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Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

All of his life Taehyung’s been told the same thing over and over again. 

You should be a model.

He’d always been flattered but never took the suggestion seriously… that was until a few weeks ago when he’d seen online advertisements for a new show, “Top Model: Korea” while scrolling through his social media pages.

He took a screenshot of the ad, just out of curiosity and when he discovered they were holding in person auditions only 20 minutes from his hometown, he decided to give it a chance and try out. He forced one of his buddies to go to the auditions with him, and his friend had been cut in the first round, but he somehow managed to make it through.

He never thought in a million years that the casting department would ever give him a second look. He had no experience and most of the people at the audition had been child actors, or singers, or at least in a commercial or two. But he’d been offered a second interview, which then led to him being picked for the final rounds of casting. He had to have head-shots and other photos taken and submitted but after 4 weeks they’d decided to give Taehyung a spot on their first season.

It had been such a whirlwind and everyone he knew was excited for him. The opportunity had sort of fallen into his lap but he was certainly not going to let the chance pass him by. The cash prize for the top spot was enough to keep him motivated.

He had to quit working for the time being but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he was not going to pass up. 

When he makes his way into the studio for the first day of filming he has to slap himself as a reminder for how he got here and what he’s doing this for. Contestant after contestant walk in behind him and his nerves are starting to get the best of him. Everyone is beautiful and Taehyung can’t help but wonder how he was ever chosen for this. Or how long he will even last in this competition.

He sees a young guy with brown fluffy hair walk in and he immediately does a double take. This guy is an obvious model and he can already see him winning the show. He’s strolling into the room like he’s on a runway already. He has the most gorgeous features… beautiful shaped eyes with long lashes and full lips and Taehyung tries not to stare as he makes his way inside.

The producers are telling all of them to gather to the center of the room and Taehyung shifts his focus to the main man in charge, who is explaining to them all what will happen. First will be the individual interviews so they can get footage to use for the show, then they will do some quick introductory photoshoots, followed by a group shot which will be set as the shows main theme. 

Everything happens so fast and there isn’t time to really dissect what is happening but as Taehyung looks around the room he counts 15 other models, all different looks and genders. Everyone here seems interesting and fun, and he's excited to get to know everyone better, wondering if there is anyone he will instantly click with. He’s a social person and loves meeting new people and learning about their lives.

As he waits to be interviewed he manages to talk to a few of the models and everyone seems very friendly and eager. Taehyung wonders how long that will last as the competition starts getting more competitive. He meets a couple guys, their names are Yoongi and Hobi and they seem very friendly. It puts him at ease a little bit. 

He doesn’t end up meeting the fluffy haired brunette guy he saw when he first walked in but knows there will be plenty of time for them to get to know one another. Then he’s being called in to interview and he makes his way nervously backstage.

The interview goes pretty much as expected; similar to the interviews he always sees on TV during these sorts of things. They ask Taehyung a number of questions, starting with very basic ones and going into more detailed ones, like, “why did you audition for the show?” and “why do you want to win?” and “what are you going to use the money for?” All questions he’s answered already during the interview process, but perhaps they want to get them on tape this time.

When they ask him why he thinks he was chosen for the show he answers immediately, “my duality.” He’s always been told from numerous people growing up that he has multiple sides to his persona. Sometimes he comes off as the cute and innocent young man of 24 that he is, and other times he can pull off being a bit more mysterious… sexy, even. 

When they are finished with the interview he can hear the producers calling for ‘Kim Seokjin’ next and as he exits the interview room he passes Seokjin in the hall. It’s the mysterious fluffy haired man that he saw walking in earlier and Taehyung attempts to smile and politely bow at him, which the man returns but then in a second, he’s already gone. 

Well, at least now he knows his name. 

He gets to know a few more of the models during the interview process and individual shoots, but as the day goes on he gets more and more exhausted. He’s not doing much of anything but waiting around and he wonders if this is how all the photoshoots are going to be, hanging out backstage waiting for the others to finish. 

At one point during the break he overhears Seokjin on the phone and scoots a little closer to the wall by the hallway to hear what’s being said. He doesn’t know why he’s so intrigued by this guy and what he expects to hear, but he wants to know who he’s talking to. 

Seokjin very clearly has a boyfriend, or a very close friend, that he keeps referring to as Ken. He’s speaking to him in a very informal and cute way, and it causes instant disappointment to shoot through Taehyung’s body. He’s not even sure why he cares so much, he doesn’t even know the guy. And he didn’t come on the show to find love or anything, but well, if it happens, it happens. And Seokjin was attractive. 

So much for that, Taehyung thinks to himself and heads back into the main area of the room to try to introduce himself to other people. There are a lot of attractive guys around and maybe there’s a chance for something else to happen with one of them?

At the end of the day, as it’s turning dark and all the interviews and individual shoots are complete, the models are asked to get together for one final group shot. Taehyung’s not even sure how it happened but when he glances to his left he finds that he’s standing next to Seokjin. He glances at him quickly but then looks away. Taehyung wonders if he’s nervous to meet people or if he’s just an ass. He hasn’t seemed very friendly this entire day that they’ve been here, mostly keeping to himself. Maybe he’s taking the competition very seriously and doesn’t want to let down his guard at all?

They take multiple photos before the producers are telling the models to get into a van so they can take them to the model house. Which turns out to be a huge mansion at a remote location with a huge kitchen, a pool, and a ton of rooms. 

They aren’t moving in today, they just want to film their reactions as they explore the house and as Taehyung looks around he still can’t believe that he’s here. Everything is so new and exciting and he can’t wait to get started on this new journey. 

After a few more reaction shots they are told to head back to the vans so they can stay in their individual hotel rooms for one more night. Everything will officially start the next day.

Taehyung’s looking forward to the whole thing but he’s happy to have one more night alone in his room so he can mentally prepare for the upcoming weeks.

It was a long day and he falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow.

SEOKJIN

Jin glances down at his suitcase, cursing himself for not bringing more clothes with him. A month doesn’t sound like too long, but somehow now that he’s here, amongst all the other beautiful models, he feels like he’s majorly under packed for this. 

The first day had been a lot to say the least. He had been a bundle of nerves the few days leading up to this whole thing but his boyfriend Ken had been so great, encouraging him just to go and have fun. But he’d been too nervous and excited to really ‘let go’ like Ken advised. He just wanted to make sure everything he did was perfect. He didn’t want to be the first model eliminated… how embarrassing would that be?

He hadn’t really gotten the chance to meet anyone or make friends, unlike some of the other models. He saw a lot of them conversing and clicking immediately, and he was jealous that he couldn’t do the same. Normally he was pretty social but for some reason, in this environment, things just felt different. And he wasn’t used to being thrust into situations like this or the fast pace of the competition environment. And they’ve barely even started.

From the second he arrived he felt like he was being judged. This guy with dark messy hair and beautiful tan skin had practically been staring as he walked in and it made him feel very self-conscious. Looking around, he felt a bit basic compared to everyone else there. Some of the other models had extremely eccentric hair styles or clothing and some had very unique looks to them. He wasn’t sure he could compare.

During the final photoshoot of the day, with all the models together, he had found himself in the center of the group, not sure how that had even happened. He looked to his right to see the same curly haired guy from before at his side. He believed his name was Taehyung? He thought he’d heard the producers call for him during the individual photoshoots. He wishes he could be more like him, Taehyung looked so confident and outgoing. He heard the producers saying how good he looked on camera. 

Seokjin was definitely one of the more reserved contestants and he was doing this mostly for the money. He really wanted to help out his parents who were struggling financially. But he doesn’t want to get his hopes up. What are the chances that he will even get very far?

And now that he’s here in the mansion preparing to unpack his things, he’s not sure which room he’s supposed to take. Every one he’s checked so far has looked full. He finds one room that looks nice and sees that a bed is already taken, but another, near the window is actually free, so he  sets his stuff down, hoping that someone hasn’t already taken it. 

“Seokjin-ssi, right?” says a slightly shorter man with reddish-brown hair. Seokjin nods. They bow to one another saying polite hellos and he discovers that the models name is Yoongi.

He chats with him for a while and he seems nice and Seokjin is grateful that he’s been approached by someone, making it much easier to strike up a conversation and potentially become friends with someone in the house.

They talk about the basics mostly, where they are from and why they are here and then the curly haired guy is coming into the room. Yoongi says hello to him, confirming his name is Taehyung.  

Taehyung reciprocates to Yoongi and then turns to look at Seokjin. He’s even more striking up close and Seokjin tries not to stare as he mutters a soft “hello”, and bows his head. But then things are quiet again and he stands awkwardly as Taehyung and Yoongi chat. Suddenly he feels out of place and a little shy. There’s a certain aura to Taehyung that makes him feel slightly intimidated. 

“So you picked that bed then?” Yoongi says to him and Seokjin nods, hoping he hasn’t tried to claim a bed that was already taken.

“Looks like the three of us are going to be roomies then.” Taehyung says with a smirk and something about it feels strange. “That’s mine in the corner.”

Seokjin turns his head to a third bed across the room that he didn’t even see before. 

“Lucky us.” Yoongi says and smiles at Taehyung and Taehyung gently touches Yoongi’s arm.

Something about it feels flirtatious and Seokjin isn’t sure how he should feel. But he keeps quiet until Taehyung is speaking again. 

“I’m gonna go explore more, but it was nice to meet you finally Seokjin-ssi.” Taheyung says, and before even giving Seokjin a chance to respond he’s already heading back out the door. He has so much confidence that Seokjin isn’t quite sure how to handle it.

“Man, he’s attractive, isn’t he?” Yoongi says to him as he heads towards his bed and begins unpacking. 

“Yeah.” Seokjin replies, not wanting to say too much. He has a boyfriend and he shouldn’t be noticing how good-looking anyone here is, but Yoongi has a point. Taehyung is attractive.

The first night seems to go pretty well, the models are asked to go to sleep early because they have “something big” planned for their first official challenge and Seokjin tries not to let his nerves get to him. He mingles as best he can, talks with Ken on the phone for about an hour and then brushes his teeth, showers, and heads to bed. By the time he’s safely underneath his covers neither Taehyung nor Yoongi are anywhere around. He tries not to stress about where they are and what they are doing. 

He quickly falls asleep and it’s a few hours later when he hears voices and laughter filtering into the room. He glances at his clock and notices it's 1am. He’s a little irritated but luckily enough the voices quiet once they get fully inside. Just through the dim lighting of the bathroom, Seokjin can see Taehyung climbing into bed. He squeezes his eyes shut, wondering if Taehyung caught him staring.

The next day they are taken to a hair salon and it’s pretty obvious to everyone that they are there for makeovers. Typically shows like this wait a little longer until this stage but Seokjin is glad they are biting the bullet now. He doesn’t really care what they decide to do to him; he knows his hair will grow back eventually. But he hopes he doesn’t get stuck with weird extensions or a shaved head. 

He’s lucky when the show decides to color his hair black and give it a small trim. He was ready to let go of the brown color anyways and he knows he looks his best in his natural darker color. 

He mostly keeps to himself throughout the day but he’s one of the first contestants to be finished and after his personal photoshoot is complete he glances around at the other makeovers happening. Yoongi is getting his hair bleached completely blonde, and it looks like they are planning to put some sort of mint green color on top. 

He inadvertently searches for Taehyung to find him way in the back area of the salon. He didn’t notice him at first because now, instead of the dark hair he walked in with, he’s got bleach blonde hair, and the stylist seems to be throwing another color on top of it as well. 

He doesn’t realize it’s a pretty silver shade until he sees him again later in the day, after finishing his own shoot. Seokjin hates to admit it, but he looks amazing. He looked good with the black too. He’s probably the type of person that can pull off any color. They’ve allowed him to keep his hair messy and curly and Seokjin knows that it suits him best. 

And now he’s worried, because everyone is starting to look really cool and unique and Seokjin wonders if his makeover is too simple, but he wants to trust the process. 

When he makes it back that night he’s exhausted, even though they barely did anything that day, and he knows that tomorrow he’s gonna have to wake up and do all of this again. He’s not sure if this competition is really for him, but he wants to stick it out. Encouraging words from Ken that night are also keeping him sane. 

The next morning they are finally ready for their first official photoshoot, and Seokjin’s nerves are running because at the end of the day, one person will be sent home.

It’s revealed their first shoot will be a bathing suit challenge and Seokjin is thankful he spent the last 3 months working out vigorously. He’s proud of his body and even though he wasn’t prepared for a challenge like this to happen so soon, he tries to muster up as much confidence as he can. 

For this spread they all get glammed up and then transported to the beach where the shoot will take place. It’s freezing cold outside and they are allowed to wear robes until it’s their turn. They are camped in tents and Seokjin notices Taehyung standing close by. His robe is tied in the front but it’s falling open a little bit and Seokjin can’t stop himself from trailing his eyes over his body. 

He hates to admit it, but Taehyung looks good. He’s not as fit as Seokjin but he’s thin, with the most beautiful shade of skin. Seokjin has a boyfriend sure, but he can appreciate the male form. 

He sees Yoongi chatting with Taehyung and the two are laughing again and Seokjin’s eyes trail over Taehyung’s entire face. He understands why the camera loves him. He’s got an incredible smile that sort of evens out when it goes up and his eyes crinkle too and it makes him look so… innocent? Seokjin’s not sure he’s ever really seen it before.

He doesn’t realize he’s staring until Taehyung glances over at him and their eyes connect for only a minute before Seokjin is turning away, feeling embarrassed that he’s been caught. 

He gets called to do his photoshoot shortly after that and it goes so smoothly that Seokjin almost forgets that he’s doing a job. The camera man seems to love him, especially when he moves around on the beach and strikes different poses. He’s not doing anything specific but he’s always been flexible and knows how to move his body. He gets a lot of praise from people behind the scenes too and some of the other models have even come out to watch. 

“Seokjin! You’re such a natural model!” The photographer praises him as he comes off the set. It’s freezing outside and he just wants to curl up in his robe and head back to the house. He ignores the stares on him as he returns to the tent. 

When he first came into this he wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing, or if he even wanted to model, but now that he’s here he’s really enjoying himself. It’s fun, and the praise has really given him the encouragement to take this seriously. 

He changes into his normal clothes once he gets to the tent. He’s told he’s allowed to head back to the house earlier if he wants while the other models finish up, and then they will all meet back at the studio later when the results are revealed that evening. 

Once he’s back at the house he takes a short nap. Around 5pm the models have all returned and dinner is delivered for them. Almost everyone gathers in the kitchen  to eat and when Seokjin spots Yoongi sitting alone at the center table he makes his way over to him, plopping down beside him. 

“How did your shoot go?” Seokjin asks him and Yoongi responds that it went pretty well. He mentioned that he struggled a little feeling confident in his body but hopes that he was able to make up for it with some of his posing. And that he didn’t get any negative feedback.

“That’s great.” Seokjin says genuinely, enjoying his food. They chat for a little while and Yoongi is so easy to talk to. He has been from the start, and Seokjin is so glad he has at least one friend in the house. 

“I heard you did great.”

“Really?” Seokjin asks.

“Yeah, all the models were talking about how amazing you looked out there. You’re probably gonna get photo of the week tonight...”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Seokjin replies. And he means it. There are a lot of talented people here. But getting the star photo in the first week would certainly mean a lot. “I don’t know if I’m truly a model…”

“Stop, you did so good today. Everyone was watching you….” Yoongi takes a bite as Seokjin says thanks again and then he pauses, like he’s hesitant about saying the next part, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this but everyone kinda hates you now because you’re so good.”

He smiles as he says it, so Seokjin thinks he probably means it as a joke, but he’s not quite sure how to feel about it either. He doesn’t want anyone to hate him.

“Hey, are you finished?” He hears behind him and turns to look over his shoulder to see Taehyung staring down at him, plate in hand. 

“Oh…” Seokjin says suddenly, glancing down to realize that he’s finished his food and that Taehyung clearly is looking to take his spot, “yeah, I guess…”

“Do you think I can take your spot?” Taehyung says it nicely but there’s a weird sort of edge to his tone and Seokjin finds himself nodding and standing before he even realized what happened. 

“Sorry, it’s just there isn’t a lot of room at the table or places to sit and I have to talk to Yoongi-hyung.” Taehyung explains as he sits down, turning his attention to Yoongi. Yoongi gives Seokjin a sheepish smile and Seokjin takes the hint and leaves, putting his plate in the kitchen before heading back to his empty room. 

He’s a bit put off by Taehyung’s behavior. It was sort of rude, him just coming in like that. Seokjin hates that he just allowed Taehyung to walk over him, but he didn’t want to make a scene over a spot at a dinner table. He wonders if the producers of the show did it on purpose… made the table so small to make it impossible for all the models to fit around it. They probably want fights for the drama.

He tries not to let it get to him though, laying down on his bed to read for a while until it’s time to head back to the studio. What Yoongi said at the table filters through his head, ‘everyone kinda hates you now’. Is that true? Did everyone in the house dislike him? Was it because of the photoshoot today or just in general? He hasn’t exactly gone out of his way to make friends. Does Taehyung hate him too? Is that why he dismissed him from the table? 

Seokjin tries to forget about it. He’s just gotta get through the next 4 weeks.

Later that evening, at the results taping, he’s shocked when he hears his name called first, revealing that he’s gotten top photo of the week and that he is safe. As he hears the other names being called he tries not to focus on the eyes staring daggers at him. Of course he’s thrilled to still be in the competition but he doesn’t exactly want everyone to hate him for doing so well. 

Taehyung’s name is called 3rd and then Yoongi’s 4th, and Seokjin is glad that he at least has a friendly face still in the house with him. More models names are called until they get down to the last three standing. A twist reveals that not one but two models will be going home in the first week. And when the results are out everyone says their goodbyes. It all goes by so quickly and then the remaining 13 models are immediately transported back to the house. 

Just like that, two people are already gone and it’s only been a few days! Seokjin notes how strange it already feels with less people in the house. But Seokjin tries to convince himself to hang in there. There are only 12 models left to go home… and hopefully it won’t be him.

When he gets back into his room he brushes his teeth and gets ready for bed. After he lays down and is about to turn off the light he glances across the room, into the bathroom. Through the mirror he can see Taehyung just watching him… like he’s studying him. Or maybe sizing him up. 

After the taping, everyone had congratulated Jin on his top photo, smiling at him and giving him hugs. 

All, but one.

Taehyung smirks at him, then slams the door shut.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Move in day had been so hectic and crazy and Taehyung had met so many people and he was getting more and more excited for the actual competition to start. 

He had picked out a bed instantly and made friends with a model named Yoongi who he had met a little earlier. Yoongi had also chosen a bed in the same room as him. He was shorter than Taehyung but cute and he had this funny sort of grumpy attitude. Taehyung wondered why he was even in the competition but he was nice enough and they had clicked almost instantly. 

Later in the day when he returned to his room he found Yoongi standing with Seokjin, and he was compelled to make his way over and finally introduce himself. 

Seokjin says hello, but not much of anything else, and Taehyung wonders why he’s so damn shy. How did he even manage to get a spot on the show if he could barely string two words together? Taehyung turns his attention back to Yoongi instead before heading back out. Something about Seokjin is so frustrating to him. Why isn’t he friendlier? Everyone else seems to be making an effort to get to know him. But he tries to dismiss it and have a good time with the others. 

When they receive their makeovers Taehyung absolutely loves his new look. Yoongi looks flawless too with his new mint green hair, Taehyung is slightly jealous he didn’t get something more extreme. But when he spots Seokjin with his black hair he wants to gloat over it because it’s so simple, but he simply can’t find fault in it. Seokjin is so ridiculously gorgeous that of course he looks stunning. Only someone like him with his perfect facial structure could pull off such a “basic” look. He doesn’t need anything special or extra to look nice behind the camera. And Seokjin proves him right later on when they have their first photoshoot and he absolutely nails it. He can hear the photographers and other models raving over his shoot. Taehyung tried not to watch too much of it, he didn’t want to psych himself out for his own photoshoot, but from what he did see, Seokjin looked flawless, as usual. 

His body… fuck, it was perfect. Of course. And the way he moved in front of the camera made Taehyung so envious. But it also helped encourage him to try just as hard, and he’d received good feedback on his photo session as well. Taehyung thought he caught Seokjin glancing at him a few times throughout the day but tells himself it was probably just his imagination, wondering what the older model thinks of him… if he thinks anything at all. 

Of course Seokjin wins star photo that week, but Taehyung comes in 3rd, which he will take, for now. Eventually he’s going to have to catch up to Seokjin though. But Taehyung is just glad he wasn’t eliminated first.

That night, as he sleeps, thoughts of Seokjin continue to roam through his head. He doesn’t know why. He wishes they would stop. But he can’t stop thinking about Seokjin’s amazing body and the way he carries himself. Something about him just comes off so confident, and mature. 

But he really needs to stop thinking about him. Seokjin has a boyfriend. And he’s the competition. Not to mention, he’s clearly not even here to make friends. 

Taehyung’s been vibing really well with Yoongi though and thinks that if he wants to have a bit of fun, it would probably be with him. Hooking up with someone you are competing against probably isn’t the smartest decision ever but it could be exciting, and Taehyung needs a little bit of that in his life. 

They are allowed a few days off after the first challenge to rest and get prepared for the next competition. The camera crew comes to the house to film them for an entire day and they are told they are not allowed to hide in their rooms. He wonders how Seokjin is going to deal with that.

He notices Seokjin finally seeming to converse with some of the other models. Probably because he’s being forced to, Taehyung thinks to himself. Usually he’s on the phone with his stupid boyfriend or reading in bed alone. Taehyung just can’t figure him out. And it’s driving him crazy.

But he wants to have a good time tonight and not think about Seokjin. The more he drinks the more fun he starts to have. (And the friskier he feels.) He wants to flirt with Seokjin but knows that he’s off limits, so he goes for the next best option: Yoongi. Unlike Seokjin, Yoongi is single, he’s hinted as much to Taehyung already. He’s also funny in a very dry sort of way and Taehyung likes how he reacts when he touches him. He acts all put off by it, but Taehyung can tell that deep down, he likes the attention. 

Sometimes he catches Yoongi looking at him so he knows that he’s interested. He spends the majority of the day stuck to Yoongi’s side, flirting and trying to get to know him even more than he already does. He’s probably playing with fire a little bit by initiating something with someone in the house but well, it’s only four weeks, so if it goes south he’ll just switch rooms. The chances of them both getting to the end of the competition are rare as it is, why not have fun while he’s here? 

As the evening starts to wind down someone suggests a drinking game and everyone gathers around in a circle to play. Even Seokjin joins in, which is a surprise to Taehyung considering that up to this point he’s kept his distance and barely drank at all. 

They start off easy with a game of 'Never Have I Ever’ and Taehyung learns quite a bit about everyone there. Then the game turns a bit more chaotic and some of the questions that people ask start getting a bit more personal. He spots Seokjin taking a drink when someone asks if they’ve had sex in a public place and he can’t stop the surprise that is probably clearly etched on his face. Seokjin seems a lot more carefree and wilder than he originally expected. He’s about to ask a question himself but then a phone rings and he sees Seokjin excusing himself from the game to answer it. 

He’s not sure why it bothers him so much but it does. He’s a young, attractive, twenty-something guy on a reality TV show. He should be having fun and getting to know everyone, not stuck on his phone for hours talking to his stupid boyfriend.

Add the fact that Seokjin is unattainable somehow makes him even more attractive to Taehyung… which then frustrates him even more.

“Never have I ever kissed anyone in this house…” Taehyung says and he notices two female models taking sips of their drinks. Everyone around the circle starts laughing and then Taehyung takes the opportunity to scoot even closer to Yoongi whispering to him, “I haven’t but I want to.” 

He loves the way that Yoongi sort of shyly smiles and looks down. He’s making it pretty obvious exactly what he means and he likes the attention he’s getting from Yoongi. It makes him feel good. He’s always been the kind of person that craves attention from people. 

They play for a little while longer, all the while staying glued to Yoongi’s side. As the game starts to wind down a little more Taehyung excuses himself to go to the bathroom. On the way there he overhears Seokjin at the end of the hallway, still on the phone to Ken. He should ignore it and continue on, but he can’t help but stop, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation. 

“I don’t know, everyone gets along so well and I am just feeling a little left out.” He hears Seokjin saying over the phone. Instantly Taehyung feels a little bit bad but he wants to yell “ITS YOUR OWN FAULT”. Seokjin can definitely afford to put himself out there more.

“Yeah…” Seokjin continues, “I’m just not sure I’m really in the same place as them. Everyone here is single and drinking and it’s just kinda tough… you know?” 

He doesn’t know what sort of responses Ken is giving to Seokjin but by the look on Seokjin’s face, they aren’t very good. He seems sad, and a little frustrated and he and Ken begin to argue a bit on the phone. He can hear Seokjin promising to call him everyday and assuring Ken that he’ll be home soon.

Taehyung finds it all so irritating but he doesn’t blame Ken for being worried. His boyfriend is beautiful and multiple people in the house probably want to hook up with him. It makes sense that Ken would feel insecure about that. 

Taehyung walks away, not wanting to hear anymore of the conversation and once he’s back from the bathroom he gets another drink, already regretting his decisions. He knows he’s gonna be feeling sick tomorrow, but at least they have another day off before their next photoshoot. 

He finds himself searching for Yoongi almost immediately and spots his mint green hair talking to some other models and standing near the staircase. He saunters over slowly, with his drink in his hand, just watching the group until Yoongi turns his head towards him. 

“Hey.” He says softly, not removing his eyes from Yoongi’s face for even a second and clearly Yoongi has noticed because he’s stepping away from the group to stand closer to Taehyung.

“Hey back.” He says quietly and Taehyung finds it pretty adorable how he’s looking at Taehyung, all shy and awkward, even though they’ve had multiple conversations in the house up to this point. 

Alcohol always seems to bring out different sides in people though and clearly Taehyung is feeling it because he grabs at Yoongi’s arm by his jacket and pulls him around the corner so they can talk without cameras focused on them. Yoongi goes with him wordlessly and stares at Taehyung as he pushes him gently against the wall, one arm coming up to bracket him in place. 

“What are you doing?” Taehyung asks with a smile, and finds it amusing the way that Yoongi stutters his words a little bit, almost like he can’t register exactly where he is. 

“Just… hanging out. What’s up with you?” 

Taehyung sighs, looking down at Yoongi’s jacket again. He grabs the material on his wrist and pinches at him playfully before looking back up at Yoongi with wide eyes.

“I’m bored.” He says, drawing out the last words and gently pouting his lip at Yoongi, hoping that he will take the hint. 

It seems that he does when Yoongi’s eyes flicker to his lips for a moment before looking back up. 

“What do you wanna do?” Yoongi basically whispers and Taehyung uses the opportunity to lean further in, only centimeters from his face. 

“I might have some ideas.” He whispers back. 

Yoongi actually laughs then and his focus shifts around, like he’s on lookout, before turning back to Taehyung. “How much have you had to drink tonight?”

“Enough.” Taehyung flirts back before finishing the rest of his drink that’s in his hand. 

Yoongi’s about to say something in response when footsteps down the hall startle the both of them. Yoongi attempts to put a little bit of space between him and Taehyung but Taehyung doesn’t budge, remaining leaned up against the wall. 

Seokjin’s actually coming around the corner, clearly just having gotten off the phone and he glances at the two of them standing close together, clearly unnerved a little by the sight of it.

“Hey guys.” He says quietly and Taehyung is silent, only sharing a quick look with Seokjin as he passes by. 

Yoongi says something else to Seokjin then but he doesn’t stick around, thankfully, and he’s off back towards the kitchen.

“Anyway, where were we?” Taehyung asks, putting his other arm up against the wall and really trapping Yoongi there now. 

“You were telling me how much you’ve had to drink.”

“Ah yes. Enough. What about you? Are you drunk right now?”

“No,” Yoongi says immediately.

“Good. Because if I’m gonna kiss you then I really want your consent…” 

Yoongi takes a breath, like he’s contemplating what to say. 

“Not here.” He finally answers.

“Okay…” Taehyung whispers, grabbing Yoongi’s drink from his hand and placing both cups on the banister. “Come on then.”

Taehyung pulls Yoongi by the wrist back towards their room and shuts the door behind them, continuing forward until they’re in the middle of the room. 

“Better?” Taehyung asks and leans forward. He’s about to kiss Yoongi but Yoongi puts his hand on Taehyung’s chest, forcing him to pause.

“Wait. Taehyung, are you sure? This might make things complicated…”

“Not if we don’t let it.” Taehyung answers but Yoongi still seems a little hesitant to continue. “Yoongi-hyung, do you want to kiss me or not?”

Yoongi doesn’t answer, he just nods his head softly and that’s all the permission Taehyung needs before he’s grabbing Yoongi by the neck and pulling him for a kiss.

Yoongi’s lips are soft and moist and it feels really good to kiss someone like this again. It’s been such a long time and Yoongi is sweet, and he’s funny and Taehyung likes being around him. He likes the attention that Yoongi seems to give him, and right now, that's exactly what he wants. 

They pull away for only a second until Taehyung’s walking both of them backwards and pushing Yoongi onto the nearest bed, climbing over him as they dip into the mattress. 

It’s only when he opens his eyes the slightest bit that he can see Seokjin staring back at him. It’s a photo of him and his mom at his graduation placed in a frame next to the bed. 

A weird sort of feeling stirs in Taehyung’s gut and for a brief second he thinks about what it would feel like to be kissing Seokjin here on his bed instead. He’s got these big puffy lips that would probably be really fun to nibble on. 

Immediately Taehyung rejects the image though, not wanting to think about Seokjin right now. Not when he’s out in the other room probably being a miserable sour pants. Not when he’s staring at his phone all night probably waiting for his dumb boyfriend to call for the millionth time. 

Maybe Seokjin would be a horrible kisser. Maybe he’d be really slow and boring and predictable. 

He should have noticed when Yoongi pulled away but he didn’t. It wasn’t until he heard his voice that he realized, they’d been caught.

“What the hell is going on?” Seokjin yells from behind them. 

SEOKJIN

When the group is informed they will get a few days off Seokjin is happy for the break, until he is told that cameras will be coming in to the house to film them as they converse and they won’t be allowed to hide away in their rooms.

But he wants to take the opportunity to put himself out there and make an attempt at being more social. He tries to drink more than normal, hoping that it will help him loosen up and things seem to be heading that direction for a while. He finds himself talking to more of the models and even joining in on the drinking games. But when Ken calls him he rushes to answer, not wanting to miss it.

Ken has been needier than usual since he’s been here. It’s the first time in two years since they started dating that they’ve been away from one another this many nights and while Seokjin is finding it pretty easy to navigate a long distance relationship, clearly Ken is not; he’s been calling Seokjin 2-3 times a day.

“Hey babe.” Seokjin answers, heading down the hallway to some privacy.

Ken asks him what he’s up to and he answers that the house is currently drinking and trying to socialize. He knows Ken isn’t going to react very well to that news but he wants to be honest with him, knowing Ken will see everything that airs on TV later on. Ken asks if Seokjin is drinking and he answers yes, “but not too much.” 

Ken then asks if he’s having a good time and Seokjin lets him know that he’s feeling a little left out. How he doesn’t feel like he’s in the same place as everyone else here. 

Seokjin’s the only one in a relationship and it’s tricky being around 14 other attractive young models without flirting even a little. Though he would never admit this to Ken, part of him wishes he were still single. He’d probably have a bit more fun here. Some of the other models surely are enjoying their time. Yoongi and Taehyung in particular looked especially chummy earlier during the drinking game. Taehyung was practically sitting on Yoongi’s lap.

He shouldn’t care what they do with their free time but they are both his roommates and the last thing he wants is to share a room with a couple. He wonders if he came into the house single if he would have hooked up with either of them, but immediately rejects the thought. Yoongi is really nice, but he sees him more in a friendly way. And Taehyung is certainly attractive but it’s more than obvious that he can’t stand Seokjin. From the beginning he’s been cold and distant. And Seokjin winning the first photo of the week certainly didn’t help matters. He’s sure some of what Yoongi said about everyone hating him is partially true now. 

Ken snaps at him for being distracted and not listening while he was speaking and Seokjin knows he’s being a little distant, but trying to maintain his relationship from this far away was harder than he anticipated it being. Not for his sake, but because Ken clearly wasn’t happy with the arrangement. He apologizes to him and finishes up his conversation with Ken, attempting to head back to the party.

When he makes his way down the hall of course he’s met with Yoongi and Taehyung standing just inches away from him. They’re standing extremely close together and are probably seconds away from making out right in front of his face. He tries to look casual, saying hello to both of them before heading back to the kitchen. He’s gonna need a drink. 

He tries to have a conversation with another model in the house named Hoseok but he has a hard time concentrating on what he is saying, his focus continually going back down towards the hallway. He notices that Taehyung and Yoongi are no longer there and they haven’t returned to the main living area. His brain won’t stop thinking of insane scenarios of where they could possibly be. They looked pretty darn flirtatious in the hallway. Is it possible that they snuck off somewhere to hook up? He doesn’t know them well enough yet but doesn’t think they would do that… they’ve only just met.

Regardless, he doesn’t have a right to judge, or even care, because he has a boyfriend and it’s none of his damn business. But sharing a room with two people who are hooking up would certainly be annoying to deal with for the remaining weeks. 

His feet carry him down the hallway and towards his room where he can hear quiet whispers and voices. He knows it’s them before he even opens the door, but it doesn’t stop the shocked gasp that releases from his mouth when he sees them together, making out, on his bed.

“What the hell is going on?” He says boldly, staring at Yoongi as he scrambles out from underneath Taehyung as quickly as possible.

“Seokjin-hyung, I’m so sorry!” Yoongi apologizes profusely, moving to stand in front of Seokjin. “We got carried away…” 

He doesn’t have the heart to be rude to him, but when he turns to look at Taehyung, he’s still laying back against his bed, propped up on his elbow with a smug smile on his face.

“Can you get off my bed please?” Seokjin asks, not even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. He wants to be cool about this but he really can’t stand when other people lay on his bed with their dirty clothing. 

Taehyung at least has the decency to listen, standing across the room and staring at Seokjin with curious eyes. 

“We didn’t realize it was your bed we were a little… busy.” He smirks.

Seokjin wants to wipe his stupid smile straight off of his face. Must he be so smug? 

“Hyung, I promise it won’t happen again.” Yoongi says to him and Seokjin puts a hand on his shoulder, silently acknowledging that he’s okay with it. Yoongi, he believes, is telling him the truth.

“Thanks. Can I talk to Taehyung-ssi?” Seokjin asks and Yoongi looks between Seokjin and Taehyung once before nodding, and then he walks out the door. 

“Why do I feel like a teenager that’s about to be scolded by their parents?” Taehyung smiles, sauntering over to Seokjin.

And once again Seokjin is irritated. So now Taehyung is likening him to an over-reactive parent? 

“How would you feel if I brought my boyfriend here and we started fooling around on your bed?”

“Okay first of all, we weren’t fooling around, it was just a kiss, stop being so uptight…”

“I’m not being-“

“Second of all, I would be happy for you two. Someone like you could probably use a good dicking down. You seem a little… wound up.” 

And then Taehyung has the actual audacity to place his hand on Seokjin’s shoulder, like he did with Yoongi only minutes earlier, as if he’s pretending to be comforting when really he’s just being condescending. 

“Why are you acting like such a jerk?” Seokjin can’t stop the words from tumbling out. The last thing he wanted here in this competition was to fight with someone or to make a scene, but he can’t help himself. Taehyung makes him so fucking mad. And he really doesn’t get what he ever did to piss him off so badly. 

“I’m not.” Taehyung says defensively, taking his hand off of Seokjin’s shoulder. He’s glaring as Seokjin with annoyance, as if he can’t believe that Seokjin would accuse him of such a thing. 

“You are. From day 1 you’ve been looking at me weird and acting like…”

“Like what?” Taehyung interrupts. “You’re the one that’s acting like a jerk Seokjin-ssi, not me. I know you won photo of the week but it doesn’t give you the right to walk around here like you’re better than everyone…”

“I- what?” Seokjin can’t help but ask, his voice rising as the conversation continues. He wasn’t walking around like he was better than everyone. He just had a hard time making friends in this environment. Is this what everyone in the house thinks of him? “I’m not trying to be…” 

“Whatever…” Taehyung says to him, walking around Seokjin and attempting to leave. It infuriates Seokjin even more that Taehyung won’t stay to finish the conversation. 

“You shouldn’t be hooking up with people in the house anyways!” He shouts out to him. 

“It’s none of your business. Seriously, lighten up!” Taehyung yells over his shoulder and Seokjin can’t even formulate a response because Taehyung is already walking back down the hall and out of sight. Probably to find Yoongi and look for another bed to make out on. 

He doesn’t care about the shows rules anymore, slamming the door to the bedroom shut and stomping over to his bed. He lies down on it, despite still being a little grossed out by the fact that his sheets are now dirty.

He can’t believe he just got into a fight with another model. Someone that he barely knows. This was the most he and Taehyung had ever spoken to one another since they’d arrived here and part of him feels like crying, but another part of him feels like stomping back out into the living room and giving Taehyung a piece of his mind.

He’s older. And he has been nothing but nice to Taehyung since he got here. Taehyung should be respecting him, not acting like such a little brat. 

He ignores the sounds of laughter coming from outside of the room and scrambles in his drawers for his AirPods, throwing them in his ears and laying back on the bed. 

He wants to forget this night ever happened.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung wakes up with blurry vision and a pounding headache and curses himself for drinking so much the night before. The party had been fun, well, up until the point Seokjin stormed into their room and scolded him for having a good time. 

Okay, so it was kind of shitty to make out on Seokjin’s bed and then not even apologize afterwards but it’s not like Taehyung had wanted Seokjin to find them like that. Taehyung probably would have apologized too, if it weren’t for the stupid tone in Seokjin’s voice when he asked Taehyung to get off his bed, or the annoyed expression on his face. It was like he was judging Taehyung for having fun. 

It was never Taehyung’s intention to piss Seokjin off or create this weird tension between them, but Seokjin kept doing things to rile Taehyung up. Winning photo of the week didn’t help, because that made Seokjin his number 1 competition here. On top of that, Seokjin kept to himself and didn’t make any sort of an effort to get to know Taehyung, or really anyone else other than Yoongi. And to make matters even more complicated he was finding himself becoming more attracted to Seokjin with each passing day. Which just infuriated him. Not because Seokjin was unavailable (which he was) but also because there’s nothing worse than starting to like someone you’re supposed to hate. He liked seeing Seokjin all flustered and annoyed. He wasn’t entirely sure why… but he was kind of fun to mess with. 

The night before he had stumbled into bed super early in the morning and of course Seokjin had already been asleep. When Taehyung wakes up, Seokjin is already out of bed too. It would be like him to be an early riser. He seems like someone that would have his shit together.

When Taehyung saunters out to the kitchen and spots Yoongi and Seokjin talking quietly at the table he knows that Yoongi is probably just apologizing for the hundredth time. But Taehyung refuses to do it. He and Yoongi are both single. They’re both consenting adults. They have every right to do whatever the hell they want to in this house. Next time he’ll just make sure to do it on his own bed. 

“Taehyung! Can you come here?” Yoongi yells to him and Taehyung can see the immediate look of annoyance on Seokjin’s face as he makes his way over. Yoongi clearly wants to mend fences or something, and Seokjin looks just about as excited for that to happen as he does. 

“What’s up…” Taehyung asks tentatively, his focus shifting between Yoongi and Seokjin.

“I know what happened yesterday was awkward for all of us but I think we should clear the air…” Yoongi attempts to say.

“What is there to clear?” Taehyung asks. 

“Well, you two obviously got off on the wrong foot.” 

“Yeah and whose fault is that?” Taehyung says, turning to look at Seokjin. He knows he’s being pretty unfair, after all, Seokjin really hadn’t done anything to warrant his attitude, but something about him made Taehyung want to act out. 

“We’ve barely even spoken since I got into the house Taehyung-ssi…” Seokjin says.

“Exactly.” Taehyung retorts.

“I’m sorry if I wasn’t more welcoming to you but it’s not so easy for me to make friends here.”

“Well maybe if you weren’t on your phone all the time you would be more approachable to people.”

“Guys…” Yoongi tries to interject but Seokjin clearly isn’t done speaking.

“Are you sure this isn’t about me winning the best photo? All of this started after that happened. But I’m not your competition Taehyung…”

“That’s exactly what you are. We’re all each others competition. Did you forget that’s what we are here for?”

“And yet, you only seem to have a problem with me?” 

“I don’t care that you won top photo.” Taehyung says.

“Yeah, that much is obvious.” Seokjin says under his breath.

“Come on… can’t you two just work this out?” Yoongi asks, clearly exasperated. We’re all roommates and we have to put up with each other, at least for a while longer.” 

“Maybe you’re just not my cup of tea…” Taehyung says quietly, leaning over and smirking at Seokjin. 

“Or maybe you’re just jealous that I’m doing better than you.”  

“See what I mean Yoongi-hyung?” Taehyung turns to Yoongi to ask. “He thinks he’s above everyone.” 

“I don’t think that’s-“ Yoongi starts to say.

Taehyung interrupts, “you need to relax Seokjin-ssi. You’re way too fucking uptight.”

He can see from Seokjin’s expression that it’s just twisting the knife even more.

“I was completely relaxed until you started acting like a jerk!” Seokjin finally loses it, standing up so that he’s facing Taehyung. For a second Taehyung wonders if he’s pissed Seokjin off enough to hit him. But then he throws the thought away. Seokjin doesn’t seem like the type to be violent.

“Never mind, Yoongi, this was completely pointless. But thanks for trying.” Seokjin moves past Taehyung, bumping purposely into his shoulder as he stalks out of the room. 

“Seriously, what’s going on with you two?” Yoongi turns to him but Taehyung doesn’t bother responding. He doesn’t quite know why Seokjin gets under his skin so much but he’s tired of analyzing it. 

“Come on, can we talk about something else?” Taehyung says with his best cute voice and pouty expression. He surprises Yoongi by sitting on his lap and wrapping his arms around his neck. “Or.. we don’t have to talk at all.”

Yoongi smiles his adorable smile at Taehyung, with his scrunched up eyes and looks away, clearly feeling a little embarrassed. 

“We can’t… not out here.” He whispers and Taehyung glances around quickly before leaning in and pecking him on the lips. 

“Then let’s find somewhere we can go… finish what we started last night?”  

Yoongi closes his eyes, letting Taehyung kiss him one more time but then a noise from down the hallway startles them away, Yoongi instantly pushing Taehyung off him and standing. 

“Maybe we should cool it a bit… at least, during the daytime?” Yoongi mentions and Taehyung wants to pout some more. Darn him for being so responsible. 

“You’re no fun.” Taehyung whines as Yoongi tucks a hair behind his ear. 

“Later?” He asks and Taehyung nods, not wanting to push too hard.

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

Seokjin remains irritated with Taehyung for the rest of the day, constantly leaving the room whenever Taehyung enters, or huffing and puffing whenever Taehyung says something nearby. Taehyung wants to call it out and tell Seokjin to give it a rest but he knows that will only fuel the fire and he’s trying his hardest to be the more responsible one here. 

He sits by Yoongi at dinner and ignores the eye roll he gets when Seokjin glances in their direction. Yoongi is one of Seokjin’s only friends in the house and probably hates that he has to share his attention now. Taehyung wonders if it’s at all possible that Seokjin is jealous of what they have but then he pushes the thought away. He is probably just missing his boyfriend and is feeling lonely. 

Taehyung puts his arm around Yoongi’s shoulder anyway, keeping it there as they eat. Yoongi’s a little stiff but doesn’t push him off and Taehyung loves the reaction on Seokjin’s face afterwards. He just can’t help himself. He likes riling Seokjin up.

Take that Kim Seokjin. 

It’s their last day off before the next competition begins and Taehyung wants to enjoy his free time and relax outside by the pool. Of course Seokjin is already outside when he gets there and Taehyung tries his hardest not to stare. Seokjin’s relaxing in his chair and he’s got shorts and a tank top on and it’s the most skin Taehyung has seen of Seokjin since the competition started (well, besides the beach photoshoot) and he hates to admit it, but he looks good. 

Taehyung contemplates moving to the other side of the pool and away from Seokjin, knowing it would be the mature thing to do. But he can’t help from plopping right beside Seokjin on one of the pool chairs. Maybe if he irritates Seokjin enough he’ll go away and give Taehyung the freedom of having the pool to himself. 

“What are you doing Taehyung?” Seokjin asks bluntly as Taehyung sits his butt next to him and glances over.

“Just enjoying the sunshine by the pool. What do you think I’m doing?”

“There are a dozen other chairs you can choose.” 

“Yeah, well I like this one. I want to work on my tan.” 

Seokjin glances over his body for a brief second and it looks like he’s going to say something before deciding against it. He huffs out in frustration but leans back against his chair, clearly attempting to ignore Taehyung. 

It works for about ten seconds and as Taehyung sits there he tries to think about what else he can do to annoy Seokjin, but his plan gets interrupted when Seokjin’s phone rings. He can tell by the look on Seokjin’s face that it’s his boyfriend calling and for a brief second it looks like Seokjin even contemplates answering it.

“I dare you not to answer.” Taehyung says and quirks an eyebrow, wondering if Seokjin will even accept the challenge. But then he’s rolling his eyes and answering his phone and Taehyung groans. So predictable. 

“Hey baby…” Seokjin says as he holds the phone up. It’s a FaceTime call and Taehyung can actually see Ken through the other end. He’s ridiculously good-looking, of course. Taehyung didn’t expect anything less from Seokjin’s boyfriend. 

He listens to their boring conversation for a minute or so but then Taehyung is getting annoyed so he shifts his pool chair over towards Seokjin’s. Seokjin is too distracted by the conversation with Ken to really notice until it’s too late. 

“Hello!” Taehyung calls out, peeking his head into frame and the look on Seokjin’s face is priceless as he realizes what’s happening. 

“Who is that?” Ken says through the phone and Seokjin sighs but then turns it in Taehyung’s direction. Taehyung puts on the sweetest smile he can muster and waves at Ken through the phone.

“Hi! I’m Taehyung.” He says and he can see how annoyed Seokjin is as he glares at him. He’s probably figuring out how he is going to handle this. 

“Ken, this is one of the models… he’s just hanging out by the pool nearby.” 

“Hi.” Ken responds back to him but it doesn’t seem very friendly. 

“You should be so proud of your boyfriend, Ken-ssi… he’s doing really well in this competition.” Taehyung says animatedly. “He told you he won photo of the week didn’t he? Isn’t that great?”

Taehyung takes it up a notch when he reaches forward and grabs Seokjin’s shoulder, holding it tightly and then massaging. He knows he’s being an ass but he’s far past caring. 

“Uh… yeah, he did tell me…” Ken answers and then Seokjin’s pulling away from Taehyung’s grip and standing, walking away. 

“Sorry babe, you were cutting out, so let’s talk over here.” He covers quickly and walks over to the other side of the pool area.

Taehyung has half a mind to follow him over and make things even more uncomfortable but decides against it. He’s probably irritated Seokjin enough and he smirks to himself as he relaxes back into his chair. He can hear Seokjin talking to Ken in a hushed whisper.

When Seokjin is off the phone, he returns, clearly pissed and Taehyung has to physically stop himself from laughing out loud. Seeing Seokjin upset is way too hilarious. 

“Why do you insist on being so damn annoying?” Seokjin practically yells at Taehyung.

“I was being friendly.” Taehyung says plainly, throwing his hands behind his head as he stares up at Seokjin with big innocent eyes, playing dumb.

“No you weren’t, you were trying to upset him. I know you’re having a hard time with me here, and you can bug me all you want but don’t mess with my relationship.” 

Seokjin actually sounds a little scary and for a brief second Taehyung feels a bit bad. He doesn’t know Ken. Ken has done nothing to him personally. He doesn’t necessarily deserve Taehyung’s wrath.

“I was just teasing!” Taehyung huffs out. “If your relationship is going to crumble over something so small and insignificant then clearly there’s something wrong with it.” 

Taehyung blurts out the words before he can take them back and it’s clearly the wrong thing to say because Seokjin looks like he has been punched. He practically has steam coming out of his ears. He doesn’t respond to the comment, probably because the truth hurts, and instead he grabs for his towel and water and stalks away from Taehyung and back towards the house.

He avoids Taehyung for the rest of the night.

SEOKJIN 

Seokjin is going to murder Taehyung. Okay, not really, but some days, he feels like he might snap. Lately Taehyung’s really been getting under his skin.

Finding him with Yoongi was one thing, but now he has to deal with Taehyung’s obnoxious attitude, as if Seokjin is the one that did something wrong? 

Their small blow up in the kitchen had him riled for the entire day and things only got worse when Taehyung joined him by the pool that afternoon. He came outside to relax and forget all about Taehyung, but clearly, that wasn’t going to be happening. There was no escape from him in this house. And it was only week one! 

Taehyung had plopped down right next to Seokjin, as if he hadn’t just been a complete jerk moments before. And Seokjin was all set to ignore him entirely, until Ken had called. 

Taehyung interrupting the phone call might just be his last straw. Ken was clearly upset about it too. He was already jealous over the fact that Seokjin was living with a bunch of single twenty-something models, despite putting on a brave face before Seokjin left to come here. But to actually see Taehyung, and talk to him face to face? Fuck… it’s no wonder Ken is so paranoid.

Ken drilled Seokjin a bit after that, asking him if he and Taehyung were close and why were they hanging out at the pool alone, and it was enough to make his head spin. Taehyung had gotten exactly what he wanted.

He tried to convince Ken that he actually didn’t like Taehyung at all and that they weren’t getting along in the house and that Taehyung was just trying to be a jerk by piping in on the FaceTime call. Ken hadn’t seemed to really buy the story though, but Seokjin didn’t know what else to say. It was the truth. 

“Why would he want to torture you though? Does he like you or something?”

And Seokjin had to laugh at that. 

“No Ken, he doesn’t like me...” 

He’s pretty sure it’s the exact opposite, but he too doesn’t really understand Taehyung’s mindset. Why is he bothering with Seokjin at all?

And then Taehyung’s dig about their relationship not working? God that was infuriating and Seokjin had half a mind to shove Taehyung right into the pool. He should have. Seokjin’s not sure what he can do but he might have to convince the producers to separate them. 

He knows immediately what a stupid thought that is. For one thing, the show would only feed off the drama, and for another, he’s not a snitch. If Taehyung found out he tried to get the show to do something about their little feud he would never hear the end of it. And he won’t give Taehyung the satisfaction of knowing he’s getting under his skin.

He tries to forget about it until the following day when they are ready to start their next challenge. 

Seokjin gets pulled in to do a check-in interview about the first week of the competition. He’s asked multiple questions about the makeovers, moving into the house, the first beach challenge and winning top photo etc. 

When they ask him about the other contestants and if he’s getting along with everyone he has a hard time holding his tongue and ends up answering with, “not exactly.” Which, he regrets almost immediately because soon they are asking a myriad of questions that Seokjin doesn’t really want to air publicly, but well, Taehyung’s pissed him off so much at this point, does he really care? 

He kicks himself in the butt on the way out of the room though because he knows the show is going to use this to their advantage and probably try extra hard to catch them in more heated arguments. He’s gonna try his best to ignore Taehyung. (Because that’s worked out so well so far.) 

The second challenge is… interesting. They are tasked to take photos with various animals and Seokjin is pleased when he gets the easy job of taking a photo with a cat. However, he knows that it's probably only going to infuriate Taehyung that much more. He can see himself getting blamed for having an “easy” photoshoot. 

The cat is a really unique looking mix of black and ash gray, it’s face split completely down the front with the two distinct looks. They design Seokjin to look just like it, down to the split clothing. They even give Jin blue contact lenses and a silver streak on one side of his head. The cat is a phenomenal companion and ends up just sitting peacefully with Jin the entire shoot. It’s a bit tricky trying to find poses with it, but he thinks he does a decent job on set and ends up getting more praise. They really love when at the end of the shoot he actually takes a risk and picks up the cat, holding it close to him.

Thankfully Taehyung is barely around because he’s busy with his makeover but when he does finally emerge for his own shoot Seokjin has to do a double take. He’s almost unrecognizable walking out in this gorgeous white gown that might look strange on some men but Taehyung can certainly pull off. His hair is sprayed with a temporary sort of orange dye and styled up in these crazy but cool looking spikes. He’s taken to another set on location which Seokjin finds out is a woodland type setup and is tasked to take a photo with a baby fox. Seokjin doesn’t get a good view of the photoshoot but it seems that Taehyung is doing well enough. 

Some of the models really had it rough. One was tasked to take a photo with a tarantula. Hoseok, one of the models he’s gotten to know a bit better the last few days, was forced to take a photo with a green snake. Yikes. He was sure glad he didn’t get that assignment and Hoseok didn’t seem too thrilled about it either. But the photos turned out amazing from what he could see. Poor Yoongi might have had it the hardest though. He was tasked to take a photo in an underwater tank with fish. Seokjin would have had no idea what to do in that scenario. 

It’s an extremely long day that takes the entire evening and part of the night to film, so they are brought their food on set before they are all allowed to head back home for the night. 

They get a day in-between this time to just relax before the results of photoshoot two are revealed. Seokjin gets up a little later than usual and has a nice breakfast before heading to the gym. He spends an hour, maybe more, working out. Since joining the competition he’s felt especially stressed out and has been working out more than usual because it’s a great way for him to just shut off his brain and relax a little, as weird as that sounds. 

Just as he’s about to jump on the treadmill another model walks in the door and he knows immediately that it’s Taehyung because any other model would have said something to him, but Taehyung acts like he’s not even there. They’ve been ignoring each other the last few days and even though it’s irritating, it’s a heck of a lot better than fighting with him. He wonders if Taehyung has purposely followed him inside or if he genuinely came to work out not knowing that Seokjin was already here.

He thinks it might be the former because of all the equipment available to them Taehyung chooses the treadmill only a few feet from his own. 

Seokjin openly sighs, wanting to say something, but he refuses to give Taehyung the satisfaction. He’s got ten minutes left of his run and he’s going to finish it out and then go back to avoiding him.

Taehyung starts running alongside him and they are going at practically the same pace until he sees Taehyung glance over and then up the speed of the treadmill just the tiniest bit.

Seokjin knows it’s petty but he ups the speed on his too, running slightly faster than Taehyung now. Taehyung takes the bait, setting his to an even higher speed. Seokjin cannot stop himself from pressing the button. It’s ridiculous how childish this whole thing is and he’s never acted this way with someone before but when it comes to Taehyung he finds himself reacting in ways he never thought he would. He has half a mind to run right over to him and drag him off of the treadmill. He could push him into the wall and insist that he stop being such an asshole or he will be forced to do something about it. 

It’s a ridiculous thought. For one, because he’s not a violent person. And for another, that’s probably exactly what Taehyung wants. 

Seokjin slows down the treadmill instead, returning to a walking pace before shutting off the machine 5 minutes early and grabbing his stuff and leaving. 

“You win Taehyung.” He mutters, not sure it's loud enough for Taehyung to hear.

The next day at the results taping Seokjin finds himself a little bit nervous. He’s not sure why, because he knows he did well at the last photo shoot, but he can’t help but worry about being sent home. 

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. He would get to see Ken again and hopefully get their relationship back on track. And he wouldn’t have to deal with Kim Taehyung anymore… although, beating him in this competition would certainly feel good.

When his name is called again for Top Photo he’s shocked. He thought Hoseok’s snake photo surely would have been the winner. It’s all a haze when he walks over to accept the photo. 

As he waits in line for the rest of the results to be called, he tries his hardest not to look in Taehyung’s direction and see his frustrated face. He wanted to be safe but he didn’t necessarily want to win top photo again. Not only because he’ll probably get more shit from Taehyung after this, but also because as everyone knows, when you’re at the top there’s no where to go but down. 

Hoseok is called out next, being the runner up, and Seokjin is happy for him. Of course Hoseok is a gracious loser and congratulates Seokjin for his second win. Another model is called 3rd. Then Taehyung 4th. 

Taehyung smiles brightly at the host and accepts the placement but Seokjin feels like by now he can tell when Taehyung is faking it. He’s clearly not that happy and when he walks by the group to stand in line he stares intently at Seokjin. 

Seokjin can’t stop himself from smirking at him… just to piss him off. At this point he’s not gonna roll over and let Taehyung be a jerk. He will fight back if he has to. 

Model after model is called to receive their photos until they are down to the remaining 2. Seokjin is shocked to see that Yoongi is one of them. He feels extremely guilty, because the underwater photoshoot was probably the hardest one of them all. But luckily Yoongi is spared when the other model he’s against gets sent home instead. Now they are down to 12. 

As the filming wraps everyone congratulates each other on being safe. Seokjin wants to go straight to Yoongi to let him know he’s happy he is still here but Taehyung is already beating him to the punch, wrapping his arms tightly around Yoongi and whispering something in his ear. 

Normally Seokjin would have given up, but he woke up this morning feeling so much bolder and he’s not sure what’s gotten in to him but he decides not to cower away.

“Yoongi! Thank God you weren’t sent home!” Seokjin calls out, and Taehyung pulls away from Yoongi then, like he’s surprised to see Seokjin interrupting their moment. 

“Thanks Hyung.” Yoongi says quietly and Seokjin immediately wraps his arm around him, holding him tightly.

“Wouldn't be the same in this house without you.” Seokjin says honestly. After all, Yoongi really is his only friend here. He turns his head, glaring at Taehyung over Yoongi’s shoulder. He’s getting just a little too much pleasure out of annoying him in this moment.

Then Hoseok’s coming over to talk to Yoongi too, and Seokjin wasn’t aware that they had become friends but he can see how, Hoseok is very outgoing, bubbly and nice to everyone. 

Seokjin takes the opportunity to turn to Taehyung then. knowing he’s stirring the pot. But he doesn’t care anymore.

“Fourth place this time huh? Bummer.” 

Seokjin winks at Taehyung then, who looks genuinely shocked to see Seokjin actually standing up for himself, but before he can even get a word out Seokjin’s already walking away.

That night Seokjin soaks in the hot tub, closing his eyes and trying his hardest to let any remaining stress he has about the competition slip away. There are only 3 1/2 weeks left of the entire competition and if he can keep doing well, he could really win this whole thing. 

He’s startled by the sound of someone getting into the hot tub and when he opens his eyes he’s not at all shocked to see Taehyung standing in front of him. It seems that Taehyung always has a way of seeking him out.

He’s only got his swim shorts on this time and Seokjin instinctively glances up and down his body. Not intentionally, of course, but he’s surprised to see him here and he can admit, he has a nice figure. He’s thin but not too thin, and it’s obvious he works out a little, with strong arms, a round butt and golden skin that looks smooth everywhere…

Then he remembers that he can’t stand Taehyung and he gets up instantly, attempting to get out of the hot tub.

But Taehyung’s reaching forward and grabbing onto his wrist, his long fingers completely enclosing around it. Seokjin instantly freezes, unsure what to do. He’s honestly taken back by the boldness of Taehyung and an immediate current of something goes through his body at the contact.

“Don’t.” Taehyung says firmly and Seokjin’s not sure why he wants to listen, but he does. “Stay.” 

Seokjin contemplates his next move. Should he rip his hand out of Taehyung’s grasp and insist on getting out of the hot tub? Should he tell Taehyung not to touch him again and push him away? Or should he just do as he was asked and stay, listen to what Taehyung wants to say to him?

He surprises himself when he decides to go with the latter option, sitting back down. Taehyung’s hand slips from his grasp and Seokjin can still feel where the pressure of his fingertips were gripping against his pulse.

“What do you want?” Seokjin blurts out and for once Taehyung actually looks… normal? Like he’s not scheming or coming up with some sort of plan to ruin Seokjin’s life.

“Are we really going to go this entire competition hating each other?” Taehyung asks.

Seokjin shrugs, “I guess that’s up to you. You started it.”

It feels childish even saying the words but Taehyung doesn’t refute them, just sits across from Seokjin and watches him intently. 

They’re sitting close enough together that Seokjin notices Taehyung is completely bare-faced and can’t help but stare at the unique arrangement of small moles littering his face. Jin simply can’t deny how attractive Taehyung really is. Which he hates thinking.

And it’s like Taehyung can read his mind because there’s a specific gleam in his eye and he shifts in the tub, moving just the slightest bit closer to him. 

Seokjin internally freaks out for a minute, thinking that Taehyung is going to do something to him but instead Taehyung reaches past Seokjin and turns on the hot tub’s jets. He closes his eyes and relaxes back against them and Seokjin feels totally awkward and unsure of what to even say. The silence between them is foreign and uncomfortable. 

“Seokjin-ssi…” Taehyung says again, opening his eyes and shifting even closer to Jin than before. Seokjin can feel Taehyung’s leg where it’s pressing against his own. Taehyung’s about to say something else but then Yoongi’s voice startles the both of them when he’s calling out to them. 

“Taehyung! Come on, the movie is going to start.” He says. Then he turns to Jin. “Seokjin-hyung you can watch with us if you want?” 

“No, he’s gonna stay out here for a bit…” Taehyung answers for him, standing up. Seokjin wouldn’t have wanted to watch the movie anyways, the thought of being a third wheel to Taehyung and Yoongi all night just doesn’t seem fun. But he’s irritated that Taehyung is answering for him. 

“Thanks Yoongi, I think I’m gonna stay here for a bit then go to bed early.” He says for himself and watches as Taehyung gets out of the hot tub and grabs Seokjin's towel, wrapping it around his body. 

“Taehyung!” Seokjin yells immediately. So much for their five second truce. He knows Taehyung has done it on purpose. 

“It’ll dry.” Taehyung smirks and leaves the towel, heading back into the living room.

Yoongi chuckles a little, but Seokjin can tell he feels sympathetic. 

“I’ll get you a new one Hyung.” Yoongi says to Seokjin. 

“Thanks.” Seokjin answers. At least there’s one decent person around here. 

Seokjin ends up staying in the hot tub for a bit longer than he anticipated and his limbs feel like jelly when he finally gets out. He wraps himself in the towel Yoongi brought for him and trudges back into the house. All the lights are out in the living room and a movie is playing on the big screen. Seokjin is shocked to find that it’s only Yoongi and Taehyung on the couch watching. He’s not sure where everyone else is, but it’s a big house with lots of other rooms so he doesn’t think too hard about it.

He tries his best to just ignore the pair on the couch but it’s pretty difficult with Taehyung's back pressed fully against Yoongi's chest.

Yoongi is concentrating on the movie but Taehyung’s eyes find Seokjin’s as he comes in through the sliding glass door and he immediately leans back and kisses Yoongi right on the mouth then. It’s obvious that Yoongi wasn’t expecting it and he giggles, attempting to push Taehyung away. Seokjin doesn’t want to watch but his eyes are glued to them. 

“Come on, kiss me.” Taehyung teases, turning and grabbing Yoongi’s face until Yoongi kisses him back. 

He swears he can see Taehyung’s eyes on him as he finally gets his feet to move and he heads back into the bedroom. He shuts the door softly, and goes to the bathroom. He needs to shower so he can rinse off before bed.

