Hide & Seek ➤ Taekook/Vkook

Chapter 3

[A/N: Check out the new cover I created for Hide & Seek! 🥺 I was satisfied with the one before as well but I honestly love this one more. Let me know how it is. 😇]

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𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔
𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏
𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔
𝑶𝒉, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏

*****

"Jungkook, finish your-...Hey hey hey!" Taehyung shot his left hand out in front of Jungkook's forehead just in time to stop his face from completing its slow descent into his plate of scrambled eggs, nearly untouched. 

Jungkook let out a drowsy groan of protest, his eyebrows deeply furrowed. "Mm..."

"Easy there." Suppressing a laugh, Taehyung gently nudged his head back upright, waiting until his spine reluctantly followed. The younger blinked several times, his eyes barely managing to stay open as he slumped against the backrest, stretching his neck side to side.

"You can go back to sleep in the car," Taehyung suggested with a small smile, guilt prickling at a tiny corner in his chest. It was mostly on him why Jungkook didn't look well-rested. Last night had unfolded in a far stranger note than either of them had anticipated; Jungkook evidently hadn't managed much sleep afterwards. 

Chugging down the remnant of his own coffee, Taehyung slid Jungkook's mug a little closer to the boy, speaking softly, "Drink the coffee, you'll feel better. And hurry up. Or, we'll be late."

Jungkook slowly lifted his head at that, blinking incredulously at Taehyung, "...Did you seriously just tell me to hurry?"

"I did." Taehyung's smile was, expectedly, smug as he got up from the chair.

Jungkook snorted, sluggishly taking a sip of his lukewarm coffee, "That's a funny thing to hear from you."

"I know, right?" Taehyung snickered. "The irony is astounding! It's past 8 AM, by the way, Mr. Punctual," he mocked, pointing at the kitchen clock. "What were you saying about 8 AM sharp yesterday?"

It elicited a disgruntled grunt from the younger, naturally not having any solid comeback. His half-lidded eyes only absentmindedly tracked Taehyung around the kitchen as the older rinsed his empty mug, washed his hands, dried them on the towel hanging by the sink...

Completely awake and functional.

Kinda making Jungkook wonder if last night had been just a bizarre dream.

But he had found no tteokbokki container in the fridge this morning when he had opened it to get the ice pack to press against his sore shoulder...

"How the hell are you so awake?" He couldn't help but mutter in a raspy tone, almost offended as he forked his cold scrambled egg and forced a bit into his mouth with the toast. "You barely slept either."

Taehyung let out a dry chuckle, "I'm built different."

Pfft, he wasn't.

It was just that over the last few years, his body had developed an irritating habit of jolting awake far too many times in the middle of the night. Sometimes at the faintest sound. Sometimes for no reason at all. At one. At three. An entire hour before his alarm. More often than not, he would end up lying awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling until either sleep mercifully returned or the first hints of dawn seeped through the curtains. It had become like a gamble—a routine he no longer questioned.