Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The first call of the morning – loud brrinngs – interrupted your morning coffee.

You’d purchased the morning special from Serendipity, a wonderful little café opened right at the corner of the street where your office was located. Jimin the owner, had handed you the cup himself, wishing you a very good day with a fluffy little smile and you were especially looking forward to the creamy bitter goodness when the blasted instrument rung.

You loved your job, loved the energy of it, the high demand; but disturbing someone’s morning coffee had to be a sin.

“Hello, this is Y/N.” You tried not to snap into the receiver.

For a brief second there was silence, and then, “My feet hurt.”

Your eyebrows hitched up, lips immediately quirking at the familiar, deep whine of your best friend’s voice. “Taehyung? What are you doing?”

“I’ve been walking around this mall for two hours now. Nothing I pick out is satisfactory to Mr. Min.”

You leaned back in your office chair, the leather creaking under your weight. You could picture him pouting right about now, possibly sitting on a bench, long legs spread out in front of him as he mumbled into his phone. His hair was longer too now, so it was probably flopping down into his eyes. You placed the cup down, forgiving him internally. You could never stay angry at Kim Taehyung.

“What exactly did he say?” You asked, rifling through the files in your drawer.

“I picked out a white swan to put on his piano and he said he didn’t like it. I got one of those fake plastic plants in this black melamine vase and he said he didn’t want the green. I selected this veneered figurine set of musical instruments and he told me it wouldn’t look good anywhere in his apartment. For god’s sake, for a minimalist, Yoongi is quite a handful.”

You laughed, finally finding Min Yoongi’s file and flipping it open. “Says here he put in white, black, grey, brown, beige and gold for his color schemes; maybe you should go for those.”

You could hear him grumbling about walking his feet to stumps now, only making you giggle harder.

“Tae,” You said finally. “You’re the best, ok? Yoongi requested you for a reason. If you can’t do it, nobody can.” You assured.

“You’re just buttering me up so I’ll walk.” Taehyung said, but you could tell he was pacified and getting to his feet. “Fine, I’ll grab some lunch and go for the other colors, see you in the evening?”

“Hopefully,”

He dropped kisses into the phone, loud wet noises that earned one last laugh from you before he hung up and let you return to the coffee – now cold of course. But you didn’t mind, you felt refreshed enough; Taehyung had that effect on you.

Taehyung and you had been best friends for what felt like forever now, but it was only in college that you met him. Hitting off almost immediately, you and he had partnered up for all your design classes, sharing and working through them as a seamless team. He was your best friend, your rock, he knew you better than anyone else in the world.

Nothing had changed after you graduated and found work together, at BHE Housing and Designs. You worked as an interior designer and he was your buyer, going through pieces with the clients to decide what best went with what you designed. He was insanely popular and wasn’t afraid of using it to his advantage.

It just so happened to be unfortunate for you to be in love with him.

There was everything and yet, nothing clichéd about it. He was your best friend yes, he was maddeningly gorgeous, yes, but he was first and foremost your support system, your anchor throughout your education and career hunting and there was no way you would ruin that. You didn’t pine after him, definitely not…because he had a boyfriend.

So chugging your drink, you tossed the coffee cup into the trash bin and began the day’s work.

By the time evening rolled around, you had finished your work and neatly arranged the small office you worked in. BHE didn’t believe in cubicles, and the first test in their world was how you decorated your work space. According to your boss, it told them a lot and you had taken meticulous care in your own space.

You turned a little bit of a neat freak at the office, you’d been told. You always retorted that your house looked like loose cannon fire. While your desk at work was prim and clutter free, you could barely find a pen in the mess of your home.

Around 8, Taehyung poked in his head.

“Hey you,” He walked in, wrapping long arms around your waist to pull you back into his chest, your arms barely managing to fit in the last file in the docket.

“Did you just get back?” You asked, feeling him nod against your back.

“I’m so exhausted, I just want to go home and soak in a hot bath.” He unwrapped himself from you, climbing up on your now free desk.

There was always someone who assumed that you two were dating. Even though Taehyung was taken, he had an immense need for skin ship. He was nearly always touching you or was hovering close to you in any given situation. That, combined with the flirtatious banter had been enough to convince you that he might have had feeling for you as well back then. Now you knew better.

Taehyung was just open like that with you. He would flirt with you, caress you, even place kisses on your skin sometimes but they were because he cared about you. The full extent of his affection was for his boyfriend, the man who had walked in here as a client and had exited with not just a beautiful home, but also your beautiful best friend as his lover.

Kim Seokjin…

You couldn’t blame either of them. Only a fool could be anywhere near Taehyung and not be attracted and it was obvious Taehyung and Seokjin were a perfect pair.

Seokjin owned a telecommunications company, he was rich, powerful, classically handsome and paired with Taehyung, his charisma, his capabilities and talents; he was unstoppable. They had been dating for six months now, and each picture that some reporter caught of them together; be it at award shows, on breakfast dates, they looked completely happy and in love.

“Is Seokjin coming to pick you up?” you asked.

“No,” Taehyung replied gloomily, “He has this huge take over and the opposite party keeps setting up meetings. It’s been running him ragged for a few weeks now. If he gets home before I do, he’ll probably just be asleep.”

You nodded understandingly, retrieving your purse and laptop bag. “Say, do you want to get something to eat? You can get some take out for Seokjin too.”

“Ooh yes, can we get some Thai? I’ve been dying for some!” He jumped off your desk when you nodded, already bouncing from excitement as you held open the door for him to walk through.

You drove Taehyung to one of the older sections of restaurants, one the both of you had frequented while still in college. It had a low ambience, was always just perfectly warm and had large windows to stare out of.

Taehyung and you grabbed a table at the far back; placing orders for both take out and dine in.

A couple chicken skewers and pad Thai later, he was collecting the food he’d ordered for Seokjin; soup, salad and a fish curry that his boyfriend was very fond of.

“That was one amazing meal, Y/N. I could just eat here all the time.” He flung an arm around your shoulders, pulling you in close to drop a kiss atop your head.

You groaned.

“You’re gross, get off.” You pushed unsuccessfully at your best friend, making him grip you tighter with a mischievous smile.

“Shut up, you owe me for making me walk about four hours in some stupid mall.”

You laughed. “The pieces you picked at the end did actually make the cut. Told you Min was going for the gold,” You retorted smugly.

“Yeah, but I’d have appreciated you telling me that before.”

It was peaceful as you began the drive to Taehyung and Seokjin’s shared home. You chatted and discussed some of the clientele that were still in-work but let go when you saw the man was already half asleep. You glanced at him a few times, feet curled up in the seat and head against your car window, smiling fondly.

Seokjin and Tae lived in a high-rise apartment, one that was designed by you actually. You thought back to when you’d met Kim Seokjin.

Clad in a classy and simple suit, and looking like a complete meal, he’d stepped into your office with his manager and secretary. Taehyung and you had attended to him together, as you always did.

He was totally attractive and you might have asked him out, but for three things. He was your client, you were a stuttering shy mess in front of him and he had pinned Taehyung down.

You had never been surprised in his choice and you wished them well, you could never do otherwise.

You shook Taehyung awake when you parked in the guest lot of his building. “Wake up, you’re home.” You poked his long nose.

He grumbled swatting at your hand as he straightened up. “Come up with me,” He said.

“Uh,” You blinked. “What for?”

He shrugged, gathering the bags of takeout in his hands. “The elevator is creepy. Please come with me. Say hi to Jin; give me a goodnight hug, the works.”

You snorted. “You’re not five, Tae. You said Seokjin would be tired and asleep and I don’t want to impose.”

“But I’m too tired, what if someone steals the food?”

You huffed, meeting his pleading gaze for two seconds before you were opening your door. “Fine, I’ll see you to your door, you big baby.”

You ignored the little whoop he gave before scrambling after you.

Tae’s apartment was at the 10^th floor, and when you entered the totally not creepy elevator, he dropped his head on your shoulders. “You brought me with you so you could have a make shift pillow, you heathen.” You accused, only earning an amused guffaw.

“Don’t be silly. I got you to come because you’re my best friend and I love you. Also because you act like an idiot in front of Jin and it’s so fucking hilarious.”

“I do not!” You protested immediately as the doors opened, following Taehyung to his door.

He didn’t reply in favor of digging into his pockets for his keys before just pressing the doorbell. “You do, babe.”

You raised your hand to smack his shoulder when the door swung open, revealing Taehyung’s boyfriend in all his glory. Your arm dropped quickly to your side in time for him to peek out, raising an eyebrow at his partner.

“Hi Jinnie,” Taehyung pecked him quickly on the lips before he was looking at you, an easy smile on his face.

“Y/N, how lovely to see you; it’s been so long.”

You glanced quickly at Tae. “Yeah, sorry Seokjin, it’s been a while.”

“Come in, please.”

He moved in, Taehyung’s hand gripping his chocolate turtleneck while you reluctantly followed, trying hard not to notice how the turtleneck and his sweatpants emphasized how broad he was.

“I got you food!” Taehyung said in a sing-song tone and Seokjin smiled, prying the bag before taking a sniff. “Ah, Thai, just what I was craving. Thank you, baby boy.”

You couldn’t help but smile, even if it was rueful, taking in how he looked deeply into Tae’s eyes, hand on his waist to pull him closer, every bit in love with him. Taehyung deserved that. He needed someone completely in love with him.

Even if it wasn’t you…Seokjin was the perfect match for your best friend.

“Okay, guys, it’s getting late and I should be heading back. I have a client coming in for some final decisions tomorrow so I need to split.”

“Y/N, it’s very late. You shouldn’t be driving back alone.” Seokjin was frowning, Tae already pouting as he came up to you.

“Just sleep here, the guest room is always free and I have a bunch of your stuff here. We’ll go to work together tomorrow.”

“Tae, I can’t just -,”

“I’ll have to agree.” Seokjin stepped up to Taehyung’s shoulder, hands in his pockets.

You looked helplessly at the older man, eyes intent on you. Seokjin was a stubborn person, he had to be, to get to where he was, but all the same, having that focus turned on you wasn’t something you could easily deal with. It was the heat caused by this intensity that had you snapping into focus.

“Don’t worry, I have my car and I’ll be home in about fifteen to twenty minutes anyway. So,” you hugged Tae around the waist, his hand limp on your back. “There’s your goodnight hug, and um, I guess I’ll see you around Seokjin.”

You didn’t wait for more of their protestations, quickly exiting the still open door of their home to rush to the elevator. It was as you were driving back to your own apartment that you mulled over the interaction with your best friend and his partner. Perhaps more than you should have…

And that was a very dangerous thing to do…

“And you can be sure your garden and backyard is going to be absolutely stunning; our Irene is a genius.” You smiled closing and ruffling the stacked pages of designs and landscaping measurements that the Chou couple had just finished discussing with you.

A sweet, old couple – the renovation was a gift from their son and they were very excited to have the gardens and yards done more than their actually house.

Cue your team, with Irene, your landscaper and Taehyung had been called in to work and from their soft smiles and laughing approval, you were sure they were another bagged client.

“You’re such a natural at this, Y/N.” Irene laughed, waving at the old lady as the elevator closed on them before she was turning to you.

At 25, Irene was one of the best landscapers of BHE and one of your closest friends. Her observational skills were phenomenal and she was known and had actually once gauged what a client had wanted done right as he’d walked down the hallway. It was unnerving and delightful.

“They were easy. Old couples like that usually are,” You shrugged, sitting back in your chair. The both of you swiveled the chairs for a few seconds, contemplating the project.

“So, how was your night? I didn’t get to see you all of last week because of Wendy’s remodeling.”

Wendy was your boss, and known for a strict hand and even keener eye. She also had a knack for annual renovations – something or the other was almost always being broken and rebuilt in her townhouse.

“It went well; I had to take Taehyung home; he had to walk the whole day for Yoongi’s project and you know how he gets when he’s tired. Boy doesn’t even need a drink to get drunk.”

“Oh,” Irene cocked an eyebrow. “Did you see Seokjin?”

You nodded.

“Hmm,” she raised her hand to examine her nails. She’d once told you that she hated chipped nails but she also loved doing the lighter landscaping by her own self, so she always spent an inordinate time on her nails every night. “He must’ve liked that.”

You looked up from the file you were poring over. “What?”

Irene gave you a sly smile, opening her mouth when Taehyung came barging into your office. “Y/N, hi,” he walked right around the desk, dropping a chaste kiss on top of your head, before he saw Irene.

“Hey, Irene, how are you? How does Wendy’s new lawn look?”

“Better than it did before,” she leaned back, smiling up at the man.

Taehyung nodded before looking back down at you. “What about you? Did you get home safely last night?” he asked.

“I did, Taebear. It’s all good. Did you and Seokjin get some sleep last night?”

“He passed out after the curry,” Tae laughed. “But he did tell me to mention that the next time you come over, you’re sleeping in. We were worried about you.”

Irene coughed.

You blinked, slowly looking from Irene to Taehyung, wide, earnest eyes. He didn’t have his usual smile on his face, instead looking down with utmost seriousness. Something flickered in his eyes, looking at you, making him finally smile uncertainly.

You looked down quickly.

“We’ll see, Tae. Do you have anything to do today?”

“I’m taking the pieces over to Min’s house in a bit.”

“Good,” You nodded quickly. “You should go call him, let him know you’re coming over. I have…I have this thing to go over with Irene.”

Taehyung stood up from the arm rest hesitantly, glancing between you and Irene before walking out slowly. “Ok…ay, I’ll see you later, I guess.” He moved slowly towards your door, his fingers trailing across the glass as if he didn’t want to leave after all.

Once he was gone, Irene frowned at you.

“Is something wrong?”

You quickly shook your head, ignoring the swooping sensation Taehyung’s eyes had created in your stomach and plastering on a huge smile on your face. You needed some time out. “No…, hey - how do you feel about a little girls’ night out?”

That weekend, you took Irene out to one of the bars closest to your homes, even bringing along Joy, one of your best friends from college. She’d cut off her hair recently, flicking it behind her delicate shoulders as she enticed men and women around her to keep up a steady flow of drinks supplied to your table.

“I was so surprised when Y/N called. She usually keeps her little cute nose down and slogs off into the night.” Joy crooned at Irene. The girls, to your relief had hit off almost immediately and you didn’t have to gloss over any awkward silences.

“I don’t do that.” You snorted, Joy scoffing at you.

“Your work ethic is so strong you’re almost boring, Y/N. Remember, it was Kim Taehyung who had to drag you about the parties.”

“Ooh, you haven’t changed a bit then,” Irene chuckled.

“I was fun; I just wanted to get somewhere, is all.” You pointed your glass at Joy.

“Hey, I’m somewhere and I didn’t work even a quarter as hard as you did. We all make it, Y/N.” She turned to Irene. “It was actually so funny. It’d be early in the morning and the first thing you’d hear when you walk in was Y/N groaning from a hangover; never missed one class, no matter how bad it was. Now, some douche would always ask, why the fuck did you go, and her answer was always the same – Taehyung made me.” She gave you a pitiful smile.

