even exactly point out the back dimples in Jimin, the mole just underneath his collarbone and where Jimin is ticklish. Intimacy is a welcomed part of their friendship but this extends to a new level of trust.

When Taehyung collects the necessary equipment, he returns to Jimin ready in position.

He is laid on the couch, his legs dangling off the arm rest. His body is exposed, on show to be painted: his defined abs, his toned but thick legs. His immaculate body. His beauty. It’s intimidating, Taehyung is not sure he could quite do Jimin justice.

“It might take a while,” Taehyung warns him.

There has been an absence of muse that Taehyung has been drowning in. But Jimin is the mirage of inspiration, the incentive that is encouraging him to start a painting that he may be able to successfully finish.

Jimin hums. His body is pulled taut, posing perfectly, but he smiles. “Take your time. I wanna see your end result, babe.”

So, Taehyung grabs his paintbrush and he paints.

His hand works like muscle memory. He finds himself glancing up at Jimin, studying Jimin’s body as he draws his proportions accurately. His heavenly body is a dream for any artist to draw, shading in Jimin before adding colour to the canvas.

Taehyung pays extra time to Jimin’s facial features. He paints the lips perfectly, plump and pigmented as they are, defining the jaw. As the painting comes to life before him, Taehyung is thrilled. He has never felt so enlightened by a portrait, usually the kind of art he struggles to produce correctly.

And Jimin is his flawless model. He barely moves for the total of the three hours it takes, shifting every once in a while, but mostly remaining still.

When the canvas is somewhat done — nowhere as satisfied as Taehyung would hope to be, but a start for art produced after months of absolutely nothing — Jimin stands, stretching out his tense muscles, before sauntering over to look at the canvas.

“Oh.” Jimin’s eyes are focused on himself, his irises darkening. He glances to Taehyung. “This is how you see me?”

Taehyung isn’t sure what he means by that. “This is how you are.”

“You drew me beautifully.”

“You are beautiful.” His words are heavy with implications.

Is this what friends do? Do they draw each other nude, their words holding hidden meanings?

Jimin is speechless. He pulls out his phone and with permission, snaps pictures of his own portrait. Then without a word, he is pushing Taehyung back on the chair and slides into Taehyung’s lap.

Taehyung’s hand settles on Jimin’s lap and then they’re kissing.

The kiss is intense, no build up behind it. There’s no intent. There’s no ulterior motive, no end goal for sex. The pace doesn’t change up, doesn’t decrease or increase. But they kiss like this has a meaning. Jimin kisses him like he’s trying to convey something across, his hand cupping Taehyung’s jaw as he whimpers into the man’s mouth.

It’s sensual. Taehyung’s hand, still stained with paint, is gripping his body and leaving fingerprints over his tanned torso.

“You’re so fucking sexy,” Taehyung murmurs against his lips, gasping as Jimin’s hand tangles in his hair, tugging to the side. “Make me so happy to be the one that gets to fuck you. That you fuck me.”

Jimin doesn’t reply. Instead, he chases after Taehyung’s lips, dirtily grinding his hips on Taehyung.

It’s getting late, nearing into the late evening. By this time, usually, Jimin has excused himself and claims that he has work affairs to attend to. But tonight, time has evaded them and neither of them are concerned to move or leave. They’re so encased in the other, the hours passing painfully fast.

“Stay over tonight.” Taehyung doesn’t mean to beg, grimacing at his own tone.

Almost as if realisation has struck Jimin, he pulls back with a gasp. “Shit, what time is it?”

“9pm?”

“Shit.” Jimin scrambles to his feet, running into the bedroom to grab his belongings. His clothes that had came off hours ago, way before the painting had happened. “I need to go.”

“... You can’t stay?”

“No, Tae. You know this. I have responsibilities.”

This irks, just a little. It’s irrational but why can’t Taehyung know a single thing about Jimin’s life?

He crosses his arms, pouting like a petulant child. “What responsibilities?”

“My job…?”

“At 9pm?”

Jimin turns to face Taehyung with a bewildered expression. “Are you implying I can’t work at night? It’s my own business, I freelance. I can work whenever.”

Okay, so. Taehyung is the bad guy for questioning it.

“Sorry,” he immediately relents, not wanting to argue about this. Him and Jimin have never escalated to an argument and he definitely doesn’t want to start now, biting back any words awaiting on his tongue. “I just miss you.”

Jimin hums. It still doesn’t make him stay though and he leaves just like every other evening.

----------

“Can you spare me a weekend?”

The question was direct but ominous, hinting to nothing that Jimin could detect.

He’s in bed with Nari.

His daughter is currently asleep for her afternoon nap. Her body is enveloped with Jimin’s, needs his familiar scent and warmth to be able to unwind down. Nari’s breathing is soft and Jimin is stroking her hair absent-mindedly, taking this spare time to talk to Taehyung on the phone.

“Mm. When?”

“Next weekend?”

Jimin’s emails are bustling with writing opportunities he has yet to take, so busy with his current life that he has paused his career. It is unlike him, usually has three writing deals occurring at the same time. Freelancing is a saviour, allows him to equally spend time on earning money as well as his daughter. Recently Taehyung has become an extension of that.

“Okay. Why?”

“I wanna take you to Busan.”

“Busan?” Jimin repeats, eyes crinkling. “My hometown?”

“Mm. I booked us a hotel for the weekend.”

Jimin’s heart stops, letting the words soak in. “A hotel?” He repeats under his breath.

That’s… serious, right? Only serious couples do that, taking getaway trips on the weekend away from the city so they can spend the time having sex, staying in bed, and more sex.

The implications of this “trip” spook Jimin. He had never intended for it to get as serious as it already has, with the affection and the mindless kisses they give to each other as if they’ve established something that extends beyond their agreed boundaries.

“Jimin?” Taehyung speaks. His voice deep but tender, concern leaking through. “You still there?”

“Ah. Yeah. I think I’ll be free. I just need to arrange some things first.”

A whole weekend is a long time to request his friends to babysit Nari. He’ll have to pay them, in that case, not wanting to take advantage of them. They have always been available to support Jimin wherever possible, never allowing him to feel alone in the process of single parenting but Jimin doesn’t want to overstep his mark.

“Work related?”

Jimin jolts out of his thoughts, mentally preparing. It is a rude reminder that Taehyung is blind to the biggest part of Jimin’s life, his daughter. He doesn’t even know how to inform him about Nari anymore. It has been nearly three months since their arrangement, their fucking around… it’s hardly appropriate to announce Nari now.

“Yeah,” Jimin lies. It grits against his tongue like sandpaper, having to swallow the distaste.

Taehyung hums. “I understand. Let me know, okay? The hotel has free cancellations, I won’t be mad.”

Despite all the circumstances, and the probable chance that he shouldn’t agree and rather keep a safe distance, he finds himself compelled to go. Jimin is desperate to get back home to Busan where the air is cleaner, the sea is crystal blue, and the food is fresher. He could even visit his mother after months, nostalgic and craving his mother’s touch.

“I want to come,” Jimin confirms, voice soft. Talking to Taehyung on the phone, even after spending the day with him, is one of his favourite pastimes.

The smile in Taehyung’s voice is evidence when he replies, “Okay.”

So, he tries to convince Hoseok to babysit.

Who adamantly refuses.

“I’m busy,” Hoseok states. There is a twinge of pity in his voice, as if he’s apologetic, but the features remain hard and unforgiving. “And you should’ve told Taehyung about Nari already. I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

Jimin isn’t in the mood to receive a lecture from his best friend so instead of pressing on the matter, he simply moves onto the next person.

Seokjin and Namjoon, on the other hand, are more than glad to babysit.

“It’ll be perfect practice for when we have our own kids,” Namjoon says, an arm snaked around Seokjin’s waist and holding his husband close. “We have been wanting to try it out, see if we’re ready for that commitment.”

They’re so cute, sickeningly so, and even after a year of their marriage they remain lovesick and permanently stuck in their honeymoon phase. It makes Jimin nauseous sometimes, wanting to know how people have the privilege to get so lucky. With Jangmi, the exhilaration of being married was short lived.

Jimin truly doesn’t think he can get into a commitment again.

“Sure,” Jimin murmurs. He’s been packing today, ready to leave tomorrow where Taehyung will pick him up in his car. He is excited, has yet to go on a road trip with the man. “You two will be great, and Nari loves you both.”

“You sure you’ll be okay?”

Jimin nods. “Of course.”

“You haven’t been away from Nari overnight since she was born.”

That is jarring. Jimin reels from the revelation, not having realised how much a full-time parent consumes a life. He had never stayed overnight anywhere, not for more than one night, without Nari. She has been a part of his nights for four years and Jimin is terrified of the day she won’t be.

Nari is growing so fast, healthily and steadfast. Jimin wishes he could pause time.

“I’ll be fine,” Jimin assures. “It’s okay. I deserve the break as well.”

That’s definitely not how he feels that night when he says goodbye to Nari, holding her extra tightly.

Nari notices his unusual behaviour but doesn’t comment, accepting the embrace. “I love you, daddy,” Nari mumbles, voice drifting away with slumber that threatens to take her under.

Jimin kisses her forehead. “Daddy is going to be away from the weekend,” he explains. The words are hard to get out, stuck to the base of his throat with guilt. “You’ll be with uncle Seokjin and Namjoon. They’ll have lots of fun with you, okay? Be well behaved for them.”

She furrows her brows. “Why, daddy?”

“Daddy is going away but I’ll be back.”

She lets out a heavy sigh but doesn’t object, closing her eyes as she falls asleep not soon after.

The next morning, as promised, Taehyung is here to pick him up.

He narrowly misses Nari who had just left with Namjoon for her Friday class. Jimin breathes out a sigh of relief when Taehyung texts him barely five minutes later, informing that he is parked up downstairs. Jimin collects his belongings before leaving the apartment block, meeting the man.

It should be strange how they greet each other. Jimin slides into the passenger seat and kisses Taehyung’s lip, like any ordinary, established couple. There’s a cup of Starbucks coffee already waiting for him, he thanks Taehyung, before sipping at it. Too domestic.

