Archive of Our Own

“Dude.”

The sun is hot on the back of Jeongguk’s neck. He tugs on the laces of his sneakers, making sure they’re tied tightly enough to stay secure but not so tight that they feel constricting. Taehyung always makes fun of him for how finicky he is about it, but if his shoes don’t feel right on his feet, it throws off his whole game.

“Dude.”

There’s a sharp elbow in his side, and Jeongguk looks up at Taehyung, annoyed.

“What?” he says irritably.

Taehyung nudges his chin in the direction of the court next to theirs, where a group of girls is warming up. “Check out that girl. I think she’s like, the hottest chick I’ve ever seen.”

Jeongguk feels another wave of irritation, although this time it has nothing to do with the elbow in his side. He follows Taehyung’s gaze to the girl in question, currently stretching with her arms lifted over her head so that several inches of tan stomach are exposed. Taehyung is right; she’s outrageously gorgeous.

“Shit,” Jeongguk says.

Taehyung snorts. “Told ya.”

As it turns out, she’s also outrageously good at tennis. Even once they’re done with their own drills, they end up lingering on the edge of the court for another hour to watch her play. It’s just practice, but it’s clear that she’s gifted in a way few other people their age are.

“She’s unreal,” Taehyung says when the practice is over. They’re both just kind of gaping, sitting side by side on the bench with their thighs pressed together. About 10% of Jeongguk’s attention is catching on how their shorts are riding up, bare, sweaty skin pressed to bare, sweaty skin, but he’s trying to ignore that corner of his brain. The rest of his attention is on the girl; her legs, her hair, her ass in that skirt. The combination of power and grace in how she wields the racket is equal parts sexy and wildly impressive. “We gotta talk to her.”

“Huh?” Jeongguk says, snapping out of his daze.

“Hey,” Taehyung is already calling out. The girl is passing them, racket bag slung over her shoulder, but she stops, turning to face Taehyung. She’s even more stunning up close. “What’s your name?”

“Ryujin,” she says, lips twitching slightly. She cocks her head at him. “What’s yours?”

“Taehyung,” he replies. Throwing an arm around Jeongguk’s shoulders, he adds: “This is Jeongguk.”

Ryujin smiles at him, and Jeongguk smiles back, feeling awkward and sweaty.

“You’re really good,” he blurts out, then immediately cringes.

Ryujin doesn’t seem to mind, though. She laughs a little, then says, “Thanks. I know.” She surveys them both, curious. “I saw you guys playing before. You’re doubles partners?”

“Yup,” Taehyung nods proudly. “Fire and Water.”

They’d earned the nickname when they started playing tournaments together back in high school, and it had stuck. Taehyung in particular likes to trot it out when he’s hitting on girls.

Ryujin grins. “Who’s who?”

“Guess,” Taehyung says cheekily, leaning back and resting his arms on the back of the bench. Jeongguk doesn’t miss the way his legs spread slightly, and from the slight smirk on Ryujin’s face, neither does she.

“Hmm,” she muses, playing along. She taps a delicate finger against her chin. “At first glance, I’d say you’re fire.” It’s directed at Taehyung, but then her gaze shifts to Jeongguk. “But I think this one is more fiery than he lets on.”

Jeongguk somehow locates the wherewithal to wink at her. Taehyung grins widely, reaching up to tug on his ear. “You’re right,” he crows, delighted. “Jeonggukkie here is full of fire. You just have to know how to draw it out of him.”

“I bet,” Ryujin says, holding eye contact with Jeongguk for another beat. His heart rate picks up. “There’s a party tonight on the back field,” she continues, now addressing both of them. “You guys should come.”

“We have to be up early tom-” Jeongguk begins to answer at the same time Taehyung elbows him again and replies, “We’re there.”

Jeongguk sighs. This camp is serious business, open only to the best college tennis players in the country, and he really doesn’t think they should be partying while they’re here. Still, he’s been best friends with Taehyung for long enough to know that he’s almost certainly going to lose this battle.

Ryujin snorts. “I’ll let you guys sort it out, but - ” she pauses, eyes flicking back and forth between them. “Hopefully I’ll see you there.”

***

“She literally said ‘hopefully I’ll see you there,’” Taehyung says in an impassioned voice. He’s lying on his bed with his head hanging over the edge so that he’s looking at Jeongguk upside down. “Do you really want to let down the hottest girl in the world?”

Jeongguk rolls his eyes. At this point, he knows they’re going to the party, but he still wants to make Taehyung work for it a little. It’s part of their whole dynamic.

“You’re being dramatic,” Jeongguk tells him, picking up both his and Taehyung’s sweaty clothes and putting them in the laundry basket in their room. It’s a habit by now; after nearly a decade of being roommates, he’s given up on trying to get Taehyung to clean up after himself. It’s just not in his nature. He’s the type who will wear literally every item of clothing he owns before he does a load of laundry, and then if he’s feeling particularly lazy, he’ll start infringing on Jeongguk’s closet as well. Jeongguk likes to grumble about this, but in truth, he kind of likes seeing Taehyung in his clothes.

“Am not,” Taehyung says petulantly, rolling over onto his stomach. “She is easily the hottest girl I’ve ever seen in real life.”

“I mean, yeah,” Jeongguk concedes.

“And when you get a chance to have a girl like that touch your dick, you don’t pass it up.”

Jeongguk blinks at him, nonplussed. “I think it’s really unlikely that she’s going to touch my dick.”

“She said you’re fiery, Jeonggukkie,” Taehyung reminds him. “I think she likes you.”

“Don’t you want to hook up with her?” Jeongguk asks, folding his arms across his chest. “Why are you making this about me hooking up with her?”

“If either of us hooks up with her, it’s a win in my book,” Taehyung says. “I think we both have a shot.”

Jeongguk raises his eyebrows. “So what, we’re just gonna go to this party and compete for her attention? That sounds dumb.”

They both do okay with girls, Taehyung more so because he’s more outgoing and more willing to risk rejection. Still, they don’t usually go for the same girl, and the thought of doing so tonight makes Jeongguk feel weird. Not to mention the fact that the girl in question is quite clearly way out of their league.

“I think fun is the word you’re looking for, actually,” Taehyung responds, getting to his feet and throwing an arm around Jeongguk. “May the best man win.”

***

The “party” is less of a party and more just a bunch of people from the camp milling around in the field behind the dining hall, drinking cheap beer and doing shots of shitty vodka. Everyone here is a competitive athlete, so no one is going too crazy, but they’re also all young people under a lot of pressure who want an outlet to blow off some steam.

Taehyung and Jeongguk locate some beer and make the rounds, chatting with a few people they know and some they haven’t met yet. Jeongguk usually spends these things thinking he would rather just hang out with Taehyung, but Taehyung is a social butterfly so Jeongguk trails along dutifully as he flits from person to person. Eventually his battery runs out and Jeongguk gets him all to himself again.

They spot Ryujin relatively early on, dancing with a few other girls to music playing from somebody’s phone. She moves easily, effortlessly sexy, and they both just kind of stand there and stare for a few minutes.

“This is pathetic,” Jeongguk says eventually. “We should just go talk to her.”

“Nah,” Taehyung shakes his head. “She’ll come to us.”

Sometimes Jeongguk hates how casually confident he is. He looks at Taehyung skeptically.

“She invited us, didn’t she?” Taehyung points out. “Come on, let’s do a shot.”

“I said no shots,” Jeongguk says. “That was the deal.”

They have to be up early for practice tomorrow, and a beer hangover is a lot easier to manage than a vodka one.

