Coffee Love #44 - Fantasies
Word Count: 3,328

Date in Chapter: 2017 July 6

Note: Happens a couple weeks after Coffee Love #43.

Jimin’s POV

        “Babe.” Jimin eventually stirs to the sound of Taehyung’s voice. Before he even gets to open his eyes, he registers a scratching pain his throat, and a duller pain in his head. “Park Jimin. Babe, wake up.”

Jimin’s eyes finally flutter open, and he sees Taehyung sitting on the bed, holding out a mug toward him. “How are you feeling?” He asks as Jimin takes the cup from him. Inside is some warm green tea.

Jimin didn’t even know he was feeling bad until waking up. His head had been hurting a little when he went to bed last night, but those were the only signs of him feeling unwell, and it wasn’t enough to warn Jimin that he’d be waking up feeling like . “I’m fine.” Jimin lies. If his probably puffy eyes and stuffy nose didn’t give him away, the sound of his voice would have. He’s barely able to speak the words, and he takes a drink of the tea, hoping to clear his voice up some. “I’m just tired from staying up late.”

Taehyung nods, and he takes the cup from Jimin to set it on the night stand next to the bed. “You wouldn’t wake up this morning when the alarm was going off.” Taehyung tells him. “You wouldn’t even budge when I tried to wake you up on my own, and you had a pretty high fever, so I figured you must have been sick.”

Jimin then registers that Taehyung is fully clothed in regular clothes—not pajamas or anything, and his hair is already combed. He’s about to ask what time it even is, but Taehyung continues:

“It’s lunchtime, Jimin.” Taehyung adds. “I told Yongguk hyung that you wouldn’t be at work today since you were clearly feeling bad.”

“Did you go to work?” Jimin asks, bringing himself upright more. He had no clue that it was already so late in the day.

Again, Taehyung nods. “Yeah. I’m just home on my lunch break because I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Taehyung says. He really is so sweet. He often comes by BAP Games for his lunch break so that he and Jimin can enjoy it together. Today, he could have stayed at Suga Styles and got some more work done, but he decided to come home and check on Jimin, knowing that he wasn’t feeling well. He’s so sweet.

“I think I am now that you’re here.” Jimin says, and he tilts his head back so that Taehyung will kiss him. He knows that it’s probably stupid to kiss when he’s sick, but Taehyung doesn’t seem to care as he brings his face closer to Jimin’s and presses their lips together in a sweet kiss. “Stay with me.” Jimin requests.

Taehyung chews on his lip, the way he does when he’s actually considering giving in to Jimin’s request just before deciding not to. “I have to get back to work.” He says. “We’re really backed up on a lot of stuff, and Sungjong hyung needs my help to get it caught up.”

“Fine.” Jimin says with a pout. “I think I’m just going to rest some more anyway, so have fun at work.”

Taehyung grabs Jimin’s arm as Jimin tries to lie back down, and he presses their lips together for a second time. “I’m not going back until the end of my lunch break.” He grabs the green tea from the side table and hands it to Jimin so that he can take another drink when he starts coughing. “I’ll at least stay with you that long.”

“Okay.” Jimin says, snuggling into Taehyung. He’ll take what he can get. “I love you, Taehyung.” Jimin says, taking another sip of his drink.

“I love you, too.” Taehyung says, and he takes the cup away from Jimin when Jimin hands it over.

They don’t do anything other than lying in bed with Taehyung brushing Jimin’s hair back to press kisses to his forehead. The last thing Jimin remembers is eventually falling back asleep.

Seokjin’s POV

        “Thank you for calling Whole Latte Love.” Seokjin answers the phone. “This is Kim Seokjin speaking. What can I do for you?”

“It’s Rome.” The person on the other side of the phone says. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of Jungkook. Is he there?”

Ever since Jungkook started working here at the cafe, this is the first time Rome has ever called to get ahold of him. It must be something important.

“He is.” Seokjin confirms. “I’ll get him for you.”

He puts the call on hold and goes out to the front where Jungkook is taking a customer order. He tells the kid that his brother is on the phone, and he takes over making the coffees. 