“You ready?” Taehyung asks, a grin on his face. He’s overly proud of himself and his little plan to escape to Busan.

“I am,” Jimin confirms, mirroring the smile. “I haven’t been to Busan in so long.”

“I’ve only visited once. I thought you might like to be back in your hometown.”

“Of course, I would.”

Taehyung drives smoothly, but fast, as he speeds down the highway. He switches between the lanes like a pro, one hand gripping the steering wheel and the other on the gearbox.

Somewhere between the two hour drive, Jimin’s hand has reached forward and laced with Taehyung’s, resting on the gear. Their hands are slotted together tightly and Jimin likes the weight of Taehyung’s against his, smiling pleasantly as he glances out of the window and watches the trees blur past on the highway.

Their hotel in Busan is located in Haeundae-gu, right on the forefront of the Busan beach, looking out to the sea.

When they ride the elevator up to their room and Jimin swipes the card, granting them entry, he is momentarily too stunned. He enters the hotel room, blinking twice to adjust to the magnificent, unparalleled view the hotel room has offered to them. He stands, frozen, but feels Taehyung’s arms wrapping around him from behind.

“Is it nice?” He whispers hotly against his ear. “Wanna fuck you against the window.”

The hotel room is a floor to ceiling glass wall, both walls, offering a view of the sea. It’s almost like they’re down there itself. The room is luxurious, a king sized bed and a large bathtub placed right next to the window so the sea can be seen underneath.

“This is… fuck, it’s beautiful,” Jimin murmurs.

He has never indulged like this, the room extravagant and alike anything Jimin has never seen before. Since he has had Nari, he has budgeted with his money extremely well and never given himself the chance to splurge. But this is Taehyung, spoiling him, treating him.

For what? Is this what friends do?

Jimin pushes the unwelcomed thought away, deep where he can’t access it.

He turns over in Taehyung’s arm to face him, stepping up on his tiptoes so they’re face level before pressing their lips together. The kiss is tender and slow. There is no reason except he wants to flood himself in Taehyung’s proximity.

Taehyung moans against his lips, swiping his tongue against Jimin’s as he opens and they lick into each other’s mouth.

Before the kiss can progress, Taehyung pulls away, squeezing Jimin’s ass playfully. “Let’s go get some dinner.”

True to their style, despite the fact that they have rented out an opulent hotel room for two nights, they end up wandering the streets for cheap food.

The weather is considerably hotter than Seoul. The air is thick with humidity, making Jimin’s clothes stick to his back with sweat. He holds Taehyung’s hand though their palms are wet as he carries a portable fan. They wander along the seafront and eventually stop at a seafood restaurant.

After they have dinner, they end up back on the sea.

Jimin plops onto Taehyung’s lap, uncaring to people’s glares around them, and rests his back against Taehyung’s chest. It’s unnerving how comfortable he is, not paying any mind to what people may think, what they may whisper under their breath about them.

Taehyung is hesitant at first but eventually, an arm winds around Jimin’s waist and holds him close.

“This is nice,” Jimin hums, surrounded by serenity; the sound of the waves crashing, Taehyung’s breath against his neck and the light chatter of the residents around them. “I like this. I don’t get a break like this often since Na—”

His eyes widen, catching on his mistake before he exposes himself.

Taehyung doesn’t realise. “Yeah? Freelancing is that hard?”

“I… yeah.” Jimin breathes out and disregards the shame burning inside him from the lies, over and over, he directs towards Taehyung. “Because you’re self-employed, you can technically pick however many hours you want. I tend to overwork.”

Lies, lies, lies. Jimin’s suffocating in them, trapped in his own vicious cycle.

Taehyung, unsuspecting, just smiles. “You shouldn’t overwork yourself,” he says sadly. He noses along Jimin’s jawline, nibbling at the skin as if to allude that he is getting impatient. “Wanna take you back to the hotel. Please.”

“Mmm. Say please.”

“Please, Jimin. I need to fuck you.”

“Awfully demanding,” Jimin teases, pinching the man’s side before turning over in his lap. He’s tempted to kiss Taehyung but not in the open, doesn’t want to give the crowd a show.

Instead he stands up, purposely slow, before taking Taehyung’s hand and guiding them back to the hotel room.

Jimin is pressed up against the window first, as Taehyung preps him with his fingers. Underneath is the view of his home city, vaguely remembering running along the seafront when he was a teenager and he had wanted to impress Jangmi with his new, fit body.

Now Jimin is christening it with Taehyung.

Taehyung works luxuriously slow with his finger, wanting Jimin to feel every inch. He starts with one and keeps going until there’s no resistance and Jimin is begging, needing more. Eventually Taehyung takes pity on him, pushing one more. And then another.

Taehyung precisely angled them inside Jimin, hitting the bundle of nerves.

Jimin gasps, his back arching off the wall as he whimpers, “Right there, Tae. God, fuck, please.”

The words are garbled nonsense, just needing to feel Taehyung. More and everywhere.

Taehyung massages his prostate delicately, barely grazing over it in a lure to drive him crazy. When Jimin keeps requesting for more, his mouth running dry, Taehyung is scissoring him open with four fingers.

It burns, initially, but it fades off into blinding white pleasure.

“What do you want?” Taehyung asks, he’s nodding along Jimin’s neck. His front is pressed against Jimin, the tent of his hard cock obvious to Jimin as he moans.

Jimin ruts his hips back, rubbing his ass over Taehyung’s hard on.

“You. Want your cock.”

“Mmm. How bad?”

“So bad, Taehyung,” Jimin whispers, eyes fluttering shut from how desperate he is getting. The fingers are still pressing occasionally against his prostate, his cock endlessly leaking pre-come.

Taehyung grabs the lube, lathering his cock up, before he pushes into Jimin.

He takes it slow, bottoming out inch by inch. Jimin has become accustomed to Taehyung’s length in the past three months, loves how it fills him up, can feel every bump, curve, vein. He is well endowed.

Jimin quickly grows impatiently, rolling his hips back until his ass is buried deep.

“O-oh,” he whines out, high and needy. Taehyung has the ability to make him lose his mind, his eyes fluttering shut.

With the way his body is pressed up against the window, he wouldn’t be surprised if the people walking along the beach could see them. He wonders what they would think, wants to put on a show and display how well he can take Taehyung’s cock. The thought alone makes him dizzy with lust, starting to bounce on Taehyung.

“Shit,” Taehyung hisses out. He’s tight as a vice around Taehyung. The man’s hand travels up, fisting in Jimin’s hair with a rough tug back. “What will people think when they see you?”

Jimin lets out a guttural moan. “They’ll see how well I take it. How I’m made for your cock.”

“Shit.”

That alone is enough for the man to pick up his pace. He wants to torment Jimin and have the boy fall apart at the seams, purposely grinding his hips in slow but deep so it’s all Jimin can feel but still not enough. Taehyung keeps the steady rhythm, fucking into Jimin like he’s drawing out every whine and savouring it.

His hand grips Jimin’s hips hard enough to leave fingerprint bruises, his mouse abusing Jimin’s tanned skin and leaving remnants of his marks.

Jimin’s cock twitches, leaking precome, and he needs more. “Faster. Please.”

Taehyung doesn’t hold back. He thrusts into Jimin with expertise, desperately chasing his own orgasm. His groans are animalistic and consumed with the thick air of tension that suffocates around them. He angles his thrusts up, barely grazing against Jimin’s prostate as he hammers into him.

The sensation is overwhelming and Jimin’s head spins, having to rest against the window. He struggles to find purchase, his hands unable to grip something. Taehyung must notice because he’s grasping Jimin’s hand and pinning them behind his back, leaving him immobile and useless.

Like this, there is nothing Jimin can do. Except remain still and let Taehyung fuck him.

The position must having Taehyung’s mind driving into madness because he’s pounding into Jimin. The room is quiet except the arousing sound of skin slapping on skin and Jimin’s moans, not holding back as he murmurs Taehyung’s name over and over.

“Right there!” Jimin practically screams. He wiggles in Taehyung’s iron grip hold, finding himself at the man’s mercy completely. “Please, please. Harder. More. Fuck, please.”

Taehyung growls. He bites his teeth down on Jimin’s neck, sucking a dark bruise. “So pretty, Jimin. All for me. All mine.”

It isn’t long before Jimin is coming all over himself, untouched and sensitive. Taehyung isn’t long after, finishing inside the other man.

They have a second round. This time Jimin is the top. He has Taehyung manhandled into the mattress, hands cuffed behind his back with Jimin’s belt as he fucks into him hard and heavy from behind.

Taehyung is so beautiful like this; unable to move unless under the order of Jimin, his bare back covered with a sheet of sweat, words uselessly calling out for Jimin.

When they come the second time, even more intense than the first, they decide to give their dick a break before it snaps off.

“God, you drive me crazy,” Taehyung admits. The sky is darkening now as the evening befalls them, the stunning view of the sunset possessing the view from their hotel room.

“Wanna take a bath together?” Jimin suggests. He’s lazily discarding his fingers through Taehyung’s hair, giving him the appropriate aftercare, smiling fondly at the taller man canvased against his chest.

“Yeah, lets.”

They end the day with their shared bath, falling asleep with Taehyung as the small spoon backed up against Jimin.

------------------------

They have sex all the time in Busan. Every free minute they have, they spent it by worshipping each other.

Jimin’s hole is sore from the fucking and his dick is about to snap off from the countless orgasms, can’t recall the last time he had been so sexually active. Each orgasm is as intense as the last, completely overwhelming him. But he doesn’t mind nor does he want to slow down. The sex is… more intimate, like they’re imploring through each other’s soul with their climaxes and Jimin feels closer to him by the end of it.

It’s hard to keep in communication with Nari, though. Jimin can’t FaceTime nor give her a call, both too suspicious and will give away his dirty secret to Taehyung. He’s forced to just text the girl, his heart sinking at each message Namjoon sends: She misses you. She loves you. She cries for you. Having time away is pleasant, but also leaves a hole in his chest.

It’s the Sunday when they’re due to leave, they’re making a pit stop at Jimin’s mother house.

“I can stay in the car,” Taehyung offers.

