Aeipathy: A continued, cosuming passion; an unyielding disease.

 

 

 

 

Taehyung wakes up between sleepy smiles and bare skin, between ash-colored hair mixed with brown hair, with the masculine and heavy smell that envelops both people lying in that mattress in some house long time ago built in the neighborhood of Apgujeon.

 

It was a quiet morning, Taehyung thinks, on Thursdays he only had one class at eleven o'clock, he is about to get up when the other person moves, pulling him by the waist and bringing them close together.

 

Taehyung feels those butterflies in his stomach, the ones he had always felt when he is with this person. They are not only butterflies, they are ants, the red ones, running all over his inwards and biting him everywhere. He also feels elephants, stomping hard in his stomach all the way up to his chest. And a lot of bees, flying and buzzing everywhere from his head to his toes. Taehyung doesn’t feel butterflies, he feels a damn zoo in his stomach. And in his chest. And everywhere, to be honest.

 

"Good morning, Tae." Another smile, a bigger one this time. Taehyung feels how the edges of his lips reach his ears, his smile so wide. "Did you sleep well?"

 

Taehyung nods his head, still not opening his eyes. Suddenly he feels a pair of soft lips kissing him on the forehead, then on his right eye, then on the left, then on his nose, then on his right cheek, and then on the left, until it reached his lips. It’s a simple light touch, but it makes Taehyung tremble slightly.

 

"Do you want something special for breakfast?"

 

"I think it's better if I go now." Taehyung's voice sounds more hoarse and deep than either them would have liked. Jungkook looks at him, smiling.

 

"Stay for breakfast, yeah?"

 

Taehyung cannot resist his, now, almost best friend’s smile. He nods and get out of bed to find some clothes to wear. 

Jungkook admires Taehyung’s collarbones, decorated with large purple marks made (proudly) by him, some red bite marks here and there, decorating Taehyung’s body with some kisses that, although they can’t be seemed, Jungkook remembers perfectly where he put his lips last night. 

Taehyung admires Jungkook’s back, full of scratches made (unfortunately) by him. Jungkook has never complained about the scratches, but Taehyung knows he shouldn’t do them, he better looks away from the child and shifts his gaze to somewhere else.  

Jungkook simply puts on his underpants and leaves the room humming a melody under his breath, happy, as always. Taehyung stays in the minor's bed, unconsciously breathing the scent of , sweat, love and Jungkook that is left of the blankets. The aroma of Jungkook was his favorite. 

"I have to go back to my apartment and take a shower," Taehyung leaves the room and walks straight to the kitchen, where Jungkook has black coffee ready, no sugar (Taehyung knows that Jungkook hates black coffee, but he does so because it’s Taehyung’s favorite) with toast and scrambled eggs (Which Taehyung hated. Instedad, he loved pancakes, maybe some bread and one ore two cookies) "before going to university." 

"You can do it here." Jungkook bites the toast and, that morning, decides to drink some (bitter and disgusting) coffee, to make Taehyung feel a little better with everything.

Taehyung thinks about it, at the same time he looks out the kitchen window and nods his head. "Then, I'll take some of your clothes, is that ok?." 

The day looks pretty good, it's not cold nor hot. There are not as many clouds, but it wasn’t as sunny as he expected. Everything was perfect. 

Taehyung's life had always been perfect, he did not complain about anything. Being the eldest of his brothers, he was the first to go to Seoul to study university, obviously with the financial support of his parents. He wasn't rich, or he didn’t think so. Yes, he had a large apartment in Gangnam, which he rarely occupied, because he usually spent his time in Jungkook's house. 

("You should collect rent!" Jimin advises Jungkook.  

"If he cleans the house, it's enough."   

"Am I your ing maid?" Taehyung looked high-key offended.  

"You should be? I mean, you spend all day in my house and I never complain."  

"Shut up, Jeon!") 

No one knew that the apartment was a mess at first, and that with a little bit of time and dedication, Taehyung had cleaned, organized and decorated Jungkook's house. Because Jungkook is the only one who knows that the gray walls made everything seem empy, empty and boring and depressing and that Taehyung changed everything, bringing light and joy and sweetness, making everything look a little bit more colorful. Because Taehyung is the only one who knew that Jungkook couldn't cook or clean for , and that's why he spent a lot of time there. Yeah, that's why. At least that's what he says to himself. 

Taehyung had several friends, six of them were the closest. Jimin was his soulmate, obviously, he knew him from the first day he moved to Seoul and since then they have been inseparable. Jimin was just like him; stubborn and happy. They were pretty popular; having dozens of friends and going out with eveoryone that asked them out. 

