Choosing a place to meet up with Jungkook and Jimin was easy enough, as they were all young men who enjoyed food quite a bit. Taehyung had even planned to suggest going for a photo walk before going to eat. Jimin was a Canon user, he owned a pretty big, pretty hefty brick of a camera - and several brick-like lenses as well - that he always brought everywhere. It only left his side while he was at work because he couldn't just carry it around in the store while working. Taehyung had no idea how Jimin could carry this heavy thing around all the time. Some of their coworkers liked teasing him that he compensated for his small size with a big camera.

So yes, the place was chosen and the activity before going to eat was chosen as well, now Taehyung just had to find the courage to choose a day as well. It was a little harder than he had thought it would be because he was a nervous mess - again. He couldn't help it! He wanted to do this, to just trust his friends, but part of him insisted that it would end badly and he was too greedy and selfish to voluntarily let go of those two if it did end up with them finding out that they liked each other more than they liked Taehyung.

It took him long enough to get decided that there were two feet of snow on the ground by the time he texted his idea to Jungkook. Christmas was just around the corner and Taehyung had to work a lot more than usual since the store was open from 9AM to 9PM every week day for the two weeks before Christmas. He needed time off, or at least time to chill and do something else than work. His boys were good at making him feel loved, but he needed more this time. Lying down on his living room couch like an unwanted potato like he was doing right now wasn't going to make him feel better. He hadn't had an actual weekend - and by weekend he meant just two days off in a row, not an actual Saturday-Sunday weekend, because he had pretty much never had one of those ever since he had started working there - in forever, and that time he had this day off (Friday) and his next day off would be on Wednesday. He grabbed his phone and took a few minutes to think. Sending the message took ten more, but he pressed "send" and crossed his fingers, hoping. He had already told Jimin about his idea, now he just had to see if Jungkook was on board too. Somehow it had been easier suggesting it to Jimin. Maybe because he was his coworker and he saw him everyday? He wasn't sure.

"I was thinking about your suggestion, how about we go shoot downtown on Wednesday? Jimin doesn't work and me neither. Do you have classes? We could go eat together after shooting if you're free."

It took barely a minute before he had a reply. "got class at 8, it ends at 11 :) i'd be free to go shoot after that, from what ur saying jimin will be there too right?"
"Yeah, I was thinking maybe I wouldn't be as nervous if we were also doing something else in the meantime?"
"good idea :) meet at the metro station downtown at 11:30?"
"That's fine with me. See you there."
"see u!"

He had done it! He could do it. He wasn't a wimp. Okay, maybe he was, but not a total wimp. Then he lightly slapped himself in the face because he had insulted himself again, and he knew Jungkook hated it when Taehyung did that. He was trying to put more effort into not bringing himself down at every occasion because nobody really liked people who did that and, even if he sometimes did deserve the insults, it wouldn't do anything to help him change to call himself names all the time. So he was going to change, and Jungkook would still like him, and Jimin too, and they wouldn't leave him behind! He hoped. He had to trust that they would stay with him.

Taehyung flopped down his couch and groaned as he got up, heading towards his office. He did have a room he used for that, although he didn't go in it all that often. His better computer - a 27 inches iMac  with 16GB of RAM - was in that room, so he did go in there whenever he had photos to post-process, considering that his old dinosaur-era MacBook wasn't powerful enough to run photo processing software, but that wasn't very often, especially not in winter when he kept the door to that room closed and the heating of it to a minimum. It was kind of separated from the rest of the apartment, so he didn't like hanging out in it as much as just chilling on the couch in the living room, where the cage and the play area were.

However, his photo gear was in the office, so he opened the door and stepped in, flicking the light on. The cool air of the room made him shiver, so he stepped back out to wrap himself in a hoodie and put on slippers before he went back in. He could feel his hands already getting colder, so he stuck them in his pockets and beelined for his camera. It was sitting on his desk with the last lens he had used on it, so he picked it up and checked if he had formatted his card after the last time he had gone shooting. He hadn't, so he took care of that and then put his battery on the charger. Better make sure it had full juice for his shoot with his friends. He put another one in for now and looked outside. It was a little gloomy, a little cloudy, but that kind of temperature had the best light, so he hesitated a bit. Stay in all day or go out and breathe some fresh air while potentially getting good photos? He was still in his pajamas, actually, so the choice was harder than it seemed.

