The following Sunday is a typical Sunday in the sense that your limbs are all sluggish and you drag yourself around the flat with zero motivation for the impending Monday and are just a big softie the entire day.

That where the typical Sunday part ends.

Because it surely is not typical to wake up when you walk into your kitchen and are greeted with the exclamation of "Well, I cook my cereal!"

Taehyung freezes in the doorframe because what the .

It might be the second time he hears that phrase but one, he's too sleepy to properly recall it being said at the cooking workshop and two, it's still the weirdest thing he ever heard in his entire life.

Yoongi stands his ground in the kitchen, not even batting an eye as a furious Seokjin hits him with a spatula hard enough to make the sound bounce off the tiles. Namjoon stands  in a corner with an empty cereal bowl cradled to his front and spectacularly fails at making himself small. Hoseok is sprawled all over the counter and half lying in the remnants of the demon cake, laughing hysterically. (Taehyung belatedly comes to the conclusion that's what woke him up just now.) Then there is Jimin, standing far enough from Yoongi to not interfere with Seokjin's beating but close enough to be considered backup as he throws in an enthusiastic "That's right!"

Minjae stands at the other side of the kitchen island, a safe distance away from the chaos and slowly pushes the big cereal pack behind his back, then starts sneaking away. Neither of the other notices except for Hoseok but he's too busy wheezing so nobody pays him any mind as he tries to get out a sentence.

"You uncultured swine, say that to my pretty face again, I ing dare you!"

"I cook my cereal. Because I have taste."

"No, no, no!"

Smack, smack ,smack.

All that ruckus is not enough to properly wake up poor Yugyeom it seems, for the younger sits slumped over the island and is in the middle of scooping salsa into his cereal bowl. If Taehyung is not mistaken, the blue bowl was the one with the extra hot salsa. Uh-oh. Taehyung can't even say something fast enough before the first scoop goes into the younger's mouth.

They really should've cleaned up the taco bar last night.

Yugyeom chokes and falls off his chair, right onto Minjae who's dropped to the floor and started crawling on all fours towards the door with his bounty. They both go down with a loud 'Oomph'.

Nobody else notices, not as Seokjin's face turns an alarming shade of red.

"YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO ING COOK IT, YOU ABSOLUTE DIMWIT!"

This is all too much. Taehyung doesn't even know what to do as Yugyeom - finally more on the side of wakefulness - spots the pack of cereals under Minjae and lunges for it. Minjae throws him off, grabs the goodies and runs, Yugyeom hot on his heels. They almost crash into Taehyung but manage to fling out a hand for the doorframe just in time. Only to fly straight into the wall instead.

Yugyeom slides down the wall like some sorry dollop of  pudding or something and Minjae seizes the opportunity to leg it.

Taehyung stares.

"You ing idiot!"

And the next moment he gets hit by something cold and mushy. He looks down on himself to see his right side covered in - is that, wait... - he takes a cautious fingertip of it and it off. Cake?!

Sure enough, as he turns back to his friends in the kitchen (he hasn't been looking for literally five seconds, what the hell), Seokjin is rubbing cake in Yoongi's face and Jimin is grabbing handfuls of it to attack the chef. This is turning into a goddamn food fight. It's not even past eleven am. And in his kitchen!

"Come on, guys," Taehyung mumbles.

He just wants to have breakfast in peace.

Seems like that's not an option today.

Over the complete chaos unfurling in front of his very eyes, he can hear someone sluggishly padding over to him, confetti rustling with each step. Taehyung doesn't have to look to know who it is. Especially not as familiar strong arms wrap around his waist and a chin prods at his shoulder.

"Mrnnng," Jeongguk grunts.

Taehyung turns his head enough to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Morning, birthday boy."

They turn back to watch silently from their spot in the doorframe. On the other side, Yugyeom has caught up to Minjae and is now chasing him at high speed.

Jeongguk buries his nose in Taehyung's neck, inhaling deep before asking with ragged voice,

"Do you think they know we have three different cereal packs?"

"Doubt that."

He nods, his hair tickling Taehyung's cheek.

"Should we tell them?"

"...Nah."

Jeongguk chuckles sleepily, then sags with his whole weight against Taehyung as if falling asleep on the spot.

"Agreed."