The whole time he’s in the shower he can’t stop thinking about Yoongi and Taehyung on the couch together. How happy they looked and how much fun they seem to be having. But also how it seemed as if Taehyung had purposely kissed Yoongi just to rile him up. A weird sort of pang goes through him that he can only identify as jealously, and then he’s pissed at himself for even thinking it. He has a boyfriend. He shouldn’t care what Taehyung does in his free time. And even if he were single he shouldn’t be interested in Taehyung anyway. Taehyung’s an asshole. They have nothing in common. Seokjin is here for a competition. He cannot be attracted to him. 

Maybe Taehyung will get eliminated soon and Seokjin won’t have to analyze every fucking detail about him anymore.

He can only pray.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Fourth.

Not exactly the place that Taehyung wants to be this early into the competition. Normally, he would take it. 4th is a decent place. It’s near the top of the pack. But considering that Seokjin has now gotten top photo twice in a row, it makes his fourth place feel like nothing. 

He’s not sure why or how Seokjin is so good at this modeling thing. Does he even enjoy it? Taehyung knows he’s gotta step things up if he wants any chance of succeeding in this competition. 

He stares at the photo of Seokjin up on the wall. It’s apparently something that the producers thought would be fun to do… hang the photos of the winners in the long hallway leading to the bedrooms. Great, so Taehyung gets to be slapped in the face with reminders daily that Seokjin is the one to beat in this competition. 

He wonders if maybe the producers have done this purposely… attempting to piss everyone off. Taehyung can’t wait for the day his own photo appears up there right alongside Jin’s photo. That would be something.

With that said, Taehyung can’t deny how good the photos are. Seokjin did deserve the win even if he would never ever tell Seokjin that. He looks effortless and royal in the most recent photoshoot with the Chimera cat. Almost like the animal hadn’t fazed him at all. Clearly it hadn't. 

He might have even given Seokjin a compliment on his win if it weren’t for the snide remark from Seokjin about his placement. But at least Seokjin is finally standing up for himself. Taehyung had been wondering how long it would take him to snap. He kept trying to seek him out to annoy him and see what Seokjin would do, but mostly, he’d just been ignored.

When he’d gotten in the hot tub with him the other night and moved right next to him, he half expected Seokjin to push him away. But he hadn’t. He just stared at Taehyung as Taehyung had moved closer. Taehyung isn’t even quite sure what he’d planned on doing. Maybe he would have asked for a truce? Just to see if Seokjin would have taken the bait? Or maybe he would have pretended to kiss Seokjin, just to rile him up… He can’t say for sure.  But there was definitely a moment there. Whatever it was, Taehyung couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was certainly something he wanted to explore later.

Though, considering how things with Yoongi are developing in the house, maybe he should focus on that instead. Yoongi is nice, and he’s fun, and it’s a great to way to release some of the sexual frustration he feels in the house. Yoongi doesn’t want to have sex while they are here, not with the other models and the camera crew around. And truth be told, Taehyung is fine with that. He’s not sure he’s ready to take that step with him anyway. But sloppy make outs and light grinding is mostly harmless. 

Ever since Yoongi and Taehyung started their… thing, Seokjin has been more and more scarce, hanging out with Hoseok more often. It gives Taehyung and Yoongi the opportunity to have some more alone time in their room together. 

Usually Yoongi is very careful and doesn’t let things get too far, but he clearly has something else in mind tonight because he’s actually kissing Taehyung with much more intent, moving over on the bed so that he’s laying his body on top of Taehyung’s.

“What’s gotten into you?” Taehyung can’t help but ask, smiling as he leans in to nibble softly on Yoongi’s lips. “Usually you’re the one telling me to cool off.” 

“I don’t know…” Yoongi whispers kissing Taehyung with more fever. “Almost getting eliminated made me realize I better enjoy the time I have here while it lasts.”

“Shit, yeah, that was awful. I would lose my mind if you left.” Taehyung says, and for the most part he means it. Yoongi’s turned into his sounding board a bit, especially when it comes to Seokjin. Yoongi lets him vent and talk things out. 

“Really?” Yoongi asks, smiling before leaning down to kiss Taehyung’s throat. “Good.” 

“Good?” Taehyung asks, feigning surprise, “you want me to be miserable here?” 

“Yeah. I like that you would miss me… plus, you’re already kind of miserable here.” Yoongi jokes and Taehyung kind of has to agree. He does like modeling, but this competition is more stressful than he originally anticipated.

“Well I’m not miserable right now.” Taehyung says, hands snapping around Yoongi’s waist and holding him tightly to his body.

“Oh yeah?” Yoongi asks, continuing to kiss over Taehyung’s throat and down, littering kisses over his chest. 

Yoongi’s hands are big, but soft and he loves the way they feel as they trail down his chest and over his tummy, pinching softly. Yoongi’s mentioned liking Taehyung’s tummy before and he loves the attention. It feels good kissing someone like this again. It had been too long since the last time.

When Yoongi’s hands move down even further, cupping him through his pants, Taehyung’s first instinct is to stop him. He’s not sure he’s quite ready for things to move further along, but he wills himself to relax, letting things continue. 

Yoongi’s hands move to the waistband, his fingers dipping inside Taehyung’s pants just the slightest bit and Taehyung surprises himself when he pulls up on the bed, forcing Yoongi to stop.

“What’s wrong?” Yoongi asks and he looks so genuine and so sweet, Taehyung can’t help but feel guilty.

“I’m sorry I just… don’t want Seokjin to walk in on us again.” He replies. Which is a bit of an excuse if he’s being honest, but he also doesn’t want that judgement again either. 

“He’s gonna be hanging out with Hoseok for a while, actually.” 

“What, really?” Taehyung asks. “I didn’t realize they were that close.”

“Yeah, well I think since we started hanging out so much, Seokjin’s been trying to make other friends here. Hobi’s pretty cool. I want to get to know him better myself.” 

“Yeah…” Taehyung says, not sure how to feel about it. Hoseok is a nice guy. But it’s a good thing Seokjin is already in a relationship or he’d be wondering if something else was going on there.

“What are they doing?” He can’t help but ask.

“They were gonna workout and then watch a movie I think.” Yoongi says. He leans in then, whispering in Taehyung’s ear, “plus I told him to knock next time so… I think he already knows what we’re up to.” 

“Wait, you told him we were going to hook up?” Taehyung asks. He wonders how Seokjin reacted to hearing that.

“Well, I didn’t say the words exactly but I heavily implied. After the last time I thought we should give him a warning.” 

Yoongi laughs but Taehyung doesn’t know why it bothers him. Sure, when he wants to hook up with Yoongi in front of Jin it’s funny, because he knows how judgy Seokjin gets about it. Like the other day when he and Yoongi were watching a movie and he purposely kissed Yoongi just so that Seokjin would see. But somehow, when it’s Yoongi talking to Seokjin about it, it bothers him. 

Taehyung tries to relax back on the bed, letting Yoongi kiss him again and this time when his fingers dip into Taehyung’s pants he lets it happen.

Yoongi is stroking him over his boxers and Taehyung is trying desperately hard to just let go and get lost in the moment but it simply isn’t happening.

Yoongi pulls away, looking down at Taehyung, “is something wrong?” 

Taehyung’s embarrassed, his body not cooperating with his mind. 

“I think all the talk about Seokjin killed my boner.” Taehyung teases and Yoongi laughs, rolling over and laying down on the bed next to him. 
It’s not true, but he just can’t seem to get in the mood right now. Maybe it’s the stress of the competition. Or maybe he’s just thinking too much. 

“It’s okay, we don’t have to do anything tonight.” 

And Taehyung feels guilty yet again. Yoongi is the sweetest, most understanding person, despite his non-caring bravado he always puts out there. 

“No… we do…” Taehyung says with a smirk, leaning over Yoongi and kissing his neck.

“But, you…” Yoongi starts to say but Taehyung shuts him up, putting a palm over his mouth. 

“I can’t right now but maybe you can?” He teases.

Taehyung’s fingers find the front of Yoongi’s pants, and he unbuttons them quickly, pulling down the zipper and slipping his hand inside. He doesn’t even waste time, getting his hand right into Yoongi’s boxers and over his dick, which, unlike Taehyung’s, is very hard. 

Taehyung smirks, quickening the speed of his hand. 

“Yeah… thought so.”

Taehyung continues to spend time with Yoongi throughout the competition, and he enjoys the time they have together, but things never really progress sexually past hand jobs. He thinks maybe Yoongi wants more, but doesn’t press Taehyung because he’s probably figured out by now that he’s not entirely ready for all of that, which Taehyung is grateful for.

Originally yes, he’d wanted someone to hook up with in the house, but he hesitates taking things there with Yoongi because Yoongi is his friend, and such a nice person, and he doesn’t want to lead him on or get his hopes up. Yoongi’s never mentioned dating Taehyung seriously or anything of the sort, but still, Taehyung doesn’t want to have to reject him and make things awkward for the both of them. 

He contemplates ending things all together with Yoongi, at least, sexually. He’s not entirely feeling it anymore, and he knows he should focus more on the competition.  But he doesn’t have the heart to do it. He cares about Yoongi too much.

When challenge number three comes around (despite it only being the start of the second week) Taehyung tries to get his head in the game and focus. He really wants to beat Seokjin this time. 

He’s informed by the producers that the season will start airing this week, once they’ve gotten enough material and Taehyung feels himself under even more pressure to do well. He can’t be sent home before his friends and family even get a chance to see him on TV. 

The third challenge is a bit tricky, but also fun and the models are asked to take photos mid-air on a trampoline. To make things even more difficult they are all tasked with wearing heels. 

Taehyung’s actually had experience in this arena. He’d even done a dance challenge on TikTok in heels before and he had succeeded so he knows he will do fine. He always enjoyed raiding his mothers closet growing up and playing a bit of dress up, even if its something he’s mostly grown out of. 

The hair and make-up artists are working on his look when he hears laughter coming from a few stations over and notices Yoongi and Hoseok joking and talking together. They seem to be watching something on Hoseok’s phone and Taehyung can’t help but wonder what they could be discussing. 

He notices a pair of eyes watching him from the other direction and turns his head to see Seokjin walking towards him. He groans, not sure if he’s ready for this conversation. He and Seokjin had been mostly ignoring each other lately and it seemed to be working out okay.

“Better watch out Taehyung or Hoseok might steal your man.” 

Taehyung’s certainly not expecting the comment. This is the second time now that Seokjin has been the one to initiate a sly remark and Taehyung isn’t sure how to take it. 

“They’re just friends.” Taehyung says, pretending like he’s bored.

“I don’t know…” Seokjin responds, sitting down next to Taehyung in one of the empty chairs. “Hoseok was telling me how cute he thought Yoongi was last night. I guess he doesn’t know about your little make out sessions yet.” 

“They’re not just make outs.” Taehyung says boldly, lifting his eyebrows and trying to torture Seokjin. “Good thing you didn’t walk in on us…” 

Seokjin only huffs at Taehyung, rolling his eyes before he’s standing and walking away.

One for Taehyung. 

Taehyung’s photoshoot goes well. Seokjin doesn’t seem to have as easy of a time this week, but he still of course gets praised by the photographers for his facial expressions. Taehyung thinks they all look kind of the same, but when you are that attractive, of course every photo will look good.

Hoseok does fairly well too, but Yoongi seems to struggle yet again. Taehyung feels awful for him because he knows that Yoongi needs the money. He confided in him that he really wants to help his mom buy a house. 

When it’s time for the results, Taehyung finds himself shaking nervously. He knows he did pretty well, but when they call out his name for Top Photo he doesn’t even know how to react. He definitely wasn’t expecting it, and the tears immediately fall from his face when he goes to accept his photo. He wonders if anyone thinks he’s being purposely dramatic, but the tears are definitely real. 

Hoseok gets called second again, and then another model third. Then another fourth. Seokjin’s name finally gets called fifth and Taehyung is surprised that he’s fallen that low after one photo shoot. But it goes to show you that every challenge is different and you can never predict what will happen in the end. Taehyung knows he still has a good shot at winning this entire thing.

Yoongi ends up in the bottom yet again but is spared for the second time in a row and Taehyung really hopes that next week will go a bit smoother for him. 

Hoseok is the first one to hug Yoongi and as Taehyung watches them together he notices a small gleam in Yoongi’s eyes that he’s never noticed from him before. He wonders if there is possibly something there between them. Maybe he should have a conversation with Yoongi about this.

“Guess you might be a model after all.” Seokjin says over his shoulder, smirking at Taehyung. Seokjin ends up fifth and somehow he still manages to get a dig on Taehyung. 

“Yeah, looks like we swapped places. I’m at the top and you’re, not. How does it feel, Hyung?” Taehyung can’t stop himself from repeating Seokjin’s own words back to him. 

“It feels fine.” Seokjin responds immediately. “I had to share that wall eventually.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, turning away from Seokjin so that he can get his turn hugging Yoongi and congratulating him for sticking around. He won’t even bother responding to Seokjin right now because no matter what he says, Seokjin will always come back with something. He’s not sure when Seokjin decided to fight back but he has. Truth be told, he doesn’t hate it. It’s kinda fun having someone in the house that can challenge you mentally.

Taehyung smiles the entire car ride back to the house. He finally received top photo and he couldn't be more excited.

SEOKJIN

Seokjin gets back to the house after the third challenge feeling a bit down. Coming in fifth certainly wasn’t where he had wanted to be this week, especially after coming off of two wins, but he knew that he wasn’t going to win top photo every single time. And that trampoline challenge had been hard.

When he arrived back at the house and tried to make some dinner, Taehyung was standing in the kitchen cooking something for himself already. So Seokjin grabbed a small snack instead and headed towards his room. Why was Taehyung everywhere he fucking went? It's driving him crazy. He just couldn’t seem to escape him here. He’d have to make something to eat later when the kitchen was clear. 

He heads to the bedroom, thankful to find it empty.

After that conversation he’d had with Yoongi about “knocking” before coming into the room he’d been hesitant to ever hang out there until it was time to go to bed. The last thing he wanted was to walk in on Taehyung and Yoongi making out (or worse) again. After Taehyung’s comment about the two of them, he wondered how far they’ve taken their “relationship” or whatever it was. But he tries to put the thought out of his mind. He shouldn’t care. He has a boyfriend at home to worry about.

Luckily, he’d started hanging out with Hoseok more, so he had another friend in the house, but still, it sucked not being able to just chill in your room when you wanted.

He should be happy, that Taehyung was so preoccupied with Yoongi, because it meant that Taehyung was distracted and had less time to irritate him. But Seokjin still didn’t like thinking about the two of them together. Yoongi had been his only friend here for a while, and it just wasn’t a good feeling knowing your closest friend and your enemy were hooking up.

Okay, Taehyung isn’t exactly his enemy… not really, but he still doesn’t like him. And seeing Taehyung win best photo on top of everything else going on only annoyed him further. He knew that Taehyung would rub it in his face the first chance he got, which is what he had practically done. Sure, Seokjin had started it with his comment, but well, he couldn’t let the opportunity to make a jab at Taehyung first go to waste.

Now that more models are gone and the competition is down to 11 people there are more rooms available and Seokjin wonders why he doesn’t just switch rooms already. In fact, the room down the hall is actually empty seeing that the last three eliminated models all shared it together. He knows that if he ends up switching it’ll just give Taehyung and Yoongi more reason to use it for… things he doesn’t want to be thinking about. But maybe a night alone will be good for him. 

He gathers a few items that he’ll need for a night away, grabbing his toothbrush, a towel and shower supplies, some clothes for tomorrow and of course, his phone so he can talk to Ken later. 

He’s counting down the days until this competition is over. He misses his old life, his family, and his boyfriend.

Ken is still clearly struggling with things. The first episode had aired that night and Seokjin’s phone had been blowing with messages from family and friends, including many from Ken. He had called Seokjin shortly after they had arrived back at the house after the results taping and Seokjin went outside to speak to Ken about it. 

Apparently a lot of the interactions between Taehyung and Seokjin had been aired on TV. Ken even told Seokjin that people were loving everything happening between them, and that they were a hot topic on the message boards and twitter. Many fans of the show were hoping that something more would evolve from their strained relationship. 

“They’re calling you guys 'Taejin'…” Ken had told him, which Seokjin had thought was the dumbest thing ever. How could people want the two of them together? Ken had told Seokjin he understood what he meant about Taehyung though, and that he did seem like a jerk.

“He’s not that bad.” Seokjin found himself answering, not sure why he was defending Taehyung, but he knows that Taehyung isn’t truly an awful person. He just likes torturing Seokjin for whatever reason. “He’s just an annoyance.”

“I think he likes you.” Ken had said, which Seokjin immediately brushed off. 

“That’s crazy. He’s hooking up with another model here, Yoongi.”

“So?” Ken had said bluntly. “He’s probably just killing time with him because he can’t have you. And I’m sure he likes messing with you because you feed into it. You should just stop talking too him altogether.”

Seokjin had told Ken that he was trying. But it was harder than it looked with Taehyung always around. Seokjin can’t exactly ignore him. There isn’t that many models left in the house.

Seokjin stews on Ken’s words the rest of the night. Is it possible that what he said could possibly be true?

Speak of the devil, Taehyung walks into the room, interrupting Seokjin’s thoughts. He doesn’t look up or stop what he’s doing but Taehyung moves so that he’s standing right in front of him and Seokjin can just make out Taehyung’s feet within his eyesight. 

“Yes?” Seokjin finally asks, once he realizes that Taehyung isn’t going away.

“What are you doing?” Taehyung asks bluntly. Seokjin glances up to see Taehyung staring down at him, with his arms crossed. 

“After Rosé left I thought I thought I would take her old room. There’s no one in there anymore.”

“You’re switching rooms?” Taehyung asks and Seokjin thinks that he almost sounds… upset? Does he not want Seokjin to go? 

“I might sleep in there for a night or two.” Seokjin answers plainly.

“Do you really hate me that much?” Taehyung asks, finally sitting on his bed. 

“I don’t hate you. Don’t be dramatic. But, it might be good to get away for a bit.” Seokjin glances back up, holding eye contact with him, “don’t exactly wanna walk in on you and Yoongi fucking or anything.” 

Taehyung actually chuckles and it annoys Seokjin, but what else is new?

“We aren’t fucking.” Taehyung says, emphasizing the last words like he’s annoyed with Seokjin for even suggesting it. Seokjin holds Taehyung’s strong gaze for a quick second before looking away. He wonders if Taehyung noticed the relief on his face.

“Would you care if we were?” Taehyung asks and it feels like he’s searching for something more.

“I don’t care what you do,” Seokjin huffs out, “but I don’t necessarily want to hear it. I think that would scar me for life.”

He knows he’s being mean but it gets a laugh out of Taehyung anyways. 

“You would be lucky to hear what I sound like when I orgasm.” Taehyung says with a smirk and Seokjin tries as hard as he can not to react. He knows his face is probably turning red. He doesn’t need to think about that right now. Not with Taehyung perched back on his bed, staring down at him. 

“Don’t worry though, it’s probably never gonna happen.” Taehyung continues, playing with his fingers and looking bored, “Yoongi’s hanging out with Hobi again tonight. I think you are right… I think they like each other.” 

Seokjin glances up, picking up his things from the floor. 

“Yoongi wouldn’t be dumb enough to cheat on you.” He says, and then hates himself immediately for saying it. It’s almost a compliment and Taehyung hasn’t earned that.

“Thanks… I think.” Taehyung says quietly, staring at Seokjin as he stutters getting the words out. He clearly doesn’t know how to take when Seokjin is being nice.

And Seokjin’s not even sure why he gave Taehyung that compliment, after all the crap Taehyung has put him through since he’s arrived. But, well, it’s the truth. And Seokjin’s not a liar. 

“It wouldn’t really be cheating though, because we aren’t a couple. We’re just having some fun.” 

Seokjin really doesn’t know how to respond to that, so he doesn’t. Instead he just gives Taehyung a slight eyebrow raise, acknowledging his words before turning around and heading towards the door. 

“I’ll be back tomorrow night probably. Enjoy your alone time.” He says to Taehyung before exiting, ignoring the way Taehyung’s eyes linger on him as he leaves. 

When he gets into the new room he settles on his his bed and immediately notices how empty and cold it feels without Yoongi and Taehyung around. He’s not sure that he likes it very much.

He pulls out his phone, shooting a text to Ken and waiting for his response. 

Later that night, as hard as he tries to sleep he just can’t manage it. The bed is too hard and the lighting is weird and he can hear the noise of the bathroom toilet running through the wall. Everything’s annoying him and he already misses his old bed.

He decides he’s just going to go back to his own room to sleep. And he hopes Taehyung is already in bed because he doesn’t feel like getting the third degree from him right now. He can just hear Taehyung’s mocking tone when he laughs at Seokjin for not being able to make it one night without him.

Just the walk down the long hall is making him tired and he knows he’s going to crash as soon as his head hits the pillow. When he almost gets towards the room he realizes the door is mostly shut, only opened the slightest crack. 

He can hear it before he can see it. He knows he needs to go back the other way but he finds himself frozen in place, unable to move.

It’s the sound of low breathy moans and it’s definitely coming from Taehyung. He listens intently for another voice, afraid that he is going to hear Yoongi in there with him, but the sound never comes. It’s only Taehyung’s voice. And Seokjin can’t stop himself from taking it in.

He knows he should leave. That he should give Taehyung his privacy. Instead, he peeks a glance through the small crack in the door and he can actually see Taehyung on his bed, through the dim lighting of the room. His covers are still on, thankfully, but Seokjin can see Taehyung’s hand moving from under the sheet, and he can hear the tiniest sound of a vibrator buzzing. He glances quickly at the other bed, to find it empty. Yoongi must have crashed with Hoseok.

Seokjin is rooted to the spot, watching as Taehyung gets himself off. With a fucking vibrator. And he knows it’s wrong. So, so wrong. He shouldn’t be watching this. 

Seokjin feels the heat in his body growing. His skin is turning red, he’s beginning to sweat, and he can feel the familiar pull of arousal rising in his gut. He wills himself to look away; to turn around and go back to the other room, but he simply can’t do it. His eyes are stuck to Taehyung’s throat where he’s got his head thrown back, distracted only by Taehyung’s teeth pressing into his fat bottom lip as he continues to stroke himself under the sheets. His eyes are tightly closed as he squirms a little on the bed. 

Seokjin feels immense guilt rise inside of him just for watching. Does this constitute as cheating? Why didn’t Taehyung shut and lock the fucking door? 

He can tell that Taehyung is getting closer and closer, he can hear his breath quickening, the small moans escaping from his mouth in longer spurts. He knows the exact moment that his orgasm hits him and Seokjin immediately thinks that Taehyung was right. 

He sounds euphoric. 

Seokjin’s never denied that Taehyung was attractive. It’s only natural that he would be turned on by this, right? Seokjin glances down at himself to find that he’s already achingly hard in his pajama pants. He knows he can’t go into the room now. Not after this. Instead he forces himself to look away and trudges back down the hall. 

He climbs back into bed, trying desperately hard to forget about how Taehyung’s face looked in the dark and how he sounded and the way it made Seokjin feel. 

Seokjin has to actively stop himself from stroking his cock, he’s so hard and desperately wants to get himself off, but he refuses to do it. He forces himself to shut off his brain and go to sleep. He has to forget all about this.

Instead he tosses and turns the entire night, never fully getting to sleep. 

The next morning, in the very early hours he creeps back into his room and climbs into his old bed, noticing that Yoongi’s bed is still empty. But Taehyung is still there, fast asleep. He’s got one leg completely exposed, over the edge of the covers and his smooth golden thigh is exposed. His mouth is also slightly open and his hair is a mess. 

Seokjin thinks he looks adorable and serene… pretty much the exact opposite of how he looked last night.

He hates that he has that mental image seared into his brain now. Hates that he knows how Taehyung looks and sounds in his most intimate moment. Seokjin shuts his eyes and finds himself wanting to drift off to sleep. He opens them quickly, sneaking one last glance at Taehyung from across the room. Seokjin watches him sleep until he can’t keep his eyes open any longer.

He knows his thoughts are starting to get out of hand. 

And he knows there’s absolutely nothing he can do to stop them.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Waking up early in the morning to find Seokjin back in his bed was certainly a shock to Taehyung. He couldn’t make it one night away? Taehyung couldn’t help but wonder what the reason for that was and he might have to bring it up later. It would be the perfect thing to torment Seokjin over. He could just imagine his face when Taehyung accused him of missing him so much that he couldn’t bear being without him.

Taehyung panics for a second though, looking over his bed quickly to make sure that his small black vibrator is hidden from view. After his orgasm last night he’d been too exhausted to clean it and put it away, and Taehyung worried that it was still in sight. He pulls up the covers, relieved to find it hidden beneath them. He hadn’t expected Yoongi or Seokjin to be back last night. Yoongi had texted him around 11 that he was gonna be up late watching movies with Hoseok and that he’d probably end up crashing in the spare bed down the hall, so Taehyung had used the opportunity to give himself a little attention. He clearly wasn’t going to be having sex with Yoongi any time soon, so why not pull out his little toy and enjoy himself?

It was probably silly of him to do something like that right here at the house. He’s pretty sure he hadn’t even properly closed the bedroom door all the way. But another part of him hadn’t really cared. He’s a twenty-four year old man. He had the room to himself. Why shouldn’t he be able to enjoy it?

After Seokjin had left the room last night Taehyung pulled out his phone and scrambled to watch clips of the show. The first episode premiered last night and he was anxious to see how he was portrayed in the editing. His family was recording all the episodes for him and he’d have to wait to see everything until after he returned home, but he did manage to find a few highlight reels. There were multiple clips of his and Seokjin’s “feud”, moments that he hadn’t even realized were being recorded like them bickering backstage or even moments in the house. On top of the occasional camera men strolling through to record them there were also apparently secret cameras in the house. Taehyung should have expected that.

He found it interesting they hadn’t aired anything about his little fling with Yoongi or Seokjin’s relationship with Ken though. Clearly they were pushing the Taehyung and Seokjin ‘will they/won't’ they thing. Taehyung wanted to laugh. It was certainly a won't. Though fans of the show clearly felt differently. He found it sort of amusing that people were already talking about them and feeling the chemistry between them.

After watching the clips he shut his phone off and tried to sleep but he couldn’t stop his mind from thinking about Seokjin. He hated that he did, he was supposed to hate him, not be thinking about how cute he looked on the first episode. He was definitely fit to be on camera. 

Thinking about Seokjin then turned to other thoughts, dangerous things that he should definitely not be thinking about. Like Seokjin’s small waist and his full lips and the way he had looked at Taehyung last night when he told him that Yoongi would be an idiot to “cheat” on him. So he could actually be sweet when he wanted to be? It was causing all these conflicting thoughts to roam around in Taehyung’s head.

He found himself reaching for his vibrator before he could even stop, working himself up fairly quickly. Clearly he’d been more wound up here in this house than he’d realized. It’d been months since he’d last had sex, and weeks since he’d even gotten himself off.

Thinking about Seokjin had forced his orgasm to come even quicker than expected. He fantasized about Seokjin getting so mad at him after a challenge that he forced Taehyung into a closet backstage and pushed him against the wall, threatening him to stop messing around with him. He imagined Seokjin pressing his body right into Taehyung’s, his cock already hard between their bodies. He imagined what would happen if he tried to fight back, wondered if Seokjin would be the type to turn him around and shove his face into the wall before forcing his pants down, pushing his dick into him without warning.

Taehyung knows his thoughts are ridiculous and dangerous. But he can’t stop the images from flooding his mind. Why does he want Seokjin to dominate him so badly? 

Usually it takes a while to get himself worked up but not last night. Only a few strokes on his dick and the vibrator pressed right up against his hole had gotten him there in record time. He hadn’t even cared how loud he was or if his moans carried out into the hallway.

He then has a second moment of panic, wondering when exactly Seokjin had returned back to the room last night. If he had tried to come back when Taehyung was doing that things could have been pretty awkward for them. But he must have stumbled back in the early hours of the morning, and thankfully by then Taehyung was fast asleep.

Taehyung watches Seokjin sleep, thinking about how cute he looks. He brought this small white plushy, some sort of animated character that looks like a llama or an alpaca or something and he was hugging it tightly. It would be silly and immature if he didn’t look so adorable. Hell, if Seokjin stayed this way always and never opened his mouth he might just be tolerable.

Taehyung hates that he finds relief seeing Seokjin back in his bed. When he’d told him last night he was switching rooms Taehyung had been kind of bummed. He doesn’t let himself analyze why exactly, and tells himself its because he likes torturing Seokjin too much. Life would be boring here without that. 

Taehyung eventually drags himself out of bed, still surprised that Seokjin is sleeping in so late since he’s usually awake by 8am. 

He stops in the hallway, noticing his top photo from yesterday is already hung on the wall. He is proud of himself for making it up there so soon in the competition, and he absently thinks about how good his photo looks next to Seokjin’s. It makes sense that fans of the show would want the two of them together. He can’t deny they do look nice together.

He makes his way into the kitchen, not at all surprised to see Hoseok and Yoongi standing close together by the counter. He pauses for a second, watching the scene in front of him. It’s pretty obvious that something is going on, the two of them standing ridiculously close with huge smiles on their faces.

“Hey.” Taehyung says loudly, slightly amused at the way Yoongi and Hoseok immediately create distance between themselves, like they’ve been caught doing something wrong.

“Morning Tae…” Yoongi says quietly, quickly glancing at Taehyung. “You’re up early.” 

“Yeah…” Taehyung answers quietly, moving to the fridge to get something to eat. “Went to bed early. Well, early for me. I’m surprised to see you guys awake. You were hanging out late last night, huh?”

And he’s simply asking a question, not meaning to imply anything from it, but the expression on both of their faces says a lot. He can tell when someone’s feeling guilty. And that’s definitely how both of them look right now. 

“I’m gonna listen to music for a bit…” Hoseok says politely, smiling at Taehyung briefly before turning to Yoongi. They seem to have a sort of silent conversation between their eyes before Hoseok exits the room, leaving Taehyung alone with Yoongi.

“Hey, can we talk?” Yoongi says quietly, sitting down at one of the bar stools by the counter and Taehyung nods, walking around to sit next to him. Normally he’d be grabbing for Yoongi and pulling him onto his lap or messing with his hair to tease him, but right now, it feels strange.

“Yoongi-hyung, did something happen between you guys?” Taehyung blurts out. He couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out. It’s obvious that something did, and he doesn’t really want to beat around the bush. 

Yoongi sighs, looking down at the floor and answering Taehyung’s question immediately. 

“Kinda…” He says softly, glancing up at Taehyung. “We kissed. But that was it, I swear. I told him that nothing else could happen because you and I…” 

Taehyung smiles at him, reaching his hand out and grabbing Yoongi’s shoulder.

“It’s fine, Yoongi.” Taehyung says, and he truly means the words. “I’m not upset. We were just having some fun, weren’t we? You’re free to kiss whoever you want.” 

“Okay…” Yoongi says, but he still looks guilty. “But I wasn’t sure where we stood or what you wanted. I don’t want to hurt you…”

“You didn’t.” Taehyung says genuinely. “The truth is that I was gonna talk to you anyways. And say that I think we should just be friends…”

“Wait, really?” Young says, and he seems somewhat relieved. “You sure you’re not upset?”

“Not at all.” Taehyung responds. “It was pretty obvious you guys liked each other. And you and I were having fun but I knew it wasn’t anything serious.” 

“Okay…” Yoongi says, “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you before though.”

“I get it.” Taehyung says. He’s been in this place a few times. He knows what it’s like to want something so badly that you forget about other people in the process. “So you really like him?”

“I think so…” Yoongi says. Taehyung can tell he still feels a bit weird opening up about it. “It’s early, I don’t know.”

“Well, Seokjin-hyung said he liked you too.” Taehyung tells him. 

Yoongi seems shocked, but happy, to hear it and Taehyung likes seeing him smile. They chat about Hoseok for a few minutes longer and Taehyung is surprised at how easy and natural it feels to have this discussion.

“Come here.” Taehyung says, pulling Yoongi into a hug and convincing him that things are fine. Truth be told, he feels a bit of relief that they were able to end their fling or whatever it was amicably, without any major weirdness. Taehyung knows he needs to focus on the competition anyways.

“Friends?” Yoongi asks and Taehyung nods immediately.

“Friends.”

They get a few days off before the next challenge and Taehyung keeps running into Seokjin everywhere he goes; the gym, the pool, the kitchen, the bedroom… he can’t seem to escape him. And even when Seokjin isn’t around Taehyung finds himself thinking about him all the time. He blames the house and the circumstances. 

They aren’t even bickering with each other much anymore…not really. Taehyung thinks maybe it’s possible for them to even call a truce.

That is until Sunday. Taehyung heads to the kitchen to grab his gummies that he’d just purchased. He knew he should have kept them hidden when he can’t manage to find them anywhere in the pantry.

When he stumbles back to his room to find Seokjin sitting on his bed snacking on them he can’t stop himself from practically running over the bed and snatching them out of his hands.

“Hey, these are mine!” Taehyung says loudly and Seokjin glances at him unapologetically, like he could care less that he’s eating someone else’s snack. 

“They were in the pantry.” Seokjin says simply, as if it’s a good enough excuse. 

“My name is on them.” Taehyung points to the bag, where his name is written clearly in Sharpie. 

Seokjin shrugs, staring at Taehyung and he swears there’s a bit of a smirk on his face. God he’s infuriating. 

“They’re practically all gone!” Taehyung shouts, storming out of the room.

Fuck the truce. 

Taehyung is not one to forget something like this. He knows that Seokjin did it to purposely mess with him. But Taehyung is even pettier, so he won’t let Seokjin get away with it. 

He does the first thing he can think of, and when Seokjin leaves the room he storms over to his bed and grabs his stupid plushy, bringing it over to his bed and stuffing it underneath his pillow. 

Later that evening when Taehyung goes to take short a nap, he notices the plushy is still in his bed. He stares at the stupid thing, trying to understand why a grown man would even have a stuffed animal. He wonders if it means something to Seokjin. Maybe it was a lame gift from his lame boyfriend.

Taehyung doesn’t even realize he’s doing it until he has the plushy right up against his face and he smells it, breathing in the scent. The plushy smells just like Seokjin. It’s a specific smell that is only identified with him. Probably a mix of his shampoo and his cologne and whatever else.

Taehyung hates to admit that the scent seems to stir a bit of arousal in him. And when he closes his eyes and tries to sleep he finds his mind wandering. More fantasies of Seokjin flood his brain. He imagines what Seokjin would do if he caught him with the plushy. If he would storm over to him on the bed and straddle him, if he would grab Taehyung’s wrists and pin him down into the bed.

“You’re such a brat!” He can envision Seokjin saying before he’s ripping Taehyung’s boxers off of him and spreading his legs open, Seokjin’s hand moving between his cheeks to press his fingers right into him. “You’ll need to be punished.” 

Taehyung can’t stop his mind from running, and he can feel where he’s starting to get hard in his pants. He hates that thoughts of Seokjin can do this to him. He hates that he’s feeling this way; hates that he’s starting to obsess over a stupid guy that steals his gummies and makes sly remarks and who already has a fucking boyfriend. 

Taehyung gives up, getting out of bed and heading into the shower. 

But more fantasies follow him there and he works his hand over himself quickly, getting off to the thought of Seokjin in a matter of seconds. 

To rub salt into the wound when he gets out of the shower, Seokjin is back in the bedroom, laying back against his bed and talking to his boyfriend on the phone. He glances at Taehyung quickly, his eyes scanning over Taehyung’s body for only a second before he’s shifting his gaze back down, laughing at something Ken has said. 

Fuck. 

SEOKJIN

When Hoseok mentions to Seokjin that he and Yoongi kissed, Seokjin can’t quite believe it. He knew there had been something going on between them ever since he first saw them together, but he hadn’t expected to hear that. He can’t help but immediately think about Taehyung, asking Hoseok how he took the news. Hoseok shrugs, clearly looking guilty.

“I don’t know, Yoongi-hyung told him after I left. He said he took it well though?”

“I would be scared.” Seokjin teases. “I’ve seen Taehyung’s bad side and it’s not pretty.”

“I think he saves that mostly for you.” Hoseok laughs, gently pushing at Seokjin’s shoulder. “Yoongi-hyung said Taehyung wanted to be just friends anyways.”

Again, Seokjin finds it odd. Because ever since he’s been here Yoongi and Taehyung have been attached at the hip. And any time he’d seen the two of them together they looked happy. So to hear they suddenly wanted to be friends? Seokijn isn't sure he's been told the whole story. Then again, he's never really been one for casual hook ups. He can’t imagine wanting to kiss someone or be intimate with them knowing that it wasn’t going anywhere. What would even be the point? But Taehyung was a very different person. So maybe it really had just been casual for him.

Regardless, he’s happy for Yoongi and Hoseok. But he wonders if Taehyung is really fine about it all or if he’s just putting on a brave face. He wants to ask him about it, but well, he doesn’t quite know how. 

“Why do you care anyways?” Hoseok interrupts his thoughts. “I thought you couldn’t stand him.” 

“Well.. I can’t.” Seokjin replies, even though he’s not even sure that’s entirely true anymore. Taehyung is an annoyance for sure, but he doesn’t hate him. In fact, Seokjin hates how much he doesn't hate him. Even though he should. 

“Yeah… sure.” Hoseok just laughs. 

The truth is that Taehyung has actually been fairly tolerable lately. Ever since their talk in the bedroom where Seokjin had sort of complimented Taehyung, things had been pretty normal between them. Taehyung was still giving Seokjin weird looks and leaving the room whenever Seokjin would enter, but at least he wasn’t torturing him with his annoying comments anymore. Or following him around.

When Seokjin finds a bag of gummies in the pantry with Taehyung’s name obnoxiously scribbled on them, he just can’t help himself. He steals them and takes them into the bedroom, hoping that Taehyung will notice him eating them.

He’s not even sure why he’s doing it, because he knows he’s only stirring the pot, but something inside of him is still itching to get back at Taehyung. After Taehyung stole his towel by the hot tub, after the way he acted in front of Ken, after all the rude things he said to him and how he’s always rolling his eyes or glaring at Seokjin with a sense of superiority. Seokjin’s tired of just letting Taehyung get away with things. 

And it works like a charm because Taehyung does see him eating the gummies and he is pissed about it, stalking over the bed, snatching the bag out of his hands, and yelling at Seokjin immediately. Seokjin wants to laugh but he holds it in, trying to play dumb. 

When Taehyung stalks off he finally lets out a laugh. That felt way too good.

When he goes to sleep that night and notices that his RJ stuffy is gone, he panics momentarily but then immediately figures out that Taehyung is the one that took it. He just knows that it was him, even without solid evidence. 

When he heads over to Taehyung’s bed and pulls up his pillows, there it is, sitting right underneath them. It’s a shit hiding spot, Seokjin thinks, but maybe Taehyung had never intended for him to look very hard. Maybe he wanted Seokjin to know that he took it? 

Seokjin knows he should let the feud go at this point, he’s only feeding into it, but he doesn’t care. He ignores all common sense coming from his brain and starts digging around under Taehyung’s bed, looking through bags and boxes to decide what he can take that probably holds a special meaning to Taehyung. 

He discovers a small shoe box that feels a little heavy but when he opens it he’s surprised to find it only contains socks… which doesn’t make sense, so Seokjin digs around a little and is shocked when he finds a little black vibrator hidden at the bottom. He knows it’s the one from the other night. He remembers how Taehyung looked on his bed with his head thrown back and his hand working underneath the covers. 

Immediately dirty thoughts flash through Seokjin’s mind. He envisions Taehyung coating his fingers with lube prior to that moment, working his fingers inside himself to get ready… then he pictures Taehyung actually inserting the vibrator into his body. 

Seokjin forces his brain to shut off, then moves without thinking, grabbing the vibrator and immediately running over to his bed to hide it under his mattress. It’s also not a very good hiding spot, but at this point he’s sort of passed caring and before he heads out of the room he grabs his RJ, vowing to keep it with him at all times now.

He loves the way Taehyung glares at him when he walks out into the living area with it, ignoring him entirely and walking outside to the pool. 

Two can play this game.

At the next competition the models are surprised to learn that they are expected to go on their first “go-sees” of the season. Meaning they have to traipse around town and find different locations where “modeling agencies” will ask them various questions and the models will try to impress them enough to get hired for different modeling jobs. Seokjin knows it's all a set up, but he’s not worried at all. He’s great at time management and he’s able to make it to four ‘go-sees’ and get back to the studio in the allotted amount of time. 

When Hoseok asks him how it went he says it went great, because it did. He knows he has a likable personality and when he really turns on the charm he gets a lot of attention. The different agencies seemed pleased with him and at the end of the challenge he finds out that he was “hired” by all four. Taehyung’s done just as well, also booking four of the places he was able to visit. Yoongi and Hoseok worked together and managed to visit three different agencies but had only booked two each. However, compared to the other remaining models, they both did pretty well. Some models didn’t even make it back in time and Seokjin feels really good about his standing in the competition. They are almost half way through, which he cannot believe. Time is moving so quickly. 

There is no photoshoot winner for this challenge, instead, Taehyung and Seokjin tie for first place. Another model is eliminated though, and now that they are down to just 10 models, things are only going to get more competitive.

Over the next few days Seokjin waits to see if Taehyung has noticed that his vibrator is missing, but it doesn’t seem that he has. Or if he had noticed then he hadn’t made it obvious. Surely Taehyung would know Seokjin was the one to take it right? But nothing is said. Maybe Taehyung simply hasn’t wanted to use it again. 

Competition five comes the next day and the models are told that for this photoshoot, they are going to be working in pairs. Seokjin knows before it’s even revealed that he is going to be paired with Taehyung. He knew that the show would want the two of them photographed together, due to their popularity as a duo with the viewers.

When he looks over at Taehyung, he rolls his eyes at Seokjin, which angers Seokjin even more. Taehyung should be happy he’s being paired with him, he’s the only other model here who has won top photo so far, but of course Taehyung has to make this as difficult as possible for them both. 

The models are asked to stand next to their partners and Seokjin makes his way over to Taehyung slowly, avoiding eye contact until he's standing right next to him. Taehyung purposely bumps Seokjin in the shoulder, leaning in and whispering, “don’t mess this up for us,” in that particular Taehyung way and it takes everything Seokjin has not to shove back into him even harder. 

Yoongi and Hoseok are paired together. Seokjin wonders if the show has aired any of their interactions too (or if the sole focus is on his and Taehyung’s interactions). 

Regardless, they do a great job and clearly enjoy working together. They are put in matching blue jackets and posed outside and Seokjin thinks the photo turns out really nice. Seokjin glances at Taehyung to see his reaction to the two of them together but it’s difficult to read his expression. He only stares at them with a blank expression. Seokjin can never figure Taehyung out.

Thankfully he and Taehyung are not in matching outfits, though they are both in white and they are given a studio space where they are asked to lay down on a plain white floor. Yellow and pink fabric is placed over their faces and they have to pose underneath it. It’s a little strange, but probably a cool shot. The photographer asks them to get closer and Seokjin can feel Taehyung shifting in towards him, their faces dangerously close. At one point Taehyung even lays his head down on Seokjin’s shoulder, which the photographers praise. 

Seokjin can smell the familiar scent of apple and immediately turns to him.

“Is that my shampoo?” 

He remembers where he is and keeps his voice down but he can see Taehyung smirking from here.

“Stop stealing my stuff!” he whispers, “I know you took RJ too.”

“Yeah, well, you ate my gummies.” Taehyung retorts, focus still on the camera.

And, that is true, but gummies could be replaced. Taehyung stealing a personal item of his was just cruel. Seokjin wants to say something back, but the photographer is yelling out more instructions and Seokjin reminds himself to focus. He’s asked to touch Taehyung and Seokjin immediately freaks out, not sure what he’s supposed to do. 

He turns his body sideways, his hand reaching up to grab Taehyung’s wrist that’s laying on his chest. It feels awkward, but the photographer doesn’t say anything, just continues to snap photos. It’s weird being this close to Taehyung and touching him like this. If Seokjin turned his head upwards just a little, their lips would only be inches away. He won’t do it, of course. 

“You should watch your back.” Seokjin threatens, “some of your stuff may just go missing… in fact, maybe it already has.”

He can feel Taehyung staring at him, but he refuses to look up. Then Taehyung shifts, turning sideways so that his ass is nudging into Seokjin’s front. Clearly, he’s doing it on purpose. 

“Stop.” Seokjin whispers, but Taehyung only does it again, pushing his bottom even further back.

He prays the photographers don’t end up using any of these photos. Seokjin pressed right against Taehyung’s back like this definitely isn’t going to look good to Ken, regardless of what the viewers want. 

“Taehyung, stop.” Seokjin says again, shifting back onto his back to try to move his body further away. 

“Seokjin-ssi! Move back where you were please!” The photographer asks and Seokjin sighs, moving his body back in place. His hips are pressed right into Taehyung once again and when Taehyung laughs, clearly finding Seokjin’s discomfort amusing, Seokjin tells him not to move. 

“Why?” Taehyung teases. “Am I making things hard for you?” 

“No!” Seokjin lies, ignoring the weird tingling that’s shooting through his body at just the mention.

“I didn’t know it was so easy to rile you up.” Taehyung whispers, laughing again. 

“It’s not. Shut up.”

“Just giving the fans what they want.” Taehyung says, and Seokjin finally looks at him, Taehyung’s smile wide as he stares over his shoulder at him. 

Seokjin wants to say something back, but his mind can’t think of a single thing to say so he turns his focus back to the camera instead, trying to forget what they are doing and concentrate on the task.

When the photoshoot is over Seokjin bolts up from the floor and out of the room quickly, ignoring the way Taehyung’s eyes watch him as he goes.

That night when he gets back to the mansion he gets a litter of texts from Ken. Another episode had aired and of course more “Taejin” moments were shown that Ken is obviously obsessing over. He won’t stop talking about it in his texts and Seokjin has to tell him not to worry, that Taehyung is just trying to annoy him like usual. Ken asks how it’s going with them in the house and Seokjin answers that things are fine. He leaves out the fact that he walked in on Taehyung masturbating, and that he may have stolen his vibrator. He knows that information is just going to upset Ken. Probably because it should, he thinks to himself. He knows he will have to warn him about the upcoming photoshoot though, which he is definitely not looking forward to doing. He’s so tired of bickering with Ken lately.

He texts Ken a response: 

>> I swear, you don’t have to worry. Nothing is going on with Taehyung. 

He shuts his phone off, trying his hardest to believe it.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Being so close to Seokjin during their recent photoshoot made Taehyung feel a little strange. He realizes he’s never physically been that close to him in the whole time that he’s known him, well if you didn’t count that one time in the hot tub. Laying there next him on the floor had been tricky… considering they were supposed to be posing in front of the other models, an entire crew, and the photographer. So Taehyung had to keep himself in check.

It didn’t stop him from trying to rile Seokjin up during the photoshoot, purposely rubbing his body against Seokjin's just to see what would happen. He teased Seokjin for being flustered but the truth was, he was having a hard time dealing with his own rising feelings. Obviously Seokjin is good-looking, but other than that, Taehyung’s not sure why he’s so attracted to him. Or why he can’t seem to concentrate on anything else as of late. They argue over basically everything and now that Seokjin is fighting back a little it’s making things that much trickier for Taehyung to navigate.

Choosing the final photos took a bit longer because of the pairing, the producers had to choose the one that was best suited for both of the models. So the results taping was scheduled for the following day.

That night Seokjin chose to avoid Taehyung entirely, which wasn’t exactly a new tactic for him. He even slept down the hall in the other room, this time staying the entire night. Yoongi practically moved in to Hoseok’s room, so Taehyung finds himself alone yet again. He contemplates giving himself some more “alone” time with Seokjin out of the room but decides against it. He’s still exhausted from the shoot and they have to get up early to film the results. so he forces himself to shut his eyes and go to sleep.

The next day, at the results taping, things go smoothly. Hoseok is awarded the top photo and the look on his face is almost enough to make Taehyung okay with the fact that he didn’t get it himself. His photo with Yoongi is adorable as hell. The chemistry between the two shines through the print. Yoongi is announced second and he looks almost as happy as Hoseok to get such a high standing.

When Taehyung is announced third, he can’t help but smirk at Seokjin. It feels really good beating him again… especially in a pairs photoshoot. The producers didn’t choose any of the photos where him and Seokjin were touching, but regardless it’s a really nice photo. Seokjin is then announced fourth.

A female model gets sent home that day, leaving the competition down to 9. There are only a few weeks left and Taehyung can’t believe how close the finale is coming.

That night when Taehyung gets home he’s rearranging all of his things when he realizes that his vibrator is missing. He quickly wracks his brain, trying to remember the last time he had it. It was definitely that night he used it when Seokjin was gone. He remembers waking up the next morning and it was in his bed. Did he ever put it away? He’s pretty sure that he had. 

But it’s at that moment that he remembers Seokjin’s comment from the shoot. He had said, ‘some of your stuff may just go missing… in fact, maybe it already has,” and Taehyung knows immediately that Seokjin is the one responsible. This had to be what he was talking about. He can’t believe that Seokjin actually touched it and he wonders what Seokjin thought when he found it. Did he picture Taehyung using it? Taehyung briefly thinks about what it would be like to have Seokjin use it on him… or him using it on Jin.

He wants to confront Seokjin about it immediately but before he does he rushes over to Seokjin’s bed, pulling at the pillows and the sheets and his mattress, too, but it’s not there. Then he looks underneath the bed and through some of Seokjin’s things but the vibrator is nowhere to be found.

He goes out to the kitchen to try to find Seokjin and confront him about this, but instead he’s met with something much, much worse. His face heats up immediately when he spots his black vibrator, sitting right there on the middle of the kitchen table, out in the open. There are a few other models in the room and they are pointing at it and laughing. He overhears one of the girls asking the other, “is that yours?” to which she says no immediately. 

He hears a laugh from the corner of the room and turns his head to see Seokjin smiling at him. He waves tauntingly and then his eyes shift over to the table, glancing between Taehyung and the vibrator. 

Taehyung contemplates what to do, wondering if he should walk out of the room or do something about this. 

“Taehyung!” Seokjin calls out in front of everyone, “isn’t that yours?” 

The girls laugh even harder and Taehyung internally panics. He can either pretend that it’s not his or he can own up to it.

Taehyung chooses the second option, sucking up his pride and stomping over to the table, grabbing it immediately before turning to the girls and saying, “I was looking for this actually. Maybe I’ll go use it now.” 

He smiles, trying to play it off as a joke, glaring at Seokjin before turning around and leaving. He ignores the laughter that follows as he storms out of the room. 

God, he’s so furious with Seokjin! How dare he humiliate Taehyung like this in front of everyone! He’s never done anything remotely close to this… well, except maybe that one time he tried to make Seokjin uncomfortable in front of Ken. But that was something that could be explained… this? No way in hell. 

He can hear footsteps and knows immediately that it’s Seokjin following him into the bedroom. 

“Go away, I don’t even want to look at you!” Taehyung calls over his shoulder as Seokjin gets nearer. He has half a mind to shove him out the door and lock it, he’s so angry. 

“It serves you right for taking RJ.” Seokjin says bluntly and Taehyung can’t stop himself from turning around to confront him.

“You took my gummies first!” 

“Because you’ve been an ass to me since day one for no reason.” Seokjin defends himself. 

“No reason? I had a reason. You were acting so entitled and above everyone here.” 

“Oh stop, I was not. You were just threatened by me. I was perfectly nice to everyone…” 

“No you weren’t, you were stuck up and judgy. You acted so weird when you caught Yoongi and I making out.” 

“Uh, yeah, because you were on my bed!” Seokjin shouts, clearly frustrated as well. 

“Would you just get over that already? Who cares?”

“I care. And you acted like I had no reason to be mad about it.” 

Taehyung huffs, not sure what to say. Seokjin has a point. 

“You were still not being very friendly.”

“Yeah, cuz I was nervous. Everyone was intimidating.”

“Well that’s clearly not the case anymore, is it?” Taehyung laughs. “You have no problem standing up for yourself now do you? I’m actually surprised it took you so long since you were so meek in the beginning.”

Taehyung almost feels bad for being mean, but not really. Not after what Seokjin’s just pulled. 

“Yeah well, I was trying to be nice to you. And give you the benefit of the doubt. But I realized that was a lost cause pretty quick.”

And he has to give it to Seokjin. He’s done a pretty good job at getting back at Taehyung and holding his own against him. He’d be impressed if he wasn’t so irritated. 

“Me taking RJ was just for fun. I even hid it in a place you could easily find it. It’s not the same thing as humiliating me in front of everyone.”

“Everyone? Stop exaggerating, there were only two people out there.”

“Yeah and they’ll probably go blabbing to everyone else about it! And what about if the show airs it?”

“They won't.” Seokjin says. 

“How do you know? They seem to love airing everything else about this fucked up relationship between us. In fact, I’m surprised that your boyfriend hasn’t broken up with you yet with how they are editing things.” 

“Ken knows that it’s all bullshit. He knows there’s nothing going on between us.”

And Taehyung knows that too but it’s different actually hearing it from Seokjin’s mouth. He knows Seokjin is unavailable. He knows he has a boyfriend and that nothing could happen between them. But still, having Seokjin confirm it hurts more than Taehyung even thought it would. 

“I just didn’t think you had it in you to be so cruel and embarrass me like that.” Taehyung says quietly, trying to make Seokjin feel guilty. 

“Embarrass you? I didn’t think that was possible.” Seokjin turns around, facing his bed, “especially considering the other night.”

The other night?

“What the hell does that mean?” Taehyung asks and Seokjin just shakes his head, ignoring him. Taehyung asks again.

“Nothing, forget I said it.” 

“No…” Taehyung says with more force, walking over to Seokjin until he’s standing right in front of him. “Tell me what you meant.”

Seokjin takes a breath, like he’s deciding what to say. His eyes flick to Taehyung’s mouth for a second but then he turns, trying to walk away. Taehyung grabs at his arm and pills him back.

“Seokjin-ssi, tell me.” Taehyung insists. 

Seokjin seems to give up, turning to Taehyung and locking eyes with him. “When you wanna use it, you should at least lock the door.” 

Taehyung pulls back immediately, in shock at Seokjin’s admission. Is Seokjin saying what he thinks he’s saying? 

“You saw that?” Taehyung asks in horror, more embarrassment flooding through him. His face would be red right now if his body reacted that way. “Oh my God! Were you spying on me?”

“What?” Seokjin asks, “no! I was coming back to the room because I couldn’t sleep in the other bed… I didn’t mean to.” 

Taehyung turns away, unable to look at Seokjin. He can’t believe Seokjin actually saw him… doing that.

“Even if the door was locked I would have heard you because you were so loud…” Seokjin says. 

Is he trying to embarrass Taehyung even more? 

“I can’t believe you heard me too!” 

He pretty much wants to cower away and hide forever. He’s never been more humiliated in his life. 

“I didn’t see much okay, it was dark, and you were covered…”

“Yeah, but, you still knew what I was doing!” Taehyung practically shouts, turning back to Seokjin. 

And Seokjin actually looks guilty then, like he feels bad.

“So it wasn’t on purpose?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung huffs immediately.

“What? No, jeez. Why the hell would I do that?”

“I don’t know…” Seokjin answers, “you like riling me up. I mean, at the photoshoot you were trying to… so I thought…”

“Fuck, Seokjin-ssi I wouldn’t go that far! You were supposed to be sleeping in the other room. I can’t believe that you watched me! How long were you there?”

Again Seokjin doesn’t answer, just continues to watch Taehyung carefully. 

“Where you there when I…” Orgasmed? Taehyung wants to finish but he can’t even get out the words. 

Seokjin sort of grimaces and glances downwards, answering Taehyung’s question. 

Fuck! Seokjin heard him orgasm too? 

He wants to turn away but he can’t move. He’s locked on Seokjin’s expression and the way that he’s biting at his lip. He glances up and Taehyung stares at him. The tension between them right now is ridiculous and overwhelming and Taehyung hates admitting that the idea of Seokjin hearing him is only turning him on. Why the hell is he feeling this way? He wants to kiss Seokjin right now, and he doesn’t understand why. He should be pissed at him for invading his privacy. 

It’s a shame that Seokjin has a fucking boyfriend because if he didn’t, Taehyung would probably be shoving him onto the bed right now. Threatening to use the vibrator on him as payback for spying on him. 

But of course he can’t do any of that and he tries his hardest to contain his embarrassment, masking it with humor instead.

“Well maybe you should just keep it. You could afford to loosen up a little… or would your boyfriend even let you do that?” 

He knows bringing up Ken is a touchy subject. Especially with how Seokjin responds.

“Don’t talk about Ken.”

“Why not?” Taehyung taunts. “You never do.” 

Seokjin finally gives up, turning around. 

“See? You’re an ass!” 

When Taehyung only laughs in response Seokjin keeps going.

“I don’t care that I embarrassed you. You deserved it.” 

And then it’s Seokjin that’s storming out of the room. 

“I didn’t wash the vibrator you know! Since I last used it!”

He just had to get in one final jab.

SEOKJIN 

There was definitely a moment. When Taehyung had stormed up to Seokjin and stood right in front of him. He was furious that Seokjin had caught him masturbating and when Taehyung had asked how much Seokjin saw, he just couldn’t lie. He should have. Should have told Taehyung that he had walked away the second he realized what he was doing. But he didn’t say that. Instead he stood there, frozen, remembering what that night was like; Taehyung’s face and the sounds he made when he’d finally released. 

When Seokjin looked up to see Taehyung staring right at him, he knew. He knew that Taehyung figured out his secret. That he’d watched him orgasm. He expected  Taehyung to get more upset or walk away, or something, but he didn’t. Instead he just locked eyes with Seokjin, his focus flashing down to Seokjin’s lips. Seokjin desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. Needed to know if Taehyung was feeling the same sexual frustration that he was feeling.

For the briefest of moments there he contemplated rushing forward and kissing Taehyung, just to get it out of his system. To learn what it would feel like to press their lips together.

But the thought was insane. He has a fucking boyfriend. Who he has been with for 2 years and known for 5 before that. He’s in a committed relationship and he wasn’t going to fuck it all up for a fleeting moment of attraction. Once this competition is over he can go back to his old life and forget all about Taehyung and this stupid… crush, or whatever the hell is going on here. 

He can’t even figure out why he likes him, or what’s drawing him to Taehyung. They can’t stand each other. All their games and all their bickering should just annoy Seokjin, and it does. But it also… excites him? Seokjin can’t figure out why, but he enjoys it. And he thinks that maybe Taehyung enjoys it too. 

He thinks about how Taehyung would have reacted if he did kiss him. If he would have let Jin, or if he would have pushed him away. He has a feeling Taehyung would be receptive to it, but it’s silly to even entertain the idea. His thoughts are dangerous and he really needs to stop. 

That night when he goes to sleep he pulls RJ close to him. It still sort of smells like Taehyung. He should have washed it… and once again, he finds himself thinking about the younger man. Seokjin knows his thoughts are starting to get out of hand.

He ignores Ken’s phone call that night. He just isn’t really in the mood to talk to him. Lately things have been so off between them and he is tired of the endless arguing. Ken keeps insisting that Taehyung has feelings for him and also that he’s lonely at home without Jin, and it’s getting to be too much. He hadn’t realized that this time apart would be so bad for their relationship. He wonders if it’s healthy for someone to be this dependent on someone else too, but he doesn’t know how to bring it up without Ken getting upset. He knows it’s mostly his fault, because he’s being a pretty shitty boyfriend lately, but he needs some space. 

Later in the week there’s yet another challenge, and this time the models are tasked with taking black and white photos. Each model is styled in a different “era” of time ranging from the 20’s all the way to modern day. Seokjin is grateful when he gets the 1990’s. He thinks it’s one of the coolest era’s, especially because he was born in the 90’s. He loves the look they have picked out for him, he’s put in a white tee with a grungy looking flannel shirt tied around his waist, ripped black jeans exposing his thighs and a jean jacket. His hair is parted on the side, and loose, exposing his forehead. He feels cool and he thinks it translates pretty well in his photoshoot, though he’s not sure the 90’s vibe will translate into black and white considering the 90’s were full of bright colors. But he knows that Hoseok must have it even harder considering he had received the 1980’s for his photoshoot concept. Yoongi got the 70’s. Seokjin thinks he would do great for that era. And Taehyung, the 1920’s.

Seokjin thought it was one of the harder era’s but of course Taehyung comes out of hair and make up looking like a fucking wet dream. He’s got on a beautiful vintage suit with a tie and vest and his hair is curled and fuck… he looks good. 

Something about Taehyung’s vibe screams the 1920’s. He knows how into his concept he is too, considering all the jazz music that Taehyung blasts from his AirPods at night. 

Taehyung smashes the photoshoot, Seokjin can tell by the praise he gets from the photographers. Even Hoseok comes up to him and makes a comment.

“He looks good, doesn’t he?” And there’s something in the tone of Hoseok’s voice that makes Seokjin wonder. But he just nods his head, silently agreeing. 

Surprisingly though, a different model wins top photo, but Seokjin is not surprised when Taehyung is announced second. He can tell by the smug look on Taehyung’s face how happy he is about that. Seokjin gets third and he’s thankful to be in the top three again. He’d been slowly falling in the standings ever since the first few weeks and was starting to wonder if maybe others were going to pass him and take the win from him. He needs to get his head back into the game soon. 

A few more models are saved, including Hoseok, but when it comes down to the bottom two and Yoongi is standing there yet again, Seokjin knows before it’s even announced that his time is up. He’s been in the bottom too many times before and the judges have said there will be no more second chances. 

Yoongi takes his elimination graciously but Seokjin can tell from the silence in the room that the others aren’t taking it as well. Hoseok hugs Yoongi tightly and Taehyung comes up behind them, hugging them both. He can see that Hoseok has a tear coming from his eye. Taehyung isn’t crying, but he looks absolutely devastated. 

When they’ve finally pulled away, the other models and Jin are able to say their goodbyes to Yoongi as well. Seokjin’s not sure how to feel about the elimination or what to say to him. He and Yoongi were close in the beginning but over the weeks they’d drifted as Yoongi had gotten distracted with Taehyung and then Hoseok. Regardless, he was still going to really miss Yoongi. But he tries to suck it up and not let it get to him. At the end of the day, it’s a competition. Everyone will go home at some point.

When they get back to the house Hoseok and Taehyung help to gather the rest of Yoongi’s things and it’s weirdly quiet as they pack for him. Taehyung would never admit it but Seokjin knows that he’s really upset. This is probably the first person to leave the house to affect him in this way. Seokjin knows they were close and that Yoongi was Taehyung’s best friend here. 

As much as he wants to not care, and put it out of his head, he can’t help but feel awful. When Taehyung leaves the room Seokjin decides to do something nice for him, quickly moving to grab his notebook and a pen and scribbling something on a piece of paper. 

When he’s laying in his bed that night he gets a text from Ken that says, “only a few more weeks until you are home!” with a big smiley face at the end of it. Seokjin should be thrilled. 

So then why does he feel so empty?

They have a few days off after the latest competition and Seokjin is surprised when the producers call him in to talk. That’s never happened before and when he gets into the studio and is pulled into a secret office he has a momentary lapse of panic. Is he getting kicked out of the competition? Did he do something wrong? Or did something happen at home?