His childhood home is located on the outskirts, towards the mountains. The rural area is what Jimin is most used to. He’s attuned with nature, the greenery and the fresh, crisp air in the mornings when he hears the birds chirping.

Jimin smiles. “No, I want you to meet her.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I’m not gonna make you sit in the car, idiot.”

Taehyung smiles back, albeit nervously. His hands are jittery now as if he’s under inspection for his behaviour and wants acceptance. He drives until they reach Jimin’s neighbourhood, cutting off the engine outside Jimin’s home.

“Why did you move to Seoul?” Taehyung asks, wanting a mirror into Jimin’s life. Anything. Wanting to understand the man before him, to read his soul. He barely knows anything about Jimin.

Jimin’s smile fades momentarily. He glances out of the window. “Me and my ex wife wanted to,” he explains, purposely missing details about his daughter. How he had wanted Nari to have a world of opportunities at her doorstep and how Jangmi’s career was advancing well.

“Oh.”

“Hm.”

“And you didn’t want to move back after the divorce?”

Jimin purses his lips. He doesn’t know how much information he can afford to give. He didn’t return to Busan because Jangmi continued to live in Seoul and regardless of what has happened, Nari deserves the chance to be with her mother too.

“Nope. I got used to Seoul,” he says — which isn’t an entire lie.

After another five minutes of sitting in the car, they finally walk to the house. Taehyung’s hand slips into his and Jimin just tightens the hold, knocking on the door.

There’s shuffling behind the door and a minute later, a disheveled looking woman opens the door. She radiates the same beauty that Jimin does, inexplicably elegant and carrying grace with her.

“Jimin?” She gasps, not expecting his appearance. She cries out, joy resonating in her tone, as she throws her arms around her son.

Jimin relaxes, all apparent tension he has been harbouring in his body completely slipping away. He winds his arms around her, holding her close as she rubs her back.

“Hello, mother,” he greets, kissing her cheek before he pulls away.

“When did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me?” The woman jabs his stomach, pouting.

Jimin giggles. “I’m sorry, mom. I wanted to surprise you. I came two days ago with um…” He pauses. “My friend,” he finishes.

Taehyung doesn’t spare a minute to be offended over this. After all, they are just friends. Friends who are apparently holding hands and meeting Jimin’s mother, playing the image of a perfect, happy couple. He just flashes a sincere smile to the woman, thrusting his spare hand out for a shake.

The woman accepts it elegantly, her smile growing when Taehyung bows politely and keeps with the formalities. He hopes he is making a good impression.

“Good afternoon, Mrs Park. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Don’t be silly! Absolutely not. You’re Taehyung?”

“I. Yes… I am. You know?”

“As if Jimin doesn’t stop talking about you on the phone,” she chides, much to Jimin’s splutter and scandalised mom! “Come in, love. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Unfortunately Jimin’s father is working so he doesn’t get the chance to meet the other parent. His mother asks them to sit in the living room as she waltzes around the house, preparing tea and snacks for them.

Taehyung is quiet for the most part. He’s observing the home, detecting traces of Jimin all over the house.

His degree is laminated and on the table, along with other achievements he had. There’s pictures of Jimin, too, with his parents posing at the beach with his arms around both their shoulders. There’s a picture of Jimin with a young girl, a beautiful 3-year old who is kissing Jimin’s cheeks.

Taehyung doesn’t recognise her at all, but suspects it’s a younger cousin.

“So tell me about yourself, Taehyung,” his mother says. There is a cheerful grin plastered over her face, genuinely wanting to know about the man and his level of involvement in Jimin’s life. “Jimin is very fond of you.”

Jimin is, again, offended as he whines. “Mom.”

As nervous as he is and feels hot all over, Taehyung eases into a comfortable back and forth with his mother. The rest of the afternoon is spent delightfully.

They eat the food together, discussing Taehyung’s achievements and his talents in art. He blushes as he explains the life-long passion he has had before the topic diverts to Jimin and how his job is going. They watch a movie together before Jimin eventually excuses them, stating they have a long drive ahead of them to head home back to Seoul.

When they’re driving home later that evening, with the windows rolled down and the sunset on the horizon ahead of them, Jimin’s hand in Taehyung’s — it’s like they’ve established a shift in their relationship.

It is subtle. Barely there. But surely, a shift.

Taehyung’s heart blooms. He’s in love with Jimin.

He is so in love.

---------

Jimin has been back in Seoul for two days; but he’s burning.

He is inflamed, devoured with emotions that he recognises as irrational and unnecessary.

He is staring at a picture of Taehyung with a girl. An unknown girl, never has been mentioned nor can Jimin place a finger or jog a memory on who she may be. It’s a picture, but it’s causing turmoil to wash over Jimin with waves of rage and distaste. He has never quite felt this way.

The picture depicts Taehyung. As beautiful and as free-spirited as he is, head thrown back in a sincere laugh. His boxy smile is on display. His eyes are scrunched up, wrinkles on the side. His arm is wrapped around a woman, not much younger than him, who is giggling behind her palm.

It’s intimate and sweet. It was posted on Taehyung’s Instagram with two red hearts, ominous to what it means.

Technically, Jimin is aware that he has no right to feel this way. The jealous is consuming him, biting to the core of his being, it’s raw and unfiltered and all over him like hot flashes he can’t avoid.

Why exactly is Jimin so jealous? Over what?

They had agreed from the beginning this was no strings attached, that if either of them found a better dating opportunity, this would simply end and resume as friends.

Judging by the picture, Taehyung might’ve found that. In this girl.

Jimin has no right to be scouring.

He thinks he likes Taehyung and he has to distance before it takes over him. He has to put Nari first, his selfish desires second.

Jimin deletes the Instagram app and puts his mind where it’s meant to be, on his daughter.

He later learns that the girl is Taehyung’s sister and for some reason, that makes Jimin feel even worse. He had no right to scavenge into Taehyung’s life. He had no right to feel so irrational about a family member. He’s terrified of this feeling, like he’s losing control.

“We’re going Lotte World?” Nari announces excitedly, her arms fitting around Jimin’s neck as she embraces him.

Jimin laughs. Recently he hasn’t taken up any new jobs and has devoted his time towards Nari, making up for his absence. He had missed Nari dearly during his time away and he doesn’t wish to repeat that. He needs her presence every night, uncomfortable with the knowledge that she’s separated from him.

“Yes!” He matches back her energy, kissing her lips. “Are you excited?”

“So much! I’ve always wanted to go!”

“Well, you have me all day, then.”

It is a lovely day well spent. He and Nari spend most of the afternoon and the evening in Lotte World, taking her onto the rides suitable for her age as well as purchasing a rabbit headband for her to wear. They take pictures as Nari poses, puckering his lips and imitating Jimin by throwing up a peace sign.

By the end of the day of adventures, Nari is completely knackered. She leans into Jimin’s side, eyes drifting close as Jimin carries her back home.

When he lays Nari down in bed that night, he stares over her wistfully. She’s so fragile, young. She doesn’t deserve to be plagued by random men who enter and leave Jimin’s life, doesn’t need another parental role barging into her life. Jimin needs to put her interest first, above others, and if that means distancing from Taehyung… then so be it.

Even if it hurts. Even if it stings and leaves Jimin’s chest gaping open, his lungs screaming for the need for air. He’ll do it before it’s right.

Nari falls asleep within minutes, her mouth slightly ajar as she peacefully drifts away.

Jimin kisses her forehead once, murmuring, “I love you,” before he falls asleep next to her too.

------------------------

2 missed calls from Taehyung.

Taehyung, text message: Jimin? Are you okay?
I haven’t heard from you for a while.

1 missed call from Taehyung.

Taehyung, text message: Hello? Babe?

Jimin deletes them all.

------------------------

“Jesus Christ, Nari. Is that chocolate on your face?” Jangmi scolds her as soon as she opens the front door to her apartment, crouching down to wipe away the remnants of the melted substance smeared across Nari’s mouth.

Nari doesn’t mind, though. She hasn’t seen her mother in nearly more than two weeks as Jangmi was away on a business trip, having just returned yesterday night and demanding to see her daughter immediately.

Nari just giggles. “Mommy!” She peppers Jangmi’s face with soft kisses. “I missed you!”

Jangmi is the strict parent. The one that often doesn’t let affection show, guarding it in the pretence of disciplining her daughter. It’s no wonder Nari prefers being around Jimin who would let her get away with anything from a simple look from Nari. Jangmi, however, speaks with her mind rather than her heart.

Though her resolute is often strong and well-built, it evaporates for a minute from Nari’s kisses.

“Cute,” Jangmi mutters. She gives Nari a loud, exaggerated kiss before turning to Jimin. Her frown reappears. “Jimin, are you okay?”

Jimin hasn’t been sleeping well. The absence of Taehyung from his life has left him dazed, unaccustomed to not seeing Taehyung on a regular basis. He has nobody but himself to blame, having pushed Taehyung away until he eventually stopped contacting Jimin, but he’s still crippled with guilt.

The lack of stupor must be obvious: his dark circles, his bloodshot eyes, red rimmed and itchy. He hasn’t been eating well, either, having dropped a few pounds.

“Yes,” Jimin lies, gritting it through his teeth.

“Stop lying.”

“I’m not.”

Nari narrows her eyes suspiciously, leaning close to her mother’s eyes and says, “Daddy cries at night.”

“Cries? Why, baby?”

“I don’t know. He was happy, now he’s sad.”

Jimin scowls at her daughter and children’s honesty, sometimes too innocently unfiltered.

“Jimin-ah.” Jangmi’s voice is tender, perhaps the most sentiment he has received since returning from Busan. “Do you wanna come in for tea?”

Since the divorce, they have maintained a steady friendship but mostly for specific reasons. They’re bound together, for life, because of Nari no matter where they go and what they do in life. Jimin hasn’t felt comfortable opening up about his personal life to Jangmi, certain that it blurs a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed since their separation.

But Jimin is at wits end. He is irritable and unsure what to do. He doesn’t like bottling up his emotions but he is unsure who else he can rely on.

Maybe an unbiased perspective won’t hurt.