“What was that about?” Hoseok asks from where he had been sitting at the counter. “Is everything okay?”

Seokjin shrugs. “He just asked if Jungkook was here, so I assumed that it must be important if he was calling here.” Seokjin tells him.

He watches at Hoseok’s usually bright expression falls, and then it registers to Seokjin what Rome may have been calling about. It’s probably Jiwoo.

“Surely if it was about my sister he would have called me, too, right?” Hoseok asks, obviously trying to reassure himself.

“Well, I should hope so.” Seokjin says. He tries to say it in a way that’s meant to comfort his best friend rather than making it sound like he doesn’t think that Rome was going to call him at all. “Maybe he meant to. Jungkook is his brother, so maybe he wanted to tell Jungkook first, and then he was going to call you.”

“I hope so.” Hoseok says. “But he could have called me instead of calling the cafe. I would have told Jungkook everything.”

Seokjin knows, probably better than anyone, about the insecurities Hoseok has. Although he’s usually bright and bubbly, he’s actually really insecure and afraid of being excluded from things. It’s something that he and Yoongi actually have in common.

Jungkook comes back to the front. “What did he want?” Seokjin asks. Since he’s calling during working hours, Seokjin believes it’s his right to know.

“He was just telling me that Jiwoo noona is at the hospital now.” Jungkook tells him, and Seokjin observes Hoseok’s expression.

“Do you want to go?” Hoseok asks the younger, without Seokjin even giving them the okay. Hoseok knows well enough that Seokjin will let Jungkook leave for something like this, especially since it’s not too busy right now. Busy, yes, but nothing Seokjin can’t handle alone. “I can take you.”

“He actually wanted me to tell you that Jiwoo noona wants you to be there.” Jungkook says, and he immediately walks to the register when more customers come up.

Seokjin taps Jungkook on the shoulder. “Go,” Seokjin tells him. Rome and Jiwoo might have more children in the future, but Yeji only gets to be born once. “I can handle this.”

He pulls Jungkook back and takes his place at the register without giving the kid the chance to protest or argue. When he turns around to make the coffees, Hoseok and Jungkook are both gone.

Yoongi’s POV

        “How is Jimin doing?” Yoongi asks when Taehyung shows back up at the office. He let Taehyung go while everyone else worked through the lunch break because he knew that Jimin was sick at home. Had it been Hoseok who was sick, Yoongi would have left, so it’s only fair if he lets his employees do the same.

“He’s just sleeping,” Taehyung says. “He woke up long enough for some green tea and soup, but he was out again by the time I left.”

There’s concern in his voice, which is another reason Yoongi doesn’t mind letting Taehyung go when Jimin isn’t feeling well. Jimin’s immune system isn’t exactly the strongest, and colds and other illnesses affect him a little more strongly than they do most people. Taehyung worries about him a lot, and he hardly focuses on his work if he’s worried about Jimin.

“I think Sungjong got most of the work caught up while you were gone,” Yoongi says. “So, you know, if you want to go home and be with Jimin, I really don’t think he’d mind.”

Taehyung shakes his head. “I think I’ll stay.” He says. “Jimin’s just sleeping anyway, so I’d be bored if I went home.”

“Then come over here for a second,” Yoongi says, waving Taehyung over before he has the chance to leave from the studio and go bug Sungjong. Yoongi has many designers he can talk to, even without Jihoon here. He can ask for second opinions from anyone in the company. Taehyung really doesn’t have to be that person, but, as long as he’s been working here, Yoongi had never really asked his opinion on anything fashion related. At least, not that he could remember. “I’m trying to create a design to go in with the other five dresses in my line,” Yoongi lays out the few sketches for the final design that he had done, “But I’m having trouble choosing which one I want to go with.”

“I’d say all of them if you were willing to make nine dresses for one line.” Taehyung says, not helpful at all, but he looks at the sketches for a while. He looks over them like he’s thinking of more input to give Yoongi, and then he nods. “Yeah, I think you should use all of them, but in one. For example, I really like the way the sleeves look on this one, and I don’t think it would be bad with the ruffles on the third one. Then just use the neck-line and the length from this one, and I think it will be perfect.”