Thankfully, it’s none of those things. Everyone at home is healthy and safe, and what they want to talk to him about has nothing to do with the competition. 

However, it is about Ken and when the producer reveals that he is in town to see him, Seokjin’s not sure how to react to the news. He knows he should be happy, but he’s mostly just confused. Ken had just said to him last night that there were only a few weeks left, so why did he fly all the way out here just to see him?  He couldn’t wait 14 more days until Seokjin was back at home? 

The producers tell Seokjin that normally they don’t let their models leave the premises to visit with loved ones during the filming process but that Ken had been very persuasive. (The way they say it makes it sound more like “threatening”) and that he had insisted on speaking to Seokjin. 

Seokjin knows that Ken has always been headstrong and he wonders what exactly he told the producers to get them to cave. He probably threatened to convince Seokjin to leave the competition if he wasn’t allowed to see him. Seokjin would never do that, but the producers probably don’t know that. 

They tell Jin he has a few hours to visit with Ken at a nearby hotel but that they expect him back at the house that evening. Of course Seokjin agrees to the terms. Truth be told, he doesn’t really even want to see Ken. Which he realizes is absolutely insane considering that Ken is his boyfriend, but well, when he gets jealous and needy like this, it almost always ends in a fight and Seokjin doesn’t need the added stress.

However, he can’t blow Ken off. He’d already avoided so many of his calls and texts recently, (and that's probably the reason Ken felt the need to come by in the first place) so he knows he has to go see him. He will re-assure Ken in person that everything is fine and hopefully smooth over this entire thing. But he’s certainly not looking forward to it. 

When he gets to the hotel he stands outside the door for a few moments to collect himself before knocking. Why the hell does he feel so nervous? 

Ken opens the door and immediately rushes towards Seokjin to pull him inside the room and shut the door. He grabs Seokjin’s face, kissing him on the mouth. It’s desperate and weird, but Seokjin kisses him back, knowing that Ken’s been waiting for it.

“I missed you so much!” Ken says between kisses and then he’s reaching for Seokjin’s shirt and unbuttoning it and everything’s moving way too fast. Something feels off and Seokjin knows that he needs to stop Ken so they can talk before this continues. 

“Hey… Ken… wait…” Seokjin says softly, pulling away and grabbing at Ken’s hands. “Can we slow down please? You haven’t even told me why you are here…” 

“I came to see you baby…” Ken says with a smile, like it explains everything and then he dips back in and kisses Seokjin again even harder, his hands around Seokjin’s waist. “It’s been so long… Do you not want to be with me?” 

And the way Ken frames it makes Seokjin feel even guiltier. It’s only really been a few weeks but for them, that’s a long time to go without sex. But he’s simply not feeling it… at least not right now. 

“I just am not really in the mood, I’m sorry.” Seokjin tries to explain as gently as he can but the hurt look on Ken’s face really says it all. He pulls back from Seokjin immediately, breathing out in obvious frustration before sitting down on the bed. “I’m only able to stay for a few hours, so we should probably talk. Why did you need to see me?

Seokjin sits next to Ken on the bed hesitantly. He contemplates reaching for his hand in comfort but decides against it. They’re awkwardly far apart but he knows that something is going on. He needs Ken to explain. 

“I just wanted to see you, that’s all.”

“Ken, the producers said it was serious and that you absolutely needed to talk to me. I thought something bad happened at home. But everything’s fine right? You’re only here because you missed me?”

He doesn’t mean to say it the way it comes out, but honestly, he’s feeling frustrated. Ken is acting so needy and strange lately and it’s starting to really take it’s toll. 

“I know I should have told you I was coming, but this long distance thing is so much harder than I expected. I hate not knowing what’s going on with you.”

“Nothing’s going on. Life has been the same since the last time that we talked. And the competition is going to be over really soon. Why are you being like this?”

“Like what?” Ken asks, clearly a little offended. “I’m not being like anything. I didn’t know it was ‘unusual’ to miss your boyfriend and want to see him. Maybe I shouldn’t have come at all.”

Ken stands up from the bed then, annoyed, and once again Seokjin finds himself feeling guilty for not missing Ken in the same way. 

“No, I am glad to see you, of course,” Seokjin tries to salvage the conversation, “but I feel like you’re just being a little paranoid… like you think I’m cheating on you or something.”

“I don’t know.” Ken answers, his back still turned to Seokjin.

Seokjin has no clue what that even means and honestly he wasn’t expecting those words to come from Ken’s mouth. 

“You don’t know? What does that mean? You think I’m cheating?”

“No.” Ken says firmly, finally turning to face Seokjin, “but sometimes I think you want to.”

“What?” Seokjin asks, feeling a bit cornered and unsure what to say. “With who?”

“With Taehyung.” Ken says simply and Seokjin sputters a bit before he can find the right words. 

“That’s… insane.” 

And okay, so Seokjin’s had the occasional dirty thought about Taehyung before so Ken isn’t entirely pulling things from nowhere, but it’s not like he’d ever actually cheat on a boyfriend. Taehyung is just attractive…and feisty, and he is fun to mess with. Sometimes he was fun to think about in that way too, but Seokjin’s thoughts were just thoughts. He would never act on them. And frankly, Seokjin was a little offended that Ken would suggest it. 

“Is it Seokjin?” Ken says. “I’ve seen the show, I can tell that there’s something going on between you two.” 

“There’s nothing going on.” Seokjin says, and he means it. Games, and annoyance and frustration, maybe. But intimacy? No. 

“I know you.” Ken says simply and Seokjin stops in his tracks. “I see how you look at him. How you talk about him… and he clearly likes you. It’s obvious.” 

Seokjin really doesn’t know how to respond. He doesn’t know what Taehyung thinks of him, and nothing he says to Ken will get him to change his mind. He can, however, defend his own thoughts. 

“How I talk about him? I talk about him like he’s a jerk, because he is. I’ve been honest with you about that from the beginning.”

“Yeah, but if it was just an annoyance then you would stop talking to him altogether like I asked you to. But you guys are clearly still interacting and messing with each other. I see it on the show.”

“We’re roommates Ken. And there’s only a handful of models left, I can’t exactly avoid him all the time.” 

Ken sighs, like he wants to believe what Jin is saying but obviously still has doubts. 

“I’m just not there. How can I compete with that?”

“You’re not supposed to compete.” Seokjin says simply, walking over to Ken and finally making contact with him again. He grabs his hands, holding them tightly. “You are my boyfriend. I love you. Come on… this is silly.” 

It was clearly not the right thing to say because Ken’s pulling his hands away and crossing his arms. 

“Have you kissed him?” 

The words shock Seokjin. It’s nothing he’s just said made any sort of impact with him.

“Ken, no. Come on, I wouldn’t do that…” 

“Do you want to?” 

And that question makes Seokjin pause. 

“No.” He says. Feeling guilty for lying, but what else is he supposed to do? Admit that he’s dreamt about Taehyung? That he’s thought about kissing him? That he’s had silly little fantasies about him? 

It doesn’t matter, because he knows he’s not very convincing when Ken brushes past him and makes his way back to the bed before sitting down again. 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“Why are you doing this?” Seokjin asks. It’s like Ken is trying to destroy their relationship. 

“I’m not! You’re the one that’s being different. You barely call me back anymore. You rarely text. You don’t like talking about Taehyung when I bring him up. And now you show up, and I haven’t seen you in weeks and you can barely touch me? You don’t want to have sex? You’re acting different… don’t deny it!”

“Because you’re smothering me!” Seokjin bursts out, unable to hold back his tongue anymore.

After Seokjin says it, there’s only silence. And as much as it pained him to see Ken’s expression, it needed to be said. He couldn’t keep going like this. How can Ken expect that he be intimate with him when he’s putting so much pressure on their relationship and calling and texting Seokjin non-stop? When he’s accusing Seokjin of cheating?

“Wow…” Ken says after a while, looking at the floor, “I didn’t expect that.”

“I’m sorry.” Seokjin says, and he means it. He’s never wanted to hurt Ken. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but being away from you has been nice. And please don’t take that the wrong way, but we’ve been together for so long. And I'm finally doing something for me for once. I’ve enjoyed the time away. I think it’s healthy for our relationship… but clearly you don’t.” 

“No, I don’t.” Ken says firmly, finally turning to look at Seokjin. He looks upset, and cold. “I don’t think it’s healthy to enjoy time away from your partner.”

Seokjin sighs, not sure where they can even go from this. Ken clearly isn’t going to understand what he’s trying to say. 

“Just because we are together doesn’t mean we can’t ever be apart. You can’t make it a few weeks without me?” 

Ken doesn’t respond. 

“Please, don’t be upset.”

“How can I not be? You practically just said you prefer being alone. That’s not how things used to be.” 

“Well, maybe his whole situation is making me realize that we were too dependent on each other before.”

“Or maybe you’ve just changed.” Ken says slowly. 

“Maybe I have.” Jin answers. 

“Well.. if that’s how you feel then I guess I should just go home?”

“I don’t want you to leave like this.”

“Leave like what?”

“Upset.” Seokjin answers. 

“Well, I’ve been upset for weeks. It’s nice that you’re finally noticing.” 

“Please, Ken, I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to argue with you.” Seokjin moves closer to Ken on the bed, but things are so off between them now. It doesn’t even feel right to reach out and touch him. 

“Then what do you want? You want to break up?” 

Jin hesitates. He’s not sure that he wants that. He’s been with Ken for so long now, he can’t imagine them not being in each other’s lives.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then do you want to take a break?”

“I don’t know… maybe?” Jin answers. A break seems more manageable. It’s practically what they’ve been doing already. Maybe Jin needs more time to sort out his feelings.

Ken sighs, standing up from the bed. 

“I think that’s a clear enough answer.” 

It’s silent again as Ken moves around the hotel room, gathering up his things. Seokjin doesn’t know what to do next. Should he hug Ken goodbye? Should he plead with him to stay? Should he grovel and apologize, or should he just let him go?

“What does this mean for us?” Seokjin asks.

“Well for me, it means… I’ll be waiting at home for you to figure out whatever it is that you think you need to figure out.” Ken replies.

His voice is so steady and his tone is so level that it’s almost scary. It’s clear how upset and disappointed in Seokjin he is. 

Ken reaches the hotel room door, opening it slowly before turning back to Seokjin, “As for you… you can do whatever the hell you want.” 

Ken slams the door shut, and then he’s gone.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Beating Seokjin again felt way too good and finally Taehyung feels like he has a proper shot at winning this whole thing. But with the standings constantly switching around, (Hoseok and another model named Jennie were also doing very well), Taehyung knew it was going to be very close competition.

When Yoongi was eliminated though, that put quite a damper on the evening. Taehyung knew he hadn’t been doing as well as everyone else and that his time would surely come, but still, the shock of his elimination hurt. Yoongi was Taehyung’s first and closest friend here in the competition. While Taehyung was friendly with a lot of the other models he didn’t have the same bond with them that he had with Yoongi. 

He tried to hold back his tears as he hugged Yoongi goodbye but it was nearly impossible. The only other person who seemed just as sad as he was? Hoseok of course. And in a strange way it gave Taehyung a tiny bit of comfort. He won’t be the only one struggling after this.

He knows it's silly to be this upset because it’s not like Yoongi is disappearing forever. He’ll be able to remain friends with him after the competition and keep in touch, but still, being here in the house with the same people for weeks, you create a bond with them, so whenever someone leaves it’s always a weird adjustment afterwards. 

He can see Seokjin carefully watching him the rest of the evening. He probably thinks that Taehyung is pathetic for being so upset, but when Taehyung comes into his room later to find a note that says, “Sorry about Yoongi” with gummies attached to it, he feels bad for doubting him. He knows the note is from Seokjin, and honestly, Taehyung is a little shocked that he is being so kind. Especially after what he pulled earlier with the vibrator. So Seokjin does have a sweet side. It’s just buried very, very deep. 

Taehyung doesn’t like thinking about Seokjin because when he does he gets confused. He doesn’t understand what their dynamic is or even how to be around him anymore. Sometimes he wants to punch him, other days he wants to shove him to the ground and kiss him senseless. There’s no in between. 

He tries to distract himself by helping Hoseok pack up some of Yoongi’s things. When a model is eliminated, they are evicted from the house without even being able to return and get their stuff. It’s the other models’ responsibility to do it for you. 

When he goes to Hoseok’s room to help him pack up Yoongi’s stuff, the two talk a little about him.

“So were you guys like… official?” Taehyung asks tentatively, not sure how Hoseok feels about his prying. 

“Well, we didn’t really talk about it specifically but I think so… yeah…” Hoseok says softly and the small smile on his face makes Taehyung smile too. He’s glad that they found each other here. And he wants Yoongi to be happy. 

“That’s cool.” Taehyung says genuinely. 

“I’m sorry…” Hoseok says suddenly and Taehyung looks at him, confused, “for kinda  stealing him from you? I didn’t mean for it to happen that way. And I guess I never really apologized.”

“No, it’s fine.” Taehyung says. “Honestly. We just fooled around a bit for fun, it was never serious. I wasn’t really interested in him in that way.” 

“Okay, cool.” Hoseok smiles again, finally done packing. He sits against the bed. “Are you… interested in someone else here?”

And there’s a certain tone in Hoseok’s voice. Taehyung knows that he’s implying something. Has his weird tension with Seokjin been that obvious to everyone here? 

“No one else is available.” Taehyung answers instead and Hoseok only gives him a sweet look, nodding slowly. 

They finish packing up Yoongi’s things and Taehyung mentally says goodbye to him. It’ll be hard without him around, but he can do this. They are nearing the finish point. 

Taehyung can’t help but notice Seokjin is gone from the house for a few hours that night. He wonders where the hell he is and why he left. The models weren’t allowed to leave the house unless it’s some sort of emergency. Taehyung immediately worries about Seokjin, his health and his family. He hopes everything is okay and that he will be back soon.

They may not get along well, but he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him and he also wants to beat Seokjin in the competition fair and square. 

Thankfully later that night Seokjin returns to the house and Taehyung lets out a sigh of relief. He of course would never admit to anyone that he cared but he’s glad to see Seokjin back. 

Though, when he returns, he walks into the room looking a bit down and Taehyung wonders if something is going on at home.

“Got my hopes up that you left the competition for good.” Taehyung teases, but he says it with a smile so that Seokjin knows he’s not serious.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Seokjin replies, before crashing down onto his bed. 

“Everything okay at home?” Taehyung asks but Seokjin only nods in response, not saying anything. Clearly, he doesn’t want to talk about it and Taehyung doesn’t want to pry but he can’t help but be curious. 

“Where were you then?” Taehyung asks, knowing that he probably won’t get any answers, but he has to try. 

“Just… had to take care of some personal things.” Seokjin says quietly and Taehyung gives up trying to get anything out of him. Clearly he doesn’t want to talk. Personal things? The answer is so cryptic and doesn’t really explain anything at all. 

“Are you okay?” Taehyung asks again, making sure to specify Seokjin this time.

Seokjin turns to look at him, finally, locking eyes with him. For a moment he doesn’t say anything at all and Taehyung wonders what he’s thinking. It’s like Seokjin is trying to figure out if Taehyung is being sincere or not. 

“It will be.” He says. Again… cryptic.  Taehyung tries changing topics.

“I would thank you… for the gummies you gave me. But well, they were mine in the first place.” Taehyung says, eyes still focused on Seokjin. 

Seokjin actually laughs then, and it feels good to hear it.

“What’s so funny?”

“You really tried there. To say something nice. But you couldn’t just say ‘thank you’ and leave it at that, huh?” 

He’s teasing too and Taehyung rolls his eyes, looking away. Why does Seokjin insist on being so god damn annoying at all times?

“You know you like our dynamic better this way.” Taehyung retorts and Seokjin just stares. There’s a certain gleam in his eye… like he agrees completely. Taehyung thinks he can see a small smirk on Seokjin’s face before he’s shifting away and settling back onto his bed.

“Goodnight, Taehyung.” 

The next evening, Taehyung’s in the pool thinking about the competition. The fact that they are so close to the finale now is exciting but stressful and he still can’t quite believe he has a real shot at winning. Or that he was even picked to come here in the first place.

He wonders what life is going to be like once he gets home. If things are going to be mostly the same or if anything will change. He keeps hearing about his presence on the show, and according to his friends and family that he’s heard from, he’s pretty well liked by the audience. 

People are also entertained by his rivalry with Seokjin and Taehyung can understand why… Seokjin’s a good model too, as much as Taehyung hates admitting it. Their banter is probably fun to watch.

When Taehyung shifts around in the pool he can see Seokjin standing inside through the kitchen windows. He’s looking out and for a brief second he makes eye contact with Taehyung. As soon as Taehyung catches him staring Seokjin turns away and walks out of the room.

He’s barely done anything and Taehyung is already so irritated with him. He thought maybe at this point they’d be able to resolve their issues and become friends, but that never happened. But, what he said to Seokjin was true, their dynamic is better this way. Maybe. This flirty sort of weird banter that had developed between them kept Taehyung pretty occupied through the whole competition. And honestly, it made things easy. He had a distraction here in the house, and Seokjin was fun to mess with.

Taehyung knew from the beginning there was an attraction there too, which certainly complicated things but also made it exciting. Even if he would never in a million years actually hook up with Seokjin, sometimes it was nice to think about. 

He wonders what kind of lover Seokjin would be. Slow, gentle and kind? Or rough, passionate and frantic? His ridiculous thoughts turn to more scenarios of him hooking up with Seokjin in random areas of the house. Currently, he’s thinking about Seokjin fucking him in this very pool. 

Taehyung sighs out loud, trying to force his brain to think about literally anything else. These insane thoughts are starting to get out of hand. He’s actually looking forward to the end of the competition so he can get back home and move on with his life.

But clearly that won’t be happening any time soon because a few minutes later Seokjin is walking outside and joining Taehyung by the pool. Taehyung is about to ask him why he’s there but Seokjin surprises him when he jumps in suddenly, landing in the water with a huge splash and soaking Taehyung in the face with water in the process. 

“What the hell Seokjin-ssi!” Taheyung yells, before shoving water into his face for revenge. “You did that on purpose!”

“What ever are you talking about?” Seokjin feigns innocence, smiling at Taehyung before swimming over to the other side of the pool, resting his arms back against the edge and staring back at him. 

Taehyung ignores the question, asking his own instead, “What the hell are you even doing?”

“I felt like going for a swim.” Seokjin says bluntly, as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world.

“You saw I was already out here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry… does this pool belong to you?” Seokjin teases again and if he weren’t so far away, Taehyung would certainly splash him again.

“No, I’m just surprised that you want to be near me at all. Usually you’re avoiding me like the plague.” 

“Yeah, well… you’re kinda like a wart. You’ve been growing on me.” Seokjin smirks.

“That’s the dumbest line I’ve ever heard.” Taehyung retorts. 

Seokjin only smiles, clearly finding Taehyung amusing. “I haven’t been avoiding you.” He says next.

“Yes, you have. Even yesterday you left the house for two hours…”

“That had nothing to do with you.” Seokjin cuts in quickly and Taehyung is dying to know where he even went.

“What was it about then?” Taehyung tries, knowing that he probably won’t get an answer. 

Seokjin pauses for a second, fingers running through his hair. Taehyung wonders if he’s actually going to tell him. 

“Maybe I’ll tell you later… if you earn it.” Seokjin jokes and Taehyung rolls his eyes. 

“You’re so annoying.” Taehyung teases, splashing Seokjin with water for the second time. “How does your boyfriend put up with you?” 

Taehyung can’t help but notice the strange look on Seokjin’s face when he asks, wondering what the elder is thinking. Did something happen with Ken? He hasn’t heard Seokjin mention him in a while. He wonders how their relationship is going lately.

But Seokjin doesn’t respond to that either. Instead, he pushes off from the back of the pool and gets closer towards where Taehyung is sitting.

“What do you think the next competition is going to be?” Taehyung asks instead, trying to ease some of the weird tension that always seems to be lingering between them. 

“I have no idea.” Seokjin answers. 

Taehyung thinks it’s strange that they’re actually having a normal conversation. That is, until Seokjin continues, “but whatever it is, I’m gonna kick your ass.” 

Taehyung laughs. Of course, the cordial conversation wouldn’t last long. 

“I’ve been doing better than you lately.” Taehyung says simply.

“Yeah well, my head wasn’t in it before. But it is now.”

Taehyung again wonders what he means by that, and why he’s being so damn ambiguous all the time. But before he can even ask, Seokjin is walking towards the pool steps. 

“It’s cold… I’m getting out.” He says, and Taehyung stares as he steps out. 

He’s soaked and he’s got on these tight black swim shorts that are stuck to his legs and Taehyung can’t help but gaze upon him as the drips of water slide down his chest, over his stomach, and onto the small happy trail that’s leading down into his shorts. Fuck, he looks so damn good and Taehyung thinks about how badly he wants to see Seokjin completely naked. Hating that he’s still having these thoughts about him constantly. But Seokjin sure isn’t making it easy for him. 

When Taehyung glances back up to Seokjin’s face he can see Seokjin watching him carefully, like he’s caught Taehyung staring.

“Enjoying the view?” He teases and Taehyung is too shocked to even give a response. “I’ll be taking this.” 

Taehyung can’t even protest as Seokjin grabs his towel and wipes himself off with it. Taehyung wonders if he planned all this just to get Taehyung back for taking his from the hot tub before. 

Seokjin turns, taking the towel with him and leaving Taehyung alone outside. 

Yeah, he deserved that. 

SEOKJIN

When Seokjin stares out the window and sees Taehyung sitting alone in the pool he immediately turns, jolting back to his room so he can put on his swim trunks. Ever since that night in the hot tub when Taehyung had stolen his towel, Seokjin had wanted revenge. And now was the perfect opportunity.

He makes his way outside, ignoring all the thoughts in his head that are trying to talk himself out of acting so petty. He knows it’s stupid, and childish and that he’s feeding into this weird game that he and Taehyung have been playing with each other for weeks, but he doesn’t care. He likes pissing Taehyung off… loves trying to figure out what will rattle him the most. 

He jumps into the pool without warning, splashing Taehyung in the process and can’t help the smirk that creeps over his face as he watches Taehyung’s reaction. 

His face is all scrunched up in annoyance and his hair is completely a mess now that it’s soaked with water and Seokjin has to force his eyes to remain on Taehyung’s face, instead of trailing downwards like he wants to. 

Regardless, they seem to have a somewhat smooth conversation until Taehyung dances around the topic of Ken.

Since their break, or break up, whatever it was, Seokjin honestly has been fine. He’s feeling better than ever before, as much as he hates to admit it. He should be missing his boyfriend, but instead, he’s finding himself enjoying the freedom. And Ken hasn’t called him once. He hasn’t even texted. Seokjin’s not sure if he should be feeling guilty for not missing him or not but Ken’s smothering was just getting to be too much for him. Maybe this break would be the best thing for their relationship. 

He’s not sure he’s ready to tell Taehyung all the details yet. Part of him wants Taehyung to know, but another part is scared that Taehyung will tease him for not being able to make his relationship work. Or gloat for being one of the reasons why it crumbled. But Taehyung isn’t the reason… well, not the entire reason for the break up. But Seokjin would be lying to himself if he said Taehyung wasn’t part of it. 

But he has to sort out how he feels about Taehyung before he can even entertain the idea of telling him about Ken. What if the information opens up some sort of secret door between them, giving Taehyung permission to act even more flirtatious and reckless? Would Seokjin even be able to handle that?

Seokjin pretends that he’s cold, getting out of the pool slowly. He’s not sure he can handle being near Taehyung right now, not with the confusing thoughts swirling around in his brain. 

He’s not immune to the way that Taehyung completely stares at him as he gets out, and Seokjin can’t help but make one last snarky comment, “Enjoying the view?” 

He loves the way that Taehyung very obviously falters at his question, not even managing to come up with a response. Seokjin works out often, he knows he’s in shape, and he doesn’t necessarily mind that Taehyung is noticing. 

He has to remind himself why he came out here, grabbing Taehyung’s towel and wrapping it around his body. Now, Taehyung is going to have to drudge back into the house all soaked.  

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Seokjin’s kicking himself now for even thinking that he wouldn’t mind showing off his body because when the final 8 models are given their next challenge, he has half a mind to quit the competition all together.

They are told they will be doing their shoots today completely nude and Seokjin immediately feels himself getting red. He's not sure he’s ready to be put entirely on display like this.

He always knew a naked challenge was a possibility, he’s seen a few seasons of the show and they seem to pull this challenge out as it gets closer to the finale but he had hoped this season they would skip it. Or that by the time he got here, he wouldn’t care as much.

He blames Taehyung for the reason he's so anxious. Because if he weren’t here, Seokjin probably wouldn’t care. He knows the show won't actually be able to air any of his actual nudity to the audience. But all of the models, photographers and producers etc will get to see him, including Taehyung, specifically, and that freaks Seokjin out. He hates that he cares about Taehyung's opinion, but he does... and Seokjin isn’t sure that he has that much confidence. He’s always been slightly modest, despite being proud of his body.

But he reminds himself what's at stake, and how important the money is to him, and he decides to suck it up and just do it. Surely, everyone else is going to be just as nervous as he is. He just prays that everyone will be too busy focusing on their own shoots to care about his. 

But much to his dismay he’s one of the last models to be shot that day, which means that most everyone else gets to finish early and has front row seats to his photoshoot. It would be mean to ask them to leave, and only make it more obvious how uncomfortable he is, so he tries to put on a brave face and just go with it. 

He can feel everyone’s eyes on him as he finally slips off his robe, trying to put everything out of his mind. There are make up artists nearby who surround him and start to coat him sporadically with different colored paint. Every model is assigned two colors that they are tasked to work with. Seokjin gets pink and blue, two of his favorite colors. 

He can see a particular set of eyes just watching him from the side and he can’t stop himself from glancing over and making contact with Taehyung. Embarrassment shoots through his core, wanting to cover himself up immediately, but forcing himself to stay still and let the artists work. 

Taehyung’s stare is so intense and Seokjin has no idea what he’s thinking. Does he think that Seokjin looks good, or is he judging his body right now? Seokjin knows he has a lot to be proud of especially in… that department. He’s a little… larger than normal, and shouldn’t care what anyone says about him. 

When the make up artists are done splashing him with paint he glances down, relieved to find his sensitive areas are mostly disguised with paint, which puts him a little bit more at ease. 

He’s asked to lay down on a huge white sheet. The idea of the shoot is to spread the paint all around until they change colors entirely. 

His colors start to get all mixed together and by the end of the shoot he’s covered in this pretty purple shade of paint. It’s a pretty cool concept and he’s interested to see how the photoshoot turns out.  He thinks he does pretty well, despite the circumstances and when the photographer says that he’s done he immediately grabs his robe and places it back over his body, heading towards the shower area to rinse off. 

He shares a quick glance with Taehyung on his way out, whose turn is next, and Seokjin gets the quickest flash of Taehyung stripping off his robe entirely before he passes by. 

Seokjin wonders if Taehyung did it on purpose, waiting for Seokjin to get close to him before getting undressed. Seokjin tries to force himself not to turn back around and look at Taehyung’s body.  He can’t stop himself though, and gets the quickest view of Taehyung from the back… and his ass, fuck, it's round and perky and smooth and Seokjin’s thoughts are all over the place. 

He showers off quickly, getting a fresh robe around his body so he can get back out the photoshoot area. He's embarrassed to admit even to himself that he wants to see the end of Taehyung’s session. 

Taehyung’s colors are yellow and blue and he seems to have absolutely no reservations as he lays down on a fresh white sheet to start his shoot. He looks so confident and adorable… Seokjin is slightly jealous that he is clearly not ashamed of his body at all, and that he makes this look easy. Seokjin's eyes rake over Taehyung’s body, and he hates to admit it but he looks really good. He’s not as toned as Seokjin, but he’s a lot thinner than Seokjin even realized. He’s usually covered up with baggy clothing. He also has the smoothest golden skin and a cute round tummy and his ass… well, Seokjin’s already given his thoughts on that. 

Taehyung locks eyes with him again during his shoot and smirks wickedly, which the photographer seems to love. And once Taehyung’s paint has fully turned green he’s able to get up and shower off. 

Taehyung casually throws the robe around his shoulders, tying it very loosely around his waist so that his chest and stomach are still mostly exposed. He starts walking towards Seokjin and Seokjin wants to bolt, suddenly feeling really nervous and hot. He knows his skin is turning red, it always does when he gets nervous. He hates the way that Taehyung makes him feel. 

“Nice job out there.” Taehyung says to him, stopping on his way back to the showers. 

“Thanks.” Seokjin says quietly. Is Taehyung actually being sincere? 

“You looked a little nervous, but you shouldn’t be. Clearly, you’ve got a good body.”

Seokjin doesn’t understand why Taehyung is being so nice to him but he takes the compliment, looking down at the floor. He feels embarrassed when the praise is all on him. 

“You do too.” Seokjin finally responds. But it feels off. It’s not like them to be so nice to each other. “You’re a bit skinny though, could afford to work out more.”

Seokjin knows he’s being a jerk but he couldn’t help himself. He had to keep their banter going. It’s where he feels comfortable.

Taehyung just laughs, clearly understanding it’s their “thing” to be mean to one another. 

“Never had any complaints before.” Taehyung says with a smirk and Seokjin doesn’t even want to know what he means by that statement. “Guys always say my tummy is their favorite part…”

And then Taehyung’s actually loosening the front of his robe and spreading his hand over his stomach. His fingers teasingly dip lower down under his robe before stilling entirely. Seokjin can’t help but stare down at them, wanting to replace Taehyung’s fingers with his own. 

“That or my ass…” Taehyung teases, biting at his lip as he watches Seokjin.  

Seokjin can’t handle it.

“Just go shower.” He says instead, trying to hide the obvious frustration in his voice, (and in his boxers), walking away from Taehyung. 

He had to leave before he said or did something really stupid.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Seeing Seokjin naked was… holy fuck. It took everything in Taehyung not to make his thoughts obvious to everyone at the photoshoot. He’s not sure how all the others were able to hold their reactions in. 

Jin had an amazing body. It was clear that he worked out a lot. His shoulders were wide and strong. He had perfectly flat abs and a small waist. And well… his dick was huge too. There’s no other way to say it. He looked hot as hell standing there dipped in paint, his backside completely exposed. 

He makes eye contact with Taehyung briefly and Taehyung has to force himself to hold still and not be too obvious that he’s raking Seokjin’s entire body in. Lately things between them have felt a bit more charged than normal, but he’s still not ready to make his attraction that obvious. 

Seokjin lays down on the sheet and for a brief moment Taehyung has a moment of panic because he worries that his own physique can not compare. He’s got a nice body too, but he doesn’t work out nearly as much and he knows he has a bit of a tummy. Usually though, he gets more compliments on that than anything else, so he tries to suck it up and remain confident as he watches Seokjin work. 

Taehyung is waiting patiently in his own robe, because his turn is next, and he gets a few ideas from Seokjin watching him pose. When Seokjin is finished and he makes his way over to Taehyung, he tries to remain calm and focused. 

Confidence is the key to everything and Taehyung knows that if he’s proud of his body and himself that others will be too. He purposely slips off his robe just as Seokjin passes, trying to pump himself up. His back is turned but he can see over his shoulder that Seokjin has turned around to quickly glance at his body. Taehyung knows for sure that his ass looks good, it’s another area he’s used to getting compliments on, and he struts over towards the set, it’s his turn to get covered in paint. 

Taehyung actually enjoys his shoot and at some point Seokjin makes his way back out to watch. Taehyung loves the way that Seokjin’s eyes glance over him. Taehyung tries to have fun with it, getting praise from the photographers. And by the time he’s finished he’s feeling good about his result. 

He can’t stop himself from walking back over to Seokjin once it's done, robe barely tied around his waist. They make small talk and Taehyung actually compliments Seokjin on how well he did. It feels a bit strange being nice to him, but he’s trying a new tactic. 

The formalities don’t last long though, Seokjin’s calling him skinny and Taehyung can’t help but laugh. It’s near impossible to be nice to each other without some sort of insult thrown in. It’s sort of their…thing.

“Never had any complaints before.” Taehyung smirks. “Guys always say my tummy is their favorite part. That, or my ass.”

He can’t help but smile at Seokjin’s reaction. Especially when he runs his hand over his stomach, dipping lower into his robe. Seokjin’s just staring at him and Taehyung desperately wonders what he’s thinking. Wonders if Seokjin agrees. 

“Just go shower.” He says to Taehyung instead, walking away. 

Another win for Taehyung.

For the rest of the day Taehyung can’t stop thinking about Seokjin and his ridiculous body. How huffy he was and how his skin got all red just from Taehyung’s teasing. Taehyung wonders what sorts of marks he could leave on his skin… clearly it’s very sensitive. And based on how quickly Seokjin bolted, it surely seemed like he was affected by Taehyung’s comments. Is this attraction not just one-sided? Maybe something really could happen with Seokjin at some point? Too bad Ken is in the picture. If he weren’t then Taehyung might have tried doing something about this weird fascination much, much earlier. 

Clearly Taehyung hadn’t done as well as he thought because at the results taping he’s announced third. Seokjin gets second and another model, Jennie, gets top photo. Taehyung didn’t see her photo shoot but he’s surprised that he didn’t place higher after how well he thought he did. But the competition is now down to seven contestants and Taehyung is still here, so he’ll take that, for now. Hoseok also managed to survive another day, which he’s happy about. 

That night, after they get home, Taehyung collapses onto his bed. The exhaustion of the previous weeks finally seemed to be catching up with him a bit. He looks across the room at Seokjin, whose staring at his phone. 

Taehyung finds himself staring yet again. Why did he have to get stuck in a room with Seokjin too? It’s only forcing his brain to concentrate on him and his growing attraction that much more. 

And it's like Seokjin has eyes on the side of his head because he turns finally, locking eyes with Taehyung. Nothing is said between them, but the tension lingering is obvious. Taehyung wants to say something mean to break it up, but he can’t think of anything clever to say. 

“What are you thinking about?” Taehyung finally asks instead, voice coming out in a quiet whisper. 

Seokjin pauses, as if he’s hesitating, then finally replies with, “Nothing.” Taehyung can tell it’s a lie. “I’m just tired.” 

He’s still fidgeting with his phone and Taehyung can’t help but wonder if everything is truly okay. 

“What? No two hour phone call with Ken tonight?” Taehyung asks. Seokjin doesn’t respond.

Something is definitely off. 

“Hasn’t seemed like he’s called in a while, actually…” Taehyung notes. “What’s going on with you two?” 

He may not know Seokjin extremely well still, but he can tell that something is wrong. Now that he thinks about it, Seokjin’s been pretty off ever since that night he left the house. 

Seokjin looks like he’s contemplating what to say. Then, he finally takes a breath, turning to Taehyung.

“We’re… taking a break.” 

Taehyung tries not to let the relief show on his face. He’s never really liked Ken, for obvious reasons, but he knows that Seokjin is probably hurting right now and he doesn’t want to make him feel worse.

“Why?” He asks simply, trying to understand what could have possibly gone wrong. 

Seokjin sighs, finally putting his phone on the bedside table. He curls onto his side, facing Taehyung. 

“It’s a long story.” 

Clearly, he doesn’t want to talk about it, and Taehyung doesn’t want to pry. But he wonders what could have possibly happened. He wonders if he has anything to do with it. He knows that they’ve been depicted in a very flirtatious way on the show. And sure, he’s been flirting, a little, but he always thought it was kind of one sided. Maybe Ken didn’t think so though. 

Taehyung hates admitting that he’s happy about this news. Selfishly, he wants Seokjin to be single. Then maybe he wouldn’t feel so guilty about the rising feelings of attraction that seem to be getting worse by the day. 

But Seokjin looks so sad and soft curled up like that on his bed. Part of Taehyung wants to get up and go over to him right now. Cover him with his body and tell him that things are going to be okay. Then kiss him. 

But he knows the thought is ridiculous. They definitely don’t have that sort of closeness yet. Seokjin probably wouldn’t even want to be comforted by him. And he certainly doesn’t want to be kissing anyone else yet.

Taehyung doesn’t want to be anyone’s rebound either. He’s done that before and it’s not fun. 

“I’m gonna try to sleep, if that’s okay.” Seokjin whispers quietly. “I don’t really feel like talking right now.” 

“Okay.” Taehyung responds, watching as Seokjin turns over in his bed and squirms under the covers. The whole day has been so strange, and different. Taehyung doesn’t quite know how to act around Seokjin when he’s not being mean to him.

“Told you I was gonna beat you today.” Seokjin mutters over his shoulder and Taehyung can’t stop the chuckle that releases from his mouth. He should be pissed about the comment, but coming from Seokjin… he just finds it funny.

“Yeah, yeah.” Taehyung says instead, not able to come up with a meaningful comeback. 

But then he has an idea, grabbing for his phone and lifting up his shirt. He takes a photo, quickly airdropping it over to ‘Seokjin’s phone’ and hoping it actually goes through.’ 

Seokjin’s phone dings, and he reaches for it, and Taehyung loves the way his eyes light up the second he sees what Taehyung has sent. It’s a photo of Taehyung’s tummy, hand splayed over it, fingers dipping under the waistband of his shorts.

“Taehyung… what…”

“Since you were staring so hard earlier.” Taehyung smirks. “Thought you might want a picture instead, it’ll last longer.”  

“You are… ridiculous.” Seokjin answers, tossing his phone to the side of his pillow. 

“I’ll let you enjoy the photo.” Taehyung teases, standing up from his bed. Suddenly he feels a little embarrassed for actually sending it to Seokjin. But after his comment about beating him today, Taehyung felt like he’d needed to one up him. 

“Where are you going?” Seokjin asks. 

“The gym.” Taehyung retorts. “Since I’m… so skinny.”  

Taehyung smiles at Seokjin one more time before heading out. 

“Taehyung…” Seokjin calls out to him before he reaches the doorway. Taehyung turns around, his eyebrows lifting, waiting for whatever Seokjin has to say. 

“Don’t act like I was the only one staring.” 

SEOKJIN

Taehyung only stares at Seokjin for another moment before flashing his signature half smirk, and heading out, apparently for the gym. So he doesn’t deny that he was staring at Seokjin too? Seokjin isn’t quite sure how to feel about that half-admission. Taehyung could have easily denied it. So why didn’t he? 

What the hell is even happening here? Seokjin feels like he could explode at any moment, things with Taehyung starting to feel too tense for his own liking.

When Taehyung’s finally gone, Seokjin pulls up his phone, staring at the photo that Taehyung had just sent him. He’d pretended to be annoyed when Taehyung was watching his reaction, but truthfully, he found it sort of amusing. If anything, Taehyung is a good distraction for him here. Especially after things with Ken fell apart. Instead of feeling lonely and confused like you should after a break up, he finds himself distracted. His thoughts about Taehyung are growing as the days go by, and this new photo surely isn’t going to help matters. 

He stares at Taehyung’s long fingers spread over his smooth stomach. He can see why Taehyung said the guys that he’s been with have liked it. He likes it too. For a brief moment he envisions his own fingers on Taehyung’s skin instead, rubbing over the smooth flesh, dipping down to the waistband and slipping them under the material, just like Taehyung is doing in the photo. 

Without realizing he’s doing it, Seokjin saves the photo to his phone. Then immediately tosses it to the side and tries again to sleep. He can’t be thinking these things about Taehyung. It’s a disaster waiting to happen… even though he’s certainly curious about what being with Taehyung would be like. 

But closing his eyes doesn’t help either and his mind continues to wander to thoughts of Taehyung. His ass, his thighs, his stomach… his curls and how they would feel between his fingers as he yanked on the back of Taehyung’s head to pull him in for a kiss. 

More guilt rises in his gut because he’s just ended a 2 year relationship with his boyfriend and he should be thinking more about that and what exactly he and Ken mean to each other, instead of shifting his focus to someone new so fast. He knows eventually he’s going to have to reach out to Ken so they can decide what to do. They were sort of left in a weird limbo between half broken up and half together. He could either try to make it work with Ken and attempt to get Taehyung out of his head completely, or he could end things with Ken once and for all and see where this whole experience takes him. 

But he might need to figure out exactly what Taehyung feels about him before he puts all his eggs in that basket. Does Taehyung even care that he and Ken are taking a break? His expression was so hard to read. And what was Seokjin supposed to say when Taehyung asked why?

'Because he was jealous of you… and he had a right to be.'

He just can’t imagine admitting to Taehyung that he is starting to feel something for him, because he doesn’t know how Taehyung would react to that news. Maybe Taehyung just enjoys teasing him. Maybe there isn’t really anything there on his end. Seokjin doesn’t want to make things even more awkward between them by bringing his weird and confusing feelings up. 

He feels awful for not even speaking with Ken because before they got together they were good friends. But he is relieved to get a little bit of a break so he can figure out what he wants. He told himself he wouldn’t contact Ken until he had a definitive answer for him one way or the other. If he tried to tell Ken he felt nothing for Taehyung, he would be lying.

Another hour later and Taehyung comes back to the room. He’s half naked, with a towel around his waist and his hair is soaked, clearly from the shower he’s just taken. Obviously, being nude at the previous challenge has given him the courage to walk around like this when he never had before and once again Seokjin finds himself staring at Taehyung’s body. It looks even better glistening with water and he can see one particular water drop from his hair sliding down over his chest and down his hip. 

Seokjin doesn’t even attempt to hide that he’s looking, since they’ve both established at this point that this is something that they’re doing. Seokjin once again thinks back to the photoshoot when Taehyung was standing in front of him with his robe slightly open. Taehyung’s smile during his photoshoot and the way that Taehyung looked at him. The way that he’s looking at him now over his shoulder as he slides his towel off and over his ass to put on fresh boxers. Fuck. Taehyung is messing with his brain. 

He fights the urge to get up and walk right over to him. Ignores the dangerous thoughts he has of shoving Taehyung down into his bed and ripping his own pants off… pushes the fantasy of fucking Taehyung into the mattress out of his head. Instead, he pulls up the covers to hide underneath them and pray that this stupid crush will eventually die. 

At their next challenge they are tasked to take on the 7 deadly sins, which Seokjin should have seen coming considering there were 7 models left. 

He receives the sin of ‘Envy’, which he is pretty grateful for. He can’t imagine trying to convey Sloth, Greed or Gluttony in a photoshoot, but Envy, that’s easy. He’s put in a green suit and for this challenge the models are tasked with posing in coffins. Inside the coffin are various items to represent their sin as well as plenty of dirt. Seokjin hates small spaces, so he’s not thrilled about the shoot, or the limited poses but manages to get through it. 

Hoseok gets ‘Pride’ and looks dashing in his purple suit. It’s a good one for Hoseok to tackle, Seokjin thinks. If he’d had to represent wrath, he’s not sure he would have been able to pull it off considering how happy Hoseok always is. That sin, is reserved for Jennie instead, who does an amazing job and looks fantastic in her dark red gown. She’s definitely the strongest female left in the competition and could be a contender for the final prize.

Seokjin is the least surprised to see Taehyung emerge from his dressing room in a gorgeous black suit with a pink undershirt undone halfway down his chest. His sin? Lust. Of course. It’s the perfect sin for him and when Taehyung walks past Seokjin he actually fucking winks at him. Seokjin hates how easy it is for Taehyung to always snap immediately into character for these photo shoots. Seokjin watches his entire shoot and is amazed at how well Taehyung can manage to pose in such a tight space. His coffin is filled with pink rose petals and he looks ethereal sitting half way out of it. Why didn’t Seokjin think to do that? 

The host reveals that for this photoshoot the result will be determined 50% by a fan vote and Seokjin should have seen that coming. He’s pretty sure they did that the season before and it helps to change up the results a bit and satisfy the fan base.

So it doesn’t shock Seokjin at all when Taehyung receives top photo. He knows that the fans just adore him, and he can certainly understand why. He’s probably so fun to watch on the show, and he’s obviously attractive. 

He’s grateful to come in second though. Hoseok is close to the bottom this week, which surprises him, but it’s getting down the wire and now with only 6 models left, each elimination is going to get harder. Jennie had managed to make it through as well. 

Afterwards, when they’re all in the van heading home Hoseok pulls out his phone to update Yoongi on the current results. 

“So things are going well for you guys still?” Seokjin asks, genuinely curious. 

Hoseok smiles at him, and Seokjin thinks it’s sweet how he lights up just at the mention of Yoongi’s name. Seokjin used to get that way with Ken too. Though that feeling has long passed. 

“Yeah, it’s going great. But he’s ready for the competition to be over so we can finally go on a proper date.” Hoseok says.

“Well, when you’re eliminated next you’ll get to see him a lot sooner.” Taehyung teases, which earns a small slap from Hoseok. It’s good to know that Taehyung is a shit to more people than just him. 

“And then he’ll be forced to root for me.” Taehyung jokes. 

“If Hoseok gets eliminated then Yoongi will be rooting for me next.” Seokjin interjects, unable to stop himself from butting in. It’s probably not true. Yoongi and Taehyung were a lot closer, but he says it just to annoy Taehyung, and it clearly works. 

“Shut up.” Taehyung says, knocking his body into Seokjin’s shoulder. He means it to be playful but it forces Seokjin off of his seat a little bit, which only eggs Seokjin on. 

“Hey, don’t.” Seokjin yells back, shoving Taehyung harder. 

“Come on guys, will you just give it a rest already?” Hoseok asks, eyes still stuck to his phone, but clearly frustrated with the two’s constant bickering.

But Taehyung ignores the advice, pushing at Seokjin again. Seokjin grabs his hands, annoyed now that this stupid play fight has escalated to this level. 

Taehyung struggles a little bit, trying to pull his hands away but Seokjin’s got a tight grip on his wrists, not letting him go.

“You seriously think you’re stronger?” Seokjin taunts and Taehyung stills, glaring at Seokjin. 

“Maybe not, but I’ve got more determination.” He says boldly.

And Seokjin believes that is true. Taehyung could probably overpower him if he really wanted. But he’s stopped trying and his body is mostly still as he stares at Seokjin. His eyes are downcast, like he’s threatening Seokjin to do something. 

Seokjin realizes he’s still got a hold of Taehyung’s wrists as they stare each other down. His hands linger a little too long and he can feel Taehyung’s pulse beating strongly underneath where his thumb has settled over his wrist. On instinct Seokjin shifts, his thumb stroking gently over the veins beneath the skin. He doesn’t even know why he does it, but Taehyung immediately glances down before ripping his hands away, scowling at Seokjin like he’s just been punched or something. 

“Trying to hold my hand, Hyung?” Taehyung sneers and Seokjin huffs out a deep sigh. It’s something someone in middle school would say in front of a lot of people to embarrass them and Seokjin can feel his face getting hot.

“You wish I was.” He says instead, shifting away to create more space between him and Taehyung. 

He glances over to see Hoseok staring between them, a weird expression etched on his face.

“You two… I swear.” Hoseok mutters and Seokjin waits for a response from Taehyung but it never comes. He just holds his wrist and stares out the window, deep in thought. Seokjin wonders what he’s thinking. But he refuses to ask. 

There’s only one week left of the competition and the producers bring the remaining models into the living room to let them know the upcoming plans for the rest of the season. Seokjin still can’t believe that it’s almost over. It went by so fast and part of him is sad to leave. He’s gotten used to his schedule and life here and isn’t sure how things are going to go once he’s back home.

They tell the models that they will actually be leaving the mansion because they are going to fly everyone out to France to do a runway show. Naturally, everyone’s excited, but Seokjin is a bit worried. He hasn’t been practicing his walk as much as he should have been and he wonders how hard it’s going to be; if it’ll be a normal runway or if they plan on giving them difficult tasks. Like, walking blind, or walking in heels, or in water or something else equally ridiculous. Seokjin is excited to go to France though. He’s never been and he’s heard the city is beautiful. 

They are told there will be 2 more eliminations at the next challenge. The runway show in France will be part of the pre-finale and they will take it down to 4 models. Then, the following day they will begin taping the finale. In part 1, they will eliminate one more model, bringing the top 3 in for the final photoshoot of the season. Its been a while since the show has come down to a top 3 instead of a top 2. It ups Seokjin’s chances of being there until the end of the show, which he is grateful for. But it also lessens his chances of actually winning at the end. 

It’s hard packing for the last time, knowing that he won't be coming back to the mansion again this season. He glances around the room to see Taehyung’s stuff still strewn all about. Of course he would wait til the last minute to pack. Seokjin can feel a little pang of sadness in his heart though, as much as he hates admitting it. Part of him is going to miss rooming with Taehyung. 

The next morning, after the models get to the airport, Seokjin is handed his ticket. It reads 11A and he’s happy to get a window seat. As he makes his way down the aisle of the plane, he stops in his tracks the second that he glances down at his seat. Of course, Taehyung is plopped right next to him. In seat 11B. 

Taehyung glances up, surprise etched on his face as he watches Seokjin put his bags in the overhead compartment before squeezing past Taehyung so he can get to his seat. 

He settles in, staring daggers at Taehyung. Already feeling suffocated.

This is going to be a long flight. 

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Taehyung thinks to himself as he watches Seokjin walk up to his aisle on the plane, glaring at Taehyung briefly before squeezing his way into the window seat and plopping himself down. He doesn’t even look at Taehyung as he sits, his big shoulders immediately bumping into Taehyung’s as they try to fit into the small space beside him.

Of course they are seated next to one another. The producers clearly love feeding off the reaction of the audience and Taehyung should have guessed that they would have stuck the two of them together for the entire 11+ hour flight to France.

Taehyung knows it’s no use trying to switch aisles, but once the pilot announces they are almost ready to take off, he finds no harm in moving over to the aisle seat. No one else was seated with them and he needed to create some distance from Seokjin.

“Seriously?” Seokjin asks, quirking an eyebrow in Taehyung’s direction as Taehyung shifts over.

Taehyung doesn’t get why he’s even acting offended. It’s not like Seokjin wants to be stuck next to Taehyung for that long either. Taehyung can’t remember a time he’s been that physically close to Seokjin since their duo photoshoot and he doesn’t need to be thinking about how pretty Seokjin’s eyes look or the way his eyelashes flutter gently over his skin every time he blinks.

But shortly after the plane has taken off, one of the producers comes by and asks Taehyung to move back over, which earns a loud whine out of him. If he weren’t on a plane full of people he would put up more of a fight but the producer tells him that they need to leave that space open for the camera man when he decides to film and Taehyung rolls his eyes, ignoring the excuse, but following direction anyways. They are only days away from the end of this competition and he doesn’t want to do anything to upset anyone behind the scenes. If he has to play nice for a little longer, then he’ll do it. He doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize his chances of winning.

The second he gets back into the middle seat he whips out his air pods, sticking them in his ears to avoid the weird stare that he’s getting from Seokjin. He doesn’t know what it means and he doesn’t care to ask either. He closes his eyes, drowning everything around him out… including Seokjin.

He listens to music for about an hour before he gets bored and pulls them out of his ears. Seokjin is currently watching a boring zombie movie on the plane TV screen and Taehyung wants to say something to rile him up, but thinks better of it. With ten hours still left to go, he doesn’t need to start that up already.

He shifts around in his seat, trying to get comfortable, but it's no use, the space is too small.  

Seokjin finally turns to look at him, clearly annoyed with how much movement he’s making. Taehyung pouts at him.  “You’re too freaking wide, you’re taking up all the space.” He says harshly, but Seokjin only rolls his eyes.

“I know that you love my shoulders.”

“What are you talking about?” Taehyung retorts. Must Seokjin be so annoying?

“I saw what you said about me… and them… the first week here.”

Taehyung has no idea what Seokjin is referring to.

“The first week?”

“Yeah. In the first episode you said 'the guy with the dark hair and wide shoulders is kinda hot'… your words…”

Then Taehyung has a panic attack and a quick memory of that very first interview he ever did for the show runs back through his mind. The producers had asked him what his first impressions were of the other models. Taehyung had mentioned Seokjin. Though, not by name. He may have also said that Seokjin was attractive. Shit . So they actually aired that?

“I said ‘kinda’ hot…” Taehyung says, as if that is going to help anything. “Besides, that was before I knew how annoying you’d end up being.”

Taehyung feels embarrassed immediately. Sure he thought Seokjin was good-looking when he first saw him, hell, he still is. Taehyung isn’t blind.  But he didn’t expect for the show to air that part of the interview or for Seokjin to ever see it.

“I’m not annoying, you are.” Seokjin shoots back.

“Nice comeback, really.” Taehyung teases, turning back to the stupid movie and trying to move on from this dumb conversation.

“Fine, I’ll play along…” Seokjin interrupts. Taehyung can tell he’s staring without even looking at him. “If I wasn’t annoying, would you still treat me like this?”

“Like what?” Taehyung asks.

“Like you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” Taehyung says immediately. Sure they tease each other and are rude to one another, but he’d always thought Seokjin understood it was part of their dynamic.

“Sometimes it feels like you do.” Seokjin says quietly and for a brief moment, Taehyung actually feels guilty.

“I don’t hate you.” Taehyung says again, softer. Suddenly things feel too quiet. And Seokjin’s looking at him too carefuly. “You just get on my nerves sometimes.” He says, to ease the tension.

“Okay… well, if I hadn’t walked in on you and Yoongi in my bed that first week… or if I hadn’t gotten upset then… what?”

“Then… I don’t know.” Taehyung says, feeling like he’s being interrogated. Who knows how their relationship would have turned out. Maybe the same?

“Then you would totally be in love with me right now?”

Taehyung would have spit out his water if he had any in his mouth.

“Oh please…” Taehyung answers quickly, “in your dreams.”

It’s a childish response, but it’s the only thing that Taehyung can think to say.

Seokjin only smiles, probably knowing how much he’s gotten under Taehyung’s skin.

“You’d be the one in love with me.” Taehyung says.

And Seokjin actually laughs loudly at that, like it’s the funniest thing in the world. Taehyung hates it.

Mostly, he hates how nice it sounds. Hates that Seokjin’s laugh makes him want to laugh too. Hates that there might be some truth to Seokjin’s words.

How is he going to survive the rest of this flight?


Somehow though, he manages it. Watching movies is a good distraction. Also listening to music. And phone games. But despite all of that, he can still feel Seokjin’s body heat as a constant reminder next to him. Part of him can admit that it feels nice, but it’s also a little uncomfortable and he’ll be ready to get off the plane so he can stretch his legs finally.

It’s definitely weird being on a plane with Seokjin, or anywhere new, really, because this entire time that he’s known him they’ve been cooped up in the model mansion together. Seeing Seokjin in normal clothing outside of the house is definitely something different.  It's kind of like running into a teacher when they are at the grocery store or a movie or something. It makes Seokjin appear more… normal? Like he’s any other guy that Taehyung would run to on any typical day.

Taehyung notices from the outside windows that it’s finally getting dark and he’s thankful that the day is almost over. Once he gets to the hotel he will be able to sleep. It’s been a long day of doing nothing and Taehyung feels his eyelids already getting heavy. But they still have about four hours to go and as the time ticks on Taehyung’s eyes start closing more and more frequently.


He doesn’t even realize that he’s fallen asleep until he wakes up hours later, his head resting on something warm and strong beside him. He gently coaxes his eyes open and immediately panics, Seokjin’s face is only centimeters away and he’s staring softly at Taehyung with a little smirk on his face.

Taehyung lifts his head immediately, realizing that he’s actually fallen asleep on Seokjin’s shoulder. He stares at him, unable to form words. He’s even closer to Seokjin’s face than before and he can’t help but glance down at his perfectly plump lips.

But then something snaps in him and he sits back, immediately pulling away and rubbing at his eyes.

“Why did you let me sleep like that?” He asks, his voice coming out deep and raspy.

“You just looked too cute.” Seokjin taunts and Taehyung isn’t sure if he’s even heard right. Did Seokjin really just compliment him? “When you aren’t talking you actually aren’t so bad.”

Taehyung leans away, shoving Seokjin’s shoulder with his hand.  He doesn’t have a response and tries to ignore the weird jittery feeling in his gut from being so close to him.

“Except for the drooling bit…”

Taehyung is mortified, instantly wiping his mouth.

“What?” He asks, and his eyes scan Seokjin’s shoulder, trying to find evidence. “Where?”

“I’m teasing.” Seokjin laughs instead, finally turning away from Taehyung to look out the window.

“See, you’re an ass.” Taehyung mumbles, resting instead against the opposite side of the seat. It’s not nearly as comfortable.  “How much longer do we have? I’m starving.”

“A little more than an hour still…” Seokjin answers.

“I slept that long?” Taehyung asks. Seokjin nods.

“Want some gummies?” He asks, holding a bag out and offering it to Taehyung.

There is no other food offered on the flight and Taehyung forgot to pack his own snacks so he accepts, holding out his hand. He hates accepting anything from Seokjin but his stomach is growling and he doesn’t think he can wait another full hour for dinner.

Seokjin pours some gummies into his hand, a generous amount, actually. The bag is almost empty after he does, and Taehyung can’t help but wonder why Seokjin is being so nice to him. But he says thank you anyway and sticks a few in his mouth, his stomach instantly satisfied.

He has the weird urge to lean his head back down on Seokjin’s shoulder, but refuses to do it, instead attempting to get comfortable by leaning back in his seat instead.

“I’m sorry.” Taehyung says suddenly and Seokjin looks at him, confused.

“For what?” He asks.

“Falling asleep on you. I wasn’t like that the whole time, was I?” He asks, not sure he wants to know the answer.

“Not the whole time.” Seokjin says quietly, but then he turns away. Taehyung wonders if he’s lying to make Taehyung feel better.

“You must have been tired though.” Seokjin says instead, then he smirks again and Taehyung knows a sarcastic comment is coming before he opens his mouth, “probably from all that working out you’re doing now, huh?”

God, he can be so obnoxious, Taehyung thinks to himself, rolling his eyes.

He tries not to think about the fact that the producers probably got that entire segment of him falling asleep on Seokjin’s shoulder on camera and that it will definitely be airing on TV soon.

Seokjin chooses an anime that Taehyung likes and it starts playing on the screen in front of them. Taehyung still feels sleepy but he watches it with Seokjin instead, because he loves this show.

Wow, so they actually have some similar interests and things in common?

Who knew. 

SEOKJIN

Now they’re stuck on a plane together, and as much as Seokjin hates to admit it, he’s actually enjoying his time with Taehyung. Taehyung practically ignored him for the first few hours but there was still a nice sort of comfort just sitting next to him. When Taehyung finally decided to start talking to Seokjin of course they ended up bickering, but Seokjin couldn’t even deny that he found it all so entertaining, and… fun?

And now here Taehyung was asleep on Seokjin’s shoulder. It should feel weird but it doesn’t. Seokjin should move him away… but he can’t. He doesn’t want to disturb Taehyung. He looks so serene and cute just sleeping there so peacefully. And the comfort of all feels nice.

Seokjin thought when he ended things with Ken that he would love his alone time, and he does… for the most part. But even he can admit that going back to being a single man is difficult. He gets lonely too. And he misses the simplicity and the comfort of having someone always there. Even if just to talk to, but mostly to cuddle with. So having Taehyung asleep on his shoulder isn’t so bad.

Seokjin decides to try to get some rest too and settles in the best he can, his head even laying gently against Taehyung’s for a little while. But then he remembers the stupid TV show and the camera men on the plane moving around, occasionally trying to get shots, so he re-adjusts, instead laying his head against the plane’s window.

He manages to sleep for about an hour but then wakes up again, only to find Taehyung still sleeping quietly against him. He stares at Taehyung’s face… unable to stop himself with Taehyung so close to him. He takes in the moles that litter Taehyung’s nose, bottom lip, and eye. He has so many and in such unique places. Seokjin thinks those are cute too, but then immediately tries to shake the thought from his head. He can’t be openly admitting to himself that he finds Taehyung attractive, can he? Seems dangerous. And also like a bit of a lost cause considering how much Taehyung dislikes him.

A camera man sweeps the aisle, taking shots of the models, and Seokjin wants to push Taehyung away, but he doesn’t have the heart, so he pretends to be asleep again until the camera man is gone. A pang of guilt goes through Seokjin’s body when he thinks about how Ken is going to react to seeing that.

Not that he has to explain himself or anything, they are broken up… mostly. But before they were dating they were friends and he feels bad. Ken is already so insecure about Taehyung, so what would he say about this?

They haven’t even talked since that night at the hotel but Seokjin doesn’t want to be the one to reach out first. He knows that he probably should, that Ken is probably expecting it, but Seokjin also knows that he needs to end things between them for good, and he wants to wait to do that in person… not over the phone. He doesn’t want to give Ken any mixed signals.


Taehyung wakes up another hour or so later and Seokjin can tell that he's a little mortified that the fell asleep on him. Seokjin tries to brush it off like it’s nothing, teasing Taehyung about drooling on him. He feels a little bad when Taehyung calls him an ass… is that truly what Taehyung thinks about him? Maybe he should attempt to be nicer; finally clear the air between them.

He offers Taehyung some gummies and to his surprise Taehyung actually takes them. And then they spend the final hours of the flight watching anime together and laughing. Seokjin is surprised to find that Taehyung enjoys some of the same things he does and by the time the plane lands and it’s time to get off and head to the hotel, Seokjin can’t lie that he feels a little disappointed. They were just managing to make some progress.

But he’s distracted by the outside view as they head off of the plane, the city lights from outside shining brightly in the night sky. Paris is beautiful and Seokjin is excited to explore the city a little bit before the end of the competition.  


The models get their bags and then are put into cars and taken to the hotel. They are told they will have dinner delivered to them once they check into their rooms. When Seokjin’s handed a room key he notices that he’s on floor 3, room 6, and follows the other models into the elevator.

Taehyung is crammed into the corner, and he’s back to avoiding eye contact with Seokjin. But maybe he really is just exhausted.

The elevator dings once they get to the third floor and everyone gets off, one trailing behind the next slowly as they each reach their rooms. Seokjin hears Hoseok mention that he’s in room 11, and Jennie in room 8 but when Seokjin gets to room 6, he hears a very familiar and loud groan behind him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Seokjin turns to see Taehyung glaring at him, holding his key card out to Seokjin. Seokjin can see on the envelope holder that it reads Room 306… just like his.

“Really? They couldn’t get us our own rooms?” Seokjin says, looking over at Hoseok, who only shrugs at him.

“I have a feeling it may have been done intentionally….” Hoseok smiles, and then actually winks at Seokjin before continuing down the hall towards his room with one of the other male models.

“See you guys at breakfast?” Jennie says, giving them a small wave and heads off as well, with the other remaining female in the competition.

And then it’s just Seokjin and Taehyung alone together, again.

Seokjin opens the door, glancing around the room at the small space they were allotted.

“They totally did this on purpose!” Taehyung whines as he slams his things onto the bed near the window, then sits next to his closed suitcase and stares at Seokjin. “They didn’t get enough footage of us arguing in the house?”

“They probably just want us to get on each other's nerves before the finale. Because if we go into it disliking each other, it’ll make for better TV. Pretty transparent, actually.”

“Well, it was a shitty plan because I already dislike you.” Taehyung smirks.