“If you don’t mind?”

“Of course not,” Jangmi whispers.

Nari cheers at that, burying her head into her mother’s neck as they all go inside into the dining room.

Later, Nari is watching a movie as Jimin and Jangmi sit at the dining table with cups of tea.

“So tell me, what’s wrong?” Jangmi questions. The stress of her workplace is taking a physical toll on her, looking years older than her age. She still dresses well, keeps up with her appearance. She has immaculate makeup adorning her face. She keeps her back rod straight and delicately sips at the tea.

Jangmi will never change. She shapes herself to perceive to be perfection.

Jimin sighs. He traces the rim of the mug with his finger, his mind spiralling with thoughts of disaster and misery. He never meant to fall in love with Taehyung. The agreement was meant to be a way of Jimin to unwind, to de-stress and focus on himself for once but it has backfired.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t?”

“Well, I do.” He presses his lips into a thin line. “I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Well, try explaining it to me?”

Jimin’s memory travels back to the first day he had met Taehyung, where it all stems from. He was at the fancy sushi restaurant and had realised he was set up on a date with a man too beautiful, out of his league, but watched overtime how it blossomed so beautifully.

“It’s dumb,” Jimin says resolutely. He shouldn’t be fretting over men, specifically men that were temporary and just meant to be friends with benefits.

Jangmi frowns. She disapproves, she had always been expressive with her features. They always spoke more than her words ever could.

“We’ve talked about this before,” she says kindly. Her voice is patient, imploring through to make Jimin comfortable. “You shouldn’t have to push your feelings away. Especially not for the sake of Nari. She wouldn’t want that, you know.”

Jimin’s gaze travels to where Nari is. She’s occupied on the couch not far from them, snuggling her plush that she keeps at Jangmi’s house. Her body is tucked under a blanket, watching the TV intently. She’s so small and Jimin’s responsibility, he’d go to the end of the earth if it meant he could protect Nari for another day.

Jimin sighs, connecting his eyes back with Jangmi before he says, “I like somebody.”

Jangmi nearly chokes on her tea. “You what?”

“I like a man.”

“Jesus Christ.” She wipes the corner of her mouth gracefully, always so well put together. “Who is it?”

“Does it matter? I’ve clearly failed as a father.”

“What?”

“My priority is meant to be our daughter. I promised you that. Yet, here I am.”

Jangmi’s face crosses with turbulence, brows furrowing. “That didn’t mean you should lock yourself away from love, from future partners. I’ve been dating too, you know?”

That is definitely news. “You have?”

“Yes…? We’re human beings, it’s normal to crave love and attention.”

Jimin swallows tightly. He had restricted himself from breaching that area in life, had thought it was necessary to be completely single for the rest of his life to ensure Nari had the best chance in life. He didn’t want Nari to experience another person walking into their lives, only to leave. He didn’t want Nari to get attached to somebody new.

Nari doesn’t even know who Taehyung is.

“I’m… I’m just scared,” he admits. It’s jarring to confess to Jangmi how he is feeling, they have never been able to meet at this mutual point since the divorce. “I wanna be the best I can be for Nari.”

“Nari would want you to be happy.”

“I am.”

“Happier with this person?”

Jimin looks away, not wanting to dwell in the way his heart clenches dangerously in his chest. The mere thought of Taehyung is enough for his heartbeat to race. He had never imagined he’d be stuck in this rut, his mind working on a loop with thoughts of Taehyung.

“Yeah,” he answers quietly.

Jangmi sighs. “Jimin, I want you to be happy. When we split apart, you promised you’d take care of yourself. Despite it all, you know you’re a special person to me. I need you to be okay.”

“I just… I can’t let Nari go through it all. The divorce was hard for her.”

“Who says it’ll be the same situation?” Jangmi asks. “Don’t get the person overly involved in Nari’s life just yet, then. But you don’t need to push away potential love… it could be your whole future, Jimin-ah.”

Jimin laughs bitterly. “He doesn’t know about Nari. At all.”

He doubts it’ll be a happy situation once it’s revealed that Jimin has been hiding Nari from Taehyung for months now. He doesn’t know how the man would react but he can’t imagine a scenario where it is all jolly at the end.

Jangmi nods. “That’s okay. Introduce the idea to him, see how it feels. It’ll work out.” Her perfectly manicured hand reaches out to squeeze Jimin’s shoulder, a tight smile on her face. “You need to be healthy and happy in order to give Nari the same. Don’t deprive yourself. It’s not fair.”

Jimin grits his teeth. “You don’t understand. Nari deserves better than random men walking in and out of her life.”

Jangmi fixes him with an unimpressed expression, her lips pressing into a thin line. “And how many of these ‘men’.” She uses quotation marks with her fingers. “Has Nari encountered, really?”

He pauses, contemplating this. Nari hasn’t met a single person that Jimin has ever ‘dated’ since the divorce, because there is none.

Jimin processes the words. He finishes the tea, discussing with Jangmi a little more about the situation. The woman gave Jimin the chance to rant, so he did. He talked about Taehyung and his talent, his ambition, his sneaky child-like side and how he makes Jimin feel young again.

He talks about Taehyung until his mouth runs dry and his tea has gotten cold, unpleasant to consume.

Jangmi is smiling softly when they’re done and Jimin has said goodbye to Nari, going towards the front door.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Jangmi enquiries before they part ways.

Jimin flushes, his chest blossoming. “I do. I guess, I do.”

---------

“You have another tour, a singular party, waiting for you,” Yoongi communicates through the walkie talkie to Taehyung.

Taehyung has been consumed with his job lately. With Jimin avoiding him — and not even trying to hide it, posting pictures of him at Lotte World — Taehyung had grown… resentful.

It is a foreign sensation towards the person Taehyung has come to love. He has never felt something so intense. A part of him is defeated, just wants to love Jimin and treat him well. He wants to take Jimin on dates and hold his hands. He wants to wake up next to Jimin and kiss his nose, wish him a good morning. He wants Jimin in every sense. The other part, however, is searing with hurt. He’s being ignored to the point where Taehyung is second guessing himself, giving up on texting Jimin when it receives no response.

Was the Busan trip a mistake? Was it too fast, too quick? Did he do something wrong, did he offend Jimin at anytime? Is he not enough?

“Okay, hyung,” he replies. “Who’s waiting for me? I didn’t know I had a booking today.”

“Last minute booking,” Yoongi murmurs. A pause. “It’s Jimin.”

Oh.

There is usually trepidation associated with Jimin. Enough to get his heart pumping, his nerves to strike up. But today, he barely registers the emotions as he takes the stairs down the three stories, into the lobby where Jimin is waiting for him. According to Yoongi, Jimin had paid extra to book a last minute tour with Taehyung for the Frida Kahlo exhibition.

It made no sense, considering Jimin has done an excellent job in ignoring him and pushing him away.

Taehyung can barely muster a sincere smile when he approaches Jimin. “Hey.”

Jimin, considering all odds, looks well rested though he seems to have dropped a few pounds. His hair is disheveled and he has put no effort in his outfit, looking like he had just rushed out.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Jimin murmurs. He looks apologetic, traces of it written over his face as he steps closer.

Taehyung breathes out. “You’re here for a tour?”

“If - if you don’t mind?”

Usually, they’d hug. They’re affectionate, holding hands and no regards to personal space but neither of them initiate it this time. Taehyung’s hand remains rigidly glued to his side, not wanting to pour himself into this only to get ignored the next day. They have breached a dangerous territory and if he wants to save himself, he needs to tread lightly.

“You’re a paying customer. Of course I don’t mind.”

Jimin’s face falls. “Yeah… right.”

Taehyung takes them up the exhibition and starts the tour, keeping a distance between him and Jimin that is painful.

Jimin becomes more aware of the aloofness that Taehyung is portraying and starts to adapt to it. He spends more time away with Taehyung, alone as he reads over the captions placed next to each reading. At some point, Taehyung gives up and takes a seat as Jimin travels across the expansive exhibition by himself.

When Jimin returns an hour later, gripping his leaflet tightly between his fingers, he’s red in the face and biting his lip as if he’s pushing back something.

A wave of concern washes through him but it’s quickly replaced. How can Jimin turn up here, after weeks of neglecting Taehyung, and pretend everything is okay? Not an apology, an explanation — just demanding a tour from Taehyung. The words are swallowed back.

“Thanks,” Jimin simply says. He thrusts the leaflet back into Taehyung’s hand and rushes out of the exhibition before he can be stopped.

Taehyung sits on the bench in shock, watching the man exit the room.

He doesn’t know where it became so messy.

-----------

Jimin can’t sleep.

He tosses, he turns. He gives up and eventually kips into Nari’s bed with her, pressing his body against his daughter’s but sleep will evades him as the hours tick into the early hours of the morning.

Taehyung’s desolate, expression-less face stares back at him whenever he closes his eyes.

Jimin’s ears are ringing, body trembling with regret. He had wanted to fix it. He had wanted to apologise, possibly even explain himself, confess about his daughter but now it seems even more hopeless than before. He curses himself internally, his past self months ago when he had assumed that no strings attached friendship was a good idea.

Jimin’s hands shake and he has to bury them within his thighs, finding purchase to settle himself.

Taehyung had barely given him a second glance as Jimin had skipped out of the exhibition, desperate to flee before he got on his knees and begged for forgiveness. Ghosting isn’t a nice thing, albeit even if Jimin hadn’t meant to do it.

The next day, still exhausted from the lack of sleep and after he had dropped Nari to kindergarten, he makes a detour to the art gallery.

He approaches the counter where Yoongi and Jungkook are, having gotten accustomed to their appearances and recognising them as Taehyung’s face. They’re having fun behind the welcome desk, sorting through the new leaflets for the exhibition they’re planning to put up next month.

Jimin clears his throat. “Uh… Yoongi-ssi?” He calls for the man’s attention.

Yoongi looks up, body freezing up just for a second. “Uh. Hey, Jimin. How can I help you?”

“I wanted to talk to Taehyung, if that’s possible?” The words are dry on his tongue but he has to try.

Jungkook interrupts. His features are hardened as if he knows everything, putting on a hard front. “He isn’t here.”