After the longest breakfast in human history - because someone was always snagging away the cereals and then a fight across the whole kitchen island would ensure like every five minutes - the birthday guests are slowly leaving one after another.

Taehyung is still a little pouty.

He got ignored thrice in his own household, as he kept saying that cereals aren't the only possible thing to eat for breakfast. Well, except for Jeongguk who was as much sitting on his own stool as he was draped over Taehyung's lap and nodding along every time he said it. But the younger was still of no help whatsoever as he didn't only enjoy the drama but even kept it going with little comments here and there.

Now as his apartment starts to calm down again, Taehyung looks at the mess. To their credit, all of the guests have tried to help cleaning up a bit. The results however were... mixed. Taehyung didn't even know before that it's possible to up soap water so hard it spontaneously combusts. He learned something new today.

Naturally, everything that's not him and himself got kicked out of the kitchen. Jimin could complain all he wanted, Taehyung is not going to let anyone ruin his kitchen. It's his baby, okay? It's been expensive, most of it customized and had taken several appointments just to get it planned out. The kitchen interior has been by far the thing he's been the most excited about to arrive when he moved in. And now it's his precious child. You mess with his kitchen, you're messing with him.

Jeongguk as the birthday boy is technically excused of helping. However, he picked up hand brush and dustpan and started sweeping up all these tons of confetti. Starting with the hallway right at the entrance - a safe distance away from Taehyung. Smart boy.

Namjoon is the last guest left which in itself is no problem. Taehyung likes his boss a lot. But the head of BT Designs has proven himself to be the biggest danger to Taehyung's apartment and everyone present. And that's quite a feat, considering they've been eleven people. To so effortlessly claim the title of most dangerous man of the day is not easy. Maybe he just has the worst of luck, Taehyung doesn't know. Hopes, the poor man doesn't have things like that happening to him all the time and that today is just a really off day for him.

A little part of Taehyung is impressed though. How do you set soap water on fire? How do you drop every single thing you're handed to set the table, or break your own glasses just by looking at them? Just, how?!

So as Namjoon makes one last attempt to help cleaning up, already grappling for the vacuum, Taehyung politely but resolutely takes it right off his hands and puts it back. Thanks him, and wishes him a good day.

The door falls shut behind their boss and Taehyung sighs.

Somewhere in the confetti snow there are parts of Namjoon's glasses waiting to be excavated now.

His rubber gloves are dripping with (not burning!) soap water from where Taehyung already started cleaning up the kitchen, little drops splashing onto the confetti and clotting it together. Taehyung tilts his head back - and gets hit by a paper garland falling from the ceiling in that very moment.

He huffs, swats the thing away and manages to bring down half of the garland curtain in the process, most of it landing right on top of him.

" this!"

Jeongguk is instantly there to help him, laughing at his misery.

"Ugh, who even had the stupid idea to invite all of these idiots?"

"That was you, I guess," the younger supplies unhelpfully.

Taehyung groans and knocks his head against the door.

" me."

Jeongguk hums and raises from where he crouched down to help Taehyung step out of the tangled mess. Leans in to nose up his neck and give a playful bite to his earlobe

"Maybe I will."

And, well. If that doesn't sound like a plan. 

Taehyung shudders as he leans into the touch, into Jeongguk's hands trailing up his sides, then coming to his front, gently pushing him back. Before his back can hit the door, Taehyung flings out an arm and spins them around. Looks at the younger who's now pressed against the wooden door and staring back at him with already half-lidded eyes. Anticipating his next move.

He doesn't have to wait for long, Taehyung leaning in until their lips are almost touching, tingling with the barely-there contact. He swears there is a little spark flitting back and forth between them.

"Maybe you should," he breaths against Jeongguk's mouth.

The younger lets his eyes fall close with a little sigh, mouth opening for the older. Taehyung eagerly follows the invitation, dives right in for a deep kiss, their thighs rubbing together. Through the denim he can feel Jeongguk fattening up against him, breathy moans tumbling from both of their mouths. His favorite sound, bested only by Jeongguk's unrestrained pearly laugh.

Taehyung gives one harsh to the younger's tongue - and then pulls back completely. He ignores the he's beginning to spot as he struts back to the kitchen, Jeongguk whining behind him.

"Taeeeeee..."