He ended up keeping his camera in hand as he exited the office, turning the light off and closing the door behind him. Better go out. He'd feel better at the end of the day if he knew he had done something with his day rather than stay on his couch. His bedroom was his next stop and he put his camera on the bed before he started working towards finding okay clothes for going outside. They didn't need to look good, they just needed to be comfortable. He'd wear a thick winter coat and snow pants on top of everything anyway, and he'd have a thick, warm beanie and a fluffy scarf, and also thick winter gloves, so it didn't really matter what he looked like underneath all of that. Nobody would notice anyway. He'd just look like a vaguely Taehyung-shaped pile of snow clothes anyway.

Once he was done with that part, he grabbed his camera again and hauled it all the way to the bathroom for a quick pit stop before he'd head out. Done with this too, he finally went to get his outer layers on in order to go out. Keys, check. Wallet just in case, check. Camera, check. Favorite lens for street photo, check. Memory card, check. Battery, check. Extra battery, check. Tissues because he knew his nose would be a to him, check. Phone in case of emergency, check. Okay, he was good to go.

Taehyung breathed the cold air outside and exhaled slowly. His breath was visible, which made him smile. As a kid, he had liked to pretend he was a dragon in winter, puffing out smoke when upset. Now he just enjoyed looking at it for what it meant - winter! - and he sometimes disliked it a little when it fogged up his viewfinder while he was shooting. At the moment, he wasn't actively shooting, so he could enjoy breathing out very slowly through his mouth and watching the vapor roll out.

He stopped focusing on that once he was near a larger, busier street, and he then concentrated on where he was going. There was a large-ish park not too far from where he lived, so he planned on going there and rolling around in the snow with his camera. He was hoping it would snow a little actually, and the air felt like it would release snowflakes eventually during the day, so he was hopeful. It was just cold enough that it would be snow and not freezing rain, without being so cold that his eyelashes and bangs got frosted from him just breathing. Perfect temperature in his opinion, and apparently in a lot of people's opinion since there were more people than he would have thought at the park. There were slides for the kids, so that explained things a little. More surprising than that was this one dude who was just sitting on a bench, lounging really, arms draped on the back of it and his head tilted back. He seemed to be around Taehyung's age, maybe a little older, but he looked super stylish and Taehyung couldn't help but lift his camera and click it once.

But then his settings were off, and his angle was off, and he could see the shot he wanted in his head but he would need to get closer to take it, and at that point he might as well ask the guy anyway, so he walked closer and cleared his throat. The man opened his eyes and turned to look at Taehyung, and damn he looked good. Not as good as Jungkook, in his opinion, but good anyway, enough that Taehyung suddenly wanted to get a full photoshoot on the go with this guy as his model.

"Sorry," he apologized before he knew what he was saying, "didn't mean to disturb you, but would you mind if I took a picture of you in the same pose you were in just now? Sorry. That sounds weird."
"Hm? No, it's fine, go ahead. I'm used to being used as a model."

Weird. But welcome. Taehyung smiled as the guy went back to his lounging, and he got into position. From the side, with the gorgeously white landscape in the background, all nicely blurred. If only it would snow. Taehyung just knew it would look better with snow. Eh, couldn't have it all. He fixed his settings until they were just right, then took the shot. He made sure it was in focus before he got up and went to sit with the guy, tilting his camera so he could see the screen.

"Here you go. Would you like me to send it to you?"
The man looked pleased with the photo. "Sure. Just send it to my email."

He gave him the address, which was apparently this guy's name followed by a bunch of numbers, and Taehyung noted it down on his phone, hurrying to avoid freezing his fingers off. He had prioritized warm gloves rather than touchscreen-friendly ones, and it was usually fine, except for those situations. He hid his hand back into his glove once he was done typing it, groaning.