“Oh. He isn’t working…?”

Yoongi’s hand placates Jungkook, pushing him back and encouraging him to continue sorting through the boxes of leaflets that have been defeated. Surprisingly, Yoongi even looks sympathetic, soft eyes staring into Jimin.

“He doesn’t want to see you,” he replies. The words are gentle, trying to blow it off easily to Jimin.

“Oh.”

The words burn Jimin to the core of his bones. He feels like he has been hit in the face, reeling from how hurt he feels. He had wanted some time just to process what is happening and to accept the shift in their relationship before he could return to Taehyung. But he’s too late now, has waited too long.

The pain of rejection shot up his arms, swimming under his nerves, slowly infecting into his lungs.

He physically took a step back. “Oh.” He repeats and Yoongi is opening his mouth to say something but Jimin is retreating, running out before Yoongi could finish.

----------

Pitifully, Jimin leaves a text. He assumes it’ll be the last, a crestfallen ending to their story that hasn’t even begun and he has nobody to blame but himself.

Jimin: I’m sorry.
I was just trying to understand how I feel but I understand me ghosting you has hurt you.
I’m sorry.
I know you don’t want to hear from me again, and for that I’m sorry.
For what it's worth, I really like you Taehyung. Less platonically, more romantically.

He sighs at his love disclosure, made through a text message that makes it lack the intimacy desired. Jimin doesn’t have the time to think about it, though. It’s over before it had started.

Jimin blocks Taehyung’s number to make it better.

Then he pushes his feelings to one side, restraining himself from feeling it, and refocuses on Nari.

-------------------------

It’s a Friday evening and Nari had wanted to go out, wanted dinner at her favourite restaurant and watch the Lion King in cinemas. Her bright and eager eyes stared pleadingly into Jimin but he had no energy nor the will to go outside, still sulking at home.

So he sent Hoseok a text, asking him to take Nari.

Now he was left alone in the apartment on a Friday. He misses his youth. The days he was young and in love with Jangmi, when they’d go clubbing every night and get shit faced drunk, having sex in club bathrooms and across the floor of their apartment; too impatient to go to their bedroom.

Jimin misses being reckless. He misses feeling young, like he wasn’t burdened with responsibility.

It’s a bittersweet ache, resonating through his chest and making his melancholy. He hadn’t missed his past self, so consumed with Nari that he didn’t have the time to stop and reminisce, but something about Taehyung had felt so young.

So, Jimin attempts to forget.

He drinks a glass of wine, then another, and eats junk food that is meant for Nari. He works on a commission but he gets bored, scrapping all the words due for the project he had accepted. He masturbates but it’s lacklustre and he gives up, half-hard.

Jimin cries. He sits in his bedroom, his back against the wall with his legs pressed against his chest as he sobs. He wails like a child, lost and hurting. He cries until he’s lost all the moisture in his body and it rattles, needing substance in itself.

He hydrates, then. Drinking a glass of water before moving back to the wine.

It’s an hour later when the door rings and Jimin assumes his daughter is back home from her fun day out. He checks himself in the mirror, wiping under his red rimmed eyes and straightening out his unkempt hair. He looks like a mess, royally fucked up but Nari won’t notice.

Jimin takes a deep breath, opening the door to greet Nari with high spirits, only for his breath to be knocked out upon seeing Taehyung. The last person he had expected.

“O-oh.”

Taehyung is holding a bouquet of flowers and a wine bottle — ironically — but he falters, his face falling when he closely inspects Jimin.

“Minie?” He asks, concern filtering into his voice. “Baby, have you been crying?”

Jimin swallows tightly. “No,” he says.

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Maybe.”

Taehyung looks down, apologetic. “Can I come in? I have some words to say…”

Jimin has half a mind to reject him, to poison Taehyung with the same pain he had been given. But it’s a cycle they’ll keep running in if Jimin doesn’t stop it first.

He nods as he opens the door, granting Taehyung access. “How did you find my place?” Jimin mumbles. He carefully steers Taehyung into the kitchen where he dumps Nari’s girly princess sippy cup into the sink, out of sight.

His apartment is not Nari-proof. There’s traces of his daughter all over the place, in the living room, in the bedroom.

“Your friend Namjoon gave me the address.”

Shit. “Ah.” He takes a deep breath, eyes darting around the kitchen in case he had left anything behind. There’s a kids lunch box behind Taehyung. He can’t move it now.

“Shouldn’t I have come?”

Despite the panic slowly rising in his chest at the prospect of being caught out on his lie, Jimin is submerged with relief.

“You should’ve,” Jimin says. He crosses the distance between them so he’s standing close to Taehyung. “I’m sorry.”

Taehyung puts the roses down behind him, not looking behind as he does, and holds Jimin by the waist.

“I’m sorry.”

“You did nothing.”

“Are you kidding me?” He scoffs. As affectionate as they are, unable to keep their hands off the other, Taehyung leans in and buries his nose into Jimin’s neck as if he’s marking his territory once again. “I neglected you at the exhibition, then I told my friends to make sure you don’t return. I didn’t think you would… Jesus, I’ve been selfish.”

“It’s not selfish.”

“I didn’t take a minute to consider how you feel.”

Jimin presses his lips into a thin line. He reaches up so they can kiss, softly imploring through Taehyung’s mouth with his tongue. The other man practically melts at the seams, his grip tightening on Jimin as they kiss like they have been separated for years and need each other like oxygen.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jimin murmurs against his lips. “You’re here now.”

The moment escalates. Jimin is on the kitchen counter with his legs spread, Taehyung between them as they kiss fervently.

Taehyung’s hand inches underneath Jimin’s shirt, deprived as he touches over Jimin’s abs and moans breathily into his mouth. They started with sex and they should definitely slow down and consider what is happening before they have sex again but Jimin is hungry.

That is, until, everything shatters at the sound of a shrill girl.

“Daddy!” Nari is screaming happily, running into the kitchen. “Daddy! Daddy! Lion King was so good! Oh.” She pauses at the unknown man, immediately inching back towards Hoseok.

“Shit,” Hoseok breathes out. He grabs Nari’s hand, pulling her away. “Darling, let’s go to your bedroom?”

Taehyung pulls away. His brow is furrowed in bewilderment, adjusting to what has just happened. “Daddy?” He repeats, glancing to Jimin as if he’s waiting for an explanation, then back to Nari. “Daddy…”

Jimin jumps off the counter. He’s on the edge of desperation and he’s reeling, making sure Nari is in the other room, before he grasps Taehyung’s forearm.

“Tae…”

“You have a daughter?” He spits out.

“I… yes. She’s my daughter.” There is no point in denying it now, not when Taehyung is a witness to the crime scene.

This isn’t how Jimin had wanted to confess about Nari. He had wanted it to be when they were in bed together, legs tangled under the sheets, and Jimin would regretfully explain that he has been hiding this and how sorry he is. Now, it just makes Taehyung look like a dirty secret and Jimin is overwhelmed anguish.

“Holy shit.” Taehyung is laughing but it’s barren and he’s pulling away, snatching his arm back. The laugh is maniac and detached. “We’ve known each other for fucking months and you haven’t even told me you have a daughter!”

“I… I wasn’t meant to let it get to this point.”

“No wonder you seemed so distant.” Taehyung is collecting his belongings, shaking his head. He tugs at the strands of his hair, hard enough to hurt, as he winces. “You’ve been hiding your whole life from me whilst I let you into mine!”

“Tae—”

“You didn’t even tell me the most important part of you! Your daughter!”

Jimin’s face crumbles and fresh tears sting in his eyes, frantic in order to keep Taehyung by his side. He has just gotten Taehyung back, he doesn’t want to lose him once again.

“Tae, please.”

“Stop,” he murmurs and then he’s rushing out of the apartment, as fast as he had came.

Chapter Text

elysian - characteristics relating to heaven. peaceful. divine.

That night, Taehyung completes a painting.

His canvas — once depicting brightness and inexplicable joy — has been replaced with cloudiness, ambiguity.

The sunset, the splash of orange mixing with red, has been revamped into a night sky. There are stars scattered in the sky, a half crescent moon present. The landscape is a hill, desolate, a field that stretches on for miles with no sign of civilisation. There is a lonely man on the hill, his arm extending out, almost as if he’s touching to the sky.

Taehyung has always believed, pain is the most valuable emotion to an artist. It creates their best work, their most remembered work.

And once again, Taehyung is proven right.

He names the painting, talking to the moon.

--------------------

“He’s calling you again.”

Taehyung groans.

He’s sprawled across his couch. Yoongi and Jungkook have taken it up as their responsibility to take care of Taehyung, harbouring themselves with Taehyung in his apartment, treating him like he is a child who is incapable of taking care of himself.

“Ignore the calls,” Taehyung murmurs. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

“He’s fucked up,” Jungkook says, his mouth twisted in an unforgiving, harsh frown.

Taehyung’s gut twists. “Stop.”

He doesn’t want to discuss Jimin and the situation. It exhausts him. The night where his daughter, the adorable, beautiful little girl who had ran into the kitchen, replays on his mind and he feels like an asshole for how he had reacted. He had been impulsive, a little abrupt with his cutthroat words.

But he was acting off pure shock.

Jimin is a father, and a lot of loose ends are making sense now. He remembers when they were visiting his mother in Busan and there was a framed picture of a little girl and Jimin. He had assumed it was a little cousin, sister, or anything but his daughter.

Taehyung contemplates why Jimin never told him, a question on loop in his mind.

They aren’t dating, after all. Jimin doesn’t owe him anything, nothing to gain or lose from the fact that he’s a father and has a daughter. They weren’t in a commitment and it wouldn’t have impacted Taehyung’s life in any way. Jimin, similarly, doesn’t owe Taehyung the right to know his life.

But Taehyung had felt like a fool. He had opened up about his life, had given Jimin the answers to all the gaps in his life, whereas he had been missing out on the majority of Jimin’s. He had meant so little in comparison.

“How do you feel, Tae?” Yoongi asks, releasing a heavy sigh. He sits down besides Taehyung, placing Taehyung’s head on his lap from where he’s stretched out so he doesn’t have to adjust.