“It was funny, before we found out she had this huge gigantic crush on Taehyung, and like you couldn’t blame her, he is so hot. Too bad he is gay.”

Irene choked, nearly spitting out her drink before you could even move. You were getting tipsier, slowing your processing and reflexes. “Joy, oh my god, shut up.”

“You had a crush on Taehyung?” Irene whisper yelled, leaning all the way over to you across the table.

You glared at Joy.

“She still does, don’t you? It’s the big L thing going on with you.” Joy continued, oblivious and cruel.

Irene blanched.

“Holy fuck, Y/N, why didn’t you say anything…? Taehyung and Seokjin both -,”

“It’s not up to me. Besides, he’s happy with Seokjin. I am happy for him.”

“But they -,”

“I…I just get lonely sometimes.” You ran a finger over the rim of your glass.

A look from Joy had you rolling your eyes and sighing. “Fine, a lot; I get lonely a lot. I am lonely. When I go home, it’s all quiet and cold and I can feel it pressing on my chest. When I look at Tae with Seokjin, it’s like…I’m envious of them, in a way, you know. Not because Seokjin has Tae but because I want something like that. I…I have been attracted to Seokjin ever since he came in the picture too and then he and Tae got together. I just…I just want what they have.” You sighed again.

There was silence now. Joy and Irene were both not looking at you now and you cursed yourself. Great, now you were responsible for the awkward silence.

“I…I felt the same way.” Joy said slowly, “When I broke up with Bailey, it was tough. It was even hard for me to sleep in my own bed without her for more than a few hours.” She looked at you.

“What did you do?”

Joy hesitated, “I started dating again.”

You slumped back.

“No, look,” Joy was quick to sit up, putting a reassuring hand on yours and smiling sincerely. “I know you like Taehyung a lot. And you like his boyfriend too but let’s be honest, nothing is going to happen in that scenario,” Joy and you glanced over when Irene cleared her throat before returning your attention to the topic at hand. “So, just take a chance; there can’t possibly be anyone who doesn’t catch your eye other than Taehyung and this Seokjin person. Just…give it a try, ok?”

You looked down, before swinging back your drink.

“You’re right.” You decided.

She was. You couldn’t mope over your dead end love for Taehyung and your inane attraction to his very much in love boyfriend. No, you had to put your own feeling to rest and move on.

“Try…maybe try some distance from Taehyung too? Maybe that’s what’s keeping you from moving on?” Joy added.

That made you freeze. Taehyung’s boxy grin and his large, flamboyant show of affection flashed through your mind, his touch blazing memories against your skin. Maybe that was what was happening. You had never been far way from Taehyung for any stretch of time. Either he was always near you, sitting in your office while you worked, or you went along with him to ‘search’ for pieces. You’d even once gone along for a couple award show dates with the two gorgeous men, third wheeling, even though they never made you feel that way and included you between them happily.

You needed the distance. You needed to move on so you could be Taehyung’s friend. He deserved a true friend, not someone who envied him for loving and having a relationship.

You needed to not be pathetic to support Taehyung.

“You’re right.” You said again finally.

The next time you saw Taehyung, was thankfully Monday and you were surrounded by your working crew, designers, your clients, architects and most importantly, Irene was there the whole time.

You were grateful you didn’t see Taehyung during the weekend – with you moaning in bed with a mild hangover and the newest decision you’d made for your heart and him taking a day trip to the beach with Seokjin. You also hadn’t seen him at all ever since you’d stepped into the office. You knew he was probably out shopping for pieces and would return late, possibly tired but that didn’t settle the knot in your stomach.

As steely as your resolve was, the planning itself had fallen short. You had no idea how ‘distance’ between the two of you was supposed to work. You and he had always been together, him draping himself over you, flirting, kissing you quickly, was all that you had forever been used to.

Were you just supposed to ignore him? Dodge him when he tried to show physical affection? Just plain stop talking to him till it was safe to do so?

Worst, you hadn’t even taken his reaction into account…

How was he going to react?

He’d be hurt, sad, confused, and maybe even angry; what would you do with that?

“You’re stressing.”

You looked up, smiling awkwardly when Jimin slid your order to you. “How can you tell?”

“Your brows were pulled in. And you’re chewing on your bottom lip.” The blond flashed a glance down to your lips, where the lower one popped out from between your teeth, now amused.

“Uh…yeah, I guess I am stressing.” You took the hot cup in your hands.

“Work stuff?”

“No…personal,”

“Oh, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, kids, parents, or friends…?”

You quirked your eyebrows, giving him a look and he laughed embarrassedly. “Sorry, I’m nosy.”

You shrugged. “It’s really not much to agonize over. I’m just being dramatic.”

Jimin hesitated, eyes flicking behind you as customers came in. “Sometimes the trivial things add up you know. It’s okay to worry about anything that your heart wants to. That way, it won’t blow up in your face unexpectedly.” He smiled.

You blinked, stunned before nodding, thanking him quietly – not just for the coffee.

Jimin’s words seemed to have given you a further shove.

When Tae finally came within sights, with you sketching out a room corner, you willed yourself to barely glance up.

“What are you working on?” He bent over the desk, head tilting against yours. You straightened up, away from him, tonguing your cheek as you hastily erase one picture and replacing it for a statue.

“Just a living room,”

“Oh, for the Chou’s',”

“No,” You didn’t offer a correction, looking deeply at the black charcoal lines on the thick paper.

“Hmm, hey, I’m thinking of getting some takeout, what do you want to eat?”

“I don’t think I can take a break right now, Taehyung.” Again, no explanation, nothing more than necessary and you lowered your head so you wouldn’t be tempted to peek up at him.

There was a pause.

“Is something wrong? Are you feeling ok?”

You simply nodded.

“Then why don’t you want to eat?” Taehyung demanded.

You frowned up at him. “I told you, I’m busy. I need to finish this sketch by tonight and I’m barely done with the living room.”

“But…but its food,”

You shrugged, looking back down.

Taehyung remained silent for a beat more, but you could hear him shuffling as he straightened a little. “Okay, I guess…I’ll see you later then, I’ll bring you something back?”

You didn’t reply even as he slowly exited your office, feeling his eyes on you as he left. When you finally felt the weight of his gaze lift, you sighed, dropping the pencil and burying your face in your hands. That had been excruciating…harder than anything you’d ever done, more than your first ever solo project.

But you’d done it…you’d successfully given Taehyung a slip. And soon enough you’d be free of the low thud in your chest at his voice, his glances…

Soon you would stop feeling as if someone was digging blunt nails in your heart when he sounded confused and pouty.

Maybe he would also stop. Then you could just be friends. Friends, who kept a respectable distance, didn’t touch each other as if they were together when one was already taken.

The thought ached madly, but it was necessary. You couldn’t spend the rest of your life on scraps of Taehyung’s fondness.

You didn’t watch the pencil roll off the desk.

The next few days passed.

Each day you awoke dreading the workday. You’d have to see Taehyung at least once, even though you almost always were in the office – while he was out buying. You had started visiting the project sites more often, instead of the usual twice weekly.

Also, it was getting obvious that you were avoiding Taehyung…and not just to him. You knew the sudden aloofness between the people many had assumed were dating was becoming fodder for workplace gossip. And it had to have reached Taehyung, considering how social and popular he was.

Aside from Irene, no one in the office knew your reasons, and you didn’t expect them to either. It would only make for more scandalous news and you would actually throw yourself from the highest floor if that news ever reached Taehyung’s ears.

In the days that had went by with you avoiding his room, not being in your own when you knew he would swing by, answering his texts with monosyllables and even going as far as to just let his phone calls go to voice mail, you could tell he was getting more upset. Irene and Joy had become friends now, which meant that your gatherings had increased from just one occasional catch up at a bar. Now you met up for brunches, at one of your homes for pizzas, for coffees on slower days as well. It was at one such brunch that Irene let you know that Taehyung had lost quite a bit of twinkle ever since you’d started snubbing him.

You groaned; slumping forwards with your arms folded on the wooden table.

“Well, that was bound to happen.” Joy reasoned.

“Yeah, well, he’s upset, and angry…confused, maybe you should just talk to him, Y/N.” Irene placed a hand on yours, squeezing.

“Oh gods no, don’t do that. You think he’s angry at you for ignoring him? Imagine what he’d do if he found out that not only are you in love with him, but you also have the hots for his boyfriend. That would break you guys up for real. At least this way you can actually go back to him with your heart intact.” Joy shook her head vigorously.

“I don’t think it should be a problem.” Irene began slowly. “I’ve been sitting on this for a while, but I feel like they wouldn’t mind it. They’ve always been interested in you too, Y/N.”

You stared at Irene before bursting out into laughter, more in shock than actual amusement.  “Irene, Seokjin is dating Taehyung.”

“Yeah but have you seen the way they look and act around you? You always used to be invited with them on their dates, before you got shy and stopped going. Taehyung is always all over you, and Seokjin…well, the guy’s intense, but it was obvious he found you attractive when you all first met.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Joy said. “He picked Taehyung, and being invited to dates means nothing. They’re grown men, they can speak up about what they want.”

She turned to you. “Do you feel like you’re ready? Ready to face them, at least, and sure that you won’t just fall back in love with them,”

You blinked. “Um, I think so? I mean I have been around them with no trouble before, you know.”

Joy was already shaking her head even before you finished.

“That won’t do. I know Kim Taehyung and I know you. The best way to actually get over him would be to try for what he has.”

“What?” you and Irene both asked.

 Joy cast an impatient glance heavenwards. “You said you were lonely. Well to not feel lonely, you have to stop being alone all the time. Go out; date, for god’s sake.”

“But,”

“I already have a couple guys who might be the best dates for you. Tell me and I’ll hook you up.”

“You sound like you’re peddling drugs.” Irene accused. Joy ignored her.

“Well,” she pressed, looking straight at you.

You looked at Irene uncertainly before back at Joy.

“I…I guess, okay? I mean, there’s no harm in meeting them, right?”

“Irene.”

The girl started, turning on her heel to see Taehyung sat on one of her office chairs, legs crossed and arms folded across his chest. She had always known the man was beautiful, but right now, he looked like he would cut up anyone who tried to mess with him.

His face was hard, eyebrows drawn close and lips pinched.

He looked angry.

“Hi Taehyung,” she frowned, wondering what he was doing in her office. Y/N had run off to one of her sites, possibly not to be back until much later. Shouldn’t he be working as well? She didn’t dare pose any of these questions as she quietly took her seat at the table.

“Okay, let’s just get to it. What’s wrong with Y/N?”

Perhaps, she had known somewhere in the back of her mind, that this day would come. She had vaguely suspected his reason for coming to her. But even with all these indicators, she had to jump a little, eyes widening.

“What do you mean?” She asked, sounding silly to her own ears.

“You know what I mean.” Taehyung sat up, “she won’t talk to me, she won’t take my calls or answer my texts properly, she’s never in her office, she doesn’t eat with me; she’s not letting me anywhere near her.” His voice caught and for a split second, his intensity broke, making him glance away from her and out the window. “She’s not my Y/N anymore.”

“Taehyung,” Irene sighed sadly.

“And I don’t know what I did; that’s the hardest part. If I just knew what happened, was it something I did? Something I said, something that she heard, maybe? Is it Jin? Did he make her uncomfortable the last time she was with us? I don’t know anything. I don’t know what I did to lose my best friend.”

His eyes flickered back to Irene.

“So, I’m asking you. What happened? Why is Y/N avoiding me?”

“I…I really think you should ask her, Taehyung.”

“I would if she would just talk to me! You don’t understand Irene. I – it hurts that she won’t even meet my eyes.” He flopped back into the chair, glum.

Irene bit her lips. There was something so broken about the usually cheerful and sunny boy she’d known always. She couldn’t help herself.

“Maybe it’s something that you didn’t do…not that – not that anyone blames you.”

He frowned in puzzlement. “Wait, what?”

“Um, we met Joy, I think you must’ve known her in college and -,”

She was immediately interrupted by a resentful scoff from the man across her.

“Oh yeah, I know Joy alright. What did she do to Y/N? And why the fuck is she poking and prodding in our relationship?”

Irene tilted her head questioningly, making Taehyung cough, embarrassed.

“Uh, Joy is…loud. She’s about as loud as I am, I guess, but I’m not obnoxious like her. We’ve never really hit off. I don’t know why Y/N even hung out with her, back then and now but it’s not my place to make decisions for her. But Joy, she likes to make quick judgments and call out what other people should do. She’ll manipulate to get her own way. It’s gross.”

Irene didn’t say anything, although a picture was beginning to form in her head.

“She…she always tried to hook Y/N up with guys, even when I was right there.” He rolled his eyes. “She’s the one who spread it around that I was gay.”

It was the second time in a surprisingly short time frame that Irene had to blanch, looking flabbergasted at her colleague.

“But you are?” She nearly screeched.

Taehyung gave her a very unimpressed look. “What, just because I’m dating a man, that leaves only one option in the world?”

“But…Y/N said,”

“Yeah, she…” Taehyung sighed. “She took Joy’s word for it because I would only date or hook up with boys back at college too. I didn’t like many girls…because well,” he suddenly looked wistful as he trailed off but Irene pounced on it.

“You’re bisexual, then?”

He nodded.

“And…the reason why you never date girls is…?”

“I don’t have to spell everything out for you, Irene.”

“No, you do, because all of this is happening because you all won’t talk to each other like normal people.”

That got Taehyung’s attention, making him lean in closer. “What are you saying?”

Irene hesitated. “I know this is going to be a huge violation of Y/N’s trust. She might not forgive me and she might actually stop talking to you forever. But I’m doing this because I care about her and I can see that you do too.”

Taehyung’s eyebrows jumped in a mild mixture of fear and shock but he quickly schooled his features. “I do,” he swore.

Irene nodded before getting up to close the door and then sat back down, two heads closing in as Irene divulged her friend’s deepest secrets. She only prayed that the knowledge would help both Taehyung and Y/N and that she wouldn’t hurt these two people.

It was much later into the night when Seokjin decided to broach the thickened silence that wrapped around his partner. He slid his body closer to the younger man, his skin cooling from the efforts of the night by now.

Taehyung had come home later than Seokjin was used to and it took only one glance at him for Seokjin to know that something was wrong. His hair was standing on end as if he’d dragged his hands through it too many times. His face and neck were flushed and for a wild second it seemed that he had even been crying.

Jin had been quick to gather up his lover in his arms, worried that something terrible had happened to him but the frazzled man had only drawn himself further into his body, cascading a series of actions that definitely weren’t on Seokjin’s list of consoling his boyfriend.

But Taehyung had seemed to need it, and Seokjin had delivered, with every harsh thrust of his hips. He could tell by the quietness of Taehyung grunts and moans that he wasn’t completely into it, just barely forcing his mind to go along his body so after they were done, Seokjin allowed Taehyung some space, fetching him water and keeping his distance as Taehyung curled up into his side of the bed.

Seokjin lay on his back, eyes facing the ceiling until he couldn’t stop himself. He knew Taehyung was awake, thinking, driving himself insane possibly and he wouldn’t let him continue.