Taehyung hits him with his trademark puppy dog pout. Fortunately, Jeongguk is mostly immune to it by now, having been there over the years as Taehyung honed it.

“Fuck off with that,” Jeongguk chides, pushing his face away. “That vodka probably tastes like shit anyway.”

“Not really the point, but fine,” Taehyung concedes. He generally honors their deals when it comes to things like this, even if he gives Jeongguk a hard time about it.

“Don’t you want to be clear headed when Ryujin comes to talk to us, anyway?” Jeongguk asks. “Since you’re so sure that’s going to happen.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Taehyung says reprovingly. “Just wait and see. The night is still young.”

In the end, Taehyung is right - Ryujin does come and talk to them. Whether that’s largely because they end up positioning themselves near the drinks is another question, but she talks to them all the same.

“Hey, you guys came,” she greets.

“’Course,” Taehyung says. “Thanks for the invite.”

“Sure.”

“Is this your first summer here?” Jeongguk asks.

“Second,” she says. “I got my ass kicked last year, but it really helped my game. I’m glad to be back.” She roots around in a cardboard box for another beer, frowning when she comes up empty. “This is your first year, right?”

They nod.

“How are you liking it so far?”

“Really good,” Taehyung replies. He flashes her a winning smile. “Cool people, too.”

Ryujin grins. “You guys came here together?”

“Sure did,” Taehyung says. “Just finished our freshman year of college. We were at the academy together before that.”

“Cute,” Ryujin says. Something about the way she looks at them makes Jeongguk feel like he’s being studied. “So you’ve been playing doubles together for a while, then?”

“Five years,” Jeongguk supplies.

She nods, seemingly mulling over this information. “That explains why you move like you’re in sync.”

Something seems to settle in Jeongguk’s throat at that. He swallows.

“I think we’re out of beer,” Ryujin sighs, moving on quickly from the bomb she’d just dropped in Jeongguk’s brain. “Lame.”

“We have beer in our room,” Taehyung offers, nonchalant. Jeongguk throws a look at him - even for Taehyung, this is bold - but he’s fixated on Ryujin. “If you want to come hang.”

Ryujin gives him an assessing look. “I need to go check on one of my friends but - yeah, maybe.”

“Cool,” Taehyung says. “Room 613.”

“Okay,” Ryujin nods, taking a step back. “See you guys later.” A deliberate pause. “Maybe.”

She throws them a last coy little smile and then turns, heading off in the direction of the girls she had been dancing with earlier. One of them looks a little unsteady on her feet.

“We have like, three beers in our fridge,” Jeongguk says, rounding on Taehyung.

“Three beers is better than zero beers,” Taehyung retorts airily. “Come on, let’s head back and have one before she comes over.”

He starts off in the direction of their dorm, and Jeongguk hurries to catch up so they’re walking side by side.

“You really think she’s going to come,” Jeongguk says flatly, more a statement than a question.

“I really do,” Taehyung replies. “I think she’s intrigued.”

Jeongguk reflects back on the way Ryujin had observed the two of them and thinks Taehyung might be right. It still makes him feel vaguely unsettled.

“And what’s your plan for if she does come? We compete for her attention until she chooses one of us and the other has to sleep in the hallway?”

They pass under one of the street lamps that lines the walkways on campus. Taehyung shrugs. “That or a threesome.”

Jeongguk makes a strangled noise. That option had never even occurred to him, and now he knows the thought will never leave his brain.

“You’re shitting me.”

“What?” Taehyung glances over at him, but in the dark patches between street lamps, it’s hard to make out his expression. “I’d do anything that girl wanted me to. Including having a threesome with your ugly ass.”

Jeongguk shoves him. “You’re disgusting.”

Taehyung stumbles to the side, then pivots so he’s walking backwards, facing Jeongguk. “You’re seriously telling me if Ryujin shows up in our room tonight and says she wants to have a threesome with us, you wouldn’t be down?”

Jeongguk literally cannot believe they’re having this conversation right now. They talk about sex pretty openly with each other, mostly because Taehyung has no filter and no boundaries, but they’ve never talked about sex involving the two of them, together.

Which isn’t to say Jeongguk hasn’t thought about it. Extensively.

Anyway.

“I mean,” he hedges. The truth is he definitely would be down, but that has a lot less to do with Ryujin and a lot more to do with Taehyung than he would care to admit. He sighs, resigned. “Fine, yeah, I probably would.”

Taehyung grins his cat-that-got-the-cream grin and falls back into step with Jeongguk, clapping him on the back. “That’s my boy.”

Back in their room, they crack open two of the three beers and sit on the floor, talking about random bullshit and occasionally competing to see who can burp louder (Taehyung almost always wins). Jeongguk gave up a long time ago on trying to figure out why it’s so easy with them, how they can pass hours together every single day - playing tennis, sharing meals, sleeping in the same room - and never run out of things to talk about. They piss each other off, sure, but they never get bored, and they never really get sick of each other. Jeongguk’s never felt that way with anyone else.

He’s so caught up in Taehyung that he almost forgets the Ryujin of it all until, at just after midnight, there’s a knock on their door. They look at each other - Taehyung wildly smug, Jeongguk utterly disbelieving - and then scramble to their feet. Jeongguk beats him to the door, mostly because he’s annoyed at Taehyung for being right, and opens it to reveal Ryujin.

As has been the case every time he’s seen her, Jeongguk is struck once again by how really, absurdly pretty she is. It’s the kind of beauty you just don’t get used to, he thinks. Sort of like Taehyung.

“Hi,” Ryujin says, smiling at them.

“Hey,” they chorus in return. Jeongguk steps back, opening the door further. “Uh, come in.”

They offer her the third and final beer, and she joins them on the floor. Jeongguk feels suddenly aware of how gross the shitty gray carpeting is.

“Is your friend okay?” he asks.

“She’ll be fine,” Ryujin nods. “Practice tomorrow is just gonna be rough.”

Jeongguk winces sympathetically. “We’ve all been there.”

“The first time Jeonggukkie drank, he puked on the side of the court before practice,” Taehyung volunteers, grinning impishly.

Jeongguk glares at him. “He’s leaving out the part where he was the one feeding me shots the night before,” he grumbles.

It had been Jeongguk’s 15th birthday, and Taehyung had insisted on getting him drunk for the first time. (Admittedly, Jeongguk hadn’t been that hard to convince.) They’d snuck out of their dorm and into a dive bar where Taehyung had somehow sweet talked the bartender into serving them despite their being very visibly under age. Jeongguk remembers not liking the taste of alcohol at first, but definitely liking the way Taehyung’s throat worked when he took a shot. And he liked how loose the drinks made them, silly and giggling and falling all over each other.

The morning after had been deeply unpleasant.

“And he’s leaving out the part where I lied my ass off to make our instructor believe he had the flu, not a hangover.”

“It was the least you could do,” Jeongguk says, rolling his eyes.

“You two are funny,” Ryujin says pensively, sipping her beer. “You bicker like an old married couple.”

Taehyung snorts.

“’S what happens when you’ve been living together for eight years,” Jeongguk shrugs.

Ryujin has that assessing look on her face again. “Has anything ever happened between you?”

Jeongguk stares at her, not processing the question. Taehyung gets there quicker than he does; he shakes his head. “Nope.”

Jeongguk makes the connection. She thinks there’s something more than friendship going on between them. His mind swirls - is that the vibe they give off to the outside world?

“You’ve never even kissed?” Ryujin asks, her expression a mix of disbelieving and disappointed.