Yoongi stares at his sketches as he tries to imagine the combination Taehyung just suggested. “Thank you,” He says, pulling out another drawing paper. “I’ll sketch it and decide what I think of it.”

Yoongi had actually already decided which one he was going to go with. It was the one that Taehyung had said he liked the sleeves of. Really, he was just wanting to see where Taehyung’s mind was when it came to fashion, and his suggestion actually intrigued Yoongi, so now Yoongi thinks he should try it. About halfway through his sketch, the phone starts ringing. If it’s a call going straight to his office, it’s Hoseok. Hoseok is the only person Sungjong doesn’t alert Yoongi for before sending it through.

“Hey,” Yoongi answers the phone.

“Hey,” Hoseok says back. “I was just…uh, calling to tell you that I’m probably not going to be home until later tonight.”

Yoongi frowns. It’s hard to read his emotion, so Yoongi has no guess as to what could be going on. “What’s up?” Yoongi asks.

“My sister is having her baby, so I think I might be out for a while.” Hoseok says. “I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn’t freak out if I’m not home when you get there.”

Yoongi shrugs, as if Hoseok can see it. “I might be staying here late, myself.” He says. He doesn’t see a reason to go home early if Hoseok isn’t going to be there. Before Hoseok, Yoongi used to spend a lot of days staying at the company until late at night. “I’ve still got some work to catch up on, so it’s okay.”

“Hyung, don’t overwork yourself.” Hoseok says, serious. “If you’re not home when I get there, I’m coming to get you.”

“Deal.” Yoongi agrees, and he hangs up the phone once the conversation wraps up.

Seokjin’s POV

        “Could you please at least send me a message and let me know if you are going to be leaving work early and picking our son up?” Seokjin asks. He had been taking a few days where he gets off at three instead of five, the regular hours, so he had been the one picking Jinhee up from daycare on those days. “You nearly sent me into a panic attack when the daycare lady told me that he wasn’t even there.”

He sees as Namjoon tries to hold back his own laughter, but Seokjin doesn’t find anything funny about the situation. Namjoon has no idea how scary it is to be told that his son isn’t even at the daycare, the only place he is supposed to be. “I’m sorry,” He says. “Normally you stay late on Fridays, so I forgot that you were getting off early. Did they not tell you that I picked him up?”

“No.” Seokjin says quite matter-of-factly as he slips out of his shoes and steps into the house after lining them up. He joins Namjoon in the floor, wanting to join in on the fun with Jinhee. “I think the girl working was new, and she just said that he wasn’t there. I guess she didn’t know how to look up the list of kids who were already checked out, so it took us a while to find out what was going on.”

Namjoon smiles, and he presses a kiss to Seokjin’s cheek. “Well, he’s home, safe and sound.” He says, wrapping an arm around Seokjin’s shoulder and pulling him in so that he can rest his head on Namjoon’s shoulder. “And I’m home and you’re home.” He continues, “And I’m thinking a nap with the three of us sounds pretty ideal right now.”

Seokjin looks over to where Latte is napping next to the television. “The four of us.” He says, including the dog as well.

“The four of us.” Namjoon agrees, and he grabs Jinhee from the floor as he stands up. “Let’s go.” He offers Seokjin a hand.

Jungkook’s POV

        It’s days like today that Jungkook wishes Jihoon wasn’t halfway across the world in another country. It’s days like today that he hates coming home to an empty house, save for Marble who’s always running around somewhere. As much as the cat likes to cuddle and sleep with Jungkook, she’s just not enough company to make up for Jihoon’s absence.

Jungkook rings the doorbell to Yoongi and Hoseok’s house, and he waits for one of them to come and answer. It’s after midnight, but he did call to tell Yoongi that he would be over once his training at the tattoo parlor was done. It’s been quite a bad day, and Jungkook just doesn’t want to go home right now. He doesn’t want to be alone.

Yoongi is the one to answer. Hoseok is probably asleep, but Jungkook is glad to have a friend like Yoongi who is willing to stay up with him when he just needs someone to talk to. Yoongi is pretty used to not getting any sleep anyway.