So he drew closer, one hand soothing over his partner’s bicep, “Taehyung,”

“Hmm,”

Seokjin moved closer, placing his head on the other’s pillow. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Taehyung didn’t answer making Seokjin bite his lip. There were rare matters out there that would make Taehyung tremble in his stance like this. He had an excellent relationship with his family and Seokjin’s. His work was never problematic, if perhaps a little demanding and he doubted anyone had criticized him.

“Is it Y/N? Did you try and talk to her? Did…did you fight with her or something?”

Seokjin knew that the two were facing troubles. Taehyung had confessed not too long ago that Y/N had been distancing herself from him and that had confused Seokjin a lot. Y/N loved Taehyung; a blind man could see it. And though she had always been shy of Seokjin, she had never really been very subtle with the way her eyes would move over him, ever so often when they would take her to one of Jin’s events.

There had never been problems. So why was it that out of nowhere, Y/N didn’t want anything to do with them?

Taehyung was rightfully hurt. But so was Seokjin, and it couldn’t do to tell Taehyung that he felt a hollow drop in his chest at the thought that Y/N might never walk past them again.

“No, she wasn’t in today.”

“Then what’s the problem baby?”

Taehyung sighed, a deep, pained exhale that raised and dropped his body – almost as if he’d breathed out his soul. He shuffled under the sheets, turning to face Seokjin, faces inches apart.

“Do you remember that time I told you about how people always mistake me for being gay because of this one girl in college?”

Seokjin nodded slowly.

“Well, I found out why Y/N is acting so weird lately.”

Seokjin raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“She’s been hanging out with that girl, Joy.” Taehyung looked down, hands coming up to rub at his eyes.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why did she stop talking to you?”

“Well, I – I know you think you know everything about me…and Y/N by extension but the thing is…” Taehyung sighed again, turning onto his back too, looking as if he was far away and not in his bedroom.

“Joy has always considered Y/N as one of her personal projects. Y/N believed Joy when she said I’m gay and I’m partly to blame because we never really had a conversation about my sexuality. I used to date guys and she went with it. Even after we left college, I’ve never dated girls that she knows of and then…I met you.”

Seokjin waited.

“I don’t regret anything, of course. Okay, maybe a couple things…like not seeing it beforehand that Joy was making Y/N make decisions instead of just talking to me. And I regret not sorting things out way back then. But see, I was…I was petty. Joy would hook her up with these random guys, and she went with it, she never…looked at me. I thought it was because she wasn’t interested in me.”

He turned to look at Seokjin.

“The reason why I have never dated any girls was because I only wanted one girl. Her. Y/N. If I had to date a girl, it’d be her. She’s my best friend, my anchor, my rock, my entire support system. She’s my family. She’s been with me through everything and more and I could never ask for more when I’m with her. I love her. I do, but to me it felt like she only wanted to be friends. So I never broached the topic, I just went with it, went with it because I thought it was what she wanted. And I would never do anything to hurt or inconvenience her.”

“When I met you, I didn’t think I’d fall in love with you. I’ve never loved someone like I love her. So when I realized that I do, I love you, I thought it would be easy to let her go but fuck, I have…I have just been hurting her for so long.”

Taehyung crumpled, hands covering his entire face as he heaved in deep breaths, shoulders quaking.

“Taehyung!” Seokjin was quick to grab him, pulling the man close till his head was against his chest.

Everything was swirling in Seokjin’s mind. His own feelings, not wholly complete though they were, they were enough to tell him that he was attracted to Y/N, had been from the moment he’d seen them, standing side by side like a perfect pair. It had been a shock that they weren’t together, but Y/N had been so shy, so withdrawn. Her countenance had never changed around him and he had thought that she didn’t like him. He had walked out with Taehyung by his side, and he didn’t know if it was all going to come apart or not.

“She loves me, Jin. She’s loved me since college and I was fucking blind. Irene told me that she’s been feeling lonely and it was because she liked you when you came in but then you and I started dating.”

Seokjin froze, unable to ignore the thud in his heart at the confirmation of your feelings for him. He waited for Taehyung’s trembles to subside into low sniffles before he spoke.

“Do you regret it? Us,” he asked quietly.

Taehyung looked up immediately. “No, I absolutely do not. I love you.” he cupped Seokjin’s cheeks, placing a delicate kiss against his plump lips. “I could never regret you. I just wished I’d known about Y/N before.”

Seokjin was quiet for so long Taehyung to say his name twice to gain his attention.

“I just…I’ve been thinking about what you’ve said and I am totally not disregarding Y/N’s feelings…”

“It’s not like I can go talk to her about this either! She’d hate Irene. And she might never talk to us again…but I don’t see how I can make us go back to normal either. Joy fucked up things for me yet again.” Taehyung whined.

“Let me finish,” Jin said calmly. He took Taehyung’s hand in his, looking deep into his eyes. “Do you love me? Just say yes or no,”

Taehyung nodded quickly, looking scared. “I do.”

“Do you love Y/N?”

He hesitated but one look from Seokjin had him ducking his head. “I do.”

“There’s no need to be ashamed. There’s nothing wrong with loving more than one person, Tae.” Seokjin comforted before lowering him voice.

“I love you too, you know that.”

Taehyung nodded.

“And as for Y/N, there is really only one thing we can do.” He offered his boyfriend a soft but sly smile.

“Ah, Y/N, you’re in today, wonderful.”

You looked up at your boss, Wendy as she poked her head into your office. It had been one of the rare days that you had decided to spend in your office, getting an early morning text from Taehyung that he would be taking the morning off for some personal business and would show up around the afternoon.

You had left the message on seen, until a deep urge made you sent him a paltry thumb up. Instead of sending in a query as to how you were as was the norm, Taehyung had left you on seen. Maybe he was beginning to draw back from you as well, you thought with a soft pang in your gut.

You were taking the morning to begin some office work, signing off some paperwork before you took off on your rounds of the sites before Taehyung showed up.

“Yeah, I was just finishing some paperwork.”

“Excellent, we have Kim Seokjin coming in today and he’s requested you.”

Your eyes flashed up, mouth falling open in sheer shock and horror. “Wait, what?”

Wendy paused at your dumbfounded tone, about to turn away before she was looking at you strangely. “Taehyung’s boyfriend, Kim Seokjin, Y/N; he’s the owner of Kim Enterprise, remember? You can’t have forgotten that so easily. We worked with him not too long ago.”

“I remember, but we finished his entire place.” You said.

“Seems like he’s getting another,” she replied shortly before giving you another pointed look. “Now, Y/N, as far as work place relationships go, I’ve kept my nose out of other’s business because nobody here slacks off. But I hear a lot, so I’m going to ask you this; are we going to have problems with Kim Seokjin due to…well, whatever is the matter with you and Taehyung?”

If there was a pit anywhere near you; you’d have gladly jumped into it and crashed to a blessed death to prevent yourself this embarrassment. As a boss, Wendy was amazing, a little neurotic but that came with the business. But she was fabulously business-like, and knew her boundaries and that was rare in a high stress, demanding job like yours. For her to ask this question meant she was worried. And you had never given her cause to worry about you and your work ethic.

You weren’t about to ruin that impression today.

“No ma’am, you absolutely don’t have to worry about me. Everything is fine. Are they waiting?”

“If you’re sure; I’ll have them sent in to you.”

You mustered up all the backbone you could in the five minutes it took for them to be processed into your office. You thought back to Taehyung’s morning message, wondering if this was the reason why he was taking the morning off.

What was happening?

What did they need you for?

Your frazzled mind was numbed as soon as the glass door to your office opened again, this time revealing two too familiar faces that you’d been diligently avoiding for the past two weeks.

Seokjin was the first to step in, wearing a simple black turtleneck, (why did he always wear those? did he not know what those did to you?), and a red leather jacket. He turned to hold the door open and then Taehyung followed, dressed similarly, in a black shirt and white jacket. His eyes fell on you as he walked over and just for a split second you saw a quick spark flash through them, almost as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it.

Instead he offered you a genial smile. “Hi, Y/N; It’s good to see you.”

You had known him long enough to recognize the subtle emphasis on the word ‘see’ and your smile flickered before you hitched it up again, turning to look away from him.

You could already feel the suffocation setting in. You were alone and cornered. You had nowhere to go if they chose to confront of about your actions.

You resumed your seat, spreading your hands in front of you. “So then, what do I owe this meeting to?”

“Aren’t you going to greet Seokjin?” Taehyung asked suddenly.

Your eyes flickered to him, then quickly to Seokjin and back, flustered when you caught Seokjin trying to suppress a smile. “Um,” you turned to him. “Hello Seokjin, how are you?”

Seokjin removed his hand, smiling serenely. “I’m very fine, Y/N, how about yourself? You’ve been keeping yourself busy and away from us.”

He held your gaze for a beat too long, long enough for you to feel heat pooling in the center of your neck, flushing over to your chest and you looked away, down at the paper you’d been working on.

“Yeah, I’m – yeah, so what’s going on?”

“We’re moving.” Taehyung said simply, making your neck hitch up to face them so quickly, you cricked a muscle.

“WHAT? Where?”

For someone who had been avoiding Taehyung and Seokjin and had decided to be distant and ‘not’ in love with them, you sure were antsy and it garnered an almost triumphant grin from Taehyung.

“Just a little farther towards the city, calm down. It’s a penthouse and it’s bigger than our apartment, closer to here and Jin’s building. It also brings us closer.”

“Oh,” you lower a little back into your seat. “Right,” Your voice was weaker than your earlier vehement one.

“You and Tae did a fantastic job on the apartment, so naturally you are our first choice for the penthouse.” Seokjin added.

“Naturally,” you shrugged, trying to appear as unruffled as possible. “Plus, you’ve already been my client and I have your file on hand.”

“Naturally,” Taehyung returned, still a subtle smirk playing on his lips.

“What’s so funny?” You frowned, now genuinely curious.

There was a flutter between Seokjin and Taehyung and he particularly had that spark that always meant he was up to something. You had treated him badly enough to know that he shouldn’t be up to anything, but then, you also wondered if it was something of a prank to get back at you.

No, Taehyung wouldn’t do that. Not at least before trying to talk it out.

“I’m happy to see you, Y/N. It’s been a while.” Taehyung had leaned back into his chair, not at all trying to hide the beaming grin that lit up his face now, teeth fully on display.

You stared at him for a bit before looking at Seokjin. “I’ll have to see the place.”

“We get the keys this evening. Taehyung can take you in tomorrow.” He nodded at his partner before looking at you, meeting your narrowed eyes with little to no innocence on his face. “I’m hoping you’ll love it.”

Why would I have to like it? “You’ll be the one living in it; you should hope I do a good job on it.”

Again, both Kim men only gave you matching suspicious smirks.

“Uh…okay, so why the sudden move? Did something happen?”

“We talked and we’re ready for another step.” Seokjin cast a smile at Taehyung, and once again your stomach clenched.

They were moving on and further into their relationship. So why couldn’t you?

“That’s great, Seokjin.” You couldn’t help it, giving them a genuine smile for what felt like the first time. “I’m really happy for you, Tae.” This time your voice was soft and you saw Taehyung’s face soften, eyes lowering at the use of his nickname.

“Well then, I have to push off. But we will give you the details and you will have Taehyung.” Seokjin stood up, running a hand through his hair before offering it to you. You blinked before taking it, his long fingers enveloping yours in a soft but firm shake.

His eyes lingered where your hands met, before you drew back and he turned to Taehyung, dropping a kiss on his head and with one last wave, he was out the door.

There was a brief lull after Seokjin took his leave, with you staring at the spot where he last stood. Your hand tingled where it now lay at your desk and you had the strangest notion that he had been caressing your skin without actually doing anything.

You balled and stretched your fingers slightly, before remembering you had company.

Your eyes went to Taehyung. He started just so when your eyes met, rearranging his features. He was too slow though, and you had already caught the deep, sad expression on his face. It only added to your guilt but Joy’s words rang heavy and true in your mind.

Especially, considering the new decisions they were taking together.

You cleared your throat and looked away, walking over to grab a fresh batch of paperwork and Seokjin’s file.

“Right then,” you let your pen hover over the paper. “Tell me everything.”

Taehyung stood up, eyes heavy and began to walk around the desk. You froze, wondering if he was going to start shouting but he only clambered on to your desk, the way he used to. He clasped hands onto his knees and began swinging his legs, thwacking them against the wooden cabinet underneath.

“Ah, now that’s better. I think my butt missed your desk, Y/N.”

You gave him a look; his teasing grin not helping you calm down at all. “You have your own desk to sit at, Taehyung.”

His smile fell, pursing at the expression you wore as his feet stopped banging against the wood. “Are you not going to even talk to me properly, let alone give me a smile?”

You stared up at him. He examined your face, looking for even a minute change before sighing. “I hoped seeing each other would do something,”

“What did you hope it would do?” You asked.

“Anything; maybe you’d want to talk to me, maybe you’d…you’d like to say something, explain perhaps…about what happened to you, to us?”

You lowered your gaze. “There’s nothing to explain.”

“So, you just woke up one day, decided ‘hey, I’m going to stop being Tae’s friend’ and went from there?”

“I,” you paused, unable to help but give him a guilty look, “it’s complicated, Taehyung, it’s not like I’ve stopped being your friend. I just…I just needed a little space,”

“You could’ve said so. Was I suffocating you that much?”

“N—no,”

He continued to stare, his own expression as flat as yours had been.

“I won’t prod into this here, at work. I don’t want Wendy or anyone else to get wind of this. But this house…this house means a lot to me, to Jin. I want this project to be a success for more than just you. So, let’s please work on it how we used to. Contrary to what you say, we have a good thing and we can work wonders on this one. What do you say?”

Your first instinct was to helplessly nod but you only let your head hit the headrest of your chair. Finally you gave him a quick, small smile. “Let’s do it.”

Taehyung didn’t answer, only nodding.

For the first time in some time, you had woken up with zero dread. Yes, there was a ball of pulsating excitement in your stomach, but it was more to be working on a big project than anything else.

Your truce with Taehyung had given you a chance to breathe, to at least pretend that you weren’t in love with him and were just friends who were working on a job. That was nice, wasn’t it?

You were determined to stay in your place though. No matter how friendly you had to act, you wouldn’t allow Taehyung and Seokjin to drag you back to where you had been. You knew it would be hard. Taehyung might think the truce meant that he was allowed to touch you again, in more ways than one but you had to put in some safeguards.

You needed boundaries – and you needed them to respect that.

So when you went down to your car that morning, ready to drive to Tae’s new building, you were surprised and groaning almost immediately.

A black BMW nestled into the parking space right next to yours. Your complex didn’t have a separate guest parking so anyone could put their cars wherever they wanted. And most early morning commuters took off leaving your best friend to find his way straight next to yours.

As you inched closer, the window whirred downwards and then Taehyung was sticking his head out, his glasses perched above his head. You knew he needed them to see but he hated the way they left a line across his nose, but he also hated his contacts, so he always walked about like this.

“Good morning,” he crowed.

You walked around to the driver’s side before knocking his glasses down with your forefinger so it would slide down to stop at his nose. “What are you doing here?”