“And just when I thought we were making progress.” Seokjin says, unzipping his bag and reaching for some extra clothes that he can change into. And truthfully, their time on their plane wasn’t all terrible. So being crammed in these tight quarters for two nights won’t be that bad… hopefully.

Seokjin starts unbuttoning his shirt, needing to get out of these old clothes, and he looks up to see Taehyung just watching him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asks, as if Seokjin is planning to get entirely naked in front of him or something.

“I’m gonna shower.” Seokjin says… looking at Taehyung curiously. The words slip out before he can stop them, “you planning to watch the whole time?”

He doesn’t get why, but Taehyung always brings out the snarky side in him, even when he’s trying to be nice.

Taehyung sighs, making a disgusted face. “Ew, no. Have you ever heard of privacy? Go undress in the bathroom.”

“Not like you haven’t seen it before.” Seokjin laughs. “In fact, I vaguely remember you staring at me while I was naked at that photoshoot last week…”

“Did not.” Taehyung retorts quickly, still averting his gaze.

Seokjin takes some pity on him and grabs his clothes, making his way towards the bathroom.

“Did too.” Seokjin finally says. “Besides, you’re one to talk about privacy. I seem to recall you sending me a photo of your bare stomach… or do I need to pull it up and remind you?”

“Pull it up? So you admit you kept it?” Taehyung asks.

Seokjin ignores the question.

“Or how about that time you had fun with your little toy in our room… with the door unlocked. Didn’t seem to care about privacy then, did you?”

“Oh, you mean this toy?” Taehyung asks, immediately reaching into the side zipped pocket of his bag, digging around, and then pulling out his ridiculous black vibrator and waving it in the air.

Seokjin is amazed at how nonchalant he’s being about it.

“I can’t believe you actually brought that thing with you. You seriously couldn’t go a month without?”

“I could, but I didn’t want to.” Taehyung says honestly, turning to Seokjin. He’s still holding the vibrator in his hand and it’s making Seokjin feel strange. “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy listening to me through the door.”

His voice is low, and raspy and Seokjin’s about to protest but then Taehyung’s speaking again, “Maybe if you’re lucky you’ll get to see it again…”

Seokjin tries to maintain his composure, not letting the words get to him. Is Taehyung implying something? Or is he just teasing, like usual?

“Well, now’s your chance. It’ll take me at least ten minutes to shower. So… have fun…”

Then he turns, walking into the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him.

“I can make it last longer than ten minutes!” Taehyung yells out to him from behind the door. Seokjin pretends he didn’t just hear that.



Seokjin definitely doesn’t think about Taehyung’s last words when he’s taking off his pants. He also doesn’t think about Taehyung out in the hotel room alone as he steps into the shower. Or about Taehyung actually using that vibrator as he washes himself down with the soap.

His fingers trail over his lower stomach and then he pauses for a second. But he refuses to give in, hands moving immediately to the shampoo bottle instead so he can wash his hair and try to stop thinking about Taehyung entirely.

After about 8 minutes he gets out of the shower, drying off with a towel. It’s probably better to get dressed into his soft blue pajamas now before going back out there. He doesn’t need anymore snarky comments or stares from Taehyung. He hopes that he won’t open the door to what Taehyung had threatened earlier. But he doesn’t hear the sound of soft buzzing or quiet moans (like he could forget how Taehyung sounded the first time he heard it), so he knows it’s safe to go back out.

Luckily Taehyung is just lounging on his bed like he was before Seokjin went to take his shower, fully dressed and scrolling his phone. The TV is on and the vibrator is nowhere in sight so Seokjin can sigh in relief before climbing onto his own bed.

Dinner is delivered for them shortly after and they eat it while the local news plays on the hotel TV. It’s deadly silent between them, and a little awkward. It’s like there’s no in-between for them. One second they’re bickering non stop, the next, it's like this.

No matter what he does to try to distract himself though, his thoughts keep going back to Taehyung and that damn vibrator. He tries his best to put it out of his head and gets ready to sleep instead.

Taehyung goes to take his shower next and thankfully has the same idea as Seokjin and brings his clothing into the bathroom to change. Seokjin decides to try to fall asleep before Taehyung has a chance to finish so he can avoid any further uncomfortable exchanges. After tonight, there’s only one night left. In around 48 hours, he’ll be on a plane home as either the winner of Korea’s Top Model, or one of the losers.

He sets his alarm for 7am, though the producers will find a way to get them up and out of the hotel earlier, he’s sure. As he closes his eyes he tries to mentally prepare for what is to come.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Sharing a hotel room with Seokjin wasn’t what Taehyung had necessarily wanted for his last days in this competition, but he probably should have expected for it to happen. Luck has been on his side regarding the competition, he’s made it this far after all, but Seokjin was an entirely different story. 

Sure, he’d roomed with Seokjin from the beginning, and things had been… fine. But the space here in the hotel room was much smaller. On top of that, the dynamic between them had shifted somewhere and Taehyung wasn’t even sure what had caused it. There was such a strange energy between the two of them now and if Taehyung didn’t do something about it soon, he might just explode. 

He couldn’t tell if Seokjin was intentionally riling him up lately, or if he genuinely had no idea how he was affecting Taehyung with his flirty comments and suggestive actions. Or maybe it’s all in Taehyung’s head and he’s reading too much into things.

He can’t believe that the competition is almost over. The weeks have flown by, and here they are, already at the pre-finale taping. Taehyung spent any possible free time he had practicing his runway walk because he knew it would be the first thing the judges would be expecting to see. 

He is shocked to learn that there is no crazy requirement for this one, it all just seems like a normal runway walk. The models are dressed in nice suits and easy shoes to walk in, so Taehyung doesn’t feel like there is as much pressure to do a good job, and he doesn’t want to overthink it. He’s the 3rd person to go, which is a decent spot, and when he gets to the end of the runway he tries his hardest not to over act or do anything too special with his body or his movement. In the past, it usually tended to backfire on models if they gave too much extra flair. 

Once he’s done he doesn’t even get a chance to check on how the other models are doing, but it’s probably for the best. He doesn’t want to psych himself out. 

Once the runway walks are over and he’s standing on the stage in a line with everyone, it all feels like such a haze. The day is moving too quickly. He’s not ready to leave just yet and can’t believe a model is already going to be eliminated this early. But then he remembers that all of this stuff is going to be crammed into one episode, and he knows why they are moving too quickly. 

There’s no “top model” of the day, anyone whose name gets called will just advance to the final round. That is where the remaining models will do their official runway walks in front of the judges, celebrities and fashion designers. They will also be taking their final photoshoots of the season and two combined challenges will determine the winner. So as long as Taehyung hears his name today, he’s still got a chance. 

Hoseok clearly did great, because his name gets called first. Taehyung doesn’t know if there’s a specific order to it all or not, but he holds his breath as he waits. Jennie is called second and just like that, it’s down to 4. 

“Taehyung.” 

He almost forgets how to move his feet as he steps forward, waiting with bated breath to see if Seokjin’s name gets called or not. What if Seokjin gets eliminated right now? How would Taehyung really feel about that? This whole time he’s insisted that he wanted him gone, but… does he really?

Then the judges surprise everyone when they say that they will only be announcing one more name, and that two models will be eliminated today. Taehyung feels torn. One half of him is extremely grateful. He’s already made it through and the more models eliminated means he has a better shot at the final prize. But he’s also scared for Seokjin. To see him go home when they still haven’t resolved whatever is going on here? Things would feel off. 

“Seokjin.”

Taehyung lets out a sigh of relief, happier than he even expected himself to be. 

And just like that, the top four is decided. Taehyung would be lying if he said he didn’t expect this result from the very beginning. Hoseok and Jennie were always top contenders. The four of them were the only ones to ever receive “top photo” so, it’s not a shock to anyone there, but still, it all feels surreal. 

Taehyung immediately notes the wave of relief over Seokjin’s face and if they were better friends he would rush over and hug him right now, but he’s not sure he has permission to do that or how Seokjin would react.

The two eliminated models say their goodbyes and once again Taehyung cannot believe that he’s made it this far. Becoming a model was always a pipe dream of his, and now, it’s actually a real possibility.

The final four are briefed on their schedule for the final two days. They will have the rest of today to relax, and enjoy their time off. After a group lunch, cameras will follow them around the city where they can finally explore, and shop. Then they will then be given a few hours to go back to their rooms to change before dinner and evening drinks. 

Taehyung is just relieved that the hard part is over. He’s going to try his best to enjoy his last night in the city and his last night with these people. He insists on remembering this experience, whatever the outcome.

The models and crew have lunch at a rooftop restaurant, which has a  beautiful view of the city, including the Eiffel tower. Paris is busy with people and Taehyung is just grateful for the opportunity to see it. 

Seokjin sits on the opposite end of the table, with Hoseok, who is video calling Yoongi, and updating him on the events of the competition. Taehyung can’t help but make his way over, leaning between Hoseok and Seokjin so he can say hi to Yoongi on the screen. 

Taehyung can feel Seokjin’s uneasiness from here, especially when Taehyung rests his hand on Seokijn’s shoulder to keep himself steady. 

When the phone call ends, Taehyung shifts up, glancing at Seokjin briefly. Of course, Seokjin is just watching him silently, and Taehyung is dying to know what he is thinking. There’s a very specific charge between them and Taehyung tries his best to ignore it, trudging back to his seat at the table. 

Taehyung spends the rest of his day shopping alone, and he greatly enjoys the freedom. The show has even given him a small allowance to buy a few things and he spends it all, purchasing some new clothes for himself for later tonight. The models have all agreed to go out drinking and dancing, and he finds himself looking forward to it.

He heads back to the hotel early, grateful to find his room empty. He takes a small nap, but is interrupted only 40 minutes in, when he hears a key in the door. He pretends to be asleep as he listens to Seokjin make his way inside and settle down on his own bed. Taehyung resists the urge to open his eyes and sneak a peek at him, trying his hardest to get some rest. It’s probably going to be a long night of filming and he only has a few more hours to himself to nap and get ready. 

He actually does manage to sleep and when he wakes up about 30 minutes after that, Seokjin is also sleeping peacefully on his bed. He looks adorable, as usual, and Taehyung doesn’t want to wake him. He uses the opportunity to shower, and start getting ready, quickly dressing into one of his nicer outfits that he bought earlier. 

Once he comes out of the bathroom, Seokjin is dressed too, and for a second Taehyung doesn’t realize that he’s staring. But fuck, Seokjin looks good. His hair is parted and pushed to the side, exposing his forehead. He’s wearing light jeans with rips in them and a white collared shirt that’s unbuttoned a little in the front. He’s messing with a tie in the mirror but ultimately decides to take it off, which Taehyung thinks is a good decision. Not that Seokjin could look bad in anything.

Seokjin makes eye contact with Taehyung through the mirror, catching him staring. He glances over Taehyung’s body and Taehyung freezes. He knows he looks good, but still, seeing Seokjin blatantly check him out makes him feel nervous. He’s wearing something similar, just a plain black shirt instead of white one, and his shirt is tucked in nicely to his pants with a belt. His hair is wavy today, and messy. He’s dressed more casually than he normally likes, but he felt like keeping it simple today. And by the look on Seokjin’s face, he likes it too. 

“New outfit?” Seokjin asks quietly and Taehyung just nods, walking past Seokjin quickly so he can get his stuff together. Why does he feel like a teenage boy again in Seokjin’s presence? Why is it so difficult to find one thing decent to say?

“Looks good.” Seokjin mutters, still fussing with his hair in the mirror. 

Taehyung wants to respond that Seokjin looks good too, but he can’t manage to form the words. It feels strange giving him a compliment. He’s come this far, and he can’t change now. So he mutters a tiny, “thanks” and offers a small smile to Seokjin instead. 

“And?” Seokjin finally says, turning to Taehyung and quirking an eyebrow. Taehyung isn’t sure what he means, but he can assume that Seokjin is waiting for him to mention his outfit too. 

When Taehyung just stares at Seokjin with a blank expression Seokjin finally lets out a small laugh, “well how do I look?”

Taehyung pauses, not sure how he’s supposed to answer the question. ‘Like a fucking wet dream’ probably wouldn’t be an appropriate response.

“Yeah, yeah, you look good too.” Taehyung brushes it off. Why is it so difficult for him just to be nice? He doesn’t have this problem with anyone else. Something is definitely wrong with him.

Luckily, Seokjin laughs that off too, grabbing for his things. “Ready to go?” 

That evening, at dinner, Seokjin sits across from Taehyung at the table instead, and Taehyung definitely thinks that this is even worse than sitting next to him on the plane because now, he actually has to face Seokjin, and every time he looks up from his menu Seokjin is just there, with his fucking perfect eyes and perfect lips and perfect hair… watching him. 

There was always tension between the two of them, but lately it’s been out of control. Taehyung isn’t quite sure what forced the change, but he sort of wishes they could go back to the beginning when they just straight up hated each other. It was so much easier then. 

Taehyung orders a drink immediately. He desperately needs to chill. And alcohol has always managed to loosen him up. 

And it definitely seems to work, he feels himself relaxing and feeling less uptight as the evening goes on. Seokjin is drinking too, and Taehyung wonders briefly if it’s the smartest thing for the two of them. Maybe Jin has better control of himself when he’s drinking but Taehyung certainly doesn’t and he’s a little worried how much his personality could change over the course of the night. He tends to get a little flirty when he drinks and hopes he doesn’t do something stupid that he will regret tomorrow.

Hoseok is next to him, making jokes and everyone’s laughing and having a good time. Taehyung intends to nudge Hoseok with his foot, teasing him for something he’s said, but realizes he made a mistake when Seokjin glares at him from across the table.

Then Taehyung can feel Seokjin’s foot pressing over his own, intentionally trying to rattle him in retaliation. Taehyung keeps eye contact, the alcohol in his system making him bold. 

Somehow it turns into this weird sort of secret footsie game, and Taehyung finds himself running his foot over the inside of Seokjin’s calf. He stares at the way Seokjin’s biting against his own lip as he watches Taehyung carefully from across the table. Taehyung imagines how Seokjin would react if he moved his foot even higher up… 

He’s not sure what’s happening here, or how things have escalated to this. Is he actually flirting with Seokjin? Is Seokjin actually enjoying it?

Thankfully Hoseok interrupts, standing to give a speech about how it’s everyone’s last night together and, “lets make the most of it!” Then everyone is cheering and clinking their glasses together. 

Seokjin makes eye contact with Taehyung at that exact time, winking at him and taking a sip of his drink. 

For the first time in a long time, Taehyung really doesn’t know what is going to happen. But he’s itching to find out.

SEOKJIN

Being in Paris was a whirlwind. From when they first landed until now, Seokjin could barely keep up. One second he was doing his runway walk, the next, two more models were being eliminated. How he managed to survive this long, he had no idea, but he’d be forever grateful for it. 

He spends the rest of the day trying to relax his mind and prepare for the final day of the competition. He goes shopping to a few places that afternoon, buying some new clothes and some other souvenirs. He thinks absently about getting a coffee cup for Ken, because he collects them, but ultimately decides against it. He’s afraid it might send some mixed signals. After their last conversation, he’s not entirely sure where they stand anymore. 

Well, he knows where he wants them to stand. His growing feelings for Taehyung, (or whatever they are), have convinced him that he needs to finally let things go with Ken so that he can explore this Taehyung matter further… in whatever capacity that is going to be. 

Then again, the competition is ending soon and he’s going to head back home and Taehyung will be going back to Daegu, so maybe the idea of exploring something with him is just silly at this point. And Taehyung probably wouldn’t even be seriously interested.

Though, Taehyung has been acting strangely lately, and looking at Seokjin when he thinks he hasn’t noticed. He’s also being super flirty tonight, playing footsie with Seokjin underneath the dinner table. It started innocently at first, but then Taehyung escalated things by running his foot up Seokjin’s calf, almost to his thigh. And the look on Taehyung’s face as he did it surely implied that he was thinking about something dangerous. 

Seokjin doesn’t even know how they got to his point, but with how hot and cold Taehyung has been acting lately, he should have anticipated it. Drinking tonight probably wasn’t the smartest decision either. He knows that people’s behaviors can change drastically with alcohol in their systems and he wonders if Taehyung is entirely aware of what he’s doing or if he will end up regretting all of this tomorrow.

But once the group gets to the night club, he stops thinking so much about what he should and shouldn’t do, and instead decides to just let loose and have fun. He’ll deal with the consequences tomorrow. 

He has a blast hanging out with the models. Jennie is sweet and keeps buying rounds of drinks for everyone. Hoseok is so funny and goofy and encourages Seokjin to dance with him out on the dance floor. Seokjin loves being around his energy. And even Taehyung is having a good time and laughing. He follows them out and Seokjin is mesmerized by the way he moves his body. He’s so confident and smooth and Seokjin likes the way his eyes squish when he smiles. He likes a lot of things about Taehyung, actually, and that’s getting easier and easier to admit the longer they spend time together. 

Taehyung dances near him, leaning over Seokjin’s shoulder. “You should drink more,” he sneers, “you’re almost fun.” 

“Are you like this all of the time?” Seokjin can’t stop himself from asking. He has to maneuver into Taehyung’s space so that he can hear his response, because it’s so loud in the club. 

“Like what?” Taehyung taunts. 

“A little shit stirrer?”

Taehyung laughs then, and surprises Seokjin by answering, “most of the time.” 

“Wow!” Seokjin says next, amazed to hear Taehyung admit it. “Even in bed?” 

He doesn’t know why he said the words. But they slip out of his mouth before he can take them back and Taehyung’s eyebrow raise proves that he’s a bit shocked by them as well. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Taehyung asks, his eyes staring into Seokjin’s. Almost like a challenge.

And if Seokjin were being honest, then yes. He would like to know. He’s spent the majority of his time here denying that there was any sort of attraction to Taehyung, but it’s probably obvious to everyone by now that he is. 

Seokjin doesn’t end up answering though, he just smiles at Taehyung before turning back to Hobi. 

But Taehyung doesn’t let him get away that easily, shifting around so that he’s standing near Seokjin again. 

“What? No response?”

Seokjin shakes his head no, refusing to say anything else. Instead, he dances in a goofy way to try to distract Taehyung from what he’s asked.

“Do you call that dancing?” Taehyung teases, but he’s smiling, so obviously he finds it entertaining. 

“Don’t be jealous because I can move better than you.” Seokjin jokes. 

“Oh yeah, who did better today on the runway?” 

And Taehyung does have a point there. His name was called before Seokjin’s today. He also got some praise from the judges, he’d overheard them talking after his turn. It reminds Seokjin that he needs to step up his game for tomorrow. He’ll need to spend more time in the morning practicing before the final runway walks. 

“Today doesn’t matter.” Seokjin says. “It’s tomorrow that counts. And I’m gonna beat you.”

“Oh really?” Taehyung laughs again. Seokjin likes how it sounds. “Okay, you’re on.”

“What? So we’re betting now?”

“Sure. What do I get if I win?”

Seokjin thinks for a moment, then he leans in, whispering into Taehyung’s ear, “what do you want?”

The moment is charged. The air is thick. The music is loud. They’re walking a very dangerous line. 

Seokjin almost doesn’t hear when Taehyung answers, “Can I tell you later?”

Seokjin says ‘sure’ and then Taehyung holds out his pinky. Seokjin stares at it before hooking his own finger around it and they shake on it. 

He thinks about what he wants if he wins. 

He can think of one thing. 

Their pinkies are still touching and their faces are so close. Seokjin wants to just throw caution to the wind and kiss Taehyung right now. He wonders if Taehyung would let him. 

“I have to pee.” He says over the crowd, letting his finger slip from Taehyung’s as he walks away, chickening out.

He needs some air.

He uses the bathroom, taking his time to wash his hands and splash his face with a little water. He’s feeling heated and nervous to go back out to the dance floor. He shouldn’t be. Taehyung doesn’t have any expectations or anything, but Seokjin can’t help but wonder what he thinks will happen tonight. Or if he can feel how tense things are between them. If he can tell that Seokjin is seconds away from cracking.

When Seokjin makes his way back out to the dance floor his eyes immediately scan for Taehyung. He doesn’t know when he started making Taehyung his first priority but somewhere along the line he has, and he wants to get back to him. 

He spots him quickly, surprised to see him dancing with a girl. She’s tall and thin, with barely any clothes on and her long dark hair is flowing all around her bare shoulders. A pang of jealously shoots through Seokjin as he watches them dance together, Taehyung pressed right up against her. 

He knows it’s nothing to fret over though. Taehyung’s made it clear multiple times to everyone in the house that he’s not interested in women like that, but regardless, Seokjin doesn’t love all the attention that he’s giving to her. 

He takes the bait, unable to stop himself from walking over to them. He doesn’t say a word, just starts dancing near them. Pretty soon the girl notices Seokjin there and smiles at him, clearly pleased to have him nearby, and Seokjin takes the opportunity to move closer, dancing right in front of her. 

Taehyung eyes Seokjin over her shoulder, half-glaring, half-smirking, like he’s clearly amused. It’s almost like a challenge between them, to see which guy she will pick. But she’s too smart for that, and she remains sandwiched between them both. She’s facing Seokjin, but still has a hand on Taehyung’s arm that’s wrapped around her waist. 

Seokjin gets closer, making a move to get his body right up against hers; he can feel Taehyung’s knuckles brush up against his own hip as he does so. 

It’s much different than before. The song is slower and there’s more of a sway happening between the three of them compared to the wild dancing they were doing earlier with Hoseok nearby. 

Seokjin watches Taehyung behind her as the three of them continue to dance. But Taehyung is still too far away… Seokjin moves a hand up, reaching past the girl so that his fingers clasp around Taehyung’s neck, squeezing hard and pulling him in tighter. Taehyung’s eyes lock into his the second their skin makes contact, clearly a little surprised to see Seokjin taking such initiative. They stay on each other a moment too long, but Taehyung looks so sexy from this angle, the neon lights in the club glowing on his face so perfectly. His hair is a sweaty mess on his face and his teeth are pressing firmly into his bottom lip, a wicked sort of gleam in his eyes. Seokjin can’t look away.

Seokjin feels so hot, sweat is dripping down his back and it’s hard to breathe. He doesn’t know if it's because of all the body heat between them or because of the way that Taehyung is looking at him, but regardless, he lets his fingers tangle into the back of Taehyung’s hair, massaging the base of his neck gently. 

He doesn’t know what’s come over him. The alcohol, or the music, or the dark lighting, but he’s tired of dancing around it. If his attraction wasn’t obvious to Taehyung before tonight then it surely is now.

And Taehyung clearly feels it too because he’s shifting then, pulling away from the girl, and for a second Seokjin thinks he’s going to leave but he doesn’t… just changes position so that he’s snaking behind Seokjin.

Seokjin now finds himself in the middle of this weird triangle, Taehyung’s hand brushing forward to press over Seokjin’s stomach, pulling at his body so that he’s flushed against him entirely. 

Seokjin glances down, loving the way Tehyung’s hand looks and feels on him. It’s big and strong and he can feel the immediate pull of arousal moving through his body, unsure what to even concentrate on with Taehyung’s chest pressed so tightly against his back now too. 

His fingers play with the edge of Seokjin’s shirt, dragging underneath the material the slightest bit until his fingertips press into Seokjin’s flesh. His breath is hot on Seokjin’s neck. 

Seokjin closes his eyes, taking in the moment. He can’t prevent the small moan that escapes from his mouth as Taehyung grinds into from behind. He can feel that Taehyung is hard… that he wants this just as much. 

Then the girl says something, but Seokjin is far too distracted to hear what it is. He only notices as she’s walking away, leaving Seokjin and Taehyung alone together on the dance floor. Seokjin immediately wonders if Taehyung is going to pull away too, without the ruse of the girl to help this along. But he remains firmly in place, even pulling Seokjin’s body closer to him. 

There are so many people in the room and the music has changed to something more upbeat again but Seokjin cannot pull away. He can’t focus on anything but Taehyung right now.

He feels so good and so turned on and he wants to turn around and grab Taehyung by the hips, pull their bodies completely together so that there is no space left at all. He wants to tangle his hands into Taehyung’s hair and grind with him so hard until they’re both coming right here in front of everyone.

But of course he doesn’t do that… not sure he’s ready to take things that far. 

He can feel Taehyung breathing deeply behind him, his mouth only centimeters from his ear, rocking the both of them together so intimately now… so much that they aren’t even dancing anymore. 

He turns his head the slightest bit, looking at Taehyung over his shoulder, wanting to ask Taehyung exactly what they are doing here. But the words don’t come out. 

Then time freezes for a second as they both still, Taehyung watching him carefully. Seokjin can see him shifting over, his head moving towards Seokjin’s the slightest bit, his eyes stuck on Seokjin’s lips. 

It’s obvious what they both want right now. And Seokjin is craving for it. He can feel Taehyung getting closer and closer… and as he does Seokjin thinks about what it’s going to be like kissing him. How are things going to change after this?

A loud vibration in his pocket startles Seokjin out of his trance, and he knows Taehyung can feel it too.

He pulls away slightly, so he can reach inside his jeans and pull his phone out of his pocket, glancing at the screen to see that it’s Ken calling. Seokjin pauses, wondering what he should do. He hasn’t heard from Ken in weeks, and he knows he should probably answer. 

“Ignore it…” Taehyung whispers to him, pulling Seokjin away from his thoughts. 

Jin swallows, glancing between his phone and Taehyung. He could ignore it. Put the phone back into his pocket and pretend that it never happened. Reach his arm up and grab Taehyung right now… kiss him slow and hard, like he was planning on doing just seconds before this.

But he can’t just forget it. He and Ken are not even officially broken up. Things are still up in the air between them. Ken’s probably at home right now thinking about Jin and wondering what he’s doing. He’s probably twiddling his thumbs hoping that he will answer the call so that they can finally talk.

Seokjin feels intense guilt run through his entire body. He’s not even officially single and yet here he is, with another man, thinking about kissing him and getting off with him and many other inappropriate things that he should definitely not be thinking about.  

“Ken… hey… one second, it’s super loud in here.” He says into the phone as he answers, looking back at Taehyung, with soft eyes, trying desperately hard to ignore the disappointed look on his face when he pulls away and their bodies release from each other. 

“I’m so sorry.” He whispers to Taehyung as he walks away.

He hopes Taehyung understands how much he truly means it. 

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung flees the club, letting the cold air from outside hit him in the face. He’s immediately followed by cameras from the show as he takes off down the street, attempting to clear his head. 

He doesn’t get far, sitting on the curb and hunching his head over between his legs, trying to forget what the hell just happened.

He almost lost his senses and kissed Seokjin. And Seokjin almost let him. And then Ken, his stupid ex-boyfriend or whatever they are had called and completely ruined the moment. 

Taehyung should be glad that they were interrupted. He didn’t know what he was doing even entertaining the idea of kissing Seokjin. Especially in a club in public and in front of the cameras and other models and practically the entire world.

But he couldn’t help but feel extreme disappointment and annoyance towards Seokjin for stopping it. Things have been building and building between them lately and they finally could have released some of that tension, but no, Seokjin had chosen Ken.

They were so fucking close though, and Jin had looked so beautiful, slightly sweaty with his neck and face flushed red and his plump lips parted the slightest bit as he stared at Taehyung. 

And the way he felt? God, his body was strong and lean and felt so good when Taehyung had been grinding into him. 

He always had an attraction to Seokjin, but this was totally different. And once Seokjin walked away Taehyung almost felt like something was missing. It was weird, and Taehyung had fled immediately after Seokjin had walked away. He was hurt, annoyed, and frustrated… not just with Seokjin for stopping it, but with himself for caring so much. 

He gets a car back to the hotel and when Seokjin returns a few hours later, Taehyung can’t hide his emotions. He doesn’t even say anything as he enters the room, taking off his shoes and coat and standing in the entryway staring at Taehyung. 

“What’s wrong?” He asks hesitantly and Taehyung wants to laugh. As if Seokjin doesn’t know. Taehyung doesn’t respond, which forces Seokjin to walk further into the room. 

“Come on Taehyung-ssi, why are you so upset? You left the club and didn’t even tell me you were leaving. And now you’re not talking to me?”

“I’m just tired.” Taehyung finally answers, turning to look at Seokjin from his bed, trying to keep his face stoic. It’s not a lie. He was exhausted from all the earlier events and was ready to hit the hay. He’d changed and gotten under the sheets immediately after he returned. He hoped to be asleep before Seokjin made it back, but clearly Seokjin had immediately followed. 

“Okay.” Seokjin answers quietly, clearly not sure what to say. He grabs some pajamas and then changes in the bathroom before coming back out and climbing into his own bed. 

“I haven’t talked to him since we ended things.” Seokjin says softly. Taehyung glances over and he’s staring straight ahead, like he’s scared to look at Taehyung when he talks. “I didn’t want to just ignore his call.” 

“You could have called him back later.” Taehyung blurts, hoping Seokjin can’t hear the frustration in his voice.

“I didn’t want to play phone tag with him. This whole thing has been weighing on me… and we needed to talk.” 

“What whole thing? What did you talk about?” Taehyung asks. Will Seokjin even tell him? Does he even want to know? 

“We didn’t talk long… I said that I’ll be home in two days and that we should meet up and talk about stuff in person.” 

"Are you getting back together?” 

Taehyung hates how much he cares. Hates that he even has to even ask that question.

Seokjin pauses, and Taehyung waits for his response.

“No.” Seokjin answers finally, turning to look at him.

“Why not?” Taehyung asks. He doesn’t really know what he expects to hear.

“Before I came here, we were having problems. Ken felt like I was starting to pull away from him a bit. And maybe I was. So when he found out I was cast for this show he was even more frustrated. He was worried about me spending time with other single guys. He started getting really over-protective and constantly checking up on me. I was relieved to come to the show. I thought the distance would be good for us…”

Taehyung listens intently, happy that Seokjin is finally opening up to him about this. 

“But it wasn’t. Things just got worse. I felt like he was trying to control everything you know? He was so jealous. Maybe he had a reason to be…”

Taehyung wants to ask exactly what he means by that but he doesn’t want to interrupt. 

“When he just showed up during the competition that was the breaking point. I felt suffocated. I had to break it off. But, we didn’t exactly specify if we were on a break or broken up entirely… I think he thinks it was just temporary. And maybe I was hoping it was too but, the time apart from him showed me that he’s not what I want anymore. I felt relieved to be single again. But it’s not fair to him to keep him waiting, you know?” 

Everything that Seokjin said made perfect sense. But Taehyung can’t help but wonder what his role is in all of this or what Seokjin even wants from him. If he wants anything at all. It sounds like he enjoys being single. Maybe he doesn’t want to start something else up. Maybe he stopped the kiss because he didn’t want Taehyung to get the wrong impression either.

“So, when I see him, I’m going to be honest with him and tell him that it’s over.” 

Taehyung looks back at his hands. Not sure what to say. Clearly getting involved with Seokjin was a mistake. He’s still got things to sort out at home. 

“Taehyung…” 

Taehyung looks over at Seokjin again. 

“Until I talk to him and get some closure I can’t…” Seokjin lets out a breath, like he’s working up the courage to finish his thought, “I can’t start something with someone else.” 

Taehyung holds eye contact, understanding what Seokjin means. Taehyung gets it. He really does. But it still doesn’t stop him from being confused. Seokjin was flirting with him all night, leading him on… They almost kissed on the dance floor. What would have happened if Ken hadn’t called?

He finds himself feeling let down and frustrated. He knows Seokjin is doing the right thing but he can’t help but still be hurt. He wants more than anything to rile Seokjin up. He should just go over to him right now, push him down onto the bed and dare him to finish what he started. 

His thoughts run wild, imagining what it would be like to really kiss Seokjin. Is he a slow, passionate kisser, or does he like it fast and rough? Does he like to dominate? Or be submissive? What sorts of sounds does he make when he's turned on? 

“You don’t have to explain.” Taehyung finds himself saying instead. “We were just drunk.” 

Seokjin’s eyes furrow a bit and Taehyung immediately feels bad for lying, but what else is there to say? Seokjin made up his mind. He practically said nothing could happen between them. And he doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how bad this hurts.

Then Taehyung rolls over, hoping that it’s the end of the conversation. He doesn’t want to look at Seokjin’s face anymore. Part of him feels like crying, but he know she shouldn’t be this upset. It’s not like Seokjin made any promises to him. Seokjin was never his. It was an almost kiss. That was all. 

It was nothing.

SEOKJIN 

Jin lays in bed, feeling so exhausted from the day's events. They’d barely done anything for the competition, but it had been such a long day. Runway walks, shopping, dinner, dancing at the club… and then that conversation with Taehyung last night. 

He knew Taehyung was upset, that much was obvious. And he didn’t necessarily blame him. They’d been dancing around each other for so long now, and tonight they’d almost kissed… then Seokjin had walked away. He hoped that Taehyung understood his reasons why he had to. He didn’t want to be that guy. The jerk that was moving on to someone new before closing the door with someone else. 

He meant everything he said to Taehyung. He doesn’t want to get back together with Ken, but Ken does deserve an explanation. On top of everything, he doesn’t even know how serious Taehyung is about him. Does he just want to hook up and enjoy the game, or could he possibly have deeper feelings?

Seokjin lays in bed, feeling himself starting to drift off. He wonders how tomorrow is going to go. If things will be awkward between him and Taehyung or if they will be able to be cordial with one another. Their relationship has always been a bit of a roller coaster though, so not much will probably change. 

He tries to get some sleep but his thoughts are interrupted when he can hear Taehyung shifting in his bed and pulling the covers off of himself. It’s dark in the room and things feel a bit hazy but he doesn’t miss when Taehyung actually walks over to him and sits right on the edge of his bed. 

“Are you asleep?” He whispers, and Seokjin shakes his head no, hoping that Taehyung can make it out in this dim lighting.

“What are you thinking about?” Taehyung asks quietly and Jin wants to say, you but he doesn’t, only remains silent as he decides how to answer.

“Are you thinking about me?” Taehyung says for him and Seokjin shifts instantly, sitting up on his elbows so that he can see Taehyung better. He’s not entirely sure what is happening, he’s made his intentions with Taehyung pretty clear, and he thought Taehyung was upset with him, so he’s surprised to see him here on his bed, asking him this. “Cuz I’ve been thinking about you too.” He finishes. Then, “I can’t stop.”

Seokjin feels his stomach twist. Taehyung shouldn’t be saying these things to him.

Then Seokjin is startled again when Taehyung actually moves further onto the bed, pulling back the covers before climbing over Seokjin so that he’s straddling him. He sits, his bum resting on Seokjin’s thighs. 

“What are you doing?” Seokjin blurts out, even though it’s obvious what’s happening here. 

“Stop trying to fight it.” Taehyung says softly, leaning over Seokjin so that their faces are much closer than before. “I know you want me.”

And God, Seokjin does, but they shouldn’t be doing this. Not until he officially ends things with Ken. 

But he can’t seem to move. And then he can hear it before he can feel it, the soft buzzing of Taehyung’s black vibrator. He glances down, noticing Taehyung holding it tightly in his hand. Did he have that with him this whole time?

But before Seokjin can say anything else he can feel the rough edge of the vibrator against his chest, Taehyung dragging it down his body slowly. 

“Taehyung…” Seokjin attempts to say but his words are lost when he feels the vibrator running along his stomach, and then even lower. It reaches the band of Seokjin’s boxers and he wants to tell Taehyung to stop, but the words will not form. Seokjin’s head is fuzzy and he feels half-awake when Taehyung trails it over Seokjin’s hip and past his half-hard erection. 

“Feels good… doesn’t it?” Taehyung says softly, moving the vibrator down and back up his inner thigh. Seokjin’s wearing sweats but they are thin and he can feel every vibration through them. When Taehyung reaches the spot between Seokjin’s legs, he has to pull back, it’s too strong. 

“Hey, we should stop…” Seokjin manages to blurt out and Taehyung immediately pulls back, staring at Seokjin. 

“Do you really want me to?” He asks seductively, leaning forward and placing his lips against Seokjin’s throat. He sucks softly, near his adam’s apple, and Seokjin can feel himself growing more and more aroused. It feels so fucking good. “I know you want me…”

Taehyung’s voice is so deep and gravely, and the feel of his tongue and lips against his flesh forces a loud moan out of Seokjin. He can’t even deny Taehyung’s words because they’re so true. 

“Fuck, Taehyung…” Seokjin spits out and then Taehyung presses the vibrator back into him, through the material of the pants and right up between his legs. The pressure is so intense that Seokjin thinks he could come right then. “Feels so good. Keep going.” 

“I want you so much…” Taehyung pants into his ear, taking his earlobe between his teeth and sucking. The vibrator runs steadily against the base of his dick, right above his balls. 

“Put it inside me…” Seokjin moans out, unable to stop himself. 

Then without thinking he’s tangling his fingers into Taehyung’s hair and pushing his head downward, towards his dick. He wants to feel Taehyung’s mouth on him at the same time he's getting fucked with the vibrator. He didn’t realize how much he wanted this until just now. 

Taehyung wastes no time, yanking off Seokjin’s boxers. Seokjin’s dick pops out, so wet and hard up against his stomach. Taehyung dips his head down, and Seokjin keens at the sight of it, he can’t take his eyes away as Taehyung trails kisses down his stomach. Then Taehyung flicks out his tongue, immediately licking a stripe up his entire length. 

“Oh my God… Taehyung… Tae…” Seokjin keeps whining, and then he can feel his orgasm rising.

But all of this is happening too fast. Taehyung doesn’t even have his mouth fully around him, yet Seokjin can feel himself getting closer. Then, just as Taehyung has the vibrator circling around his hole, and he’s about to push it in, Seokjin can feel it happening. Small spurts of cum release from him before he can even try to stop it. 

He lets out a small moan; his body feels heavy and his head is pounding. When he turns over he can feel the wetness in his boxers. He coaxes his eyes open slowly to find that he’s in his bed, but it’s morning. And Taehyung is across the room in his own bed, still asleep.

“Fuck!” Seokjin curses to himself, realizing what’s just happened. 

It's like he’s fourteen again. Seokjin immediately feels embarrassed. He can’t remember the last time this has happened to him. Did he seriously just have a fucking wet dream about Taehyung?

But God, was it a good one. 

He knows he’s going to have to take care of this… but when he attempts to sit up in his bed he hears Taehyung rustling around next to him. 

“Bad dream?” He asks softly, eyeing Seokjin intently as he lays on his side, arms wrapped tightly around his pillow.

Seokjin wants to answer no… it wasn’t bad at all, but he’s not even sure how he should respond because he’s feeling stressed, wondering how much Taehyung had heard. Were Seokjin’s moans only in his dream? Was Taehyung watching him before he woke up?

“Something like that.” Seokjin responds, wanting desperately to get up but forcing himself to remain in place. 

“You wanna shower first?” Taehyung asks. He doesn’t seem to be looking at Seokjin in any particular way or implying anything so maybe he’s in the clear. 

“Um… yeah, thanks.”

Seokjin needs to take care of this little problem and rolls the other way on the bed, so that he’s facing away from Taehyung and shuffles over to his bag, grabbing some clothes. He holds them over himself, hoping he doesn’t look too suspicious and makes his way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and resting back against it so he can catch his breath. He is surprised that Taehyung is even speaking to him again after last night. As if the dancing, and the almost kissing, and the discussion afterwards never happened at all. 

Later in the morning, after they have both gotten ready and packed all of their things, they are driven to the runway arena, where Seokjin’s nervousness is finally starting to grow. He sits next to Taehyung and the other models in a limo, reflecting on the last month. Last night had been a nice distraction from what he was here for, but now there’s no getting around it. It’s the final day of the competition and after today, his life is going to change dramatically. Regardless if he wins or not. 

When the models get out of the limo and head inside the building he’s startled by paparazzi who are gathered around taking photos of all of them. He glances back to see Taehyung at his side, walking quietly next to him. He has a blank expression on his face but Seokjin can tell that he’s enjoying the attention. 

“Seokjin!”  “Hoseok!”  “Taehyung!” The different photographers call out at them, trying to get them to look in their direction for a photo. It’s so strange that people know who he is now. The whole thing is surreal and Seokjin tries his best to be polite, smiling and waving as he walks, but continues to follow the crew inside.

The whole day seems to go by in a haze. It starts with the final runway walk. Seokjin almost has a panic attack when he realizes they have added stairs to the runway today, surely making it infinitely harder for all of them.

The models then get put in hair and make up for a few hours, and all of them are dressed in nice, simple black and white attire. Him and Taehyung are both dressed in white suits, Hoseok and Jennie both in black. Everyone looks beautiful and he’s thankful there aren’t any big gimmicks for this runway, hoping he has done enough practice to get him further in the competition. 

He can hear the bustle of the crowd as people filter into the building and take their seats, but he forces himself not to look out at them or stress himself out any further. All of the models are eerily quiet and in their heads and he doesn’t really get the chance to speak to any of them, because they are all mentally preparing alone in their separate corners. 

Then finally, the show is starting and Seokjin is first up. He tries to block everything else out, and do the best that he can. He surprises even himself when he manages to fly through without any major problems. The rush of the crowd and the music actually helps him to feel more confident and he smiles to himself as he makes his way off the stage, feeling good about his walk.

Waiting backstage for the other models to finish is stressful but Seokjin pops in his air pods to try to distract himself from everything else going on, hoping the time will pass by quickly. It isn’t until he’s notified by one of the producers that the show is almost over that Seokjin can finally let out a little sigh of relief. But he does have the final walk with all the models before it’s officially done.

Once again, he’s first out, Hoseok behind him, then Taehyung, and Jennie making up the tail end.

They walk through, clapping the whole way and then, just as quickly as it started, it’s over. 

Later, when the four remaining models stand and await the results Seokjin can’t help but glance down the line at Taehyung. He looks nervous, standing with his hands clasped tightly together and his eyes on the floor. But it’s like he can sense Seokjin’s stare because a moment later he’s glancing up at him and locking eyes with him across the room. Seokjin gives a small smile, which Taehyung returns before glancing back down at the floor. And then the host arrives, ready to give the result. 

“All four of you have done an incredible job in this competition… this runway, no exception. This was not an easy decision for us. And the judges and I were divided. But there was one model who struggled just a little more than the others, and unfortunately, there can only be one winner by the end of the day. The top three will advance to the final photoshoot, happening immediately after this result is announced. If you hear your name called, you still have a chance at the final prize, and the recognition as Korea’s Top Model 2022…”

Seokjin pretty much blanks at the host's words, already expecting the worst. If he gets eliminated now, after making it this far, it’s going to be absolutely devastating.

“Seokjin.”

He almost can’t believe his ears, shocked to find out that he performed the best and has received the top award for this runway portion. He thought he did well today, but he certainly hadn’t expected this. He couldn’t be in a better position for the final photo shoot now. 

He steps forward, a smile instantly forming on his face as he accepts his win.

“Jennie.” 

Jennie steps up next, smiling at Seokjin brightly, and Seokjin can tell just how happy she is.

He’s happy for her too, but his stomach drops. Knowing that the two people he is closest to are now in danger of going home. 

The host takes a long pause, before turning and finally announcing the 3rd place model. “Taehyung,” she says finally, and Seokjin feels immediate relief as Taehyung steps forward.

He doesn’t even understand why he’s so happy to see Taehyung make it through, but he is. He wasn’t quite ready to say his goodbyes. And back when this whole thing started, he had a strange feeling it might just come down to the two of them. It kind of feels like it was always meant to happen this way.

“Hoseok. I am so sorry, but you have been eliminated from the competition. Please, say your goodbyes.”

Jennie cries instantly, rushing to hug Hoseok and Seokjin is quick to follow, putting his hands over them both. He’s surprised when Taehyung makes his way over too and attempts to get in on the group hug as well. Seokjin can feel Taehyung’s hand on his back, and it gives him a little charge… it's ridiculous that such a small thing can do that to him.

They pull away to see Hoseok smiling brightly, telling everyone that it’s okay and that he will be fine. Seokjin is amazed at his positivity even as he’s being eliminated, and immediately feels guilty. Someone like Hoseok would really deserve to win a competition like this, and he feels horrible taking a spot away from him. 

“Yoongi’s gonna be so mad.” Hoseok jokes, and it makes everyone laugh. 

Seokjin tells Hoseok how much he’s going to miss him, and the others all agree, saying their goodbyes with tears in their eyes.

Hoseok wishes them all good luck.

“I’ll see you all soon enough!” He calls out, before being ushered out of the building.

And just like that, he’s gone.

Seokjin doesn’t even have time to take in what happened or feel sad because immediately after Hoseok’s exit, he and the other models are again rushed backstage to prepare for their final photoshoot.

And now, here they are, down to the final three. There are no more eliminations, no more nights spent at the mansion or in hotels, no more time left to stress and worry about making it to the end because he did it. He’s here. 

There’s only one final challenge left, which will determine the winner of Korea’s Top Model 2022. 

Now, the only thing left for Seokjin to do is pray that the title will be his. 

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

When Taehyung wakes up that next morning, he turns over to witness a sleeping Seokjin, resting peacefully in his hotel bed. He looks so beautiful even when he sleeps and Taehyung thinks about how unfair it is.

He also thinks about last night, and what almost happened between them. He was so close to hooking up with Seokjin. He was drunk and his walls were down and he would have done even more than just kissing if Jin had actually reciprocated. 

Taehyung feels a bit dumb now for pushing things between them. Jin was pretty drunk himself, and it probably didn’t mean as much to him as it did to Taehyung. Then again, Seokjin did say after they got back to the hotel last night, that the only reason he hadn’t kissed Taehyung was because of Ken. And Taehyung understood that. Seokjin didn’t want to move on with someone new until he really closed the door with his ex. That was respectable. 

But Taehyung wonders if that means that Seokjin could actually consider something more with Taehyung than just a hook up. And is that something Taehyung even wants?

He can hear Seokjin breathing heavily as he tosses around in his sleep. Taehyung wonders if he’s dreaming, and if so, what he’s thinking about. Then Seokjin starts to roll over and Taehyung immediately squeezes his eyes shut, pretending that he’s still sleeping.

“Fuck.” He is surprised to hear Seokjin mutter out loud. 

Maybe instead of a dream, Seokjin had a nightmare? Taehyung wonders what could be so awful to warrant such a reaction from him. 

“Bad dream?” he can’t help but ask, and Seokjin immediately turns to glance at him. 

“Something like that.” He replies.

His eyes are shifty and he’s acting a little strange when he shuffles out of bed to take his shower. Taehyung can’t help but notice the way Seokjin perfectly placed his clothing in front of his body, as if to hide or cover something…

Was Seokjin hard? Is that why he’s acting so weird?

Seokjin makes his way into the bathroom and Taehyung laughs to himself as he hears the water begin to run on the other side of the door. Had Seokjin possibly been dreaming about him? 

The rest of the morning goes fairly smooth for Taehyung. He does a nice job on the runway and is so thankful to have done well enough to make it to the final round of the competition. He’s sad to see Hoseok go, but he’s glad for that too, because it means he’s one step closer. He also hasn’t had to interact much with Seokjin today, which is nice, because he feels a little awkward around him now. 

Taehyung wraps his arms around the group as they say goodbye to Hoseok and he’s all too aware of his hand resting on Seokjin’s back. It’s stupid that even a small touch like this can get his heart racing so much. 

When he pulls away, he goes backstage to get out of his runway clothes and change into something a little more comfortable. The models are given a few hours for lunch and a break to rejuvenate themselves. They have their remaining photoshoot coming this afternoon and they are told they will be instructed on what it will be after the break. 

Taehyung plans to spend that time completely alone, his headphones on, so that he can focus on the final step of this competition. They are down to the top three now, and Taehyung can see the finish line. He tries to mentally prepare himself. This is almost over. 

After the break, the models are gathered to a backstage room where their make up team awaits, prepared to get to work. The final photoshoot will entail the models being strapped to a harness in front of a green screen which will later be edited with different landscapes. Seokjin is set for a cityscape (which Taehyung is grateful he didn’t get). Jennie will have a forest landscape, and Taehyung a mountain view. It doesn’t really matter what their backgrounds will end up being because the shoot is going to be difficult regardless. Taehyung obviously had no experience trying to model hanging 15 feet high in the air, but he’s trying not to psych himself out and just go with the flow once he’s up there. It’s worked well for him so far.

But to make things even trickier, the models are put into these beautiful couture outfits. Taehyung is grateful that his outfit seems the easiest to move around in, black pants and this patterned long sleeve black and red top with flowers and other various designs on it. It’s actually something he would wear and fits his style, so he feels confident in it. Seokjin’s outfit is far more extravagant, a shiny silver top with a long slightly darker silver coat. It’s going to accentuate Seokjin’s amazing shoulders well, but seems a bit difficult to maneuver in. Taehyung feels the worst for Jennie though. At least he and Seokjin have pants to wear, she is put into this beautiful orange gown with a long slit up one side and an open front. She will have a much bigger struggle. But she does have a slight advantage being the only female left in the competition. 

Their shoot times are staggered yet again, so there isn’t a lot of time to communicate with each other. He does talk to Seokjin briefly though before his turn. He is the first one up to shoot and he passes by Seokjin, who is still having his make up done. 

“You look good, Taehyung-ssi.” Seokjin says through the mirror and Taehyung offers a polite smile and ‘thanks’ in return. “Good luck out there,” Seokjin finishes.

It actually sounds sincere and Taehyung doesn’t know how to take it. It’s weird having Seokjin be so polite to him. It’s nice too… but it’s just, different. And Taehyung would be lying if he said he didn’t miss the teasing and banter they used to share. But it makes sense. They almost kissed and now they both feel strange about it. 

Taehyung’s photoshoot goes pretty well, all things considered. He’s not sure how he looked strapped into the harness but he’s able to move around quite a lot and strikes a ton of different poses and positions in the air. He gets told by the photographer that he is doing a great job too, and he swears he can hear him whispering between a few of the crew members that he is a natural up there, which makes Taehyung feel really good. 

When he’s finally released from his shoot and allowed to go back and relax (though instructed to remain in make up and costume) he feels an intense weight off his shoulders. He’s given all he had to this competition and after many grueling weeks, he is finally done! 

He can’t watch Seokjin or Jennie from too close as they complete their shoots but he is able to sneak some glances at the monitor as they work. Jennie seemed to do okay. She looked beautiful in her dress but Taehyung could tell she was nervous and struggling to get the outfit to work with her the way she wanted. Seokjin did amazing though, Taehyung didn’t realize how flexible he really was. He was able to twist and move in the harness with ease, despite the long stiff coat he was wearing, and he got some really cool shots.

Once all three photoshoots are finished the models are given even more time to relax and eat as they wait for the results. Taehyung can feel his anxiety rising with each minute that passes. 

While they wait backstage he locks eyes with Seokjin a few times across the room, but nothing is said between them. He wants to go over and talk to him, but Taehyung honestly doesn’t even know what to say. Things are so tense between all three of them as they wait to find out who is going to win. They all want it, and they are all deserving of the title. 

And what will happen afterwards? Will they talk to each other after this is all over?

Taehyung is a bundle of nerves by the time the three of them are called back out to the runway stage. It’s been a few hours and the judges in that time were reviewing all of their previous photos and challenges, including their most recent photoshoot, and choosing the best ones so they can decide on a winner. Taehyung did not envy their decision, knowing how difficult it would be to have to choose. All three have done so well in this competition. It’s almost too close to call. 

They are instructed to hold hands as they wait. ‘It will look better for the viewers’, they say, but Taehyung thinks it’s silly. He takes both of their hands anyway, noting the difference between the two. Jennie’s hand is small and soft. Seokjin’s is almost the direct opposite. Big and firm, as his fingers clasp tightly against Taehyung’s. 

The host stands before them and begins her speech and Taehyung thinks how different this is from watching it on TV. It always felt so grand and final when watching through a screen, but here, it feels slightly anti-climatic. Everything is happening so fast that he barely has any time to take it all in. 

He can feel Seokjin stroking his palm gently as the host speaks. Taehyung thinks that he’s probably trying to be comforting but it’s simply distracting. Taehyung almost misses the hosts next words, which are quite a shock to all of them.  

“This year, there was a bit of a twist…” She announces, and Taehyung’s stomach drops as she continues, “along with the runway results, and the results of the final photoshoot, which were decided by the judges… the audience this season will also get a say in who wins. All week, they have been voting for the model that they would like to see win the prize. And a percentage of those votes will factor into the final score.” 

Taehyung doesn’t know how to feel. He isn’t sure if a fan vote is good or bad for him. He doesn’t know exactly how he’s being perceived by the audience. He knows people support his relationship (or whatever it is) with Seokjin. But if the show had portrayed him as the home wrecker, coming between Seokjin and Ken… then maybe some perceive him as this seasons villain. 

“First, we will call out the name of the person in third place. This person received 22% of the fan vote. The judges had mixed opinions about this person. They did well all season long, but their final photo shoot did not quite hold up beside the other two. I am sorry, but your journey is over….” 

Taehyung searches the hosts eyes, trying to figure out who she could possibly be talking about, but it’s impossible to tell. 

“Jennie.”

Then Taehyung can hear a quiet sob and he turns his head to look at Jennie, whose hand immediately slips out of his grasp. He watches as the host rushes forward to give her a big hug. 

Taehyung turns to Seokjin briefly, and they share a look. As expected, it will come down to the two of them. 

Taehyung gives Jennie a brief hug, and then Seokjin, then she stands off to the side of the stage. She’s putting on a brave face but Taehyung can tell how disappointed she is. He knows that in a few seconds, either he or Seokjin will be sporting that same exact look. 

Taehyung reaches for Seokjin’s hand again, as the host continues. “Seokjin, Taehyung… it’s come down to the two of you. And this was an extremely difficult decision. You both have done so well in this competition. 

Seokjin, you did better today than Taehyung in the final photoshoot. You had such an ease to your movement, and it looked effortless. Taehyung, your runway was the best of the day, surpassing Seokjin in score. You impressed all of us. You were a natural model up there. You should both be extremely proud of yourselves. And despite the results of today, we hope that you both continue to pursue your career as models. 

However, there has to be a winner, and it was not an easy decision. The judges were divided 50/50. So what it came down to, was the fan vote. One of you edged out the other by a decent sized margin. The winner received 45 percent of the vote. While, the other received 33%…”

“The winner of Korea’s Top Model, 2022 is….”

He can feel Seokjin squeezing his hand, and Taehyung feels like he might be sick. 

“Kim Taehyung!”

Taehyung’s thoughts are all over the place as his name is announced by the host. Confetti falls from the ceiling, and music plays out. Everything is a complete blur as he feels Seokjin immediately pull Taehyung in and wrap his entire body around him. Taehyung can’t even believe what is happening. Did he seriously just win?

“Congratulations, you deserve it.” Seokjin whispers and Taehyung can’t believe he’s hearing the words come out of his mouth. Seokjin’s body feels so warm around him, and Taehyung just wants to melt into him, but he knows he still has to accept his award. When Seokjin finally pulls away Taehyung is being bombarded by the host, the judges, and even Jennie, all wanting to congratulate him on his win. His entire body is buzzing with excitement.

He’s speechless, unsure how to respond or even how to act. He glances at Seokjin again and he can tell that he’s upset but he’s being a good sport right now, smiling at Taehyung softly as he watches Taehyung accept his trophy. 

Taehyung briefly recalls the host asking him how he feels about his win and he doesn’t even remember what his answer is before he’s being rushed off the stage and instructed to do his post-win interview.

He tries to focus as he sits down, facing the camera, a huge smile etched on his face.

SEOKJIN

The host says Taehyung’s name and Seokjin feels like his heart is going to burst out of his chest. He has a whole range of mixed emotions flooding through his body.

He can’t keep up with how he’s feeling and instead acts on impulse, pulling Taehyung to him and hugging him, then congratulating him on his win. It’s hard to get the words out but he’s been raised his entire life to be polite and a gracious winner and despite all the animosity between them through the season, he knows it’s the right thing to do. 

But a huge part of him is still feeling majorly conflicted because he really, really, wanted to win that grand prize. And he was so close. He’s proud of himself for making it to the top 2, and at the end of the day it was a fan vote that decided. Perhaps if it was entirely up to the judges, he would have won, but there is nothing he can do about it now. Despite being frustrated with Taehyung about 90% of the time, he would be lying if he said he didn’t see the Taehyung appeal. He is obviously attractive, and has a lot of charisma. He could see how the viewers would be enticed by him. 

Seokjin watches the confetti fall as Taehyung hugs everyone and then gets pulled off the stage to begin interviews. He too is led off the stage immediately after, and isn’t exactly in the mood to do interviews himself but he knows it’s all part of the process. 

The majority of his interviews are about Taehyung and their “connection” behind the scenes. It makes Seokjin feel a little uncomfortable publicly addressing the questions, especially knowing that Ken is probably at home watching, but he tries to be as honest as he can without giving anything away. He admits that they became close, but avoids using the word “friends”. They were never really friends were they? But he says over and over again that he is a single guy not looking to be in a relationship right now, and that’s not entirely a lie. He wonders if Taehyung is getting asked the same questions, and how he’s answering. 

In the back of Seokjin’s head though, all he can think about is how close he was to winning and second guessing all of his choices. What did he do wrong? Is there something he could have done better? He was so confident in that final runway walk and photoshoot. He hates feeling like a sore loser but he can’t help but feel disappointed. In the last few years his mom had a couple of health scares and she could have definitely used the money. But, if it wasn’t going to be him winning then he is happy for Taehyung. 

The night seems to drag on forever, until finally, around 10pm they are told the interviews are complete and they will have 30 minutes to change before they are taken to the nearby train station to head back home. 

Once they arrive at the station Jennie is the first to take off, leaving Seokjin with Taehyung. It’s strange to be somewhere outside of the model house or competition, and finally alone with him, without cameras anywhere nearby. 

Things are still a little awkward, but they manage to make small talk as they wait for their trains to arrive. 

When Seokjin’s train is 5 minutes out, he stands, gathering up his things and trying to figure out how he should say his goodbyes. It feels strange going back home and knowing that he’s not going to be seeing Taehyung again. Of course, they can stay in contact if they want, but he doesn’t really know how to proceed. Maybe he will need to watch footage of the show first, to see if Taehyung’s true intentions are revealed. 

“So I guess this is goodbye?” Taehyung says lightly, smiling at Seokjin and Seokjin nods.

He responds with, “for now at least.” Hoping that Taehyung picks up on his meaning. 

He hates that he has to leave first and he doesn’t like admitting it but part of him feels a little bit empty leaving Taehyung like this. He is not even entirely sure how he feels about him, but he hates not knowing when they’re going to see each other again. 

“You can text me… whenever.” Taehyung breathes out, and it’s so quiet that Seokjin barely hears it. “Or, find me on social media or whatever…” 

It’s kind of cute, the way that Taehyung is making it obvious that he still wants to stay in contact with him. Seokjin hands over his phone and waits patiently as Taehyung quickly enters his number in before handing it back. Seokjin wants to tease him, and ask if he’ll be receiving any more semi-nude photos from him, but it doesn’t feel like the right time to joke around. Things are so tense between them, and Seokjin doesn’t want to ruin the moment with a joke.

“I will.” Seokjin responds, standing there umcomfortably as he watches Taehyung get up from his chair and fiddle with his hands, clearly unsure what he should be doing. 

Who knows, maybe the two of them could even be friends in the future? Hang out together? Doubtful. Seokjin’s inner thoughts are screaming. 

“Good luck with… everything.” 

He wonders if Taehyung means everything with Ken, or just in general but he doesn’t quite know how to respond so he just smiles at him politely, muttering a small thanks.

When Seokjin can’t take the awkwardness anymore he steps forward, his arms moving out to pull Taehyung into a hug. He’s never hugged Taehyung before, but Taehyung goes easily, his arms moving around Seokjin’s waist and resting there, Seokjin’s arms wrapping around Taehyung's shoulders.

His body is warm, and it feels comfortable, standing here with him. So much is said between them, without any words spoken and Seokjin can feel his eyes closing, his body sinking into the touch. It’s so strange to think of how far the two of them have come, from that very first argument in their shared room, to now. Such a drastic change.

Seokjin pulls back slowly, and he can feel Taehyung’s hesitancy matching his own. Their arms are still wrapped around each other for a brief moment until Seokjin finally lets his arms fall, and then Taehyung does the same. But he doesn’t back away, instead his head drags up slowly to make eye contact with Seokjin, who is staring at him intently. He can see Taehyung’s eyes shifting, looking over his face and then downwards, at his lips. He knows what Taehyung is thinking… because he’s thinking the same thing. 

He should pull away now, and stop this before it starts. They’re in public, after all, and he still hasn’t talked to Ken, and wasn’t that the entire reason for pulling away from Taehyung the last time they almost kissed? Out of respect for his old relationship? 

He cannot kiss Taehyung. As much as he wants to, he needs to think about Ken. It wouldn’t be right.  

So then why is his brain screaming at him to do something?

“Congratulations again, on your win.” Seokjin whispers softly. He doesn’t know what else to say, but he needed something to break the silence. 

“I’m sorry you didn’t.” Taehyung responds, and Seokjin can tell that he’s being completely genuine. The look in his eye proves how sincere he’s being, and it makes Seokjin’s heart jump. 

Taehyung’s still just staring at him and Seokjin wants to ask 'what are you looking at?' but he already knows the answer, because he’s looking too. And then a few more seconds pass and Seokjin can feel his body moving forward again. He doesn't even want to stop himself this time, letting his inner desires take over. 

His lips find Taehyung’s instantly, pressing softly against them. It’s a slow kiss but it happens so quickly and Seokjin has to actively pull himself back so as not to take too much. 

“What was that for?” Taehyung breathes out, his eyes still partly closed. He looks conflicted, or confused… and Seokjin says the first thing that he thinks of. 

“For that night…. at the club.” 

Taehyung opens his eyes fully then, staring at Seokjin. 

“I should have kissed you then.” Seokjin admits.

“But… what about Ken? You said it wouldn’t be right.”

“It’s not… not yet. But I couldn’t stop myself.”

He can’t believe he’s being so honest with Taehyung, but he deserves to know the truth. After all this time. 

But the sound of his train pulling into the station stirs them out of their moment, Seokjin immediately turns to glance over his shoulder.

“Time for me to go.” Seokjin whispers, stating the obvious. 

“I guess so.” Taehyung answers, still watching Seokjin intently. 

Seokjin can’t help but think about how beautiful Taehyung looks standing here, in just a basic white t-shirt and pants, and his brown cardigan, with his hair a mess and falling into his eyes. It’s partly wet from the rain and for the first time since the competition started he looks so… serene? Now that the competition is over he has no reason to fight so hard or to put on a show.

Seokjin knows that it’s time to go. People are starting to board. But he’s not ready to leave. He finally kissed Taehyung, but it simply wasn’t enough. Not what he wanted their first kiss to be like. 

He takes a risk, knowing that if everything goes sideways he can run onto the train and never look back. But it’s now, or never, and who knows what will happen after this?

His hands move to Taehyung’s face, instead wrapping around his jaw and neck this time. And then he yanks Taehyung forward, pulling his body against his own. 

Their lips meet again and this time it’s anything but careful, Seokjin pressing against Taehyung’s mouth with his own lips and forcing his mouth open, his tongue dipping inside so he can really kiss him. 

