An Extra Beat of Love

12. Cooking together

It didn't take long for Taehyung to become close to the rest of them. Right when Jeongguk leaped into an explanation of how Seokjin and Namjoon fell in love with each other, Seokjin walked into the kitchen along with Yoongi and cut him off, telling him that it was his story to tell. 

Within the next ten seconds, Seokjin took the narrating, along with the tongs in Taehyung's hands, into his own hands and began to tell him about how he had fallen for his husband in his college days, all because of how Namjoon couldn't spend a single week in the cafeteria without having his tray full of food tumbling to the ground before he could even make it to his seat. 

Taehyung let Seokjin flip the steak and grabbed shrimp from the refrigerator for another dish. Yoongi, realizing what he was going to do, lent another helping hand. Taehyung tried to protest, but Yoongi shushed him before he could even open his mouth. 

"It's been a while since we all cooked together. I know we don't help our cooks like this, but you are not just our cook, are you?" he asked. 

Realizing what Yoongi meant by that, Taehyung ducked his head down to hide his small blush. "I'm not," he said. 

"Good. Now grab a pot and set it on the stove. I will get the shrimps ready," Yoongi said and gestured for Seokjin to continue with his story. 

"How come you didn't let me help you?" Jeongguk asked, hovering behind Seokjin and Taehyung. "I don't know either," Taehyung said with a chuckle and set a pot on the stove. 

Somehow, once again, with all the new 'friends' around him, his exhaustion left him alone. He was sure it would return again when everything quietened down, but for now, it felt good. Having so many people around him, talking to him, bonding with him, treating him like they had been friends for years, it felt very new, but very great, nonetheless. 

Somewhere in the middle of the chaos in the kitchen, Seokjin and Yoongi asked Taehyung to call them 'hyung', which Taehyung accepted almost immediately. 

"Do you need any he-"

"NO!!" Seokjin, Yoongi, and Jeongguk screamed together, making Taehyung jump around in shock. 

"You guys are mean, really," Namjoon mumbled, pouting as he did so, and sat down on the counter away from the stove. 

Taehyung, who felt bad for him just because of the pout and the sad mumble, picked up the cutting board, half a dozen onions, and a knife, and walked towards Namjoon. 

"Here, you can cut the-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jeongguk yelled and grabbed the tray and the knife from Taehyung's hands before Namjoon could reach for them, making the onions fall off the tray and roll all over the floor. 

Taehyung, who thought he had done something bad, stared at Jeongguk with wide, frightened eyes. 

"I-...uh...I...." 

Namjoon rolled his eyes at Jeongguk. "You are scaring him, poor kid," he said and pulled Taehyung towards himself by his wrist. "They are just being dramatic, Taehyung," he said and rubbed his arms comfortingly. 

"Ohh...I'm not a kid, though," Taehyung mumbled and got out of Namjoon's hold gently, making Yoongi snort. "Sure, you are not," he said. 

"I bet he's wondering why in the hell we are behaving so closely with him when we were so formal last week during dinner," Seokjin said with a chuckle when he noticed Taehyung's bewildered expression. 

"I sure am," Taehyung said and joined the chuckle party. 

"It was a formal office dinner, Taehyung. And the other two team leaders aren't a part of our friend group. We are just colleagues. So we couldn't open up back then. Also, we were in a tense situation because of the company problem back then to concentrate on making new friends. But you already became a part of our group the second Jeongguk mentioned that you are his friend. Any friend of his is a friend of ours as well," Namjoon explained. 

"And any friend of yours is a friend of ours too. And any friend of ours is a friend of yours," a man said from the threshold of the kitchen. 

Taehyung turned around to face him with surprised eyes. He wondered if he was even going to cook that night. It looked like everyone else except himself (and Namjoon, who was for some god forbidden reason, forbidden from working in the kitchen) was doing the job. 

"Hello, Taehyung. My name is Jung Hoseok. That mountain cat's boyfriend," Hoseok said, walking towards Taehyung for a handshake while pointing to Yoongi with one hand. "Shut up," Yoongi grunted, but Hoseok ignored him. 

Taehyung shook his hand with a small snort and bent forward to bow to him, but Jeongguk stopped him immediately. "You really gotta stop bowing to every single person you meet. Who the hell bows to their friends?" he asked. 

Taehyung grinned at him sheepishly and turned back to face Hoseok. "Kim Taehyung. This bunny boy's friend," he said proudly, patting Jeongguk's shoulder and making him roll his eyes at the nickname. 

Hoseok chuckled at Jeongguk and picked up a couple of onions from the floor. "I guess you dared to give the cutting board and the knife to Namjoon?" he asked. 

Taehyung couldn't stop the snicker from escaping his lips. "What's with everyone behaving like he would kill us with that knife?" he asked.

"Because that can tooootally happen if you give him a knife. You let him into the kitchen and he can even manage to kill you with the tomatoes in the fridge. He has a special talent in it," Seokjin said, making Namjoon roll his eyes once again. 

Taehyung turned to Namjoon with horrified eyes. Namjoon closed his eyes and shook his head at him quickly with a snicker of his own. "They are over-exaggerating it. I am just clumsy," he said. 

"JUST?!" Jeongguk and Hoseok exclaimed together, making Taehyung jump once again. "Shut up, you are scaring my poor baby," Namjoon said and pulled Taehyung towards himself once again. 

"I am not a baby, though," Taehyung said and tried to get out of Namjoon's hold once again, but Namjoon slapped his arm gently and made him stay next to him. 

"I gotta cook. Honestly, I'm sure Yoongi hyung, Seokjin hyung, and Jeongguk are cursing me right now for making them do my job," Taehyung mumbled, trying to pry Namjoon's fingers off his shoulder. 

"Nonsense. We came to help you because we heard that you traveled all the way to Daegu and back today. You must be exhausted. Just let us help. What are friends for?" Hoseok asked. 

Taehyung looked at him gratefully and noticed that he was already cutting the onions up with onion tears in his eyes.

With a smile, he tilted his head to his side to face Namjoon. Namjoon faced him back and gave him a deep-dimpled smile in return, making him melt right there. 

How long had he craved for a friend who stood for him? How many nights had he spent sleeping on the hard floor of their slum-house, wishing for a friend who smiled at him and made him feel like everything was okay? 

He now had five of them, who literally entered his life like a hurricane and swept him off the floor along with them. 

Scratch that. He had six of them now. He couldn't forget that tiny human being who managed to make his days more than anyone could ever imagine. 

He looked around at the people in the kitchen, the people who had voluntarily come to help him, a random cook in their life, just because one of them had decided to make friends with him, that too just because he was his mother's best friend's son. 

'No, no,' he told himself, 'I am their friend too. They are my friends. They are here to help me because they think of me as their friend as well, and not just because Jeongguk considers me as a friend.' 

His heart swelled with pride at that. He ducked his head and tried to wipe the single tear on his cheek discreetly. If Namjoon noticed him wiping his sudden tear, he didn't comment on it. He just tightened his hold around his shoulder and rubbed his arm gently. 

Taehyung smiled, feeling grateful for having found such friends. He wished he wouldn't find himself losing them ever. They were his first-ever friends, after all.