"Clean-up first." 

He claps his gloved hands together with a loud wet smack. Doesn't bother to look back, the rustling sound behind him cueing him in on how Jeongguk is traipsing after him.

"Tae, babe, come on. You can't be serious!" Jeongguk flings himself over the older's back and Taehyung almost falls smack-dab to the ground. Something presses against his , even more prominently so as Jeongguk rocks his hips once. "Can't you feel how hard I am because of you? Take responsibility."

Taehyung gulps. Hates (loves) how his hands come up to grip Jeongguk's and press him even closer without his own doing. Dammit. Self-restraint who? He's not going to get any cleanup done like that. Jeongguk on that one spot on his neck where he knows Taehyung is the weakest, the older positively trembling in his arms.

.

All strength leaves his legs and they go crashing down, Jeongguk trying to turn them mid-fall so it's not Taehyung who takes the brunt of it, except it doesn't quite work. Luckily, there are still tons of confetti laying on the ground to dampen their fall.

Taehyung grunts and wiggles around until he's no longer crushing his left arm under himself. Once he settles, he finds himself face-to-face with a grinning Jeongguk, the younger pressing down on him with his entire weight. All these muscles. Taehyung huffs.

"Gotcha."

He can't even be mad at the cheeky tone. Gosh. He's got it real bad, Taehyung thinks as he nips Jeongguk in the side.

"I'm so ing weak for you."

The broad smile he gets in response is nothing short of victorious.

"Same," Jeongguk chuckles. "So you better pay up."

Says it, and leans down to continue where they left off. Always so greedy in the way he kisses Taehyung and just takes and takes. There is a little shift, then his knee presses right into Taehyung's crotch.

Taehyung swears.

Maybe they only finish cleaning up around midnight thanks to multiple delays but Taehyung swears it's not his fault.

It's not, honest!

Back at work, it seems like nothing has changed. Like Taehyung didn't throw a party and outed himself to be secretly a lot more well-off than anybody else at the company. Baekhyun still roasts him about everything and anything with Minjae as silent support. Yugyeom and Mingy still give him a warm greeting whenever they run into each other, the former more often than not suggestively wiggling his eyebrows at Jeongguk and Jeongguk rolling his eyes while half-heartedly telling him to get lost.

The only thing that's new is the long contemplative look his boss gives him every now and then. As if he's trying to figure out just what Taehyung did not tell him, but is too polite to ask a second time.

Well. As long as nobody views him like a different person all of a sudden or starts to treat him weirdly, he can deal with it. Is secretly a lot more thankful for his friends just rolling with the revelation than he lets on.

Jeongguk however catches on, because of course he does. Cuddles up to Taehyung on that Monday evening and mumbles in the crown of his hair.

"Told you, no need to worry."

"Did not."

Jeongguk huffs.

"Okay, maybe not but I still knew that I'm right."

With a snort, Taehyung shifts closer to Jeongguk's broad warm and firm chest. His safe space.

"What kind of logic is that?"

"My logic."

"...Sure."

They continue to watch their movie, Jeongguk idly playing with some strands of Taehyung's hair and offhandedly dropping ideas of what color to dye it next. Taehyung hums every now and then, drawing mindless patterns on Jeongguk's thigh, right next to where he's resting his head. It's nice. Almost painfully domestic, Jeongguk at this point not even asking anymore if he can come over, just climbing into the passenger seat and waiting for Taehyung to get them home.

Their on-and-off conversation eventually dies off after Jeongguk votes for black hair Tae for the third time. They are clearly both ty at concentrating on more than one thing. It leaves them with no other choice but to shut up if they want to enjoy the rest of the movie. 

"Howl's moving castle" ends (way too soon as always) and Taehyung is just this shy of dozing off. Jeongguk is so warm and comfortable. The right amount of buff yet a little soft at the same time. Perfect cuddle material. (Never tell Jimin he said that. He is going to rip him a new one for that betrayal.)

So yes, the evening is about to fade into night with the two of them falling asleep on the couch. Wouldn't be the first time. They are comfy, tv switched off now.

Just then, Jeongguk rasps something on the brink of sleep and starts stirring again.

Taehyung decides to ignore him the first time. Makes himself purposefully heavier to trap the younger beneath him. But Jeongguk shoves at him again.