He can feel Taehyung moan softly, once, the second that their tongues brush against each other, but Taehyung kisses him back with equal intensity, making this so much easier. It feels so good and if it weren’t the ticking of the time reminding Seokjin that he needs to be on that train, he would have kept kissing Taehyung for a long time after. 

He pulls away quickly, before he changes his mind, leaning down to pick up his bags and steal one last glance at Taehyung before turning around. Taehyung just stands in silence for a few seconds, clearly stunned at what he’s just done.

“And what was that one for?” Taehyung calls out to him as Seokjin turns, heading towards his train. 

“That one was for me.” 

Seokjin smiles, and Taehyung returns it. It’s such a beautiful smile.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Taehyung teases.

“I know.” Seokjin responds. “But I wanted to.”

“So what now?” He calls out to Seokjin. 

“Let me get things in order and then… I’ll message you.” Seokjin answers. 

"Okay." Taehyung replies.

He feels slight guilt inside of him rising. He went back on his promise to himself, not to start something with someone else before officially ending things with Ken, but he just couldn’t help it. He couldn’t leave here without kissing Taehyung at least once. In the way he really wanted to.

“Goodbye, Hyung.” Taehyung calls out to him, watching as Seokjin finally steps onto the train. 

“See you when I see you, Taehyung-ah.” Seokjin calls out, smiling at Taehyung one last time before boarding. He makes his way back to his seat, settling in, and waiting for the short ride home to begin.

Just as the train is about to leave the station he glances out his window, and he can see Taehyung from here, his hands in his pockets just watching the train depart.

Seokjin puts his hand up, waving at Taehyung through the window, who returns the gesture. 

Then the train takes off, and in seconds, Taehyung disappears from view. 

Seokjin leans back into his chair, closing his eyes. He’s not sure why he feels so sad to leave, but for once in his life, he has no idea what his future is going to look like. He’s still in disbelief over everything that's happened to him in the last few weeks. His phone is already blowing up with notifications and he’s not entirely sure how he is going to navigate his life after he gets home. He wonders how much things will change. Not just with his modeling, but also with Taehyung.

But one thing is for sure, he’s excited to find out.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung is back home.

And he misses Jin.

But if you were to ask him about that, he would never, ever, admit it.

It takes a while for the hype to die down and it’s a nice distraction for Taehyung, to move his mind to other things. So many people reach out to him immediately after he gets home, congratulating him on being part of the season, but they still won’t know the outcome until another few weeks so he has to keep his mouth shut until then. He’s legally not allowed to give away the fact that he won, which is probably one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do.

To pass the time Taehyung stalks Seokjin on his social media pages but he’s been oddly quiet since returning home.

Ken, however, is more active than ever, and it feels like almost every other day he’s posting a new photo of him and Seokjin together, praising him for his involvement in the show. It pretty much answers Taehyung’s questions… about them getting back together once they got home.

Taehyung had figured it would happen but he had no clue that it would be so quick. The last he heard, Seokjin was planning to have a discussion with him to get “closure” and considering their kiss at the train station, Taehyung had assumed that meant a break up, but maybe Taehyung was just being naive. Maybe that kiss was just a goodbye kiss and Seokjin had been too afraid to tell him what his real plans were.

Or maybe Seokjin had intended on breaking up with Ken but once he was back home and in Ken’s presence, they fell back into old habits? Taehyung can only speculate because he hasn’t heard from Seokjin since the day they said goodbye, and he sure as hell is not going to be the first to reach out.

It sucks, but it’s not like anything ever really started between them. They had a weird sort of flirtation with one another, and Taehyung had thought, briefly, it could turn to something more. But clearly, they were just meant to be two people that happened to pass along each other's journeys for a brief moment in time.

Taehyung will get over this. Yes, Seokjin was attractive, and funny, and they had connected on a deeper level despite the fact that on the surface they pretended to hate each other, but it was fine. It wasn’t the first time that Taehyung had to get over someone. He could do it again.

Once everyone does find out about his win though, life gets crazy again, and the phone calls and emails and texts are out of control. People are coming around to visit him non-stop. No one is happier over his win than his own family though, and it makes Taehyung so elated to know that he has pleased them.

But then, of course, his thoughts always go back to Seokjin. And he wonders how his family took the news of him being so close to winning but then coming in second. He shouldn’t feel guilty for his win, but when he imagines Seokjin’s sad face and his disappointed family, he can’t help it.

A few weeks after that, the hype dies down a lot.

Taehyung actually does a pretty good job of putting Seokjin out of his mind in that time. He doesn’t go on social media anymore and he buries himself by hanging out with his friends. They come over and want to watch the entire season with Taehyung, and he’s hesitant to agree, because he doesn’t exactly want to rehash old memories and feelings, but he can’t really say no, and when he watches the episodes it brings back so many of the old feelings he thought he had pushed away.

Fuck Seokjin for being so desirable.

He understands now why people were so into their dynamic, because the episodes depict them in a very intriguing and fun light. Taehyung can’t help the fluttery feelings that arise in his gut when he watches their interactions and is reminded of the old times.

He finally checks social media again that night, curious to know what Seokjin is up to. But he’s shocked to discover that his IG page is gone completely. He finds it so strange. After their reality TV exposure, now was the time more than ever to be present on social media. He hopes that everything is okay and that Seokjin didn’t delete it because something tragic happened to him. Not that Taehyung would know, because again, his phone remains silent. He’d given Seokjin his number and yet, it was for naught because Seokjin had never even texted him once.

When he checks Ken’s profile he notices there hasn’t been any new posts in a while from him either, but all the pictures and posts of Seokjin are still there.

He does happen to catch Seokjin online in various interviews that he did after the series aired and in almost every single one they ask about Taehyung. Seokjin always plays it coyly, answering that he and Taehyung are “good friends” (yeah right) and that editing on TV always tells a different story. Taehyung wonders what the hell that means. The show depicted them to be flirtatious rivals… how exactly was that editing misleading? But perhaps Seokjin was trying to put Ken at ease after everything. Which angers Taehyung even more. As if their time in the house together meant nothing?

After about 2 months Taehyung has done a pretty good job of not thinking about Seokjin at all. He finds a good routine now that he’s back home. He has a few obligations to do this year for the modeling agency. He signed a contract stating that if he won he would essentially be “theirs” for a year and have to do commercials and ads etc. Which he was totally okay with, because he liked being busy, and now he was seriously contemplating making modeling a career if he had the opportunity for it.

He gets a call from the producers who want to have a conversation with him and at first he feels nervous but then he gets more excited when he hears what they have to say. They are planning a second reality show, similar to 'The Real World' but with models. They want Taehyung to be on the show’s first season, along with some of the other previous 'Korean Top Model' winners. The more he hears about it, the more he wants to do it. It’s only a three month commitment, and it would mean a lot more exposure for him, so ultimately, he agrees.

The cast list isn’t set yet, but the plan is to have the recent six or seven winners be on the series. Some of the models are still in negotiations but most of them are locked in, and Taehyung can’t help but wonder who else has agreed. There have definitely been a few models he had his eye on in the past, so maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to do this and get to meet them.

The plan is to start filming two months from now, and in the meantime he has a few other obligations he needs to do. One of which is the Top Model reunion show. Which he is deeply dreading. The last thing he wants to do is see Seokjin again. But he knows it’s inevitable.



A few days before the reunion filming, Taehyung gets a call from one of the show's producers, asking if he would accept a call from Kim Namjoon, who was the winner of 'Korea’s Top Model' 3 years back. Taehyung almost has to ask them to repeat the name again, because he cannot believe that Namjoon actually wants to contact him.

Taehyung had the biggest crush on Namjoon when he’d watched his season. And he was extremely nervous when he answered with “Hello” and heard Namjoon’s deep voice on the other end.

Namjoon says hello in response and mentions that he loved watching Taehyung on the recent season and wants to know if Taehyung has accepted the offer for the new reality series yet. Surely, if Namjoon was going to be locked in, then Taehyung would be there.

“I have.” Taehyung answers honestly, “what about you?”

He tries to play it casually, and it seems to work. Namjoon says 'yes' on the other end, saying it sounds like it will be a fun experience and he is excited to get to know new people. Taehyung believes him, because Namjoon was super personable and friendly on his own season… it’s probably partly why he won the show.

Namjoon asks Taehyung if he would be interested in meeting up sometime so that they could get to know one another a little better considering they are going to be living together. He’s in the area working on a few projects himself and Taehyung simply can’t refuse the offer.

For the briefest of seconds he feels guilty accepting, but then he remembers that it isn’t a date. Namjoon is probably just being nice. And even if Namjoon were interested, Taehyung would have nothing to feel guilty over. He’s technically single, and who cares if he kissed Seokjin just a few months ago expecting it to go somewhere? He hadn’t even heard from Seokjin since, so clearly he had other plans. And why should Taehyung wait around for him anymore or drive himself crazy wondering what Seokjin is doing? He's allowed to go out and have fun.


And fun, he has. He ends up going out with Namjoon and meeting some of his other model friends, and Taehyung hits it off with them immediately. Everyone is so outgoing and fun and it’s definitely his speed. Namjoon is smiling the entire night and constantly looking at Taehyung and making sure he’s good with drinks or food, or whatever else, and it feels so nice… to be focused on like this again. He doesn’t want to assume anything but he can tell by the way Namjoon lightly touches his back in the club, or how he offers Taehyung his jacket when he gets cold, that there is definitely something happening here.

Namjoon invites him back to his apartment and Taehyung hesitates for a second time, not sure if he should go. It’s not that he has any reservations about him, but it might not be smart to hook up with someone that you are maybe possibly going to be living with for three months. Namjoon eases his fears though, saying that he just wants to get to know Taehyung more, and that nothing has to happen. He’s very vague about it all, but Taehyung knows what he means and he ultimately agrees, because, damn, Namjoon’s cute dimple smile is too hard to resist.

They mostly spend the night watching hilarious videos on YouTube together and talking and drinking and it’s not his fault if he ends up on his back on Namjoon’s couch. He’s only human, and Namjoon’s body is ridiculous. There’s just something about a bigger, stronger man, that really gets him going.

They only make out, with some light groping over clothing, but it’s mostly innocent. Taehyung’s bored, and Joon is fun, so why not? He wasn’t that into the idea of starting something with someone when he initially accepted to go out with Namjoon, but he’s feeling lonely and it’s not like he’s going to hold himself back for anyone else. (Especially not someone that he may or may not have kissed a few months ago who clearly isn’t even thinking about him anymore.)

He explains to Namjoon that he’s not quite ready to take things further and that he’s not really interested in dating anyone yet, and Namjoon takes it all very well. Of course he would be understanding about this too, because he’s such an easy-going person. Namjoon even admits he’s kind of in the same boat.

“Me and my ex broke up a few months ago and I’m not entirely over him, if I’m being honest.”

Taehyung had heard through the grapevine that Namjoon was dating a previous model winner from last season, Jeon Jungkook. He wasn’t sure if the rumors were true, but Namjoon confirms that they are. Honestly it makes Taehyung feel better though, knowing that Namjoon is going through an even harder time than he is.

Then Namjoon looks to hesitate before asking his next question.

“What about you? Are you interested in anyone right now? Or… anyone from your season?”

Taehyung knows what Namjoon is implying. The episodes certainly made it seem like something was going to happen with him and Seokjin. And at one point he thought there was. But he’s not sure he wants to divulge all the details to Namjoon right now.

“No.” He lies. “Well, other than you?”

Namjoon laughs at that, pecking Taehyung again on the lips.

“Good answer.” He says. “But it’s okay, if there was… I know we just met.”

“There isn’t.” Taehyung responds. “I mean, there might have been but… well, it didn’t go anywhere.”

“You mean with Kim Seokjin?”

Clearly Namjoon already knows what’s happening, so is there really a point in lying?

“Yeah, but… on the show it was just a flirtation. Nothing happened. We kissed, once, but… then the show ended. Besides, I think he’s still with his boyfriend.”

“Seriously?” Namjoon asks, his hands rubbing small circles on Taehyung’s back. “That kinda sucks.”

He appreciates the kindness and understanding and that Namjoon seems to care about his feelings, but he really doesn’t want to think about Seokjin anymore.

“Let’s talk about something else.” Taehyung says, shifting his body so that he’s closer. “Or… we don't have to talk at all?”



Taehyung is extremely nervous the day of the reunion taping. He doesn’t want to see Seokjin. He’s not sure he’s ready for it, and he has no idea what he’s even going to say. But he tells himself to stay calm, and that it's just Seokjin. Who cares if they kissed and then never talked about it again?

But when he sees Seokjin for the first time in months, he almost loses his breath. Of course, there’s no avoiding him, not when he runs right into him in the backstage hallway. There's no escaping, especially seeing that it’s only the two of them here.

“Taehyung-ssi…” Seokjin says politely, staring at Taehyung with wide eyes as he comes to a complete halt. He tucks his phone into his pocket, standing in front of Taehyung awkwardly. “Hi.”

Seriously? That’s all he has to say? But Taehyung blurts, “Hi” back, not wanting to say anything else. He’s unable to hide the anger and frustration that’s simmering right below the surface. But at least he holds himself back from saying anything else that could give away how he’s feeling.

“How have you been?” Seokjin asks hesitantly and Taehyung tries to hide his smirk, because Seokjin seems nervous, and Taehyung is glad for it. At least his presence still affects Seokjin in some way. He hopes that he is regretting all of his stupid decisions to not contact Taehyung and stay with his dumb boyfriend.

“I’ve been great.” Taehyung pretends, trying to play things off. “What about you?”

“I’ve been okay…” Seokjin answers honestly. And for a brief moment Taehyung feels guilty, because Seokjin doesn’t really seem that happy. But what can he tell from a few seconds?  “It’s good to see you.”

Taehyung almost responds with ‘it's good to see you, too’ out of instinct, but he refuses to say the words, still feeling hurt. When he doesn’t respond Seokjin stares at him curiously.

“Are you okay?” He asks and Taehyung wracks his brain over how to answer. Should he be honest with Seokjin, and tell him how much he’s hurt him? Or should he pretend like everything is fine and then try to get out of here?

He decides on the latter. “I’m fine, why would you ask that?”

“I dunno, you’re acting… like you’re upset with me.”

“Nope.” Taehyung responds immediately. He can’t stop the next words from spilling out of his mouth, “how’s Ken?”

“Ken?” Seokjin asks, seemingly confused. “Um… he’s okay, I guess.”

Then it looks like Seokjin is about to say something further but thankfully he doesn’t get a chance to say it because one of the producers is coming over to the duo and telling them that it’s almost time for the filming to start and that they need to finish getting ready before heading to the stage.

“Taehyung!” Seokjin calls out to him after Taehyung attempts to leave, “can we talk, later?”

“Sure.” Taehyung responds, against his better judgement. He can’t lie. He’s curious to hear what Seokjin plans to say.



Once on stage, it’s all sort of blur. Taehyung doesn’t even remember half the questions he gets asked, but they’re all fairly generic. They ask him what life is like after winning, and what his future plans are. He answers everything fairly painlessly, but he’s caught off guard at their next question.

“Tell us, are you seeing anyone these days?”

For a brief second, Taehyung hesitates. He could play it safe and just say no, but then he glances at Seokjin next to him, and he has the sudden urge to stick it to him.

“Actually… yes.” He says, face solid. He glances at Seokjin again, whose eyebrows are furrowed down at Taehyung’s response. “But, I’m not sure I wanna give details about it, just yet.”

“Is it… someone we know?” The interviewer pries, then glances at Seokjin, like she expects Taehyung to reveal that it’s Taehyung he is dating.

“Well, yes. But… they aren’t here right now.” He answers. Putting the unasked question to rest.

Taehyung smiles in satisfaction when he sees Seokjin glancing downwards, at his feet, clearly a little hurt.

Taehyung feels a little bad, but it’s the truth. He has been hanging out with Namjoon. They aren’t anything serious, but perhaps they could be, down the line.

The interviewer seems a little surprised but moves on, going around the circle of models, and asking if anyone else is seeing anyone. But no one responds. Taehyung wonders if people are keeping that information to themselves or if they truly are all single right now. He’s not surprised that Seokjin doesn’t mention Ken. He probably feels embarrassed that the show depicted their relationship as unhealthy and showed their break up on film just for them to get back together after the show ended. Seokjin was probably embarrassed to admit to the whole word that he took Ken back after everything. So Taehyung isn’t surprised that he isn’t announcing it to everyone now.

Regardless, the interviewer doesn’t press anyone else for information and quickly moves on, announcing that she has another surprise for the audience.

“We will be airing a new series on this channel, titled, ‘The Real Korea’ and it’s going to include some very familiar faces.”

She goes on to explain that previous winners will be apart of the new season, where models will be forced to live together for three months and manage life together.

“Originally, it was going to be an all winners season, but, when we had a few last minute drop outs, we decided to extend the invitation to a few of our runner ups… one, that’s actually sitting with us here today.”

It feels like slow motion as Taehyung tries to process what she’s just said. The show he agreed to be a part of is now going to include runner ups? Does that mean…

“Our very own Kim Seokjin is going to apart of the series, along with previous winners, Jungkook, Jimin, Namjoon and of course… recent winner Kim Taehyung!”

The crowd goes insane, cheering loudly as the camera focuses on Taehyung and Seokjin, and Taehyung tries to force a smile as he registers what he’s just heard. Seokjin is going to be on the new series with him? He’s going to be forced to live with him in a house again?

He looks at Seokjin, who is smiling and waving to the camera. Then he turns, and winks right at Taehyung.

Taehyung’s stomach drops.

SEOKJIN

When Seokjin first got home after the competition had ended, he immediately called Ken so that they could meet up. After that kiss with Taehyung, he couldn’t stop thinking about him, and he knew he needed to clear the air.

They met at a coffee shop, instead of one of their houses, which Seokjin hoped would sort of make things easier. He didn’t want to give Ken any mixed signals, and he could tell by the soft look on Ken’s face as he sat down, that he understood where this was leading.

The two said hi awkwardly to one another, and then it was quiet.

He tried to ask Ken how he was, but Ken took a while to respond, like he knew exactly what was coming next.

“I’ve been fine.” He answered, and before they could get further into things, they were interrupted by the waiter, asking for their drink orders.

Once that’s done, Seokjin turns back to Ken. “It’s a bit weird being back.” He says, to fill the silence, and Ken glances up at him, hands clasped tightly together.

“I bet…” He replies, and Seokjin just wants to rip the band aid off now before this gets any harder.

“I know we left things in a weird place, and I think we should clear everything up.”

Ken doesn’t respond, so Seokjin continues, his words rushing out quickly. He hates this. How are you supposed to break up with someone that you’ve been dating for two years? It’s awkward, and difficult, and he doesn’t want to hurt Ken, but he knows it needs to be done.

“I think that the time apart was good for us. I think we made the right decision to split up.”

Ken huffs, glancing down at his hands.

“Maybe it was good for you. But it wasn’t for me. Seokjin-ah… I still love you.”

Seokjin sighs, unsure what to say. Will he always care about Ken? Sure. But he doesn’t think he’s in love with him anymore. And if he’s being honest he probably hasn’t been for a while.

“I know this is extremely hard… for both of us,” Seokjin continues, “but it’s not healthy to stay in a relationship when one of us is unhappy. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but things were deteriorating long before I came to the show. I think I just need space, and time to myself.”

“Really? To yourself?” Ken asks, “Or time to move on, so you can be with Taehyung?”

The words sting. And mostly because they make Seokjin feel so incredibly guilty. Because Ken is not necessarily wrong. He does have feelings for Taehyung. He’s not sure he wants to jump into a relationship with him right away, but he knows that he wants to get to know him more, and see where things can lead.

“It’s not just about Taehyung.” Seokjin lies. “Not entirely.”

“So there is something going on then?” Ken asks, his voice raising a little.

“No. There’s not.” And technically, that’s the truth. He and Taehyung had kissed, but Taehyung knew he wanted to end things with Ken officially before they did anything else. They were not actually together. “This about you and me. And you know that it hasn’t been smooth lately.”

Ken tries to argue a bit with Seokjin, saying that all relationships go through rough patches. And maybe that is true, but Seokjin doesn’t know how to tell Ken that he’s simply fallen out of love with him, and that he doesn’t think that is something that can be recovered. He can’t stay in a relationship simply because he feels bad.

Their drinks arrive shortly after, and the discussion continues for a while longer, but it’s pretty clear they are on completely different pages about things.

Eventually though, Ken seems to give up when he realizes that Seokjin isn’t caving or changing his mind.

“Maybe we should just take a few nights to really think this over?” Ken asks.

Seokjin almost agrees, just to end this conversation here, but he knows that he can’t leave things in the air again.

“I have thought about it. For many nights, Ken. I’m sorry, but… this is over. You need to accept it.”

He feels horrible. The hurt look in Ken’s face makes him want to reach out and hug him. He doesn’t like hurting people. But he didn’t know how else to say it.

“I still want to be friends with you, if you’ll let me.”

Ken sits there for a while longer, before he finally stands and collects his things.

“I’ll think about it.”

And then he walks out.



He doesn’t hear from Ken for a few days after that, until he gets a brief text saying “Okay, let’s be friends.” And Seokjin doesn’t know if he should be relieved or not. He doesn’t want to continue to hang out with Ken if it’s going to send mixed signals, but he also doesn’t want to end things and never speak to Ken again. He’s been ghosted after relationships before and he knows how badly it hurts. Maybe Ken just needs time to accept things. Maybe then, they could regain the friendship they had before they started dating.

Seokjin wants to give Taehyung time to settle in, but after 3 more days, he can’t stop himself from reaching out. He hasn’t heard from him since they left the train station, despite the urge to immediately text him on the way home. But he thinks it’s been long enough, and Taehyung deserves to know what's going on.

He pulls out his phone and shoots a quick text to Taehyung, which reads, “It’s over with Ken. We officially broke up.”

Then he puts his phone away, trying not to think about how Taehyung will respond.

But he doesn’t get a reply, and finally, around 8pm that night Seokjin checks his phone again, just to be sure. He sends another text out, which reads, “Why do I miss you already?” Hoping that a question will incite a response. He hopes the message is playful and sweet and not too forward.

He stares at the phone this time, waiting for the three little dots in the text box to start moving, but Taehyung never replies to him. After about 15 minutes of waiting around, he lays back against his bed, feeling frustrated. Maybe Taehyung doesn’t have his phone nearby today?

He pulls up his camera roll, finding the photo of Taehyung’s stomach that he had sent to him in the last days of the competition. The one that Seokjin had never deleted. He stares at it, remembering all the times they shared together in the house. God, he misses Taehyung.



He doesn’t hear from Taehyung the next day either. Or the one after that. It hurts, but Seokjin doesn’t know what else to do. He doesn't want to bombard Taehyung with texts. Maybe Taehyung felt everything between them was moving too quickly and needed more time to gather his thoughts? It's only been a little over a week since they’ve been apart.

After two weeks though, Seokjin’s given up hope that Taehyung will respond entirely. Maybe Taehyung realized once he got home that he didn’t want Seokjin after all? That all the excitement and flirtation from the show was a result of being cooped up in a house for a month, and not due to a serious attraction. Maybe Taehyung just enjoyed the chase, and was now over it? He just won the show, too. He was probably getting bombarded with messages and calls numerous people who were interested in getting to know him. Seokjin himself has gotten his fair share of attention and messages (all of which went ignored).

Or maybe Taehyung is just overwhelmed with obligations after his win and needs a breathing period? Seokjin tries not to think about how much the rejection stings though. He thought their kiss meant something. But it’s fine… really. He should be using this time to heal.

Seokjin had only caved one time, attempting to call Taehyung, but no one had picked up and he hung up the phone after about six rings. He knows he will be seeing Taehyung again at the show's reunion. Maybe that will be enough time for Taehyung to really figure out what he wants.

He deletes all of his social media pages, because Taehyung never posts, and Seokjin has no clue what he is up to anymore, and he’s tired of obsessively checking to look for clues of what he’s been doing. He needs to move on with his life and forget about him.

In the meantime he keeps busy with family and friends and him and Ken actually manage to maintain a decent friendship. Much to his surprise Ken doesn’t try to win him back or push any boundaries either. He hopes that in time things will be less awkward between them and that Ken will be able to fully move on.




A few days before the reunion Seokjin gets a phone call explaining a new reality show that is in the works about models living together. Originally it was set to be for previous winners, but with a few drop outs they wanted to extend the invitation to some runner ups as well. Seokjin’s gut reaction is to say no but when he hears that Taehyung has agreed to be a part of it, he immediately changes his tune and accepts. It’s stupid, that such a huge decision is being influenced by one person, but, he wants to see Taehyung again. His heart jumps at the idea of living with him again too, and this time for three whole months.

He can’t explain his attraction but it’s one of the most real things he’s ever felt and he knows he would kick himself if he didn’t try to explore it.



But actually seeing Taehyung again? Wow, that was hard. He hadn’t expected Taehyung to act so cold with him. Taehyung was the one that hadn’t responded to his texts, after all.

Seokjin can tell by how Taehyung is looking at him that he’s not happy with him. His responses are unemotional and quick, and Seokjin doesn’t really understand what’s changed over the break for Taehyung to be this upset with him. Had he watched the footage of the show back? Had they aired something rude that Seokjin had said? Seokjin had never gotten around to watching the season in full. It hasn’t been enough time yet since the actual experience, and he wasn’t quite ready to relive it all again. So he has no idea what they could have shown.

When Taehyung asks about Ken, Seokjin is totally lost. He responds that Ken is okay, but he doesn’t really understand why Taehyung is even asking, considering he should know this information already. Did the show edit something between him and Ken to make it appear like they were back together? It would make sense why Taehyung was so upset with him. And why he hadn’t returned Seokjin’s call or texts.

But they’re interrupted by a producer, telling them to get onto the stage. He asks if Taehyung wants to talk later and Taehyung thankfully agrees, but it looks like it pains him to do so. Seokjin has never been more confused.

Once onstage, Seokjin stares at Taehyung, unable to look away. Taehyung is unbelievably beautiful. The break has been well to him. His hair is back to it's original darker color and looks even longer and messier than before.

But news of Taehyung dating someone new throws Seokjin completely off guard. He tries not to show it on his face, but his stomach completely sinks when Taehyung says the words. Taehyung looks over at him, almost smug to be revealing the information and Seokjin again feels confused.

So, the kiss clearly had meant nothing to Taehyung. Is that why he hadn’t gotten in touch? Because he was never even actually interested? Maybe the thrill of their entire dynamic was gone the moment Seokjin stepped on the train to go home.

When the interviewer asks if anyone else is dating he remains quiet, trying to gauge Taehyung’s reaction. It’s been confirmed again that he is not still with Ken, but honestly, Taehyung doesn’t even look like he cares.

Then the host reveals the news about the new reality series, and when she announces Seokjin’s involvement, the entire audience erupts.

Seokjin glances at Taehyung, who looks pale and confused. Did he not know that Seokjin was going to be a part of it? Is he disappointed?

“I don’t know about you all,” The host says, “but I’m excited to see Taejin back together!” The words earn more squeals from the audience.

Well, at least that makes someone happy.



Once off the stage, a small after party is held backstage with the models and crew and Seokjin can’t stop himself from seeking out Taehyung so they can finally talk. He needs to clear things up with him.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Seokjin says to him quietly but when Taehyung turns, he immediately snaps at him, “not here.”

Seokjin follows him around the corner to a more private area and watches Taehyung intently. His arms are crossed in front of his chest. He looks pissed.

“How come you didn’t tell me? That you were going to be on the show?” Taehyung blurts out.

Seokjin doesn’t get why he’s so upset about this.

“I’m sorry. It was last minute. And they told me you were going to be on it, so I thought you would have known too…”

“No, they said it was going to be a winners season only. If I knew you were gonna be there I wouldn’t have agreed to do it.”

Ouch. That stings a little. Seokjin doesn’t understand how they went from whatever they were at the train station to this, but he wants to understand.

“Why are you so mad at me? And why were you asking me about Ken earlier? When you know that we aren’t together anymore.”

Taehyung stares at him, his arms unfolding. “What do you mean?”

“We broke up a few days after I got home, Taehyung. You know this…”

“Ken’s profile says otherwise.”

Seokjin is stunned, trying to put the pieces together.

“His profile? You mean, his Instagram?”

Seokjin hadn’t checked in a while, but the last time he had looked, Ken hadn’t removed any of their old photos together. Surely, this is what Taehyung was referring to, and it frustrated him greatly.

So, because Ken hadn’t updated his status, Taehyung had just assumed they were still together? Without even talking to him first? Is this why he had refused to text him back?

“I guess Ken hasn’t taken the old stuff down…”  he says but Taehyung’s already whipping out his phone, pulling up Ken’s Instagram and holding the phone out to Seokjin.

“Explain this then?”

The most recent photo that Ken had posted was a photo of Seokjin at a restaurant, drinking a beer. Ken must have taken it without Seokjin even realizing. The caption said “drink date” which both frustrated and annoyed Seokjin.

He sighs loudly. It was taken a few days ago, one of the only times over the whole break that he visited with Ken. After agreeing to try to be friends, he made a few attempts to hang out with him for a few hours, just to keep in touch and attempt to maintain their friendship. Even thought it was all platonic, clearly Ken was still pretending they were together on social media.

“It wasn’t a date, date.” Seokjin says honestly. “We are trying to be friends. We got drinks just to catch up. I swear, Taehyung, it wasn’t romantic at all.”

“Well, he doesn’t seem to think so…” Taehyung says quietly, putting his phone back into his pocket.

And now it makes sense. If Ken’s been continuing to post photos of Seokjin, making it seem like they were still a couple, of course Taehyung would have been hesitant to believe Seokjin when he said otherwise. Of course he wouldn’t want to jump into anything with him.

“I’m sorry Taehyung. I deleted my social media just to get a break from everything. So, I didn’t even notice he was posting these things. I can’t control what he does, but I will try to ask him to take everything down. He’s been… having a hard time accepting the break up.”

He’s hoping his explanation will soften Taehyung’s anger, but it only seems to make things worse.

“It doesn’t really matter to me anymore.” Taehyung responds coldly. “I’ve moved on.”

And it almost feels put on, the way he says it, like he’s trying to convince himself. But Seokjin doesn’t want to give himself false hope. It hurts too much.

“So you had a nice break then?” Seokjin asks. It’s partly sarcastic, because he doesn’t really know how else to deal with the pain that he’s feeling right now. Taehyung just furrows his brows at him and looks away. “Cuz mine was pretty shitty, but I’m glad you had such a nice time.”

“It was… fine. ” Taehyung manages to respond. Seokjin just can’t read him.

“Well, you’re dating someone new, so it must have been more than fine… the beginning of relationships is always the best part.”

He’s not necessarily implying anything by that statement, but he can’t help but notice the soft look in Taehyung’s eyes.

“It’s not a relationship. It’s new. It just kinda happened.”

Seokjin’s just thankful that Taehyung is talking to him at all, even though he doesn’t exactly want to hear about his new relationship.

“Who is it?” He asks instead.

Taehyung takes a breath, shifting a little awkwardly on his feet.

“Um… Kim Namjoon.” He whispers.

Seokjin almost asks him to repeat himself.

“Namjoon? Like 2019 “Top Korea” winner Namjoon?”

Seokjin honestly can’t believe this. So the person Taehyung is dating is not only a gorgeous, successful model, but he’s also going to be living with them for three months? He feels like his heart is going to explode at the information. “Are you serious?”  

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Taehyung tries to play it off. “We’ve only hung out a few times.”

“Great so, it’s gonna be Yoongi all over again?” Seokjin can’t help but be upset. He doesn’t even try to hide the tone in his voice. He’s not excited to have front row seats to Taehyung making out with someone else in front of him. He would back out of the show now if he could, but it’s too late, the contract has been signed.

“Well, this time we won’t hook up in your bed.” Taehyung jokes, but Seokjin doesn’t find it funny.  

He stares at the floor, trying his hardest not to let his anger show on his face. He’s so mad. About all of this. Mostly, Ken’s stupidity and the fact that Taehyung hadn’t even given Seokjin a chance to explain his side of things before moving on.

He wants to ask why Taehyung didn’t text him back, or answer his call. If he had, he would have known the full truth. But he pushes the question away, because it clearly doesn’t matter anymore. And Taehyung doesn’t seem to care that this has all been a big misunderstanding.

“I’m sure you and Ken will just get back together anyway.” Taehyung says eventually, after the silence overwhelms them both.

It’s not fair that Taehyung always throws this in his face.

“We won’t. I don’t love him anymore.” Seokjin says confidently. “I have feelings for someone else now…”

Taehyung looks stunned to hear him say it, and he doesn’t look away. The eye contact between them is too intense right now. Seokjin just wants to grab him behind the head and kiss him again. Force Taehyung to forget all about Namjoon so that they can actually give things a proper try.

But of course he doesn’t do that.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t even be friends with Ken. He clearly isn’t understanding the boundaries you want to set.” Taehyung says. And Seokjin knows that he is right. But it’s easier said than done.

“We’ve known each other for 7 years, Taehyung. We were friends long before we started dating. I don’t want to hurt him. But you’re right. Maybe trying to be friends right now was a dumb idea. Maybe the three months apart will be the best thing for him…”

Taehyung’s still just staring at him softly, like he doesn’t really know what to say or how to act.

“But I guess none of that matters now anyways.” Seokjin can’t stop himself from blurting out. He’s still mad at Taehyung for moving on so quickly.

Then Taehyung’s phone is ringing and he glances down, staring at the screen. He doesn’t make an attempt to answer, but Seokjin can see from here that it’s Namjoon calling. His stupid face with his adorable dimple smile is flashing on the screen.

“Answer it.” Seokjin says, “I think we’re done here.”

Taehyung actually looks hurt then, and Seokjin is glad for it. Now he knows what it feels like.

“See you in a few weeks, Taehyung.”

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung stays in touch with Namjoon, because he’s a damn good distraction. He helps Taehyung forget the fact that he’s going to be moving into the same house as Seokjin very soon.

They aren’t dating, exactly, but instead, agree to keep things casual. They go out frequently, and kiss occasionally, but for the most part, things are pretty simple. He has fun with Namjoon, and that’s enough for now. They haven’t slept together, and Taehyung isn’t sure he’s ready for that again yet, but maybe someday.


The “Real Korea” cast will have nine roommates. 5 men and 4 women, and Taehyung really wonders how things are going to go in the house when they have no competitions to keep them busy. Instead, they will be forced to entertain themselves and find things to do with one another. There will be no TV to keep them occupied and limited access to the internet and phones. It could get messy quickly, especially if alcohol is involved. (And with so many exes in the house with each other). But that’s probably what the producers want.

Taehyung wonders who he will get along with the most in the house, besides Namjoon. Jungkook seems cool. And he was really rooting for Jimin during his Top Model season. He wonders if all of them are what he expects them to be. Or if they are much different from how they were portrayed on television.

A few days before they are set to move in, Namjoon calls Taehyung to check in with him and see how he’s doing.

“Are you nervous about being in a house with Seokjin-hyung again?”

“Nervous?” Taehyung tries to play it off. “Why would I be nervous?”

“I don’t know. At the reunion things felt a bit… awkward?”

“It was fine.” Taehyung lies again. He and Namjoon have gotten close but he doesn’t need to know everything that Taehyung is feeling. Especially when it comes to Seokjin.

“Come on, you can be honest with me. Was there something going on between you two? I mean, your season made it seem like you guys really liked each other. He broke up with his boyfriend for you.”

“What?” Taehyung asks. “No, he didn’t.” Sure, Taehyung always felt like maybe he had something to do with the break up, but he definitely doesn’t feel like he was the main reason for it.

“It looked like that. But… okay.” Namjoon says, with a slight chuckle, like he doesn’t believe Taehyung but knows he can’t really argue. It’s frustrating to Taehyung but Namjoon will see, once they all live together. There is nothing between him and Seokjin anymore.

Taehyung is going to get over him.



Move in day is awkward, to say the least, but it’s a lot easier meeting people than it was on Taeyhung’s Top Model season, because this time, he knows the majority of the people moving in. Or at least, he’s seen them on TV and knows what to expect. It’s also a lot less pressure this time because there are no prizes or competitions to try to win.

He’s also thrilled because in this house, he will have his own room. He does need to remember though, that there are even more cameras around for this series and he should be conscious of that. But regardless, Taehyung attempts to just be himself and relax a little. He wants to have fun in the next few months.

But his plans are thrown off when he sees Seokjin entering the house. His hair is dark blonde now, and it’s grown out a little, and he looks so fucking hot that Taehyung wants to scream. Why did he have to be put on the same TV series as the most beautiful person on earth?

Seokjin glances at Taehyung but immediately walks past him, trying to get to his room to unpack his stuff. Taehyung wonders if this is how it's going to be between them now, avoiding each other and sharing awkward glances. He doesn’t necessarily want that, but he’s also not sure he’s ready to be friends with him again. It could complicate things too much.



After everyone unpacks they gather into the living room so that they can introduce themselves. Each person talks about their Top Model season and their home life etc.

Right off the bat Taehyung really likes Jimin, like he expected he would. They are the same age and Jimin seems really carefree and open minded. He also thinks that Jungkook seems really cool. But he’s not sure how Jungkook feels about him considering he’s sort of “dating” his ex. He can understand now why Namjoon was attracted to Jungkook and wonders how he’s dealing with him being here. It’s got to be even weirder being in a house with an actual ex boyfriend. Not just an “almost ex” like Seokjin is to him.

When it’s Seokjin’s turn to speak, he mentions that he is single, which doesn’t necessarily surprise Taehyung after what he said at the reunion, but he does wonder how long that will last. How many days will Seokjin be able to go without calling Ken and making up with him? Or finding someone else in the house he is interested in?

This means that everyone in the house is single except for Jimin and one of the girls. Things could definitely get complicated this season.

When it’s Taehyung’s turn he says he’s sort of seeing someone, just to stick it to Seokjin, and by the annoyed look on his face, it clearly works. He’s not even sure why he’s so intent on hurting Seokjin. If he really did end things with Ken, then Taehyung should be happy. That’s what he wanted. But he’s holding onto a bit of resentment because at any point Seokjin could and should have reached out to him. How else was Taehyung supposed to know what he wanted?

He hopes Namjoon doesn’t mind him saying so, they haven’t really discussed what they are to each other, but he’s being vague and not giving names. It does make him wonder if Jungkook has any inkling about them or how much Namjoon has told him. Namjoon let Taehyung know that he and Jungkook don’t really keep in touch anymore, so it’s possible no one really knows about the two of them except for Seokjin, and Namjoon’s close friends. But being here in the house together, that won’t be kept secret for very long.



All the models help make dinner that evening and Taehyung is able to avoid Seokjin for most of it. Seokjin helps a lot with the chopping and cooking and Taehyung helps to set the table, away from the kitchen. He chats with Jimin and they get to know one another a little better.

When they sit at the table to eat, Namjoon makes his way over and sits right next to Taehyung, bumping shoulders with him flirtatiously and the two share a smile. When Taehyung glances up, Seokjin is sitting directly across from him, watching the two of them quietly. Taehyung tries to ignore how happy it makes him, to know that Seokjin cares, even if the tiniest part of him feels a little guilty.

Again, the group goes around with a set of questions, getting to know one another better while they eat. Somehow the topic of the previous season comes up and someone asks Seokjin if he was disappointed that he didn’t win.

“I was a bit surprised, to be honest.” Seokjin answers curtly, which only annoys Taehyung further.

“Guess the fans just liked me more.” Taehyung interrupts, which forces a few awkward laughs, but the tension across the table is so strong that Taehyung is sure people can see the daggers that he and Seokjin are shooting at each other with their eyes. If Jin wants to play dirty, so can he.

“So the bickering between you was clearly real?” One of the female models Ji-Soo says. And then another pipes in, “did you guys ever hook up?”

It’s eerily quiet in the room as everyone waits for the response. Seokjin is silent, so Taehyung takes that as his cue to respond.

“We kissed once.” He says bluntly. “But it was a pity kiss.”

Seokjin’s head immediately snaps up, glaring at Taehyung.

“It was not.” He argues, clear frustration in his voice. Taehyung is a bit surprised he’s revealing that information in front of everyone.

“It was.” Taehyung responds quietly. “You just felt bad for me.”

“That’s not true.” Seokjin whispers, and then someone else is speaking and attempting to clear the air by changing the subject.

Taehyung can feel Namjoon’s hand squeeze his thigh gently in comfort, and he turns to look at him. Namjoon offers a small smile, and it almost feels like he’s asking Taehyung to drop it, so Taehyung smiles back and then continues to eat his food. He tries his hardest to ignore Seokjin for the rest of the night.  How dare Seokjin imply that the kiss they shared actually meant something? Not after he’d been ignored all summer.

Seokjin is one of the first people to finish eating and is quick to excuse himself from the table. He notices Jungkook following right after, exiting the room with Seokjin.

“I didn’t realize they were friends…” Namjoon says next to him, clearly indicating Jungkook and Jin.

“I saw them talking a bit earlier.” Taehyung responds. Trying not to be jealous. They only just met tonight, how close could they possibly be?

It’s a bit odd to see them together, but he puts it out of his mind until later that evening when he sees Jungkook and Jin together again, quietly talking and laughing in the corner of the room. Taehyung hates the way it makes him feel. Hates that he’s still so hung up on Seokjin. He has a half a mind to pull Namjoon into Seokjin’s room and make out with him right there on top of his bed like he did with Yoongi months earlier, just to piss Seokjin off, but of course he doesn’t do that.

Instead, he distracts himself by getting to know Jimin a bit more, and some of the other models. They play a few drinking games and talk and despite the whole Seokjin thing, he has a pretty good time.

But it’s only been one day. He has about 89 more to go.

SEOKJIN

Being back on another reality show is certainly strange, and having Taehyung about twenty feet from him at all times makes it even weirder. Actually, weird might not be an accurate description. Difficult is probably more like it.

Seokjin has so much anger built inside of him, he has half a mind to storm over to Taehyung and yank him into his bedroom, locking the door and refusing to let him leave until they sort this stupid thing out.

He doesn’t really understand why Taehyung is so upset with him. It’s not like they were in a relationship when he left to go home after the competition. Taehyung knew that Seokjin had things to take care of with Ken. How had he managed to move on so damn quickly? It had been a few months since their kiss, and because Seokjin hadn’t shouted from the rooftops that he wanted to be with him, Taehyung had bailed? Seokjin was starting to wonder if Taehyung had even gotten the texts that Seokjin sent, because none of this made any sense.

He has to shut off his brain when Taehyung gives his introduction to the group and mentions seeing someone… aka, Namjoon. The idea of them being in the house together is already eating at him and he doesn’t think he can bear to see them together or he might puke. Namjoon seems really cool, and he’s obviously tall and muscular and adorable as hell… he can see why Taehyung is drawn to him. Even if he hates admitting it. But that doesn’t mean he wants front row seats to their love affair.


He helps with the cooking to distract himself and it works pretty well. Jungkook has been helping him, and Seokjin finds that he really enjoys his company. Jungkook is funny, and they have a lot in common. He’s a bit younger than Seokjin but he reminds him of Seokjin’s friends from back home and they have a good time getting to know one another while they prepare dinner for the house. He should dislike Jungkook, because he’s Namjoon’s ex,  but maybe there is still something there between them? Maybe Seokjin can nudge Jungkook in that direction again, and take Namjoon away from Taehyung. It’s a ridiculous and immature thought to have… but Seokjin doesn’t care.

He doesn’t even understand why he’s so focused on Taehyung. He hated Taehyung when they first met. But ever since the end of the Top Model competition, when they started opening up to each other and getting closer, he’s been having conflicting feelings. They say there is a fine line between love and hate, and Seokjin thinks he finally understands that saying.


Watching Namjoon and Taehyung together at dinner is pretty much torture, and he doesn’t think he could have a worse night… that is until Taehyung announces to everyone in the room that their kiss at the train station was a pity kiss, which couldn’t be further than the truth. Seokjin had done it because he wanted to, even when he was still technically in limbo with Ken at the time. Does Taehyung really think that it meant nothing? Or is just saying whatever he can to piss Seokjin off? Whatever the reasoning, it’s working.

Seokjin tears himself away from the table the moment he has a chance and is grateful when Jungkook follows him out, sitting with Seokjin on the couch. It feels nice having someone that seemingly cares about you in your corner.

“So, Namjoon and Taehyung are like… a thing?” Jungkook asks Seokjin and he’s surprised to hear him asking.

“I guess so.” Seokjin answers. “How did you know?”

“He used to look at me like that.” Jungkook says under his breath, and for a second, Seokjin feels horrible. He asks Jungkook what happened between them, but it’s clear that Jungkook doesn’t really want to open up about it, he’s vague with his responses. But from the sound of it, they were both so busy with their own careers that they just started drifting apart, and the distance was too much for them.

“I never really thought it was actually over though.” Jungkook confesses. “I didn’t think he would be able to move on so quickly.”

Seokjin understands the feeling.

“Have you talked to him about all of this?” Seokjin asks, and Jungkook shakes his head no.

“Maybe you should?”

It’s true, a small part of Seokjin is only saying this because he wants Jungkook to take Namjoon away from Taehyung, he is also being sincere, because Jungkook is clearly still hurting. And even though they have just met, Seokjin wants him to be happy. It sounds like he and Namjoon have some major unfinished business. It makes Seokjin feel slightly better, knowing that Namjoon is probably just using Taehyung for some sort of rebound/comfort thing. But he also feels guilty for being happy, because Taehyung doesn’t deserve to be put in that situation again.

Jungkook asks about Taehyung then, and Seokjin isn’t sure why but he decides to be totally transparent with Jungkook. He feels like opening up to someone and Jungkook seems like someone he can trust.

He gives Jungkook the whole run down on what happened, and Jungkook takes it in with open ears.

“You were just telling me that I need to communicate… but maybe you should take your own advice.” Jungkook laughs and shoves against Jin playfully, who shoves Jungkook back.

“Maybe I will.”




Seokjin tries to drink a bit more to numb the pain, and he starts feeling a lot better. Alcohol always makes him really outgoing, and silly, and he manages to forget about Taehyung for all of about 20 minutes. He tries ignoring the fact that he hasn’t seen him around in a while, hoping that he’s not off with Namjoon somewhere making out in a bedroom. Though he wouldn’t put it past him.

He gets to know the other models in the house the best he can, and he really likes Jimin too. He’s friendly and constantly checking up on everyone, asking if they need water, or to lie down. He barely remembers the conversation they have around 1am because he’s tipsy he’s starting to lose focus, but he thinks that Jimin asks if he finds anyone in the house cute. His first instinct is to say “Taehyung, of course.” but realizes that’s probably not the best idea.

“Jungkookie’s cute…” Seokjin responds with a dopey smile and Jimin laughs, nodding at him.

“Yeah, he is. But… I thought he was dating Namjoon?”

“No, no, they broke up.” Jin says confidently and Jimin laughs again, saying he can’t keep up.

“Who do you like?” Seokjin asks and Jimin smiles softly, shaking his head.

“I have a boyfriend.” Jimin responds. “but… if I were single I would probably go for Namjoon. His body is insane and that dimple…”

Seokjin immediately excuses himself to go to the bathroom, not letting Jimin finish his sentence. Just the sound of his name makes him want to hurl.



An hour or so later, after drinking a lot of water and eating some ramen, the alcohol has mostly seemed to leave his system, so he goes back to his room to finish unpacking the rest of things. It could probably wait for tomorrow but his mind is buzzing and it’s helping to calm him down. He’s just about done and preparing to get into bed when he hears it, the soft sighing of someone standing in the doorway of his room.

He recognizes the voice before he even turns his head, not surprised to see Taehyung standing there, body leaned against the frame. He’s got his arms crossed, like he’s irritated, and he probably is, but Seokjin doesn’t know if he has the energy for this tonight.

“What?” He asks suddenly. The word comes out a lot harsher than he anticipated, but he’s tired of dancing around things with Taehyung and lets his frustrations be known.

“Typical.”

“What is?” Seokjin asks, trying to understand.

“This room. It’s so… plain.” Taehyung finally walks into the room and glances around. “Kind of like you.”

“What the hell is your problem?” Seokjin finds himself asking. He knows that Taehyung is upset but his recent jabs have felt a little more personal lately.

“Sorry…” Taehyung says, but it certainly doesn’t sound like he means it. “You just get under my skin.”

“Then why are you here?” Seokjin snarls, turning away from Taehyung. “What do you want?”

Taehyung’s made it pretty clear that he’s done with Seokjin, so why the hell is he in his room trying to talk to him? Shouldn’t he be canoodling off with Namjoon somewhere?

“I just…” Taehyung begins, and then he’s sighing loudly again, like he’s holding back from saying what’s really on his mind. “I saw you and Jungkook earlier… you seem to be getting along well.”

Seokjin slowly turns, unable to hide the frustration that’s probably etched on his face. Why is Taehyung asking him about Jungkook?

“Are you implying something?”

“No.” Taehyung says, and then he’s walking into the room and sitting on Seokjin’s bed. Seokjin wants to tell him not to, but he doesn’t have the heart to say it. Plus, he’s curious to hear what Taehyung has to say. And what the point of this all is.

“It’s just a bit reckless to get involved with someone here. There’s way more cameras around. Plus, he’s Namjoon’s ex you know.”

Seokjin doesn’t really understand why Taehyung is lecturing him about this. What does it matter who Jungkook dated? And isn’t the point of the show to make connections and potentially hook up?

“There’s nothing going on with Jungkook… it’s been one day, Taehyung. I don’t move on that quickly…” Seokjin enjoys the way that Taehyung’s face twists at the dig. “But if I was interested in him, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”

Seokjin walks forward so that he’s standing in front of Taehyung. He looks him right in the eye. He refuses to back down. “Besides, you’re one to talk based on how you acted last season. Day 1 and you were already hooking up with Yoongi.”

“When are you going to get over that?” Taehyung laughs, and it just pisses Seokjin off more.

“You’re the one that will be hooking up with Namjoon every night, so why are you trying to lecture me? You’re such a hypocrite.”

Taehyung actually looks hurt when he says that, and then he’s standing from the bed and walking back towards the door like he’s done with this conversation. But at the last second he turns back around, facing Jin.

“I’m not hooking up with Namjoon. Not really.” Taehyung says softly, and Seokjin wonders why he’s telling him this. “We’ve kissed a bit, but it’s nothing serious.”

Seokjin doesn’t really get why Taehyung is telling him this now when he had every opportunity to clear the air before this, like at the reunion or even during the house meeting earlier today. But he cannot lie, he’s relieved to hear it.

“You’ve made everyone think you weren’t single… I mean, does Namjoon know that you don’t think it’s serious?”

But Taehyung doesn’t answer, he just stares at the floor. Which answers Seokjin’s question.

“So what… are you just using him to piss me off?”

“What?” Taehyung asks then, face snapping up, “no.”

He responds so quick and Seokjin can’t quite tell if he’s telling the truth. But he doesn’t even understand why they’re having this conversation. Didn’t they agree that whatever this was between them was done?

“Well maybe I’m not looking for anything serious with anyone either. Maybe I just want to have fun here too.” Seokjin replies. “Am I allowed to do that?”

Taehyung sighs, “I dunno, have you asked Ken?”

Now it’s Seokjin who is sighing in frustration.

“When are you going to get over that?” Seokjin asks, throwing Taehyung’s words back at him. “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s over between Ken and I?”

“Yeah… that’s what you said the last time.”

“And I meant it!” Seokjin bursts. He hates that Taehyung is still upset about Ken, but he can also understand why. Ken plastering photos all over social media during the break certainly didn’t help things. And he had dated Ken for such a long time, he could see why Taehyung would be hesitant to believe it was really over.

“Just, stop.” Seokjin continues, trying desperately hard to ignore the hurt look on Taehyung’s face. He brought all of this on himself.

“Stop what?”

“Acting like you care about me or what I’m doing. You made your decision pretty clear at the reunion.” Seokjin spits out. He’s tired. And he can’t keep doing this. "You should go.”

“Jin-hyung…” Taehyung begins to say but Seokjin doesn’t want to hear it. He’s tired of fighting and rehashing the same thing. He’s pissed that Taehyung thinks he can just come in here and continue to insult him. This isn’t like before. This time, he’s not going to take it.

“Please leave.” Seokjin says louder, actually shoving lightly at Taehyung’s shoulder. He shouldn’t have done it, but he’s hurt and the motion actually forces Taehyung to take a few steps backwards, into the hallway. His face is twisted in hurt and he looks like he wants to say something else but he doesn’t, he just shoves his hands in his pockets and stands there. Seokjin gives him one last look before shutting the door in his face.

Seokjin leans back against the door, waiting until he can hear Taehyung’s footsteps carry him down the hallway.

It’s going to be a long three months.

Chapter Text

SEOKJIN

Seokjin wasn’t sure who suggested game night, but he was convinced that it was a horrible idea, especially when someone decided on spin then bottle. It felt like he was in middle school again (not that he had ever even played such games then) but nevertheless, he sat down to play anyways, because he was intent on making friends this time around and he wanted to be part of the fun. 

Watching Taehyung kiss Namjoon in front of everyone wasn’t the most enjoyable experience ever. It was one thing knowing they were hooking up, to have to see it right in front of his face was something entirely different. Watching Taehyung smile into the kiss made Seokjin’s stomach knot. It felt genuine, which only irritated him more.

Someone calls out for the two to get a room and Seokjin can’t stop himself from blurting, “probably already have.” 

Then Taehyung accuses of him of being jealous, to which Seokjin just rolls his eyes, because he doesn’t know how else to respond. It’s not like he’s going to admit that it may possibly be true. 

Later, he realizes the error of his ways in agreeing to play this silly game, when he spins the  bottle and it lands on Taehyung, and he realizes with utter horror that he will be forced to kiss him again. Except this time, it’ll be in front of everyone in the house. But he can’t exactly say no or walk away. How weird would that look? At least he’s not the one in a new relationship, he cant say the same for Taehyung. But at least with Namjoon watching Taehyung should be on his best behavior. 

He crawls over to Taehyung, ignoring the little quip from him, and sits in front of him. He takes a breath, trying to encourage himself to do this, before leaning forward and closing his eyes, his lips finding Taehyung’s instantly.

They kiss, and it's like time freezes for a minute. Seokjin gets lost in the warmth of Taehyung’s lips on his and for a brief second he forgets where he is, the kiss lasting for probably a bit longer than necessary. But then Taehyung is pulling away from him and instantly Seokjin snaps back to reality, glancing around the room.

Most people are laughing or smiling, with the exception of Namjoon to his right. Jungkook doesn’t look upset per say, but he has a curious expression on his face, like he’s wondering what Seokjin is thinking about. 

Seokjin does his best to brush it off but moments later, after a few more rounds, someone suggests a different game. Taehyung is practically flaunting things when he grabs for Namjoon and drags him out of the room. After that someone suggests they take a 10 minute break and as the room clears, only one person remains.

Jungkook shifts, scooting closer to Seokjin and whispering to him, “you okay?”

“Fine.” Seokjin answers instantly, taking a small sip of his beer and trying to forget what just happened. “Are you?”

Jungkook kinda shrugs and hangs his head. 

“Namjoon?” Seokjin asks. In their small conversations thus far, it’s been more than clear that Jungkook is definitely still hung up on his ex. And that it's probably even harder for him watching Taehyung and Namjoon together than it is for Seokjin.

“You can talk to me about him… and how you feel you know.” Jin says simply, wanting to let Jungkook know that he can be a sounding board for him. He’s feeling just as down about Taehyung, even if he would never admit it out loud. “I know we’ve just met and all but it feels like we’ve been friends for longer.”

Seokjin fully means the words too. He had instantly clicked with Jungkook when they’d first met, and he feels a weird sort of pull to him. He hates thinking that Jungkook is feeling down. 

“I’m still in love with him.” Jungkook responds quietly, like he’s afraid to admit it. 

“Does he know you feel that way?” Seokjin asks.

“No.” Jungkook answers. “We’ve barely spoken since the break up. It was so…messy, and hard. And it was mostly my fault, so, I don’t think he really wants to talk to me.” 

Seokjin wants to pry and ask more about what happened, but he will let Jungkook bet the one to tell him about it when he’s ready. 

“It must be really hard seeing him with Taehyung.” Seokjin says and Jungkook nods. “Do you know where they are now?”

“I think they went into that room.” Jungkook answers and nods his head down the hallway. He can hear Jungkook audibly sigh. 

Seokjin almost proposes they go and break it up, but he knows that they can’t do that.

“Too bad during the game the bottle didn’t land on you instead.” Seokjin jokes. “Maybe we coulda made them jealous.”

“We could have.” Jungkook teases, and it’s nice to see a little smile on his face. “It just sucks that my head isn’t in the right place for that. Which almost hurts more… that Namjoon is able to move on already.” 

The words hit Seokjin hard. He’d never thought about it like that. Did that mean that Taehyung was ready to officially move on too? Even after such a short time? It makes him even more upset. 

“I need another drink.” Seokjin says suddenly, standing up from the floor. Jungkook follows him up. "But I should use the bathroom first..."

“I can get you something.” Jungkook offers and Seokjin nods, muttering his thanks and then telling Jungkook he’ll find him in a bit.

Really, he doesn't need to use the restroom at all, it’s just an excuse to make his way down the hallway so he can potentially spy on Taehyung and see what’s going on.

He doesn’t have to investigate long though, because on his way, he’s passing Namjoon in the hallway. The two exchange a polite smile. The last thing Seokjin wants to do is be friendly to Namjoon, but he also knows that he doesn’t have a real reason to dislike him. He seems like a decent person. And Seokjin can’t exactly blame him for being interested in Taehyung, can he?

He wonders where Taehyung is now and leans back against the wall, closest to the bedroom that Jungkook had initiated earlier. He listens to see if he can hear any movement in the bedroom. But only a second later, Taehyung comes out. Shit, he’s been caught. 

The following conversation doesn’t go well. Taehyung accuses Seokjin of spying and even calls him jealous, which Seokjin tries to rebuff but he knows his excuses are pretty meaningless. But it’s when Taehyung accuses him of kissing people behind his back that Seokjin snaps. He tries his best to make Taehyung feel bad about how quickly he’s managed to move on, then leaves him alone with his thoughts in the hallway. 

The next 4 days are tense. Seokjin and Taehyung spend the majority of that time ignoring one another, even when the entire house goes out for drink nights. But Seokjin hasn’t seen Taehyung or Namjoon being sickly sweet or kissing in front of him anymore, so at least there’s one thing he’s grateful for. Seokjin spends a lot of his time with Jungkook, and it’s nice having a friend in the house that he can talk to. 

The first televised trailer for the season is finally released and they’ve used a lot of footage from the first few nights in the house. Seokjin should have expected that the editors were going to depict his relationship with Taehyung as something much deeper. They show their kiss during the spin the bottle game and glimpses of the resulting conversation afterwards, which Seokjin hadn’t even know they were filming. He feels a bit awkward about some of the things he said being on film and tries to remind himself what he’s signed up for. Not that anything that he has said so far isn’t true. 

The clip of the kiss had been way slowed down, to look even more intimate then it actually was, and Seokjin can feel his face getting hot as the other models in the house are laughing and hyping it up. He glances at Taehyung to see his reaction, and it’s impossible to read. His arms are crossed and he looks annoyed. But that’s been the norm for the last few days. 

Seokjin wonders if the fans of the show are going to be disappointed when they see the full conversations between him and Taehyung, realizing that their “star crossed lovers” aren't actually getting along. He also wonders how they will react to the new fling between Namjoon and Taehyung. The producers will love it regardless though. All they want is the drama. 

Speaking of drama, Seokjin gets pulled into the house confessional to talk to the producers about an upcoming photoshoot. The 'confessional' is a secret room the producers have set up in the house so that the models can talk to cameras about their experiences in the house and answer interview questions that they can air on the series. However, in today's meeting, Seokjin is asked instead to do a photoshoot for the series. He is told that all the models will be doing the same, and they need photos and video footage for the opening credits that will play at the beginning of each episode. Seokjin is actually looking forward to it, because its been months since he’s been able to model or do a photoshoot and he kind of misses it.

However on the day of the shoot he is in for a surprise when he gets to set to find Taehyung already there getting his hair and make up done, but no one else. None of the other models are around and when Seokjin asks one of the producers what is going on, they reveal to him that he’s actually going to be doing a “couples” photoshoot today with Taehyung. Of course, he should have expected this. The show has its own “storyline” that it wants to follow, one of which is the romantic storyline between Seokjin and Taehyung, so he should have known this was going to happen. 

He’d signed a contract when he’d agreed to do the series, so it’s not possible for him to back out of this. Even if the last thing he wants is to be sitting close to Taehyung and touching him and posing for photos right now. 

And close, they are. 

It’s bad enough that they were put in matching black shirts (that are unbuttoned and a bit too revealing) and asked to pose together in general, but when the photographer instructs them to get closer, Seokjin almost wants to refuse. But he knows that he can’t, and he realizes the best thing to do is just suck things up and get through this.

It starts off pretty simple, Seokjin’s arm is around Taehyung’s shoulder as they sit on the floor of the studio. Thankfully Taehyung isn’t making any quippy remarks or being a jerk, so it’s making this easy. Seokjin can almost get lost in the moment and forget that he and Taehyung aren’t exactly on talking terms right now. And considering the praise from the photographer, they are doing well.

Taehyung seems to get even more comfortable as the shoot goes on and at one point leans his head against Seokjin’s shoulders. Seokjin holds in his breath tightly. Not wanting to show in his reaction that the small touch is affecting him. In all the time they’ve known each other, its never been like this. Even last season when they did that photoshoot together, it never felt this… soft? Or comfortable between them. 

Seokjin finds his hand coming around and tangling into Taeyhung’s curls as he turns to look at him. The photographer encourages things, telling them to get even closer. Seokjin can see the rising and falling of Taehyung’s chest, can tell that he’s feeling some sort of way by having Seokjin in such close proximity to him. But he still refuses to look in Seokjin’s direction, which is probably for the best because it might force Seokjin to pull away. 

Taehyung not looking at him makes this a lot easier and he finds himself shifting, moving so that he’s got his legs wrapped right behind Taehyung. His hands come around, holding Taehyung's body against Seokjin’s gently.

“Yes! Like that!” The photographer says, “perfect.” 

He can feel Taehyung leaning back against him, the heat of his body instantly rushing into Seokjin’s chest where they are touching. 

The photographer yells “more” and Seokjin has no clue what he means by that but he takes a risk, leaning his head down and placing his lips right on Taehyung’s shoulder. He can hear Taehyung suck in his breath, clearly not expecting that from Seokjin. He barely expected it from himself, but something about being here in this moment with Taehyung makes things safe. The photoshoot and the photographer encouraging him gives him an excuse to do the things he’s always been afraid to. 

And God, it feels good, trailing his lips over Taehyung’s shoulder, pulling the material of the shirt so it falls over Taehyung's shoulder, exposing his bare skin. Seokjin softly pecks the flesh, making his way further in to the area by Taehyung's neck. Taehyung keeps releasing these tiny little breaths as Seokjin kisses him and the photographer is absolutely loving it, snapping away. 

