Taehyung is quite a handful when he has downed a few drinks.  Since Taehyung has refused to actually tell Jungkook where he lives, Jungkook makes the decision to bring his plastered friend home.

Naturally, this requires a lot of stealth on Jungkook and Taehyung’s part.  It would be infinitely easier if Taehyung would stop giggling and making comments about random things in a nonsensical way.  Jungkook shushes Taehyung for the twentieth time since getting off of the bus.

Taehyung nods easily, placing a finger on his plump lips as he stage-shushes Jungkook with a little too much spit.  Jungkook blinks at Taehyung, nodding before he pulls out his keys.  Taehyung begins giggling senselessly, “What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?” He asks in a whisper with his lips practically pressed against the shell of Jungkook’s ear.

Jungkook is about to answer when Taehyung cracks up, “Nacho cheese.” He giggles really loudly at his slurred joke, and Jungkook slaps a hand over Taehyung’s mouth.  He unlocks the door, opening it and dragging the gagged Taehyung into the foyer.  Taehyung Jungkook’s palm, and it takes all of his willpower not to pull his hand away. It’s almost as though Taehyung is actively working against him as he tries to get Taehyung to his room.  He doesn’t know how Namjoon or Jimin will feel about an uninvited guest.

It’s an audible struggle full of scuffling feet and Taehyung’s muted giggles.  Jungkook practically throws Taehyung into his room, wiping the uncomfortably moist palm of his hand off on the fabric of his pants.  He firmly and quietly shuts the door, hoping that all of Taehyung’s sounds are sealed in.  He takes out his phone, setting an early morning alarm to hopefully usher out a slightly more sober Taehyung.

“Jungkook!” Taehyung whispers loudly, making Jungkook turn around to find Taehyung sitting on his bed with legs crossed.  He waves Jungkook over with a bright smile on his face.

Jungkook sighs heavily, taking a seat before realizing that Taehyung is on his bed.  Taehyung is on his bed.  Jungkook blushes as soon as the thought registers.  The nervous tension that is building within him is swiftly melted away when Taehyung wraps his arms around Jungkook’s waist, resting his head on the younger’s shoulder.  Taehyung breathes a sigh of content, murmuring, “My wonderful friend Jungkook.”  He manages to articulate himself very well at that moment.

Jungkook is frozen; thousands of thoughts are competing to be heard and acted upon.  Unfortunately, there’s an inexperienced little boy inside of him that panics, breaking out of Taehyung’s embrace.  His words rush out of him all at once, “I’ll get you some water.”  He quickly ducks out of the room to get Taehyung a glass of water.

He mentally scolds himself as he retrieves a glass from the cupboard.  He should’ve hugged Taehyung back.  He moves to the sink, turning on the faucet; water gushes into the glass.  There’s the voice of a realist in his head that suggests the only reason for Taehyung’s repeated physical contact is his drunkenness.  Jungkook frowns, shutting the water off with a quick flick of the wrist.  Taehyung could just be a touchy-feely drunk because when he’s sober, he has very forgiving boundaries.

Jungkook makes his way back to his room slowly and quietly, carefully keeping his hand steady to prevent the water in the glass from splashing around.  He barely makes any noise when he reenters his room; only the click of the door knob turning reveals anything.  He turns; ready to tell Taehyung that he has his water.

Taehyung, however, is fast asleep on Jungkook’s bed with his feet where his head should be.  Jungkook sighs, setting the water on his nightstand and taking a seat on the floor.

He puts himself face to face with Taehyung.  His sleeping face is very calm, wiped clean of his typical enthusiasm and all around brightness.  There’s always a youthfulness to be found in sleeping.  His orange hair is sticking to his forehead.  Jungkook uses a finger to sweep the infringing hair to the side.  Jungkook’s eyes wander over Taehyung’s sleeping face, pausing to look at the lone freckle on the tip of Taehyung’s nose.  Jungkook touches it gently, causing Taehyung’s face to crinkle in annoyance, making Jungkook realize what he’s doing.  He yanks his hand away, looking anywhere but Taehyung.

It takes only a few moments for Jungkook to look at the sleeping man in front of him again.  He shakes his head, moving to his knees and crawling over to Taehyung’s feet to pull off his shoes.  He gently pries them off, making sure not to wake up Taehyung.