Then there was Seokjin, Taehyung knew him because, well, who didn't know Kim Seokjin? The, probably, most popular guy in school and together with Jimin, they were great friends. Thanks to Seokjin, he met the others at a party he did last year on a beach he no longer remembers.

First Namjoon, Seokjin's boyfriend, a little clumsy, yes, he stumbled even with the air, and everyone was always behind him, taking care of him and making sure he doesn’t kill anyone in the cafeteria with a spoon. He was also very smart, believe it or not. He was always on one of the first five places in the entire university, and that was saying little.

Then there was Hoseok, in the career of artistic expression, Hobi was like a little sun that radiated energy and good vibes to anyone who crossed his path, and well, a friend like that is always going to be appreciated. Anyone would kill to have someone like Jung Hoseok in their life. Not only popular but also cool and kind. Taehyung had dinner with him at leats once a week so they could talk about the other ones.

Then there was Yoongi, the most serious of all, known for looking for problems with everyone, but lately he was the one who talked the most with Taehyung. Yoongi had been dating Jimin for six months, and although Jimin brain was full of weird stuff, gore, , wickedness, jealousy, fights, complaints, among other things, Yoongi endured everything as a silverback alpha and was completely in love with Jimin.

Finally, there was Jeon Jungkook. You could say they were almost best friends. Yes? Yeah, something like that. He met him like everyone else, at Seokjin's party, and lost his ity with him the second day they met. Days were tough, yes, Jungkook back in the day was a complete idiot and Taehyung didn't speak to him for a month. But one day, Taehyung went to Jungkook’s house, (How did he get his address? Nobody knows until now) at four in the morning, drunk as . A worried and sleepy Jungkook put him in his house and took care of him. Jungkook has never been very friendly, he used to be known as a playboy, but in reality he was always alone. Before them, Yoongi was his only friend, and his life has never been very interesting.

Things improved with the passing of days. Jungkook was very kind to Taehyung. Very kind. More than he should be. Until they got to the point of ing again. 

It didn't happen once. Neither twice. There were several times. 

Taehyung did not love Jungkook. Nope. Not at all. And he was more than sure that the younger didn’t love him either. It was just a friend thing, (that the others shouldn’t know). Besides that little detail, they were very good friends, who tell each other everything and hang out a lot.  

Taehyung was happy, really happy. Since Seokjin’s party, everyone got together every day to eat in the cafeteria, they started getting people’s attention, until they became the daily gossip. 

That Yoongi had made Jimin a love song. That Jungkook and his girlfriend fought last night. That Jimin and Taehyung used to have the same ex-lover. That Namjoon had broken his, until now, ninth desk (in the month). That Seokjin and Namjoon had broken up because Namjoon cheated on him. That Hoseok was not completely straight, and might have a love affair with one teacher. That Jungkook had secretly 5 babies with different girls (real babies, one was called Junghyun and was two years old). That Taehyung was dating two girls at the same time. 

But hey, that's what people said, they have a lot of imagination… the reality was completely different.  

Maybe his life was not funny, like Seokjin and Namjoon’s, who always had a new and funny story to tell, or like Hoseok's, living in parties and always being the popular boy of the university, and much less like Yoonmin’s, planning from now on his future and every day discovering something new from the other and everything was color pink between the couple. 

On second thought, Taehyung was not completely happy. He was missing something. 

But bah, he had his whole life ahead to find that, right? 

"Tae? Tae! I'm talking to you!" Jungkook is shaking his hand frantically in front of Taehyung's nose. "Did you hear what I said?" 

"What?" Taehyung realizes that they both finished breakfast, and Jungkook left the plates and cups in the dishwasher carelessly "Sorry." 

"I'm reminding you that tomorrow is my party, so you don’t forget, and don’t be late, hyung." 

"How am I going to forget?" Taehyung smiles at him, and magically the room lights up. 

Taehyung gets up, and before leaving for a shower, the pair of friends share a kiss that lasts five long and wet minutes.  

 

 

--

 

Yoongi stands behind Taehyung and coughs to get his attention. Taehyung turns quickly and smiles at him, happy "Hi, hyung."

"You good?"

"What do you mean?" Taehyung has his red glass almost full, that day he decided that he would simply drink rum. "I'm perfectly fine hyung."

Yoongi shrugs, "If you say so..."

"And Jimin?"

"Dancing, with Hoseok." Yoongi makes a strange grimace, as if he had taken a sip of lemon juice. "You know that these parties are not my thing."

Taehyung gets on tiptoes and turns his neck towards the dance floor (the living room).

