there's more than just a chill in the air, but the alcohol flowing through jeongguk's veins pushes away the worst of the cold as he trudges back up the snow covered hill with sled in tow. taehyung stands at the top of the hill, dancing from foot to foot impatiently as he waits for his turn. there's a flush to his cheeks, evidence of the bottle of wine they'd polished off before coming out here with the bright idea of sledding in the new year.

and yeah, okay, the sledding part is awesome, especially since the neighbor kids have smoothed the curves around the trees down enough that the sled practically does the work as long as you don't fall off, but the walk back up leaves jeongguk oddly winded. odd, because he runs three miles every other day and shouldn't have trouble walking up a ing hill.

granted, the walking is the problem, not so much the hill, but that's besides the point.

but he gets to the top eventually, tossing the sled – that may as well be a trash can lid for how cheaply its made – into the snow in front of taehyung's feet. he grins, sways slightly. “careful on that third turn, hyung.”

“yeah, yeah, okay,” taehyung waves him off and grabs the sled, running towards the edge of the hill and leaping onto the sled and ing shooting down the path like.. like...

superman, jeongguk thinks with a grin as taehyung slides on his stomach, one arm punching forward through the air like he should be wearing a blue spandex bodysuit, cape flapping behind him.

that is until taehyung hits that third turn and goes flying off the path into a snow bank.

jeongguk ing cackles as taehyung screeches, legs kicking uselessly while his upper body is stuck in the snow. “i warned you, you cocky !” he calls once he can control his giggling enough to get the words out; taehyung's answering “you shut your ing mouth jeon jeongguk i swear tochrist” only makes jeongguk laugh even harder, tears collecting at the corners of his eyes. he doubles over, hands on his knees and his abs ache from all the laughter.

he's too busy losing his at taehyung's misfortune to notice that he's made it back to the top of the hill until a hand pushes his head backwards and he's falling on his , the cold from the snow seeping through his too-thin jeans. “ya, hyung!” he whines, pouting up at taehyung who is staring down at him with eyes that don't look all that focused, skin flush, grin sloppy and boxy and big and radiant and a bunch of other words that jeongguk isn't sober enough to string together, but the feeling is there.

“you're such a brat,” taehyung says, poking jeongguk's forehead with his finger before he can swat his hand away. “you're lucky you're so cuuuuuuute~” taehyung pokes his own cheeks and smiles all pretty and and jeongguk punches him in the shin.

“quit it with that aegyo, jesus.”

“aw you love it, don't lie.”

and maybe jeongguk does love it a little bit but he'll be damned if he admits it, so he just rolls his eyes and pretends he doesn't see that knowing glint in taehyung's eyes.

“come on gukkie, lets try going down together,” taehyung says after a moment, grabbing jeongguk's hand and tugging.

“you think that's really gonna work? this sled's a piece of and it'll probably fall apart,” he protests, but he still lets taehyung pull him to his feet, lets taehyung push him down onto the sled, lets taehyung squeeze in behind him.

the older boy is warm, so warm, like the sun on a bright summer day, the hands that grip jeongguk's hips sending electric currents through his skin. maybe it's the alcohol talking, but this is ridiculously comfortable. if it were anyone else jeongguk would be weirded out by the skinship, by the chin resting on his shoulder, by the breath ticking his ear, but it's taehyung, so it's okay. more than okay, if he's being honest with himself.

taehyung's hands travel upwards to wrap around his waist, tucking himself even closer against jeongguk's back. “you ready?” he asks, and his voice is husky and low and only a little slurred.

“yeah.”

“we may die doing this.”

“i know.”

that's all the warning jeongguk gets before taehyung uses his feet to send them over the edge of the hill.

the cold air whips against his face as they barrel down the hill, the trees a blur as they fly. someone's screaming and belatedly he realizes it's him that's screaming at the top of his lungs like he's going down the first drop of a roller coaster. he's screaming and he's never felt so alive, the combined weight of their two bodies making every twist and turn even more perilous.

taehyung's arms are tight around his waist, and he's laughing. laughing like this is the funniest joke he's ever heard and jeongguk ends up laughing too. two tipsy college kids laughing hysterically as they careen through the woods, narrowly missing trees and hanging on through the curves by the skin of their teeth.

eventually they lose momentum and slow down, coming to a stop in a small clearing. everything is quiet save for their breathing, loud and panting as they fight to catch their breath. jeongguk leans back into taehyung's chest and lets his eyes close as he fills his lungs, the cold air leaving his throat raw. he can feel taehyung press his face into his shoulder, can feel his grin through the padding of his winter coat.

jeongguk knows what taehyung is going to say before he even opens his mouth, and counters with, “we are definitely not doing that again.”

“aw gukkie, you're no fun,” taehyung whines, squeezing jeongguk tighter until jeongguk squeaks a little.

“ you, i'm plenty of fun, stop trying to smash my organs.” jeongguk pries taehyung's arms from around him and flops sideways, rolling until he's laying on his back and staring up at the night sky. this far out there isn't enough light pollution to obscure the stars and they twinkle lazily above them. he hears rather than sees taehyung lay down beside him, the snow crunching beneath his weight. “this was fun,” he whispers, air turning to fog in front of his mouth.

“mm, i have the best ideas, yeah?” taehyung scoots closer and adjusts himself until he can lay with his head on jeongguk's stomach. jeongguk's hand moves unbidden to taehyung's head, cold wet fingers teasing the ends of his hair.

“yeah, whatever.”

taehyung doesn't reply, just shifts petulantly before settling down again, cheeks puffed out in a pout. the pout fades away as jeongguk's fingers continue to play idly with his hair. after a few moments of silence, taehyung points at the sky. “do you know what that star is?”

jeongguk squints up at the sky. “which one?”