"I'll send that to you once I'm home. My fingers will fall off if I try doing that now."
"No problem."
"Just don't be surprised if you see you have an email from a certain Kim Taehyung. That would be me."
"Pleased to meet you officially. In case my address didn't make it obvious, my name's Kim Namjoon."
"You said you were used to being used as a model, what does that mean? You know a photog?"
"Yeah, my roommate is one, or at least he likes taking photos. He's super enthusiastic about photography, and when he learns a new thing he likes practicing on me. So yeah, I'm used to being someone's model."

Somehow, Taehyung could imagine Jungkook in that description. But Jungkook had said that his roommate was "an awkward ", and this guy didn't seem to be one, so it was probably just a coincidence.

"That's pretty cool. If you don't mind that, of course."
"I don't really mind, and my parents really like that. They get new photos of me every week to print for my grandma."

They spoke for a while longer, Taehyung somehow managing to forget that he was usually terrible at speaking with strangers out of his work place, and he eventually even got to shoot Namjoon some more. Namjoon stayed on the bench, comfortable where he was, although he did move a little into different, easy poses. Taehyung wouldn't take too many photos, not wanting to overwhelm his knew acquaintance, but at the same time he was yelling and running in circles in his mind, excited at the idea of maybe getting to know someone new? Okay yeah sure Namjoon was still a stranger, but he seemed nice enough and he didn't seem to think Taehyung was a giant weirdo for asking him to pose for him out of the blue.

But Taehyung couldn't help cackling when Namjoon got up to try a new pose and stepped on what was probably the only icy spot in the entire park, slipping and almost falling on his face after doing an intense arms-flailing oh-no-I'm-so-gonna-faceplant dance. He somehow managed not to, but Taehyung was already folded in two, laughing his lungs out once he was sure that Namjoon had reestablished his balance and landed his right back on the bench.

"I could have gotten seriously hurt!" Namjoon protested despite his smile.
Taehyung took a few deep breaths to calm down, but he was grinning. "Might you by any chance know a certain Jeon Jungkook?"
"That's my roommate! You know him?"
"He told me about you. And about you being clumsy."
"Oh geez. That wasn't me being clumsy though, that was me being terribly unlucky! How do you know him?"
"He's my friend," Taehyung said with a certain amount of pride. His friend, his buddy, his... well, his person he enjoyed being with that accepted hanging out with him too. He was actually happy to be able to say that. It was weird in an amazing kind of way. "And a customer where I work."
"Oh. You said your name's Taehyung right? Oh shoot. So you're 'Taetae'!"
Taetae. So very few had ever chosen to nickname him that. "Wait, is that what Jungkook calls me?"
"He never said your name to me, just called you that whenever I asked him what his plans were and he was presumably meeting up with you. It's a really big coincidence that we met though. You live nearby?"
"Yeah, just a few blocks away. Jungkook... well, you guys don't live that close to here, right?"
"That's why I'm saying it's one heck of a coincidence. I'm actually visiting my grandparents. And taking a break from them at the moment, as you may have noticed."

Oh. Oh! That explained it then. Taehyung hadn't been able to figure out why someone who lived way further than that - and who had access to better parks than this one - would hang out there. He sat back next to Namjoon, who had given up on getting up, and he looked a little thoughtful. "Do you know what Jungkook thinks of me?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's just- well. I'm a little socially awkward. It may not show too much right now, since I somehow managed to talk to you without melting into a puddle of embarrassment, but yeah. It's just... I just want to know if I'm a good friend for Jungkook? If that's something you know and can tell me about."
Namjoon raised a brow, but he didn't seem angered or anything. He thought about it a bit, but ended up shrugging. "I do know he cares about you quite a lot. When he's presumably texting you, he's usually smiling, and I see him doing some kind of wiggle dance in the apartment sometimes when he asks you to hang out with him and you accept. The other day he was having a crisis about- no, I don't think I can tell you about that one. But it was a good thing."

Jungkook? A crisis? A good thing? He wasn't sure what to think of that, but he nodded quietly. Namjoon offered him an amused grin. "Now that you know that he likes hanging out with you and having you as a friend, how about you tell me what he told you about me? Everything he said. I'm totally gonna give him for it and not tell him how I learned about it."