“Seokjin said you might need some help getting to the building today. Plus I need to introduce you to the building manager and get your name down into the registry.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“…because you’ll be coming over for a good long while,” Taehyung was already turning to the front, almost as if he was worried he’d said too much.

“I’ll need my car, Taehyung.” You sighed.

“No you don’t, you have me.”

Your eyes met. Two beats passed and you could clearly hear your heart thump uncomfortably against your ribcage. You looked away.

“You’re going to be chauffeuring me around?”

“You’ve been doing it for me for ages.”

You looked back at him.

“Come on, Y/N…what are friends for?”

You sighed. This was not going to go smoothly for you.

The building that the Kim men were moving into was decidedly more upscale and lavish than their last. It had doormen, a reception, and a private elevator for the penthouse – which Seokjin and Taehyung had bought, of course. The building even had numbered underground parking with a valet system, one of which took Taehyung’s car down while he led you inside. The lobby was sleek and decorated tastefully, with a huge chandelier in the waiting area that you gaped up at. Taehyung muttered something about getting your name down before leaving you to wander about the space.

As an interior designer, you were impressed. The building had to be designed by a firm much more expensive and upper-class than BHE. A flick of suspicion flared in your mind. Seokjin and Taehyung were going to live in a building which would have a whole file of decorators, designers, architects on hand for resident comfort. Why were they insistent on having you design their home? Was it some sense of loyalty?

Had Taehyung been the one to get you this gig?

“All done,” Taehyung approached you, smiling slightly at the look on your face. “Fancy, isn’t it?”

“How much are you guys paying for this?” You marveled at a gold plated peacock mounted on a stand.

“We’re…well, still in the talks of it. Why, are you planning on moving in?” he placed a hand on your back and you were so taken by the room, you didn’t even think of protesting it.

As soon as you were in the elevator, a steel and slate affair with black metal and mirror grills, he sighed, leaning against the wall and placing his head on your shoulder. You stiffened immediately but Taehyung didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m so tired, Y/N. I’ve been shopping around for the clients and moving stuff here because Jin is working out the paperwork. I just want to sleep.”

There was no insincerity in his voice and you knew him well enough to notice the rasp of his voice, the whine obvious whenever he was sleepy. You couldn’t help but baby and admonish him a bit.

“Why did you drive in this state?”

He peered up at you. “For you, of course,” His big puppy eyes blinked slowly up at you and you gulped loudly, looking quickly away.

“You didn’t need to.” You muttered gruffly, thankful when the doors finally parted open.

Taehyung took longer to raise his head, dropping his hand to knot his pinky with yours, ignoring the taut length you kept between your arms. “Ok, so you exit the lift, and this is the foyer.” He turned around in the large front hall, pointing out the rooms. “We’re fitting those two rooms to be offices. That’s a utility room. There’s a bathroom through here. And this,” he turned the hall to a huge rectangular space. “Is the living space, kitchen and dining. There’s a balcony too.”

“It’s big.” You noted.

“Yeah, lots of space, you’ll love it.” Taehyung said softly, turning his back when you gave him a puzzled look, “To decorate, of course,” he walked over to a staircase. “This leads upstairs, you can also take the elevator right to the top.”

The both of you decided to climb.

“That’s the master bedroom and bathroom. There’s another spare room but we’re turning it into a bedroom and walk in closet too.” He spoke and for a wild second you wondered if he was trying to continue giving you your own space, like he had in his last apartment. You didn’t think you would take him up on it this time.

Laundry, alcoves, and then on the highest floor, a neat little garden space with a swimming pool…

Your mind was already rushing with ideas and you were eager to get to work, even if it was a little wistful. It was a beautiful space, something you and Taehyung had always dreamt of. Of course, your apartment wasn’t shabby and Taehyung’s last space was nothing to laugh about.

But you were glad Seokjin was moving Taehyung here…and you were determined to decorate it to befit Taehyung. He deserved it, after all your horrible behavior.

Perhaps…as a last interaction…this wasn’t too bad.

“What do you think?”

Taehyung and you had returned to the living room, now standing in the balcony to take in the skyline view.

“It’s amazing, Taehyung.” You answered honestly.

“Yeah? You sure you like it?”

You frowned at him now. “Okay, why are you both asking me for my opinion? You are the one going to stay here.”

“Yeah but,” he fumbled. “I value your opinion, Seokjin does too. We just want to know.”

You had to backtrack. “Yeah, Taehyung, it’s a beautiful home. I’d love to stay here and I’m sure you’re going to love it too.”

He nodded this time, a subtle smile playing along his lips. Curious, but you chalked it up to him getting what he wanted.

“I’ll start working now. You should get some sleep.”

“I’m fine, I’ll stay with you.”

“Your eyes are red. Do you not have any bedding here?”

He shrugged. “There’s an inflatable in the master room.” He mumbled, making you quickly look down, flushing with embarrassment.

“Right, yeah, um, go sleep. I’ll call you…or leave a note when I’m done.”

He froze as he was leaving. “Call me – if you need anything or are going out. And if you need some space, you can take one of the offices…and um, come upstairs if you need to nap.”

“Huh?” You whipped your head up, making him smile.

“I know you kip on the couch in your office back at work during midday. I’ve even seen you once, I have a picture. So if you need to lie down, you can always come up, I’ll leave you a space – like back in college.”

Your jaw slackened in shock at the cheek, but he had already turned around and was gone before you could choke up a reply from somewhere in your throat.

It took a better part of the day to finish a draft sketch of the first floor, with you adding tiny remarks and comments about sizes and preferences of Seokjin and Taehyung as you knew them.

While Seokjin was of a more refined and classical tastes, Taehyung had an eclectic touch and you wanted to make the house a blend of the two, letting both the owners shine in their own way.

So you added large vases, abstract arts, textured wallpapers and muted carpets in the comments.

By the time it was afternoon and the sun was beginning to move towards the western horizon, your eyes were getting droopy and your pencil and sketch pens had slowed down in their fervor.

Taehyung had come down twice, once leaving to fetch some food before disappearing again. Once, you heard him on the phone, pacing upstairs but snippets of his conversation floated down from the small opening above the living room.

“…I’m trying, Jin.”

“…I know, I know, I can’t just tell her now, can I?”

Both instances had you backing away from the living room, careful to not be audible even as you wondered if the move was being hard on them. Were they having a fight?

And why were they talking about a ‘her’?”

Was it you?

 Were they clashing because of you?

Perhaps you had been right. Taehyung had probably pushed for you to work this.

You knew anger as the first emotion to jump on was stupid, but you couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like you were sitting useless in your office. You had more than three clients and you were busy.

But you also didn’t want to fight. You had called a truce and you were now stubborn about maintaining your dignity. Unless you were kicked off, you’d continue working.

So, with the dimming sunlight drifting in, you sat on the floor of the first office room, sketching and sketching till you were done with the first floor. Tomorrow you could move to the second floor. You would even arrive earlier so that you could finish the last floor. You’d stretch yourself thin to make this project speed up if you had to.

You got painstakingly to your feet; collecting and stuffing your things back into your bags and then went outside.

Taehyung was standing in front of one of the floor to ceiling window in the living room, hands stuffed into his pockets. You stopped for a bit, taking in his profile before deciding to interrupt him anyway.

“Hey,” you called.

He turned immediately, a small frown easing out of his forehead before he gave you a full smile, walking over. You wordlessly handed him the sketch to go over first.

“I’m mixing in a couple of ideas that I think will suit both you and Seokjin. You can discuss things with Seokjin and let me know.”

“No, no, this looks great. I’m sure Jin will like it. He already has the people for the walls and floors coming in. That was one thing he wanted done himself. The work starts tomorrow so you can watch and make adjustments the way you see fit.” Taehyung rolled his eyes before fixing you with a calculating look. “Which office are you taking?”

“Sorry?”

“Right now, which office were you in?”

You blinked. “The one along the balcony,”

He nodded, sniffing in amusement, eyes lowered to the sketch again.

You scowled, annoyed by his strange demeanor before casting a look outside. “I should go.”

He followed your look. “Don’t you…want to stay for dinner? Jin’s getting take out. We’re still sleeping in that apartment so you can always take your room.”

“Uh, not today, I need to render the floor plan in the database.”

“You only have a sketch though.”

“That’s fine, I have it memorized.”

Taehyung sniffed again, this time definitely not in amusement and he didn’t seem very intent on returning the sketch until you practically snatched it away from him.

For the next 45 minutes to an hour, Taehyung maintained his solemn manner, stoic faced and aloof as he ushered you into his car and drove you back to your place.

“By the way I have to go on a trip shopping tomorrow. Jin will be there to receive you.” He said.

You turned once nodding, to wave for him to leave but stopped when you saw his face.

As indifferent as he pretended to be, you knew his signs. So when he looked away quickly from you and downwards, pretending he didn’t see you wave, your arm dropped to your side in confusion and worry.

He pulled out of the parking lot, with you watching him disappear with a crease in your eyebrows.

As you’d promised to yourself, you showed up at an abominable but appropriate time at the house the next day. Taehyung wasn’t there, of course, but Jin smiled, hands warm on my shoulders when you exited the elevator.

Before you could say anything, he was pulling you in, those long arms surrounding your body and your head tucking into the nook of his shoulder and neck. He smelled…clean, like fresh cotton sheets and sweet detergent. It was unlike Taehyung’s woody cologne, but you didn’t dislike it.

“Hey,” he whispered in your ear.

“Hi Seokjin,” you leaned away from his skin, trying not to appear as if you had enjoyed snuggling against him. You hadn’t, you were sure. Although it was hard not to notice that despite his toned figure; he was still soft and huggable, warm and comfortable.

He let you go thankfully, and once his broad chest had some distance from you, you could see people already in the house, with rolls of wallpapers, tiling, paint cans strewn about.

“Taehyung told me you would be here early.” He motioned you to follow him.

“We already started on the floors and walls, a little something I wanted for myself.” He smiled, placing a hand on his chest. “The wall paints, of course was picked by Taehyung, as you can see.”

You nodded, smirking a little when you saw that part of the floor had already been laid with deep grey tiling while the walls were being painted with light to dark ombre paints, the main walls one way and the inner walls another. It looked quite striking.

“The ground floor is basically done, and they’re going to be working here so you can have your pick of the other two floors, where you want to work today.” He checked his watch. “I have to be at work in a couple hours so I will introduce you to the foreman and Yeri,” he nodded to where a young woman was already making her way towards the pair of you, “will keep you company and help you with anything you need.”

“Good morning, Miss Y/N, it’s so nice to see you again.” Yeri said immediately as she joined you.

“You too,” you beamed, shaking her hand.

 You’d met Yeri back when you’d first worked for Seokjin, on the apartment that he was sharing with Taehyung. She was his most valuable and important employee. She was his estate manager, his secretary, an all encompassing over-watch. Her capabilities were far and varied and she had intimidated you in the very beginning with just how…efficient she was.

Of course, the more you became acquainted with her, you realized she was actually very soft and had a liking for the slower things of life. She also was a key figure in figuring out exactly how to work for Seokjin. She told you of his schedule, his likes and dislikes, personal preferences. She’d even accidentally slipped up and revealed he had once dated a famous actress and had to clamp her mouth shut with her hands before you both had exploded into laughter.

You were still keeping that faux pa a secret.

“I think I’ll leave you here. You’re in amazing hands.” Seokjin’s arm was once again around you and to both yours and Yeri’s surprise; he dropped a kiss to your temple. “Keep out of trouble, girls. Taehyung will be here by evening.” He backed away, meeting your wide, shocked gaze with an impish one of his own and then with one elegant whirl, he had marched off.

Yeri glanced at you. “Um, what’s up with that?”

You glanced back. “I have absolutely, honestly, no clue.”

With a better idea of the mapping of the first floor, it took you a much shorter time to cover the rest two floors. As Taehyung had wanted, you deconstructed the one last remaining room into a smaller bedroom, entertaining yourself and Yeri by wondering who would be sleeping in there if they had a fight and one of them got kicked out of the bedroom.

Both of you decided it would be Seokjin, inciting a giggle.

The uppermost floor would be a terrace garden, complete with a swimming pool. Yeri teased you, saying how she’d seen both men in swimming trunks during a business meeting abroad. You – who had already seen Taehyung in pool parties – decided not to jump into that conversation, simply to preserve your sanity.

By sundown, you had given the foreman and his workers the sketches and the green light to proceed to the second floor, the sight of the inflatable bed that you had sat on with Yeri reminding you that Taehyung had slept on it, just yesterday…perhaps even shared it with Seokjin.

It felt like a huge violation – best friendship, be damned.

“Anybody home?”

“Oh, Taehyung’s here.” Yeri called you down, from where you were talking with the foreman while his men placed wood and marble along the surfaces.

“Yeri, Y/N,” Taehyung grinned when he saw the two of you descend the staircase. “I suppose both of you have been giggling about everything under the sun.”

You rolled your eyes by habit. “Oh please Tae, we all know you’re the one who gossips with Yeri the most.”

For a beat, Taehyung’s eyes lingered on you, a slow smile spreading his lips as he stretched a hand out to poke you but you’d already stepped back, making him drop the hand and clear his throat.

“Yeri, you should head home now. It’s getting late. I’ll watch over here now until Jin comes back.”

“Yes, Mr. Taehyung.” Yeri gave you one final smile and nod before she was turning the corner of the hallway to the elevator, leaving you and Taehyung alone.

Well, there were also the workmen but you didn’t count them.

“So,” Taehyung folded his arms. “Did you have fun today?”

“I guess, I finished the house planning. I think we can start buying and arranging the pieces from your apartment as soon as the flooring and walls are done.”

“Good, that’s yeah…good.” He muttered. “Going fast, isn’t it? We usually take longer.”

You glanced at him. “That’s probably because I already know my client this time around. Plus, Seokjin’s already taken care of the manual work.” You slung your bag across your shoulder. “I talked to the foreman, and he said something about the work taking the rest of the week, so I’ll be along next week and if you want we can start with the living room.”

He nodded.

“Right, bye then Taehyung,”

“Tae,”

You had nearly crossed the hallway when he spoke, making you pause in your steps. “What?” You asked.

“Call me Tae,”

You turned your head to look at him, frowning in puzzlement.

“You rarely ever call me Taehyung. But you’ve stopped calling me nicknames ever since, well last week.”

“I…I just called you Tae, a few minutes before.”

“Because you forgot that you’re trying to pull away from me,”

You had nothing to say to that, instead only turning to look ahead, standing stiff and straight defiantly.

“You’re trying to withdraw from me, from us and I don’t know why.” You could feel him drawing closer with every word.

“Do you know how confused I was, how – how hurt?”

You stayed silent, swallowing loudly in the suddenly too small space between your bodies.

“I was angry too. Because you wouldn’t talk to me; hell, you wouldn’t even look at me, or be there when I came to you.” Taehyung voice had dropped to a low rumble, probably so that nobody but you could hear him.

“You’re still hurting me. Calling me Taehyung, not letting me anywhere close to you, acting so frozen…” Your grip on your bag had tightened, crinkling the material in your fist, when you felt his fingers brush your wrist.