"Taeee, Tae come on, I gotta pee."

Taehyung whines.

"Nooooooooo. Gguk, no."

"Gguk yes. Just give me a second okay? I'll be right back."

Taehyung blinks against the tiredness and turns his head enough to look at Jeongguk.

"Promise?"

"Promise," the younger says and leans down to give a sweet peck to the older's forehead. It conjures a smile on Taehyung's face, as always. Okay. He'll let the younger go this time. 

By the time Jeongguk comes back, Taehyung is fast asleep.

He only wakes up at the distinct sense of being lifted and carried around but takes too long to pull away from dreamland. By the time he's got his eyes half open, he is already being laid down on the bed, cool silk brushing against the bits of skin on his hands, feet, neck and small of his back where the shirt has ridden up a bit.

It's dark except for the light from the living room filtering in and some nightlife glow from outside. Jeongguk's presence nothing more than a familiar weight settling behind him, arm slowly draping over him to spoon Taehyung. The older grumbles a bit and pats around until he finds Jeongguk's leg. Feels his way down and gives it a little tug for the younger to bend his knee until he can reach his foot. It takes a few tries but eventually Taehyung manages to pull off Jeongguk's sock. Barely more on the side of being awake now, he takes a deep breath and then flings the sock right out of the door.

Jeongguk takes a bit to process but then starts complaining.

"What... what, Tae, what the was that for?"

"Ggu-huuuuk, when you pick up your sock, can you switch off the light too?"

Jeongguk stays silent for a long minute. Then he snorts. 

"Joke's on you, I don't need to wear socks for falling asleep."

Taehyung curses into his pillow. He didn't think that far.

Five minutes - or an hour? Honestly, he has no feeling for the concept of time right now - Jeongguk groans and shuffles, pushes himself up and pads over to pick up his sock. Walks the extra mile to switch off the headlight. Taehyung briefly wonders if you can call it headlight when it's an actually fully-grown chandelier. 

Jeongguk comes back with loud and clumsy slapping noises of his one bare foot on the marble tiles. It sounds a bit like a pirate with a wooden leg, the way only every second step makes a noise. He mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like complaints about the cold floor.

Taehyung grins sleepily. "That's what you need the other sock for."

" you."

"Nah, too tired."

Jeongguk throws himself on the bed with all the bravado of a Disney princess, half landing on top of Taehyung. The older yelps and swats at whatever part of the younger he can get.

"What the , care not to crush me to death out of the blue?!"

"Aight, I'll make a public announcement next time."

" you."

Jeongguk's retort sounds way too smug for his liking. "Thought you are too tired for that?"

Taehyung huffs. "Jerk."

Just by the time he's good to fall back asleep, Jeongguk pinches his arm. Taehyung almost swallows his tongue wanting to curse the younger.

"Yah, what the fu-"

"Didn't you once upon a time tell me your home is smart?"

Taehyung blinks into the night. His mind is too sluggish to catch up immediately. But eventually he nods. And maybe feels a bit smug when he knocks back Jeongguk's chin in the process.

"...Yeah?"

"Then why couldn't you just tell your little robot to switch off the light automatically?"

Huh.

Again the words take a while to register and Taehyung has to work hard to wade through the heavy fog of sleep already dragging him back in. Yet as he's there and understands what Jeongguk said... it makes sense. And. He doesn't like that Jeongguk is actually right. Dammit. He pouts and refuses to answer that question. If Jeongguk is so clever then he already knows the answer anyway.

After a few more minutes of silence, Jeongguk grunts.

"Thought so."

...

Taehyung turns away with a bit too much force.

"."

In the morning however, he finds himself tightly wrapped in Jeongguk's arms, his own limbs thrown around the younger and holding him just as tight. No surprise here. As if he could stay mad at his boyfriend for more than five minutes, really.

He peppers some kisses all over the younger's face and smiles at how he doesn't even stir. Typical. Jeongguk looks so cute when he is alseep, all the sharpness gone and making place for some vulnerable softness. It makes Taehyung want to crawl right back into bed beside him and stare at his sleeping boy like a creep. Okay, maybe minus the creep part. He's his boyfriend. That legitimates him to stare, right? 

