“Mmh, this is good!”

“Don’t lie to me, Chae”

“Okay, it’s terrible, but A+ for effort.” Chaeyoung pats Tae’s hunched back for comfort. He’s been trying to cook an edible meal for two hours now and truth be told, he’s failing hard. “Seriously, Tae just let me cook today, I don’t want you cutting any more fingers.” She glances at his faint bruises that he desperately tried to hide throughout the process, but nothing goes unnoticed by Chae. He pouts and heads towards the bathroom to put band-aids on his cuts. Just then, Jungkook comes out of his room, hair disheveled and eyes struggling to open as he waddles to the kitchen. Chaeyoung smiles upon seeing him and gets the urge to go and smooth his hair but decides it’s best not to. For now.

It’s been two weeks since the night Jungkook opened up to her and she can confidently say that things have been better since then. They’re comfortable enough to have meals together, do laundry together, go grocery shopping together, even playing overwatch together. Jungkook was hesitant at first, a little afraid that Chaeyoung will judge him for playing video games, but when she invited herself to play, he knew he was being ridiculous. Chaeyoung is a very chill and understanding person, he knows that better than anyone, but his trauma still makes him insecure about his likes and dislikes around girls. Still, he’s slowly becoming accustomed to having Chaeyoung in his life. She’s an ethereal ray of sunshine, even rivaling Taehyung’s lively personality, and Jungkook likes that about her. Sometimes, when he doesn’t feel like talking and there’s no words left to exchange between them, she’d start sending him memes and funny videos that leave him breathless with laughter. She understands him, respects his space and his hobbies. However, there is one thing that still bothers him and that’s Chaeyoung’s prudence around him. She’s too careful to touch him, too wary about saying something that may not be to his liking, too cautious of what she does and how she does it when they’re together. At first, he appreciated it, but now it’s getting too out of hand and he hates it. He can tell she hates it too. Chaeyoung is naturally touchy (if her skin ship with Tae isn’t the biggest proof of that.) and the fact that she has to restrain herself around him does bother him. He wants her to just be herself.

“Morning, sleepy head. You realize it’s 2 PM now, right?” she glances at his sleepy figure as she cleans the mess Taehyung left behind. She’s never letting him into the kitchen ever again.

“Mmh.” He hums tiredly and stretches with a yawn. “was working on a paper late last night.” He mutters drowsily and Chae nods in reply.

“Want me to make you something?” he shakes his head as he watches her clean the kitchen island. Something tells him Taehyung is responsible for all this mess and he has no doubt about it. He once got a knife stuck at the ceiling. Anything is possible with Tae. Speaking of the devil, Taehyung comes in, hands coated in all kinds of band-aids and bandages and beams when he sees Jungkook.

“Aww you look so cute.” He ruffles his hair and takes a seat next to him. Jungkook catches Chaeyoung’s soft smile directed at him and he quickly looks elsewhere. For some reason, looking her in the eyes makes him nervous, and not the bad kind of nervous, just..weird. Like there’s a hoard of butterflies fluttering in his stomach fighting to escape and oddly enough, he doesn’t hate it. “Oh right! Jimin said he’s coming tonight with Yoongi for movie night!” Taehyung says. “Just a warning though,” he looks at Chae “They can be extremely gross and mushy so you might want to prepare yourself for what’s coming.” She chuckles at his choice of words.

“Don’t say that. I love seeing Minie in love.” She replies and the two boys exchange a look.

“Minie?” Taehyung tilts his head “You call him Minie? That’s awfully adorable.”

“Yeah, although he says he hates it but I know deep down he loves it.”

“I never asked,” Tae starts “but, how do you know Jimin?” he asks and Chaeyoung puts down the dishes she washed to come join them. She leans on the kitchen island separating them, standing straight across Jungkook, who’s currently losing it because her face is close enough for him to openly fawn over her beauty. He hopes she doesn’t notice.

“Oh man, we’ve been friends since forever. We met in kindergarten when I accidently ate his lunch and he called the teacher on me.” she chuckles at the memory. “She made me apologize to him and I did, I even complimented his mom’s cooking. The next day he approached me and shared his lunch with me and the rest is history.”

“Aww Jimin was so sweet!” Tae coos and then stops, his face morphing into a sudden realization. “Wait, you’re Rosé the food stealer?” Taehyung asks and that manages to get Jungkook’s attention.

“Yeah, how did you know my name?” Chaeyoung asks, a little surprised.

“Chimchim told us a lot about you, he used to talk about you all the time, to the point where Yoongi thought you were his lover and wouldn’t make move on him.” They all snicker in amusement. Jungkook folds his hands in his lap and stares at Chaeyoung.

“You have two names?” He asks as Chaeyoung directs her gaze to him.