“What do I have to do, babe?” He said, causing you to jerk at the term. “Tell me; what do I have to do; so you will let me touch you again, be near you again, hear your voice, and be us.”

“Tae, there is no us.” You whispered; sweet agony pulsing through your veins when he gripped your wrist completely, pushing up into your back.

“Bullshit, I’ve always been yours and you’ve always been mine. You think that goes away just because you pretend to act like it?”

You turned your head, his breath puffing against your hairline. “I’m not pretending.”

“No? Then tell me you don’t want to be around me. Tell me you don’t like this. Tell me you haven’t missed me just as much as I’ve missed you.”

Something pricked behind your eyes, threatening to come to the brim. It hurt, your decision to distance yourself from him, had left you breathless for the better part of the night. And now, with him confronting you out of nowhere, when you weren’t prepared at all to give him any excuses, you were left defenseless.

And with him touching you again did not help matters…not when you were already crumbling…

“Tae please,” you tried.

“Can’t do it, can you? So tell me why you were pulling away.” He was fully pressed up against you now, much more intimate and closer than he had ever been and you were panicking, possibly going to cry or scream in his face. It didn’t seem at all like how he would innocently cuddle up to you. No, this time Taehyung was with full intention, pressing up against you and there didn’t seem to be anything platonic about his voice.

“Excuse me, Mr. Kim?”

You jumped away from Taehyung like a live wire, vibrating from the nervous energy that had gathered in your limbs.

“Right here!” Taehyung called back, surprised for now and he stuck his head around the corner of the hall, giving you enough time to press the button for the elevator.

“Sir, we were looking for…”

Taehyung looked a little dazed, staring at the foreman out of sorts before looking at you, already entering the elevator.

“Y/N,”

“Goodnight Taehyung,”

The elevator closed on his face.

You stumbled back against the slate wall, rubbing at your chest to calm you down.

You couldn’t be more thankful for the brief period of time it took for the workers to put in the walls and floors down. With the sudden intimate fight – you were sure it was a fight – you had had with Taehyung, you had considered dropping the project before remembering Wendy’s words.

She had already given you one chance at dropping out and you had assured her everything was fine. Dropping out now would not only be a black mark in your name, but it would also cause Wendy to lose a significant amount of trust in you. That added with the fact that Seokjin and Taehyung would never leave you alone after that was enough for you to grit your teeth and continue the work.

It would be soon, you consoled yourself.

You’d finish the house, get hitched to some or the other guy that Joy thought befitted you and then try and move on.

Yes, it was a solid plan.

Only one problem…

You didn’t contend with the fact that Taehyung was your coworker.

“You look like you’ve died, come back, died again and then decided to show up high on caffeine.”

You flinched, looking up to see the dreaded coworker leaning in your doorway. He was in a suit today, simple but form fitting and you looked away quickly.

“Something you need?”

“I want to talk, about what happened last night.”

You shrugged. “Nothing happened; I am acting like a dick to you and you decided to show me the mirror. It’s cool.”

You didn’t have to look at him to know he was trying to suppress a smile. “As easy as you’re making that sound, I know you’re pissed at me.”

“I’m not.”

“Y/N,”

You looked up, aiming a glare at him this time as he moved to sit in front of you. Reaching forward, he grabbed your free hand, his thumb tracing over your knuckles. You both stared at the motion.

“I love you,” Your head whipped up to him, shell-shocked. “You know that.” He pressed. “And as much as I am angry with you for…never mind that. I am also angry at myself. And I am angry especially for last night. I made you uncomfortable last night, crossed so many lines, but without doing that, I wouldn’t have this today.” He made a show of running his thumb over your hand again.

“Have what?”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t have found out that you don’t want this. But you’re forcing yourself into this…and maybe you’re not ready to talk to me about it, but don’t even for a second think, I’ll stop wanting to understand. Maybe one day, I’ll finally make you spit it out. But till then, I don’t ever want to see you upset like last night.” He let go of your hand.

You stared at him, swallowing and exhaling roughly.

“Do you want to have lunch with me today?” You asked quietly.

Taehyung folded his arms on the desk. “I’d love nothing more.”

It was that day that you decided to take the truce seriously…and along the way stop taking Taehyung for granted. You needed him, whether you wanted to accept it or not. He was more than just your best friend yes, but then so were you for him. You could move on and find someone else, without having to cut him from your life.

That’s what you told yourself.

It was the only way you could do the right thing the right way.

A month had passed. The penthouse was nearly done and they had started to move in slowly. Taehyung had ordered you to stay for dinner and it was while you were washing the vegetables, with only Seokjin for company because Taehyung had ‘to do laundry’, that he spoke.

“I’m glad you made up with Taehyung.”

You glanced over to where he was chopping the meat, smiling. “Yeah, me too,”

“He’s been much more chipper, nowadays. Even designed the office for you, just in case you needed a space of your own to work,”

“Um,” You laughed. “Please, I’m sure he did it to entice me to stay over more. That plus he gets to go shopping, as much as he whines about it, he loves it.”

Seokjin chuckled, “I know, have you seen it?”

“Oh yeah,”

Taehyung had been overly excited, pulling at you to come with him before throwing open the door to the room you’d sat sketching in your first day over. With deep blue walls, and rose gold marble floors, Taehyung had completely recreated your office at BHE right in his home.

“What…why…how,” You’d stuttered.

“Well, I was hoping that now that we’ve made up you could come over more. And you might need somewhere to work, so…”

“So, you gave me an entire office?” You screeched.

“You can even share our bedroom.” He waggled his eyebrows lasciviously, making you smack at his chest.

Of course, Jin’s office next to ‘yours’ was much classier, with wood and a bar you stashed in, much to his chagrin and protests. You knew he was secretly glad, though. Yeri had mentioned him having a private stock at his office, where he would chug down a few out of Taehyung’s sight.

“Did it work?” Seokjin questioned, leaning his hip against the kitchen counter to stare at you.

“I am here, aren’t I?”

It had taken a while, convincing yourself; that it was okay to be close to Taehyung and Seokjin again. While yes, the proximity made your heart flutter, flush you with warmth again, but it was easier, now that you had made up your mind that you would only see them as friends.

Joy would soon find someone for you to date, and that would be that.

Easy.

He laughed. “It’s good to have you around, Y/N. I was worried this fight might last long. I sorely missed you.”

You saluted him, “Happy to be here, Seokjin,” You handed him a washed tomato.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Hmm,”

“Why do you always call me Seokjin?”

You paused; your hands under the running sink where the second tomato nearly slipped out of your fingers. “Uh…that’s your name?”

You didn’t expect a finger under your chin, turning you to look where Seokjin was now inspecting you closely, eyes lingering on your parted lips. “Call me Jin.”

You blinked furiously, held in his stare while he waited for you to speak, to call him what he wanted you to.

“What are we talking about?” Out of nowhere, arms wrapped around you, a head dropping heavily onto your shoulder and you jumped, jerking away from Seokjin’s light but hypnotic hold.

“I was coercing her to call me Jin, nearly had her too.” The former admonished and you looked, horrified, to where Taehyung – nestled into your neck – smirked at you.

“Did she now? Come on, Y/N, give him what he wants. Call him Jin.”

“But I,” You stopped, looking wildly from where the Kim men stared at you, with identical and encouraging smiles in place, almost as if you were a horse they were training and got easily spooked.

“It’s just a nickname. Might as well get used to it,”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“Fine,” You glanced at Jin, purely to get it over with. “Jin,”

“Hmm, baby boy, are you satisfied with that?”

“Nope,” Tae moved in, scooping you onto the counter near the sink, fingers hovering threateningly over your sides. “Seemed too casual, no feeling at all.”

“Don’t you dare tickle me, Kim Taehyung,” You pushed at him before bursting out laughing when his hands descended, mercilessly squiggling into your sides. “STOP, wait! Fine, fine, Jin! Jin, please make him stop!”

Jin was quick to wrap an arm around Tae’s shoulders, “Ok, ok, let her breathe.” He chortled while you laid your head on his shoulders, taking in as much air as you could fit into your lungs.

Over your head, the two men looked at each other, before looking down at you with an adoring smile.

“There’s something different about you.”

Irene stopped mid-explanation, swiftly changing from her monologue on the pricing of good mulch, to her observation about you.

“Hmm,” You sat up straighter.

She smirked. “I knew you weren’t listening.”

“I’m sorry – I was, thinking.”

“Mmhmm, sure,” she returned to her files, still smirking before adding. “I’m not just saying that though. There is something different about you.”

You frowned now. “How do you mean?”

“You look good, I mean,” she cut off hastily when you raised your brow, “You haven’t been looking bad, but you did look glum when you and Taehyung weren’t talking. Now that you are, it’s a good look, happier. As does he,” she smiled to herself, as if harboring a secret that she was gloating over but you waved a hand.

“It’s just going back to usual, you know. There’s really nothing new or more, plus,” you lowered your voice. “I think I am self controlled enough to not go about making things hard for both them, and me.” You shrugged.

Irene leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs in that way which meant business.

“You’re telling me, there is absolutely nothing more. Nothing has changed?”

You considered, taking a sip of the office canteen tea. “Um, no…? Although now that you mention it,”

“Yes?”

“They’ve been,” you swirled the teaspoon thoughtfully, “a little strange.”

Irene watched you closely; pondering face - taking a slow sip, putting the cup back on the saucer before impatiently spreading her hands. “Well, go on!”

You waved your hands again. “You know, they’ve been closer, touchier. Even Seokjin – Jin – has been strangely more affectionate to me. It’s…weird, and he has a boyfriend so,”

“A boyfriend who has to be touching you every five minutes or his battery dies.” Irene snickered.

“I’ll throw this tea at you.”

“Try me.”

You rolled your eyes at her.

Irene leaned in finally. “So, what’s been going on?”

“Nothing,”

Irene scowled. “Okay, this has to be the most frustrated I’ve been with you and I’ve never been pissed at you before.”

You sighed. “Is this a trend? People seem to be more aware about things than I am lately.”

“Of course they are, you idiot. Everybody knows that Seokjin and Taehyung like you, it’s so obvious, even a brick wall wouldn’t miss it,”

“Irene, we already went over this.”

“Come on, they’re trying. Can’t you see? Clearly they’re trying to get you closer,”

You paused, eyes slowly focusing. “But,”

“You’re literally denser than a brick wall.”

“No, okay, I’ve made it way too far to let this go to my head, ok?”

Irene folded her arms.

“Go then, talk to them, and see for yourself.”

At that moment, your friend looked so sure of herself, you couldn’t bring yourself to argue.

However, when you next went over to theirs, more so because now it was a given than to actually confront them, you wished you hadn’t.

There are situations in life, so awkward that you want to scrape them off your memory with a nail. Stumbling on to your best friend in a make out session – possibly leading to more – with their partner was usually one of those scenarios. Especially, when no one is drunk or at a party where, hey, accidents happen…It is stressful and horrifying when everyone involved is stone cold sober, there is no darkness to cover things up and nowhere to hide.

It is ten times worse, when the one happening across that scene has a flaming crush on the parties making out and is wondering if they too feel the same way.

The elevator dinged it pleasant mild gong as it slid open, your feet carrying you absent-mindedly around the foyer hallway.

The first hallway opened directly to the living room, specifically the sofa set.

Your eyes wandered up easily, while your hand dropped your key in your purse when met with what was the hottest but last thing you would ever want to chance upon.

Right on the couch facing you, Jin and Tae were entwined.

Jin lay under your best friend, one hand curled in the younger’s hair, pulling and smoothing it alternatively. His lips were swollen, plump red and emitting the sweetest groans. Taehyung’s head was buried in his neck, and you could see his tongue slowly ride up the side of the long column of neck presented to him.

You were so stunned; you froze in your steps – wide eyed and agape at the sight in front of you. As publicly affectionate as they were, you had never seen the two men in such a position. Their touches remained to sly brushes of the hand, quick pecks. Taehyung was a lot more conservative with his PDA with Jin than you, openly placing kisses on you but then…you weren’t his girlfriend.

Even as you stared, Taehyung’s hand slid to Jin’s belt, unbuckling the heavy metal, digging his hands in.

“Ah, baby boy, we have company.”

Your eyes snapped up to meet Seokjin’s, just as Taehyung turned his head to look at you. His hair was awry, sticking up at the ends and he was panting.

“Y/N,” he whispered.

“I…” You looked from Seokjin’s curiously unabashed face to Taehyung’s.

None of them made any moves to hide; they didn’t jump away from each other, trying to protect their modesty. They only gazed at you, waiting for your next move.

It was then, looking into their eyes – Seokjin’s dilated pupils, Taehyung’s obviously pleading look – that you knew Irene had been right.

All this while, they had been trying to seduce you. And while yes, you were already seduced – had been for a while – you were too stupid and thick to see it. But you had worked so hard…so hard and so forcefully to not fall for this again.

Joy had known this would happen. This was why she had warned you to stay away from them. And she had been right, liking you, being interested in you, trying to get with you meant nothing…

Not when you had been the one left on the outside for so long…

And looking into their eyes right now was doing funny things to you. Your body was overriding both your mind and your heart. With the sounds of their mingled breathing filling your ears, you knew it would be easy to throw caution to the air and jump to join them.

But you weren’t that brave…

You weren’t even sure if you were reading this right…

So you did the one thing that had always come easy…

You ran.

“Oh my god, I am…so sorry, so sorry I didn’t know.”

“Y/N, wait,”

“I’m so sorry, bye-bye!”

By the time any of the men managed to detangle off the sofa to give chase, you were already in the waiting elevator, thanking any god that might listen for it being private and were descending away.

When the fuck was Joy going to send you a damn date?

However, even through the curtains of desperate denial, damn your heart shone a thin, tiny streak of brilliant hope.

You were and would probably forever remain, a sucker for chicken.

After the god awful moment of catching them in their private time and then running away, you had taken shelter at your home, nursing a small glass of wine…which then slowly became full to the brim.

Later that night, Taehyung had rung you up, clearly not embarrassed in the slightest, only asking why you had left so abruptly. As tipsy as you were, you brain circuited quickly back up, whining about how you weren’t going to become a voyeur.

Taehyung had sidestepped that, asking if you had gotten home safe. You had obviously answered positively, leading you to get an invite to come and have Jin’s special chicken.

You were drunk.

It was Taehyung.

Taehyung with chicken…

Taehyung, especially, with Jin’s cooked chicken and you’d eaten quite a lot of his food to know he was a gods-blessed cook.

What were you going to do?

Refuse Jin’s gods-blessed chicken…? Yeah, nope.

You were going to show up.

“Fuck, I thought you were going to miss out on Jin’s chicken.” Taehyung met you at the elevator, where you shamelessly allowed him to remove your jacket and purse, putting them in the room which Taehyung adamantly called ‘your office’.

“Miss that amazing dish that only Jin makes? Not a chance in hell,” You laughed, forcing yourself to play easy going. You even shoved his shoulder to prove a point.