Seokjin knows he should stop, because the photoshoot is just going to stir up more drama amongst the fans, but he can’t. And Taehyung isn’t pushing him away. In fact, he can feel Taehyung’s hands gripping around his forearms, holding their bodies close, and it feels so damn good. 

“Taehyung, turn your head towards Seokjin please!” The photographer calls out, and at the same time they turn to look at each other. 

Seokjin tries desperately hard to read the expression in Taehyung’s eyes, but Taehyung has such a good poker face that it's impossible.  

He does catch when Taehyung’s eyes flicker downwards, to his lips, and actually stay there, and it has Seokjin’s heart racing in his chest. He’s making this so hard for him, and as the seconds pass, the photographer continues to snap photos. Seokjin instinctively finds himself moving even closer.

His nose brushes gently against Taeyhung's and then he’s closing his eyes, which urges Seokjin on. He pushes his lips forward next, and they swipe just the slightest bit over Taehyung’s. 

The photographer is still calling out encouraging words and praises, and it makes Seokjin feel comfortable. Even though he should be embarrassed about doing this sort of thing in front of watchful eyes, he finds himself not caring. He just wants to be closer.

And then someone shifts, maybe its Taehyung, maybe it’s him, he can’t remember, but in the next second their lips are actually connecting again and they’re finally kissing. It’s soft, and slow, and not as deep as Seokjin really wants it, but it’s perfect for what they are doing. 

And Seokjin would have kept kissing him, right there on the floor of the studio, if the photographer hadn’t of yelled at them that they were done. 

And then Taehyung’s pulling away from him, removing himself from Seokjin's space and the immediate rush of cold air hits Seokjin as he feels Taehyung stand.

The photographer hugs Taehyung, telling him what a wonderful job he did and then offers to help Seokjin up, hugging him too and giving him the same praises. Taehyung is already out the door and headed backstage to change. 

Seokjin doesn’t really understand what just happened between them, but he tries to remind himself it was all just part of the job. It’s not like things could get more complicated for the two of them. 

Seokjin changes backstage and the tension between the two is ridiculous. He can tell that Taehyung is upset with him and he wonders if it has anything to do with what just happened. Clearly, pretending to be close during the photoshoot wouldn't actually help smooth anything over between them. It might have even made it worse.

Seokjin wonders if Taehyung is planning to stay mad at him forever. He hates feeling like this. But he also knows he hasn’t been the nicest himself. They’ve both been picking at each other ever since the reunion show. He knows if things are ever going to get better between them he will have to be the bigger person and take the first step.

He waits for Taehyung to finish changing and remove the majority of his make up before finally walking over to approach him. 

“That was… a bit strange.” Seokjin says with a small chuckle, trying to laugh off what they just did, but Taehyung only glances at him quickly in the mirror before turning away, not bothering with a response. 

Seokjin can’t stop himself from blurting, “are you gonna be upset with me forever?” His hands find the back of Taehyung’s chair, holding onto it tightly as he stares at him through the mirror. Taehyung waits for what feels like a solid five seconds before finally turning around, bursting out, “why did you have to go and kiss me again?”

His voice is loud and like usual, he sounds upset. 

“During the shoot?” Seokjin asks, “I don’t know…” 

Sure, the photographer had been encouraging things, but Seokjin probably did it because he had wanted to. Because the scenario gave him an excuse to do it again. 

“You shouldn’t have.” Taehyung says, shaking his head as he turns back around in his chair and continues to fuss with his hair, trying to ignore Seokjin. 

“It was just a photoshoot, why do you care so much?” Seokjin asks, knowing immediately it's the wrong thing to say when Taehyung looks up, shooting daggers at him.

“Seriously? Why do I care?” It’s clear that he is finally letting things out when he says, “You left me at the train station! You never called. You never texted. It hurt, okay? So… I care. Is that what you want to hear? Does that make you happy?”

Seokjin can already see the wetness forming in Taehyung’s eyes, like he’s trying to hold back tears. But he’s staying strong, not looking away from where he is staring at Seokjin through the mirror.

It takes a minute for Seokjin to finally register what Taehyung has said. 

“Wait, what do you mean? I did text you, Taehyung. A few days after I got home. I broke up with Ken and then I sent you a text saying it was over. And that I missed you. I never heard back from you.” Seokjin is genuinely lost. 

“What?” Taehyung practically shouts, his face scrunched up in confusion. He actually stands then, finally facing Seokjin.  “What are you talking about, I never got a text. That’s why I have been so mad at you.”

“I sent it…” Seokjin says calmly, trying to understand. So Taehyung had never heard from him? No wonder he’d never gotten a response back. He feels a huge amount of relief knowing that Taehyung hadn’t purposely been ignoring him. But he also feels like an idiot for not bringing this up earlier. How had they not realized it? 

Seokjin grabs his phone from his pocket, immediately skimming through his text messages to find the one he’s looking for. He clicks on the message, holding it out to Taehyung to show him proof. 

Taehyung grabs he phone from him, staring at the message. Seokjin tries to read the expression on his face but he can’t tell what he’s thinking. 

“It doesn’t make sense.” Taehyung says under his breath. Then he hands the phone back over and picks up his own, flicking through his own messages until he finds the thread with Seokjin and turns the phone around. 

The only thing that Seokjin can see in their text thread is the photo of Taehyung’s hand on his stomach. The photo that he sent to Jin during the last show they were on together. But there are no text messages afterwards. 

Seokjin wracks his brain, trying to remember when he got that photo originally. Taehyung had airdropped it to his phone, so he hadn’t had to save the number. Yet, when he sent the messages about Ken over the break, he remembered distinctly typing in the phone number that Taehyung had given him. 

“Wait, what’s your cell number?” Seokjin asks, and Taehyung rambles off a few numbers. The last digits being 4565. Seokjin sighs. 

“Well, that explains things…” He says, finishing before Taehyung can even ask, “I entered the wrong number. 4566.”

And Taehyung actually chuckles slightly at that, “so you sent that text to some random person?”

Seokjin laughs then too, “I guess so.” He's happy to clear up the understanding though, and he edits the number in his phone so that it is correct. Just to be sure he sends a smiley face to Taehyung, whose phone buzzes immediately. 

He watches as Taehyung stares at the new message, but he still looks upset.

“So you never got it?” 

“Guess not,” Taehyung responds, setting his phone back down and turning to Seokjin. It’s quiet again, and Seokjin honestly doesn’t know what to say. He feels pretty silly. 

“So… that’s why you were so mad at me at the reunion? You thought I was still with Ken…”

“Well, yeah.” Taehyung answers honestly.

“I’m sorry, Taehyung-ah. I thought you got the message…”

“And what, thought I was just ignoring you?” Taehyung asks, and the tone of his voice tells Seokjin that he’s still not completely over what happened. “Why didn’t you try calling me? Or messaging me online or something?”

It sounds like he’s accusing Seokjin, and it sucks, because Seokjin should have tried harder to contact him, but at the time, he honestly thought Taehyung wanted space.

“I don't know! I thought you got the message but wanted more time before jumping into something new. That maybe you needed to process winning the show and being home again. I assumed we could just talk at the reunion. I didn’t know you would have moved on so quickly!”

Taehyung looks at the floor and Seokjin immediately feels bad for bringing that up, but well, it's the truth. Taehyung hadn’t even bothered to wait for him, he just moved on with Namjoon immediately. 

“And you could have reached out too, you know." Seokjin continues. "Why didn’t you text me? Or ask me what was going on with Ken?”

“When we talked at the station you said you would take care of it. That you would be the one to reach out to me. So, I didn’t want to push you. I was worried you had changed your mind and you just didn't want to hurt my feelings or know how to tell me.” Taehyung rushes all of it out in a hurry, like he needs to say it before Seokjin says anything else. It’s all a valid explanation. But, he still can't help but feel stupid for not realizing all of this this earlier. 

“Wow… we royally messed this up, huh?” Seokjin asks, and he can hear Taehyung audibly sigh.

"Yeah, we did."

“But I guess it doesn’t matter anymore anyway, right? Since you’ve moved on now?”

Taehyung stumbles, like he’s about to say something but then shuts his mouth, again glancing at the floor. He can’t exactly deny Seokjin's words. 

Seokjin sighs, turning to leave, but Taehyung is quick, grabbing for Seokjin’s jacket and holding it tightly. “Jin-hyung, wait… Namjoon and I, we-” 

“Don’t.” Seokjin blurts out, interrupting. He doesn’t want to hear whatever explanation Taehyung is going to give. He doesn't care if Taehyung hadn’t planned for it to happen or whatever bullshit explanation he is about to use. He can’t hear it right now. “I’m glad we finally cleared things up. But, it still doesn’t change anything that happened afterwards…”

Taehyung looks at him, and his eyes are so big and soft that Seokjin can’t help but feel guilty. Not that he has any reason to.

“I’m not mad at you anymore, but, it’s pointless talking about the past.  Maybe we can finally just move on from this and attempt to be friends again?”

“Okay.” Taehyung responds quietly. He seems dejected.

“See you back at the house?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung simply nods at him. 

At least that’s progress. 

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Seokjin’s holding the phone in front of Taehyung’s face, showing him the mysterious text messages that Taehyung never got. He reads them quickly, and he can feel his heart sinking in his chest. 

So Seokjin had tried to contact him? He hadn’t been lying when he said that things were really over with Ken?

Taehyung isn’t sure why he didn’t get the messages but he can see the relief flooding on Seokjin’s face when he realizes the misunderstanding. 

For the briefest of moments, Taehyung feels hope, because now they can finally move forward. But his hope is crushed when Seokjin brings up Namjoon and how quickly Taehyung moved on, which makes him instantly feel guilty. He had hooked up with Namjoon initially just to get over Seokjin. But, he did also care about him. And technically he and Namjoon were still in this weird limbo with one another.

He starts to tell Seokjin that Namjoon wants him to figure things out with Seokjin, but he’s been cut off, and Taehyung doesn’t have the guts to interrupt. He knows it wouldn’t be right to ask Seokjin to start something up with him without clearing things up with Namjoon first. So he keeps his mouth shut and let Seokjin finish his thought. He was clearly hurt, and Taehyung didn’t exactly blame him. 

Seokjin says he wants to be friends but Taehyung isn’t sure if he really means it. Maybe he's just trying to be nice. Maybe all of this confusion has turned Seokjin off to the point where he doesn’t want anything to do with Taehyung anymore, and he's trying to let him down easy. Taehyung can’t really be sure, but time will tell. 

The first thing Taehyung needs to do is find Namjoon and have a serious conversation about what they are to each other and how they are supposed to proceed. 

Taehyung’s photoshoot with Seokjin was, well… interesting, to say the least, and he knows he should probably tell Namjoon what happened. He doesn’t know how Namjoon is going to feel about the fact that they kissed during the shoot. Even though Seokjin tried to brush it off as nothing, Taehyung knew that wasn’t true. He was there, he felt it. The tension between them has been building for a while and what resulted was that kiss. It was soft, but intense, and Taehyung knew that it  meant something to the both of them, despite Seokjin trying to deny it. 

Taehyung also knew that Namjoon had a photoshoot with Jungkook, because the photographer had slipped that information during the session. He had overheard him talking through his headset to one of producers about it. Apparently the storylines between the two “couples” were big plot points on the show. It made sense. TV was known for doing things like this. And they had to have drama.

He takes a nap when he gets back to the house to clear his mind and when he wakes up later in the evening he finds Namjoon and asks to talk with him. 

It’s an uncomfortable conversation, to say the least. Namjoon mentions the photoshoot first and asks how his went. Taehyung isn’t quite sure how to respond. Is he supposed to come right out and say that he and Seokjin kissed?

“You might be a little upset when you see the pictures.” Taehyung says instead, his voice soft as he tries to search Namjoon’s face to see his reaction. 

Namjoon doesn’t ask for details, just nods his head. Taehyung’s glad for it. 

“Yeah, I had one with Jungkook, I know how it goes...”

Taehyung isn't sure what that means, and wonders how close Namjoon and Jungkook got during their photoshoot. 

“Was it weird for you two?” Taehyung asks, trying to be understanding of the situation.

Namjoon shrugs, responding with, “Yeah, a little. We didn’t talk much during. I think he’s upset with me for moving on but… the break up with his decision so…” 

Its the first time that Taehyung is hearing any of this. Usually Namjoon doesn't talk about Jungkook too much. Taehyung didn’t know that the break up wasn’t exactly mutual. It makes Taehyung feel even stranger. Was he just a rebound for Namjoon? 

“Seokjin kissed me.” Taehyung finds himself blurting out. He hadn’t meant to say it, not really, but he knew that Namjoon would see the pictures eventually. It was probably better to come right out with it. 

“Oh.” Namjoon responds and once again, Taehyung feels like crap. How has he managed to royally mess things up with so many people? It’s not his intention, but he’s clearly hurting everyone around him with his actions. "Did you kiss him back?"

"I mean, yeah." Taehyung says honestly, "but I didn't know he was going to do it. And... it was for the shoot.“

"How did you feel afterwards?” Namjoon practically whispers.

Taehyung thinks about it for a while, deciding how to answer. “I don’t know.” He finally responds. 

Namjoon sighs, then looks up at him.“You still like him, don’t you?”

Taehyung is surprised at the question. He knew Namjoon had been wanting to bring it up for a while. He didn't expect him to just come out with it.

Taehyung nods. He doesn't want to lie anymore.

“So… you’ve made a decision then?” Namjoon asks hesitantly, “about what you want?” And the way he asks it is more like a statement, rather than a question.

Taehyung thinks carefully about how to answer. Honestly, he's sick of running away from Seokjin. It's something he is interested in pursuing...

He just wonders if it's too late.

Later that night, the whole house decides to go out to one of the nearby clubs and drink, which the show producers encourage because it means alcohol and drama and what is bound to bring messy interactions and potential arguments.

Taehyung genuinely doesn’t feel like going but he thinks that maybe the alcohol will take his mind off of things. Plus he really should make more of an effort to get to know his roommates. So far, he's spent most of his time here with Namjoon, or Jimin. But he knows he needs to get to know some of the others. 

Speaking of Jimin, they spent most of the evening together. Jimin isn’t drinking too much, but he is great company. From the get-go he and Taehyung had connected easily, being that they were the same age and had a lot of things in common. And Jimin just seemed to get him. He was so caring too, and he kept checking up on Taehyung throughout the night to ask if he was okay or if he needed anything. 

Some of the housemates have taken to playing some drinking games near the pool tables and Taehyung watches Seokjin silently as he stands with Jungkook, talking and laughing together. Taehyung wonders if Seokjin will hold true to his word, about moving forward and trying to be friends. And it’s almost like Seokjin knew what he was thinking because moments later he is walking over to Taehyung at the bar and plopping onto a stool right beside the two of them.

“Hey.” Seokjin says softly, smiling at both Taehyung and Jimin. 

Jimin looks between them, and Taehyung wonders how much he has picked up regarding their history. He probably knows more than he lets on, because after only a few awkward minutes, Jimin is excusing himself to go to the bathroom. Taehyung knows it's a lie just by the way that Jimin smiles at him, like he’s giving the two space to clear the air. But the problem is, Taehyung has no idea what to even say to Seokjin.

“What are you drinking?” Seokjin asks, filling the silence and Taehyung is grateful.

“Just a beer.” Taehyung answers. He’s usually up for sweeter drinks but he didn’t feel like getting too drunk tonight and before he knows it, Seokjin is ordering two more for them.

“Thank you.” Taehyung says, feeling strange, but at least they can be cordial with one another now. It’s much better than a few days before when they were at each others throats.  “How has your night been?”

Taehyung curses himself for the lame question, but Seokjin doesn’t seem to notice.

“It’s been fine… I’m glad there’s no dance floor at this bar at least.” He jokes.

“Why do you say that?” Taehyung asks, turning to look at him, “You’re a good dancer.”

“You’ve never seen me dance.”

“Uh, yeah I have, or did you forget so soon?”

Seokjin looks at him questioningly, and Taehyung can’t believe that he forgot.

“Don’t you remember when we went to that dance club the night before the Top Model finale?”

He can see the expression on Seokjin’s face change as he registers Taehyung words. He wonders if Seokjin is thinking about the moment when they had grinded against each other on the dance floor and almost kissed.

When Taehyung thinks about it he feels himself get hot, remembering how close their bodies were and how badly he wanted Seokjin that night. He would have slept with him if Seokjin hadn’t stopped things.

“I remember now.” Seokjin says softly, but his eyes are locked on Taehyung’s and neither can look away. The tension between them is as strong as it ever was before. Taehyung wonders if he will always feel like this around Seokjin or if eventually, it will fade. 

“Where’s Namjoon?” Seokjin ask, breaking Taehyung from his thoughts. Taehyung pauses, wondering how he should answer this question. But he’s tired of the dishonesty. He’s tired of pretending.

“It’s over with Namjoon-hyung.” Taehyung answers quickly, looking down at his drink because he doesn’t want to see the reaction on Seokjin’s face.

“What? Why?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung can feel his eyes searing into him from over his shoulder. 

“It’s a long story.” Taehyung answers. 

And truthfully, it isn’t. Last night, after Namjoon had asked him if he’d made a decision, Taehyung didn’t have the heart to lie. He didn’t want to keep stringing Namjoon along. Not when he knew in his heart was he wanted. 

“It’s not over with Jin-hyung. I shouldn’t have moved on so fast.”

He had said to him. And thankfully Namjoon had understood. In fact, he had seemed almost relieved when Taehyung finally fessed up. Namjoon told him it was okay, that they should attempt to be friends. 

“We’ll probably be pretty good at that.”

And the words really only made Taehyung feel worse. Namjoon truly was such a good person. But it was the right thing to do. They had hugged, and then Namjoon left. And even though he felt guilty about his decision, Taehyung also felt a weight off his shoulders. Like he could finally start being honest with himself and with Seokjin about what he really wanted. If only he could find the courage to admit it.

“Well, I hope you’re okay.” Seokjin says and it makes Taehyung’s heart swell a little.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Taehyung tries to play it off, “It was my decision to end things…”

“Really?” Seokjin asks, and Taehyung finally turns to look at him again. “Why?”

He can feel the question lingering in the air. Taehyung knows what Seokjin is implying.

         {Was it because of me?}

But somehow, Taehyung is too scared to fully admit what he’s feeling inside. Too afraid to tell Seokjin the entire truth. 

“Just wanted to be single and have fun.” Taehyung says instead, taking a sip of his beer. He thinks maybe he can see Seokjin’s expression fall the slightest bit, but maybe he’s imagining it. Or did he want Taehyung to say something else?

“That makes sense.” Seokjin answers instead and before Taehyung can respond, a group of models are coming over to the two of them, asking if they want to join the group’s truth or dare game. 

“No, I’m okay.” Taehyung answers politely. He’s had enough of the games already, and when Seokjin says he’s going to stay at the bar too, Taehyung can’t help but be happy. He loves that Seokjin has chosen to stay here with him instead.

“Don’t know if I could handle truth or dare with the group right now…” Seokjin jokes, and Taehyung can’t help himself. 

“Well then, how about just one on one?" Seokjin quirks an eyebrow at him, clearly curious. "Because, I have one for you… a truth..."

He doesn’t know why he's asking or if Seokjin will even be honest, but he wants them to be able to move past things.

"Are you still mad at me?”

Jin pauses, but then finally, he’s responding, “If I’m being totally honest, then yeah. A little.” 

Taehyung can’t help but feel a little hurt at the response but it’s fair. He messed up. 

“Well… I’m still mad at you too.” Taehyung says in defense, because nothing can ever be easy with them. For some reason, he finds it difficult to be vulnerable with Seokjin. Instead of just apologizing, he pushes back.

It's the truth though. Things were complicated first because of the situation with Ken. And before Namjoon, Seokjin was the one that was stringing Taehyung along. Seokjin must understand this, because he doesn’t argue with Taehyung. 

“Okay… I have one.” Seokjin challenges him. Then he turns in his stool so that his body is completely facing him. Taehyung feels even more scrutinized now with Seokjin’s full attention. “Truth or Dare?” 

Taehyung thinks for a moment. “Truth.” He says. It feels safer.

“How did you feel at the photoshoot… after I kissed you?” 

Taehyung’s eyes shift between Seokjin’s, trying to gauge why he’s asking. What is he expecting Taehyung to even say? 

“I was mad at you.” 

“No, you weren’t.”

Taehyung stumbles over his words, because Seokjin caught him off guard. His answer was genuine. He was upset that Seokjin had kissed him. It didn’t mean he didn’t want the kiss, but why was Seokjin being so insistent?

“What do you mean?”

“I could feel you shivering beneath me. I know you wanted to…”

Taehyung can feel the goosebumps on his neck rising. It feels intrusive having Seokjin admit such a thing so boldly. And Seokjin isn't wrong, he did want it. But Seokjin doesn’t need to know that. 

“It was just acting.” Taehyung lies.

Jin smiles at him and Taehyung can tell he doesn’t believe the words. 

“You’re a bad liar.” Seokjin smirks. 

“I can’t help how my body reacts to you.” Taehyung presses, trying to keep up the lie. But he just feels embarrassed as Seokjin stares at him.

Seokjin scoots in closer, leaning forward so that his face is right in front of Taehyung's.

His eyes shift back and forth between Seokjin's slowly, trying to read him. 

“And, how is your body reacting now?” 

Truthfully, not well. He feels like his veins are going to explode. How does Seokjin always manage to get so deep under his skin?

“You already got your question, it’s my turn.” Taehyung shifts away. He needs to create some distance.

“Truth.” Jin answers before he can even ask.

“Why did you really do it? And don’t say it was just for the photoshoot-“

“Because I wanted to.” Seokjin says instantly. And Taehyung wasn’t expecting for the brutal honestly to come out just like that. Why is Seokjin being like this tonight? Why he is opening up to Taehyung so easily now? 

“Why?” Taehyung practically whispers. He doesn’t know why he’s asking, or what he expects Seokjin to say. 

“It’s not your turn.” Seokjin smiles, throwing Taehyung’s words back at him. He deserves it.

The tension between them is so intense, it feels like a rubber band, that could snap at any second. 

“Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Taehyung waits, wondering what Jin will possibly ask him to do. He hopes for something he really shouldn’t be hoping for. 

“Kiss me right now.” 

Taehyung certainly hadn’t expected him to actually say it.

“What?”

“Come on." Seokjin practically laughs, "I dare you.” Taehyung genuinely doesn’t know how to respond. 

“What has gotten into you? Are you drunk? 

“I’m barely tipsy.” Seokjin retorts. And truthfully, Taehyung hasn’t seen him drink that much tonight.

“I thought you were mad at me?”

“I am.” 

“Then why would you want me to kiss you?” 

“We can kiss each other and still not like each other.” Seokjin answers, and it sounds so simple, so easy, coming from his mouth. “Who knows, it could be fun.” 

“Or it could be a total disaster.” Taehyung responds immediately. Probably a little bit of both. 

Seokjin smirks. “One or the other.”

Taehyung truly doesn’t get it. Can’t understand why Seokjin is being so forward right now. But perhaps, learning the truth earlier about what really happened over the break, and now, finding out Taehyung was truly single again, changed things.

“Not here. Too many people around.” Taehyung replies. And maybe it’s an excuse but he doesn’t necessarily want to flaunt this in front of others. Kissing Seokjin is something he wants to keep to himself. If it’s even going to happen.

“Then, when?”

Taehyung doesn’t answer. He doesn’t know. He hasn’t even agreed to this. It's probably a horrible idea. 

“I need some air.” Taehyung answers, standing up from the bar. He tries to ignore the look on Seokjin’s face. 

“I’m around if you change your mind.” 

Seokjin says it with a smile, so Taehyung knows he’s not too upset that Taehyung is bailing. For a minute there he thought Seokjin was joking around, but surely, he’s not. Taehyung doesn’t even know how to feel about this proposal. 

He needs to go outside. He needs to calm down so he can truly think things through. 

He stays outside for a bit longer, only coming inside to find that some of the other models are planning to head back to the house, Seokjin included. Taehyung has to make a decision and quickly agrees to go with them. Truth be told he’s not really in a drinking mood anymore, and he feels a weird pull to Seokjin, wanting to be close to him, despite not being sure how he’s supposed to feel about everything they had talked about tonight. 

The small group includes two of the female models and Jimin, and Taehyung spends most of the ride back talking with him. Seokjin sits on the other side of Jimin and every once in a while he can see Seokjin glancing over at him, watching silently. Taehyung can’t help but feel nervous under his gaze, trying his best to avoid eye contact when Seokjin looks his way, but it’s impossible. Whenever their eyes interlock, Taehyung can feel his entire body heating up. Why does he always react this way whenever he’s in close proximity to Seokjin?

They get back to the house and immediately the two girls head upstairs to their rooms. Taehyung talks to Jimin a little longer, asking him how his night was. Jimin tells Taehyung he had fun but he was going to call his boyfriend before going to sleep, and they say their goodnights.

Taehyung pauses in the hallway, watching Seokjin from across the room. He’s currently sitting at the kitchen counter, looking down at his phone. Taehyung wonders if he was waiting there for him to finish his conversation with Jimin, but now Jimin is gone and Seokjin hasn’t moved from the spot, so maybe not. 

Taehyung tries to force himself back to his room but his feet move him in a different directly, eventually taking him closer to Seokjin. He paces near the kitchen for a moment before he finally allows himself to walk all the way into the open space. He waits patiently until Seokjin finally looks up at him. 

His eyebrows are scrunched slightly and he’s staring at Taehyung like he’s waiting for him to say something. But the truth is that Taehyung doesn’t even know how to say what he’s thinking, the words dancing around in his head as he ponders how to approach this. 

“Going to bed?” Seokjin finally asks, waiting. 

“Not yet.” Taehyung responds, realizing immediately how stupid he sounds. Seokjin’s probably wondering what the hell he’s doing then, just standing here in the kitchen like this, staring at him.

“Do you need something?” Seokjin asks softly. Almost like there's an implication laced in his words. 

Taehyung answers the question by walking forward even closer, until he’s standing inches in front of Seokjin. 

“Nobody can know.” He whispers.

Seokjin still looks a bit lost for a second but then it’s like the words are finally registering because he’s quirking one of his eyebrows and turning in his stool to really face Taehyung. 

“Know what?” He smirks, and Taehyung can tell that he’s messing with him. He’s trying to get him to actually say the words. But Taehyung won’t take the bait. 

“I don't want to flaunt things in front of everyone.” Taehyung says. 

“What are you trying to say, Taehyung-ahhhh?” 

Taehyung sighs. Why must Seokjin make this so utterly impossible? 

“You’re really going to make me say it?” Taehyung asks, standing back. His hands fidget nervously together. 

Seokjin nods.

Fuck. He must really like messing with him. 

“We can… hook up, if you still want.”

“Hook up?” Jin asks, a small smile on his face. “By that do you mean…” 

“Have sex.” Taehyung spits out. Maybe ripping the band-aid off and just laying out what he wants will make this easier. 

“With me?” Seokjin teases and Taehyung finally reaches in and shoves him against the shoulder. 

“Hyunggg!” 

“I’m sorry!” Seokjin actually laughs. It sounds nice. “Just wanna make sure we’re on the same page. I don’t want any miscommunication this time.” 

And that’s understandable. Considering their past. 

“Wanna shake on it?” Seokjin asks. And it’s so dumb, but also kind of adorable. 

Taehyung puts his hand out, not really sure what to expect after this. But Seokjin makes his intentions pretty obvious when he grabs Taehyung’s hand and then yanks, pulling Taehyung forward. 

He runs right into Seokjin, stumbling between his legs, and they’re so close. He uses a hand to steady himself against the counter so he doesn’t fall right into Seokjin’s lap. Though, maybe that’s what he had intended. 

“So, when did you want to start?” Seokjin breathes out, his other hand reaching for Taehyung's waist and holding him steady. Taehyung stares down at him, his chest rising and falling rapidly now that they are so close. 

“Now?” He says quietly.

He hopes it doesn’t sound like he’s begging. 

“Now is good.” Seokjin answers. 

Then Seokjin leans in, and he kisses him. 

SEOKJIN

Kissing Taehyung tonight surely hadn’t been on Seokjin’s bingo card if you had asked him a few days ago. But after things had been cleared up with the Ken situation and the text message fiasco, Seokjin felt so much lighter. He was relieved to find out that Taehyung hadn’t intentionally ignored him or tried to move on from him, but that he has assumed that Ken and Seokjin had gotten back together. It had explained why he had started hooking up with Namjoon so quickly, too.

It still sucked, because they had hurt each other for no good reason. Lack of communication created so many unnecessary problems between them, and Seokjin wasn’t sure if they could ever really go back to how things were before all of that. But at least now, they seemed to be on the right track. 

They were cordial with one another at the bar and actually struck up a real conversation without any animosity or anger seething from either of them. Seokjin felt like Taehyung had finally been able to truly forgive him for what had happened and was attempting to move on.

When Taehyung had informed him that things with Namjoon were over, Seokjin was pretty shocked. He thought that they really liked each other, but clearly, not as much as he had initially assumed. He can’t help but wonder how much of that decision to break things off had to do with him. He has a feeling that a lot of it did. Though, after discussing it, Taehyung tries to play it off like he wants to be single and have fun. Not exactly what Seokjin wanted to hear, but for now, he will take it. 

Some of the other models mention they want to play truth or dare, but instead, Seokjin remains at the bar with Taehyung and somehow their own version of the game ensues. Seokjin can’t help but ask about their kiss at the photoshoot. It’s been on his mind ever since. The alcohol in his system is blurring lines and making Seokjin say things he probably wouldn’t have the guts to say to Taehyung if he were entirely sober. Like later on, when he actually asks Taehyung to kiss him.

The look on Taehyung’s face was of pure shock, and Seokjin gets it, because it was a bold thing to ask. He’s not even sure why he did it, but he was curious to see what Taehyung’s response would be. Taehyung had essentially refused, and Seokjin wasn’t exactly surprised but he was a little disappointed. 

“I’m around if you change your mind,” he tells Taehyung, and the words seem to register because once they get back to the house he can feel Taehyung lingering around him. He stays in the kitchen, just to see if Taehyung will say anything to him before heading to bed, and he does. 

Taehyung walks in, standing awkwardly across the room from him and Seokjin knows before anything is said that something is going to happen between them tonight.

“Nobody can know.”

Seokjin understands immediately what Taehyung is implying, but he refuses to give in so easily. He put himself out there by asking for it in the first place, the least Taehyung could do now is confirm things. He goads Taehyung into finally admitting what he wants, which is to hook up with Seokjin, but Seokjin can’t help but tease him a little longer. Taehyung complains, because of course, it’s Taehyung after all.

Seokjin doesn’t even know why he’s agreeing to this little arrangement. It's probably a dumb idea. Things could get extremely messy really fast. And considering they are being forced to live together for 2 1/2 more months, with a handful of other people around, he doesn’t exactly know how things are going to go. But right now, his body is in control and he can’t stop himself from grabbing Taehyung’s hand and pulling him towards him.

“So, when did you want to start?”

“Now?” Taehyung responds. His voice his so breathy and deep. How can Seokjin possibly refuse?

“Now is good.” 

Seokjin leans up immediately, capturing Taehyung’s mouth with his own and covering his puffy lips entirely as he kisses him. Seokjin pulls Taehyung's bottom lips between his two and sucks, loving the small whines that release from Taehyung when he does so.

His hands move to Taehyung’s face, holding him gently as they kiss, getting more intense by the second. Seokjin leans down, hands grabbing Taehyung from behind his legs and picking him up. Taehyung goes instantly, legs clasping tightly around Seokjin’s waist.

Seokjin sets him on the counter, grabbing Taehyung around the waist so he can pull their bodies closer together, kissing him with ferocity.

He's imagined what kissing Taehyung like this would feel like, and he has to admit, that the real thing is 10x better than any potential fantasy he could have had. When he pulls away, Taehyung is staring at him with so much intensity and lust, he’s finding it impossibly hard to stop. He looks so fucking beautiful.

“Not here.” Taehyung whimpers as Seokjin kisses along his neck. “What if someone comes out and sees?”

“Then where?” Jin asks instantly, up for anything Taehyung suggests.

“Your bed.” Taehyung breathes out and just the words stir something wicked deep inside of Seokjin’s gut. He kisses Taehyung one more time, grabbing for his waist and once again picking him up. 

It’s a bit of a struggle actually getting him out of the kitchen and they end up stopping in the doorway, where Seokjin’s grip on Taehyung loosens and he falls to the floor, stumbling against the door frame. They both laugh, because they’re probably being ridiculously loud right now, but it doesn’t stop either of them for grabbing for each other, frantically kissing and touching wherever they can. Seokjin feels like a 14 year old again, discovering his sexuality for the first time. He wants Taehyung so badly, and that lust is what drives him to pull Taehyung behind him by his shirt, not stopping until they reach Seokjin’s room. He shoves Taehyung inside, slamming the door behind them. He doesn’t even care how loud it is, or if they wake anyone else up.

And these kisses are so much different from all the others that they’ve shared. They both moving quick, mouths moving together passionately, like they’re thirsty for it. And maybe Seokjin can admit that he is, because every fiber of his being feels like it’s being ignited as he gets Taehyung closer into the room. 

He can feel Taehyung’s fingers working the buttons on his shirt open, one by one, until it’s completely undone, and then his hands are sliding inside, pushing the material over his shoulders where it lingers there for a minute. Taehyung takes his time appreciating Seokjin’s bare skin, palms caressing over his shoulders and across, his thumbs dipping into the grooves by Seokjin’s collarbone. And then finally, Taehyung’s hands are moving to Seokjin’s neck, gripping him tightly and forcing him back in for another messy kiss.

Seokjin rips his own shirt the rest of the way off and pushes hard against Taehyung’s chest. He falls onto the bed, Seokjin immediately following. Things are frantic, but it feels so right, both of them finally acting on what they’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. 

Seokjin works Taehyung’s button’s on his shirt open next, being careful not to pull too hard, despite him just wanting to rip the entire thing open in one go. His lips are like magnets to Taehyung’s chest, pressing into his skin intently as he makes his way all the way down, finally reaching Taehyung’s tummy.  It’s round, and soft, but still toned and Seokjin adores the way that Taehyung whimpers once he gets the the end of his shirt, finally opening it all the way. Taehyung wastes no time tearing it off and resting back against his elbows, watching Seokjin. 

Seokjin’s hands find Taehyung’s pants next and he hesitates briefly before undoing the button there too, pulling the zipper down.

But then Taehyung’s hand is clasping over his own, holding it still and Seokjin glances up, staring at Taehyung. 

“This still doesn’t mean anything.” He says. “I still don’t like you.” 

Seokjin doesn’t believe it, but he smiles anyway. “I don’t like you either.” He lies. 

It’s easier like this. Hotter, too, hiding behind this wall of pretend hatred. 

“Good.” Taehyung spits out, hand tugging into Seokjin’s hair. Probably a little too rough, but Seokjin likes it anyways. 

“Good.” He repeats back, lips pressing against Taehyung’s stomach again. 

And it’s like a rush of feelings come to the surface when he finally gets Taehyung’s pants off. After so many months of back and forth, and ridiculous tension, they are finally here… releasing all of it. 

“What do you want?” Seokjin asks softly, eyes staring into Taehyung’s. He's got his lip stuck between his teeth again, like he’s nervous. 

But Taehyung doesn’t answer. Instead he grabs for Seokjin’s hand again, and then, surprising Seokjin, he places it right onto his crotch. Seokjin can feel through Taehyung’s boxers how hard he is, and he runs his palm over the material purposely, smiling up at Taehyung. 

“All this for me?” He teases, unable to stop himself. A different side of himself comes out whenever he’s in Taehyung’s presence. 

“Mmmhmm…” Taehyung nods and it's so sexy, it makes Seokjin’s stomach flip. Knowing that Taehyung feels like this because of him, because of what they’re doing. 

He wastes no more time, finally pulling at Taehyung’s boxers roughly, yanking them down his hips and over his ass, leaning back on the bed so he can tear them off of his legs. 

Seokjin immediately falls to his elbows, bracketing Taehyung in as he kisses his mouth, slowly this time, pulling at Taehyung’s lips with his teeth, playing with him. Taehyung whines and pushes his hips up, grinding against Seokjin. Jin still has his pants on, but the friction between their bodies as they rut into one another feels intoxicating, and by the look on Taehyung’s face, he feels the same way. 

“I’ve thought about this so much since that night.” Seokjin finds himself blurting out, panting between kisses as Taehyung stares at him in confusion, the hands on Seokjin's back stilling as he waits for more information. “The night I caught you, in your room… with your vibrator?”

And he can see the shift in Taehyung’s eyes as he realizes what Seokjin is talking about. 

“The way you sounded…” Seokjin breathes out, pressing his lips to Taehyung’s neck; he can barely make eye contact with him. “God I wanted to come into the room so badly…” 

And he’s not exactly sure why he’s confessing all of this. Initially he had told Taehyung he hadn’t heard anything. But that was the first time that Seokjin had really understand what he was feeling for Taehyung. 

“I still can”t believe you heard me…” Taehyung says. Then, “I was thinking about you... when I came.” 

And at that Seokjin pulls back, looking Taehyung in the eyes. “You were?”

Taehyung nods. 

"Imagining you pushing into me instead..."

Seokjin is getting turned on quickly. He wants to pry and ask more, but he has other things on his mind. 

“Did you bring it with you?” Seokjin asks, and Taehyung nods again, smiling softly.

“Have you used it yet?” 

Taehyung shakes his head no. 

Seokjin almost asks if he wants to get it, but decides against it, because tonight, he wants it to be just the two of them.

“Might need to finally use it on you… sometime.” Seokjin whispers. But he barely gets the words out because Taehyung’s grabbing for his head and tangling his hands deep into his hair, pulling Seokjin to him and kissing him again. 

They move together for a few minutes longer, Seokjin grinding his body into Taehyung’s with more purpose. He could probably cum just from this, and he almost might have, if it weren’t for the other models ruining their fun. 

“Shit.” Taehyung says, looking towards the door. Seokjin follows his gaze. They can hear the loud sound of footsteps as it sounds like the rest of the house has decided on his exact moment to come home. 

“Damnit…” Seokjin mutters, immediately pulling off of Taehyung. 

“I should get back to my room or the others might notice?” Taehyung says. And it’s true, all their rooms are so close together, if someone wanted to talk to Taehyung and noticed his wasn’t in his own room, that could stir up some questions. 

Seokjin curses himself for not thinking this through better. Instead he gets off the bed and attempts to smooth his clothing out, giving Taehyung the privacy to get re-dressed. 

“Continue this later?” Taehyung asks softly and Seokjin finally turns to him, wondering what he means by 'later'. It would probably be too risky to resume things tonight. Usually when the whole house drinks, the models end up staying up way too late. 

“Tomorrow, maybe?” Seokjin asks, and Taehyung nods his head, smiling at him softly. He walks towards the door, opening it a crack before peeking his head out. 

“It’s clear.” He confirms, but he hesitates, waiting in the doorway. “Are we, okay, now?” He asks tentatively. 

“Yeah, of course.” Seokjin answers confidently. And for once, he actually means it. It finally feels like they have resolved all their previous issues. 

Taehyung smiles at him once more time before turning to leave, shutting the door softly. 

Seokjin watches him leave, his chest feeling warm. 

Things are about to get interesting.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung tosses and turns the rest of the night, not able to get Seokjin out of his head. Kissing him was so damn euphoric, and Taehyung hated admitting that even to himself, and how much he actually enjoyed it. He couldn’t explain exactly but something about Seokjin was just so intoxicating. He found himself always wanting to be near him. 

He thought about how unfair it was, how they’re constantly interrupted. They were so close to actually hooking up, until the other models has returned home and ruined it. He briefly wonders if the show will air the hook up, considering all the cameras in the house. He thinks back on past seasons, and knows that they definitely wouldn’t be able to show a lot of the actual intimacy, but they probably would show the make out in the kitchen leading up to it. It’s a bit scary to think that everyone in the world would see it, but at the same time, a big part of him has stopped caring. It might be selfish but he just wants to have fun and enjoy himself… screw what everyone else thinks. 

That next morning at breakfast, there is definitely some awkwardness lingering in the air. Most of the models have gathered in the dining area, including Seokjin, because someone had suggested the idea of having a group breakfast. A few of the models are planning to cook, and the others are standing around, some trying to be helpful, others still attempting to wake up.

Taehyung makes eye contact with Seokjin, who is sitting at the dining table and the two share a small smile. Taehyung has to look away, feeling shy. It’s stupid but, having a secret to share with Seokjin makes all of this feel so much more important. When he actually sees Seokjin get up from his seat and walk towards him he can feel his heart beating quickly. Nothing’s even happened yet, but it’s all so exciting. He wonders if the others will notice. 

“Hey.” Seokjin says quietly, standing next to Taehyung against the wall. Their shoulders barely brush together and Taehyung can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the contact. It’s ridiculous how it’s making him react. 

“Hey.” Taehyung says back quietly, still feeling a little strange after last night. He doesn’t know how to act around Seokjin anymore. 

“How are you feeling?” Seokjin whispers, but Taehyung can barely look at him. 

“Good.” He replies, staring at the floor, cursing himself for acting like such an idiot. 

Seokjin chuckles quietly, probably very aware of how Taehyung is feeling. “That’s good…” he teases, and Taehyung can feel him staring. 

“Last night was…” Seokjin begins, pausing for minute before he decides what to say, “fun?” He asks. 

“Yeah, it was…” Taehyung manages to string together, “too bad it was interrupted.” He finally turns to look at Seokjin and there’s a shared understanding between them. Seokjin’s eyes move to his lips and Taehyung finds it hard to resist moving forward and kissing him right here.

“So that means you want to… finish, what we started?” Seokjin’s asking carefully. 

“Mmhmm.” Taehyung hums out, smiling at Seokjin. 

And then Taehyung can feel Seokjin’s fingers brushing softly against his palm. It’s the smallest touch, but it says so much. But then someone calls out to Seokjin, asking if he wants to help set the table, and Taehyung can feel him pull away. Seokjin responds that he will, smiling softly at Taehyung before pushing up from the wall and heading to the kitchen. 

Taehyung finds his feet following along slowly, offering to help as he enters the kitchen behind Seokjin. At some point Jungkook enters and Taehyung eavesdrops on their conversation. 

Seokjin asks how things are going with Namjoon lately and Jungkook says “really good.” Taehyung turns his head to see him smiling brightly, wondering exactly what that means. Did they get back together? Or just agree to be friends again? He’s not sure. It’s something he’ll have to ask Namjoon about later. 

Jungkook notices him standing there and he has a sheepish look on his face, like he’s been caught. “Sorry, Tae-hyung.” Jungkook says and Taehyung shakes his head, saying its fine. He’d dated Namjoon so briefly, and currently, his mind is elsewhere. Not to mention that Namjoon was Jungkook’s first, so why is he the one apologizing? 

“You don’t have to apologize.” Taehyung responds. “Namjoon and I were pretty casual. We never even slept together.” 

He’s not sure why he mentions it. It’s not that it’s anyone business. But he wanted Jungkook to know, and maybe Seokjin too. He can see by the expression on Seokjin’s face that he’s a little surprised to hear the information. 

“Yeah, Namjoon said that too, but I appreciate it.” Jungkook responds. “Thanks for letting me know.” 

Taehyung smiles back and then Jungkook’s exiting the room, leaving Taehyung and Seokjin alone yet again. 

“I didn’t know that you two didn’t…”

“Yeah.” Taehyung interrupts. “We fooled around a little, before coming here, but after that, we only kissed a few times. I guess it could have gone further but… I wasn’t really… feeling it. You know?” 

Seokjin nods, and Taehyung can tell that he feels happy to hear the news. “I know it’s not really any of my business. And I wouldn’t have been upset if you had slept with him but… I can admit, I’m glad to hear it. That you, weren’t feeling it.” 

They’re standing so far apart in the kitchen and Taehyung can feel the awkwardness between them. But it’s a quiet, soft sort of feeling, not uncomfortable. He just wants to close the gap, but he remains in place, staring at Seokjin from across the kitchen. 

“We should probably get back out there?” Seokjin says, interrupting Taehyung’s thoughts. Taehyung nods, following him out. 

Namjoon tells everyone to gather at the table, because breakfast is almost ready and Taehyung pauses for a moment, trying to figure out where to sit, Seokjin sits down and then looks over his shoulder, patting the seat next to him ever so discreetly. Taehyung smiles to himself before walking over, and sitting next to him. He doesn’t know he’s going to handle at least 30 minutes of being close to Seokjin like this, and trying not to give away to everyone that last night they almost had sex… but it’s also sort of fun, knowing there’s this secret between them they are trying to hide. 

Breakfast goes fairly well too, things feel mostly normal. Until Taehyung can feel Jin’s hand sliding over his thigh purposely. He can see Seokjin staring at him through his peripheral, trying to gauge his reaction. 

Taehyung’s legs part automatically, and he tries his hardest to hold in his breath, already feeling himself growing harder in his pants. It’s embarrassing how quickly Seokjin can get him to feel like this. 

Seokjin’s hand moves further in on his thigh, and then he squeezes, finally causing Taehyung to turn to glance at Seokjin. He smiles at Taehyung in a sneaky sort of way before finally removing his hand and relieving Taehyung some of the lingering tension. Taehyung lets out a huge breath.  

Once breakfast is over Seokjin helps the others clear the table. When he comes back into the room he walks over to Taehyung, his hand running across the back of Taehyung’s neck playfully. “Follow me.” He says quietly, walking out of the room. 

Taehyung can’t stop himself from obeying, getting up from the table and adjusting his clothing. He glances around to make sure no one is watching him and follows Seokjin down the hallway. 

Seokjin’s standing at the end of the hall, one hand against the wall as he watches Taehyung. 

“Shh,” Seokjin warns, hand moving to the front of his lips as he nods his head to the nearby closet and slipping inside. 

Taehyung can feel his heart racing as he follows Seokjin inside. The door remains open a crack and he can only barely make out Seokjin’s silhouette in this lighting. 

“Don’t get excited because we’re in here alone.” Taehyung jokes. But he’s probably referring to himself. 

“Come here.” Seokjin says quietly. And he’s like a magnet. Taehyung simply can’t stay away.

“What?” Taehyung asks, playing dumb. His entire demeanor and attitude changes whenever he’s around Seokjin. It’s strange, but also intoxicating. 

“I want to kiss you.” Seokjin whispers and Taehyung stands right in front of Seokjin, who instantly reaches for his hands and holds them between his own.

Taehyung dips in, like he’s going to comply, but then pulls away, smirking as he nibbles on his bottom lip. Instead, he finds the nearest wall, leaning against it and looking at Seokjin seductively. 

“We shouldn’t…” 

“And why shouldn’t we?” Seokjin asks, moving towards Taehyung again. He places a hand up against the wall near Taehyung’s head, leaning into Taehyung’s space and watching him carefully. 

“Someone could hear us. You need to… calm down.” 

It’s way too much fun teasing Seokjin and seeing his reaction. 

“Can’t help it, just looking at you gets me excited.”

And the way Seokjin says it, with the low tone in his voice, it makes Taehyung want to give in already. He can’t stop from staring at Seokjin’s big, glossy lips.

Seokjin makes things even more difficult when he starts trailing one of his hands up Taehyung’s arm, over his shoulder and then dragging it along his collarbone. 

“Stop riling me up.” Taehyung tries to say with a straight face.

Seokjin leans into his ear, “haven’t even done anything to you yet.” 

“Really?” Taehyung challenges. “Complimenting my looks, staring at me like, that. Putting your hand on my thigh at the breakfast table?” 

Seokjin chuckles, thinking for a moment before he’s smiling at Taehyung again. 

“You’re lucky it was just your thigh… I wanted to put it somewhere else…”

“Stoppp.” Taehyung drags out. He can feel his dick hardening in his pants already. How can such simple words be such a turn on? 

“Don’t act like you’re innocent.” Seokjin whispers again, his breath ghosting over Taehyung’s neck. “You wanted it… I noticed the way you spread your legs for me…”

Taehyung eyes automatically close, and he can’t even respond, because it’s hard to think coherent thoughts right now. He definitely did exactly what Seokjin accused him of, so he can’t even argue. 

And then Taehyung forgets how to breathe entirely because Seokjin’s actually kissing his neck now. Just light brushes of his lips peppering all over his skin. Taehyung allows his head to fall back, breathing out as he exposes is neck to Seokjin. 

“Mhmm” he hums out and then Seokjin’s lips are only inches away. Taehyung thinks he’s going to finally kiss him, but he refrains, probably getting back at him from earlier.

“Thought you didn’t want to.” Seokjin challenges.

“Never said I didn’t want to… just said we shouldn’t.” 

“Okay.” Seokjin whispers, stepping back from Taehyung. There’s too much space between them now. Taehyung hates the distance but also feels like he can finally breathe again. 

For a second Taehyung thinks Seokjin is going to leave but then he’s turning back to Taehyung and grabbing his shoulders with both hands, immediately turning him around and pushing him against the wall. Taehyung is so startled that he goes instantly, his chest hitting the wall. He can feels Seokjin’s fingers at the base of his hair, pushing it aside so he can whisper again into his ear, “don’t make me wait too long?”

“Okay.” Taehyung responds instantly. Truth be told, he won’t be able to hold back for much longer. They honestly could fool around in here with no one knowing, there are no cameras in the closets as far as he’s aware… but, he wants their first time together to be a little more special than this.

Seokjin’s just nosing at his neck, breathing in his scent. Then Taehyung can feel his large hands on his stomach, dipping low on his abs, underneath his shirt. Taehyung lets his eyes close, enjoying the feel. Then both of Seokjin’s hands are on his pants and he’s pushing them down, just the slightest bit. Taehyung is frozen, letting Seokjin get his pants and underwear down and over his ass. He can feel the cold air hitting his skin. 

“Jin-hyung…” Taehyung whines, “I thought we were gonna wait…”

“We are…” Seokjin whispers against his neck. “Just… wanted to look.” 

Taehyung can feel his heart racing, can tell that Seokjin is just staring at his body. A part of him feels slightly uncomfortable, but a much bigger part is excited, and nervous. What is Seokjin thinking?

“Haven’t seen you like this since that nude photoshoot we did… do you remember it?”

Taehyung nods.

“When you first slipped off your robe... you looked so fucking hot… still do.” 

And then he can feel one of Seokjin’s fingertips dragging over the curve of his cheeks. 

“Fuck, Taehyung-ah, you’re ass is so…

“Wait,” Taehyung calls out, shifting around and putting a hand over Seokjin’s mouth, stopping him. “If you finish that sentence I won’t be able to control what happens afterwards… and I don’t want to hook up with you in a literal closet…”

He can feel Seokjin smiling underneath his hand, clearly pleased with himself. 

Taehyung removes his hand and quickly pulls up his pants, a hand idly running through his hair as he takes a breath. Seokjin stares at him the entire time. Taehyung can’t help but feel an incredible amount of control in this moment. He loves it. 

“Find me later?” He says quietly, and it’s more like a request rather than a question. 

Seokjin begins to nod, and then Taehyung actually surprises him when he leans in and pecks him quick and hard on the mouth. 

Then he turns, hoping to hell that his hard on will die down before someone catches him. 

SEOKJIN 

Seokjin’s laying in his bedroom, listening to music. The house is quiet and he wonders what everyone else is doing. After the brief moment with Taehyung in the closet, Seokjin had retreated to his room so he could lay down and catch his breath. He was so wound up, but he resisted the urge to touch himself, because in a weird way, he liked the feeling. 

Things with Taehyung had escalated so much in the recent days, and it was a strange and new feeling that Seokjin didn’t know what to do with. He had dated Ken for so long, that he almost forgot what it was like to have a crush again, and what the high of getting to know someone new was like. If Taehyung hadn’t stopped him in the closet earlier, who knows what they would have done together. His body was screaming at him to get closer. He knows it’s not going to be long before he snaps. 

Taehyung texts him a few hours later telling him to come to the living room. He doesn’t bother asking why, because he will find out soon, shooting up from his bed and making his way down the stairs. 

He lingers into the room slowly, glancing around to find it completely empty, except for Taehyung, who is sitting on the couch leisurely. His legs are spread and he’s got on these shorts and he looks… ridiculously attractive. Taehyung glances up at Seokjin as he walks in, but doesn’t say anything. Just his body language is beckoning Seokjin forward, so he walks closer and stands a few feet in front of Taehyung, arms crossed.

“Where is everyone?” He asks. 

“Group workout at the gym. They invited me but I said I wanted to stay here. Jimin almost went to grab you, but I lied and told him you were napping.” 

“Yeah, because that doesn’t seem suspicious at all.” 

“People might be onto us, but… I don’t care.” 

And Seokjin loves the way the words come out of Taehyung’s mouth. He sounds so confident and carefree. It’s so sexy. 

“Come here.” Taehyung commands.

Suddenly Seokjin feels a bit shyer, now that he’s the one being instructed. But he follows direction anyway, shuffling forward slowly until he’s standing right in front of Taehyung. His arms are still crossed in front of him.

“What do you want?” He asks teasingly, definitely curious to see how Taehyung will answer. 

But Taehyung doesn’t. Instead, he’s reaching for Seokjin’s arms, untangling them, and yanking him roughly, pulling Seokjin right onto his lap. 

It’s so unbelievably hot, Taehyung taking taking control like this. Seokjin loves the push and pull between the two of them, and how comfortable they are getting with one another. The old Taehyung, the one that equally annoyed Seokjin but also turned him on, is showing up again, and Seokjin really likes it.

“Kiss me.” Taehyung says simply, like he’s not asking for it, but demanding it, and Seokjin has no choice in the matter. He locks eyes with Taehyung, debating if he should say anything, but instead, leans forward and pecks Taehyung on the lips gently. He purposely does it slow and soft, keeping his eyes open, teasing Taehyung a little and then pulls back, staring at him. 

“That’s all?” Taehyung asks, leaning forward back into Seokjin’s space. He doesn’t kiss him, but his lips are so close to Seokjin’s neck, like he’s daring Seokjin to give him more. 

“There are cameras here.” Seokjin answers.

At least in the closet, they had privacy. But with all the lights on, in the center of the room, Seokjin knows whatever they do will be caught on camera for everyone to see. 

“And?” Taehyung asks, finally touching Seokjin when he places his hands on the side of Seokjin’s waist, his fingers sliding underneath the material on his shirt so he can touch his skin. It makes Seokjin shiver.  “I can’t stop thinking about you.” He whispers suddenly. 

And it’s in that moment that Seokjin forgets about the cameras, because he needs to be closer to Taehyung. He pushes their faces together, pulling Taehyung’s bottom lip between his own and sucking, deepening the kiss instantly. It’s so much more than it was seconds ago.

Seokjin grinds his hips into Taehyung’s body, forcing the younger to let out a small noise, that sounds like he’s pleased, and then his hands are tightening around him and he’s moving them both, pushing Seokjin on his back on the couch. Seokjin loves that Taehyung is leading all of this, and his hands find the back of Taehyung’s neck, holding onto him firmly as they kiss. 

“We never finished what we started…” Taehyung mutters.

Seokjin doesn’t know if he’s referring to earlier today in the closet, or last night, in the bedroom, but either way, he understands. 

“What did we start?” Seokjin prods, again pretending to be clueless just to hear how Taehyung will respond. 

“You know what.” He answers, mouth latching to Seokjin’s neck as he pushes into him harder. Fuck, he’s good at this game they’re playing. 

“Remind me?” Seokjin whines, pushing his hips up. They collide with Taehyung’s and it feels so fucking amazing. He wishes there weren’t all these clothes between them.

And it’s like Taehyung read his thoughts because immediately he’s fingering the buttons on Seokjin’s shirt, getting them undone quickly until Seokjin’s chest is exposed. He knows they should stop, but this feels too good, and he finds himself letting Taehyung continue, all the way to the last button, and then his fingers are on his pants, too. 

“Right here?” He whispers, even though he already knows the answer. 

Taehyung nods his head, a wicked smirk on his face as he works open the button on his own pants next.

And then after that it’s a bit of a blur as Taehyung gets his pants open enough to reach his hand inside and start stroking himself. Seokjin wants to look down and sneak a glance but he’s too preoccupied with Taehyung’s lips on his, his tongue dipping in and out of his mouth frantically. 

He grabs himself too, and strokes a few times, his hand slipping in and out of the top of his boxers, knocking into Taehyung’s as they move their hands together. 

“I’m so hard for you.” Taehyung moans above him, and Seokjin is whispering ‘me too’ and then Taehyung grabs the both of them, doing the best he can to hold both of their dicks and stroke them together. 

Seokjin can’t believe they are doing this right here, in the main room of the house, knowing the cameras are clearly focused on them. But, he just can’t stop. When he’s around Taehyung he turns into a reckless teenager that can’t think of anything but Taehyung’s hands on him, their lips pressed together tightly, and the feel of Taehyung’s body on top of his. 

It makes things so much more exciting knowing that people could actually be behind the scenes, watching right now. And Taehyung’s hand on him feels so good, he can feel himself unintentionally pushing his hips up to match the rhythm of Taehyung’s hand.

He is surprised when he finds Taehyung’s hand around his neck, squeezing gently and kissing him hard. 

“I could fuck you right now… if you let me.” Seokjin finds himself spitting out. He doesn’t even mean to say it, he just thinks it and it slips out. 

“I’ll get myself ready for you tonight then…” Taehyung smirks at him, and it makes Seokjin’s stomach twist. Just him saying the words make it all too real. So they’re really going to do this?

Taehyung quickens the pace of his hand, and Seokjin can feel himself getting closer and closer. 

“Hyung…” Taehyung moans down to him, but he doesn’t say anything else, and it’s clear he’s just trying to tease Seokjin, like he knows just how much one little word gets to him. 

“I’m so close.” Seokjin mutters, but he almost wishes he hadn’t said it because Taehyung’s hand slows down immediately, stroking the both of them at a painfully slow pace.

“We should probably wait, til tonight?” Taehyung smiles and Seokjin curses under his breath. He’s right, but dammit, he was so close. And now he’s so worked up… but maybe that’s the point? 

“You’re cruel.” Seokjin mutters, but Taehyung just pecks him again softly before he pulls his hand away, tucking himself back into his pants. Seokjin follows suit and then Taehyung is sitting up on the couch, not entirely pulling away from Seokjin but just watching him carefully. 

“I can pretend I’m not feeling well and stay in bed when everyone goes out tonight. And then maybe you could just say you want go to bed early tonight too? I don’t know.”

“They’ll probably realize what’s going on.” Seokjin says. “We haven’t been subtle.”

“Fuck it.” Taehyung says, quirking an eyebrow and Seokjin can’t help but laugh. 

They might as well just start telling people, everyone will find out soon enough. But he knows that part of this is the excitement of having a secret. They may as well keep it going for as long as they can. 

Fuck it.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung can’t stop thinking about Seokjin for the entire evening after that. His thoughts are consumed by him, and before Taehyung has time to even contemplate if that is healthy or not, another scary thought pops into his brain: the fact that this “secret” of theirs won’t stay a secret for very long. 

They just made out, and more, on the couch in the main living room... who knows how many camera people had witnessed that, and how much of it they will show on the episodes? The premiere is supposed to be released in two more days and Taehyung has a mini panic attack over it. Sure, in the moment, he didn’t care who knew about them, but the reality of it being shown to the world is something completely different. On top of however Namjoon is going to feel about things, Taehyung hadn’t even considered his friends or family. 

Everyone at home knows his sexuality, but it's a different thing entirely for them to actually witness his behavior on television. He just prays that the producers keep things a bit more PG and not show all the dirty details of their previous two encounters. 

He knows he should probably cool it with Seokjin, and try to keep his distance, but it's absolutely impossible. The two of them had finally cleared things up and now there is no one in the way. Now, he was finally able to act on all the wild fantasies he’s had about Seokjin since the day they met. How could he possibly be expected to stay away? 

Taehyung walks around the mansion, trying to figure out where Seokjin went off too. After their make out on the coach they had separated, both trying to cool down a little before the other models returned to the house. Taehyung had ended up trying to take a nap, which had been impossible, because his brain wouldn’t stop working. He had finally gotten up after an hour and was on a mission to find Seokjin.

The whole thing was so exciting, sneaking around and sharing looks. They should have been doing this from the very beginning. Though, a part of Taehyung knows it never would have worked then. When they first met, Seokjin was so rigid and tightly wound. But maybe that was due to all of his issues with Ken, and because he was trying to be a good boyfriend. Whatever the case, Taehyung is glad to see a different side to him now. A tiny part of him wants to question exactly what they are to one another, but he immediately banishes the thought from his brain because he doesn’t want to ruin this. For now, he just wants to enjoy it and have fun. 

He can’t find Seokjin anywhere until he glances outside and spots a long, lean, and pale body floating around in the outside pool. Taehyung doesn’t even realize he’s standing there frozen until he sees Seokjin waving at him, whispering “get in” to him. Taehyung glances around to make sure that no one else is outside watching. 

“I don’t have my suit.” Taehyung calls out and Seokjin just shrugs, as if he’s daring Taehyung to get in anyway. But Taehyung can’t work up the courage to do something so risky, and instead calls out for Seokjin to wait and that he’ll be right back. He rushes inside, thankful not to run into anyone before slipping on his suit and making his way back out to the pool. It’s such a beautiful day outside, the sun is shining brightly and the clouds create just enough shade so that it's not too hot. There are a few hours left of sunlight until it will start to get dark. He doesn’t understand why more of the models aren’t outside taking advantage of this beautiful evening but maybe they’ve left the house to go exploring? Every few days the models are given time to leave the mansion as long as they remain in groups. Taehyung has already noticed that both Jungkook and Namjoon are curiously missing from the house today. 

Taehyung dips his toe in the water, testing how cold it is, but it feels amazing and he finally makes his way down the pool stairs, all the while trying to ignore Seokjin’s stare. He’d been working out a bit over the break and he knows that he looks good. As a model, he’s expected to keep up appearances after all. But he still feels shy knowing that Seokjin’s gaze is entirely focused on him. He wonders what he’s thinking, but he’s too afraid to ask. 

“You’re too far away,” he says as Taehyung settles back against the edge of the pool, a few feet away from where Seokjin is relaxing on one of the pool’s floaties.

“Someone could see.” Taehyung responds, knowing it’s a stupid excuse because no one is even around. 

“No one is here but us,” Seokjin challenges with a smirk, “come get wet with me.” Then he splashes Taehyung with water playfully.

Taehyung is still not used to this outgoing persona. Seokjin used to be so uptight, Taehyung almost thought he was a prude at one point. But lately he’s seemed to really come out of his shell and want to push limits. 

Taehyung wipes the water out of his face, staring Seokjin down until he knows he’s got his attention. “Ca-mer-a.” Taehyung lips slowly.

“You didn’t seem to care before…” Seokjin says, his hands gently dipping into the water as he pushes himself closer to Taehyung, “when you had your hand on my dick…” 

“Hyung!” Taehyung says louder than intended, glancing around again and feeling embarrassed. But it’s silly to feel that way now, when they’ve already done so much. People will be finding out about them whether they want that or not. 