Jungkook seriously considers where he should sleep.  It is his bed, but Taehyung might get super freaked out. He certainly can’t sleep on the couch because Namjoon has a sixth sense about things like that.  He ultimately decides to take a pillow from his bed, curling himself into a ball on the floor space next to his bed.  It’s not exactly comfortable, but Jungkook figures that it’s the space that will get him the least in trouble.

___

Namjoon is making himself coffee when he hears Jungkook’s door opening.  He assumes that the smell of burnt coffee has awoken Jungkook.  It doesn’t usually make a difference for Jungkook because he puts too much sugar and a lot of cream in his coffee when he elects to drink it.

Namjoon turns around to find a stranger with ridiculous orange hair mid-stride.  There aren’t enough comparisons to describe how awkward the moment feels.  No one can seem to find words, but Namjoon is putting pieces together very quickly based on the tangled mess of orange knots sticking up off of the side of the man’s head.

“And you are?” Namjoon asks, finally, motioning for the stranger to speak.

“Taehyung.” He says in an unsure voice, as if his own identity has been called into question.

Namjoon takes a deep breath, setting his coffee mug on the counter.  “You didn’t have with Jeon Jungkook, did you?”  Namjoon feels like his question is making it more awkward.  He didn’t hear anything last night, which shouldn’t surprising because he sleeps like a log.  It is concerning that he didn’t even hear Jungkook come in last night.  He does feel, however, that maybe he shouldn't have been so blunt in asking his question.

“How did you know I was with Jungkook?” Taehyung asks rather dumbly in a voice filled with wonder.

“First, you came out of Jungkook’s room.  Second, I certainly don’t know you.  Third, Jimin went to his room alone in front of my eyes last night, and the last time he brought anyone home, it was his mother.” Namjoon states outright, “Just to confirm, you did not sleep with Jungkook?”

“Not in the biblical sense.” Taehyung answers quietly.  “Can I go?” His voice is shaking slightly; an undue amount of fear is in his voice, making Namjoon all the more suspicious.

“Please.” Namjoon points to the front door.

Taehyung bows, scurrying to the door, leaving the apartment without saying anything else.  Namjoon looks around as if anyone else saw what happened.  Of course, he’s still alone in the kitchen, but he doesn’t know how to feel about a random person sleeping in Jungkook’s room.  He shakes his head, taking a sip of his coffee.  He cringes.  He should probably just do what Jungkook does.  He scoops an unhealthy amount of sugar into his coffee.

Namjoon groans, making himself a bowl of cereal.  He eats his cereal alone.  He accidentally puts too much milk in it.  He sighs, resigning to his luck, eating the milk with cereal.

Jungkook wanders out of his room a little while later, walking while stretching.  He wears a look of confusion, quietly peeking around the corner.  Jungkook finally makes eye contact with Namjoon, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin.  It takes Namjoon a split second to understand that Jungkook was hoping that he wouldn’t be awake or see Taehyung or just be aware of Taehyung’s existence.

Jungkook straightens up, clearing his throat, “Hey, have you seen…” Jungkook stops himself.

Namjoon toys with the idea of mentioning Taehyung.  He then reminds himself that he’s just about the only real adult under the roof, so if Jungkook isn’t ready to explain why an orange-haired stranger came out of his room early in the morning, he should wait until such a time.  “Seen what?”

“Oh, um, nothing.  Never mind.” Jungkook tries to casually brush it off as he runs his fingers through his hair.

“Whatever.” Namjoon rolls his eyes, resisting the urge to chuckle.  Sometimes Jungkook’s naïveté could be unbearable.  It also tends to get him in trouble.  “Coffee?”

Jungkook nods quietly, “When are you going into work?”

“I actually have to make a delivery first, so I’m going to get going early.” Namjoon stands from his seat, picking up the cereal bowl full of left over milk.

“Since when do you make deliveries?” Jungkook snorts, pouring himself some of the coffee.

“Special circumstances.” Namjoon says curtly.  He’d rather avoid talking about it because it has everything to do with Jin.  If there’s one thing that Namjoon wants to keep to himself, it’s Jin.  Plus, Jungkook would stand there and lecture him on hypocrisy for who knows how long.