Taehyung shuts his eyes, giving into his hyung’s touch in his hair. “Tired,” he says honestly.

Yoongi smacks him. “I mean seriously. About everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jimin likes you more than a friend, and so do you. That’s serious. You need to talk to him.”

Does he really have to? Can he just deal with it his own way, work out the shock and then never contact Jimin again?

Taehyung doesn’t know what this means for them. They’ve established that they have mutual romantic feelings, they’ve surpassed the boundaries of ‘no strings attached’ that they had held in place so rigidly. There’s a real, subsisting relationship between them.

But Taehyung’s young, and the equation is much more complicated with the implications of Jimin having a daughter. This decision doesn’t just involve himself and Jimin, but also a young girl. Can he take on the role of a step-father eventually in the future?

The thought makes him cringe.

Taehyung adores children. If it had been up to him, and his heart wasn’t devoted to art, he would’ve gone down a route that involved teaching and taking care of kids. But that is a career route and this is his life. The implications are heavier and it makes his head spin.

“I just don’t know why he had to lie to me,” Taehyung confesses. He hates how miserable he sounds.

“Have you talked to him?”

“Not yet. I need time to process.”

“Do you hate him? Mad at him?”

Taehyung glances up to his hyung, pressing his lips in a thin line. “Of course I don’t hate him.” He couldn’t. Whenever he thinks of Jimin, all that flashes through his mind is Jimin’s smile. The way his eyes crinkle. The way he wraps his whole body around Taehyung. “I’m literally in love with him, hyung. But I’m mad.”

“Maybe… you just need to talk to him?” He offers. “Tell him, you’re not ready to talk yet, but you will be soon.”

Taehyung exhales. Yoongi is wiser beyond his years, always has unparalleled advice to give to him. He’s right, and Taehyung knows it.

He has to be mature and not leave Jimin in the dark, knowing how anxiety inducing it can be. He has to speak candidly to Jimin. He’s not ready yet to discuss it all, to lay out their dark secrets and work through what is happening. But he will be eventually, and he wants Jimin to know he’s still here.

“I know,” Taehyung says. He groans as Yoongi massages his scalp, working out the tension headache. “That feels good,” he comments off-handedly. “I will talk to him, promise.”

----------------------

Jimin is in Nari’s bed, his daughter sleeping on his chest. He has been drifting in and out of disturbed slumber, lost in thoughts and regret. His phone rings and he jolts in the unexpected interruption, reaching for the device.

He has to double take when he sees Taehyung’s name flashing across the screen.

Jimin has been trying to contact him, leaving voicemails, text messages that go unanswered. He swallows his pity and succumbed to his self respect eventually, leaving Taehyung alone when he received the message loud and clear. Taehyung didn’t want to talk to him, and he couldn’t blame the man either. He’s been lying for months.

“Taehyung?” He breathes out when he shakily accepts the call.

Jimin holds his breath. He waits for the verdict. He waits for Taehyung to cut things off, effectively telling him this is over.

“Daddy…?” Nari has awoken from the ringtone, swollen eyes glancing at him, features laced with stupor.

Jimin smiles sweetly at the girl, running a hand through her unkempt hair, kissing ehr forehead. “Go back to sleep, babe. I’m here.”

Silence extends from the other line before the sound of lips smacking can be heard and Taehyung exhales.

“That’s your daughter?” He enquiries.

Jimin’s heart shakes. He’s observing his daughter intently, memorising every feature on her face, the pout of her lips as her chest heaves. He has dedicated his whole life to this girl and he’d never give her up, never do anything short of being the best father he can be.

“Yeah.”

“She’s beautiful.”

Jimin closes his eyes. He hasn’t cried since what has happened, has just waited patiently for news, for anything from Taehyung. He had hoped, at the very least, Taehyung would have the decency to cut things off by informing him rather than ghosting.

But his chest squeezes because this feels like an ending, like an impending goodbye is waiting on the tip of Taehyung’s tongue.

Jimin so desperately wants to reverse back months ago, back to the first meeting. He wants to sit in the sushi restaurant again when they had been innocently flirting, blissfully unaware of the storm they’d willingly invite into their lives, and he wants to say it.

Wants to say back then so this situation can be reserved, I have a daughter, she’s my first and sometimes only priority. He only has regrets now, the ‘what if’s’.

“Thank you.” Jimin’s voice is weak.

“I’m… I love you, Jimin.”

Guilt encases him, suffocating him. “Mm.” He wants to return the words back to him, but it’s swallowed in his throat.

“And I want this to work. I don’t know if it will.”

Jimin squeezes his eyes shut. He can’t react with Nari sleeping on him, doesn’t want to escape the warmth she is radiating and keeping him sane but it hurts. It burns down to the bones.

“Oh.” He pathetically can’t manage more words.

“You’re… you’re a father, and I’m young. And I don’t know if.” Taehyung stops. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Don’t apologise.”

“It’s a lot. I want to talk about it all, but not yet. I’m not ready yet. I’m still trying to understand why you’d lie to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And I can’t help but think how uncomplicated this could’ve been, had you been honest.”

A lone tear escapes him and he chokes up, having to conceal it with a cough that makes Nari on his chest.

Jimin had come close to healing his loneliness. The loneliness that wraps up in him, consumes him, had nearly evaporated completely. He had found the solution through Taehyung. The man wasn’t his answer, but rather he was the reason in understanding that Jimin isn’t alone.

That he has people who love him surrounding him, that there’s people lurking in the shadows that he doesn’t realise would give up anything to be there for him. Taehyung had shown him he has things to offer to other people.

And now he was losing Taehyung as fast as he had come into his life.

“I’m sorry,” is all he can manage to say, repeating himself on a loop.

Jimin wants to offer an explanation, but it’s hard to manage anything.

Taehyung hums. He sounds broken, too. “I need time, okay? We will talk, I promise. And I’m not ghosting you. Just give me some time to process it all.”

He can’t do anything but accept the terms given. “Okay.”

He hangs up. He tightens his hold on Nari and for once, he cries.

--------------

“Mom?”

“Hi, Jimin-ah! My son!” She speaks brightly from the other line, unsuspecting to the foul, broken mood she had to be greeted with. “I miss you, my love. How’re you doing? How’s Taehyung?”

He hadn’t wanted to cry. He was holding it at bay, restricting his heart and his emotions, but the unconditional and unfiltered love that his mother shows him through the phone makes Jimin’s heart crumble.

Jimin remembers when his mother had held him through his divorce, putting her son back together, picking up all the broken shards and reassuring him countless times. It’s okay, my son. Things end. Some people just aren’t meant for each other and that’s not your fault.

He relies on his mother, finds comfort within her words and her optimism. She has been his voice of reason and during times like this, when he’s crippled with anxiety, with anguish and uncontrollable pain, he turns to her.

Jimin chokes on a sob. He attempts to conceal it but it’s broken and loud.

Silence rings from the other line before his mother whispers tentatively, “Jimin-ah?”

“Mom.”

“What’s wrong, dear?”

“I messed up. I did everything wrong.” He’s incoherent for most of the words, babbling and making no sense.

“Hey, hey. Calm down for me.”

“He hates me, and it’s my fault!”

“Taehyung?” His mom sounds perplexed.

Jimin hums. “Yes.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He couldn’t hate you,” she says. There’s so much conviction in her voice that Jimin wants to bask in it, wants to believe in it if the harsh reality wasn’t staring him in the face. “The boy looks at you like you hung the stars in the sky, Jimin-ah.”

“No, you don’t understand, mom. I lied to him.”

“Mm?”

“I didn’t tell him about Nari and he found out unexpectedly. He’s in love with me and he isn’t sure if he wants to be a father figure to Nari and.”

Jimin has to cut himself off before he explodes over the phone, taking a deep breath.

He’s grateful for the day alone he’s been granted. Hoseok had given him a considerable amount of sympathy — considering he had been the one to claim Jimin was doing wrong by lying, and got proven right — and offered to take Nari out. To give Jimin a chance to take care of himself.

His mother is quiet for a minute. “Baby… book tickets to Busan. Come see me.”

And nothing has sounded more therapeutic.

--------------

“Daddy? Where are we going?”

Jimin thanks the train conductor as they step onto their carriage, walking his daughter over to her seat by the window.

She’s marvelled as she climbs onto the seat. She sits up on her knees, glancing out of the window. They’re still stationed in Seoul and it’s a mundane scene before but she’s analysing it, looking over the other trains stationed.

“We’re going to Busan,” he tells Nari.

“Busan?” She repeats.

“Mhmm. Your grandmother lives there, Nari.” He sits down himself after he has placed their jackets and his bag on the top shelf.

Jimin isn’t sure how long they’re going to stay in Busan. He wants to be there long enough that he’ll heal, for the time being. He wants to fresh smell of the sea water to burn his lungs. He wants to see his old friends, wants to go hang out in the local spots that used to be his.

Being a freelancer is convenient, he’s able to pack up his work and take it with him.

He just can’t let Nari skip out on many days of school, so the trip will be limited, enough for them to get a long enough break and just breathe.

“Grandmommy!” Nari announces, elated, clapping her tiny hands.

Jimin smiles fondly, kissing her cheek. “Yes, baby.”

“I love her! She always has gifts for me!” She’s smiling so wide and Jimin thinks, he’ll be okay. As long as he has his daughter, he’ll be okay.

Busan is like a breath of fresh air, invading Jimin’s lungs and making him feel whole again.

His mother is there to collect him from the train station, a pair of willing arms embracing Jimin and holding him tightly. It grounds Jimin, makes his heart stop shaking, his mind to stop racing.

“I got you, son,” his mother whispers right into his ear. “And you’re going to be okay.”

The atmosphere in Busan is different. The faces are friendlier, the food is fresher and Jimin feels alive here.

He spends the day with his old childhood friends, sitting by the beach with bottles of beer, as they catch up. Jimin talks candidly about his life as a father and how challenging single parenting is, how he often struggles with finance, and how he sometimes wonder how different it could’ve been. But he never once regrets having Nari. His friends have grown, matured during the time Jimin has moved away. They have successful, fulfilling jobs and the catch up session fills Jimin up with hope. He may be far from home, and feels lonely all the time, he just has to remember there are people right here who still love him despite the distance.

