Suga slouched over in his chair at the dinner table, watching with a lazy smile as Sujin bustled around his kitchen like it was her own. She looked so comfortable, so at home; he liked seeing her there. He’d never tell her, but he was pretty sure she knew her way around his kitchen even better than he did.

She’d been by a couple times now to check up on him and had decided to stop by every weekend to cook and study. He complained half-heartedly to keep up appearances, but he enjoyed her company, and vice versa, and they both knew it.

She was in the middle of chopping some potatoes but feeling his unwavering gaze, she looked up, blushed, and looked back down. He smirked.

“D-don’t just stare at me!” she grumbled. “Come help!”

“I don’t know what to do.” He blinked innocently but she didn’t fall for it.

She grabbed a pile of vegetables and set them next to the sink. “You can wash stuff. Remember to use cold water!”

Suga sighed theatrically but obediently got up and made his way towards the sink. “Hey, it was just once!”

She gave him a smug little smile. “I think anyone with a little common sense knows not to use hot water to wash food.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He made to walk past her but paused and moved closer. His eyes burned into her skin, dragging down the length of her profile.

Her hand stopped chopping, fingers tightening on the handle of the knife. A pink flush rose up her neck and into her cheeks, but she very determinedly did not turn to look at him.

“U-um, w-what are you—”

His hand reached towards her face and she held her breath. He his fingertips lightly across her cheek, leaving tingles in their wake, and tucked the lock of hair that had escaped her bun behind her ear.

She suppressed her entirely irrelevant shiver.

Smirking, Suga dropped his hands and moved past her like nothing had happened, turning on the faucet and washing his hands.

Taking a shuddering breath, Sujin dropped the knife and touched the back of her hand to her heated cheek, shooting a questioning look at Suga’s back, but if he felt her eyes, he didn’t show it. Placing a hand over her thundering heart, she counted several quick beats before returning to her work.

It was moments like these that made Sujin wonder if there could possibly be something more than friendship between the two of them. He was much kinder now than when they’d first met, more attentive and relaxed. More comfortable in his own skin and accepting of his life. He was so good to her and if she was being honest with herself, she really liked him. She knew he still carried a lot of baggage that he hadn’t shared with her, and she herself had some secrets that he didn’t know, but she trusted him and she hoped he trusted her just as much.

He made her heart fly and she’d never met a boy who could do that before, so clearly he was someone special. But did he have any such feelings for her?

She shook her head and focused on the potatoes. She was getting ahead of herself. They were still just discovering their friendship and for now, that was enough for her.

Dinner was a quiet affair, as it always was between the two of them, but it was easy, relaxing. Suga ate heartily every time she cooked for him and it made her happy that he enjoyed her cooking.

They cleaned up after themselves and then Sujin brought out her homework and notes to study. She was trying to get Suga to care more about school. Sometimes, she wasn’t in the mood so they just hung out, finding out more about each other, or he napped and she read. But today, she really needed to study.

“You brought a lot today,” Suga noted.

She sighed and nodded. “I have a lot of tests coming up so I really need to study. What about you?”

He shrugged. “Dunno. Been a while since I listened in class.”

She pouted at him. “I thought you said you would try harder?”

“I did, but then I got bored.” He snickered at her aghast look.

“Don’t you wanna graduate? Go to college?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I think it’s too late to aim that high.”

“Suga—”

He held up a hand. “Study. I’m gonna go take a nap. Wake me up when you’re ready to go.”

She sighed but nodded, smiling briefly as she watched him settle himself comfortably on the couch and close his eyes. She was glad he was able to sleep better, but now it seemed he slept too much.

She rested her chin in her palm. “Do you not get enough sleep at night?”

He shifted but didn’t open his eyes. “It’s harder when I’m alone. I sleep best when you’re around.”

Her face flared and she didn’t know how to reply so she coughed gently and tried to focus on her notes. Except, of course, his sweet words were stuck on a loop in her mind.

Time ticked by quickly and before long, it was growing dark and she knew she should get home soon. She packed up her things and stretched out her muscles before padding quietly over to Suga.

His chest rose and fell rhythmically, soothingly, and she thought that the sound of his slow breathing could easily lull her to sleep if she just closed her eyes. She was loath to wake him when he napped so peacefully—also because he was rather cranky when woken—but the first time she had tried to walk herself home was also the last—he’d woken up several minutes after she’d gone and called her angrily and when he’d caught up with her, he’d glared and stomped off, not bothering to speak to her and match her pace.