Jeongguk’s stomach flips over, and a memory comes rushing back.

Thirteen years old, sitting in the stands of the tennis courts at the academy one chilly spring evening. They’d been with a larger group at one point but had broken off on their own, as they were inclined to do. Jeongguk had admitted that he’d never kissed anyone before and Taehyung had offered to be the first. He’d made a whole thing about it, blabbering on about what an honor it would be, until Jeongguk mashed their mouths together just to get him to shut up.

“Nah,” Taehyung says casually.

Maybe he forgot, Jeongguk thinks, trying not to feel utterly crushed. It wouldn’t be so surprising considering they’d never spoken about it again after that night. Just because it meant everything to Jeongguk doesn’t mean it had meant anything to Taehyung.

Taehyung, who is currently still talking. “I did teach him how to jerk off though.”

“Taehyung,” Jeongguk says sharply.

“What?” Taehyung laughs. “It’s true!”

“Oh my god,” Jeongguk breathes, pressing his palms against his eyes.

“I need to hear this story,” Ryujin says eagerly.

There’s a pause, and Jeongguk feels Taehyung nudge his shoulder. “Do you really not want me to tell it?” When Jeongguk looks up, he’s frowning.

Jeongguk glances from him to Ryujin, who’s watching them intently. They’ve clearly piqued her interest this time, and he doesn’t want to ruin Taehyung’s fun.

Exhaling through his nose, he says, “No, it’s fine.”

Taehyung still hesitates, so Jeongguk decides to give him a nudge. “It only happened because Taehyung was literally jerking off in our room one night with me in the next bed over.”

Ryujin’s eyebrows lift, and Taehyung chuckles, abashed in a good natured way. “In my defense, I thought he was asleep,” he says. “And I was twelve and the whole thing was still kind of a novelty.”

Jeongguk snorts.

“Poor, sweet, innocent Jeonggukkie heard me and asked what I was doing,” Taehyung continues. “And we were already best friends at that point, so I just told him.”

“You really never have had any shame,” Jeongguk says, shaking his head fondly.

Taehyung smirks like this is a compliment. “He wanted to try it out too, so I told him what to do, and then we just… laid there, in our own beds, and jerked off at the same time.” He laughs, looking over at Jeongguk. “It is kind of wild in retrospect.”

“Was that the only time it ever happened?” Ryujin asks, fascinated.

“Just that once,” Jeongguk nods. “We learned how to be more discreet after that.”

“Although we have walked in on each other a few times,” Taehyung points out, snickering. “Roommates, and all that.”

Ryujin nods, taking a slow sip of her beer. She seems to be thinking as her gaze sweeps around their room before settling back on them.

“How come your beds are pushed together?”

Jeongguk had failed to consider how this might look to an outsider. To anyone, really. The reality is it’s become such a habit for them that he barely even thinks about it anymore - what it means, how it seems.

“Oh, uh - ”

“I like to cuddle,” Taehyung informs her, which is the god’s honest truth.

Ryujin looks at him, a smile playing on her lips. Then she stands up and goes to sit at the foot of the pushed together beds.

They both stare at her.

“Coming?” she asks, patting the spots on either side of her.

For approximately the millionth time tonight, Jeongguk thinks to himself that he literally can’t believe this is happening.

They scramble to their feet and drop down on either side of her, catching each other’s eye for one brief, exhilarating moment. For all his bravado earlier, Taehyung looks both excited and surprised, watching Ryujin with eager eyes.

She glances back and forth between them; then, to Jeongguk’s absolute bewilderment, leans in and kisses him first. Her lips are soft and taste like some sort of fruity chapstick, her fingertips delicate when they graze his jaw. Jeongguk’s eyes are closed, but he can’t stop thinking about Taehyung right there on the other side of Ryujin, watching them. It makes him hot all over to think about, makes his cock twitch in his shorts.

After maybe 10 seconds, Ryujin pulls away and turns her head to kiss Taehyung instead. Jeongguk watches them hungrily, desperately, eyes fixed on the way Taehyung’s lips move against hers. Jealousy surges through him when he sees Taehyung’s hand land on her thigh, squeezing lightly. His skin feels suddenly too tight for his body.

When Ryujin turns back to him again, all Jeongguk can think about is how she had just been kissing Taehyung, how he might be able to taste him on her lips. The thought makes him kiss her with more fervor, his hand coming down to rest on her thigh. His fingers accidentally graze Taehyung’s, already there, and Jeongguk stills, panicked. Before he can pull his hand away, Taehyung’s thumb shifts ever so slightly closer, brushing up against Jeongguk’s.

Jeongguk groans against Ryujin’s mouth.

Moments later, he feels something soft against his chin and realizes it’s Taehyung’s hair, tickling him as he sucks a hickey into Ryujin’s neck. Jeongguk’s hand twitches, desperate to reach up and sink into Taehyung’s hair, draw his mouth away from Ryujin and onto Jeongguk’s own. God, fuck, he is so turned on.

And it just keeps going. Taehyung kisses his way up Ryujin’s neck, across her jaw and to her mouth, so that he’s kissing her and Jeongguk is kissing her and they’re now somehow engaged in this bizarre three-way makeout. Jeongguk’s brain nearly short circuits when he registers Taehyung’s mouth moving next to his, then - finally, finally - against his. They’ve kissed before, sure, but that had been more of a touching of mouths than anything else. This is a true kiss, their lips moving together, the occasional light stroke of tongue. This is Taehyung’s hand on the side of his neck, Taehyung’s full lower lip between Jeongguk’s teeth, Taehyung making this pleased sort of rumbling noise that goes straight to Jeongguk’s dick.

This is -

“Okay,” Ryujin says.

Jeongguk and Taehyung break apart, panting. Jeongguk hadn’t even registered that she’d exited their three-way kiss, that it had been just him and Taehyung making out for - god, how long? Seconds? Minutes?

“This has been fun,” she says, and it sounds like she means it. She stands up. Jeongguk has to force himself to look at her and not at how Taehyung’s lips are all pink and swollen and shiny. “I gotta go to bed, though.”

Jeongguk blinks at her. He both desperately wants her to leave and is terrified of having her go. At least with Ryujin in the room he can pretend he’s hard because of her and not because of his literal best friend.

“Uh.” Taehyung seems to be fumbling for words; for once he sounds as lost as Jeongguk feels. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” Ryujin nods, slipping her shoes back on. She’s the picture of nonchalance, as if she hadn’t just initiated a sexual encounter that resulted in Jeongguk’s brain imploding. “Gotta be up early for practice.”

“Right,” Taehyung says. It seems to dawn on him in the moment that this is true for him and Jeongguk as well. “Okay. We’ll see you around?”

“Sure,” Ryujin smiles. She has this look on her face that’s a bit too knowing for Jeongguk’s liking. “Enjoy the rest of your night.”

“You too,” Jeongguk responds faintly as she disappears out the door.

It clicks shut behind her, and then the only sound is the wheezing of the shitty air conditioning unit in the window. Jeongguk is acutely, painfully aware that he’s still achingly hard in his shorts. He doesn’t dare look over to see if Taehyung is as well.

“Well,” Taehyung says eventually. “That was… hot.”

Jeongguk clears his throat and continues looking straight ahead. “Yeah,” he replies in a stilted voice. “Yeah, she’s super sexy.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says for some reason. There’s a note of something in his voice that Jeongguk can’t place. “Yeah, she is.” He huffs out a laugh. “Can’t believe that just happened.”