The evening is spent at home with his mother and Nari. They cuddle up on the couch together, tuning into old favourite movies and cooking together as he praises his mother’s cooking.

When Nari has gone to sleep, he and his mother share a bottle of red wine. It’s dry for his taste, but nevertheless, he consumes it.

“So why did you lie to Taehyung, then?” His mother wonders, prying into the nitty gritty of Jimin’s heartbreak. She has to break it apart, and then put it together again, in order for Jimin to move beyond this.

Truthfully, Jimin doesn’t know why.

When he had first met Taehyung, he hadn’t wanted to fearfully scare him off by confessing about his daughter. He thought it was too personal to put across as first information about himself. He knows as time went on and their relationship progressed, he should’ve said something about Nari.

But it was easier to conceal his daughter so it doesn’t complicate things. So, he can speak his daughter safe and not subject her to another man that she would struggle to understand.

“I… I didn’t want to hurt Nari,” he murmurs. He takes another swing from the wine bottle, passing it to his mother. This is like therapy — nothing alleviates the agony spreading through him like a wildfire than his mother. “I didn’t want to make her accustomed to another person, that I’d eventually lose. I didn’t want to complicate things with me and Taehyung. I just… I wanted to protect both parts of my life so bad that it fired in my face.”

“Had Taehyung been against children?”

He purses his lips, unsure. “We had never discussed it.”

“Mm.” She places a hand on his thigh, squeezing. “You should’ve talked to him.”

“I know,” he says, miserable.

“And there’s nothing to protect Nari from. Your daughter would want you to be happy, baby, in any way that’s right for you.”

“But… she suffered so much with the divorce, mom. I couldn’t put her through it again.”

She nods, understanding and unrelenting in the support she offers. “I know, honey… it’d be best if you had introduced her to Taehyung slowly, in little go’s, rather than getting her attached from the beginning.”

That makes a lot of sense and would protect Nari, too.

Jimin hums. “I think I’m in love with him, mom.” The confession is hushed, almost as if he’s afraid of the words and what it implies, what it means.

His mother waits. She takes another sip of the wine and then smiles, her eyes soft. “I know.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

A comforting hand comes to rub his back, grounding Jimin. “You need to accept that at some point, you deserve happiness, that it’s okay to open your heart to something new… that Nari will not collapse just because Taehyung’s involved in your heart, and you can be careful when introducing her to this life.”

“What if it ruins her life?”

“It won’t. You won’t let that happen, I know you.”

There’s not much else to say, except Jimin’s mother providing him with physical support through this moment. Since being back in Busan, he feels settled, has woken up with a rational mind. It’s insane how much a clear mind and some restful sleep can do for him.

When Jimin’s blissful vacation in Busan time runs out, his mother drops them to the train station.

Nari holds onto her grandmother for longer than expected as Jimin takes the time to pick out food for the train journey home. He chooses ice cream for Nari and a salmon sandwich for himself from Paris Baguette, noticing his daughter’s reluctance to let go of his mother.

“Wanna stay with granny!” Nari complains, her pout jutting out, wrapping her tiny arms around the woman’s neck.

Jimin’s mom laughs, but her eyes are cloudy with tears she’s holding at bay. She’s sensitive.

“You will just have to come back and visit again!” She says to her enthusiastically, peppering kisses all over her face, before passing her on to Jimin.

Jimin thanks his mother profusely, frustrated at how he is unable to articulate how grateful he is for his mother. She is a saving grace in his life, his guardian angel, and has always taken care of him, sweeping up his mess. Being apart from her is always difficult but knowing he has the privilege to visit whenever he can afford, it gives him peace.

--------------

Jimin learns heartbreak the second time, the raw, clawing sensation that rips him from inside, when he sees Taehyung for the first time in a month.

He has just dropped Nari off to school. He delivers kisses to her cheeks, promising he’ll be back to pick her up and they can have a special father-daughter day, just the two of them. Then, he had decided to take a walk through the Hongdae district. He has to run an errand for Namjoon.

That’s when he spots Taehyung.

He’s clinging to an unfamiliar man. The unknown man has his arm extended around Taehyung’s waist, holding him close. They radiate intimacy and… something special, on display for anyone to gawk at.

Taehyung doesn’t notice him amongst the busy main street of Hongdae.

Jimin swallows the distaste, crawling through him, has to clamp down on the bottomless disappointment that sinks into him. It invades every vein, every thought -- it consumes him, the hurt dripping into him, overtaking him.

He really lost Taehyung.

And Jimin can’t even let himself feel it.

------------

It takes a month and a week exactly before Taehyung decides he's ready to talk to Jimin.

During his time without Jimin, it has been desolate, accustomed to being surrounded by Jimin and his warm presence. He misses how he’s able to text Jimin whenever he wants, seeing him regularly throughout the week. It’s an indicator that he’s not prepared to let Jimin slip from his life, wanting the man to infiltrate every part of him.

However, every call Taehyung attempts goes to voicemail.

He waits a day or two for an answer, a return of the calls or even an acknowledgement through text. When it doesn’t arrive, he takes it upon himself to go to Jimin’s apartment.

Taehyung’s aware that he’s uninvited but if he doesn’t cease the opportunity to discuss things with Jimin as soon as possible, he may get comfortable with the silence, the space between them and never muster the courage to speak his mind. That he’s pathetically in love with Jimin, and he can’t hide it from himself any longer.

The route to his apartment blossoms something bittersweet within him, coming to a stop outside his door. He coaches himself through the seed of anxiety, counting to ten in his head, then back before he raises his fist and knocks on the door.

There’s a shuffle from behind the door. Then a scream, presumably Jimin’s daughter. A shush-ing and a kiss before the door flings open.

Jimin is behind the door. He’s disheveled, hair unkempt and unstyled, the bags under his eyes prominent and red-rimmed, a dangerous mix of sleep deprivation and crying. He’s wearing sweats, unprepared for any company.

He blinks, unexpectedly. He opens his mouth to say something, flabbergasted, but then clamps it shut.

Taehyung shifts on his feet. A part of him is ashamed and he wishes he could sink to his knees and request for forgiveness, the other part of him just wants to kiss Jimin. Because even like this, Jimin is the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. Taehyung had been a fool to assume that their relationship could’ve ever remained strictly platonic, from the first day he had met Jimin, he was a goner.

Before he can say something, a tiny figure peeps from behind Jimin’s legs.

The little girl is adorable and a mirror of Jimin. She has the same facial structures and features, a sharp jawline but full cheeks, eyes round and glowing, full lips. Her hair is long, cascading down, and pulled back in a poorly made braid.

“Hi?” She squeaks.

“Nari, baby,” Jimin turns to face her, crouching. “Daddy’s friend is here. Will you give us a minute?”

Nari pouts, not liking to be dismissed. Nevertheless, she’s obedient and doesn’t protest. She kisses Jimin’s lips before rushes off back towards her bedroom.

Then, it’s just them two.

Jimin is holding his breath, narrowly avoiding his eye contact. “If you’re here to cut things off for good, I don’t need to hear it.” His voice trembles, like he’s barely keeping it together. “You can leave.”

Taehyung frowns. “That’s… not why I’m here.” He bites his lips. “Can I come in? Let’s talk…”

Jimin is rigid. “I saw you. You and him. In Hongdae.”

“Him?” His mind mentally scans over what Jimin could have seen. “Minjae? He’s just a friend.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I… I wouldn’t lie, Jimin.”

Jimin releases a breath, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “You’re not dating anybody?”

The idea is incredulous, when he has Jimin standing right in front of him. When he has literally confessed he’s in love with Jimin and he could never imagine seriously dating anybody else. Taehyung has always been overly affectionate with his friends, sometimes taken in the wrong context.

He shakes his head. “No. I promise.”

Jimin is contemplating for a minute before he slowly extends the door, inviting Taehyung in.

Now that Taehyung is aware of Nari, the house seems startlingly different. He can see traces of Nari everywhere. There’s baby shoes at the door, a tiny raincoat hung by the entrance, pictures of Nari on the wall. When he enters the living room, there’s toys scattered across the floor and a Disney movie playing on the TV.

Jimin takes pride in his daughter, clearly.

Taehyung’s heart leaps and somersaults, akin to fondness growing in him.

Jimin is wringing his fingers together, standing before Taehyung awkwardly. “What do you wanna talk about?”

Taehyung sits on the couch, patting the space besides him for Jimin to join.

For a minute, neither of them speak. It’s unusual for them to sit so close and not initiate any physical contact. Neither of them shy away from it. Whenever they’re together, Jimin is naturally leaning into him, always smiling so wide that his eyes crinkle. It does something to Taehyung.

The distance isn’t what he wants, but he knows he has to resolve this.

“I like you,” Taehyung confesses. “I love you, like I said on the phone.”

“Oh.”

“I really like you. I think about you all the time. I don’t remember when it started, but it did and suddenly, you’re all I want. And all I think about.”

Jimin is taken aback by the abrupt words, blinking as they process. He shifts on the couch.

“I do, too.”

He laughs shortly. “We failed at ‘no strings attached’, huh?”

“I guess so.” Jimin smiles faintly. There is force behind the smile, both of them still too tense to completely relax in each other’s presence. “We should’ve learnt, from the movies and the books.”

“Yeah. It’s our fault.”

Taehyung reaches for Jimin’s hand. The man jolts at the unexpected touch but reluctantly gives into it, letting himself be held. Taehyung’s thumb grazes over Jimin’s knuckles, tenderly touching him, holding onto something so he can ground himself.

“I want to be with you,” he continues. His words turn to a whisper. “I’ve never been in a serious relationship before. I had sworn to myself that I never would but… you make me want to… want to try.”

Jimin swallows thickly. “Oh?”

“And I know it won’t be easy. You have a divorce… maybe you’ll find it difficult to want to date again, there’s a little girl involved. But despite it all, I want to try.”