Seokjin just laughs, seemingly enjoying the way his words are getting to Taehyung. It’s crazy how much the roles have seemed to reverse between them. 

“You seriously don’t care? What your parents or… Ken, will think?” 

He hates saying the name, but he can’t ignore that Ken is a big part of Seokjin’s history and that he might always be around, in some capacity. He’s trying to be okay with it… especially when he and Seokjin are not even together. They’re just… hooking up. Or whatever. 

The words seem to finally register in Seokjin’s mind and he pauses, seemingly in some sort of contemplation over Taehyung’s question. 

“I mean… I care.” Seokjin answers honestly. “But… I’m not gonna stay away from you because I’m worried what people will think. I came here to have fun. And if people don’t like that then… too bad?”

Taehyung loves the approach that Seokjin has to all of this, and he wishes he could feel the same. He doesn’t even have an ex he needs to think about, but still, he feels a bit exposed putting his intimacy on camera. Yes, there were cameras on the Top Model season, and yes, he had been hooking up with Yoongi without fear of what people would think, but somehow, with Seokjin it feels different. Almost like he doesn’t want people to view them as just a casual fling. But, that’s what they are… so why is he struggling so hard with this?

He tries to let his insecurities about the situation go and finally takes a risk, pushing away from the wall and towards Seokjin. He slowly glides through the water, making his way over to him. 

“Maybe you’re right…” Taehyung says sweetly, flashing his cheeky smile at Seokjin, who returns one immediately. Then, without warning, he reaches forward, hands shoving roughly against the pool floaty and flipping it, knocking Seokjin fully into the water. 

“Yah!” Seokjin yells out before slipping face first into the water, the floaty going flying in another direction as Taehyung laughs his head off, watching Seokjin get completely drenched.

"You said you wanted to get wet!" Taehyung teases as Seokjin pops out of the water. He yells loudly at Taehyung and attempts to dunk him underneath the water, forcing the two to wrestle with each other. It’s all playful and fun, and they’re both laughing hard, but things seem to shift in the second that Taehyung catches Seokjin’s wrist and holds it tightly. Taehyung's big hand wraps entirely around Seokjin's tiny wrist, and they both seem to be focusing on this small detail.

“I should punish you for doing that…” Seokjin breathes out, and fucking hell, he looks amazing… his hair is all wet and hanging in his face, and he’s so beautiful even with zero make up on. Taehyung can barely hold back as Seokjin stares at him with his deep brown eyes, making Taehyung's entire core flutter with anticipation. 

“What are you gonna do?” Taehyung taunts, but he doesn’t get a verbal response, instead Seokjin’s walking them both backwards, pushing until he’s gotten Taehyung pinned back against the pool wall. 

“I should spank you.” Seokjin teases, and typically Taehyung’s not really into BDSM or anything of that sort, but maybe for Seokjin, he would do it. He would try a lot of things for him. 

“It’s not punishment if I’d like it…” Taehyung says, eyes flicking downwards to Seokjin’s mouth purposely, hoping to entice him into kissing him. 

But Seokjin is too smart, knowing exactly what Taehyung is doing. 

“You do deserve to be punished though.” 

“For what?”

“For teasing me, before, on the couch.” Seokjin says, leaning in close to Taehyung’s ear. “Did you know how close I was? To coming all over your hand?”

And god, it’s the way that Seokjin says the words, the way his hands have somehow flipped around to be grabbing Taehyung’s wrists now, and the way he’s got his hips pressed right up against Taehyung’s. He nudges a knee between Taehyung’s thighs to spread open his legs just the slightest bit. 

Taehyung did in fact know how close Seokjin was, and he didn’t intentionally mean to tease him, but he knew they couldn’t get off right there in the living room of the house. 

“I’m sorry.” Taehyung says, sweetly fluttering his eyelashes at Seokjin. “I guess I need to make it up to you.” 

“I guess you do…” Seokjin whispers again, this time, his head dips a little lower and Taehyung thinks for a moment that Seokjin might actually kiss him, but he doesn’t. His lips instead gently graze against Taehyung’s skin by his collar bone, teasing. “I know it doesn’t matter, and I shouldn’t care, but… I was so happy earlier, when you said you’d never slept with Namjoon.”

The words surprise Taehyung, because he wasn't expecting to hear this, but still, Taehyung loves that Seokjin is being honest with him. 

“Really?” 

“Mmhmm.” Seokjin answers, finally pulling his head up and looking Taehyung in the eyes. “Seeing you kissing someone else was hard enough… the idea of him getting to fuck you too? It was making me insane.”

And Taehyung knows that the words shouldn’t make him happy, knows that it’s not healthy to feel this way, but he can’t help it. He loves that Seokjin was jealous. That he cares enough to feel that way.

“I never slept with Yoongi either you know…” Taehyung says and Seokjin quirks his eyebrow at him, clearly in disbelief. “I’m not a slut for just anyone…”

Taehyung is only teasing but it seems to rile something deeper inside of Seokjin, whose staring at Taehyung intently. 

“So, neither of them got to fuck you?” Seokjin whispers and Taehyung whispers 'no', his head immediately falling backwards a little so he can expose his neck to Seokjin, hoping that Seokjin will take the hint. 

“Did either of them get to…” Seokjin begins, and then Taehyung can feel Seokjin’s long fingers sliding over the curve of his lower back and down, moving between his ass cheeks over the material of his swim trunks, pushing in, his finger dragging painfully close to his center, “touch you?”

There is clothing in the way, but Seokjin’s hand is pushing in so hard that Taehyung can still feel the pressure between his ass. His legs instinctively widen, one of his legs coming up and wrapping around Seokjin’s hip, allowing Seokjin easier access to press inwards, his other hand holding Taehyung’s leg firmly against his waist. He knows exactly what Seokjin is referring to with the question.

“Not that either…” Taehyung finally answers.

Seokjin’s still got his hand pressing hard between his cheeks, and now his face buries into Taehyung’s neck, smelling him, but still not kissing. It’s excruciatingly sexy, and Taehyung might come just from the thought of Seokjin’s fingers actually pushing inside of him. He’s seconds away from begging for it. He never knew Seokjin could be like this. 

Suddenly the sound of a door handle turning forces both them apart, Seokjin instantly pulling away from Taehyung and peeking up over the ledge of the pool to see who has decided to come out. Taehyung glances behind him too, but sees no one there. Someone inside must have just shut the door closed all the way. Taehyung glances back at Seokjin, who looks a little nervous now. The idea of almost being caught is scary for both of them, but it also creates another level of excitement. 

“Maybe we should cool it?” Taehyung asks, even though it’s the last thing that he wants. 

“Yeah. I think people are starting to suspect something."

“People?” Taehyung questions and then a second later, “Or do you just mean Jungkook?”

He’s the only person in the house that Seokjin seems that close to. Even Jimin hasn’t quite seemed to pick up that something is going on with the two of them yet. Namjoon and Jungkook have also seemed to be reconnecting lately, so as far as he knew, Namjoon might have mentioned something to him after their conversation. 

“Yeah... though, I haven’t told him anything yet.” Seokjin says quietly. 

Which makes Taehyung think. Is he worried about Jungkook's reaction?

“So really nothing happened between the two of you? Not even a kiss?”

“I told you we didn’t. We’re just friends…” Seokjin quirks an eyebrow at Taehyung, like he’s frustrated with him for even asking. But Taehyung had to be sure. 

“Good.” Taehyung says simply. “I don’t like thinking about you with other guys either.”

He can tell by his expression that the words stir something in Seokjin’s gut. Taehyung’s eyes are drawn to Seokjin’s mouth where he’s got his teeth tightly pressed against his bottom lip. He can feel his heart racing as Seokjin glides closer to him yet again. Seokjin doesn’t actually touch him this time, he stops with their faces close together, looking straight into Taehyung's eyes, like he’s challenging him to act. 

“I’m trying really hard to behave right now." Taehyung reaches up and pokes Seokjin in the chest with his finger quickly, “you're making it very difficult…” 

“Can’t help it. When I’m around you I just wanna be bad.” 

Seokjin smiles at him then and then pushes away, and it’s absolutely torturous, the way that he looks at him, and the tone of his voice. It’s so damn sexy. 

“You might have to wait a bit longer for that. I know we talked about maybe something happening tonight. But, Jimin told me earlier that the whole house is going to bed early because of the early photoshoot tomorrow. No ones really planning to go out."

Seokjin groans, clearly disappointed to hear that. “It’s gonna be extremely quiet in the house tonight. Why is everyone here so damn responsible?” It would be much easier if the house was up late every night partying and drinking. No one would even notice if Seokjin and Taehyung were nowhere around. And no one would be able to hear whatever sounds would inevitably be coming from their bedrooms.

“It’s already been torture waiting.” Seokjin says softly, then suddenly he turns and brackets Taehyung in again with his arms, staring right at him. “How am I supposed to wait yet another day to have you?”

Have him? Seokjin sure knows how to be enticing. 

“We’ve waited this long. It shouldn’t be too hard to wait a bit longer.”

If Seokjin wants to tease, Taehyung can play that game too. Finally he reaches forward, his arms dropping around Seokijn’s shoulders and allowing his legs to come up and hook around Seokjin’s waist, pulling their bodies close together. Taehyung’s just being mean when he sticks his tongue out slowly, running it along his bottom lip as he stares at Seokjin’s mouth, and then back up to his eyes, loving the way that Seokjin’s breathing seems to get heavier as he watches him. 

“Don’t know if I can.” Seokjin breathes out, his face inching closer to Taehyung’s. He can tell that Seokjin is working really hard to keep their mouths apart. 

“The premiere is going to be airing soon. People are going to find out anyways…” Taehyung says. 

“I know, but… we should try it once, before then. Before everyone finds out. It’ll make it… more special?” 

It's true. If he’s gonna have sex with Seokjin for the first time he wants it to be before everyone finds out about their little arrangement and starts pestering or asking them a billion questions. He knows that Jimin in particular is going to be absolutely shocked about the news because of all the complaining Taehyung has been doing about Seokjin in the last week. 

“We will soon.” Taehyung promises. 

“Right now?” Seokjin jokes, pressing forward. His hips collide with Taehyung's where he’s still got his legs wrapped around Seokjin’s waist. “It’d be so easy to slide off your shorts right here…” 

Seokjin juts forward again, foreheads together now, and Soekjin’s hands tight on his waist.

Taehyung taunts, “You sure you can handle me?”

“You sure you could handle me?” Seokjin counters, face close to his ear again. He whispers, “I’m bigger than that black little toy of yours.”

Taehyung can barely speak, he’s so turned on. He can feel that Seokjin is also, the two of them grinding slowly against each other underneath the water. He can't remember a time he’s been this desperate to be intimate with someone ever. It’s intoxicating. 

He does worry a little though, that feelings are getting thrown into the mix here. This is supposed to be just sex. Isn’t that all Seokjin wants? And once the show ends won’t this be over? 

Taehyung shuts his brain off, attempting to stay in the moment. He can feel Seokjin rutting into him harder than before, can hear Seokijn’s breathing get so much deeper as he pushes against Taehyung, their cocks rubbing together through the material of their swim trunks. Are they seriously going to get off right now? He had mostly been joking about hooking up in the pool. But he’s finding it extremely difficult to stop, his hand gripping around Seokjin’s neck as he releases a small moan, pulling their bodies even closer together. It feels too good. 

“Wait… wait…” Seokjin mutters, his hand instantly pushing against Taehyung’s lower stomach, creating some space between them and stopping their bodies from moving. “Don’t move.” 

Taehyung’s legs fall from around Seokijn’s waist. “Did you just…” he asks, his face getting red. 

“No…” Seokjin laughs. His hands move to Taehyung’s face. They feel so warm and big around his cheeks. “But I could feel myself getting closer... If we had kept going...”

“Wow. So you’re that turned on by me?” Taehyung teases. 

“Shut up.” Seokjin laughs. Clearly feeling embarrassed.

“Don’t be shy… it’s kinda sexy.” Taehyung whispers, hands grabbing around Seokjin’s waist. 

“That is the second time today you got me so worked up… I’m going crazy.” 

“Me too.” 

"We should probably separate for a while?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung agrees, shifting away from Seokjin slightly.

Seokjin sighs, glancing behind them again into the house.

“I can see Namjoon from here anyway. He and Jungkook must be back. Maybe we should head back inside. Spend some time apart for a bit?"

Taehyung nods, they’ve been pretty reckless today. But somehow, he still doesn’t feel like it’s enough. 

“Kiss me first.” He blurts out. 

Seokjin smiles at him, clearly pleased with the request. But Taehyung is disappointed again when Seokjin leans in and pecks him so quickly on the side of the mouth that Taehyung barely has time to register that it even appened. 

Taehyung pouts, not saying a word. He just glares at Seokjin, waiting for him to cave. 

He knows Seokjin must have done it purposely, because he’s laughing. But then he leans forward again, his hand moving below Taehyung’s chin to push his face up, kissing him much slower and softer this time. It’s still too chaste. 

“That’s really all you got?”

“Someone might see us.” 

Suddenly, Taehyung has an idea. He’s seen it in TV shows before, and doesn’t know how it will go, but they could try it anyways. He pushes of the ledge of the pool, grabbing Seokjin’s shoulders and latching their lips together again suddenly, but this time, forcing them both downwards, into the water, where no one would be able to see them.

It’s strange, but fun, kissing underwater. He can finally feel Seokjin’s tongue entering his mouth and they stay down as long as they can until he can feel Seokjin pulling away and pushing back to the surface, them both attempting to catch their breath once they resurface. 

“I’ll find you later?” Seokjin asks, shaking the water out of his eyes and edging towards the pool stairs. 

“When?” Taehyung can’t help but ask. 

“Patience…” Seokjin says quietly. 

And the timing couldn’t be more perfect because a few of the models are actually making their way outside just as Seokjin grabs his towel to head in. He winks at Taehyung over his shoulder before turning away. 

Patience. 

That’s going to be difficult.

SEOKJIN

Jin wanted to kick himself for how reckless he’d been acting in the recent days with Taehyung. Almost hooking up in the pool, where anyone could have walked outside, was not necessarily one of his smarter decisions, but it was near impossible to control himself. Being with Taehyung was pretty much the only thing he could think about lately, which kind of scared him, because what would happen months from now when the show was over? Were they supposed to go back to their old lives? 

When Seokjin comes inside from the pool he sees a smiling, mischievous looking Jungkook staring right at him. He’s perched on a stool by the counter, eating what looks like a spicy bag of pretzels. He knows before Jungkook opens his mouth that he is going to say something to him. Thankfully they are the only two in the kitchen for the time being. 

“What are you doingggg?” Jungkook drags out the word, smiling at Seokjin in a very knowing way. 

“What do you think? I just went for a swim… obviously.” Seokjin tries to brush it off the best he can, but Jungkook isn’t buying it. 

“Just swimming?”

“Why? Did you see something?” Seokjin asks tentatively. 

“No.” Jungkook answers and Seokjin can tell that he’s being honest. But then he’s speaking again. 

“Unless you count a very handsome and very wet Taehyung-ssi standing pretty close to you in the pool outside. If you know what I mean.” Jungkook stuffs a pretzel in his mouth as he watches Seokjin carefully. 

“I don’t.” Seokjin says, trying to keep his face straight but knows he’s probably failing miserably. “He came out to swim for a bit. We talked for a little while, that's it.” 

Did Jungkook see anything else? How long was he watching them? Did he see Taehyung's legs wrapped around him? Or when he had pecked Taehyung quickly? He curses himself for not being more careful.

“But I thought you two were avoiding each other?”

“We made up.” Seokjin says and Jungkook quirks an eyebrow at him. 

“You did, did you?”

Seokjin sighs, tired of the back and forth already and takes a seat next to Jungkook on the stools. 

“Just say what you want to say…” 

“Are you and him like… a thing now?”

“Are you and Namjoon?” Seokjin counters, hoping it will shut Jungkook up, but no luck. Jungkook just shrugs at Seokjin, still smiling. 

“I dunno… we’ve been…talking more.”

“Just talking?” Seokjin tries to flip the questions back on Jungkook, but he seems just as tight lipped as Seokjin had been earlier. 

“You answer first.” 

Seokjin sighs, wondering how much he should divulge to Jungkook. They are friends, after all, and he knows sooner or later his hook up with Taehyung will be shown on TV anyways, but still, he finds it hard to just come out and admit that they’ve been hooking up. Especially after all the whining and complaining he did about Taehyung before. 

“We cleared up the break situation… he never got the texts I sent him about my break up with Ken, so he was frustrated with me, and that’s why he started dating Namjoon. But when he finally understood he broke things off with Joon…

“Yeah, Joon-hyung sorta told me.” 

“Well, after I explained everything we decided to be… friends again.” 

“Friends?”

“Are you going to repeat everything I say?” 

“Sorry.” Jungkook laughs. “I’m just curious. Joon-hyung seemed to imply he broke it off because of you...” 

“He did?" Seokjin asks, and Jungkook nods. "That probably made you happy to hear. With Taehyung out of the way it creates a path for you and Namjoon-ssi?”

“Well, I guess, but this isn’t about us. I just want you to be happy, Hyung.” 

And for a minute Seokjin feels bad for grilling Jungkook so much. It’s sweet what he's saying. And it sounds like he would be supportive of whatever was going on with him and Taehyung.

“Well, I am. But I’m not ready to… kiss and tell yet,” Jungkook’s eyebrows raise at that sentence, “but, I will soon. And then maybe you can open about Namjoon?”

“Sure.” Jungkook says, taking a bite of his snack. “There isn’t much to tell though. We are just being friendly right now. Like…actual friends. Not 'friendly' like what you and Taehyung are doing.” He teases.

“Yeah, yeah.” Seokjin responds, still unable to deny the accusation. He stands up from the stool. “I’m gonna go get changed. Do you wanna watch a movie later? After dinner?”

Jungkook nods, smiling at Seokjin again before he finally leaves the room. 

Getting through that movie, is painful. He loves spending time with Jungkook, and the movie is interesting enough, but all Seokjin can think about is Taehyung, and wonders if the younger is frustrated that they haven’t seen each other since earlier that evening. He keeps spotting Taehyung walking in and out of the kitchen that night, glancing in Seokjin’s direction occasionally. Seokjin finds himself growing more and more antsy for the film to be done already so he can sneak in some time with Taehyung before they have to go to sleep. Why did he agree to a movie night again?

As the movie winds down Seokjin pretends that he’s tired, resting his head against Jungkook’s shoulder and yawning a little, playing up the fact that he needs to go to bed. It works, and as the credits roll, Jungkook gives him a quick hug goodnight.

Seokjin heads down the hallway, waiting until Jungkook is out of view before heading in the other direction, lightly tapping against Taehyung’s bedroom door before he hears a soft, “come in.” 

He opens the door to find Taehyung on his bed reading. Taehyung glances up and smiles softly when he realizes who it is. 

“Hi.” He says quietly, and he looks so childlike and serene underneath his covers, with no make up on, and his hair a tangled mess. 

“Want some company?” Seokjin asks softly, shutting the bedroom door behind him. He hesitates for a minute, and then locks it… just in case. 

He can see Taehyung’s eyes shift from the locked door back to Seokjin’s face, registering what he’s just done. 

“Yes.” Taehyung replies, tossing the book over the side of the bed and pulling back the covers, offering some space for Seokjin. “I was wondering if I would see you tonight, You seemed busy.” 

“Don’t be jealous.” Seokjin teases as he makes his way over to Taehyung’s bed and sits tentatively on the edge, afraid to get too close. He can’t exactly trust himself right now. 

“I am.” Taehyung admits with no shame, which makes Seokjin laugh. He kinda likes that Taehyung is jealous though, even though that hadn’t been his intention when he asked Jungkook to hang out.

“Well, you shouldn’t be… you’re pretty much all I can think about lately.”

He doesn’t mean to be so brutally honest, and feels slightly embarrassed after saying it, but it just comes out of his mouth. And he quite likes the way that Taehyung’s face gets all squishy and cute hearing it. How could he have ever seen Taehyung as intimidating?

“Then… entertain me.” Taehyung whispers, and the way he’s looking at Seokjin… yeah, Seokjin takes back his previous thought.

He should probably play the game a bit, pretend to be here just to talk, or tease Taehyung a little more. But he can’t resist immediately crawling over to him, dipping in and kissing Taehyung frantically on the mouth. He’d been waiting to do that all night. 

Taehyung immediately leans into him, his hands finding the back of Seokjin’s head as he pulls him closer. Seokjin loves how big and warm Taeyhung’s hands feel holding him steady. He can feel Taehyung’s tongue gently prodding against his lips, wanting to be let in, but instead Seokjin’s pulling back.

“We should stop.” Seokjin says. It’s the responsible thing to do, before this goes further. 

“Why?” Taehyung whines, voice pouty and rough as his fingers tangle into Seokjin’s hair, not letting up even a little. 

“People might hear us.” 

“I can be quiet.” Taehyung smirks, pressing his mouth against Seokjin's again and damn, he’s making this really hard.

“But, we have to get up early…” 

“Five more minutes?” Taehyung asks sweetly and Seokjin doesn’t have it in him to refuse, nodding gently and relaxing back onto the bed. He falls to his side and Taehyung instantly mirrors him, laying across from Seokjin and just staring. Suddenly Seokjin feels really self-conscious, wondering what Taehyung is thinking. 

“You’re so hot, Hyung.” Taehyung answers his thought, which makes Seokjin laugh. Everything Taehyung says and does is so… adorably cute or ridiculously sexy. There is no in between.

“Five more minutes…” Seokjin attempts to confirm, but he’s immediately cut off by Taehyung’s lips pressing against his own yet again, this time even messier than before.

They stay like that for quite a while, which in reality is probably only a minute or so, but it feels like so much longer, before Taehyung’s pulling away, out of breath. 

“I can’t stop thinking about it…” Taehyung mutters, taking a quick break from kissing Seokjin’s lips and instead moves to place a kiss gently against his shoulder. It sends shivers through Seokjin’s entire body.

“Thinking about what?” Seokjin asks, even though he’s pretty sure he knows the answer.

“Being... with you.” Taehyung answers, eyes flicking back up to stare at Seokjin. Seokjin understands exactly what he means. As if he doesn’t think about being with Taehyung every second of the day too.

“How do you like it?” Seokjin asks, hoping that Taehyung understands what he's implying.

Taehyung looks away, and Seokjin can tell that he feels shy talking about this in the open. Something he never would have expected from Taehyung. 

“I’ll like whatever you like.” Taehyung responds, and Seokjin loves hearing that. His previous boyfriend Ken was pretty… tame, in the bedroom. Not very adventurous and always liked things a certain way. Maybe with Taehyung, things could be different. 

“I’m open to different things.” Seokjin says quietly which makes Taehyung smile. 

“Things? What things?” Taehyung tries to pry but Seokjin just shakes his head. 

“You’ll have to wait and see.” 

“No… tell me!” Taehyung practically begs, his arms coming around Seokjin’s waist.

“I’m just… used to, topping.” Seokjin finally says, still feeling a little embarrassed about revealing all of this to Taehyung. But, if they are going to be intimate, they should learn to be open with each other and tell each other what they want. “But… we can try it the other way too.” 

This instantly makes Taehyung laugh, which makes Seokjin wonder what exactly he’s thinking about. 

“So you’re saying…” Taehyung whispers, pulling Seokjin closer to him, his lips pushing right up to Seokjin’s ear, “you want to be a slutty bottom for me?”

He’s just teasing, but the way that Taehyung says it, and the firmness of Taehyung’s hand around his waist has all the gears in Seokjin’s brain absolutely spinning.

“Shut up.” Seokjin says, burying his face into Taehyung’s neck. His ears are probably flaming red. Just the idea of what he's said excites him. 

His embarrassment is only making Taehyung chuckle more, gently rubbing Seokjin’s back as a way to comfort him.  

“If we keep talking like this I won’t let you leave this room.” Taehyung laughs, shifting them so that he’s got Seokjin pinned against his bed, moving on top of him and tangling their legs together. Seokjin had no intention of leaving any time soon anyway.

“Sounds good to me.” Seokjin whispers.

He stares at Taehyung, daring him to do something. 

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung’s on top of Seokjin, and he feels like he can’t breathe… he’s suffocated by the warmth of Seokjin’s lips on his, his hands splayed over Taehyung’s back, holding him close. They grind together, things getting more intense the longer they do this. 

“Mmm…” Taehyung can’t help moaning into Seokjin’s mouth, his hands running up and down over Seokjin’s toned chest and abs, still in disbelief that they are actually here doing this.

Seokjin pulls back, hands tight on Taehyung’s waist like a warning. “I thought you said you could be quiet?” 

“Well, maybe I can’t.” Taehyung responds honestly. “Can you?”

Seokjin hesitates for a second, as if he’s debating how to answer before finally nodding his head, "Yes."

“Then, maybe we should test that…” Taehyung says with a small smirk, loving the way that Seokjin’s eyes seem to gleam in response, trying to work out what Taehyung means by that. 

Taehyung pushes off Seokjin’s chest, scooting his body lower, down by Seokjin’s legs now, and there’s no question what his intentions are. 

He fumbles with the front of Seokjin’s pants, getting them undone quickly and dragging them down over Seokjin’s thighs. He can see Seokjin is hard in his boxers, the front obviously tented. Taehyung feels nervous, even though he’s done this plenty of times. But, it’s Seokjin… he wants it to be good. 

He tentatively pulls at the waistband of Seokjin’s boxers, easing them down gently, the head of Seokjin’s cock peaking out at the top just enough for Taehyung to be able to lean forward and take it into his mouth. 

“Fuck!” Seokjin says immediately, his head leaned back. Taehyung can only see the long stretch of Seokjin’s neck from this angle, and he takes it as a good sign, leaning in again and sucking the entire head with his lips, running the soft pad of his tongue over the slit, letting saliva gather to create a better slide. 

He’s barely started and Seokjin’s already whining out, his breathing getting heavier as Taehyung continues to pull at the fabric and get his mouth lower on Seokjin’s dick. Taehyung lets his mind wander as his mouth works. All of his previously learned techniques come back to him in an instant, he knows exactly where to touch and what rhythm will really get Seokjin going. And if his breathing is anything to go by, Taehyung’s doing a pretty damn good job. 

Taehyung slips off for a brief minute so he can get Seokjin’s boxers and pants all the way off, then pulls at his shirt, and yanks it over his head so that Seokjin is completely naked beneath him. He stares at his body for a second, but he’s too impatient, getting back into place, using his hand to press against Seokjin’s thigh, spreading him open even further. He adjusts himself on the bed, getting his mouth back around Seokjin’s dick. 

“God, Tae…” Seokjin moans as Taehyung’s hands push gently against Seokijn’s testicles, at the same time twirling his tongue around Seokjin’s dick and then pushing his head down, as far as he can go. 

Seokjin’s moans get even louder, and as much as Taehyung wants to see him cum, he knows that he has to slow down. 

“You said you could be quiet.” Taehyung calls up to him as Seokjin stares. 

“You’re too good at it…” 

Taehyung keens at the praise. “Then you need to shut up so I can keep going.” He teases.

He leans all the way up, kissing him again, Seokjin’s hands tangling into his hair as Taehyung continues to lazily stroke against his cock. His lips pull off with a loud smack and he stares down at Seokjin’s body again. He’s so fit, and toned in all the right places, and he’s certainly gifted in that department… Taehyung’s jealous of just how perfect he is. 

“What are you thinking?” Seokjin whispers, his breathing steadier now. 

“How beautiful you are.” Taehyung whispers back, lips latching to Seokjin’s neck, forcing another small breath out of him. Taehyung’s eyes linger even lower, and a sudden excitement rushes through his entire body when he thinks about what it’s going to be like to actually fuck Seokjin. Remembering how Seokjin admitted to wanting to bottom. 

“It’s not fair… you’re not naked.” Seokjin complains, but Taehyung just smirks at him.

“It's not your turn yet.” Taehyung teases, making Seokjin smile.

Taehyung kisses his way down Seokjin’s chest, lips dragging slowly over his abs and perfectly flat stomach, until they reach Seokjin’s dick, which is still ridiculously hard and a little wet.

Taehyung swipes his tongue across the head again, lapping up the small beads of precome gathered there. 

Seokjin sucks in a sharp breath, “do that again…” he begs, and Taehyung complies immediately, this time circling his fist around the base of Seokjin’s dick and holding him as he lick around him again. Taehyung keeps eye contact with Seokjin the entire time, loving the way that Seokjin’s eyes are dark and hooded, just watching. 

Taehyung really starts working then, closing his lips around the top, the flat of his tongue pressing purposely against the underside of Seokjin's cock. 

“Holy fuck, Taehyung…” Seokjin’s whimpering again, which didn’t take very long. But Taehyung loves hearing it, the praise making his whole body feel warm and tingly. 

Taehyung lets his mind shut off for a little while, bobbing up and down on Seokjin steadily, getting into a nice rhythm. Seokjin’s praises encourage him to keep going, and Taehyung can feel where he’s hard in his own pants, gently rutting into the sheets to get some sort of friction going for himself. It all feels so ridiculously good. 

Seokjin spreads his legs a little then, and it gives Taehyung the urge to try something else, letting his hand run over Seokjin’s balls and then lower, between the small space below his testicles and his center. Seokjin only moans loader when he does this, so Taehyung takes it as encouragement, letting his fingers dip even lower, until he’s gently circling around Seokjin’s hole, not pressing in exactly, but giving particular attention to that very specific spot. 

He can feel Seokjin squirm a little, and he immediately pulls back, not wanting to push things too far too soon.

“Is this okay?” Taehyung asks, looking up at Seokjin.

He nods slowly back to him. “I just…showered.” He says, and it makes Taehyung smile, thinking about how Seokjin had likely prepared for something like this to happen. 

“I can tell.” Taehyung says, placing a kiss against Seokjin’s thigh. “You smell good… and clean.” 

Seokjin actually giggles then, and it’s almost too much to take. Taehyung wants to completely unravel him. 

“You won’t be for long…” Taehyung says, purposely dipping his voice lower, hoping that his words will effect Seokjin somehow. He can tell by Seokjin’s expression, his eyes opening wider as he stares at him, that they do. 

Then, without warning, Taehyung is sliding a hand over Seokjin’s inner thigh and pushing at his leg so that he can really spread him open. Seokjin releases a small gasp of surprise, but it only encourages Taehyung to keep going, immediately leaning in and flicking his tongue against Seokjin’s hole.

Taehyng thinks he can hear Seokjin curse again as he gets his tongue inside of him, softly swirling around the rim and sucking against the flesh until he can feel Seokjin actually writhing above him, this time releasing a much louder moan that probably resonates through the whole fucking house. 

“You’re being so loud.” Taehyung complains, immediately pulling away, reaching up and clasping his hand around Seokjin’s mouth. Seokjin mumbles something to him and Taehyung peels his hand back, allowing Seokjin to speak. 

“I’m sorry… I can be quiet, promise…”

‘You’re a horrible liar.” Taehyung says to him harshly, hand still around his chin as a warning. “I love how it sounds, but if you keep going like that we’re gonna have to stop…” 

He’s only teasing, but it sure is fun commanding Seokjin like this, watching his reaction when Taehyung threatens him with his deep gravely voice. 

“Nooo.” Seokjin whines, his eyes closing tightly as he takes another breath. “Please, don’t. Please, Tae… keep going?”

And god, the begging has Taehyung’s guts squirming. He never expected for sex with Seokjin to be this fun. He can’t remember a time he’s wanted someone more… 

“Fine, then this stays put…” Taehyung says firmly, forcing his hand back over Seokjin’s mouth. He’s not quite sure how he’s going to manage this, but he is willing to try, scooting back down Seokjin’s body, keeping his hand in place the best that he can. Thankful for his longer arms. 

He adjusts Seokjin’s body again, really pushing at his legs so that it’s bent all the way up onto the mattress, grateful for Seokjin’s flexibility right now too. And now that Seokjin can’t talk, it adds a new level of excitement to this whole thing. He love being in control of Seokjin like this. 

His fingers find Seokjin’s hole again, gently pushing inside with his fingers this time, but just the slightest bit. 

“You’re too fucking tight.” Taehyung growls against Seokjin’s ear, which has him whimpering again, and it’s so incredibly hot… Taehyung could probably get off just from watching Seokjin like this. “I need lube.” 

Seokjin moans again and Taehyung can see his eyes staring into him. 

“Can I… get some?” Taehyung asks, still wanting permission. He needs to make sure he’s not pushing too hard. 

“Mmhmm.” Seokjin nods. 

Taehyung moves to the bed side table, immediately fumbling through the drawers until he finds exactly what he needs, managing to get the tube open with his free hand, his other still tightly clasped over Seokjin’s mouth. 

He pours the liquid straight out of the bottle right onto Seokjin’s dick and balls, doing the best he can to get it over the place he wants, not giving a shit right now about the mess he’s probably making. 

Then Taehyung tosses the tube to the side of the bed, adjusting himself so that he’s settled over Seokjin again. It’s strange because he’s still fully clothed, with Seokjin entirely naked beneath him, but it’s also sort of fun like this. 

He can’t stop himself from kissing Seokjin again, moving his hand for the briefest moment so he can do so, shoving his tongue inside quick and rough before pulling back and replacing his hand again. 

His fingers move back to Seokjin’s now slick hole, pushing one finger in slowly, then eventually, another, pushing into Seokjin harder and deeper each time he pulls them out. He concentrates on Seokjin’s face the entire time, which is completely blissed out, his head thrown back and sweat pooling around his forehead. Seokjin’s moans are muffled underneath his hand, but it's still the best sound in the world, encouraging Taehyung to keep at it. 

Taehyung hooks his fingers up in a particular way, knowing exactly what he’s doing. When Seokjin squirms underneath him, he knows he’s hit the right place, his fingers keeping consistent pressure on that particular spot.

Seokjin mumbles something, which Taehyung can’t make out, so he pulls back, stilling his hand and removing his other one from Seokjin’s face to let him speak. 

“You have to stop…” Seokjin pants, and Taehyung can see him swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he tries to catch his breath. “I’m not gonna last…” 

Taehyung just laughs quietly, not knowing how to respond. Watching Seokjin cum is definitely something he wants to see, but maybe not just yet. 

“Does it hurt?” He asks instead, wanting to make sure Seokjin is doing okay. 

“A little… but it’s good.” Seokjin whispers. “I just... I want…”

He pauses, and Taehyung can sense that he feels nervous asking for whatever it is. 

“What do you want?” Taehyung asks quietly, shifting up a little to get closer to Seokjin’s face. “Tell me, I’ll do it.” 

And he truly means that. He can’t imagine Seokjin asking for something that he wouldn’t be willing to try. He briefly wonders if Seokjin is going to ask him to fuck him, but then, Seokjin's words are interrupting his thoughts.

“I want your mouth there… again.” 

It takes a second to register, but Taehyung finally understands what he’s asking for. It’s kind of adorable that he was so shy to ask for it.

“Just that?” Taehyung teases, leaning up to kiss Seokjin again.

The elder can barely kiss back, and Taehyung loves how much he’s come undone since they’ve started this.  “Are you going to be able to keep quiet?” 

Seokjin nods, even though Taehyung doesn’t believe him for a second. 

“Don’t make me have to shove a sock in your mouth.” Taehyung warns before shifting back down, getting his face between Seokjin’s legs again. 

He flicks his tongue out, this time not even attempting to take anything slow, and licking deep inside of Seokjin, ignoring the taste of the strawberry flavored lube. He pushes his fingers there too, and the combination of his long fingers next to the hot press of his tongue inside of Seokjin? He knows he will fall apart in seconds. 

“Fuck, Taehyung-ahhhh.” Seokjin draws out, and the his name sounds so good on his lips, Taehyung has stopped caring about how loud he’s being, his moans filling up the entire room every time Taehyung pushes inside of him. 

He’s got his fingers buried inside of Seokjin's ass, and reaches with his other hand to jerk Seokjin off, this time moving much quicker, his thumb dragging on the underside of his dick. His mouth closes around Seokjin’s balls, sucking and jerking and fucking into him all at once… it’s too much, he can tell from the way Seokjin’s body is wrestling around on the mattress. Taehyung doesn’t let up… not until he can hear Seokjin calling his name again, attempting to give a warning before he’s coming in hot strips all over Taehyung’s fist. 

Taehyung continues to stroke him through it, milking every last bit of his orgasm out of him as he lets his fingers slide out from Seokjin’s red and puffy hole, his hand releasing from Seokjin’s dick; still hard and so wet, laying flat against his stomach.

Seokjin is still breathing heavily, and it’s one of the hottest things Taehyung’s ever got to experience. He can’t stop himself from leaning down and licking at a tiny droplet of Seokjin’s cum on his lower abs, not missing the way that Seokjin is staring widely down at him. 

After cleaning the rest of Seokjin off with his shirt, Taehyung crawls back up to him, kissing the side of his face and laying down next to him on the bed.

“Oh my god, that was incredible…” Seokjin says to him, turning his head to stare at Taehyung with awe, his chest rising and falling as he tries to contain his breathing. “No ones ever… done that before.”

“Seriously?” Taehyung is complete disbelief. He and Ken had dated for how many years? And they’d never tried it?  A part of him is extremely happy to be the first. 

“I’m glad you let me.” Taehyung whispers, tucking his face into Seokjin’s neck, breathing him in. He didn’t even orgasm, but it almost feels like he has, he’s so exhausted.  “You can stay here tonight… if you want.” Taehyung mumbles into his neck. He doesn’t want to imply anything, but it would be nice to have Seokjin stay a little longer. 

“Okay.” Seokjin replies, and Taehyung wonders what he is thinking. 

“You want something to wear?” Taehyung asks quietly, not sure how Seokjin will feel about wearing his clothes, but surely, he can’t go back to his room. What if people had actually heard them?”

“Eventually…” Seokjin says, “but you didn’t?”

“It’s okay.” Taehyung responds immediately, cutting him off. “I don’t have to get off just because you did.” 

“I’ve never heard that before either.” Seokjin laughs, pushing the hair out of his face as he stares at Taehyung. But then he’s shifting, pushing himself on top of him, his body pressing into his. Taehyung is still hard, and Seokjin’s weight pressing into him feels so good. 
 
“Besides…” Seokjin continues, “I wanna see it…” 

Taehyung’s certainly not going to fight him on that. 

SEOKJIN 

The second Seokjin could feel Taehyung’s tongue entering his body, was about the same moment he almost passed out. He wasn’t entirely prepared for it to happen, even if he sort of gave his permission, and it was definitely something he always wanted to try. Ken was always so timid in the bedroom, and it was okay with Seokjin at the time that he didn’t want to explore his sexuality further. But now, Seokjin is finally realizing just what he’s been missing.

There was something so deeply personal and sexy about Taehyung doing that to him. He’s never felt anything like it, and he doesn’t mean just the physical sensation of it. But Taehyung’s total lack of fear, his confidence… it was so attractive and it made Seokjin feel so good about himself.

Taehyung's fingers slide into him soon after and it doesn’t take long before Seokjin is spilling all over himself and Taehyung’s hand. Taehyung actually licks some of his cum from off his stomach, and Seokjin is in complete awe of him. It took only minutes for him to get Seokjin off, and usually it takes much longer for that to happen. But then again, he’s never been with someone like Taehyung before. 

Taehyung acts like he’s ready to sleep and Seokjin is shocked that he would even suggest such a thing. He would be totally okay with going to bed right now before getting any sort of relief? Taehyung still had his clothes on but Seokjin could see from the strain in his pants that he was hard too, and after what he just did to Seokjin, wouldn’t he want something in return? Wasn’t that how this was supposed to work anyways? They were just sleeping together, right? So surely, Taehyung would want something out of it too. 

“I wanna see it.” Seokjin confesses. He wants to see Taehyung fall completely apart, just like he did minutes before. He wants to hear the tiny little breaths and moans come out of Taehyung’s mouth when Seokjin’s touches him, or gets his mouth on him, or pushes inside of him... whatever it is that Taehyung wants. Seokjin would have a hard time saying no to anything right now. 

“Okay.” Taehyung replies with a shy smile, and there it is again, the boyish sweet side to Taehyung that Seokjin only gets to see glimpses of, but he finds completely adorable and endearing. “What do you want to do to me?”

And just like that, the flirtatious, seductive Taehyung is back as he stares at Seokjin with an intense look in his eye, challenging him. 

It gets Jin’s head spinning, because there are a hell of lot of answers to that question. If he were being completely honest with himself, and his deepest desires, he would probably tell Taehyung that he wanted to be fucked... but he’s too scared to ask for that right now. Sure, they’ve briefly talked about it happening, and he knows Taehyung would be on board for it, but he doesn’t think he’s ready for it tonight. It would take a LOT of preparation and Seokjin’s not sure he’s in the right head space just yet either.

“What do you want me to do to you?” Seokjin counters, trying to delay answering the question because he’s curious to hear what Taehyung would answer. 

“I dunno.” Taehyung laughs softly, covering his face with his hands, acting embarrassed. Seokjin isn’t sure if it's just an act or if he really feels like this. 

“Really?” Seokjin asks him, pulling at his hands and uncovering his face, “You’re acting shy now? After what you just did?” 

He can’t stop himself from leaning down and pecking Taehyung gently on the lips, trying to ease the little bit of tension that’s lingering here between them.

Taehyung kisses back tentatively, still staring at Seokjin with big eyes, waiting for him to take charge.

“Why don’t we start by getting you naked first?” Seokjin whispers, leaning down to place kisses along Taehyung’s collar bone. He can feel Taeyhung’s hair brushing against the top of his head when he nods in agreement, but again, he doesn’t make any strides to move or do anything to help things along. 

Jin realizes what Taehyung needs right now, what he’s silently asking for without having to say the words, and he takes control, sitting up onto his knees as he lazily unbuttons Taehyung’s shirt slowly, taking his time with each and every button, slowly opening his shirt as he makes his way all the way down. When he gets to the last button, he pushes his hands onto Taehyung’s bare skin, opening up the material to expose Taehyung’s entire chest and stomach. Seokjin’s eyes stare at the tiny trail of hair below Taehyung’s belly button that dips into his pants. It’s so light, you wouldn't really notice it if you weren’t staring at it close like this. Seokjin feels lucky he has the privilege of getting to see it. 

The trail disappears into his pants, and it causes another flutter of excitement to rush through Seokjin’s body. This is the best part, the first time, being with someone in this way when you’ve been anticipating it for weeks, or months, even.

Jin lowers his body on the bed, so that he can move to Taehyung’s pants next, unbuttoning them slowly and carefully. He hopes it’s not too slow or “romantic” for Taehyung, but by the soft expression on Taehyung’s face, and the way he’s just staring as Seokjin undresses him, he thinks it’s probably okay. 

Seokjin drags things out a bit longer, pulling Taehyung’s pants down and off slowly, leaving his boxers still on. Again, he can see the outline of Taeyhung’s dick at the front of his boxers. He can’t stop himself from leaning forward immediately and stroking over him, through the material, appreciating the length and thickness of Taehyung’s cock. 

“And you wanted me to just ignore this?” Seokjin teases, falling forward and pulling Taehyung into another kiss, his hand still dragging over Taehyung’s dick, rubbing softly as they kiss, he can feel a slight patch of wetness at the top of Taehyung’s boxers. He loves the way that Taehyung’s body is already reacting to him. 

Jin can’t stop himself from kissing Taehyung everywhere he can reach. His chest, his stomach, his neck, behind his ears, which really makes Taehyung squirm a bit. His moaning gets louder and it’s urging Seokjin on, his fingers finally dipping inside of Taehyung’s boxers so he can touch him directly, his hand pushing over Taehyung’s cock and stroking with more purpose. 

“Look whose being too loud now?” Seokjin pants into his neck, he can feel Taehyung’s hand gripping the back of shoulders, clawing into his back and holding him close. “Everyone’s gonna hear you.” Seokjin warns. 

“They’ve probably already heard us.” Taehyung breathes out, not even attempting to hide lack of composure, “they were gonna find out sooner or later.” 

“Yeah, screw it…” Seokjin answers back. He’s past the point of caring, but maybe later, when the excitement of what they are doing has waned a bit, will he have second thoughts. “I wanna hear you.” Seokjin finishes. 

“Just, take them off already.” Taehyung practically begs, and Seokjin doesn’t have to be asked again as he yanks at the waistband of his boxers, dragging them down over his smooth, tan thighs immediately. 

Taehyung’s legs instantly open wider on the bed, making Seokjin’s chest flutter as he strokes his dick again, this time with much easier access.

Taehyung is breathing heavily and Seokjin kisses at his chest, Taehyung’s hands running through his hair, gripping, but not too tight, just holding his hands there.

Seokjin thinks for a moment what it would feel like if Taehyung did tangle his hands in. If he pushed Seokjin’s head lower, if he was rougher with him. Seokjin’s mind runs with thoughts of it, realizing in this moment how much he’s wanted something like that. He’ll definitely have to bring up his desires to Taehyung at some point. 

Seokjin gets lost in Taehyung’s soft moans, loving the way he sounds. But he wants even more, working his way down, lips dragging all over Taeyhung’s flesh, purposely avoiding his dick for now… wanting to tease Taehyung a little, see if he’ll beg for it.

He kisses all around the area, his mouth only inches away… and his persistence seems to pay off because when he glances up at Taehyung, he is staring down at him impatiently, like he’s silently begging with eyes for Seokjin to do something already.

“What do you want?” Seokjin goads, wanting to hear the words. His hand softly strokes over his dick, now just laying flat against his stomach without any sort of actual grip. 

“Go on.” Taehyung says with conviction, hand finally gripping into Seokjin’s hair much tighter than before. When Seokjin glances back down at Taehyung’s dick and licks against his lips gently, it gives Taehyung the permission he wanted, finally forcing Seokjin down, but slowly, still giving him the chance to pull away if he wanted. 

Seokjin grabs for his dick, holding it up as his head is forced downward. He parts his lips, creating a small opening, knowing that he’s just torturing Taehyung now by how slowly he’s going. 

Seokjin decides to put him out of his misery, finally pushing forward and getting his lips around the tip of Taehyung’s dick. He kisses at the head a few times, really taking his time before he’s opening his mouth wider, eyes flicking up at Taehyung again, daring him to take action. 

Taehyung grips the side of his head, this time with both hands so he has full authority. Seokjin lets Taehyung control the rhythm, pushing his head down as Taehyung finally slides deeper into his mouth. Seokjin relaxes, opening wider and letting Taehyung fuck deep into his throat. Seokjin gags a little, trying to adjust.

“God, Hyung, you look so hot right now…” Taehyung praises, and Seokjin loves the way it sounds, loves that Taehyung is focusing on him so much while he does this. 

Taehyung’s hips are lifting from the bed as he pushes into Seokjin, and he can see the sweat that gleaming over Taehyung’s entire body as he moves.

“Come on…” Taehyung begs, and Seokjin doesn’t need to ask what he means, he knows that Taehyung is probably getting tired from all the thrusting he is doing.

So Seokjin finally caves, using his palm to flatten against Taehyung’s hip, holding him down into the bed as he adjusts his legs, pushing them beneath himself so he can get much better leverage over Taehyung and really take him into his mouth. 

He bobs down on Taehyung, over and over, his hand pressing gently into Taehyung’s balls every time his mouth gets lower, feeling Taeyhung’s dick against the back of his throat as he really goes for it now.

Taehyung’s getting closer and closer, Seokjin can tell from his rapid breathing and quick moans.

“Hyung… hyung…” Taehyung whines and Seokjin’s stomach flutters again. He could hear him say it all day long. “Hyung, I’m gonna cum…” 

And holy hell, Hyung sounds so good coming from his mouth, his hands still tight in Seokjin’s hair.

Seokjin keeps going, holding his mouth over Taehyung, as deep as it will go. And that seems to do the trick, Taehyung’s hands moving from Seokjin’s head to his shoulders, grabbing tightly as he explodes. 

Taehyung moans loudly as he cums, spilling into Seokjin’s mouth a little until Seokjin can pull off and stroke Taehyung through it, the rest of the fluid spilling over Taehyung’s chest and stomach. 

Seokjin just sits there staring at the mess for a few minutes, spreading it around a little with his fingers before finally reaching over the bed to retrieve his shirt, cleaning Taehyung off and collapsing against him on the bed. He feels accomplished, loving that he got such a wonderful reaction from Taehyung.

He leans his head against Taehyung’s shoulder, wondering if its okay to do this. He’s not sure if cuddling is part of the arrangement here or not. Taehyung doesn’t say anything for several minutes, so he clearly doesn’t mind. 

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll get you those pajamas.” Taehyung says, and then, its like he second guesses his offer, shifting a bit in the bed to glance at Seokjin. “I mean, as long as you want to stay.”

“Yeah, I probably should.” Seokjin says almost immediately. “If anyone heard us, I don’t really wanna be caught leaving your room right now.” 

He knows it's kind of a silly excuse, but it’s also partly true.

They stay there for a few more minutes before Taehyung is getting up from the bed and moving to his dresser, grabbing some clothes for himself and then tossing some over to Seokjin.

The two get dressed in silence before Taehyung saunters back over to his bed, pulling back the covers and slithering inside. Seokjin follows suit, feeling a little strange. Does Taehyung want him close, or should he keep his distance? They haven’t really talked about all of this or set any “rules”… he doesn’t want to push things too far. 

“Are you okay?” Seokjin asks, turning onto his side to face Taehyung. Taehyung’s laying on his back, one arm behind his head. He turns to face Seokjin, smiling brightly. 

“Yes… I feel great.” He answers, his eyebrows lifting at Seokjin like he’s confused why he’s asking, “You?”

“Same.” Seokjin says, not sure how to answer without sounding pathetic. “Why did we wait so long to do this again?”

Taehyung actually laughs out loud then, and Seokjin loves the way it sounds. 

“Because you’re an idiot.”

“Excuse me?” Seokjin asks, “Why just me?”

“Cuz, I wanted to sleep with you since like day 1.” Taehyung admits, smiling at Seokjin again, like he didn’t just admit something huge. 

“No you didn’t.” Seokjin teases, even though he does believe that part of what he's saying could be true, “You hated me.”

“I just pretended to hate you because you weren’t available.” Taehyung says, his voice steady. And that, Seokjin could probably believe.

“Well, if I am being honest with myself, I probably wanted to hook up with you immediately too. But you had to go and bring Yoongi into my bed.”

“Oh, shut up!” Taehyung laughs, shoving Seokjin playfully, “When are you going to get over that?”

“Never.” Seokjin jokes, thankful that they are actually in a place where they can laugh about it.

Then it's quiet again for a few moments.

“I’m really happy.” Taehyung says softly, like he’s afraid to say the words out loud. 

“Me too.” Seokjin whispers back, reaching his hand out and squeezing Taehyung’s hand for a minute before pulling away, not wanting to show all his cards right now.  “Next time we should…”

Go all the way? How is he supposed to ask for something like that? The truth is, if Taehyung had asked for it, he would have caved in a second. 

“Patience.” Taehyung teases, throwing Seokjin’s own words back into his face. "There's plenty of time."

Seokjin will take it.

“Now, we should sleep." Taehyung says. "Because it’s gonna be a long morning. And it’ll be really suspicious if we both show up to that photoshoot completely exhausted…”

“Okay. Deal.” Seokjin responds, feeling his eyes closing shut. Sleep sounds perfect right now.

“Goodnight, Hyung.”

“Goodnight Taehyung-ah.”

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

The next morning Taehyung wakes to Seokjin’s phone alarm going off at 4am. Fuck, it’s early, and the sun isn’t even up yet as Seokjin stirs next to him. Taehyung doesn’t open his eyes, he’s too exhausted to move. But when he can feel the soft press of Seokjin’s lips against his neck they immediately flash open. The small intimate gesture makes Taehyung feel all sorts of things, things that he pushes deep, deep down.

“I should probably sneak back to my room…” Seokjin whispers quietly to Taehyung and Taehyung nods gently, waiting for Seokjin to kiss him again before he leaves, but he doesn’t, he just brushes his fingers over Taehyung’s bangs. It’s another sweet, nothing gesture, but it makes Taehyung’s stomach churn. Why is he feeling this way? “I’ll see you at the photoshoot.”

“Okay.” Taehyung responds, smiling softly at Seokjin as he grabs for his clothes from the floor. It reminds Taehyung of the night before, and everything that they did together. He bites his lip absently, not even realizing that he’s done it as he thinks about last night and how incredible it felt finally being with Seokjin.

“I’ll wash these and return them to you later?” Seokjin asks, staring down at the clothes he’s borrowed. 

“Sounds good.” Taehyung says. He wonders if anyone would notice if they saw Seokjin walking down the hall in them. Another flash of something goes through him. The idea of Seokjin wearing his clothing shouldn’t make him this happy, but it does, and Taehyung isn’t ready to admit what that means to him. 

He watches as Seokjin leaves the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Taehyung tries to fall back to sleep, but thoughts of Seokjin keep swirling around in his brain. The feel of Seokjin’s lips against his neck keep him awake for an hour after that.

What has Taehyung gotten himself into? 

Taehyung really enjoys being at another photoshoot. It’s been a while since he’s done some modeling and he feels back in his element posing for the camera. The whole cast is dressed is different muted colors of the rainbow, and the color assigned to him was green, which Taehyung thinks is a perfect fit. He can’t stop staring over at Seokjin, who is dressed in pink. He would probably look good in anything, but something about pink seems to really fit him. 

When Taehyung’s shoot is complete he’s asked to swap with Seokjin so he can get his turn. As they pass each other Seokjin reaches out his hand, brushing his palm gently against Taehyung’s. Another stupid moment that makes Taehyung way giddier than he should be. It’s crazy how Seokjin makes him feel, and Taehyung wonders if his goofy smile is obvious to everyone else here or if he’s just being paranoid. 

Eventually the entire group is asked to pose together and Taehyung can’t help but gravitate in Seokjin’s direction. Seokjin smiles at him softly as he takes his place next to him and it’s ridiculous how childish they are both acting. They can barely look at each other. He knows that Seokjin is likely trying not to make things too obvious to everyone else, but Taehyung can’t help but worry if any part of him regrets what they did last night. 

They pose in a few different ways, including once where they are all asked to put their arms around each other. He can feel Seokjin’s fingertips pressing into his lower back, purposely dipping lower where he cups Taehyung’s ass softly. His own hand tightens around Seokjin’s big shoulder, squeezing gently. He can hear Seokjin laugh next to him and his earlier fears are put at ease. 

Taehyung crashes back onto his bed the second the photoshoot is over because he’s still exhausted from last night. But he’s not able to sleep long because he’s awaken by Seokjin about 40 minutes later. Seokjin is straddling him on his bed, over the covers that Taehyung is tightly wrapped in. 

“It’s almost noon, are you really asleep?” Seokjin asks, shaking Taeyhung’s shoulders as he stares down at him. 

If Taehyung were being honest, he could probably sleep a few hours more. But with Seokjin on top of him, he knew that isn’t happening. 

“I couldn’t sleep much last night.” Taehyung says finally, opening his eyes and staring up at Seokjin. He probably looks like a complete mess, and meanwhile Seokjin looks as beautiful as ever. 

“Why not?” Seokjin asks innocently. 

“Like you don’t know.” Taehyung retorts, pushing his arms out from under the covers and grabbing for Seokjin’s wrists. 

“I slept like a baby with you next to me.” Seokjin says sweetly, and it warms Taeyhung’s heart a bit to hear it. 

“Well, it’s hard for me to sleep next to people at first. Especially people I... like." Taehyung finishes, unsure if he should have admitted that last part. "It takes a while for me to warm up the idea of someone else next to me. Sorry if that’s weird.” 

“It’s not.” Seokjin replies, “It’s cute that I make you nervous.” Then Seokjin twists his arms around so that he’s grabbing Taehyung’s wrists now.

“Where is everyone?” Taehyung asks, noticing how quiet the house sounds right now. It’s actually peaceful. 

“Jungkook wanted everyone to go to lunch together. But the producers asked me to stay to answer some more interview questions, and you were asleep… I swear, the producers are doing this all on purpose so they can get us alone in the house. They just want more footage for the show.” 

“Hmm…” Taehyung responds. That sounds like something they would do. “Is that why you are here? To give them more… footage?” Taehyung teases. He can’t lie, he wouldn’t really be able to refuse Seokjin if that were true. 

“No.” Seokjin says forcefully, pushing Taeyhung’s wrists back against the bed and shifting lower. “I just wanted to check on you.” 

“Better be careful. People might start to think you actually care about me.” 

“You know I do…” Seokjin whispers, shifting his body so that he’s actually laying on top of Taehyung now. 

Then he finally dips in, kissing Taehyung softly against his lips. He pulls back, watching him, like he’s waiting for permission before leaning back in again, kissing Taehyung even deeper. Taehyung relaxes, his mouth opening wider. He can feel Seokjin’s tongue softly slipping into his mouth, working against Taehyung’s tongue lazily. Taehyung’s hands immediately move to Seokjin’s face, holding him in place and kissing him with more purpose. 

Eventually Seokjin pulls back, smiling at him before moving to get up from the bed. “But I can let you sleep, if you’d rather?” 

But Taehyung is too quick, grabbing Seokjin around his arms and yanking him back down. Seokjin stares at Taehyung, startled by the gesture.
“I’m definitely not anymore.” 

Seokjin chuckles softly, but is surprised when Taehyung shifts up from the bed, grabbing at his shoulders and pushing him down, swapping their positions and straddling him. Taehyung leans over, kissing him again, his knee pressing between Seokjin’s legs. He shifts it upward just the slightest bit, loving how it sounds when he hears Seokjin release a small moan, his hands tightening around Taehyung’s waist. God, it’s such a turn on, and Taehyung wants to keep hearing it.

“It’s weird how quiet it is here.” Taehyung whispers and Seokjin nods, his eyes attached to Taehyung’s lips. 

“Just the two of us…” Seokjin replies, and there’s something in the air when he says it.

“Do you… want to?” Taehyung asks, surprising even himself. 

Seokjin stares at him, he seems just as anxious and nervous as Taehyung is. 

“Right now?” He asks, and Taehyung nods slowly. He doesn’t want the moment to pass them up, and he’s tired of waiting, of dragging this out any longer. 

“Do you, have everything we need?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung nods again before moving from the bed to grab some items from underneath it. He feels shaky and nervous as he sets the stuff on the table next to them, Seokjin’s eyes staying on him the entire time. 

He feels silly, he’s done this so many times before, but this time, it’s different. It’s Seokjin. And with someone new it’s always strange and a little scary. 

“How do you... want to?” Taehyung asks quietly, hoping that Seokjin understands what he means.

Seokjin reaches up, his hands stroking into Taeyhung’s hair gently, like he’s thinking about how to answer. 

“I haven’t… done it in a long time the other way… I’m not really prepared for that, yet. But I can start. If that’s what you want?”

“I want whatever you do.” Taehyung answers simply.

“Well, me too.” Seokjin replies and they both laugh, feeling weird. But if they are going to be having sex they obviously need to be able to talk about it. 

“Then… why don’t you… fuck me?” Taheyung asks shyly.

Even just saying the words out loud makes Taehyung feel a certain way, but Seokjin’s smile puts him at ease.

“So cute.” He says, making Taehyung feel even more embarrassed.

But it’s like the words spur Seokjin into action, and he pushes up from the bed, hands grabbing for the back of Taehyung’s neck, pulling him back in so they can kiss again, Taehyung’s hands moving around Seokjin’s back. 

“We’re really gonna do this?” Seokjin asks again, his hands fidgeting with the hem of Taehyung’s shirt, then pausing to look back up into Taehyung’s eyes again.

“Yes.” Taehyung says firmly, pushing his lips into Seokjin’s with more force this time, trying to show him that it’s what he wants. He tugs at Seokjin’s fat bottom lip with his teeth, playfully sucking it into his mouth before letting it release with a pop.

“Then get on your back.” Seokjin commands, pushing at Taehyung's chest roughly. Taehyung instantly complies, falling back against the mattress. Seokjin hovers over him instantly as they maneuver on the bed, Seokjin fitting his long body on top of Taehyung’s perfectly. It’s like there is an invisible string pulling them together. 

Taehyung never wants it to break.

SEOKJIN

“You sure you want to?” Seokjin asks again, but Taehyung is already reaching for him, grabbing his head between his hands and yanking him down.

“Stop asking.” He commands, kissing Seokjin passionately, and he forgets all train of thought. 

It's like there's been a shift, even just from moments earlier when both were being tentative and careful around each other. Now that it's been decided they are actually going to do this, Taehyung's inhibitions are entirely loosened. Which makes things pretty simple now, both of them moving off instinct.

Taehyung works the front of his pants open and slips them off, Seokjin’s eyes staring at his body as he undresses, before remembering he should probably help, pulling at them and tossing them off to the side of the bed. 

“Give me your hand.” Taehyung whispers and Seokjin is about to ask why but stops himself, because it’s pretty obvious what he intends to happen when he’s squirting lube over Seokjin’s fingers, guiding his hand downward.

Seokjin's stomach flutters out of control, still in disbelief that they’re actually doing this now. But Taehyung distracts him by kissing him again. 

“Just go slow.” He says.

Seokjin certainly had no plans of rushing any of this, wanting to go as slow as humanly possible so he can stay in this moment for longer. 

His finger circles around the rim of Taehyung’s hole, teasing for only a few seconds before he’s slipping inside, just the tiniest bit at first, loving the way that Taehyung whimpers slightly as his finger enters.

“Should’ve done this a long time ago.” Taehyung whines, his head falling back against the pillow. Seokjin places small kisses all over his neck, jaw, and shoulder. 

“Guess we have a lot to make up for.” He promises, fingering Taehyung a little deeper now, working out and back into Taehyung at a slow and careful pace. 

“Feels so good Hyung.” Taehyung whispers deep and low into Seokjn’s ear, and it’s got Seokjin’s stomach tightening from how sexy and out of breath he sounds. Just the praise is turning him on. 

Then he can feel Taehyung’s long fingers grabbing at he front of his pants, pushing them down over Seokjin’s hips. Seokjin has to pull out of Taeyhung in order to help get undressed, ripping his shirt off next and loving the way that Taehyung is staring up at him.

“Get back over here.” Taehyung commands, and he doesn’t have to ask twice, Seokjin immediately leaning down and kissing him, pushing his body directly into Taehyung’s so he can feel their dicks grinding together. Now that they are both fully naked, it’s a completely different feel. Taehyung’s skin is ridiculously warm and inviting. Seokjin could push into him right now if he was impatient. But he’s going to take his time with this. 

Seokjin pulls back slightly, reaching downwards to he can nudge Taehyung’s legs apart, pushing at one of his thighs and shoving it higher up on the bed. He can’t help but stare at Taehyung’s perfectly smooth and golden skin on his inner thigh. Seokjin's fingertips lightly dance their way over and then back in, squeezing the flesh in anticipation as Taeyhung watches. 

“Fuck, Jin-hyung…” Taehyung whimpers, and Seokjin can’t help himself, moving lower on the bed until his lips are replacing where his fingers just were, gently kissing at Taeyhung’s thigh, his hand moving upwards to grip Teahyung’s dick in his hands and hold it steady. 