“You were the one who was so sure she was gonna come over,” Jeongguk reminds him.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Taehyung chuckles. “Still wasn’t expecting that.”

“Yeah,” Jeongguk agrees. “Me neither.”

There’s a beat during which the air conditioner makes an ominous crackling noise. Then:

“I’m still like, really hard.”

Jeongguk can’t help it, his gaze snaps to Taehyung. First, for the briefest of seconds, to the tent in his shorts - it’s big and Jeongguk is going to die, he’s going to collapse on the spot right here, right now - then up to his eyes. He can tell immediately from the expression on Taehyung’s face that he’d caught Jeongguk looking. He gives him a cheeky little smile and Jeongguk flushes crimson.

“Think we have the same problem,” Taehyung observes, shooting a meaningful glance at Jeongguk’s crotch.

Jeongguk blames the fact that his brain is actively melting down for what comes out of his mouth next.

“Guess it’s not like we haven’t jerked off in the same room before.”

Taehyung has this one look that he gets when Jeongguk does or says something that surprises him, and Jeongguk is hit with the full force of it now. He appears both delighted and strangely proud.

“Or, you know,” Taehyung says, trailing off. Without being fully conscious of it, Jeongguk has leaned in closer to him, close enough to see that his pupils are still dilated with arousal.

Against his better judgment, Jeongguk urges him on. “What?”

Taehyung swallows. Jeongguk feels strung out, pulled taut like he might snap at any moment.

“Or I could just do it for you,” Taehyung says, and even though on some level Jeongguk had known it was coming he still feels like the air has been punched out of him when he hears the words out loud.

“Okay,” he breathes.

Taehyung licks his lips.

“Will you show me first?”

“What?”

Taehyung is observing him very intently. “Show me how you do it.”

“Fuck you, no,” Jeongguk says, recoiling. “You just said you would - ”

“I will,” Taehyung cuts him off, his tone urgent. “I will, I want to, I just - I wanna see what you do. So I can do it right.”

It occurs to Jeongguk that Taehyung could be fucking with him, but he doesn’t think that’s the case. Doesn’t think Taehyung would do that, actually, not about something like this.

“Come on,” Taehyung urges him. He looks hungry and it makes Jeongguk feel dizzy. “Please.”

“Fine,” Jeongguk concedes. He’s embarrassed and turned on and maybe a little bit turned on from being embarrassed.

Closing his eyes, Jeongguk places his hand over the bulge in his shorts. This feels like a slightly more manageable step than just whipping his cock out in front of his best friend. Plus, if he has the time, he usually does like to start out by teasing himself a little, letting the anticipation build as he feels the imperfect glide of fabric over his dick.

Jeongguk doesn’t think he’s ever been this hard before in his life, except for maybe the first time he allowed himself to jerk off to the thought of Taehyung. He’s desperate to know if Taehyung is just as aroused as he is, but he’s too afraid to open his eyes and check. All he has are the occasional shaky inhales coming from Taehyung’s direction to reassure him that Taehyung is, at least on some level, into this.

There’s a damp patch forming on the front of his shorts, and Jeongguk traces his fingers over it, circling the sensitive head of his cock. He’s getting really worked up now, and a whine sneaks up his throat and past his lips before he can stop it. The answering moan from Taehyung is enough to make Jeongguk open his eyes. When he does, he finds his best friend staring at him like he wants to devour him whole.

“Take it out,” Taehyung says hoarsely.

Jeongguk is so turned on he doesn’t even question or resist it, just scrambles to do as he’s told. Lifting his hips slightly, he struggles to get his shorts down, gasping when Taehyung’s long fingers hook into the waistband and tug. The second they’re far enough down to get his cock out, Jeongguk drops back down on his ass and wraps a hand around himself. Taehyung is on him a moment later, lips against Jeongguk’s jaw, big hand closing around Jeongguk’s so that they can jerk his dick together.

Jeongguk sees god, he thinks. Any semblance of composure is gone, out the window, see you probably never. He feels almost animalistic, head falling back as he fucks up into his own and Taehyung’s hands. There’s sweat beading on his hairline, and he registers somewhere in the back of his mind that his skin must taste salty under Taehyung’s tongue.

“You’re so sexy,” Taehyung murmurs against his ear. “Christ, Kook.”

Jeongguk whimpers, overwhelmed.

“I have an idea,” Taehyung tells him. “Can you get - ” he releases Jeongguk’s cock, tugging at his elbow, and Jeongguk makes a disgruntled noise. “Just one sec, up on your knees, yeah, just like that - ”

He maneuvers them so that they’re kneeling face to face on the bed, then tugs his own cock out and shuffles closer. Jeongguk stares, he can’t help it - he’s seen Taehyung’s dick before, but only briefly, in passing. Not like this, hard and flushed in Taehyung’s hand, not when he’s allowed to stare at it, mouth watering.

“Good?” Taehyung asks, and it’s a testament to how gone he is that he doesn’t even tease Jeongguk for openly gaping at his cock. When Jeongguk drags his gaze up and croaks out a “yeah” in response, Taehyung holds out his palm. “Spit.”

Jeongguk does, keeping his eyes locked on Taehyung’s. And then he nearly keels over when Taehyung takes both of their cocks in his hand and strokes, using Jeongguk’s spit to ease the glide. It’s filthy, absolutely obscene, and Jeongguk makes a tortured noise, gripping onto Taehyung’s shoulders so that he doesn’t collapse. The fact that Taehyung’s hand is big enough to grip them both at once is enough to send him into orbit.

“Oh god,” Jeongguk breathes, fingers digging into Taehyung’s shoulders. This is easily the hottest thing that’s ever happened to him. “Shit, Tae.”

He doesn’t know where to look - at Taehyung’s face, the way he has his lower lip caught between his teeth, brow furrowed in concentration, hair falling messy over his forehead - or down between them, the utterly pornographic image of their dicks pressed together, Taehyung’s hand working them both. Either, both, are completely overwhelming.

Somehow, in the midst of all of this, Jeongguk’s mouth finds Taehyung’s. It’s sloppy, wet and open mouthed, but Taehyung groans into it all the same. The pace of his hand picks up, becomes a little more erratic, but Jeongguk kind of likes it because it tells him how turned on Taehyung is.

Feeling like he should be contributing more to this encounter, Jeongguk allows his fingers to climb up the sides of Taehyung’s neck, sinking into his hair the way he’d wanted to earlier. He gives an experimental tug and Taehyung grunts, his hips jerking.

“You like that?” Jeongguk rasps out, surprised.

Taehyung nods a little frantically. Jeongguk yanks harder.

“Fuck,” Taeyung says, pulling away from the kiss to breathe harshly against Jeongguk’s cheek.

Fuck is right. Jeongguk doesn’t know how he’s ever going to be able to look at Taehyung again without thinking about how he likes to have his hair pulled during sex. (And immediately getting hard as a result.)

Overcome, Jeongguk drops his head to Taehyung’s shoulder and starts thrusting into his fist in earnest. The friction and pace of it all is imperfect, but he’s so turned on by the whole situation that it doesn’t even matter. He can feel the tension building in his body, the need for release growing stronger with every passing second.

“Tae,” he moans. “You’re doing so good, I - fuck - I’m so close -”

“Come on,” Taehyung says, his voice almost a rumble. “Come on, Kook, I got you -”

He does something with this thumb, applies just the right amount of pressure and Jeongguk is gone, coming, literal stars exploding behind his eyes. Some of his jizz lands on Taehyung’s tanned stomach and he thinks if he hadn’t literally just come the sight would be enough to get him hard again.