“the brightest one, gukkie, right there.”

jeongguk squints harder. “that one? no clue.”

“trick question. it's two stars. sirius a and sirius b. people assume it's just one star but it's really two, a white dwarf – one of the biggest known white dwarfs – that's about the same mass as our sun, and another star that's roughly twice the mass of our sun.”

jeongguk nods and hums along to let taehyung know he's listening. sometimes he forgets that taehyung is majoring in astrophysics and is really ing smart, but then he starts talking about star dust and black holes and relativity and the space time continuum and he's reminded that he's not the smarter one in this pair. well, not if they're going by book smarts. jeongguk still has taehyung beat on basic common sense.

taehyung continues to point out stars, to tell jeongguk their name and their size and their distance from the planet, then moves on to talking about some asteroid named after an egyptian god that has everyone freaking out, and by the time he's onto the eventual death of the universe jeongguk is starting to get tired, the excitement of sledding and their previous imbibing of liquid grapes working in tandem to make his eyelids heavy.

his yawn makes his jaw crack and taehyung stops talking about black holes and dark matter. “aw, is my little jeonggukie getting sleepy?” he teases, turning his head to flash a smile at jeongguk before sitting up. “lets put the little baby to bed then, yeah?”

“i am not a baby, hyung,” jeongguk growls (well, whines), watching with narrowed eyes as taehyung gets too his feet entirely too fast for someone who drank two thirds of that bottle of wine. “i'm a legal adult who does legal adult things and i am not--”

“but you're my baby, gukkie.”

jeongguk is drawn up short by the statement, mouth open as words die on his lips. taehyung stares down at him, face carefully blank as the seconds tick by. jeongguk doesn't break their eye contact, tongue flicking out to wet suddenly dry lips, chest tight. taehyung tracks the moment almost lazily before looking back into jeongguk's eyes and extending a hand to help him up.

tick. tick. tick.

jeongguk exhales – he'd been holding his breath? – and takes taehyung's offered hand, letting the older boy pull him up to his feet and dust off his back. his palm tingles, a little from the cold, a lot from the lingering feeling of taehyung's palm against his, and he flexes his fingers slowly. there's something curling inside him, just below his stomach, something that twists and flickers like a flame and grows stronger with every touch, every glance.

they've been here before, at this fork in the road. to the left is the path well beaten and well traveled, the path that leads to friendship and laughter and boundaries and safety. to the right, however, the path is overgrown, dark and mysterious and just a little bit terrifying; a place where jeongguk has looked, has peered into the darkness, but never taken the first step to explore what's on the other side.

the walk back to taehyung's parents house is quiet, the atmosphere electric between them. they walk shoulder to shoulder, the backs of their hands brushing with each swing and it's like adding kindling to the fire in jeongguk's belly; it inside of him, burns at his chest and his heart and his throat and his lips. taehyung walks without a care in the world, sled rope gripped in his free hand as he lets the sled drag on the ground behind them. it isn't a far walk, maybe five minutes, and soon enough they're walking inside, kicking off their shoes at the door, and stripping off their now wet coats.

it's warm in the empty house, furnace humming along quietly, but jeongguk still shivers. the house may be warm but inside he's combusting, and the difference in temperature gives him goosebumps.

suddenly he remembers what today is, why they were drinking and sledding to begin with, and he fishes his phone from his pocket to check the time. 23:55 flashes back at him. almost the new year.

taehyung's already wandered off to the kitchen, pots banging. “want hot chocolate?” he calls and jeongguk tells him that yes, he'd love some hot chocolate right about now. jeongguk follows taehyung into the kitchen, curling his hands into the sleeves of his sweater to try and warm the tips of his fingers.

taehyung's dumping entirely too much instant hot chocolate mix into a pot of water, powder off his hand when he opens one of the packets too far down and makes a mess. jeongguk watches and can't help the fond smile that curls his lips as taehyung's eyebrows knit together in concentration when he starts stirring in the powder, trying his hardest not to make a bigger mess but ends up spilling some on the stove top anyway.

watching him like this, being so domestic, it warms jeongguk's veins in a way that he knows he can't blame on the wine that he's mostly sobered up from, warmed in a way that feels right, that feels like home.

taehyung turns up the heat on the stove when he's done stirring the hot chocolate mix into the water. “just gotta wait for it to heat up,” he says, turning and flashing a grin at jeongguk.

jeongguk rubs his hands together, walks further into the kitchen to lean a hip against the counter next to taehyung. “how long, do you think?”

taehyung opens his mouth to reply, but the chiming of the grandfather clock in the living room cuts him off with its melodic ringing. “oh, it's midnight!” he exclaims, pulling out his phone to double check the time. jeongguk does the same, and yep, the clock says 00:00. taehyung glances again at jeongguk, a slow smile taking over his lips. “happy new year, jeongguk.”

and it's that smile that gets him. that small, intimate smile that's all lips and almost no teeth, the smile reserved for jeongguk and jeongguk alone. it's a will-o-the-wisp, the light that bobs in the darkness and beckons jeongguk away from the well beaten path into the unknown. that smile captivates him, draws him in, pulls him away from boundaries and safety and normalcy and he follows willingly into uncharted territory.

the first touch of their lips is chaste, nothing more than a light pressure before jeongguk is pulling back, stuttering out a, “, , i'm sorry, i--” but taehyung is pulling him back in with a fist in his sweater and his protests are swallowed into taehyung's mouth.

the kiss isn't perfect; theres too much teeth, they bump noses, its a little sloppy. taehyung doesn't taste like the stars or like the sun or like sugar or other stupid cliches that jeongguk's read.

but it's right, and maybe taehyung's will-o-the-wisp smile will end up leading him home.