His mouth moves further in, placing kisses all along the sensitive skin on Taehyung's inner thigh, pausing once to suck a small bruise into the flesh. He can tell that Taehyung is working hard not to move, patiently watching Seokjin as he gives his body attention. Only his chest rises and falls from his steady breathing.

He decides not to make Taehyung wait too much longer, moving his mouth upward to Taehyung’s hip bone, placing kisses along the entire path as he moves, finally reaching where his hand is holding Taehyung’s cock firmly. 

He flicks his tongue out, slowing licking over the head where he can see small droplets of pre-cum beading over… he laps at them, licking Taehyung clean before finally pressing his lips over the tip.

Taehyung curses softly as Seokjin works his mouth deeper, slowly bobbing up and down over Taehyung’s length. Taehyung’s moaning a little louder now and it sounds so fucking good. He loves the way that Taehyung is watching him, the gleam in his eye as they stare at one another. Seokjin knows they are finally on the same page with each other, after everything they’ve been through since the start of all of this.

Seokjin can feel Taehyung’s fingers sliding into his hair, gently tugging on his locks and scratching at his scalp. It feels amazing and forces a small moan of pleasure out of Seokjin this time, humming around Taehyung’s dick. 

Seokjin works a bit quicker now, the suction and heat of his lips bringing Taehyung closer and closer to orgasm. He’s whimpering Seokjin’s name, his stomach muscles are clenching, and Seokjin can see the smallest sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead where his hair is starting to get a bit sweaty. 

Seokjin’s tongue runs over the slit on the head, circling around before taking him down again, pushing further this time. He can feel Taehyung’s dick at the back of his throat, gagging a little before pulling back up. The pressure at the back of his head is stronger now, Taehyung's grip tightening as he pushes Seokjin's head gently back down. Seokjin loves being commanded like this, loves the feeling of submitting to Taehyung, which surprises him a little. 

Taehyung’s muscles are clenching and releasing, his breath deepening with every thrust. His moans are louder now, and it's clear that he’s more unhinged, and less put together. Seokjin knows how close he is and wants to get him there.

Seokjin tries to relax his throat, taking Taehyung as far as he can go, holding him there for little while this time before finally pulling up, choking. He can feel Taehyung’s hands loosen for a brief second before tightening again, and his breathing is so rapid now, it’s obvious there's been a change… 

Then Taehyung is gasping, raspy little noises leaving his mouth as he spurts deep into Seokjin’s mouth. Seokjin holds him steady, letting Taehyung finish, and then finally, closes his mouth around him a few more times, cleaning him up and swallowing the fluid down. 

Taehyung’s hands immediately unravel from Seokjin’s hair, falling off to the side of bed as he tries to catch his breath. 

“Oh my god, hyung… why are you so fucking good at that?”

Seokjin doesn’t know if he actually wants an answer, shifting back up on the bed and pecking Taehyung’s neck gently. 

“Just am.” He teases, and then pull back, admiring the sweat on Taehyung’s forehead, even though Seokjin is the one that’s been doing all the work. 

But he’s still insanely hard, and they still haven’t accomplished what they are really here to do. 

“Turn over.” Seokjin commands, and Taehyung stares at him for a minute, as if he questioning why, but he doesn’t actually say the words, registering what Seokjin wants almost immediately. He does as he’s told, shifting onto his stomach and grabbing for a pillow  which he holds between his arms.

He closes his eyes and Seokjin knows that he could probably fall asleep right now, he was so tired from before. Seokjin almost lets him, but he’s too worked up from what they’ve done so far, too turned on and excited to stop things now. And soon enough, he’ll be doing things to Taeyhung that will keep him wide awake.

Seokjin admires the view for a minute, Taehyung’s round and perky ass perched right in front of him. Seokjin has the urge to reach out and literally squeeze his cheeks, but refrains, instead, dragging his hands over the small of Taehyung’s back and down, softly pressing at the flesh and pushing them apart slightly. 

He dips in, wasting no time getting his tongue against Taehyung’s hole. It forces a small gasp out of Taehyung, who squirms the smallest amount, but arches his back a little, pushing his ass upwards, and giving Seokjin better access. 

Seokjin pushes his tongue inside, addicted to the way that Taehyung is whimpering hyung over and over beneath him. Seokjin scours the bed for the lube, dripping more over Taehyung’s ass, using his fingers to push it between his crack and around his center.

“It’s fucking cold.” Taehyung snarls and Seokjin laughs, placing a kiss on Taehyung's lower back to calm him. 

“It’ll heat up soon.” Seokjin whispers. Which certainly has more than one meaning. 

He gets his fingers in place, this time immediately pushing in with two. The noises Taehyung makes as he’s being fingered by Seokjin are heavenly, and Seokjin wants nothing more than be inside of Taehyung already. But he knows he needs to make sure Teahyung is truly ready, crooking his fingers and pushing in deep, working his hand faster. 

But his impatience is growing, and he needs to be closer, reaching for his own dick and stoking it a few times. He’s so ridiculously hard at this point, and he can think of nothing else but being inside of Taehyung. 

He straddles him, so he’s directly over Taehyung's upper thighs, cock in hand as he settles his body down and traps him in. He can hear Taehyung whimper again as he directs his cock in, pushing the tip right against the rim, one of his hands keeping Taehyung spread open. 

He teases Taehyung a little at first, just nudging himself against Teahyung’s hole but not actually pushing inside. He drags his dick up and down a little, between Taehyung’s ass cheeks, his dick catching on the rim a few times and forcing more sounds out of Taehyung. He can see Taehyung’s hole clenching in anticipation… waiting. 

Finally he lines up, holding for only a second before finally pressing in. 

Taehyung moans out, his head burying into the pillow, his ass arching higher as Seokjin pushes further inside him and then back out, and then does it again. Taehyung’s whimpers into his pillow are so intoxicating, and sexy, and Seokjin can’t stop himself from thrusting deeper inside of him. He feels so warm, and tight, and he hasn’t been with someone new in such a long fucking time, it’s almost too much to take in. 

Eventually, Seokjin gets as far in as he can, finally leaning forward on his elbows so he can bracket himself around Taehyung, his hand tangling into the back of Taehyung’s hair and pushing it out of the way so he can kiss at the nape of his neck.

“You okay?” He whispers and Taehyung’s nodding immediately, twisting his body a little so he can sort of glance at Seokjin. 

Seokjin leans over, kissing Taehyung from the side. The angle is a little weird, but they manage, keeping their lips together as Seokjin pulls back his hips the slightest bit, and pushing back in. Taehyung whimpers into his mouth, doing a pretty shit job at kissing him back. But Seokjin can forgive him... considering. 

“You can be rougher.” Taehyung whispers, looking into Seokjin's eyes, almost challenging him.

It's all the encouragement that Seokjin needs, pulling his lips away and pushing himself up from the bed, pulling out of Taehuyung. 

He reaches around Taehyung's stomach, commanding him to sit up up on knees. Taehyung seems a little surprised, but also excited as he pushes up and rests back against Seokjin’s chest. Seokjin’s hands drag over Taeyhung’s chest, up towards his neck and then he grabs for his chin, yanking his face back towards him so he can capture him in an even sloppier and wetter kiss, purposely pushing his tongue out and all around the inside of his mouth, trying to give Taehyung what he asked for. 

“Hands on the wall.” Seokjin commands, pulling back and pushing on Taehyung’s shoulders so he falls forward a little. 

Taehyung immediately does as asked, leaning forward so that his palms are pressed against the wall in front of him, ass presented perfectly to Seokjin. 

Seokjin grabs his cock with one hand, and Taeyhung’s hip with other, using his body as leverage as he lines back up. 

He pushes in again, finally letting himself go entirely. His fingertips claw into Taeyhung’s hips as he thrusts in and out with a harsher snap, setting a much rougher pace. 

Taehyung’s being a little louder now, whining loudly as his head drops between his shoulders, letting Seokjin continue to fuck into him. 

“You feel so fucking amazing, Taehyung-ah.” Seokjin finally blurts, feeling the start of his orgasm rising inside of him. 

But as fun as this is, he wants something different, wants things to feel more intimate with Taehyung. 

He pulls out again, not saying a word, and Taehyung turns, curious for what is going to happen. 

Seokjin grabs at Taehyung arms, yanking them off the wall and pulling them all the way back. He clasps Taehyung’s hands behind his back, holding him tightly at the wrists. 

Taehyung actually laughs, which makes Seokjin feel good, because he knows he’s not pushing things too far. 

“Want you to ride me.” Seokjin whispers roughly into his ear, surprising even himself with how bossy he’s being. With Ken, things were never like this. Their sex was always pretty straight forward and simple. Ken claimed to like it that way. But it’s only now, being here with Taehyung, that Seokjin realizes how much he’s been missing. 

“Yes, hyung.” Taehyung replies, spitting the words out in a flirtatious manner and turning his head to smile at Seokjin sweetly. He’s teasing, but Seokjin loves the way it sounds. 

Seokjin’s hands remain wrapped around Taehyung’s wrists as he maneuvers them on the bed, finally moving past Taehyung to lay onto his back, and letting his hands drop. Taehyung waits until Seokjin is in place before straddling his legs over him. Seokjin is amused at the way Taehyung keeps his hands behind his back, as if they were actually cuffed together, letting Seokjin remain in control. 

Seokjin grabs for his dick again, hiding it upward as he stares up at Taehyung. They maintain eye contact as Teahyung lowers his body down slowly, letting Seokjin guide himself back into place. 

And God, does it feel good when Taehyung fully sinks onto him, Seokjin’s hands tight around Taehyung’s waist, trying his hardest to take this slow and not come almost immediately. The new angle feels different and incredible. 

Seokjin stares in awe as Taehyung’s head falls back, really exposing the sweat glistening down his neck as he slowly rocks on top of Seokjin, meeting his thrusts. Taehyung’s muttering spews of incoherent words, Seokjin’s name mixed in every once in a while and Seokjin can’t get enough of the way his voice sounds; wrecked and deep.

Seokjin’s hands roam all over Taehyung’s body, up his chest, briefly thumbing at his nipples, then moving lower and around his hips, eventually making their way to his ass and gripping tightly. 

Taehyung’s hands are reaching for him too, grabbing around his forearms as he really grinds down, staring at Seokjin so intensely. Seokjin would feel a bit embarrassed by the attention if this didn’t feel so damn good.

Then Taehyung is leaning forward, laying his entire body on top of Seokjin's, kissing his neck and jaw and lips and Seokjin hungrily kisses him back, his arms wrapping tightly around Taehyung’s entire body, holding him as close as possible as they move together.  

Taehyung’s body is so warm and inviting and he's so tight around Seokjin. He can feel his orgasm rising suddenly, unable to stop it… the muscles in his gut tighten immediately as he cums inside of Taehyung, just now realizing how reckless and they stupid they were to do this without a condom. But a part of him is selfishly glad, because this feeling is insanely euphoric.

His body slows a little as he tries to catch his breath, his hold on Taehyung loosening. His eyes are shut, but he can feel Taeyhung breathing right beside him, his face tucked tightly into Seokjin’s neck as his hands run through Seokjin’s hair softly. It feels so soothing, and so sweet; Seokjin wants to stay in this moment a little bit longer, still inside of Taehyung as they lay together quietly. 

Finally, after what feels like three minutes, Taehyung is whispering Seokjin’s name, pushing up from their position and sliding off to the side. 

Seokjin groans when he can feel Taehyung slip out of him, his own cum making a bit of a mess over them both and on the sheets. 

“Let’s go wash off.” Taehyung suggests, grabbing for Seokjin’s wrist and yanking him from the bed, leading him slowly to the bathroom so they can shower. Seokjin's legs feel wobbly and he feels a bit disoriented from what they’ve just done, but he knows that Taehyung is right, and they need to wash off. Taehyung’s hand feels especially nice pressed against his lower back as he guides them into the other room. 

They shower quickly, both exhausted, and he appreciates the way that Taehyung kisses him softly under the running water and helps wipe him clean, ignoring how overly domestic this all feels. This is supposed to be just sex, isn’t it?

Less than 10 minutes later they make it back to the room, quickly putting on some fresh clothing (apparently they are sharing clothes now) and make their way back over to the bed. Taehyung immediately strips off the bottom sheet, temporarily laying a few blankets over the top so they can at least lay down again. 

“Was that okay?” Seokjin finally asks, not sure if he’s asking how Taehyung is doing emotionally, physically, or if he’s wanting a review of what they’ve just done. 

“You can’t break me.” Taehyung says softly, and Seokjin ponders for a moment exactly what he means by that. He thinks maybe it’s Taehyung’s way of saying Seokjin could be even rougher with him… and that he doesn’t need to be checked in on. 

“Okay.” Seokjin replies, laying down against the bed, feeling a little bit awkward after everything, now that he’s got his mind clear again. He definitely wants to keep sleeping with Taehyung, he just isn’t really sure how Taehyung’s feeling about all of it, or what all of this really means? But maybe he shouldn’t overthink.

“I’m gonna get us some water.” Taehyung announces, leaving the room temporarily before returning with two glasses, which he hands over to Seokjin. Seokjin takes a few small sips, which he needed, and places the glass on the bedside table, grateful that Taehyung is so thoughtful. 

Taehyung just sits on his bed a little awkwardly, like he’s not sure what to do next.

“Come lay down.” Seokjin says, trying to make the suggestion feel like nothing, and attempting to put Taehyung at ease. 

Taehyung climbs into his bed next to him, but keeps some distance between the two, carefully watching Seokjin as if he doesn’t really know what to say. It’s equal parts cute as it is frustrating that he’s acting so shy right now. Seokjin can’t exactly blame him, but he thought Taehyung would feel more at ease with him after they slept together. Maybe he should take it as a compliment though, that Taehyung is still a bit nervous around him. 

“That was incredible.” Seokjin whispers, reaching out a hand to stroke gently over Taehyung’s jaw, wanting him to know he definitely didn’t regret any of it. 

Taehyung smiles widely, covering his face little and it makes Seokjin feel good, knowing that his compliment is affecting Taehyung at least a little. 

“I shouldn’t stay too long though," Seokjin says, "in case everyone comes back?”

“Okay… but just a little longer?” Taehyung asks. It sounds almost too hopeful.

“A little longer, then.” 

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG 

The next morning, Seokjin sneaks out early. Taehyung attempts to collect his thoughts over everything that happened the night before.

He’s had sex plenty of times, but this was the first time with Seokjin, and it was so different, but amazing, and perfect. He had so many different feelings fluttering around inside of him. 

He can’t remember a time that someone’s taken so much care with him during sex. It definitely wasn’t his first time, but last night it almost felt like it was, with how slow and patient Seokjin moved with him, making sure to check on him frequently.

But he also liked when Seokjin would push him around or be demanding. It was perfect balance and they seemed to share similar interests in bed, which was extremely important to have in a sex friend… if that’s what they were. 

Around lunch, he runs into Seokjin in the hall and he looks like he’s glowing. Taehyung can’t help but gravitate over to him, standing right beside him. 

“You feeling okay?” He asks flirtatiously and Seokjin is already nodding at him, smiling as he bites at his lips. 

“I should be asking you that.” He whispers, his hand reaching out to grab for Taeyhung’s wrist, just barely tightening his fingers around it. “Are you… sore, or anything?” 

Taehyung feels embarrassed just being asked that question, and ducks his head, feeling shy. “I’m fine…” he says, finally glancing up to see Seokjin smirking at him. 

“You know I’m not a virgin.” He teases, which makes Seokjin laugh. 

”I know.” Seokjin replies, dropping his hand when he sees someone behind Taehyung. “Just checking.” 

“You two look… cozy.” Jungkook says behind them, smiling at them both and walking right on by. 

Taehyung steps back from Seokjin, creating some distance. He doesn’t know why he feels so shy around Seokjin, but he does. 

“I was about to get lunch.” Seokjin says, “do you want anything?” 

“Sure, I’ll come with you.” Taehyung answers, following closely behind. 

They enter the kitchen where Jungkook is just leaning against the counter, eating what looks to be like a bagel and staring at them. 

“What?” Seokjin asks bluntly, moving to the fridge. Taehyung doesn’t quite know where to stand or what to say. 

“Did something happen between the two of you? You’re both being weird.” 

Taehyung glances at the floor, avoiding eye contact. He doesn’t want to lie, but he doesn’t know if it’s really his information to share. Seokjin doesn’t say anything either, and when Taehyung glances at him, Seokjin is already staring back. He lifts an eyebrow, as if asking for permission and Taehyung nods slightly, watching as Seokjin turns his attention to Jungkook finally. 

“Can you keep a secret?” He says, and Jungkook smiles giddily.

“Yes! Tell me!”

“We… kissed, a few days ago. We’ve been hooking up… sort of.”

Taehyung is grateful that Seokjin hasn’t given him the full details.

“Oh my god! I knew it!” Jungkook says loudly, moving towards Seokjin to punch him in the arm playfully. “Did you guys fuck?”

Taehyung’s eyes immediately bulge, glancing around to make sure that no one else is around eavesdropping on the conversation. 

“Jungkook!” Seokjin whines, clearly frustrated with Jungkook’s lack of subtlety.

“Well… did you?” Jungkook asks quieter, nudging his shoulder against Seokjin’s. 

“Just, don’t say anything.” Seokjin says, not exactly answering the question. 

“So that’s a yes then?” Jungkook says again, looking genuinely surprised, then turning to look at Taehyung, hoping for a better response. Taehyung just shrugs at him awkwardly. 

“I’m actually speechless.” Jungkook laughs, making Taehyung feel even more uncomfortable. Then he thinks he can hear Jungkook whisper, “We need to talk later.” to Seokjin. Taehyung pretends not to hear. 

That night the first episode of the show airs, and Taehyung is nervous the entire time, but they only ever show Seokjin and Taehyung talking closely and flirting. They haven’t gotten to the kissing bits yet, which make Taehyung feel a little relieved. The editing is very sly, Taehyung knows they can’t show too much even in future episodes. But they certainly imply enough for everyone to figure out that they are interested in each other.

Taehyung sinks into his seat, trying to hide himself the best he can from the staring gaze of the other models. Most of them are curious, but when he looks at Jungkook and Namjoon, they seem pretty unfazed. He wonders if Jungkook told Namjoon that they had sex. 

Regardless of how uncomfortable he feels with people knowing his business, he can’t stay away from Seokjin, and they start having sex everywhere around the house, feeling reckless and even a little excited about the idea of being caught. 

They have sex in the shower, where Jin presses him up against the wall. Then, that same day, they have sex again in the main living room of the house, when everyone else is away for dinner. Seokjin gets Taehyung’s pants around his ankles in seconds, pulling him by the arms until Taehyung is fully seated on top of him, Seokjin’s hands around his chest and waist as he thrusts up into him. Taehyung knows they’re being filmed right at this moment, and anyone could be behind the scenes watching, but he doesn’t care. It feels way too good to stop, and it’s thrilling still trying to sneak around. 

The next day, they have sex in the pool. Seokjin is getting bolder, and Taehyung loves it. He’s never had this much fun in his life. He’s also never had this much sex with one person before (at least not someone he wasn’t seriously dating), but with Seokjin, he wants it all the time. And living with him makes access to it pretty damn easy. 

The sex is getting rougher too, as they both get more comfortable with each other. Seokjin admits to Taehyung it’s what he likes, and Taehyung agrees, their language with one another also getting dirtier.

Sometimes, they don’t even use condoms, which Taehyung knows is extremely reckless, but they’ve talked about it, and both promise they aren’t having sex with anyone else. They have to get tested frequently being on the series, so they both know they are clean. 

It’s always Seokjin topping, they still haven’t tried it the other way. Taehyung doesn’t bring it up because he wants Seokjin to be ready. But maybe he’ll mention it again soon. They are comfortable with things as they are, and Taehyung doesn’t want to mess up the chemistry that they have. 

That night they go out clubbing with the entire house. They have an assigned photoshoot coming soon and are asked to get to know some of the other models in the industry so they can decide who they want to do their upcoming shoots with. 

Taehyung is trying to talk to one of the models there, but it’s so loud in the club that he has to stand extremely close to hear what the other guy is saying. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Seokjin watching them. He loves the idea of Seokjin being a little jealous, so he reaches his hand out briefly, touching the other models arm and acting flirtatious. The guy responds well to Taehyung, smiling and touching the side of his hip softly. Taehyung doesn’t pull away. 

He glances over to see Seokjin staring daggers at them. He hopes that Seokjin can understand what he is doing… that he’s not actually trying to flirt with this guy, but that he’s looking for a reaction from Seokjin.

Clearly, whatever Taehyung had planned in his head worked because it’s only seconds later that he can feel a rough hand wrapping around his wrist, pulling him away quickly. 

“We need to talk.” Seokjin says loudly, not even giving Taehyung a chance to say goodbye to the other model before he’s being yanked away. 

He doesn’t even have a chance to ask Seokjin what’s going on before he’s being dragged through a side hallway and into a single bathroom. Seokjin pushes him further inside the room and slams the door behind them, locking the door. He turns around, and he looks angry. For a second Taehyung is a little bit afraid. He’s not really upset, is he? 

“What did I tell you about letting other people touch you?” Seokjin asks harshly, stepping towards Taehyung slowly. 

Taehyung racks his brain, trying to remember when they had this conversation. But his mind is absolutely blank. He looks at Seokjin questioningly, “I dunno… what did you say?”

“Don’t.” Seokjin says bluntly. Answering the question. Then his eyes flick downward, taking in Taehyung’s entire body, dragging them over every inch of Taehyung before landing back on his face. “No one gave you permission to look that fucking hot tonight… it’s like you’re begging for other guys to fuck you.”

Taehyung immediately realizes what this is, Seokjin isn’t actually angry, he’s just playing it up. It’s part of their foreplay… and it’s working. 

“I’m sorry, Hyung.” Taehyung says as innocently as possible. He walks backwards until his back hits the counter, his hands gripping the tile tightly as watches Seokjin step closer to him. 

“Are you?” Seokjin asks, stopping right in front of Taeyhung before leaning in, his face close to Taehyung’s neck. It’s so sexy, Taehyung actually has to hold himself back.  “You’re gonna have to make it up to me then.”

Taehyung nods, releasing a breath and waiting. 

Seokjin suddenly tangles his hands into Taehyung’s hair, pulling roughly and exposing more of Taehyung’s neck. It’s hard, but it doesn’t hurt, it only excites Taehyung more. Taehyung is already painfully hard.

“What should I have you do, hmm?” Seokjin whispers, nosing at Taeyhung’s neck for a while. Taehyung isn’t sure if he’s supposed to answer, but he can barely breathe right now, let alone speak.

Then Seokjin’s lips are pressing against his throat, right near his adam’s apple. Taehyung moans out at the feeling. 

Then Seokjin juts forward, and Taehyung can feel their hips collide, Seokjin hard between his legs as he grinds against him. Taehyung could probably cum just from the feeling, he’s so turned on. 

The music is blaring outside the door and the thrill of someone walking in on them right now excites Taehyung like nothing else. He can’t quite believe how reckless they are being. Someone could definitely hear them through the door. Would see them come out looking a mess and figure out in a second what happened.

Seokjin starts undoing the buttons on Taehyung’s shirt, pulling the material open the second he gets to the bottom.

Taehyung’s shirt is pushed over his shoulders and Seokjin’s kissing all over his chest and stomach, his lips reaching Taeyhung’s lower stomach before he reaches the top of Taeyhung’s pants. Isn’t Taehyung supposed to be making it up to Seokjin? 

“Is this turning you on?” Seokjin asks, mouthing over Taehyung’s dick through his jeans. “The idea of being punished?” 

“Yes.” Taehyung breathes out, thinking that it’s probably obvious, but he loves the communication anyways. 

It’s like Seokjin can hear his thoughts because a second after he gets Taehyung’s pants undone, he’s standing, and grabbing at Taeyhung’s hips, and ordering him to turn around. 

“Keep your hands here.” Seokjin whispers into his neck and Taehyung’s got them firmly on the counter. He tries to glance over his shoulder, but he’s stuck in place, so he can only wait. 

Seokjin slides his pants down immediately and Taeyhung feels so exposed standing here like this, but he loves it… loves the attention from Seokjin. Then Seokjin’s hands are dipping into his boxers, pulling them down slowly over his ass. Taehyung can’t help but push back a little, offering himself out. Seokjin actually laughs after he does it. 

“You trying to entice me?” Seokjin asks and then he actually slaps Taehyung’s ass. But it’s gentle… too soft. 

Taehyung doesn’t respond, just moans a little, and Seokjin slaps him again, a little bit harder this time. 

Then Seokjin is actually rubbing over his cheeks, like he’s admiring the red marks that are probably appearing on the flesh, before sliding his hand right between Taeyhung’s cheeks, his fingers gently nudging against his sensitive area before moving back up. 

“I should just push right into you…” 

“Fuck.” Taehyung says without thinking, the idea of that exciting him. 

“Would you be able to take it?” Seokjin asks, and Taehyung can tell that the time he expects an actual answer. 

“Maybe…” Taehyung answers honestly. Without lube, he’s not sure he really could, but he’s never really tried. 

Then he can just hear the sound of Seokjin’s knees hitting the ground with a small thud, knows what’s going to happen before it does. 

Seokjin’s hands are between his cheeks again, pulling him apart, commanding Taehyung to spread his legs. Taehyung obeys, shocked at how forward Seokjin is being right now. He never expected this. 

Seokjin alluded to him once that his sex life was pretty bland with Ken… Taeyhung can’t even imagine what Seokjin has locked inside of him. What parts of him nobody else has gotten to see.  

Then he can feel Seokjin’s tongue flicking right against his hole and he can’t help but cover his mouth with his arms, loving the feeling of it. 

“Want to hear you.” Seokjin sputters, dipping back in and licking inside of Taeyhung deeper. God it feels incredible. 

Taehyung once again obeys, letting the string of breaths and moans filter from his mouth freely so Seokjin can hear just how turned on he is. 

“Want you…” Taehyung attempts to string together as Seokjin licks him out, his tongue dipping in and out of Taeyhung rapidly. 

“Want me to what?” Seokjin finally asks, his hands still gently kneeding against Taehyung’s flesh as he waits. 

“Fuck me, Seokjin-ah.” Taehyung blurts out. He wants to feel the stretch and the pull; all of it. He needs it. 

Seokjin stands immediately, pressing himself against Taehyung, his hand wrapping tightly around Taehyung’s neck. With just the right amount of pressure. He can feel Seokjin’s hard dick through his pants pressing into him.

“What did you say?” He asks, his voice coming out strong and hard. “You want me to fuck you?” 

Taehyung nods instantly. More than ever.

Seokjin’s fingers slide into Taehyung’s mouth, pressing into his tongue. Taeyhung opens wider to fit them. 

“Like this?” Seokjin growls into his ear, moving his fingers in and out of Taehyung’s mouth roughly. God, he could probably get off just from this, it’s so fucking hot. 

Seokjin pushes them deeper and Taehyung chokes a little, trying to control his breathing. 

“Hope you can take me better than this…” Seokjin laughs, stilling his hand and kissing the side of Taeyhung’s neck. He’s moving too slowly. Taehyung is growing impatient.

“Please.” Taehyung mumbles out again.

“Please what?” Seokjin goads, actually squeezing Taehyung’s throat this time. 

“Please fuck me.” Taehyung tries to say as clearly as possible. “Need you inside me.” 

He turns to look at Seokjin with pleading eyes, and Seokjin stares back intently, smiling a little before he finally moves in, finally kissing him on the mouth.

It’s sloppy. And messy. Their tongues work together in sync, Seokjin’s grip still tight around his throat. Taehyung loves every second of it. 

“You sure?” Seokjin asks. “It’s gonna hurt.” 

It’s sweet that Seokjin keeps checking up on him. 

“Don’t care. Do it.” Taehyung finds himself saying. 

Seokjin kisses him again, this time his hand moves behind Taehyung’s head, grabbing into his hair roughly as their tongues brush together. 

“Get on the counter.” 

SEOKJIN

Taehyung jumps up immediately, his back hitting the corner of the wall. Seokjin is amused by his eagerness. 

Seokjin undoes his own pants quickly, staring at Taehyung, who is just watching him intently. It only turns Seokjin on more, who takes his time, dragging his zipper down slowly before pushing his pants and boxers down and over his legs.

Taehyung’s biting his lip, staring hard, and even though Seokjin is trying to keep up his confident front, he feels nervous. Taehyung’s knees are locked tightly together, but Seokjin pushes them apart forcefully, yanking on Taehyung’s thighs and pulling him forward, right to the edge of the counter. 

Taehyung’s legs instantly wrap about his waist, and he strokes himself a few times before Seokjin pushes his hand away. Taehyung whimpers and Seokjin loves the sound of it. Loves when Taehyung is like this. 

“Let me do it.” Seokjin growls, licking his hand and getting it wet before wrapping his hand tightly around Taehyung’s cock, loosely fisting it but not working hard enough to get him off. 

He teases Taehyung for a few moments, before releasing him and reaching for his own dick, pumping himself a few times. 

He pushes down, letting his cock drag against Taehyung’s balls and then further down, gently tapping against his hole but not pressing in. 

“Fuck…” Taehyung whimpers again, his head falling back, clearly frustrated with how slow Seokjin is going. 

Seokjin can’t help but chuckle slightly, enjoying this way too much. It’s fun being in control. 

He wonders how he would feel if the roles were reversed. If Taehyung had him up on the counter, legs spread open and begging to be fucked. 

His stomach flutters at the thought of it, hoping someday he’ll get to experience something like it. 

This time feels different than any other before. Even though they’re in a bathroom at a nightclub, somehow things feel even more intimate, with Taehyung just watching Seokjin silently with hooded eyes, waiting for Seokjin to act. 

Seokjin takes a breath, finally pushing inside of Taeyhung, slowly and carefully. He knows that it has to hurt. But Taehyung did ask for it. 

Taehyung groans, his hole tightening as Seokjin pushes in, and holy fuck, it feels incredible. 

Seokjin’s demeanor falters for a second, his hands falling onto the counter by Taehyung’s waist as he adjusts to the feeling. It feels so damn good, Seokjin doesn’t think he will be able to last very long. 

“Seokjin… Jin-hyung…” Taehyung is whimpering. Begging. 

“Quiet.” Seokjin demands, hand moving to clasp over Taehyung’s mouth as he pulls back and thrusts back inside, even deeper than before. Taehyung grips his forearm to steady himself. He can hear Taehyung’s moans even louder, muffled by his hand. “Everyone in the club will hear you…” 

Taehyung says something else, but Seokjin can’t make out what it is. Their foreheads are pressed together and Seokjin continues to push in and out, his movement getting rougher the longer they go on. Taehyung’s hand is gripping tightly on his forearm every time he pushes in.

“You okay?” Seokjin checks in, moving his hand out of the way. “Does it hurt?” 

“Yes.” Taehyung mumbles, almost making him want to stop. “But it’s a good hurt… wanna feel you tomorrow.”

Taehyung’s hands move around his back, pushing, trying to get their bodies even closer, his hands sliding under Seokjin’s shirt that’s somehow still on. Seokjin’s so sweaty, but this feels too good to care. His hand moves back to Taehyung’s throat, gently gripping, where he can feel Taahyung swallow and Seokjin can’t help but place a kiss against his jaw and neck, sucking into the flesh. 

He’s close to orgasm, he can feel it stirring in his gut, a few more deep thrusts and he knows he’ll be coming, his breathing getting heavier with each passing moment. 

“When are you gonna let me fuck you?” Taehyung whispers right into his ear, and Seokjin is a little surprised that he’s asking this now. 

He pulls back, slowing his rhythm slightly and looks at Taehyung, trying to figure out what to say. 

“I’m…” Seokjin begins, wondering how Taehyung is going to take this… “I’m scared.”

He feels immature admitting such a thing, wonders if Taehyung is going to be turned off or if he’s frustrated by the confession. But Taehyung puts him at ease when he smiles, and his hands wrap around Seokjin’s face, holding his cheeks between his hands. It’s comforting. 

“Is that stupid?” He asks.

“What?” Taehyung laughs, kissing Seokjin softly on the lips. “No, not at all. We don’t have to, if you don’t want to…”

“I do want to!” Seokjin interrupts. “I’ve been… preparing. Or, trying to. I’m just not quite ready yet.”

He hasn’t gotten very far with it, but he’s trying to get more comfortable with the idea. 

“It still feels a little strange. But I promise, I want to with you. I just haven’t done it often.” 

He still feels silly. He’s a grown man. Whose been in relationships before. Who is open to trying new things. And Taehyung clearly has experience with it. 

“You’ll get used to it.” Taehyung says, his hands running through Seokjin’s hair. “And we can go as slow as you want. And if you change your mind, that’s okay too.”

Seokjin can’t believe how sweet Taehyung is being about this. 

“Do you prefer it one way or the other?” 

He shakes his head. “I like it both ways…”

Then he pulls Seokjin forward, whispering into his ear for a second time.

“But I do really want to hold you down and fuck you someday.” 

Seokjin can feel his orgasm rising again just from the words. Taehyung’s deep and husky voice in his ear is so sexy.

“Hit you in just the right spot… make you cum so hard you’ll wonder why you didn’t let me do it before.” 

God, Taehyung knows what to say to pull him completely undone. And it’s exactly what he needed to move this along. 

“I want that too…” He whispers, finally pulling back.

Then he thrusts deep and quick inside of Taehyung, over and over until he can feel is orgasm is rising again. Taehyung is meeting his thrusts perfectly, hands tangling into Seokjin’s shirt as he moves.

His orgasm shoots through him, hitting him in quick waves. He’s whimpering into Taehyung’s neck as he comes, taking in the feeling that’s running through his entire body. Taehyung feels so incredible, and he’s trying hard not to be too loud. 

He moves to kiss Taehyung again, before pulling out of him slowly, reaching for some paper towels to wipe up the mess, his eyes focused on where his cum is spilling out from Taehyung’s body. It’s so incredibly hot. 

He tosses the paper towel to the side, his hand moving to Taehyung’s dick, realizing that he is still very hard.

“Go faster…” Taehyung begs as Seokjin fists his cock, his legs instinctively spreading wider so Seokjin can jerk him faster. “Finger me too…” 

Seokjin obeys, shoving his fingers inside Taehyung’s slick hole, his own cum providing enough lubrication now. 

He loves that he can focus on Taehyung now, and follow whatever instruction Taehyung wants to get him there quickly. 

Taehyung’s whimpering, his stomach muscles clenching as Seokjin works inside of him, pushing deep, trying to hit that “spot” Taehyung mentioned earlier. 

“Up… up more…” Taehyung moans out and Seokjin instantly complies. Curving his fingers upward, his fingers edging along the inside of Taehyung, trying to find his prostate. 

“Oh my god… fuck!” Taehyung practically screams, and Seokjin’s knows he’s hit it correctly, “I’m gonna cum…” 

“Shhh!” Seokjin tries to say, but it’s no use because Taehyung’s already spilling and he’s being so fucking loud. Seokjin has to kiss him to silence him, even though there is no use because Taehyung can’t even kiss back. 

Taehyung’s holding his shoulders tightly as he bucks into Seokjin’s hand, splashing white all over Seokjin’s fist.

“Holy shit…” Taehyung calls out, attempting to calm his breathing as he comes down from his high. 

And it’s right at that moment there’s a loud knocking on the door. 

“Just a second!” Seokjin calls out frantically, and they both can’t help but burst out laughing, thankful they were finished. “Hurry and get dressed!” Seokjin whispers to Taehyung, trying to help wipe him off a bit before helping him from the counter. 

They toss the evidence in the trash and both scramble to get their clothes back on.

“What are we gonna say?” Taehyung asks desperately, attempting to fix his matted hair in the mirror. They’re both red, sweaty, and completely out of breath. Nothing they say is going to be convincing. 

“Maybe if we just run out real quick we won’t have to say anything.” Seokjin jokes. He can only hope and pray it’s not security outside the door. 

“You know I wasn’t really flirting with that guy out there, right?” Taehyung says suddenly, and Seokjin laughs, leaning in to peck Taehyung quickly. 

“Yes. But I was still jealous.” 

They reach the door and Seokjin glances at Taehyung quickly, before yanking it open.

To his surprise it’s Jimin standing there, eyes widening when he sees Taehyung and Seokjin leaving together. 

“What in the…” He starts to say but Seokjin grabs for Taehyung’s hand and the two of them rush past, attempting to escape quickly. “Did you guys just fuck in there?” He tries to ask, but they’re already making their way down the hall.

“TELL ME!” Jimin calls out to them, but they can’t hear, their laughter filling the air as they flee.

Chapter Text

TAEHYUNG

Taehyung crashes immediately into his bed that night, he’s so exhausted from everything that happened at the club. He’s feeling drunk but so damn euphoric… every minute he's shared with Seokjin is running through his head on repeat.

A few days later another episode of the show airs and Taehyung is relieved to find that the sex between him and Seokjin isn’t shown. But, a hell of a lot of kissing is.

When the episode ends Taehyung finally turns to Namjoon, attempting to explain himself a little. Not that he really owes Namjoon anything, but he still feels a bit guilty. But before he can say anything at all, Namjoon quickly whispers, “It’s okay, I kinda already knew.” 

“You did?” Taehyung asks. He should have assumed that Jungkook probably told him too. 

“Well, lets just say you two were not very subtle in the pool.”

Taehyung can feel his face getting hot. If he blushed the way Seokjin did, it would be all over his face. He’s so embarrassed. So, Namjoon had seen them that day after all?

He feels shy about everything, but he’s also glad the information is out there now. Also, based on how close Namjoon and Jungkook were sitting together earlier, he’s probably more than okay. 

Jimin does manage to grab him later though, and even though they’ve already talked relentlessly about what he witnessed at the club, he still seems surprised every time new information comes out about them. 

“You’ve been hooking up since then!? Since that day we talked at the bar? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while.” Taehyung answers sheepishly, hoping that Jimin will accept his explanation.

“The fans are going to flip out!” He says excitedly, with a huge smile on his face, and Taehyung can’t help but laugh. He finds it adorable that Jimin is so supportive of this. But his words scare Taehyung a little too. He hadn’t even really thought about how the public was going to take this, or how his family was going to react to seeing him sneaking around and kissing another guy on television. Of course they know about his sexuality, but seeing it on a TV screen with someone he’s not even officially dating is a bit different. Then again, they managed to get past the Yoongi stuff on Top Model, so maybe it would be fine? 

He just wants to stay in his happy bubble for a little longer before letting everyone else in, but unfortunately, it comes with the territory of doing reality TV.

He lets all the fear and the worries leave his body that night. The whole house decides to stay in and drink to celebrate the airing of the next episode. It’s become a new tradition in the house. 

Of course the alcohol allows him to enjoy himself and forget about all the other stuff going. He drinks and dances with Jimin in the living room, trying to dodge all the other questions Jimin has about Seokjin. 

He can see Seokjin watching them from the kitchen. He knows that he’s a little jealous that Taehyung is spending all his time with Jimin tonight, and not him. It’s not intentional really, but he doesn’t want to turn into one of those people who starts dating someone and then ignores all their other friends. Seokjin should be fine without him for a night. 

He can see Seokjin chatting with one of the other models and he takes the opportunity to run to the bathroom. He has to pee so bad and doesn’t bother knocking when he sees that the door is closed. It’s unlocked so he barges right in, and immediately covers his eyes and runs out.

He’d interrupted Namjoon and Jungkook, who were clearly very… engaged in one another.

“Sorry!”

Taehyung calls out, and Jungkook pulls away from Namjoon, shock etched on his face. Namjoon wipes his mouth and tries to stop Taehyung from leaving. 

“No, sorry, we were just, we….” he stutters and it’s kind of cute how nervous he is about it. Like everyone in the whole entire house doesn’t already know they were on their way to getting back together.

“We were just kissing, I swear!” Namjoon finally answers. 

“It’s cool, seriously.” Taehyung responds. Knowing full well that he and Seokjin have done a hell of a lot worse in this house.

“I promise we weren’t gonna do anything else in here.” He says and Taehyung can see Jungkook holding back a laugh behind him as he adjusts his clothes a bit and moves to leave the bathroom. 

“Sorry, Hyung…” Jungkook says to him sheepishly, grabbing for Namjoon’s hand. It’s a little awkward, but also sweet. Taehyung is glad that the two of them have each other. 

“It’s cool, I swear,” Taehyung says to them, “feel free to carry on.” He jokes as the two rush off down the hallway. He laughs to himself before re-entering the bathroom. 

The second he comes back out, he’s startled by a figure coming up behind him, grabbing for the back of his arm. 

It’s Jin, and he allows himself to be dragged away, down to the far end of the empty hallway. 

He pushes Taehyung roughly up against the door. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Seokjin says, his face completely stoic as he stares into Taehyung’s eyes. He looks mad, but he can tell by the tinniest little smirk on Seokjin’s face that he’s just teasing. Taehyung waits patiently. 

“You think it’s okay to flirt with Jimin-ssi now too?” 

Taehyung holds back a laugh, wanting to play into this little game that they have started. 

“I’m sorry, Hyung.” Taehyung drags out the last word. “Couldn’t help myself… I’m just so worked up lately, and you weren’t there.”

Seokjin releases a deep breath after Taehyung responds.

“I don’t care how worked up you are, you aren’t allowed to throw yourself at other guys.” 

Taehyung loves the commanding tone that Seokjin is using with him. He wants more of it. 

“Are you gonna punish me, Hyung?” Taehyung asks softly, batting his eyelashes up at Seokjin. 

“Mhmm.” Seokjin answers, grabbing Taehyung’s arm roughly and yanking him up from the wall, dragging him down the hall behind him until they reach Seokjin’s room.

Taehyung’s heart is racing, the thrill of what they are doing exciting him. They’re usually hooking up when everyone's out of the house. Not when everyone is home.

Seokjin shoves Taehyung inside, and he almost trips as he falls back onto the bed, staring up at Seokjin. 

“Don’t fucking move.” Seokjin spits out and then turns around and leaves.

Taehyung is confused but he can already feel himself hardening in his pants, excited for whatever it is that Seokjin has planned.

After five minutes Taehyung starts to get a bit impatient, laying back on the bed and forcing himself not to move. After 10 minutes he contemplates how badly he’ll be punished if Seokjin comes back and sees that he’s not there.

After 25 minutes Taehyung realizes that he’s been played, and that Seokjin isn’t coming back. He gets up from the bed, his buzz having worn off by now and trudges back out to the living room all pouty. He’s even more frustrated to see Seokjin on the living room couch chatting with Jimin like nothing even happened. 

He stands behind the two of them, waiting for Jimin to notice and turn around.

“Taehyung-ssi, where the heck have you been?” He asks, finally turning to Taehyung and Taehyung turns to glance at Seokjin. 

“Maybe ask him?” He says bluntly, but Seokjin just smiles, as if he’s not even phased that he’s being called out.

“Poor Taehyung was feeling a little sick so he went to my room to take a nap.” 

“Why not you’re own room?” Jimin asks and neither Taehyung or Seokjin answer, clearly expecting the other one to.

“Oh…” Jimin says suddenly, glancing between them, “Is like this some weird, sex game thing? Cuz I don’t really want to be involved.” Jimin laughs, standing up from the couch and walking away, chucking slightly. 

He has no idea how involved he really was. 

“You’re so mean.” Taehyung points as he walks around the couch and shoves Seokjin before sitting next to him on the couch. “You got me all worked up for nothing.”

“That was your punishment,” Seokjin laughs, “for flirting with other people.” 

“You know I wasn’t flirting.” Taehyung says honestly, the thrill of the game over now that he’d been embarrassed and rejected. “And the game isn’t really fun if there’s no sex involved.” He teases.

“Well then you might be pretty bored tonight. Cuz we’re not having sex. You can partake in some self love I guess.” 

“Seriously?” Taehyung asks. Is Seokjin really upset about his dancing with Jimin? “You don’t really think I was flirting with Jimin, so do you?” 

“Do you wanna make it two nights?”

And Taehyung really can’t tell if he’s joking, but he doesn’t want to push it so he doesn’t say anything, just leans back against the couch and pouts some more.

It seems to work because Seokjin’s touching his hand softly and leaning towards him. “Behave the rest of the night and you’ll be rewarded later.” He says softly. 

And it’s pathetic that just the promise of it turns Taehyung’s mood around instantly. 

He can go one night without sex from Seokjin. After all, once the show ends it’s going to stop all together, won’t it? But Taehyung doesn’t want to think about that now. 

“And bring me your vibrator.” 

“What?” Taehyung asks, surprised that Seokjin’s actually requesting that. “Why?”

“So you can’t use it tonight. You have to take your punishment seriously.”

“Okay, now this is just getting ridiculous.”

Seokjin only lifts an eyebrow and it’s enough of a threat. Taehyung lets out a deep breath and tries to prevent himself from saying anything else that is going to get him into trouble.

“Do you even still have it?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung slowly nods. “You haven’t talked about it in a while.”

“Haven’t needed it.” Taehyung says honestly which earns a smile from Seokjin, knowing he’s the reason for that. 

“Good. Then put it under my bed. And make sure no one sees you.” 

He smiles at Taehyung sweetly, rubbing him on the inner thigh before he gets up, going to the kitchen to get another drink.

Taehyung isn’t sure why he enjoys this so damn much. It’s a bit humiliating and frustrating, and annoying, but he loves it. Loves being bossed around by Seokjin and loves having a secret with him. So he gets up from the couch immediately, and does exactly what he’s been told to do.

Seokjin practically ignores him the rest of the night which is annoying, but Taehyung knows that it’s part of their game. He gives up hoping that Seokjin will cave and spend time with him and announces to the house that he’s going to sleep, loving the way that Seokjin’s eyes linger on him when he leaves the room. 

Moments later when he’s brushing his teeth, Seokjin comes into the bathroom and stands behind him. He doesn’t say anything, just watches Taehyung finish silently until he’s slowly walking over and standing behind him. Taehyung stares at him through the mirror, wondering what he’s planning and is startled when Seokjin leans over and kisses him softly on the cheek. It feels like maybe his way of apologizing for being so harsh with him tonight, but he can’t be sure. 

“Goodnight, Taehyung.” He whispers softly. It’s sweet and almost domestic and it makes Taehyung’s heart ache, which, he again tries to ignore. 

The next day Seokjin wakes him up with yet another kiss on the cheek. He’s being sweet again and Taehyung can barely handle it, not letting his thoughts wander into dangerous territory. 

They say good morning and then Seokjin is reaching into his hoodie pocket and pulling out Taehyung’s black vibrator. 

“You can have this back now.” He says and Taehyung quickly grabs it from him, putting it back into it’s normal hiding spot. 

“I used it.” Seokjin teases and Taehyung playfully hits him. 

"Did you really?"

"No," Jin laughs.

“You’re a jerk.” He pouts. 

“I’m sorrrrrry.” Seokjin drags out, before moving forward and putting his arms around Taehyung’s shoulders gently. “Are you really upset with me?”

“A little.” Taehyung answers honestly. While he does love the game between them, sometimes Seokjin is hard to read. 

“I was testing you… seeing if you would actually do what I asked.”

“And did I pass?” 

“You did.” Seokjin smiles, finally releasing Taehyung from his grip. 

“I’m still mad at you.” Taehyung lies. Maybe if he plays it up he’ll get more sweet gestures from Seokjin. 

“Don’t pout.” Seokjin says sternly, but Taehyung’s expression doesn’t change. He just stares at Seokjin. 

“I’ll make it up to you.” Seokjin says, grabbing for Taehyung’s hand and running his thumb over Taehyung’s palm sweetly. 

“When?”

“Right now.” Seokjin answers slowly, before leaning in. He places a tender kiss against Taehyung’s collar bone. It’s too slow, and too soft, and Taehyung wants more. 

It’s like Seokjin can read his mind because he’s placing more kisses along Taehyung’s neck next, and more, close to his ear. It feels so damn good. 

“Is that what you want?” Seokjin asks again, asking permission if he can continue and Taehyung is instantly nodding. He always wants Seokjin. 

Seokjin pulls away then and Taehyung is about to protest, until he realizes that Seokjin is shutting and locking the door.

“Taehyung?” Seokjin asks, and suddenly Seokjin’s demeanor seems to have shifted. For a brief second Taehyung gets a little worried, not sure what Seokjin is going to say to him. 

“What?” Taehyung asks hesitantly as Seokjin makes his way back over and sits on the edge of the bed. He’s kind of fidgeting with his hands and Taehyung instantly moves forward on the bed to get closer. “What is it, Hyung? You’re making me nervous.”

“I think I’m almost ready?” He says, but it feels more like a question. For a second Taehyung is not sure what he means until it finally clicks.

“Wait, are you talking about…”

Seokjin nods. 

“I’ve been… practicing a lot.” 

“Wait, did you really try to use the vibrator on yourself?” Taehyung blurts and Seokjin actually laughs then.

“No. Need to go slower than that.”

“So then, how…”

“Just my fingers.” Seokjin practically whispers. Taehyung can tell he feels a little embarrassed revealing this out loud, but just the thought of it gets Taehyung hot. 

“You did this last night?” Taehyung asks softly and Jin nods sheepishly, finally looking up. 

Taehyung can’t help but smile, getting up from the bed and walking over to him. He runs his hands into Seokjin’s hair before he grips the back of his neck and then leans down, kissing him. 

“That’s so incredibly sexy.” Taehyung whispers into his mouth and then kisses him again, much deeper this time. 

And then he pushes Seokjin’s back onto the bed, climbing over him. 

“You sure you want to?” Taehyung asks, and Seokjin is nodding, hands gently touching Taehyung’s back. 

“Come here then.”

JIN

Jin wonders if he took the game too far, or if he’s being too mean. Taehyung actually looked upset when Seokjin chose to ignore him all night. He wonders how exactly he can make things up to him. Maybe he should just let Taehyung fuck him already? They both want it. He’s been “practicing” with his fingers the last few weeks, and things have been going okay. At first it was a bit tricky, and definitely painful. But with lots of lube he managed it. But surely it’s going to be much different when it’s someone else's fingers? He’s scared of how painful it will be. What if they start and then he has back out? But if there is anyone to try it with, its Taehyung. 

He showers that morning, making sure to get himself as clean as possible… everywhere, just in case he has the courage to tell Taehyung that he's ready.

And now that they're here, in the bedroom together, Seokjin realizes that he IS ready. Taehyung looks more than ready too, climbing on top of him and kissing him immediately. 

Then Taehyung's lips are peppering kisses to his neck, his hands are running through Seokjin’s hair, and he’s smiling so brightly at him… it makes him really happy to see Taehyung so urgent and excited. He wants more than anything to make him happy. 

They start really kissing then, and Seokjin's stomach is in knots. All the anticipation building to this moment was definitely worth it. He’s nervous, but excited, and things feel so much more intense than they normally do. The idea of what they are going to do has them both feeling antsy. 

“Where is everyone?” Taehyung pulls away. 

“Some are at the gym, some went out to breakfast.” Seokjin says. "The house is mostly empty." 

“We don’t have to try this right this second? I mean, it is only 10am.” Taehyung laughs. 

And this is Seokjin’s chance… to stall things even longer. To wait. To put things off. Maybe in the evening when he’s feeling more relaxed, or after a few drinks. 

But as he’s about to agree with Taehyung, he stops himself. His hands run through the hair that has fallen in Taehyung's face and he brushes the hair away so he can see Taehyung’s dark brown eyes searing into his own. He knows that Taehyung is the right person. He knows that Taehyung will be careful with him. 

“I don’t wanna wait anymore.” Seokjin whispers quietly and Taehyung smiles again, saying, “okay” and pressing his lips softly against Seokjin’s collarbone. 

“Just, can we take it really slow?” Seokjin asks, which is easier to do when Taehyung isn’t staring at him. 

Taehyung pushes back up, then kisses Seokjin gently on the cheek. “Of course.” He whispers back and it makes Seokjin feel so much more at ease. 

He never predicted Taehyung could ever be like this when they’d first met. He knows they haven’t known each other long, but he believes Taehyung would probably do a lot of things for him if he asked. 

Seokjin’s eyes close as Taehyung’s lips travel over his body. First on his chest, and then a bit lower, his lips pushing against the fabric at the top of his loose shirt, along the neckline. Taehyung’s fingers are pushing underneath the material and dragging Seokjin’s shirt up. He doesn’t try to take it off, just holds it up as his lips travel lower, his tongue circling his nipple softly before flicking at it with his tongue. Seokjin releases a small whimper because he wasn’t expecting that, and it feels so good. And then he can feel Taehyung’s thumb gently flicking against the other one at the same time, and he never knew something so small could be so erotic. 

Taehyung continues littering kisses down his chest and stomach, swirling his tongue inside his belly button, his hands quickly moving to Seokjin’s sweats, pulling them off quickly and then doing the same with his own, leaving both of them left in just their boxers. Seokjin works to get his shirt the rest of the way off, throwing it over to the side of the bed as he waits, lettings Taehyung control this. 

Taehyung straddles Seokjin on the bed, and sometimes Seokjin can’t take the way Taehyung stares at him. It makes him feel shy, like Taehyung’s studying him. 

“If you wanna stop, don’t be afraid to tell me, okay?” Taehyung says, and he surprises Seokjin when he grabs his hands, holding them between his own. It’s sweet and comforting, and Seokjin just nods, and then Taehyung's pushing his arms up and over his head. He holds them together tightly and his hand wraps around both of Seokjin’s wrists with just one of his, the other moving to the front of Seokjin's boxers. It’s so hot and Seokjin can’t even hide how hard he is right now, pre-come leaking through boxers as Taehyung strokes him through the material. 

“You are so fucking sexy, it's unfair.” Taehyung whispers, and Seokjin can’t even respond because Taehyung’s kissing him again. One hand tightly holding his hands in place, the other working harder over his covered dick. 

Seokjin’s whimpering into his mouth, he can barely focus. He’s going to cum before they even get started. 

“Taehyu-” he begins to say, but Taehyung’s tongue is in his mouth and it feels so warm and he loves the feeling of being overpowered by him so much more than he ever thought he would. “Come on…” he manages to break through. 

“So much for going slow.” Taehyung teases him, kissing him one more time. 

Then Seokjin is completely shocked when Taehyung releases him from his hold and sits up, instantly grabbing the waist band of Seokjin’s boxers and yanking them down and off, completely exposing Seokjin’s dick; hard and wet and flat against his stomach. 

“Taehyung…” Seokjin whines, feeling exposed. But then Taehyung’s surprising him again and pushing at Seokjin’s back, forcing him to turn over. 

“On your stomach.” Taehyung commands, and god, Seokjin loves how controlling and deep his voice sounds. He would probably do anything Taehyung asked right now, he’s so turned on. 

Taehuyng’s hand is gently stroking over his back, getting lower until his fingers are gliding over Seokjin’s small ass. He’s only touching his cheeks at first, but then his long fingers are dragging deeper inward, along the inside and moving all the way down to the top of Seokjin’s thighs. 

“Spread your legs.” Taehyung says, but he doesn’t give Seokjin proper time to respond, pushing at Seokjin’s right leg and immediately getting what he wants. 

Seokjin feels so shy right now and buries his head into the pillow. Of course they’ve seen each other naked, but not like this. He’s completely spread open and Taehyung is just staring. He fights every single urge he has to close his legs and pull the covers over himself. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna finger you yet.” Taehyung says with a bit of a chuckle and Seokjin hates to admit that even him just saying the words turns him on, knowing that Taehyung is enjoying watching him squirm. 

Then he can he can hear Taehyung leaving him, fumbling around in some drawers near his bed and the very distinct sound of a cap opening. He knows exactly what Taehyung is doing now and he anxiously waits of the next steps.

But Taehyung surprises him again because suddenly he feels cold liquid dripping over his ass and he instantly jumps, not expecting it. 

“Taehyung, what are you doing?” He can’t help but ask, and Taehyung just laughs again, his hand firmly pushing against Seokjin’s lower back, holding him down. 

“Just hold still.” He says, not really answering Seokjin’s question. “Grab the pillow if you need.”

And then he can feel Taheyung’s fingers against his crack again, this time spreading the liquid inside. His other hand presses against Seokjin’s ass, pushing him open so he can drag his fingers to the exact spot he needs. 

Seokjin gasps out loud when he feels Taehyung circling his hole with his fingers, not pushing in like he said, but gently massaging the sensitive spot. It feels good but Seokjin wants more. But he’ll be patient. He did ask for him to go slow. 

He can feel the bed shifting and quickly glances over his shoulder to see Taehyung moving lower on the bed. His face gets hot when he realizes what Taehyung is planning. He almost wants to protest, but his curiosity gets the best of him and he finds himself automatically spreading his legs wider, feeling slightly ashamed. 

Then both of Taehyung’s hands are on his cheeks, spreading him open. He can feel Taehyung tongue immediately pressing against his hole, pushing inside the tiniest amount. 

“Oh my god.” Seokjin finds himself moaning, then takes Taehyung's earlier advice and pushes his face into the pillow to muffle his sounds. 

“It’s strawberry lube…” Taehyung teases from below him. “Just wanted to try it.” 

And of course Taehyung is teasing him right now, as they’re doing this. 

“Tastes good.” He says seductively before going back in, pushing his tongue deeper inside of Seokjin. Fuck… it’s something he never knew he wanted so desperately. 

His mind is screaming, 'just fuck me already!' but he knows his body is not ready for it yet. His heart wants it more than anything.

“Your body is perfect.” Taehyung praises him and it makes his dick twitch. He’s so painfully hard right now. He doesn’t think he’s wanted anyone so badly in his life. 

And then he’s actually fucking Seokjin's asshole with his tongue, pushing in and out in a very repetitive and steady motion. Seokjin’s moans get louder, enjoying the feeling. 

“More.” He finds himself finally sputtering out. Begging, really.

Taehyung instantly pauses and then pulls his tongue out, his thumb to gently pressing against Seokjin’s hole as he runs his tongue lower, over Seokjin’s testicles. Holy hell, Taehyung is good at this. 

“Was hoping you would ask that…” Taehyung replies, grabbing for the lube and dripping more over his fingers. Seokjin silently watches him over his shoulder. “Just tell me to stop if it hurts too much.” 

Then he can feel one of Taehyung's arms snaking underneath his body, holding him around the stomach. It feels comforting, but it's also a way to get Seokjin’s hips a bit higher, giving Taehyung a better angle so that he can finally press one of his fingers inside of Seokjin slowly. 

“Ugh.” Seokjin finds himself groaning automatically, as Taehyung’s slender finger enters him. 

“Does it hurt already?” Taehyung asks seriously, pulling it out. 

“Yes, but keep going,” Seokjin whimpers, “please, Tae.” 

And Taehyung doesn’t waste time, pushing his finger back in. Then he pulls it out and pushes it back in again, repeating the motion multiple times, trying to get Seokjin used to the feeling. Eventually it starts to feel less painful and Taehyung asks if he can add another, and Seokjin is quickly nodding. 

Two fingers hurt so much more and he isn’t sure how Taehyung’s ever going to be able to actually fuck him. It might take a bit before they get to that point. But he can admit that he sees the appeal of bottoming so much more now. The feeling of being this vulnerable to someone and giving that person all the control is scary, but exciting. And it feels so good being filled up like this. 

Seokjin moans louder as Taehyung’s two fingers slide deeper inside of him. “Taehyung, it hurts.”

“I know, I know.” Taehyung whispers, kissing Seokjin on the back to comfort him. “But you’re doing so good.” 

“Can we take a pause?” Seokjin asks and Taehyung immediately removes his fingers, his hand moving to Seokjin’s hip, continuing to kiss him against his back and neck. 

“Do you want to stop?” Taehyung asks him over his shoulder, waiting for Seokjin to look at him. 

“No.” Seokjin says confidently, shaking his head. He wants to keep going. “Come here.” 

His hand reaches around and grabs for Taehyung’s face, pulling him in for a sloppy kiss over his shoulder. He shoves his tongue inside Taehyung’s mouth urgently. 

“Thank you for being so patient with me.” 

“You don’t have to thank me.” Taehyung smiles, kissing Seokjin on the shoulder. “You are the most beautiful person, Hyung.” Taehyung surprises him by saying. “I can wait to fuck you. It doesn’t have to be today.” 

Just him saying the words make Seokjin want to keep going until Taehyung gets exactly what he wants. But he knows they need to take it in steps.

“Fuck me with your fingers?” Seokjin says then, and falls over to the side a bit more, his legs opening again, one leg resting against the bed as Taehyung hovers behind him. 

“Turn on your back, I have an idea… it might hurt less.” Taehyung says, then guides him over and pushes a pillow underneath his lower back, Taehyung moving to the front of him. 

“What’s your idea?” Seokjin asks, just as Taehyung’s hand wraps around his cock, stroking him slowly. 

“Lets take your mind off the pain…” Taehyung smirks and immediately dips his head down, his tongue circling around the head of Seokjin’s cock. 

His mouth drags along the shaft, all the way to the base, his hand holding him gently. He then moves to Seokjin’s balls, taking each one into his mouth and sucking gently. 

“I’m gonna cum in two seconds if you keep doing that.” Seokjin says, loving the way that Taehyung is smiling at him. But he listens, and moves his mouth back up, placing small kisses along the side of his dick as he makes his way back to the tip, rubbing his tongue against the slit and sending shivers through Seokjin's entire body.

Then Seokjin can feel Taehyung’s fingers against his hole again, and this time he wastes little time before pushing them in.

Taheuyng uses his right hand to push against Seokjin’s thigh, holding his leg up as he closes his mouth entire over Seokjin's cock. There is so much happening right now, but Taheyung was right, going down on him is a really good distraction. It feels so good that he almost forgets about the pain of Taehyung’s fingers plunging deeper inside of him. 

And then Taheyung starts timing both together, his mouth pulsing down over Seokjin’s dick so that he can feel the rough ridges of Taehyung’s throat against the head at the same time that his fingers are fucking in and out of him. 

Soekjin can’t help the whines and moans that spew out him, not caring if anyone hears, because it feels so fucking amazing. His orgasm is stirring inside of him rapidly, his stomach tightening and his breaths getting louder and deeper as he feels his climax washing over him. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck Taehyung! I’m gonna cum…” He almost shouts, his hands tightening into Taehyung’s hair as he pushes his head down lower. 

Taehyung doesn't stop, picking up the pace of his fingers and pushing them so deep that Seokjin feels like he’s gonna explode any second. It's a dull pain now, but he loves how it feels. He doesn’t know how he went so long without experiencing this feeling. 

“Taehyung…” he tries to warm him one more time, his hands pushing against Taehyung’s shoulders.

But he starts spilling just as Taehyung’s pulling off of his cock, splashes of his cum streaking Taehyung’s chin and tongue as Taehyung keeps his face close, stroking him and guiding Seokjin’s release into his mouth. It’s so fucking hot and Seokjin thinks he could probably come again just from watching that. 

Then Taehyung’s actually using Seokjin’s fluid as a lubricant, spitting it back over Seokjin’s dick and using his hand to stroke with it a few more times, his fingers slowly sliding out from inside him.

“Just wait til I hit your prostate… you’ll pass out from how good that feels.” Taehyung teases, and Seokjin can’t even imagine feeling better than he already does right now in this moment.