“Yeah. Chaeyoung’s my Korean name but Rosé is my Australian name since, you know, I lived there.” She stops when she notices an eyelash stuck on his cheek. She reaches out to brush it off but quickly brings her hand back to her side, a guilty expression on her face. “Uh, sorry, it’s just, you got an eyelash stuck on your cheek.” She mutters weakly and averts her gaze with a light chuckle. “Anyway, I’m going to prepare some snacks for tonight. Tae, you’re banned from the kitchen for life. Don’t you dare step a foot in.” she warns Taehyung with a raised finger and he nods as she goes back to cleaning. Tae immediately turns his attention to Jungkook with a sly smirk.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“Oh sweetie, don’t play dumb.” He points with his head to Chae. “You still scared of her touch?” Tae’s voice softens and Jungkook appreciates it.

“No, not really.”

“So why the reluctance?” Jungkook eyes Chaeyoung as she starts chopping veggies.

“I guess she thinks I’m still scared.”

“Well then,” Tae puts a hand over his shoulder and smiles knowingly “show her you’re not.”

*****************

No one is paying attention to the movie. Jimin is casually sitting on his boyfriend’s lap, engaged in a heated discussion with Taehyung over which brand of Pizza is the best. Yoongi’s absolutely uninterested in their banter but he also doesn’t want to leave the comfort of Jimin’s weight on him, So, he tightens his hold on his boyfriend and buries his face in his neck, peppering him with soft kisses that’s turning Jimin into a giggling mess and the conversation with his friend is long forgotten as the two start making out right in front of Taehyung’s salad. (Okay, there’s no salad involved but for the sake of keeping the meme alive, let’s pretend there is.)

Meanwhile, Jungkook and Chaeyoung are sitting on the ground (since the other three have occupied the couch) and are filling their mouths with all the kinds of food around them. As it turned out, and to no one’s surprise, Chaeyoung didn’t make any snacks so she made up for it by buying anything they wanted. Her wallet is definitely crying at the moment, but she’s enjoying herself plenty so she can’t really complain.

Jungkook, on the other hand, is still thinking about what Taehyung told him a couple of hours ago.

Show her you’re not.

See, that’s the hard part. He can’t just walk up to her and be like ‘Hey Chaeyoung, you can touch me!’. He internally cringes at the sound of it and sighs. Why is he so inept? This would’ve been easier if he was as open as Taehyung or as straightforward as Yoongi. Hell, even sweet and shy Jimin would know what to do.

“Oh my god I forgot to bring the Doritos! I’ll be right back.” She sprints to the kitchen as if the Doritos will disappear if she doesn’t hurry. Jungkook finds it incredibly cute and smiles to himself when suddenly he feels a nudge on his shoulder. He turns around to see Taehyung’s foot right next to his face and he backs away.

“Ew, Tae!”

“Go get me a glass of water, I’m parched.”

“You could’ve just said that without shoving your foot up my face!” he grunts and gets up, glaring at his annoying friend who seems to be the only one paying attention to the movie no one gives a damn about. He intentionally ignores looking at Jimin and Yoongi’s make-out session (Seriously, they need to get a room.) and walks up to the kitchen. He stops when he notices Chaeyoung stuffing her face with Doritos and lets out a laugh. She suddenly turns around, her eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I swear I was going to share.” She mumbles weakly and hides what’s left back in the drawer. Jungkook, too amused and captivated by her cuteness, approaches her with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. She sighs defeatedly and shrugs. “Okay fine! I didn’t want anyone to have them. I confess!” she states dramatically, her head held high. Just then, he notices a tiny piece of chips crumb in the corner of her lips. Without thinking, he sticks his hand out and cups her cheek, gently rubbing the crumb off with his thumb. Chaeyoung stands still, a little shocked by his boldness and stares blankly at him.

“Uhm, Jungkook?”

“I don’t mind, you know.” He doesn’t know where this sudden courage came from but he’s glad for it.

“Mind what?” she whispers, a little dazed by his touch.

“Your touches. I don’t like it when you repress yourself with me. You don’t have to be careful around me, I’m not scared.” His palm is still lingering on her cheek, thumb mindlessly caressing her cheekbone. He’s about to retract it when he feels her hand resting on top of his. She closes her eyes with a smile and silently leans into his touch.

“Your hand is soft. I like it.” She opens her eyes just then and Jungkook’s chest tightens. He’s nervous, his heart is beating too loudly for his liking, but it feels good. He likes it. He likes the effect she has on him. She straightens up, holds his hand tightly and detaches it from her rosy cheek with a smile.

“Let’s go back.”

They walk back to the living room, their hands interlaced together. They reclaim their spot back and proceed to focus back on the movie. A couple of minutes pass by before Chaeyoung lays her head on Jungkook’s shoulder and sighs contently.

Jungkook can’t stop smiling to himself. He likes that they’re still holding hands, he likes the weight of Chae’s head on his shoulder, he likes that she’s leaning closer to him. He likes everything about their current situation and wouldn’t do anything to change it.

Taehyung stares at the two adoringly and smirks to himself.

“How much you want to bet they’ll get together in less than a month?” Jimin whispers to him and Tae rolls his eyes.

“Please, Jungkook’s still an awkward bunny. I give it two months.”

“Oh, you’re on.”

---------------------------

A.N: How the hell did this turn into numerous chapters? it was supposed to be a oneshot. That's a big whoopsie.

Anyway, thank you rosekookies for reading this story <3