Taehyung follows him a few seconds later, and it occurs to Jeongguk that he must have been right on the verge, holding himself back until Jeongguk got there first. The realization makes him feel oddly warm.

They both drop back on their haunches, breathing heavily, staring at each other in a bit of a daze. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jeongguk thinks he’s probably going to panic about this soon, maybe tomorrow, but right now he feels too floaty and fucked out to care.

Taehyung leans forward, poking a finger into the jizz that’s dripping down Jeongguk’s stomach. “Nasty,” he says, snickering.

“Oh fuck off,” Jeongguk retorts, batting weakly at his hand. “You’re no better.”

Taehyung glances down at the mess on his stomach and starts to giggle, which of course makes Jeongguk laugh as well. He’s never laughed in a situation like this before.

“That was fun,” Taehyung reflects once they’ve caught their breath. He looks content.

Jeongguk nods. “Yeah,” he agrees quietly. He’s not sure what to make of that comment, if he should take it at face value or if Taehyung means “fun” as in casual, no big deal, not a serious thing.

“Should probably clean up,” Taehyung says, clambering to his feet. “I’ll be quick.”

He disappears into the bathroom that’s connected to their room, leaving Jeongguk alone with his thoughts. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, he sees that it’s past 1 in the morning and groans, flopping backwards on the bed. Tomorrow morning is going to be a rough one.

His eyes drift shut as he lies there, waiting for Taehyung to be done in the bathroom. He must doze off because the next thing he knows Taehyung is nudging at his foot, trying to wake him.

“Kook,” he murmurs. “Kook. I’m done in the bathroom if you want to clean up.”

“Mmph,” Jeongguk replies, throwing an arm over his eyes. Getting up right now seems like a lot of work.

He hears Taehyung snort. “Ok, suit yourself.”

A few seconds later, he feels a warm, damp cloth on his stomach, wiping away the worst of the mess. He tries to say thank you, but he falls asleep before he can get the words out.

***

As predicted, the panic sets in the following morning.

Jeongguk wakes up before his alarm, neck stiff from passing out in the middle of the bed, remnants of dried cum still sticking to his stomach. He vaguely recalls Taehyung wiping most of it off last night, but he still feels generally gross from not having cleaned up more thoroughly.

Despite the fact that he’s going to spend the whole day sweating on the tennis court, he climbs out of bed and immediately gets in the shower. He’s hoping that it will help him clear his mind, but instead his brain just keeps replaying the events from the night prior on a loop. A part of him wonders if the whole thing was some sort of insane fever dream, but he knows from the evidence on his body this morning that it wasn’t. Eventually he has to switch the water to cold so that he doesn’t get hard again just thinking about it.

Once he’s out of the shower, Jeongguk changes into his tennis clothes and heads down to the courts. It’s early enough that no one else will be there yet, and if a shower couldn’t get him out of his own head, he knows that practicing his swing will. He lingers at the door before he leaves, looking over at where Taehyung is still sleeping soundly. He looks annoyingly cute, lips pouted and hair a puffy disaster on his head, and Jeongguk wants more than anything to crawl back into bed and kiss him awake. He can’t do that though, and he certainly can’t just wait here until he wakes up, stewing in his own anxiety. So it’s off to the courts he goes, resolving that he’ll come back to the room before breakfast and catch Taehyung then.

Except that playing proves to be a little too good at getting him out of his head (and maybe, subconsciously, he’s putting off having to confront Taehyung), and before he knows it he’s late for breakfast. He scrambles off the court and heads for the dining hall, wincing when he checks his phone and sees a text from Taehyung asking where he is.

He finds Taehyung perusing the fruit selection in the cafeteria. Seeing him sends a jolt through Jeongguk’s body, and he has to pause for a second to collect himself and work up the courage to walk over. This is ridiculous, he thinks. Taehyung is his best fucking friend. They’re roommates, for Christ’s sake. Jeongguk can’t avoid him forever.

“Hey,” he says, marching over and grabbing an apple.

Taehyung startles, looking up. “Hey,” he replies, cautious. “Thought you ditched me.”

Jeongguk can’t read his tone. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I didn’t mean - I woke up early.”

Taehyung nods. He grabs an apple as well and without discussing it, they head towards their usual table in the back corner.

“You were down at the courts?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“Gonna be wiped out later, man.”

They sit. Jeongguk shrugs. “I needed to - I dunno. Needed a distraction, or something.”

Taehyung raises his eyebrows. “Look, Kook, about last night - ”

“Can we not?” Jeongguk cuts him off. He can’t bear to hear whatever Taehyung is going to say next - it didn’t mean anything, it was all a laugh, they just got carried away. Some playful, flirty quip that will probably make Jeongguk want to die. It happened, and now it’s over, and he needs to just move on and try not to think about it every second for the rest of his life. “It’s just - it’s fine, right?”

Taehyung looks caught off guard, his eyes roving over Jeongguk’s face. Had he been expecting Jeongguk to make it awkward, to have to let him down easy?

“I - yeah,” he says eventually. “Yeah, of course.”

“Cool,” Jeongguk nods, despite feeling extremely not cool about the situation. He takes a too-large bite of his apple and nearly chokes on it.

“You good?” Taehyung asks, concerned.

“Fine,” Jeongguk mutters.

It’s going to be a long day.

***

Things go back to (mostly) normal. Taehyung seems fine, but Jeongguk feels weird, and he’s pretty sure Taehyung can tell. Still, they’re literally doubles partners who live together, following the same routines they’ve always followed, so there’s only so awkward and avoidant Jeongguk can be. He copes by trying to stay hyper focused on tennis, which is pretty much his standard state of existing anyway, and hopes that as more time passes the weirdness will go away.

And then.

A few days after… everything, Taehyung corners him after practice.

“Hey, um,” he begins, looking a little nervous. Jeongguk is instantly alarmed; Taehyung never looks nervous. “Would it be cool with you if I ask Ryujin out?”

Whatever Jeongguk had been expecting him to say, it wasn’t this. His stomach sinks.

“Oh,” he says.

“I won’t if it’s weird for you,” Taehyung rushes to add.

“No,” Jeongguk blurts out. “Or, yes, I mean - ” he pauses, takes a breath. “It’s fine.”

“You sure?” Taehyung presses, looking concerned.

“Yeah,” Jeongguk lies. “Go for it, dude, she’s hot.”

He punches Taehyung weakly in the arm, something he’s literally never done before in the entirety of their friendship.

Taehyung gives him a strange look. “Um, ok. Thanks.”

A few days after that, Taehyung goes out on his first date with Ryujin. That night, Jeongguk lies alone in their room, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. The later it gets, the more his mind spins, speculating about what they might be doing. He eventually passes out from sheer exhaustion some time in the wee hours of the morning. Taehyung doesn’t come home that night.

***

The last week and a half of the camp passes in a bit of a blur. Taehyung hangs out with Ryujin a lot and Jeongguk… survives. Barely.

He’s never really felt jealousy like this before - this dark, insidious thing that poisons his brain and makes him bitter in a way that he absolutely fucking hates. He’s seen Taehyung with other people before, girls and occasionally guys, but it’s almost always been a one night thing, a hookup that Jeongguk hears about over breakfast the next morning. This - Taehyung flirting with Ryujin during practice, disappearing to go on dates with her, spending the night in her room - feels different. This feels like Taehyung might actually like her, and that makes Jeongguk want to die.