For a second, it looked Taehyung would say something, as he rubbed at the spot where you’d pushed him before humming. “Right then, this way, my love,”

He took your hand, using the hallway turn in front of the office to lead you straight to the kitchen, where Jin was already moving from the island to the stove and induction as if someone had wound up a key and let it go too tight.

“Hey Jin,” you grinned again, overly enthusiastic, not at all thinking about his gurgling moans and the way he’d looked with his pants nearly unzipped.

Jin looked, his eyebrows and the fringe of his sleek dark hair, sticking to his forehead from the amount of perspiration and water vapor that had accumulated on his skin. He broke into a knowing smirk. “Wow, didn’t think my chicken is actually that convincing. When you left, we both thought we’d pulled the ultimate straw.”

“Eh, you guys are a couple, this is your home, and it was my bad. Do you need help?”

Like Taehyung, Jin too glanced at you again, an eyebrow now quirked at your overt calmness and exuberance. Usually, you wouldn’t speak unless spoken to when it came to Jin, so it was reasonable for him to be suspicious.

“No, I got it. I’m nearly done. Why don’t you find something to watch though? I have some new DVDs in the console and Tae, set the table please.”

“Aye, aye captain,” you mock saluted him, making two heads turn to follow you closely. Taehyung slowly went to the hutch cabinet, piling plates and silverware in his arm as he and his boyfriend stared at you, kneeling on the grey tiles to shuffle through the movies.

“Something’s up.” Jin finally muttered when he handed Taehyung the platter of his chicken.

“I know.”

After a delicious meal of potatoes, chicken, light beer and salad because as per Seokjin – ‘you need something to soak up the grease, my god,’ you settled onto the couch for the movie time. You three sat side by side, Jin in between you and Taehyung, clasping the bucket of popcorn in shaky fingers because of the choice of movie.

You picked Doctor Sleep. It was long, engaging and you had a deep respect for Stephen King’s ability for varied horror. Taehyung, of course the brat, had laughed but before long he was cuddling Jin.

“How can you be in media and not have the stomach for horror movies?” He asked, exasperated when the older man grumbled and flinched when Danny first connected with the little girl.

“Telecommunication, you brat – and I sit in a stuffy office all day long, I’m not a film critic, bite me.”

“I’m not the one who enjoys the biting.” Taehyung replied smoothly and your fingers froze for a second before you promptly stuffed the handful of buttered popcorn into your mouth…

…and started choking.

Jin immediately reached towards you, head whipping about when he heard the near gagged bleating sounds emitting from you. “Holy – Tae, Taehyung; pause it, pause the movie,” He rubbed the top of your head and back while your best friend dropped the remote and went to fetch you a glass of water.

“How do you even,” He muttered, moving to lightly thump your back, Jin holding the glass to your lips so you could sip at it.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, just some popcorn went the wrong way!” You gasped, tears streaking down which your best friend quickly rubbed away. Somewhere, you heard the tinkle of your ringtone. “Could you get that, please?”

Tae nodded, walking off to take the call while you remained wheezing, coming back to normal.

“God; serves me right for shoveling in food like a pig.” You managed a weak laughter, all the while very aware that Jin hadn’t removed his hands from your head and back, now moved into a position as to almost cradle you.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jin asked lowly, thumb circling the back of your skull, a soothing sensation that lulled you into nodding. “Yeah, yeah, I’m cool.”

“Good, there are other better ways to choke, just so you know.”

You coughed harder, cheeks and eyes both flaming as you looked at him, Irene’s words and the fatal night rattling in your head, lost for words. Why were these two so hell bent on making it hard for you to live?

“Y/N,”

Jin and you turned to where Taehyung had returned; holding your phone up in a grip so hard you could see the indents of the phone in his palm.

“Who the fuck is Kim Namjoon, and why the fuck did Joy,” he sneered at her name, “tell him that she thinks you and him would be a good match?”

There was silence as you stared at him, slightly gaping. Jin removed his hands from you, frowning before he looked at you in question. You glanced at him before you looked back at Taehyung, still holding your phone, and were suddenly overcome with an insane urge to console the two men, to explain yourself.

Which was absolutely ridiculous…you had done nothing wrong. You had actually done nothing at all.

“It’s nothing. Joy was just setting me up and I guess she finally found someone.” You attempted to shrug it off.

That only made it worse.

“Hang on, you actually asked Joy to set you up?” Taehyung asked incredulously.

“Well,”

“Why?”

It was your turn to look incredulous. “What do you mean, why? What, I can’t date?”

“Of course you can,”

“Is it wrong for me to have needs and want to hook up with someone?”

His jaw clenched.

You stared hard at him, returning the force of his gaze as best as you could. You weren’t backing down this time, not when you’d forced yourself to work this out, to steel yourself enough to be able to stand up for yourself.

“Look,” you started. “I know you don’t like Joy.”

“Understatement,” he hissed. You ignored him.

“But she is my friend, and she just wants to help me. There was nothing bad or wrong about that.”

“You know how she is.”

“She’s you, Taehyung. She’s the female version of you.” You said calmly, Taehyung’s face turning puce at that.

“I am nothing like her. I don’t interfere in people’s lives. I don’t work hard to divert people from things that would actually work out in the end. I don’t go out of my way to butt into things clearly not my business. I don’t spread gossip about people’s sexualities, or whatever box I think they fit it.”

“Taehyung,” Seokjin said.

“If she hadn’t butted in, told you that I was gay, we might actually have gotten together in college; did you know that?”

“Taehyung,” Jin said again, this time firmer and curt. It was a clear order, rebutting Taehyung while your mouth had already fallen open.

“What?”

“Yes, she told you I was gay because I was only dating men and you went with it, never came to talk to me about it. I didn’t think much of it until I noticed that you had changed. You started hooking up with other guys, and you started to hook me up with other guys, all the while I was waiting -,”

“Enough, Tae,”

“Why?” He shot at Seokjin. “We wanted her to know, didn’t we? We have been trying to seduce her so that we can finally express our feelings without any judgment or interference. Why the hell should I stop now? Do you want her to date other men while we sit here know we missed what’s probably our last chance?”

“What?” You tried again but they continued to talk over you.

“I don’t want that. But I also will not force her,” Jin said quietly.

“You love her just as much as I do.”

“And I will let her go if she wants us to.”

“Hang on,” You stood up. “You mean to say that Irene was right? That you’ve both been at this – at this game, to try and what, seduce me, so we could all be together, is that it? So why didn’t you just come and tell me? And what’s the point now? You guys have been dating for nearly a year now; you’re getting bigger houses together. Where do I suddenly fit in?”

“The house is for us, for all of us.” Jin said, looking down at his feet.

For the third time in the night, you asked, “What?”

“We got the house to live with you, Y/N. It was okay to live at the apartment as friends, but it would’ve been small for a relationship between three people, so we got the penthouse.”

“And you assumed I would be down?” You weren’t disgusted per say, but the feeling of being blindsided and maligned was so oppressive, it was suffocating. They’ve been playing with your head, heart for so long – it was wearing you out.

“No! If anything, this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t pulled away. When I found out why you were acting that way, I was crushed. I had hurt you. I hadn’t talked to you either, back at college – if I had just…but that’s in the past. Jin and I talked. And we decided that we both wanted you, we always have, we were just…we just had a lot of miscommunication happening between us. Firstly, we want to sit you down but we both knew you’d get all awkward and would just lie, so we decided to pull this elaborate scheme. As stupid as it sounds…”

Taehyung took a deep shuddering breath.

“But now, I don’t think scheming is going to get us anywhere, so I’m going to be as obvious and forthcoming as I can be.”

He strode forward, almost intimidating as he tossed the phone onto the couch and grabbed your face, pulling you up and against him so close you could feel his heart hammering in his chest and smell the underlying smell of his soap.

“I love you. Jin loves you. We want you to be our girlfriend and only ours. There is no room for Joy or anyone else in this discussion. Do you want us?”

Any other day, you would’ve run away. With absolutely no consideration to anybody’s feeling, least of all your own, you would’ve muttered some stupid excuse and dashed out of there.

Be that as it may, it didn’t seem likely you would be able to breeze out of this situation at all. Taehyung had a steel grip on you, cupping your face gently but you could feel the strength on the bones of your jaw. His eyes were intent and hypnotic on yours, holding you in place like the most alluring serpent, coiled and poised for anything. Even if you tried to run, you knew he’d catch up. He had always been faster than you and when he wanted to, he would always find and catch you. There was also…two of them.

So, for the first time in a long time, you decided to shut your brain down. You only allowed your heart to pave the way forward and the first thing it did when asked for directions was do a merry little dance, displayed by the fluttering in your chest at Taehyung’s confession.

What could you do?

You rose up on your tippy-toes, barely brushing close to Taehyung’s chin and he didn’t make it easy, simply waiting for your response.

Eye closed tightly, you finally pressed a hesitant kiss to his lips, something you had always wanted to do but could never muster the nerve back in college and then never had the chance to do once entering the working sector.

You backed away even before he had a chance to register the motions, hyper aware that it wasn’t just you and Taehyung in the picture. Seokjin was there too and there was no way you could forget that. You lowered your head immediately, blood high and flaming in your cheeks. You could feel two very heavy gazes on you, before Taehyung’s thumbs were hooking under your chin, pushing it back up.

You didn’t meet his eyes, aiming your gaze somewhere at the bulb of his nose. “Do you regret that?” He murmured.

Your head shook on its own volition, once to one side then the other.

There was an intake of breath, “Good,”

Then his lips were pressing hard to yours, mashing against your unguarded mouth with a moan that sent chills down your spine. Your best friend wasted no time, passing the tip of his tongue over your upper lip, brushing underneath before you were opening for him. He tipped your head back, tilting his head so he could kiss you thoroughly, small sounds releasing from him. The edges of his hair tickled your forehead, your hands coming to wrap around his wrists, simply for something to hold back. Hot breaths puffed against your lips, his sloppy kissing leaving wetness behind.

You had a vague feeling that Jin had gotten up from where he had sat, light fingertips over your neck, trailing closer to where Taehyung still had his palms on your face. Taehyung broke off the kiss, looking over head with his mouth still parted before smirking. You were turned, the touch light as a feather but the dazed state you were in had rendered you completely pliable, feeling Taehyung’s hands drift to your waist, holding you steady as he watched his partner engulf your lips in a kiss of his own.

Jin’s kiss was much more controlled…and more tantalizing. His hold drove you crazy, keeping back just how riled up he was. One hand still cradled the back of your neck, combing into your hair while the other met Taehyung’s on your waist, fingers entwining as the both men sandwiched you between them.

Unlike, with Taehyung, you decided to deepen the kiss with Jin, slowly trying to sneak in your tongue past his but he remained fully aware and you might even have detected a smirk as he allowed the muscle in, sucking on it with a practiced rhythm. It pulled a muffled moan from you, your head rolling back onto Tae’s shoulder; he had migrated to pressing open mouthed wet kisses to your shoulders, adding a lick up to the back of your ear where he chuckled darkly.

“Mm, he’s good, isn’t he?”

At that Jin broke away too, laughing lightly. “I think we’ve got that out of our systems. Should we take this upstairs?”

He looked at you then, seriously, and Taehyung backed away as well, coming around to look at you.

“Anything you want goes, Y/N, if it makes you uncomfortable – just say so.”

You opened your mouth; shut it then looking at both men carefully. Matching swollen lips, wide, bright eyes and little scared stances…it didn’t seem like you were getting tricked here…

“Lead the way.” You whispered.

The master bedroom had double doors. The type which many movies and shows have shown; being flung open by the frantically kissing lovers - shoving things off their rightful places; maybe even breaking a few things, before finally falling into an artistically messed up bed.

None of that happened with you.

You were led up the staircase quietly, making you wonder what might possibly be going through the two men’s minds. Jin opened the dark double doors, letting you and Taehyung pass before he closed it after himself. Once inside, Taehyung finally broke the silence.

“You designed it, you know…for us…all of us, so you um, know where to go.”

There was a pause as you completely turned to look at him while Jin snorted quite loudly. “Very smooth, baby, that should have her squirming for us in no time, at all.” You ignored the responding, ‘fuck off, I’m nervous, ok,’ to look around the room.

It was true; you had designed it to be suitable for all of you. It had your favorite shade of cherry on the walls, Jin’s preference of hardwood floors and Taehyung’s vast need for closet space and drapes. He’d even personally carried a rug to put in the room.

The room was all of you – and now you knew why.

Jin walked up to you, placing his hands on your shoulder, just barely pressing and rubbing into the skin. “Ignore him, sweetheart; focus on what you’re feeling. Are you worried, or scared of us?”

You shook your head.

“Hmm,” his hands travelled to your arms, latching onto the flesh above the elbows. “Do you feel uncomfortable with the idea of being with us? Of doing this with us,”

Again, you shook your head.

“Good,” his hands dropped to your hips, pulling you back into his broad chest and placing his mouth at your ear. “Because we aren’t either, we want this, badly. You can’t imagine the torture it’s been for us, trying to lull you towards us but keeping our hands off. We came so close a few times. The day you caught us, we were talking about you. Things happened and you walked in. If you’d stayed, this would’ve happened a lot sooner.”

You couldn’t turn to look at him. His words were an added jolt and boost to your resolve. Your heartbeat stuttered and picked up. He had confirmed and added more information to Taehyung’s confession and if anything, it just made you want to do to them what you’d almost seen them do to each other.

Jin’s fingers were moving, stroking slowly, soothing the nerves that still held you back from them and you raised your head, tilting it back till it rested at his clavicle. You could see the supple line of his neck, the sweep of his jaw line, and the pout of his lips.

You pressed your lips to the exact spot where you remembered seeing Taehyung kiss, figuring it was his sweet spot and were rewarded with an immediate twitch, followed by a harsh ‘oh.’

You turned in his arms, feeling them clutch around you as you grabbed onto his shoulders, peppering kisses up to his chin and trapping his bottom lip between your teeth, tugging it back.

“Fuck,” he caught you in a kiss, ragged and nothing like the one he’d pressed on you in the living room. This was a clash of heavy breaths, grabbing hands and muttered expletives. Jin’s hands travelled to the hem of your top, turning you around abruptly to face the bed.

Taehyung sat on the bed, legs spread, leaning his weight on his hands as he watched with a lopsided smirk.

“He likes to watch.” Jin explained as he slowly began to hike up the soft material, bearing inches of your skin to your best friend. He let it drop at your feet, waiting a beat for Taehyung to run his eyes over you.

It hadn’t struck you until then that out of the three of you, your best friend was the voyeur, reminded of how he’d once said he’d caught you taking a nap in your office and snapped a picture. It was oddly exhilarating, letting one man watch what the other was doing. Jin never strayed away from your skin, almost as if he knew if they weren’t touching you, you would withdraw back into your shell of denial again.

Behind you, you felt Jin trap the band of your bra at your back. “Wait,” Tae spoke up, catching his eye over your shoulder. “Those first,” he nodded at your jeans. “And I want you to do it, and then I’m going to strip you naked.”

You stood there for a second. It was obvious from the intensity of Taehyung’s gaze that he wasn’t just saying it for laughs and this thing wouldn’t go any further unless you did what he wanted you to do.

