Adore You

Walk in your rainbow paradise
Strawberry lipstick state of mind

The crowd erupts in screams and cheers as they recognize the melody of Harry Styles’ “Adore You” from the stage.

Jeon Jeongguk looks to his right and almost spits out his drink as he watches Taehyung’s ecstatic reaction to the familiar song. Taehyung quickly starts singing along to the song while simultaneously setting his drink down and jumping out of his seat to dance.

I get so lost inside your eyes
Would you believe it?

Taehyung is screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs and Jeongguk can’t help but smile as his friend and groupmate dances beside him.

He honestly couldn’t believe that they were even there. Of course, being in LA was always in the cards; they were due to perform at the American Music Awards that weekend. Plus, after what felt like an eternity, Jeongguk and the rest of BTS would be having their first in-person, live, concert in this very city a week later.

The part that Jeongguk couldn’t believe was that not only did he, Taehyung, Jimin, and Hoseok score tickets to Harry Styles’ concert (thanks Big Hit), but they were actually allowed to go! Tonight, they were just four twenty-somethings, on a Friday night, mixed drinks in hand, surrounded by thousands of people all singing along to Harry Styles.

It felt like someone had waved a magic wand and turned them into normal guys for the night.

Jeongguk continued to watch Taehyung belt out the lyrics, hands in the air, hips swaying to the music. Earlier in the evening, they had noticed a group of ARMY on the floor below them, and Tae seemed to be having the time of his life singing with them- it was like a preview of their performances to come. Jeongguk hadn’t seen Tae this happy and carefree since their trip in the summer.

It was actually Taehyung who had gotten Jeongguk and the others into Harry Styles’ music. It started out with Tae just being interested in Harry’s style (no pun intended), but then found a strong appreciation for his musicality and performance. He’s probably heard Taehyung sing this very song a million times. Some days, it was Jeongguk who would sing those lyrics right back at Tae.

Honey
I'd walk through fire for you
Just let me adore you

Suddenly, Jeongguk felt a light shove to his left, breaking him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at Jimin, who had a knowing smirk rising across his face.

“You know the show is up there, right?” Jimin asks, trying not to spill as he lifted his plastic cup toward the performance on stage, “You can see that one sing, any time.” They both shifted their gazes back to Taehyung who is practically miming the lyrics now to the crowd below.

Jeongguk felt oddly shy having been caught staring by Jimin. It’s not like Jimin didn’t already know he and Taehyung’s relationship, but the fact that he had been caught staring means that any onlooker could have seen and that wasn’t good.

Yeah, maybe in a “normal” world, where he and Tae were “normal people”, Jeongguk staring at Taehyung in amusement slash awe slash I’m-so-in-love-with-you-I-can’t-even-take-it, wouldn’t be a big deal. But despite how normal this night felt, they were hardly normal people.

The guys knew coming to this concert was a risk. They hadn’t gotten box seats or stood backstage to avoid possible fans and prying eyes. They knew that within minutes of being spotted, videos of them would be all over Twitter with commentaries on what they were wearing, what they were doing, how much they’d been drinking, and of course, how they interacted with each other and the people around them.