A happy Jimin and a hyped Hoseok were doing dance competition. Freestyle hip-hop to be exact. Most of the people were already surrounding them, encouraging them with shouts and jamming the song in their places.

"Excuse me?" It's a tall, beautiful girl who stands at the main table at precisely two in the morning. Jimin and Hoseok stop dancing instantly and they all turn their heads towards the girl. The DJ, Namjoon,

(“, Joon, this is the worst party thanks to your boring- music.” Hoseok laughs.

“Hey, don’t mess up with Britney Spears” Jin defends his lover, but when starts playing in the speakers, the pink haired guy turns to his boyfriend “Damn, Namjoon, just get off there, you’re the worst.”

Namjoon laughs, but the seven guys start singing at the same time:

“HUMP ME! ME! DADDY BETTER MAKE ME CHOKE!”)

lowers the volume to the music, so that all listen to the woman. "Well, I just want to thank everyone for coming to our anniversary party," she makes Jungkook come up to the table with her, the boy just scratches the back of his neck and smirks "we're very happy together, and that's something to celebrate, right, love?" The more the girl smiles, the more Taehyung’s smile slowly fades. The rum, as sweet as it has always been, tastes bitter to him, and when he takes a sip, he feels like it's acid that runs through his throat. He applauds anyway.

"I can’t believe you made a party," Hoseok is very drunk, but not enough to stop talking "a big party, just to celebrate six months of ing her." 

"That’s the price of love, huh?" Namjoon raises his eyebrows, playing. Seokjin and Jimin die of laughter when they see a colored Jungkook not knowing what to do. 

“Or the price for ing.” Yoongi thinks out loud.  

"Don’t you already got her pregnant and this party is just an excuse to tell us?" Taehyung speaks and Jungkook opens his eyes so much that everyone gives a little giggle. 

"Hyung! How can you think like that?" 

"We all know you're a ert." Taehyung sticks out his tongue and Jungkook feels some heat on his cheeks. It's hot inside, isn’t it? Nope? Is it only him? The jumble of his stomach becomes more painful when Rebecca gets to where they were talking and gives Jungkook a kiss. A kiss with everything, including tongue. A kiss that leaves him without air, but not because he likes it, but because Rebecca doesn’t let go. 

"Get a room." Yoongi plays, rolling his eyes and discreetly looking at Taehyung. 

Taehyung drinks from his rum again while looking at Rebecca. 

God, it was a good piece of meat that Jungkook had gotten. She was almost as tall as him, with Western features. Enormous light hazel color eyes, and a straight nose, everything fitting perfectly with her other features. Her red lipstick placed perfectly well on her thick lips made contrast with her golden skin, that kind of gold that Asian people cannot have (yes, she was half Australian, half Koren). And not to mention her body, she had more curves than a roller coaster; s perfectly consistent with her body, nothing exaggerated, hips perfectly curved, making quite contrast with his tiny waist. And Taehyung doesn’t want to start with her attitude. She was the nicest woman Taehyung has known in his life. She was friends with all Jungkook's friends, everyone loves her, really. Even Taehyung adores her and would die for her. Taehyung could never get angry at her. It's not her fault. Nope. He could never hate her, even the idea of disliking her was wrong. She had nothing to do with his stomach hurting everytime he sees her with Jungkook.

"Let's go to your room?" Rebecca proposes and when Jungkook smiles and his lips, Taehyung feels something in his chest falling off and landing directly into his stomach. 

He closes his eyes and sits on the couch. His friends are still talking to each other, laughing and drinking alcohol, as they know how to do it.

Nobody notices that he’s falling apart inside. Nobody notices that his breathing is agitated, and his eyes are crystalline. He leaves the glass on a table, and before a tear comes out, he is back with his friends, laughing at the dance competition between Namjoon and Seokjin. 

He laughs out loud when, unwittingly, Namjoon tripped over his own feet and ended up on top of a drunken Hoseok, who is helped by a Jimin and a Yoongi to get up, while Seokjin throws himself on top of Namjoon, so the latter can’t get up. Taehyung throws himself over Seokjin, putting more strength, then Jimin and then Hoseok, finally Yoongi sits cross-legged on top of the mountain of people with a cigarette in his right hand, Namjoon down dying and screaming for help to a Jungkook who is probably having with his girlfriend in the same bed where he had with him the night before. Taehyung does not stop laughing.

And it feels good, it really feels good to have fun with his friends. 

Maybe he must close this small stage of his life, for his own good. 

Maybe he doesn’t need Jungkook.  

Maybe.

 

 

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