Quid Pro Quo. TaeKook AU

Jazz

"So.." 

"So.." he repeated as he nodded his head, we were sitting on the couch in his living room in total silence. I had never felt so fucking awkward before in my life. 

"Do you..want to talk?"

"About?" He asked as he stared down at his feet 

"Anything? We have to spend eight days together..and we look awkward as fuck right now"

"Um.. do you have any hobbies?"

"I like video games, painting, drawing, photography, music, I like horror flicks too. You?" 

"I work..constantly" he sighed as he sunk into the couch "before my e- before I started working all the time, I liked photography. I liked designing clothes too. Or taking clothes someone else made, and changing them in whatever way I wanted to. I like music, especially jazz" he nodded with a small smile 

"I like jazz too, not necessarily my favorite genre, but I can get into it" I nodded 

"You must not have heard the right jazz then" he chuckled "follow me" he stood up and I followed him through his apartment, we walked past a few different doors before he opened one, stepping in was totally different than I had expected. There were posters and pictures on the walls, different artists and bands, mostly jazz players. Pictures that he must have taken, different sceneries, people who I'm assuming he was close with at some point, pictures of him as a child in front of a small house that looked like the wind could blow it over with plywood across one of the windows that was broken. 

Was that his childhood home? 

Had he been that poor before? 

I'm not rich, my parents aren't rich, but we lived a comfortable life. The boy in this picture looked like his house could fall over, had no clothes that weren't too oversized, and so skinny he must not have eaten much. But his big boxy smile was ever present. Like he was too young to know that it wasn't okay to be living the life he was. 

That's sad. 

"Here it is" he pulled a vinyl record from its casing and placed it on the record player. Not one of those new model ones, an old school one. Like it had been around since before he was born and held a lot of memories. "Charles Mingus. One of the greats honestly" the sax started playing, and eventually other instruments joined in, it was chaotic, but controlled all at the same time. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes listening to it while Tae did the same as he sat on the carpeted floor. 

"This is called 'moanin' one of my favorites to listen to, there's slower ones too, but this one always makes me feel happy when I listen to it" he smiled as the song continued, I watched him in his element. 

Sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, eyes closed, a smile on his lips as his fingers moved through the air imitating the instruments and the notes playing through the record player. He looked like an angel. I couldn't hear the music anymore as all of my focus was on the beautiful man sitting in front of me. I stared down at him in awe as I memorized every bit of his body language and the creases on his face. How his eyebrows jumped at the high notes and the low hum that came from his throat when the music dropped deeper. 

I could watch this every day on repeat. 

I imagined myself sitting behind him, my legs spread as he leaned back on my chest, running my fingers through his hair as he hummed along and smiled feeling relaxed in my arms and so close to my heart.

I shook my head to try and break myself out of the trance I was in. 

"What did you think?" 

That you're dangerous for my heart, my soul, my mind, that you could probably ruin me and I'd say thank you. 

"I liked it a lot" I smiled and sat down on the floor closer to him "play me another one? His name was Charles Mingus?" 

His face looked like a kid on Christmas getting every single present he had ever asked for. 

I think jazz just became my favorite genre. 

We spent hours, way more than we should have, sitting on the floor in the room, playing song after song, different albums and records were strewn across the floor as he told me in detail different names, songs, the year certain people debuted, the year they passed away, what his favorite B side songs were, favorite hits, the man talked for hours upon hours while I tried to follow along and ask questions to keep him comfortable and happy. 

Every time he laughed with his eyes closed, head thrown back, and big boxy smile, I melted. 

Eventually we were too tired to keep our eyes open, we went to his room and into the attached bathroom to brush our teeth, I changed into my pajamas, and waited for him while he used the toilet. I walked around the bed and stared at it until he came out

"You're okay with me sleeping next to you?"

"Yeah" he nodded with a smile, he didn't hesitate to pull the covers back and get in, he patted the pillow next to him and I smiled before getting under the covers and making myself comfortable. His pillow felt like a cloud, and his mattress was the comfiest thing I had ever laid on. It took me less than ten seconds to fall asleep. 

Taehyung laid there on his back staring up at the ceiling, he felt at peace for the first time in a long time. Someone had actually listened to him. Wanted to hear him talk, express his feelings, share his love for jazz, not once did Jungkook tell him that he was too loud, too dramatic, annoying, or tell him that jazz was like him in the sense that it shouldn't exist. 

That stung to think about. 

"Hey kookie?" He asked as he rolled over to face the younger man laying next to him, he smiled as he saw Jungkook already asleep. He was on his side facing Taehyung, his cheek squished into the pillow, and his beautiful lips pouted out. He realized the first time he met Jungkook that he had never and probably would never, meet anyone as beautiful as him. 

He also realized that he had called him kookie, and that made him dizzy. One night of jazz bonding and he calls him kookie? What are they, twelve? Pfft. Fuck that. Nope. He rolled away from Jungkook and stared at the wall trying not to focus on the memories flashing through his mind. The same ones that have haunted him for a decade, and the ones that have been lingering even longer.