The worst part is that Taehyung is making a concerted effort to make sure Jeongguk doesn’t feel blown off. They’re still together constantly, and Taehyung had even invited Jeongguk along on one of his nights out with Ryujin. He’s really trying to make it not weird, and Jeongguk loves him for it, but Jeongguk is also completely unable to deal with his own feelings. And so, if anything, he’s the one blowing Taehyung off.

There’s one area where he really can’t blow Taehyung off, though, and that’s tennis. The camp ends with a three day long tournament, and, obviously, Jeongguk and Taehyung are playing in it as doubles partners.

When Jeongguk first started out at the academy, he had no intention of playing doubles. His focus up until then had always been singles, and his plan had been to continue down that path. As part of their training, though, they’d been required to practice doubles as well, and that was how he and Taehyung first got paired up. He remembers being surprised at first by how much he liked playing not just with a partner, but with Taehyung specifically. The way they learned each other’s rhythms, how to sense where the other would be on the court, how to communicate without speaking. They complemented each other, pushed each other, made each other better, and Jeongguk found that not only exhilarating but also really fucking fun. And so, Fire and Water was born.

In the present, they do well in the tournament, winning each match one by one until they find themselves in the finals. Playing with Taehyung is so ingrained in Jeongguk’s body that even the events of the past two weeks can’t really disrupt his game. It would take a lot more than an ill-advised hookup and a case of soul-crushing jealousy (not heartbreak, he can’t admit to himself that it’s heartbreak) to mess up their chemistry on the court.

Their final match is the hardest, obviously, and it’s close. At match point, it’s Jeongguk’s serve; Taehyung is in front of him, crouched low and ready. He looks back over his shoulder at Jeongguk, winking, then reaches one hand behind his back and gives Jeongguk the finger. Jeongguk snorts, and for one second it feels like nothing at all has changed, like it’s just the two of them, alone against the world. He serves, and -

It’s an ace.

Jeongguk drops his racket, thrilled. Taehyung leaps into the air, crowing in victory. They run towards each other and Taehyung jumps on him, Jeongguk just barely managing to catch him under the thighs. They stagger around, hugging, laughing, until they eventually tip over onto the ground, where they laugh even harder. Taehyung grabs him by the face, kissing his forehead, and Jeongguk is reminded - of why he loves this game, why he loves playing it with Taehyung. Why he loves Taehyung, period.

Then he sees Ryujin cheering from the stands and is brought abruptly back down to Earth.

That night, Taehyung drags him to another party in the field to celebrate. Ryujin is there, but so is pretty much everyone else from the camp - with no practice or matches tomorrow, they’re all ready to get a little fucked up. Jeongguk considers joining them in this, thinking it might numb the sting of seeing Taehyung and Ryujin together, but finds he’s just not in the mood. He has a few beers, hangs out with Taehyung and Ryujin for as long as he can physically stomach, then inserts himself into a group of guys he’s friendly with and stands there quietly for a while, nodding occasionally. Just when he’s thinking it’s late enough that he can acceptably leave, Taehyung finds him, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

“We crushed it today, man,” Taehyung says, beaming. He’s considerably drunker than Jeongguk is, but he still seems steady on his feet. “I’m gonna miss you this next month.”

With the camp ending, they have a month off before they need to return to school, during which time they’ll both go home to different parts of the country. It’s a short enough period that they probably won’t see each other, although historically they’ve always texted and talked on the phone nonstop during breaks.

“It’s only a few weeks,” Jeongguk replies, leaning into him because he can’t help himself. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

“You didn’t say you’ll miss me too,” Taehyung pouts.

Jeongguk rolls his eyes. “Of course I’ll miss you.”

“What are you gonna do without me?” Taehyung asks. “Other than play tennis and jerk off.”

“Fuck off,” Jeongguk says, elbowing him in the ribs. “Have some peace in my life, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“I think boredom is the word you’re looking for, actually.”

Jeongguk rolls his eyes again. It’s true, but he won’t admit that. “What are you gonna do?”

“Hopefully Ryujin, if I play my cards right,” Taehyung says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Right. Because as luck would have it, Ryujin lives in Daegu, the same city as Taehyung. How convenient.

“Nice,” Jeongguk forces out. “Look, I think I’m gonna head out, I’m kind of beat from today. I’ll see you in the morning, okay? To say goodbye.”

Taehyung protests, trying to convince him to stay (just one more drink, Kook, come on, please?), but eventually Ryujin reappears and Jeongguk is able to slip away. Back in their room, he packs up and then collapses on the bed, hoping he’s tired enough that sleep will claim him quickly.

The past two weeks have been… a lot, and as much as he usually dreads being separated from Taehyung, Jeongguk thinks a break might be a good thing under these circumstances. He’ll pull himself together, figure out how to be normal about this whole thing with Taehyung and Ryujin, and by the time they get back to school, everything will be fine.

***

It’s not like Jeongguk plans to ignore Taehyung’s attempts to contact him while he’s home. At least, not at first.

The first few days, he honestly just feels like he needs some space. He and Taehyung are so on top of each other all the time that he hasn’t really had time to process any of his feelings about what happened - the hookup, the jealousy, the dawning realization that he’s in a lot deeper with Taehyung than he had previously allowed himself to believe. He just needs some breathing room to sort through it all, and he can’t do that if he’s talking to Taehyung every second of the day.

And so, he’s sparing in his responses to Taehyung’s texts. The first time he calls, Jeongguk ignores it, and the second time as well. He makes up excuses - busy, not feeling well, helping his parents’ with something - but he never returns the calls. He knows he can’t cut Taehyung off completely - that wouldn’t be fair, and knowing Taehyung, he would probably get in a car and drive all the way to Busan to make sure Jeongguk hadn’t been body snatched or something. But he keeps the communication as limited as possible.

Obviously, Taehyung notices. He’s persistent for a while, continuing to spam Jeongguk with texts even when Jeongguk barely responds, but eventually he seems to sense that something is off.

are you mad at me??

The text comes one afternoon, about nine days into their break. Jeongguk feels immediately guilty.

no

are you sure? you’ve been kind of mia

sorry. just haven’t been around my phone much

It’s a lie, but Taehyung lets him get away with it, which makes Jeongguk feel even worse. He hates doing this, knows it’s shitty to Taehyung, but he just doesn’t see another way right now.

The texts slowly taper off after that. Taehyung keeps trying, even calls a few more times, but it’s significantly less than before. The lack of communication is a relief, in some ways, but it doesn’t make Jeongguk feel better. Mostly, he just misses his best friend and wonders how in the hell he’s going to deal with all of this when they get back to school.

***

In retrospect, Jeongguk’s chosen method of “dealing with it” is probably not the best.

He shows up back on campus two days before they’re due back for pre-classes training, goes to the office that handles student housing, and asks to be moved to a single room. He neglects to share this information with Taehyung, which is why it’s probably not surprising when, the following day, he’s interrupted in his unpacking by a loud banging on the door. Steeling himself, he goes to open it and finds an extremely put out looking Taehyung on the other side.

“Kook,” he says, shouldering past Jeongguk and into the room. “What the hell is going on?”

Jeongguk closes the door and turns to face him. It’s strange to be in the same room with him again after a month apart, especially since they’d barely been speaking. He looks even tanner than he had at the end of camp, hair a little blonder, and Jeongguk is reminded immediately of the sheer magnetic pull he feels whenever he’s in Taehyung’s presence.

“Nothing,” he replies.

Taehyung makes an exaggerated noise of disbelief.

“You’re joking, right? You’ve been blowing me off for the past month and then switched to a single without telling me.”