Jungkook just expects for Yoongi to let him go to the guest room to sleep, but instead the elder walks into the kitchen and sits at the island, waving Jungkook over. “What’s the problem?” He asks.

Of course he would want to talk about it. “I don’t know what you mean.” Jungkook says as he takes a seat across from his hyung.

“You said you wanted to stay the night because you didn’t want to be alone in your apartment.” Yoongi says. “So what’s wrong? What’s bugging you?”

Jungkook shrugs, taking in a shaky breath. “I just…I miss Jihoon hyung.” He says. He’s said it a few times already, but there’s just something about saying it this time. It sounds like he’s finally admitting it to himself. Like he finally realizes what it’s actually like to miss someone. “I’m tired of being alone all the time. It’s not easy. He’s having a great time in France, and I’m miserable here without him.”

Yoongi sighs. “He’s not having a great time in France.” He tells Jungkook. “Believe it or not, you’re not the only person he still talks to. Every time he calls me, missing you is all he can talk about. How much he wants to show this or that in Paris. I expect to hear about how his job is going, but he just talks about you, and you’re not even there with him.” He takes a breath. “Just because he seems happy when he’s talking to you doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss you.”

It makes Jungkook feel a little better to hear that. “You know…I don’t even miss talking to him.” Jungkook says, tears coming to his eyes. “I thought that I would miss talking to him because…I love talking to him, but that’s not even the part that I miss.” He pauses for a breath, but Yoongi doesn’t say anything. After composing himself, he continues. “I miss being able to hug him. I miss having someone to hold and cuddle with. I miss kissing him, and I miss his adorable eye-smile. Am I a horrible person?”

“For what? Missing your fiancé?” Yoongi asks.

Jungkook shakes his head. “For missing the physical aspects.” He says.

“Absolutely not.” Yoongi assures him. “While he’s in Paris, you can still call and talk to him, so you can still hear his voice. The physical aspect is really the only thing you can’t experience while he’s away, so it makes sense that it’s the part you miss the most.”

Yoongi’s words are somewhat comforting, but only somewhat. “Then…am I a bad person for…” He can’t even say it. He’ll cry. He knows he will. “It’s too hard, Hyung. I thought I could do this, but I can’t…I want him to come home.”

Without a word, Yoongi slides off the stool and come to hug Jungkook, who had started crying just before he did it. “Stop being so hard on yourself.” He says, and he cups Jungkook’s face in his hands. “You are not a bad person.”

Jungkook feels like a terrible person. Normally he’s very good at controlling his thoughts, thinking only of Jihoon. Even when he’s the one who’s halfway across the world in a different country, he doesn’t think twice about anyone else.

It started with Jimin. Jungkook had been missing Jihoon, and he caught himself thinking about Jimin during dance practice. He found himself watching Jimin, thinking of all the things he had done to elder, of all the things he could do to him. But he wouldn’t. Not when he has Jihoon. He would never do that to Jihoon.

And now, with Yoongi. He’s so similar to Jihoon in many ways. They kind of look alike, and they both have some sort of brutal honesty that comes with them. Yet they’re both really comforting somehow, and…

“I-I-I think I’m going to go home.” Jungkook says, bringing himself out of his thoughts. He pulls himself away from Yoongi, and he grabs his bag from the counter.

“I thought you were going to stay the night.” Yoongi says, disappointed.

In Jungkook’s corrupted world, it sounds like an invitation. He knows, however, that Yoongi means it in a completely innocent ‘hey, you can use our guest room’ kind of way.

“I would, but I just remembered that I have to feed Marble.” He says. It just wouldn’t feel right staying the night in Yoongi’s and Hoseok’s house just after having fantasized about kissing Yoongi. It doesn’t even feel right being here right now. “Jihoon hyung will kill me if I let his cat starve to death.”

Jungkook swears he hears Yoongi saying something about how she’s not going to starve to death overnight, but he ignores that as he says goodbye to his hyung and leaves from the house.

He cries himself to sleep that night. It’d be much easier to deal with this if he had someone to talk to about it. He thought he did have someone to talk to until Yoongi became a problem for him as well. Now Jungkook doesn’t know what he’s going to do.