it’s a night of celebration: bangtan cafe has finally started turning a profit since the seven friends opened it a year ago. it’s not a big number, but it’s enough that they can start to think about possibly quitting their day jobs or working part-time at least. tonight, they’re celebrating in the apartment jimin shares with hoseok, with jin’s special fried chicken and taehyung’s cupcakes and more alcohol than is probably necessary. 

jungkook can’t help but be so proud of their little group. it’d been their dream to open a cafe together ever since college and it’d been a long time coming. so many loans that still need to be repaid, working long hours at other jobs then coming to put in more hours at the cafe. but it’s finally being proven to be worth it. their hard work is starting to come to fruition and jungkook is so ing happy. 

he watches as taehyung, who’s obviously had a bit too much to drink, tries to kiss all over yoongi’s face in joy and chuckles to himself as namjoon tries (and fails) to pull taehyung away. taehyung’s cheeks are flushed with alcohol and the heat of the room (the thermostat isn’t working properly and the seven of them generate a lot of body heat in such a tight space) and jungkook can’t take his eyes off him. 

"you’re staring." he hears someone say, he looks up to see jimin looking down on him with a knowing smile. jungkook blushes slightly, moving around on the sofa he’s seated on so jimin can sit. "haven’t told him yet?" 

"how can i?" jungkook asks, forcing his gaze away from the older boy to focus on jimin. although all seven of them are friends, jungkook and taehyung are best friends. taehyung has been there for jungkook from everything and jungkook’s sure that without taehyung he wouldn’t even be here right now. he’d rather cut off his own arm than ruin the already awesome thing he has with taehyung. 

"you need to, man," jimin says, sounding way too wise and coherent for the amount of alcohol jungkook witnessed him consuming. "because either he’ll feel the same, or this will help you get over him. in the long run it truly is a win-win situation." 

jungkook shakes his head. “i don’t know man.” his gaze falls to taehyung again. he abandoned yoongi and is now climbing jin like a koala, legs attached around his waist and face pressed into jin’s neck. jin has the long suffering but terribly fond kind of smile that everyone seems to have around taehyung and pets his head gently. “i just don’t know.” 

—

walking home with taehyung clinging to him isn’t the easiest thing, but jungkook doesn’t mind. taehyung babbles in his ear about nonsensical things like the smell of stars and the taste of time but somehow that just makes jungkook love him more. taehyung is weird, and sometimes inappropriate, and sometimes it’s as if he isn’t even of this earth. but he’s kind and sweet and sodamned beautiful that it makes jungkook think there must be a god because only an all powerful being could have created kim taehyung. 

(he’d never say these things out loud.)

"home, sweet home." taehyung sings as they finally make their way to their own apartment, voice all breathy and low and it makes jungkook shiver. (to which taehyung cries in despair, "kookie’s cold!" and hugs him even tighter.) 

somehow, jungkook manages to get them both into the building and up to their apartment with minimal difficulty. when they get into their home, jungkook shoves taehyung in the direction of the bathroom, telling him to get ready for bed. being the maknae, the others never really let him drink too much so he’s just hovering on tipsy. and even if he wasn’t, someone needs to take care of drunk taehyung. 

while taehyung’s in the bathroom, jungkook valiantly puts away all thoughts of his body from his mind and set about pouring a glass of water and finding the tylenol for the morning to place on taehyung’s bedside table. he’s walking over to taehyung’s space when he sees the elder hovering about the doorway to the bathroom, gnawing on his lower lip. 

taehyung does that kind of thing all the time, much to jungkook’s dismay. there isn’t a time of day where his lip isn’t between his teeth or his tongue out of his mouth, but right now it’s not about taehyung’s inherent seductiveness. the older male looks kind of distressed and cautious. and shy and scared. 

"hyung?" jungkook says, concerned. "all you alright? is there a spider in the bathtub again?" 

taehyung shakes his head, hiccups softly. “no.” 

"then what is it?" 

taehyung gnaws on his lip even more, flesh turning white under the pressure. “don’t hate me alright?” he says, voice low and rough and hoarse. he walks over to jungkook and cups his face. and jungkook does not even know what could possibly going on. 

then, taehyung’s eyes close and he’s leaning forward, alcohol is prominent on his breath and jungkook is torn between running for the hills and welcoming the imminent kiss with a song in his heart. his heart thuds painfully in his chest in anticipation when taehyung leans forward and plants a kiss right on his nose. laughter wells up inside him even though his hands are shaking, taehyung’s so ing hammered that he missed his mouth entirely. 

taehyung makes a defeated kind of sound and tries again but jungkook pushes him away slightly. taehyung stares at him and he looks so hurt and confused and makes this pained little sound that makes jungkook want to kiss him just he doesn’t make that sound anymore. but he can’t. taehyung’s drunk and he might not even want this and that’s a thought that hurts jungkook to his core. 

"go to bed, hyung." jungkook says with more conviction than he feels. "we’ll talk in the morning." he gently helps taehyung into bed, ignoring the hurt little sounds that he makes. jungkook gets himself into bed too, but he doesn’t sleep. 

—

the next morning, after they’ve both brushed their teeth, they’re at a bit of a stale mate before jungkook crosses the space between them and kisses taehyung on the nose. 

they make out for two hours after that.