“We don’t always need to share a room,” Jeongguk says defensively, folding his arms across his chest.

“We’ve shared a room for as long as we’ve known each other,” Taehyung retorts, staring at him like he’s gone insane. Which, fair. “We agreed we wanted to share one again this year.”

Jeongguk does a jerky sort of half shrug. “I guess I wanted a change.”

“And you just didn’t think to mention that to me,” Taehyung says flatly.

Jeongguk does the shrug thing again. “It didn’t come up.”

Taehyung gapes at him. “It didn’t come up because you’ve been refusing to talk to me for the past month!”

“I figured you were busy with Ryujin,” Jeongguk says stubbornly.

“Is that what this is about?!” Taehyung cries, throwing his hands up in the air. “You’re pissed that I dated her?”

“No.”

Taehyung scoffs, shaking his head. “Ryujin dumped me.”

This Jeongguk had certainly not been expecting. His hands drop to his sides in surprise.

“What? Why?”

Taehyung glares at him, clearly still pissed off. Jeongguk supposes he has every right to be.

“Because I kept talking about you when we hooked up,” he admits eventually.

Jeongguk blinks at him. “What?”

Taehyung sighs, pressing two fingers into the space between his eyebrows. Jeongguk does that to him sometimes when he wants the furrow there to go away.

“She thought I was getting off on it.”

A sour feeling curls in Jeongguk’s stomach. “On what? Thinking about how you got her instead of me?”

“No,” Taehyung says, frustrated. Then some of the irritation seems to seep out of him, and he sighs, sounding resigned. “Just thinking about you, period.”

“Fuck off,” Jeongguk tells him, almost automatically. He doesn’t understand why Taehyung is doing this. He can be cocky, brash, obnoxious, takes great joy in teasing Jeongguk, but he’s never been cruel.

“Is that really so hard to believe?” Taehyung asks, growing agitated again. He runs a hand through his hair, messing it up. Jeongguk fights the urge to reach out and fix it. “We literally hooked up two months ago, Kook.”

Jeongguk stills. This is the first time they’ve spoken openly about what had happened.

“That was because of Ryujin,” he says weakly.

“Was it?” Taehyung persists, taking a step towards Jeongguk. “Because as far as I recall, you took out your dick after she left.”

Jeongguk flinches back. “Fuck you, you were the one who suggested -”

“I know,” Taehyung says, cutting him off. He takes another step forward, expression almost imploring. “I know.”

Jeongguk suddenly feels like it’s a struggle to breathe. “What are you saying?’’

“I’m saying…” Taehyung trails off, chewing on his lower lip. Then he surges forward, grabbing Jeongguk’s face and kissing him.

For a few seconds, Jeongguk melts into it. Then his brain catches up to what’s happening and he stumbles backwards, pushing Taehyung away.

“Tae,” Jeongguk breathes, completely taken aback. “What -”

“I want you,” Taehyung says, heated. He looks a little wild - hair mussed, eyes intense, chest rising and falling visibly beneath his t-shirt.

Jeongguk doesn’t know how to read this, can’t tell if Taehyung is propositioning him or what. As much as Jeongguk thrills at the idea of being physical with him again, he thinks that having that and nothing more might actually kill him.

“I don’t think us becoming fuck buddies is a good idea,” he says cautiously.

Taehyung shakes his head. “That’s not what I mean.”

Jeongguk’s heart stutters. He doesn’t think Taehyung realizes what he’s implying, how much Jeongguk wants that.

“It’ll mean more to me than it does to you,” he whispers.

Taehyung shakes his head again. “That’s not true.”

“Tae,” Jeongguk pleads, needing him to understand. He finds, to his utter mortification, that he’s almost on the brink of tears. “You didn’t even remember that we’d kissed before.”

Taehyung looks confused. “What?”

“That night with Ryujin,” Jeongguk reminds him. “She asked if we’d ever kissed before and you said no.”

“Oh,” Taehyung says in a tone that suggests he’s just now remembering this. “I lied.”

“What?”

“I lied because I didn’t want to tell her about that.” He does a self deprecating little shrug. “’S private.”

Jeongguk stares at him, incredulous. “You literally told her about how you taught me to jerk off.”

Taehyung folds his lips in, clearly trying not to smile. “That was different,” he says, waving a hand dismissively. “Dumb pre-teen stuff. When we kissed that first time, that, um.” He looks suddenly shy. “That mattered to me, you know?”

What the fuck. What the actual fuck.

“It mattered to me, too,” Jeongguk croaks out, disbelieving.

Taehyung gives him a small smile. “So, yeah. No offense, but I really don’t think it’s gonna mean more to you than it does to me if something happens between us.”

“Taehyung,” Jeongguk says, still convinced he’s misreading this somehow. “Are you - you asked out Ryujin three days after we hooked up.”

“’Cause you shut me down when I tried to talk to you about it!” Taehyung cries. “It seemed like you wanted to pretend it never happened, so I - I needed a distraction.” He frowns, looking at his feet. “I realize that was shitty.”

Jeongguk considers this. Surely there’s no way he misread the situation this badly. “I didn’t want to talk about it because I thought you were going to give me the whole ‘this was a casual thing’ speech,” he explains slowly.

Taehyung looks surprised. “What? Why?”

“Because right after we hooked up you said ‘that was fun’!” Jeongguk yelps.

“Yeah, because it was fun!” Taehyung exclaims. “Like, really fun! Not to mention extremely hot -”

Jeongguk drags his hands over his cheeks, feeling like he’s going insane. “I thought you meant it like, ‘that was fun, Kook, haha no big deal, just a reminder to not catch feelings’!”

“Oh my god,” Taehyung says, shaking his head in disbelief. “How are we this bad at communicating? We literally share a brain when it comes to tennis.”

“I dunno,” Jeongguk replies, equally flabbergasted. He drops down on the foot of the bed, feeling suddenly drained. Six weeks of agonizing, and it had all been over… nothing.

“I felt like I was being so obvious,” Taehyung says, almost to himself. “I came on to you so hard that night, how did you not - ”

“You’d just spent the whole day and night talking my ear off about how hot Ryujin was,” Jeongguk grumbles. “I figured you were just really horny.”

The barest hint of a smirk appears on Taehyung’s lips. “You sound jealous.”

“I mean,” Jeongguk huffs.

The smirk is full-fledged now. Jeongguk hates him.

“She’s got nothing on you, baby.”

It’s such a cheesy line, but Jeongguk’s attempt to roll his eyes is severely mitigated by the fact that his dick (and heart) regrettably think otherwise.

“Yeah, right,” he scoffs, trying to sound unbothered.

“I mean it,” Taehyung insists, advancing on him. He comes to a halt in front of Jeongguk, bending down so that their faces are only inches apart. His palms land on Jeongguk’s thighs. “Come on, these thighs in a pair of tennis shorts?” His hands slip around and under Jeongguk’s legs, finding the soft skin behind his knees and tugging him forward. “Indecent.”

Jeongguk is ashamed to admit that he gasps. “S-shut up,” he stammers out, well aware that he is fighting a losing battle.

“Yeah?” Taehyung grins, clearly delighted by Jeongguk’s reaction. “Why don’t you make me?”

To be fair, Jeongguk really walked right into that one.

There’s a reason Jeongguk is Taehyung’s partner on the tennis court, though. Maybe Taehyung is the bolder of the two of them, but Jeongguk has always been able to hold his own. Just because Taehyung had caught him a little off guard just now doesn’t mean he’s going to run this whole show.