It was…also a test, you realized. If you hesitated now, he would think your heart wasn’t in it. And it was; your heart, in this thing…so, so much.

You took a step forward, away from Jin and closer to Taehyung, almost between his parted legs. His head fell back just a little further, watching as you unbuttoned your jeans, dipping your fingers into the band and begin to push it down. It probably wasn’t very sexy looking but it didn’t seem to matter much once you were pushing the denim away with a toe.

“You’re beautiful.” Jin whispered, coming to stand to one side of the bed, but you tried not to react or lower your eyes, meeting Taehyung’s eyes. He looked as proud as he looked aroused.

“Good girl,” He praised in a much deeper tone than his usual voice.

Jin moved back to you, sweeping a curtain of hair off your shoulder to whisper in your ear.

“Why don’t you get on your knees and give our Taehyungie a little reward for being so patient with you, hmm? He’s been waiting for you for so long, and I really want to see what all the fuzz is about watching.”

“Oh, you’d love it.” Taehyung was grinning already, sitting straight before his eyes snapped to yours. You stepped closer to him before you sank down to your knees on the carpet he’d bought, the skin sinking into the plush fabric and your hands unashamedly went to his sweatpants. He raised his hips, helping you tug the homey cloth and his briefs down.

And then…you saw Kim Taehyung’s cock.

It wasn’t fully erect as of yet, the skin smooth over the flesh, the bulbous head shiny in the light with just a hint of wetness. But it was enough for saliva to pool into your mouth.

Usually, penises weren’t supposed to be pretty, the purpose of anyone’s genitals were not to look like something you’d put on display shelves but then, you’d been dreaming of this moment for so long, you supposed it would be okay to put the Kim men naked into showcases.

Not…that you would ever say that out loud.

“Fuck, darling, are you drooling?” Taehyung cooed, smiling wickedly as he let a hand card through your hair, tangling strands of it within his fingers. “Come on, take me in.”

You did.

You leaned over the member that was slowly growing, twitching from where your breath hit it and with one last glance up at the man who until now had only been your friend, engulfed it completely into your mouth.

For a second, Taehyung remained, poised with his head to the side as he watched you take him into your mouth, before his eyes fluttered, shoulders hunched and his head lolled back, a deep, guttural groan making you smirk over him.

Jin came to stand right in front of where the pair of you engaged; arms folded over his chest. He had to admit, the view was pretty impressive. His boyfriend was now on the edge of the bed, his hips canting up to meet Y/N’s steady and enthusiastic sucking. His neck was exposed, with one pulsating vein to a side that Jin would love to lay pretty bruises upon. His chest heaved, hips shifting.

His…he very much wanted to label you as his girlfriend but until they had a talk – because yes, he did know there had to be a talk – he would be satisfied with calling her Y/N. Y/N was bent almost completely over Taehyung’s lap, giving Jin a tantalizing view of the curve of her thighs and hips.

He wondered if she would mind very much if he gripped on and started grinding his hardened cock against her.

“Okay,” He said gruffly, making Taehyung’s eyes open, hazy as they landed on him. “I guess I see the appeal.”

Taehyung didn’t answer, one hand still on Y/N’s head and the other supporting his weight as he ran his gaze down Jin’s still covered body. “Take it off.” He whispered.

In return, Jin cocked an eyebrow, lips quirking as he reached back and grabbed the neck of his black turtleneck – he had picked that out special, knowing Y/N had a weakness for those – before pulling it up and off his torso, tossing it to where most of their clothes now lay.

“Fuck,” Taehyung sighed, before looking down at you. “Baby, why don’t you give Seokjin here some attention too, look he’s so hard. And let me finally get you naked.”

Positions were changed.

Taehyung first stood you up, his touch lingering on your arms as he reached back to unhook your bra, sliding the straps gently down. The fabric fell away, both men staring ostensibly at your chest before Taehyung was reaching for your panties.

He sat you down, motioning for you to move back to the head of the bed and leaning against the pillows. Jin delved into his pants while his eyes remained fixed on Taehyung, hooking his hands into your waistband and begin to pull it down your legs.

You sat back, allowing yourself to be bared and exposed when Taehyung spread your legs, laying them feet down on either side of him. “Holy fuck,” he whispered. “You’re the one drooling now, baby boy.” Jin immediately teased, getting behind Taehyung to pull his shirt off. His eyes moved to yours, catching your hawkish gaze that was trained on his straining bulge.

Smiling to himself, he lowered his own trousers, leaving all three of you naked and hungry for each other.

You shivered when you felt Taehyung’s hand first contact the curve of your knee, his lips landing on the very tip of the joint. This was happening, you realized, with Jin moving to kneel beside you, straightening so his own cock was near your face.

Taehyung cupped your pelvis, bringing you in closer as he blew cool onto your hot core. “Fuck, baby, you smell so sweet.” His long fingers spread your labia, stroking over the heated skin with his index.

You turned your head, reaching for Jin. After Taehyung, it was easier with Jin, almost confident when you first ran a hand under his shaft, two fingers brushing over the sensitive skin of his balls. His mouth opened, fingers curling under your jaw as a thumb slipped into your mouth, moving against the seal of your mouth, testing the waters. You popped it out before grinning, placing him on your tongue as he had the thumb, sliding him in.

Unlike Taehyung, Jin only hissed, gritting his teeth as he braced himself on the headboard, keeping still while you bobbed on him.

So engrossed you were in sucking Jin off, that when Taehyung first stroked his tongue deep through your folds, you jumped, both of you groaning. Taehyung immediately shot you a smirk when you turned your head to him, winking before he returned to lapping at your pussy, eyes firm on you. Jin and you watched, even as slowly Taehyung eyes closed and he got a lot more into it, sucking in your clit and moaning around your juices as he delved one and then two fingers in, curling them experimentally.

“Is he doing okay?” Jin asked, when you returned your attention to him.

“Mm,” you murmured in agreement, thoughtfully gazing up at him. “Jin,” you called, the man’s eyes drifting back to your face from your center. “I want you to fuck my face.”

It was almost comic, the way his eyes bulged but he got over it fast. “Yeah,” his voice deepened, “You want me to ram into that hot little mouth?”

You whimpered at his tenor, muffled when he roughly thrust in and paused, checking to make sure you weren’t uncomfortable. Once satisfied, he wrapped a hand at the back of head, holding it in place as he began to move his hips, slow at first then pacing up.

The added feel of Jin’s hard length moving inside your mouth with Taehyung’s mouth hot and eager at your core, fingers reaching deep in was making you coil up, tightening your muscles and squirming but the hold the two men had on you had you stay put.

Jin face fucking you was getting louder, pants and groans punctuated by the wet gagging of your mouth. His hand moved from your head to your breast, running over the strands of saliva that had dripped down your chin and onto your chest. He collected the fluid before rubbing onto your nipple, the wetness cooling in the room. Tears had sprung to your eyes before screwing shut when Taehyung dipped down to your hole, pressing in his tongue in until you were coming against his lips.

Your head fell back, Jin’s length falling from your mouth as you took deep gasping gulps of breath. Your legs locked around Taehyung’s head, his encouraging hums causing vibrations that extended the blast of pleasure ripping through you.

When it was past, the two men converged over you, meeting in a kiss that was sloppy and wild. Taehyung’s hands grabbed at Jin’s back, Jin’s own squeezing at Taehyung’s ass before they broke apart, eyeing each other with barely concealed intent as their eyes found you.

“Shit, she tastes good.” Jin crooned at your chest, trapping a nipple in his mouth and suckling.

“You have to taste her pussy. Can’t believe we’ve been missing out on it for so long,” Taehyung slipped his arms under your head on the other side, pulling you into a deep kiss. “Mm, you and Jin taste so good together.” He said, making you giggle weakly when Jin paused in his ministrations to shove at his boyfriend.

“Are you good, darling?” He asked carefully.

You nodded.

“Good,” Taehyung kissed your cheek, then your chin, moving downwards to kiss the other nipple, down to your stomach. He pulled you further down, your legs resting over his thighs as he ran the tip of his cock over your slit.

You leaned back against Jin’s shoulder, watching the motion before catching Taehyung glance at Seokjin.

“Go on,” Jin encouraged. “You’ve been waiting for her longer than I have.”

Taehyung didn’t reply, shifting all his focus down to where he pressed into you, joining at the hips as he bottomed out at the first thrust. He leaned over you, hair falling all over his face and he whimpered.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

His eyes flew open, catching yours first and dropping down to kiss you, tongue slowly rubbing against yours. “I’m not going to last long. I’ve…it’s been a long time, such a long time…and you’re so hot, and wet, so fucking tight…all for me,” he glanced up at Jin, “All for us,” he ended in a growl.

His eyes met yours again and he began to move, snapping his hips against yours, never once breaking his gaze. It was hypnotizing, the grip he had on you as you both stared at each other, studying the faces both of you could recognize even without seeing. There were so many new things in them. The small curl on one corner of Tae’s mouth, the sweep of his brow, the expanse of his forehead now hidden by sweaty bangs that he’d once died green for a dare.

Something was new in his eyes too.

They blazed with a fire that you had never seen before, more than just lust, more than longing. You finally groaned when Taehyung’s arm wrapped around your back, angling you to drive his hips into yours at an angle, finally hitting that glorious spot he’d tried to find when he was going down on you.

You felt vague shifting in bed, before opening your eyes, seeing Jin move behind Taehyung. He pressed a kiss to his back before his hands disappeared and then Taehyung was jolting.

“Holy fuck; J-Jin,” He whined and you had to rise up your elbows to see only a flash of Jin’s cock, pressing into Taehyung’s rim.

“Shit, I – I can’t,”

“Shh, you can, baby, you can, focus, don’t lose control now. Keep fucking her, our princess needs to be taken care of.” Jin soothed Taehyung, pulling back before he was fucking your lover too.

The pressure caused Taehyung to lie flat against you, each drive of Jin’s hips making him cant into yours, his pelvis rubbing against your clit. Jin didn’t stop at Taehyung, reaching down he pulled your leg up too, resting it around Taehyung’s torso as he kept fucking him, and making him fuck you harder.

Your moans broke down into pitched cries, hands finding Taehyung’s and latching on before he was placing them on either side of your head, balancing his weight.

Taehyung came first between the two of you, with you following when you felt his hot cum spurt against your walls. Jin was last, holding onto Taehyung’s shoulder before with his eyes on you, he playfully dug his teeth in, making the younger boy whine unintelligibly.

When Taehyung slipped out of you, curling onto one side, you peeked up at Jin nervously. “Um, you…”

“Shh, baby girl, we have time. We have all the time. And I want to take my time with you, and I think,” his eyes flickered to the tired and sleeping boy next to you. “I think he’ll want to too. We’re just going to have to train him up a bit to treat our princess nicely.” He kissed your nose before claiming your mouth, lazy and indulgent in the kiss.

“For now, sleep,” He drew the heavy blanket up over both you and Taehyung.

You didn’t know when you passed out, but it was probably right there and then.

It burned when your eyes fluttered open, your body sore and over sensitive after having sex after months of going without it, and that too with two men…two men who wanted to love you, have you, give you themselves wholly.

You glanced around yourself, met with a sight that should’ve sent you back to sleep with a contented sigh. Taehyung and Jin slept soundly on either side of you. Tae’s back was to you, not changing since he had passed out in that position last night. Jin was on his back, one arm behind his head and the other on his stomach, rising and falling periodically with his breath. You weren’t sleepy though, you were tired and worried and confused.

Last night…had been wonderful, it had been a dream, but you couldn’t get past the idea that it had taken another man to come into the question for either of them to speak up. What if it was more of a concern of losing you to a relationship, than actual love that had pushed them to step forward?

And if that was the case, then what did that say of the future? You had slept with them, both of them, in front of each other, what if they felt it was a breach into their relationship later on? What if they decided that one more person wasn’t needed in their bliss? What if they thought you had taken advantage of them? It wouldn’t exactly be hard for them to come to that conclusion, not when you found it so easy to label yourself like that.

You should go.

You began to slide down the huge bed, careful not to jostle the mattress too much. It was easier, with the size of the enormous bed and the two men sleeping like the dead. Once your feet touched the cool floor, you scrambled for the pile of clothes lying there, sifting through them till you came up with yours.

Just as you were about slide on your panties though, you paused, considering.

You had stayed over in the other bedroom, enough times, a small bed placed there to serve as a guest bed or rather yours. You had always walked out, perfectly groomed.

Going out in this state, would not only be letting everyone know what had happened, it would permanently etch that idea into others’ minds that you must be coming up…well, for that purpose.

The fabric of the underwear slid back to the floor as you glanced at their bathroom.

Well, you’d already shared their bed…they shouldn’t mind you using their shower as well. Then you’d change and then you would leave.

Their shower, in one word, was huge. They had a separate en suite for the shower and bath tub, and the vanity and toilet in another. Yeah, yeah, you didn’t know, it was the way Taehyung had wanted it.

You closed the glass shower door quietly after you, turning to fiddle with the switches and buttons on the shower panel. You were smart, you had helped design the bathroom, talked to the toiletry workers; you could figure this out.

When the shower turned on; fine sprays of water at the perfectly heated temperature that cleansed your skin you sighed; wrapping your arms around your body and just basking in the hotness.

Muddled thoughts of guilt and doubt still swirled in your head, but right now, under this particular shower, you couldn’t do much but just stand there, let the water really soak in. You wanted to steam from your skin when you stepped out, enough to iron out any spare clothes you could find in the other room.

Mist rose up around your still frame, condensation sticking to the walls and fogging the glass doors. It encompassed you, protecting you from whatever awaited you out there. Your little cowardly lion self had retreated back, and you hoped to never see Taehyung or Seokjin for…well, as long as fate wanted and for as long as it took for your cheeks to not flame and mind to not dredge up images of last night.

One drawback of this steam was that the glass door was so fogged, you couldn’t see out of it. Of course it should’ve meant that nobody should be able to see you either but well…

You were showering…and falling water usually liked to make a scene.

You didn’t hear the glass door opening over the din of the water, only flinching when a hand landed on your shoulder, pulling you back into a firm, dry chest. You had stiffened immediately, arms wrapping tighter around yourself when he clasped you closer, his own arms winding around you.

“Hmm,” Jin murmured, voice low and sleepy, “Good morning,”

You didn’t speak, only nodding to acknowledge the greeting.

“How long have you been up? Taehyung is still blacked out and when I woke up you weren’t there.”

You cleared your throat, panic making you lie. “Just a few minutes, not very long,”

He hummed again, head coming to lie on your shoulder as he came under the water spray too. His hair, now wet, pressed into the nape of your neck.

“Sorry, we didn’t clean you up last night,” he said.

“No worries,”

His hand drifted down to lie flat on your stomach, holding you to him. “Are you ok?”

You shrugged. “A little sore, but it has been a long time.”

You looked back when you heard him chuckle. “I meant; you’re not over thinking this, are you? Because,” his hand pushed further at your tummy, “I can feel you pulling away. You haven’t let me touch you properly and you can’t have been in here for only a few minutes if the steam is this much.”