Namjoon runs his hand over the cover of the record that he’s delivering to the address that Jin left.  He’s nervous, and it will be the very first time that Namjoon has seen Jin outside of the store.

He takes a deep breath, readying himself.  He’s never been more nervous to knock on a door.  He quickly tells himself to get over and knocks on the door of an unexpectedly nice condo.

It doesn’t take very long for the door to be answered, revealing a rather ill and tired looking Jin.  He’s wearing a gray sweater, and his arms immediately cross over his chest. It makes some sense that he would request his records be delivered if he's unwell.

“I have your music.” Namjoon smiles, trying to maybe cheer his regular customer up a little bit.

Jin sighs, extending a hand in annoyance.  Namjoon dies a little inside because Jin doesn’t smile at him ever, not even when he makes an exception.  He hands over the record carefully, making sure that Jin has a firm grip on it.

“Seokjin, do you have any coffee?” A foreign voice calls from within.

Namjoon is surprised by the fact that there’s a man in Jin’s apartment.  Also, apparently Jin’s real (or full) name is Seokjin.  Seokjin presses his hands against his face, groaning, “Hyosang, for the hundredth time, it’s in the cupboard next to the refrigerator.” He speaks loudly, turning his head toward the inside of his home to clearly project his voice.

Seokjin turns back, offering a simple, weak smile, “Thank you, Namjoon.” His voice is barely a whisper. He shuts the door before Namjoon can reply.

Namjoon feels himself smiling because he’s irrationally happy.  While Seokjin is probably living with the man of unknown relationship status, it’s the first time that Namjoon has seen some semblance of a smile on Seokjin’s face.

Namjoon is practically giggling the entire way back to work.  At some point, he realizes that he might be a little too much like Jungkook.  He should follow his own advice and be careful of who he lets into his heart.  By the time he’s filing away new arrivals in the proper places, he is wondering if he should approach love the way that Jimin does.

Jimin is careful to thoroughly think about whom exactly he might be crushing on, but he has actual reasons behind it.  Namjoon sighs, maybe one day, Jimin will join Namjoon and Jungkook in easily trading their hearts away.

___

Jimin is vacuuming the carpet.  All things considered, it’s a very fancy vacuum cleaner, and he doesn’t have to go over the floor several times.  In all honesty, it’s not that noisy, but Yoongi comes out of one of the forbidden rooms.  He glares at Jimin as he walks past, ultimately heading toward the balcony with a notebook in his hands and headphones around his neck.

Jimin bows awkwardly as Yoongi passes, trying to escape the daggers that Yoongi shoots at him.  It doesn’t work very well, causing Jimin to sigh.  It seems that he’s back to square one with Yoongi.  They still haven’t had a full conversation yet in spite of the few meals that they’ve shared.  Yoongi isn’t very talkative; even if he was talkative, Jimin seriously believes that they wouldn’t get very far because of the hatred that Yoongi seems to possess towards Jimin.

Jimin sighs, continuing on with his work with a heavier heart.  He rants internally, waffling between choices: whether or not he should try to be Yoongi’s friend, should he continue working.  It manages to take up his mind for the rest of his time spends with the vacuum.  When he finally puts the vacuum away in the hall closet, he turns to tell Yoongi the all of the “ruckus” is finally done.

His words get caught in his throat because the sunlight is hitting Yoongi in just the right way.  It gives him a halo as he elegantly feels the music that is coming in through the headphones.  He writes something down in the notebook without hunching over or really changing the way that the light hits him.

It’s a moment that Jimin wishes that he could see all the minute details of Yoongi’s face.  He doesn’t remember what it used to be like, mainly because he took it for granted.  There’s just a blur where a face should be, a profile that he won’t recognize the next time he sees it.  He won’t dream of Yoongi’s face, but he finds himself wanting to.

Jimin took a deep breath, interrupting his train of thought.  He itches the back of his neck, approaching the sliding doors that lead the balcony.  He gently wraps his knuckles against the glass door.  Yoongi doesn’t hear it, obviously.  Jimin doesn’t know why he tried when Yoongi has headphones covering his ears.

Jimin just lets him write outside in the warm weather; Jimin lets him stay an angel, just for now.

Jimin is sitting on the couch, waiting for Yoongi’s laundry to be done.  Yoongi finally comes back in, and it’s almost time for Jimin to leave (as per his contract).  Yoongi doesn’t say anything, opting to walk straight back to his room.