Taehyung giggled, but he figured he might as well tell Namjoon. Jungkook hadn't said to keep it a secret, and he was sure Namjoon meant the "giving him for it" part in the friendliest possible way. So he got comfy on the bench and smiled before he told Namjoon everything Jungkook had told him about his roommate.

***

Wednesday showed up very slowly and very quickly at the same time. Slowly because Taehyung was looking forward to having a day off and going on a photo walk with his friends, but quickly because he was terribly busy at work and crashed on his bed every night after the day was over - after he had taken an hour to spend with his boys, of course. Jimin was aware of when the shoot would happen, so that was that. They'd meet up at the station, all together at the same time as much as possible so that nobody would already be deep into a conversation with the remaining person being left out.

But when Wednesday finally arrived, in the morning Taehyung listed and re-listed what he had in his photo bag, making sure he had everything again and again. He didn't want to get there and not have a battery. Or not have a memory card. Or not have his entire camera, because he was pretty sure he could actually manage to do that if he got too nervous and left in a hurry. He'd also need his wallet, definitely, as he didn't want anyone needing to pay for him. Did he have his portable hard drive? He did have his portable hard drive. If his apartment went up in smoke during his absence he'd still have his photos at least. Not that he thought it would happen, and to be perfectly honest he'd probably be devastated if his apartment burned down, and he'd feel like the worst living creature in the entire universe for keeping his boys in a cage and preventing them from escaping, and he wouldn't think of his photos at all, but still. Photos were memories, and if he ended up losing everything this would at least exist still and help him mourn, in a way.

Taehyung groaned as he shoved his hard drive at the bottom of his bag, scowling. He hadn't meant to start thinking such dark thoughts. He! Was going! On a photo walk! With his friends! He had to think happy thoughts! It was a happy day!

His phone vibrated at around ten and Taehyung practically jumped on it. He fumbled with the lock screen and managed to get it unlocked, only to stare at the message in disbelief.

"my class finished early, wanna meet up before the time? didn't expect it to be that way, sorry if you're not ready yet"

Jungkook, obviously. Taehyung had planned on leaving at 10:45, figuring that 45 minutes would be enough to reach the meeting point, but this kind of threw his timeline to hell. Jungkook was done with his class. Taehyung wanted to be a good friend and didn't want to make him wait because it definitely wasn't his fault that his class was over an hour early. But Jimin? Jimin would be there at 11:30. Taehyung didn't want to go there before Jimin would be ready. He didn't want this shoot to be unfair - for anyone! He hesitated a little before typing.

"Let me text Jimin? I'll see if he can get free right away. I'd still need about half an hour to reach the rendezvous point."
"np, just lemme know when you're good, i got homework i can work on in the meantime in the worst case ;)"

That reassured Taehyung, and he proceeded to text Jimin, hoping that he'd be close to his phone so that Taehyung would get a reply quickly and let Jungkook know what they'd be doing.

"Hey Jimin, Jungkook's class finished early, do you want to go now? Otherwise Jungkook says he has homework he can do until it's time."

The reply was quick to come, luckily. ">.< sorry I'm a lil' busy right now? my mom caught me while I was getting prepared and I have to do the dishes before leaving. sorry! I'll be there for 11:30 though for sure! apologize to Kook for me please"

That was cute. Taehyung caught himself smiling, imagining Jimin grumbling and doing the dishes while his mother, no doubt a small but terrifying woman, was watching and making sure he was scrubbing properly. He proceeded to text Jungkook, smiling quietly to himself while doing so. "Jimin got caught into chores until the agreed time to meet up, so I think you'll be stuck doing actual homework. Think you'll survive?"
"oh nooooes yeah :p should be fine, dun worry about me, i'll just work and look forward to going for the shoot :) see ya a lil later!"
"Good, I was hoping you wouldn't mind too much. See you later."

Taehyung was definitely relieved. They'd be fine. Jungkook would be fine. They'd meet up later just like they had said they would. Happy day! Happy thoughts. He giggled and went to his boys' cage to pet them until it would be time for him to head out, using them as a way to soothe his nerves.