Reaching up, Jeongguk sinks his hand into the hair at the back of Taehyung’s head and yanks him down for a kiss. Taehyung groans into it, and in that moment Jeongguk knows they’re both remembering how he had pulled Taehyung’s hair the first time they hooked up, how worked up Taehyung had gotten over it. The recollection sets heat pooling in his gut.

Turned on, Jeongguk scrambles backwards on the bed, their lips still connected as Taehyung crawls after him. He ends up flat on his back with Taehyung hovering over him, his legs bracketing Taehyung’s sides. Taehyung wrenches himself away from Jeongguk’s mouth to kiss along the side of his neck, the sensation making him gasp with a mix of ticklish and aroused.

“You know how many times I’ve jerked off thinking about that night?” Taehyung breathes, running a hand along Jeongguk’s thigh. The amount of skin his palm covers makes Jeongguk’s head spin.

Jeongguk shudders. “A lot?” he guesses.

He feels Taehyung laugh against his neck. “Yeah,” he confirms. “A lot.”

So yeah, now Jeongguk is really fucking hard. “I think about you, too,” he admits. “I try not to but I - when I do…” He trails off, embarrassed.

“I’m gonna need you to finish that sentence,” Taehyung murmurs, just below his ear.

Jeongguk squeezes his eyes shut. “I come the hardest,” he whispers.

“Fuck,” Taehyung groans, his fingers digging into the meat of Jeongguk’s thigh. “Shit, Kook, I need you in less clothes.”

“Yeah, yes,” Jeongguk agrees, nodding frantically. They fumble with each other’s shirts, Taehyung pausing when Jeongguk’s is rucked up somewhere beneath his armpits to suck a mark into his stomach. Jeongguk’s hands wander to where Taehyung is very visibly hard in his shorts, gripping him firmly, hungrily. He hadn’t really gotten to do this that first night, and now he wants his turn.

Taehyung makes a strangled noise, thrusting against his hand. Feeling inspired, sexy, confident, Jeongguk goes to flip them and… accidentally rolls them off the bed.

“Ow, fuck,” Taehyung grunts. He had taken the brunt of the fall, landing on his back with Jeongguk sprawled over him.

“Oops,” Jeongguk says, trying not to laugh as he lifts some of his weight off of Taehyung. “Sorry.”

“See, this is why you can’t be living in a room with a single bed,” Taehyung tells him. “Not enough room for activities.”

Jeongguk snorts. “Well, I was gonna blow you, but if you’d prefer I can just head down to the res life office right now and get that sorted out first.”

“No,” Taehyung says immediately, hooking his legs around the backs of Jeongguk’s. “Nope, you stay right here.”

Jeongguk grins, his hand slipping down Taehyung’s stomach and into the front of his shorts. He’s pleased to find that the fall hadn’t killed his erection, even more pleased at the way Taehyung’s eyes roll back at his touch. Jeongguk leans in and kisses him, lingering just long enough for Taehyung’s hand to come up and cup the back of his head. Then he shimmies his way down Taehyung’s body, taking his shorts with him as he goes.

Face to face with Taehyung’s cock, Jeongguk strokes him a few more times before taking the head in his mouth, sucking lightly. He teases a bit with his tongue before pulling back, looking up at Taehyung as he continues to work him with his hand.

“Is this what you thought about when you were with her, Tae?” Jeongguk asks. He knows he’s being petty, but he can’t help himself. “Me with your dick in my mouth?”

“Jesus, Kook,” Taehyung breathes, propping himself up on his elbows to look down at him. “I - yeah. Among other things.”

“Like what?” Jeongguk presses, brushing his thumb over the tip of Taehyung’s cock and making his hips jump. “Fucking me? Me fucking you?”

Taehyung groans, his head dropping back between his shoulders. “All of the above,” he says roughly. “And more.”

“You’re mine,” Jeongguk declares, feeling possessive in a way that is frankly probably unhealthy. Based on the way Taehyung’s cock twitches in his hand, he doesn’t seem to mind.

“I am,” Taehyung agrees easily, nodding. “Always have been. Always will be, probably.”

At this, Jeongguk takes him fully in his mouth, sucking hard as he sinks down as far as he can go. Taehyung moans and drops down flat on his back, hips arching up and pressing his cock deeper into Jeongguk’s throat. Vaguely, Jeongguk thinks it’s probably kind of gross that they’re doing this on the dirty ass dorm room floor, but there’s definitely no way they’re moving back up to the bed now.

Taehyung makes the most delicious noises as Jeongguk sucks him, a mix of curses, praise, and variations on Jeongguk’s name. It motivates Jeongguk to do better, try harder, and he gets a little messy with it, saliva dripping down the shaft of Taehyung’s dick. He imagines Taehyung thinking about him with a hand between his legs, Taehyung thinking about him with her between his legs, and it gets him so hard that he has to rut his own hips against the floor.

“Close,” Taehyung warns, and Jeongguk picks up the pace, adding his hand back into the equation. The muscles in Taehyung’s thighs flex on either side of his head, and it makes Jeongguk think of how well he already knows this body and how it moves. In some ways, adding sex to the equation just feels like a natural extension of the intimacy they already share. “Keep - shit, yeah -”

Taehyung comes with a low moan, and Jeongguk feels triumph surge through him as he swallows, not unlike the feeling he gets when they win a match. It’s not surprising, he supposes - he’s always liked being good at things, and giving head is no exception.

“Fuck,” Taehyung pants, a dazed expression on his face. “Jeez, Kook, come up here.”

Preening, Jeongguk does as he’s told, crawling up Taehyung’s body and kissing him when it becomes clear that’s what he wants.

“Give me like, two minutes and I’m returning the favor,” Taehyung says, a goofy, lazy smile on his face. “Maybe three, shit.”

Jeongguk laughs, and he keeps laughing until Taehyung coaxes him up to straddle his face, makes him come with his mouth on Jeongguk’s cock and his fingers ghosting over his hole. Then Jeongguk almost cries - but in a good, definitely a good way.

Afterwards, they lie side by side on the floor, limbs overlapping, bodies spent.

“As soon as we can walk again, we’re going down to the res life office and telling them this was all a big mix-up,” Taehyung says. “And then we’re pushing our beds together and doing this again properly. Like, a lot of times.”

Jeongguk snorts. “We have to practice too, you know.”

Taehyung shoots him a mischievous grin. “I thought we already were.”

***

That night, after switching back to a double room and playing several hours of tennis, they make their way up to a set of bleachers not unlike the ones where they shared their first kiss.

“Can’t believe you thought I didn’t remember we’d kissed,” Taehyung grumbles, pinching Jeongguk’s leg. Beneath their thighs, the metal of the bleachers is still warm from a long day in the sun.

Jeongguk rolls his eyes, swatting Taehyung’s hand away. “We never talked about it after it happened. I figured it was just like, a pity kiss or something.”

“More like me finding any excuse to kiss you,” Taehyung admits.

“We’ll be better at talking about things from now on,” Jeongguk says, leaning into him when Taehyung wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“Definitely,” Taehyung nods. He lifts a hand to Jeongguk’s jaw, nudging him slightly so that they’re facing each other. “For starters, just to make things crystal clear - do you wanna be my boyfriend?”

Jeongguk’s stomach somersaults. “Oh hell yes,” he agrees, pulling Taehyung in for a kiss.

They’ve been a lot of things to each other over the years - roommates, doubles partners, best friends. Jeongguk has loved them all, but he’s pretty sure “boyfriends” is going to be the best yet.