Jimin is contemplating at the situation he is faced before. His eyes flicker to where their conjoined hands rest on his thighs, his bottom lip wobbling as he takes a shaky breath. Taehyung knows, now, that there is nothing more he wants than to reassure Jimin, to pull him close and whisper all the right words that will mend what is broken here.

“I’m sorry,” Jimin murmurs. At first, it feels like a rejection, like a ‘no’ to his proposal of being together, and Taehyung’s heart sink. “I want to try, too. I do. I’m just scared.”

“What’re you scared about?”

“About being selfish, to give into what I want and it ends up hurting Nari.”

Taehyung hums. He listens to Jimin’s concern, wanting to wipe the anxiety clean.

“I understand,” he says. “Your daughter will always be your first priority, I will never fuck with that. I want to get to know her, too. She’s cute. And I’ll try to be a good figure in her life.”

Tears flood in Jimin’s eyes and the wall of vulnerability that he holds so rigidly is thrashed down, signifying a level of trust that never existed before. Jimin doesn’t wipe it away, doesn’t repress it — he cries silently, openly, and it means a lot to Taehyung. They have been progressing in their relationship.

“It’s been so long, Tae. I never thought I could be in a relationship… then you came, you made me think it’s possible. That it could happen.” He sniffles, not looking him in the eye. Taehyung doesn’t mind, though. “I started wanting it again. The security of a relationship. I thought I could be okay with just fucking, but I can’t.”

“Shush.” He draws Jimin’s body closer to him, wrapping his arms around the man’s form. “I got you.”

They take a minute to just process the situation, Jimin resting his weight on the other man. He calms down listening to Taehyung’s heartbeat, matching it to his own, closing his eyes in the serenity of the moment.

“I know it’s been long,” Taehyung speaks once it feels right, “But let me show you how easy it can be.”

“You’ve never even be in a serious relationship before, brat.”

“And you make me want to try.”

Jimin glances up to him, every hint of hesitation has been erased with adoration. His eyes have stars in them, reserving the look just for Taehyung. As if Taehyung has hung the stars in the sky, has changed Jimin’s life and the intensity of the stare makes Taehyung’s stomach flip.

With his free hand, he pushes Jimin’s face up further by a touch on the chin.

“I love you too,” Jimin murmurs, so hushed that it almost falls on deaf ears.

Then they’re leaning in, and they’re kissing.

Taehyung thinks this is the moment he realises how hopelessly in love he is, unable to pinpoint the time it happened. As soon as their lips touch, it all makes sense. His stomach flips and he deepens the kiss almost immediately, needing the man’s touch, taste.

Jimin tastes the same. He moans into Jimin’s moan, licking into his mouth as Jimin gives him permission, opening up. They kiss feverishly, a hint of desperation imploring through with Jimin’s hand gripping his shoulder and Taehyung’s tangled in his hair, tugging.

“Fuck,” Jimin whispers.

Before it can progress any further, the door opens and reveals Nari. She’s wide-eyed and in apparent shock.

“Yucky, daddy!” She exclaims. “That’s yucky!” She runs off.

Both of them are frozen before Jimin erupts into laughter, his smile growing at the act of his daughter.

“She’s a crazy one,” he murmurs.

Taehyung just beams. “She’s adorable. I can’t wait to meet her properly.”

--------------

Like puzzle pieces that slot together perfectly, Taehyung and Jimin fall into a routine.

They decide not to introduce Taehyung and Nari straight away. They keep the distance from the girl, wanting to confirm that both of them are compatible as boyfriends and exclusivity before they progress towards introductions to Nari.

There was never any doubt, though.

Jimin visits Taehyung’s workplace during the days he doesn’t have a heavy overload of assignments from work. They sit together during his lunch breaks, eating with their legs tangled under the table, and holding hands as they talk about their day.

Jungkook, often, spots them and he gags as he walks past them. “Disgusting!”

On the days when there’s special exhibitions being showcased, Jimin even takes time out of his day to volunteer to help Taehyung. Through his help, he’s able to understand Taehyung’s job as an art curator better. When Taehyung has time off work, both of them both on an endless amount of dates.

Dates to fancy restaurants, to shady and run-down bars with extremely cheap and tasty alcohol, dates to cat cafes where Taehyung sits observes Jimin’s love for cats. He can’t be blamed if he spent less time with the cats, and more time snapping pictures of Jimin holding a kitten and talking to her in a baby voice. They have dates at clubs, grinding on each other and getting shit-faced drunk.

And the sex is mindblowing. Whenever Nari can be babysat, they’re at each other’s house, clothes being torn and strewn across the room and desperate kisses being shared as if they’re each other’s oxygen.

It takes three months when they’re sure it’s time for Nari to formally, and officially, meet Taehyung.

“Uncle Taehyung?” Nari repeats with distaste dripping in her voice, scrunching her nose.

“Mm.” Jimin confirms. He fixes the bow clip in her hair, admiring for a moment how cute she is. He asks her to pose, taking a picture, before sending it to Jangmi who replies with cute. I miss her.

He takes a deep breath, texting her back, She’s going to meet my boyfriend, Taehyung.

Jangmi: Then I better meet him, too. Hope ur happy.

The acceptance from Jangmi settles him, soothing out any last inkling of uncertainty he harboured. In the three months, he has had intensive pep talks with his friends who have reassured him that Jimin is not a selfish or a bad person for focusing on his happiness for once, for letting Taehyung into his life. For giving romance a second chance.

Everything, right now, feels right.

“Who’s that?” Nari asks. She asks to be picked up, still pouting.

Jimin sits her on his lap, kissing her forehead. “Taehyung’s daddy’s boyfriend, baby.”

“Boyfriend?” She repeats, eyes comically wide. “Like… kiss-kiss friend?”

That makes him laugh, momentarily stunned at her explanation. He wonders how much she has learnt she has been attending school. She’s growing up so fast and Jimin wishes he could pause time, just take a minute to mourn the fact Nari is no longer a baby.

She’s a toddler and soon, she’ll be big. Big enough to not want cuddles, to form her own opinions, her own friendship groups and one day, she’ll go far away from him.

It’s enough to make him tighten his arms around Nari.

“Yes, a kiss-kiss friend.”

“Does he make you happy?” She asks, resting her head on Jimin’s shoulder.

He nods. “Very happy.”

“Then, I’m happy!”

Ten minutes later, Taehyung arrives. He has a bouquet of flowers for Jimin that he passes over, innocently kissing his lips before he crouches before Nari so their eye-level.

Nari timidly hides behind Jimin but still peeps out, observing Taehyung closely.

“Hi, Nari,” Taehyung greets her. His eyes are crinkled and warm, depth of fondness peeking through. He hands over to her a doll and a chocolate box. “I’m your daddy’s boyfriend. And this is for you.”

Nari checks with Jimin and when he nods, she reaches forward to accept the gift.

“Thank you, Uncle Taehyung.”

“Oh, you know my name?”

She nods, her pigtails moving with the motion. “Daddy told me. He said you make him happy.”

Taehyung melts. “I want to make him happy, yes.”

“Good! Because he deserves it!” The threat in her voice is palpable and it makes Taehyung laugh, holding up a hand in surrender.

“I promise, I will take good care of your daddy.”

Once Nari is comfortable with the man, she drags Taehyung inside. She wraps her whole hand around his thumb, showing him every room in their house, and wanting him to sit in her bedroom.

Jimin takes the time to warm up dinner for them whilst Nari animatedly explains what every toy in her bedroom is.

By the time Jimin is done with dinner, it’s 9pm and Nari has fallen asleep.

“I put her to sleep,” Taehyung says. He has approached Jimin in the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Jimin’s waist, hugging him from behind. “She’s adorable. You raised her well. Talks for a lifetime.”

Jimin giggles. “Yeah, she’s a talkative one.”

“I think I won her over. She seems to like me.”

“That’s good. I’m glad. Just… be careful, let’s keep a distance and slowly ease her into this.”

Taehyung nods, pressing chaste kisses down Jimin’s neck before they pull away to eat dinner.

Taehyung and Jimin sit on the couch, holding hands, their legs entangled as they watch a movie and eat dinner. Once they’ve washed up and cleaned the kitchen, the both of them have sex.

Taehyung on his back with Jimin spreading his legs apart and pressed against his chest, bending him half and fucking into him. The bed frame knocks against the wall, the force of the thrusts making Taehyung move up the bed helplessly.

He groans, strangled, as his hand wraps around Jimin’s forearm. There’s not much Taehyung can do but take the thrusts, hitting against his prostate with each movement. If Jimin keeps going, he won’t last for much longer.

“S-Shit,” Taehyung moans.

Jimin hums. He buries his head into Taehyung’s neck, sucking a lazy bruise into him as he comes. Taehyung’s orgasm is not much long after. They recover from the intensity of their orgasm together, Jimin’s head on Taehyung’s chest, as Taehyung absentmindedly draws patterns on his back.

“I love you, Taehyung,” Jimin says.

Taehyung hums, closing his eyes. “Love you too, Jimin-ah.”

(Their relationship is something special. Jimin thanks Namjoon and Hoseok for the day they had decided to make him a dating profile and were matched with Taehyung, he can’t thank them enough.

There's a mutual understanding and love shared between them.

Taehyung spends much of his time at work, with his friends and the rest, with Jimin and Nari. He’s slowly introduced more into Nari’s daily routine, picking her up from school, getting to know her teacher and even more well accustomed with Jimin’s friends. He fits effortlessly with their group and Jimin feels at ease.

The day he meets Jangmi, he is terrified. Jimin had explained the complexity of his divorce beforehand and even though there is no bitterness between the old lovers, Taehyung senses he has a point to prove. But Jangmi is nothing less than a sweetheart, welcomes Taehyung into her home with open arms, and makes him feel comfortable.

Their relationship progresses. Sometimes, there’s arguments, but they resolve it fairly quickly with apologies, genuinely listening to each other and making amendments.

Nari whispers to Jimin one day when they’re sleeping in one bed, her arms around his body.

“I love Tae!” She says sleepily, smacking her lips together. “Can we keep him forever, daddy?”

Jimin’s stomach flips and he’s smiling. “We can. We can keep him forever.”)