Jimin shifts in his seat awkwardly.  He hears the buzzer on Yoongi’s dryer go off, saving Jimin from having to potentially deal with another cold encounter.

He folds the warm clothes, placing each article into the laundry basket neatly.  It doesn’t take him as long as when he first started doing Yoongi’s laundry.  He checks his phone, smiling because he just has to pick up his bag from the kitchen and he’ll be done for the day.

He walks back towards the kitchen, startled by the fact that the curtains have been drawn, it smells like popcorn, and Yoongi is in the living room.  There’s menu screen up on the television, and Yoongi is frozen in the moment that Jimin walked into the room.

“Do you want to watch?” Yoongi asks quietly and awkwardly with the remote pointed at the television in one hand and the other stuck in a gigantic bowl of popcorn.

For a moment, Jimin wonders exactly how long he was in the laundry room, but it’s a thought soon lost to the fact that Yoongi just invited him to watch a movie.  If anyone else asked Jimin to watch a movie, he would’ve said no.  However, it is Yoongi that is asking, and that changes everything.  “Sure.”

Yoongi moves over on the couch, nodding towards the now vacated spot on the couch.  Jimin timidly takes his seat, unsure of the proper conduct in such a situation.  He wonders if he can get fired for this.  Jimin takes a quick breath, “What are we watching?”

Yoongi shifts in his seat, “It’s something that my friend Taehyung gave me.  He tends to have weird tastes, so this will be an adventure.”

Jimin chuckles quietly, “He sounds fun.  Um, Yoongi?”  Jimin thinks about telling Yoongi that he doesn’t normally watch movies, and when he does, it requires an extensive amount of patience and explaining.

Yoongi selects play and the rating of the film flashes across the scene, “Yeah?” He asks without really looking in Jimin's direction, just a slight change in angle.

“Never mind.” Jimin breathes.  He decides to let it happen.  He’ll just listen to the movie because he doesn’t want Yoongi to rescind his offer.

It’s quite a struggle as he tries to track voices that he’s unfamiliar with.  There are several costume changes, making it nearly impossible to keep all of the characters straight.  The plot doesn’t really help either, but Yoongi makes occasional comments.  Jimin suspects that he’s making them without realizing it because they are quick and one-sided.

It sheds some light on Yoongi for Jimin. They’re the kind of comments that one makes when they’re alone.  Yoongi must do quite a bit of watching movies alone.  Jimin’s heart bleeds for Yoongi because he has to be lonely if he’s unused to having someone else present while watching a movie.  Jimin finds himself wanting to know all about Yoongi.  He wants to be Yoongi’s friend because Yoongi isn’t as abrasive as he’d like to think he is.

Jimin bites his lip, glancing at Yoongi while he watches the movie.  He wants to smile, but Yoongi might notice that.  He grabs some popcorn every once in a while, trying to make the noisy snack quieter.

The movie passes quickly, considering they are usually the longest things in the world for Jimin.  Jimin stands as soon as the credits begin to roll.  He bows quickly, running his fingers through his hair, “Thank you.  It was very enjoyable.”  He’s sure to add a smile at the end of his sentence.

“You’re leaving then?” Yoongi confirms in a question.

Jimin nods, smiling again, “Have a nice evening.”  He quickly hops over the kitchen, practically running out of Yoongi’s house.  There’s a stubborn smile on his face that he wears until he gets home.

He straightens himself out, forcing himself to wear a neutral expression that turns out to look more like a look of determination.  He opens the door and is immediately greeted by a bear hug from Jungkook.

“Where have you been?” Jungkook asks after breaking the hug that he initiated, looking him all over for cuts or bruises or injuries of any kind in an almost parental concern.

“I was, um, watching a movie.” Jimin tells the truth, making a beeline for his room.

“You don’t watch movies.” Namjoon comments from the living room.

“I know.” Jimin squeaks, finally reaching the safety of his bedroom, slamming the door shut to keep out inquiring minds.  Jimin leans against his shut door, another smile blooming on his face.

He thinks that maybe, just maybe, Yoongi wanted him to stay.

a/n: hello.  it's me.
I had several ideas for this chapter and this is what i present to you.  (sorry for any missed words/mistakes)
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