A/N: So my TaeGi soul was sleeping, and 'Fire' woke it up. Enjoy.

Chapter III - Vitriol

Yoongi likes to think he's a reasonable adult, especially when it concerns Taehyung. Getting irritated with every little thing the younger man does is a total waste of time, so he just lets him do whatever he wants and steps in only when he deems it necessary. That includes generous skinship with the other BTS kids, for which Taehyung is notorious. It's part of who he is, and Yoongi has never begrudged him that habit. That desire to be physically connected to other people is what makes him so attractive in the first place.

As such, he refuses to admit that the twisting feeling in his gut when he sees Taehyung with Jungkook is good old-fashioned jealousy. 

Min Yoongi doesn't do jealousy.

He's always known that where Taehyung goes, Jungkook will inevitably follow. For every one of their ups and downs their bond has emerged stronger and more steadfast. Their resident ball of sunshine is the reason why the group's youngest has grown so much and finally become comfortable in his own skin, so it's only natural that he would be attached to him. Taehyung is Jungkook's sun.

Yoongi has lived with this fact for years and has never once found himself bothered by it. He'd almost find it cute if they weren't so intent on wreaking havoc on their unsuspecting band mates.

The taste of acid burns in his mouth as he watches the two of them, bodies huddled close together and practically cheek to cheek, both wearing identical smiles. It's a world Yoongi could never hope to enter.

He's not jealous, he repeats to himself, but that voice inside his head seems smaller and more uncertain, somehow.

...

"What's bothering you?" Yoongi half-expects Seokjin to be standing and with one hand on his hip, but he remains right where he is, sitting all prim and proper in the seat across him. He doesn't feel like having this conversation right now.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he replies tiredly, rubbing at the back of his head. 

Their oldest member pauses. A strange look enters his eyes, one that he recognizes as the prelude to another attempt at emotional dissection. "You've been acting grumpier than usual this entire week," Seokjin counters, "especially to our youngest ones." Yoongi starts at the statement. "You nearly bit Taehyung's head off the other day. I thought you two got along better than that."

He pointedly looks down at the table, away from Seokjin's perceptive gaze. Between the hectic schedule for the upcoming comeback's photoshoot and the added strain of having to complete and master song recordings on a tight deadline, it's true that he's been on edge recently. His uneasiness with Taehyung spending an increasing amount of time glued to Jungkook's side hasn't abated, either. He feels a pang of remorse as he recalls the hurt expression on the younger man's face, but the damage has been done. 

"I wasn't really mad at him," Yoongi says gruffly, embarrassed that he even feels the need to explain himself. "It was just bad timing." He would tell Taehyung as much, except Jungkook is doing a damn fine job of making sure the two of them are never left alone together for more than five minutes at most. The brat's overprotective streak for the member he adores most is back in full force, and he's been the target of Jungkook's evil eye more times in the last two days than he's ever been in the last two years. If looks could kill, Yoongi supposes he would have died dozens of times over already. Taehyung's holding up well, better than one would expect given the maknae's overbearing attitude. He's still as noisy and hyperactive as ever, but one glance from him and he visibly wilts into the corner of the room. It makes him want to throw his hands up in surrender, really.  

This whole scenario is nothing new. It's a habit they fall into every time the group's comeback draws near: Yoongi gets buried with work, Taehyung hovers around and gets on his nerves, he yells at the kid to keep it down and he gets his peace and quiet until the album's done. Taehyung knows he doesn't mean any of the vitriol spewing from his mouth like it has a life of its own, has the audacity to laugh obnoxiously in his face about it. Seokjin is no stranger to this, either, although he'd initially disapproved of their diss-like banter.

It's not that the established pattern has changed, but their relationship. 

 "Why don't you and your boyfriend knock it off with the flirting for a while, huh? Some of us are actually trying to work here." The reprimand comes out sounding flat instead of teasing, the way he'd intended it. There should be a smirk to go with that jibe, too, but his facial muscles aren't cooperating at the moment. 

The younger man stiffens. "What's that supposed to mean, hyung?" His voice is oddly defensive, his shoulders hunched inwards as if physically defending himself against the accusation. From the corner of his eye he spots the reassuring squeeze Jungkook gives one hand, and he reaches his breaking point. Baring his teeth in a horrible mockery of a smile, Yoongi shoves himself inside Taehyung's personal space and jabs lightly at his chest with an index finger.

"What I mean, Tae-tae, is that I can't ing concentrate because your voice..." Is too precious to waste on sweet nothings with Jungkook when it could be singing for me instead, his mind supplies unhelpfully, "Is too distracting and I need you to shut up." 

It's supposed to be the part where he playfully retorts that 'distracting means too mesmerizing, right', but all Yoongi's eyes register is the hurt that flashes across Taehyung's face before he quickly covers it up with a sheepish grin, the way his lips tremble as he presses them together.

Their oldest member's voice jars him back into the present. "We're nearly out of toothpaste and shampoo. Probably other toiletries too." Seokjin gives him a significant look. "Why don't you and Taehyung go for a grocery run?" It's clear that his words are not a suggestion, but an order. Yoongi sighs and complies.

Jin in mother-hen mode isn't someone he'd want to go against. Not that he isn't grateful to be given the opportunity to patch things up with Taehyung, because he is.

They meet at the entrance of the dorm. Taehyung is uncharacteristically quiet as he squeezes his feet into a random pair of sneakers. They're barely out of the apartment building when Yoongi decides enough is enough and pulls at the younger man's arm to stop him from running away. When he turns around, his eyes are glassy and he worries Taehyung might cry.

Yoongi's a poor liar when his job doesn't require it of him, so he repeats what he said the other day. "Taehyung, I can't ing concentrate because your voice is too distracting." His companion's cheeks flush red and he's opening his mouth, maybe to curse him, maybe to vindicate himself, he'll never know. "It's too distracting," he continues, "because I keep thinking of you instead of my work." He's a poor liar, but he does pretty well if it's by omission. The kid doesn't need to know that not all those thoughts were of the pure kind, at least not yet.

It's probably the cheesiest thing he has said to anybody in his entire life.

Taehyung's voice is hushed, as if he's afraid to be overheard. Yoongi can't blame him--he kind of wishes the concrete had swallowed him when he'd uttered such cringeworthy lines. "Hyung, I was wondering this for a while, but are you...are you jealous of Jungkook?" A protest automatically springs to his lips, Min Yoongi does not indulge in petty emotions like jealousy.

That would be another lie, though, and Taehyung's the last person he would want to do that to.

"Maybe I was, a little." The admission has the younger man in a fit of giggles. Yoongi scowls at his reaction, but his smile is infectious, and soon he's laughing at his own bullheadedness, too. And he had assumed he was doing so well keeping it under wraps.

The walk home is exuberant, with Yoongi's arm slung around his shoulder while they carry the shopping bags. Truth be told, his focus had slipped even more once Taehyung had started avoiding him, but he suspects that productivity will no longer be an issue.

At least until the next time he inevitably interrupts Yoongi's train of thought, but they'll cross that bridge when they get there.