She shook him lightly. “Suga. I need to go home. Suga.”

He stirred and his breath hitched before his eyes blinked slowly open. Every time she watched him wake up, she was awed; she had never seen a person wake up so effortlessly before him.

He breathed in deeply and stood, stretching and yawning. “Lemme get some water and we’ll go.”

She nodded and hurried to her things, not wanting him to see how delightful his sleep-roughened voice made her feel.

They set off a few minutes later, enjoying the cool breeze and the silence of the streets. The sky was a darkening blue and the moon was already brightly shining. She wished she could see the stars.

She voiced her thoughts aloud and Suga slanted a smile at her. “When I was a kid, I went camping a lot and we always went to this place where at night, the sky was filled with stars. I used to count ‘em when I was bored.”

He’d started telling her little stories from his childhood lately, nothing important, just the trivial things, but it made her happy that he was beginning to open up to her.

“That sounds beautiful,” she said wistfully. She squinted up at the sky, trying to find a star. “I wish I could’ve seen that.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Wanna go camping?”

She froze and gawked at him. “I—I—really?”

He smirked and walked on. “Maybe someday.”

She slapped her cheeks and jogged after him. “I would really like that, you know!”

“Really? Don’t seem like the type to sleep on rocks and pee in bushes.”

Her face reddened. “W-well, maybe not—maybe not those aspects of camping, but I mean, the idea—”

“Wait, phone.” He pulled out his cell phone and answered. “Maknae.”

His face changed from undisturbed to livid as soon as Jungkook began to speak. Sujin couldn’t make out the words, but she could read the panic in Jungkook’s voice.

“What—they jumped you? How many—the !? Where are you right now? Where’s everyone else? Should I—yeah, yeah, okay. Got it. See you there.” He hung up and shoved his phone back into his pocket as he stood.

“Suga? Did…something happen?” she asked hesitantly.

He looked at her and groaned, but didn’t explain. Instead, he grabbed her hand and began pulling her a different direction as he dialed another number from memory and impatiently ground his teeth as he waited for someone to pick up.

“It’s—it’s me. Yeah, Suga. I—where are you right now? You’re together? Look, meet me at the convenience store in five minutes. What—shut up! Just—it’s a favor, okay?” He hung up and yanked her along almost violently.

She winced. “Ah—Suga, my hand—”

He let go abruptly and muttered, “Sorry, I just—sorry.”

“It’s—it’s okay. Are you okay? Where—where are we going?” She glanced around at dark and unfamiliar surroundings and felt a familiar fear rise in her. She crept closer to him.

He noticed and grabbed her hand again. “I can’t walk you all the way home so I got someone else to do it. Don’t worry, you can trust them.”

She frowned. “Okay, but where are you—”

“We’re here,” he interrupted tersely. He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “What the hell am I doing?” before tugging her into a well-lit convenience store.

She looked around in confusion. “What—”

“Ugh, there they are.” He looked pained and somewhat mortified. Sujin was mystified.

“Long time no see!” someone called out enthusiastically. “A favor for Suga! How could we refuse?”

Suga glared at the two boys approaching them. “Walk her home.”

Sujin stared as a dark-haired boy and a tawny-haired boy appeared before her wearing cautious smiles and dark, muted colors. She wasn’t sure, but she almost thought they were the two gang members who had left BTS.

“We didn’t think you’d kept our numbers after we’d left,” the tawny-haired one spoke.

Sujin’s eyes almost bugged out. Wait—were they really—

“I didn’t,” Suga denied gruffly. “I remembered them.”

“Guess we’re not so easy to forget after all, eh, Taehyung?” The dark-haired one nudged the other conspiratorially.

Suga rolled his eyes. “I gotta go.” He turned to Sujin and his face softened marginally. “Text me when you get home.”

She nodded and he ran off, dissolving easily into the darkness of night.

“So…Lee Sujin?”

She jumped and faced the two strangers fearfully.

“Whoa, no need to be scared of us. Huh, we’d heard rumors but…he’s really changed, hasn’t he? Still can’t thank us for the favor though.” He tsked. “Anyway! I’m Jung Hoseok and he’s Kim Taehyung.”

