jungkook startles awake from his short nap when he feels someone pinching his thigh. he looks down and finds taehyung crouched between his legs, staring at his unclothed thigh while he mumbles something jungkook can't quite decipher.

"hyung, what are you doing?" he asks, patting his eyes softly because he doesn't want to ruin his make up - he's bound to get enough scolding as it is for falling asleep in his stage clothes, he doesn't want to add smudged eyeliner on top of that.

taehyung looks up to him and smiles, pinching his skin again. "elephant," he simply says before giggling and making silly noises.

jungkook is at a loss for words.

it's been a month since taehyung found the two moles on his thigh and decided it was the most important discovery in history, going as far as showing it on camera when the staff filmed them during their jacket shooting for their latest album. jungkook is not impressed anymore by his hyung's strange actions - he can admit he enjoys them and sometimes he even joins him on the fun - but there are times jungkook thinks he'd rather have a calm and collected taehyung - the one who sits down with him and steals one earbud so they can listen to music together - than a hyper, unstoppable taehyung.

he's been pinching jungkook's thigh for a whole month now, and it's getting to a point when it's starting to annoy him.

before he can say anything though, the door opens and in stumbles a member of m countdown's staff, yelling that they're expected to go on stage in 15 minutes so they better start getting ready. all seven of them get on their feet and their stylists start checking their appearance, getting rid of the tiniest creases on their clothes and cleaning any bits of smeared make up.

one of them is fixing jungkook's fringe when taehyung approaches him and pinches his cheek, smiling his big, boxy smile at the younger.

jungkook arches an eyebrow, says, "there's not an elephant there."

taehyung's smile widens. "i know."

♡♡♡

little did jungkook know that his hyung's latest obsession would turn to be the new hot topic of their whole fanbase.

every time he checks twitter, he finds at least one of their fans talking about the moles on his thigh and taehyung's stupid elephant. it's still something really dumb, but when their fans talk about it they make it sound endearing, so jungkook starts accepting taehyung's random pinches and stops squirming out of the boy's grasp each time it happens. he even goes as far as to show his mole-elephant himself on a scheduled recording, making noises with taehyung while the older shows his own elephant on his right arm.

it's all for the fans, jungkook tells himself, and he has to remind himself of this when he sees taehyung pinching every other bangtan member - or random people, for that matter - when he founds two moles together. of course he doesn't feel jealousy, because getting jealous of something like this would be stupid, and jeon jungkook doesn't do stupid. of course he's not jealous, he tells himself as he closes the door to his shared room with namjoon and slumps down on his bed, where he grabs his phone and searches through twitter the cute screencaps their fans tweeted of his and taehyung's matching elephants.

of course he's jealous, but he won't ever admit it.

♡♡♡

taehyung smiles softly when he hears jungkook's door closing with force for the third time that week. he tried testing the waters before diving in, and by now he is 99.9% sure that jungkook is jealous.

of course he knows that, while he doesn't exactly show it, their maknae loves receiving attention and feels easily neglected when people ignore him. it's not a matter of ego but one of coddling and being coddled, the one thing all of the bangtan members like to give and receive from each other.

the main problem with jungkook is that, being the youngest, he gets pampered the most and thus gets easily jealous when someone steals his spotlight. taehyung is aware of this though, so he already knows what he has to do to make his little maknae happy again.

♡♡♡

jungkook is almost asleep when he hears the door creaking, followed by soft steps coming his way until he feels the bed sink behind him. an arm circles his waist, a big hand with slender fingers resting against his ribcage, while a warm body presses against his back.

jungkook doesn't need to open his eyes to know who it is.

"what do you want now, hyung?" he asks, coming off a little angrier than he intended. taehyung giggles against his ear and kisses the spot below, going down his neck with his big nose until he stops midway and blows a raspberry, nuzzling his face in the spot seconds after.

jungkook smiles softly; his hands tangle with taehyung's and start playing with his long fingers.

he mumbles, "there's not an elephant there, hyung."

he feels taehyung smile against his shoulder.

"i know."