Also how can one not stare at such a fine specimen? Even if it took Taehyung ages to realize what an eye candy the younger is because he was too stuck up about what an Jeongguk was to him in the beginning.

But back to the problem. It's Tuesday. And that sadly means, no cuddling and staring. It means getting up and hurrying to work, it means productivity and lots of wakefulness. In moments like this Taehyung can't help but think how much it to be a responsible adult. 

Hah.

With a last wistful look at beautiful sleeping Jeongguk, he steels himself and goes in to pinch one of the younger's s. Thankfully he's fast enough to flinch back from Jeongguk bolting upright, or else he might've lost a couple teeth just now.

Damn, waking up his boyfriend is a dangerous job!

Jeongguk's head whips around a few times until he remembers where and when and who he is.

Taehyung shakes his head.

"Honestly, how do you manage to wake up when nobody is around to touch your tiddies?"

"Fear of death," Jeongguk grunts.

Taehyung does a double-take at the completely serious face. Is he... was that not a joke by any chance? What the ?

"Uh, should I be worried?"

"You should, if you are late enough to work for Namjoon-hyung to notice."

"O...kay?"

That certainly did not clear up anything at all.

Jeongguk is awake enough by now to move around and collect fresh clothes for the day. Taehyung is lowkey jealous. He always needs ages to properly wake up. In the time since Jeongguk practically moved in with him alone he face-planted with several walls at least five times because his damn eyes just weren't working yet.

"Just trust me if I say you do not want to make Namjoon angry. Ever," the younger finally attempts to explain. "And if you think what you saw with Baek was him being angry then you are very wrong."

Well. If Namjoon's rage is as terrifying as it sounds then Taehyung rather takes his boyfriend's word for it than testing it out himself. If it's similar to Hoseok losing his then bless whatever poor soul gets their boss going. Maybe that's a legit thing? That the nicest and most easy-going people are the most terrific when mad? He feels like he might be onto something big with that theory. 

"You coming?"

Taehyung curses. Jeongguk is already in the bathroom while he's stuck in the bedroom and staring holes into thin air.

"Coming," he shouts, hurriedly changes clothes and stumbles towards the bathroom. 

Jeongguk snickers.

Aish, this kid. Taehyung rolls his eyes.

"Not like that, idiot!"

The week goes smoothly for the biggest part.

After the initial hint of anxiety, Taehyung dreading to go to work and having to face a new reality because of his revealed social status, things went so well and normal that he pretty much forgot about the whole thing. By Friday he can't even remember anymore how he almost pissed his pants on Monday morning.

He should have expected that things were going too smoothly. Earlier or later, something always comes to punch him in the face.

This time it's his dearly beloved mother. 

She doesn't even need to resort to some actual punching - not that she ever would, getting her own hands dirty is beneath herself - but her very presence on Taehyung's doorsteps is more than enough to throw him off.

He's just glad Jeongguk is not here. The younger offered to do some weekend shopping to cook something simple for dinner later. Taehyung has never been more grateful for his boyfriend not to be here. Because if his mom shows up in person? Then things are about to get dirty. And he'd rather not have his man witness that.

"Hello, mother."

The words sound as wooden to him as they feel in his mouth, taste foreign on his tongue.

"Taehyung."

With a sharp nod, Mrs. Kim acknowledges her youngest son. Voice smooth and empty of any warmth, a tool of trained elegance and perfected manners.

Taehyung hates how his traitorous brain thinks his mother fits better in the expensive foyer than himself, with how well she is dressed. White fabric hugging her slim figure and making her look pristine in an almost effortless way. Someone like her doesn't need flashy accessories or deep-cut necklines. And objectively seen that white dress is bordering on plain, despite how obviously haute couture it is. But subjectively, she wears it like a queen and demands attention just standing there and breathing.

And Taehyung, Taehyung is fuming.

They had an agreement. He wouldn't ever tell anyone who his family is and demand anything in their family's name, never leech off the fame that naturally comes with his inheritance - and in exchange, his family would leave him alone. Especially his mum.

So her being here, on his doorsteps and not even attempting to hide her identity is as close to a declaration of war as it gets. The last time they've been on good terms, Taehyung was like, twelve or something.

And then she opens to drop the bomb on him.

"You are going to accompany me to the opening ceremony tomorrow."