You gaped over at him, making him smile kindly. “You were going to leave, weren’t you? You picked your clothes up off the floor.” He pointed out.

If you could’ve gotten away with it, you would’ve smacked your head against the tiles but all you could do for now was ducking your chin, looking down.

“I just…I didn’t want to be here when you eventually realized that this was a mistake.”

Jin didn’t reply immediately, making you think the worse. Already goose bumps of shame were rising on your skin, your fingers digging into where they clutched onto your arms. And then he was spinning you around. You gasped, feeling him push you further into the jetting water fall and against the wall, the tiles cooling your skin.

“Do you feel that this is a mistake?” he asked.

“I – I really can’t make a decision about that. I’ve wanted you both for months, Tae for years. But it’s not me pulling the strings here. It’s your relationship you’re opening for me. I’m the one trespassing -,”

“Y/N,” Jin closed his eyes, looking and even sounding frustrated. “Please stop talking. Now,”

It was the same tone he had used to address Taehyung last night, ordering him to be quiet when he’d started to yell but unlike Taehyung, you shut up, looking up at him nervously.

“You’re not the only one who has wanted us for a long time, Y/N. Taehyung has loved you too, I’ve been attracted to you the moment I saw you, but Taehyung and I got together simply because we didn’t think you liked either of us. Why do you think we’re been taking you out on group dates? We’ve been dabbling in miscommunication for too long and I refuse, absolutely refuse to let it continue to keep me and the man I love to keep us away from the woman we love, do you understand? Not even you will do that.”

He didn’t want for your reply.

“Nobody is pulling any strings here, because there are none to pull. This relationship is going to include all of us, you, me and Taehyung making healthy decisions about each other. You are not trespassing. You’re simply joining the party late because we’ve been silent, passive, even oblivious idiots in the past. But no more; so, I want you to throw away all your insecurities. We will talk about this. Of course we will, I am not asking you to change who you are overnight. But please believe us when we say we want this. We want you. We love you. And we will try our best to make you feel as secure in this relationship as we can till you’re comfortable saying it on your own.”

You stared up at Jin in complete awe for a couple seconds, soaking in his words, processing them. Your hand went to his chest, riding up till his shoulders and then you kissed him, right there under the shower with water cascading on your heads and pooling in the small crevices of your skin.

Jin returned the kiss willingly, allowing your tongue to push into his mouth as he danced it around with his own, mingling taste of the morning and sex still lingering on your breaths.

Neither of you seemed to mind.

He broke the kiss off to allow you to take a breath, pressing hard kisses to your ear and neck, sucking on your lobe.

“Are you really sore?” He whispered.

You hummed in reply, not really registering the question, whimpers escaping you when he dragged his fingers down to your core, brushing over the mound.

“I’ll be gentle.” He promised, reaching down with the other hand to pick up your leg, holding it against his waist. It didn’t stay with the skin too slippery but you finally managed to find a spot even as Jin entered you, his erection slowly stretching you again, just more than Taehyung’s had.

Your head fell back, a low moan lost somewhere when Jin finally bottomed out, stilling immediately to take stock of you. Your breath was labored, chest heaving. There was a mild discomfort down below as the burn still overwhelmed the pleasure but you didn’t want to stop. You had him inside of you and you didn’t want to let him go.

“Fuck baby,” Jin growled, lowering his mouth to nibble on the skin of your chest, placing colorful marks to bloom. “I could stay here forever. You’re so hot.”

Your whimpers didn’t escape him, as wonderful as it was to be inside of your burning core, he would never want it at the cost of your pain. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out, chuckling darkly at your whine of loss.

“Patience, sweetheart, remember what I said about all the time in the world? I will make love to you, but when you’re feeling better. Right now,” He ground his shaft against your nether lips, focusing specially on the bundle of nerves. “Right now, this is perfect.” His voice deepened again, pressing fully against you.

His mouth pressed to your neck, one hand wrapping around your breast to play with your nipple, pulling and pinching in rhythm of his hips, the other holding you open. His wet torso slid against yours, nipples grazing his chest, cock rubbing right where you needed him.

“Ah, Jin, that feels so good.” You groaned, with his panting echoing in your ear. The hot water just made everything ten times better when the door to the shower was opened again.

“I can’t believe you’re hogging our girlfriend and literally on the first day.”

Your eyes snapped open, finding Taehyung’s pouting but amused face standing naked, right at the entrance, keeping back from the wet shower area.

“Yeah well,” Jin pulled away from you, dropping your leg to look back at the man. “You were sleeping so soundly we didn’t want to wake you up. Besides, I think Y/N needed a little…wake-up call.”

You didn’t have to look at him to know he wasn’t talking about the sexy session you’d been indulging in. Even Taehyung seemed aware as his face turned serious, looking at you – well aware of your temperaments to figure out what had been happening. He let it go though, shrugging and smirking again.

“Well, if you two are quite done becoming prunes, then perhaps considering returning to bed? I am awake now…and I have a situation.”

Jin reached over to turn off the shower, your eyes dropping to where Taehyung’s erection bobbed, hard and eager first thing in the morning. You were ushered out first, Taehyung grabbing two towels off the rack and handing Jin one before wrapping one over your head and body, leading you out.

You were turned somewhere near the bed, the towel whipping off you as he began to towel you roughly.

“Tae, be gentle,” You whispered when Taehyung began to rub at your chest, the terrycloth harsh against your breasts. He stopped, eyes fixed to the peaks which had hardened and peaked into little nubs, standing out and almost begging for attention.

“Sorry,” he grunted, glancing up at you for a quick second, gauging your expression. He looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it as his eyes slid back to your body. He began to lean in and even as you watched, already anticipating his touch, his mouth enclosed one peak, one deep suck making your eyes fall shut and head tilt back.

Taehyung trailed the towel down your body, using the cloth to graze significant parts, along your hips, up your thighs before he was trailing up the sensitive skin on the inside of your leg, cleverly pressing it against your center. You buckled, your hips grounding into the material covering his hand.

“Mm,” Taehyung freed the nub with a wet pop, hands winding around your neck to make you look at him.

“Were you having fun in there with Jinnie?”

You nodded.

“I’m glad, because do you see this…? You did this. I was dreaming about you.”

Taehyung stood up, pushing you back onto the bed.

“Poor Jin, he didn’t get to feel your sweet body last night, did he?”

Your eyes flew over his shoulder to meet Jin’s, intense and dripping with lustful hunger as the younger man climbed on the bed too, caging in your body. “I bet he can’t stop himself right now. But I’ll tell you a secret, my darling.” He leaned against your ear. “He can go for a long time.”

You shivered.

“Give her a chance to discover things for herself, baby.” Jin reprimanded, grinning at Taehyung who gave him an innocent but impish stare.

“Oh, do you want to show her then? I bet she doesn’t mind.”

Jin looked back at you, biting his lip as his eyes flared, moving over your panting and nude display on his bed. “She’s sore though.”

“Let me eat her out while you fuck me, she should be fine.”

“God, you’re so impatient.” Jin laughed.

“No, he’s right.” You interrupted, both men looking at you. You sat up a little. “Please, I need you.” You aimed the words at both of them and they looked at each other, considering before Jin moved to the dresser, fishing a handful of things out before he clambered onto the bed too.

Taehyung grinned like a little boy getting candy, rectangular smile gleaming as he flipped onto his back, meeting your confused stare.

“Sit on his face.”

The answer came from Jin, making you gape at your other…boyfriend. He looked completely serious though, even helping Taehyung into pulling you towards him.

“Fuck, come here already. I’m already salivating here.” Taehyung complained finally, grabbing your hips into his powerful hands as he helped you maneuver into a sitting position, facing Jin.

“You’re a brat.” You snapped at the man underneath you, causing the one in the front to laugh openly. You wound your fingers through his fluffy, curly hair, and settled somewhere around his chin and mouth, arms wrapped around your thighs not only to support you but to brace him too.

Jin had raised Taehyung legs over his shoulder, mouthing at his tight rim. He’d brought a bottle over, one hand clicking it open. The smell of apples reached your nose as he squeezed a generous amount onto his fingers, smearing it on your best friend.

Fuck, maybe you could get behind watching too, you thought to yourself as Taehyung let out low grunts at Jin’s probing fingers, stretching him out.

“What are you waiting for?” Jin asked when he was done, removing his fingers and wiping them off on a tissue.

The responding lick that Taehyung gave your core had you jolt with surprise, sitting harder on his face to recover.

“Fuck,” you heard both men curse when you gasped, Taehyung’s tongue beginning to curl and twist in you in ways he hadn’t last night.

You watched Jin, a condom on his length now, press up close to Taehyung; the tip slowly breaching into his partner’s hole. Both you and Taehyung moaned at that, you more from the erotic sight than the feeling of Taehyung’s tongue up close and personal with your pussy.

Obscene groans filled the room again, three intermingled voices and bodies writhing as the bed began the heave under you. You wondered vaguely if the reason why they’d splurged on such a grounded, enormous bed was due to these actions but the thought evaporated when Jin pulled you closer, your weight balanced on your palms at Taehyung’s chest.

His body hiked with each swirl of Jin’s hips, one leg thrown over the elder’s shoulder as Jin kissed you hard. You reciprocated, his tongue moving inside your mouth at the same beat to his thrusts, one hand moving into his sleeker strands and the other grasping Taehyung’s unattended cock, jerking it.

Taehyung came away from you, breathing hard. “Fuck, yes, just like that,”

But Jin and you smirked. Kissing down Jin’s body, pausing to suck on his nipples, you drifted down to Taehyung’s cock, taking him into your mouth. There was a full stop below you while you continued to suckle on him, making sure to press onto his balls and brush teasingly against his perineum, the skin stretched around the girth of Jin’s cock. Jin rammed into Taehyung hard enough to even shake you and then Tae was arching his back, wordless and soundless as he froze up and shot deep into your throat.

“Holy shit,” Jin was the first to whisper as you struggled to mouth the copious release, with Taehyung gurgling under you as he dropped back to earth. You rolled off of him; gratefully taking a tissue from the box Seokjin offered you and began to clean off your hands and the remnants off your mouth.

Giggling slightly at the dazed Taehyung on the bed, you reached for Jin first, bringing him into a kiss that allowed him a taste of the release on your tongue.

“Mm,” Jin murmured, nuzzling into you. His hands landed on your shoulders turning you to face Taehyung. You heard a low snap of the disposed protected and then his throbbing head was back at your slit, rubbing it over your wetness.

“Do you want this?” He whispered.

You didn’t reply, simply reaching down to align him properly and then sink down on him. Jin laughed behind you, taking a hard hold on to your hips as he drove further in, making you whine and grasp back at his head, keeping him attached to where he was now sucking on the delicate skin of your neck.

You rose and sank with his hips, his cock slow and silky inside of you as he kept his word – making love to you instead of the hard fuck you’d been expecting.

His hand moved around you, fingers tickling over your clavicle, down to barely grazing over your breasts, over your stomach. He kept his hand there, whispering in your ear.

“I can feel myself in you, sweetheart. You feel so wonderful, warm and wet and soft. You’re so amazing you even got Taehyung all riled up again.”

His words made you glance over at the second man in the bed. Taehyung had turned on to his side, sitting up, eyes fixed to where he could see Jin’s whole length disappear up in your hot cavern.

He didn’t respond to Jin’s teasing, simple drifting closer to meet your eyes, those chocolate orbs still a little hazy. “Fuck her, Jin,” He whispered suddenly.

“Yeah, you want that baby girl? Hmm, you want what Taehyung said, for me to fuck you?” Jin asked immediately, still painstakingly moving himself in the same pace he’d started with.

You could help it. “Yes,” you said. Your voice broke with the strain.

Thankfully, Jin didn’t tease or draw it out any longer. His fingers dug into your hips while the other grasped onto a shoulder, leaning his body back so he could angle his hips better to drive into you faster, grounding harder than before.

“Hold her, Tae, kiss her.” Jin ordered, both of you complying immediately.

Taehyung wrapped your hair in his fist, sloppily kissing you. He sucked your tongue into his mouth, low grunts escaping him as each thrust pressed you harder into him, the grazing friction heating his skin up again.

His hand landed on your mound, smirking as he probed deeper, four fingers rubbing into your clit harshly. He pulled on your hair to break away from the kiss.

“I can feel him fucking you, you know.” He said, eyeing Jin over your shoulder. “He’s going so fast, so hard, is he hitting all those spots in you, Y/N?” He asked.

You nodded as best as you could with your hair still held in a tight grasp.

“Mm, I can tell. You’re so hot right now, you’re literally burning up. Are you going to come?”

Your eyes nearly rolled back when he pressed on your clit harder, fingers parting to rub both sides of the nub at the same time.

“Fuck, Jinnie, she’s coming.”

You came at the same time as Jin did, bending over you as he emptied his load as deep as he could, Taehyung now charged with cradling both of his tired lovers.

“You two are so weak.” He chuckled, getting out of the bed and exiting the room as Jin pulled out slowly, rolling you back to lie in the center of the bed.

“Holy fuck,” you took a shuddering breath, followed by his accompanying chuckle, looking up to where you lay a few inches above on the pillow. “Told you, it’d be good,” He grinned.

“Yeah, you weren’t kidding.”

“I don’t kid about in my business and bed, baby.” He popped the ‘b’ in baby and you shoved at him when he tried to hover over you to kiss you again, just in time for Taehyung to walk back in, three bottles in his hands.

“God, you horn dogs, calm down and drink some water,” He passed the chilled bottles over before getting in on the other side of you. “And I thought I was bad,”

“Are you trying to tell me you will not be trying to have sex with Y/N, any and every chance you get at least for the next six months?”

“Don’t insult me.” Taehyung gulped his water down before shooting you a particularly perverse grin. “It’ll be for the next six years.”

You rolled your eyes hard at that. “As lovely as that is, shouldn’t we be getting ready for work?”

“And let you out of our sight…? No chance in hell,” Seokjin leaned back against the pillow after tossing the bottles on the night table. “We’re taking today off.”

“We can’t all just -,”

“Jin is his own boss. I don’t have a client who urgently needs to view a catalogue right now and I’m sure Irene can cover for you for one day.” Tae closed his eyes firmly.

“We’re going to sleep for now, and then we’ll wake up and have breakfast before taking a bath. Then we’ll talk. Have a good, long, all inclusive talk which will put us all at our ease. Maybe that will lead to some more sex. You know, I’ve heard having a whole day of just sex is really good for the over-worked brain. Anyway, then we’ll get some take out, watch a movie and have some more sex, maybe on the couch…then come back to bed. Then tomorrow we can go to work again.”

“He talks a lot.” Jin interrupted Taehyung’s dreamy monologue. “But he’s not wrong, also you might want to take some time to think about moving in with us.”

“I can’t decide that in one day.”

Jin hummed, his own eyes closing as he followed Taehyung, turning on his side facing you and draping an arm over your waist, just over Tae’s.

You turned to face the ceiling, sighing at being surrounded by two of the most determined and stubborn men you knew and stifled a smile.

All three of you knew that two of you had already won.