Taehyung smiled charmingly. “Nice to meet you.”

She inclined her head a little. “Y-you too.”

“We used to be part of BTS, until we weren’t,” Hoseok explained flippantly and Taehyung rolled his eyes good-humoredly.

“So we’re walking you home?” Taehyung asked in confirmation and Sujin nodded hesitantly.

“But…do you know where Suga went?”

Hoseok and Taehyung exchanged a long look, but eventually Hoseok replied, “Probably a fight. I’ve never seen him run for any other reason.”

“A fight?” She recalled the conversation he’d had with Jungkook—granted, she’d only heard one side of it, but it was obvious now that she thought about it. “A fight…do you know where they’re fighting?”

Taehyung eyed her. “Why do you wanna know?”

“Even if we knew, which we really don’t,” Hoseok chimed in, “we wouldn’t tell you because you apparently mean a lot to Suga and he asked us to get you home safely. Well, not in those words, but knowing him—”

“I heard,” she cut in softly, “that he…badly injured someone a while ago.”’

Hoseok snorted. “Ya mean beat within an inch of death?”

Sujin and Taehyung winced at his bluntness.

“Hyung!” Taehyung hissed.

Hoseok shrugged innocently. “What? It’s true! You knew that, right? But you still became friends with him?”

“Yeah but—”

“See? It’s fine.”

“But!” Sujin raised her voice slightly and the two boys were startled back to attention. “But there’s no telling he won’t…do that again, right?”

“Well…” Hoseok scratched the back of his head. “I mean, it was only when he was in an extra bad mood…and ya know, you’ve really managed to mellow him out so—”

“But it could happen,” Sujin insisted. “And I…I mean, I can’t—I don’t—he can’t go back. I—I won’t let him. He—he’s been getting better, you know, I mean he still hasn’t told me everything but I—I think he would break if he hurt someone so badly again.” She stared at them pleadingly, ignoring how wholly uncomfortable they looked, because this was a lot more important than any discomfort on their part.

“Look, I know you wanna help Suga but—I mean, there’s only so much you can do. If you go and get hurt, there’s no telling what he’ll do. He’s unpredictable when he gets in a rage and—well, it looks like he really cares about you.” Taehyung smiled sadly.

Hoseok jumped in, “And this is really the first time he’s ever asked us for anything, ever. I mean, he called us! Despite his pride! That says a lot about you.”

Sujin blushed, but wouldn’t let them distract her. “But aren’t you worried about him? I just—I just wanna be there to stop him in case he goes out of control. I won’t get in the middle of the fight or anything, I swear! Please, if you know where he might be, please take me to him?”

They looked at each other, and then at her, and then at their shoes, and then back at each other before sighing heavily.

“Well, there is one place,” Hoseok revealed in resignation. “We always fought there ‘cause it was pretty much abandoned.”

Taehyung nodded. “They’re definitely there. It’s kinda far so we’ll have to run to make up for lost time. Your parents…?”

“I’ll just tell them I accidentally fell asleep at Suga’s house,” she decided. “It’s happened before.”

The two former gangsters turned to look at her in unabashed shock and awe. “You—you’ve been to…his house?” Hoseok gasped. “Like, inside?”

“Yeah. Haven’t you?”

“No!” Taehyung exclaimed. “He never let us in! Oh my god, you’re a witch, aren’t you? You used some spell to tame him, didn’t you?”

Sujin stomped ahead of them, barreling out of the store to hide her flushed face. “No!”

“You totally did! Teach me your ways!” Hoseok cried out as they ran after her. “Oi, wait, you’re going the wrong way!”

A/N: I'm so so so so so sorry, everyone.

I had some family issues the past couple of weeks and I just haven't been in the mood to write. I tried, but everything turned out really, really crappy. Like REALLY. There was no way I was gonna post that for you guys.

So I'm really sorry but real life, you know? Can't decide when it goes to . But things are better now and I WILL finish this story by next week. (I kinda have to cuz school starts soon. Yikes! My grades weren't so hot last year - by which I mean REALLY ING TY - so I'm definitely gonna try to focus more this year. Of course that also means I may or may not start writing the story for the next BTS boy right after this. The truth is I wanna finish all my unfinished fics here on AFF befoer starting any new ones. We'll see how it goes!)

Enjoy this extra long chapter! More drama to come soon!

skyblaze208, OUT!

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