love me (me) [vkook/taegguk]

[part two] chapter eight - the f word

He's instantly greeted by one of his favourite views of all time: a cuddly-looking Vantae offering up a sweet smile just for him.

Albeit, he's seeing said sweet smile over a video call, but the fond, "Hey, my Kookie," that comes with it is enough to make Jeongguk nearly pass away.

He loves when he calls him his anything.

He swallows down a gulp. "Hi."

And V's face immediately crumples a bit in concern. "You okay, Kookoo?"

He nods meekly in response. Holy shit, he loves him.

"I just always forget how pretty you are," he's admitting before his brain has time to catch up to his mouth.

His best friend shoots him a stern look then. "Jungoo," he deadpans. "I'm literally wearing a mask, and my hair is a mess right now." He wildly shakes a few strands around as if to illustrate his point. "How could I possibly look pretty?"

Jeongguk's expression softens at the winsome sight on its own accord.

"You're always pretty, hyung."

This time, he means to say it out loud.

"Not nearly as pretty as you, Bun," Vantae answers doubtlessly as always, as if he believes that he's simply stating a proven fact. "Don't tell the others, but I think that I'll miss you the most this week."

Now, Jeongguk feels a little stab in his chest as he's reminded of the fact that his heart has left him and is going to be halfway across the world for the next few days.

Shut up, he knows that he needs to get a grip. You don't need to say it.

"You mean that you'll miss me making you food whenever you want me to," he puts forward as a distraction, both so that he can't dwell on his own pathetic feelings anymore and the words that V just said that don't hold behind them the meaning that he'd like them to.

"That too," Vantae easily concedes with a grin. "Taehyungie can't cook to save his life."

He narrows his eyes then, snorting a bit. "Did you just refer to yourself in the third person and call yourself hyungie?" He asks.

V appears a little caught off guard, (and he actually is because he didn't say 'Tae-hyungie' but rather accidentally name-dropped his twin brother that he's never told Jeongguk about) but he quickly covers it up with a teasing smile.

"Well," he hums, "I am your hyungie, aren't I, my Googie?"

And Jeongguk can't not beam back at him. "Of course, my hyungie." – even though he kind of deflates at the nickname, which somehow always serves to remind him of how Vantae does and always will view him.

He never meant to fall for him in the first place, is the thing– which, okay, does anyone ever really plan on catching the f word for someone else, but either way, he's screwed... because his best friend definitely does not feel the same way about him.

Vantae sees him as his literal brother, and that was all well and good a year and a half ago when Jeongguk was just an awkward, shy kid being scouted to join Epiphany Entertainment, and V, though also new himself, was the actual angel who did his best to make him feel welcome and helped get him out of his shell and became his partner in crime that together became the bane of Seokjin's existence, but now–

Now, Jeongguk's an only slightly less awkward, shy kid who literally forgets how to blink in the presence of Vantae's ethereal beauty, whose breath completely ceases at the view of his endearing boxy smile and at the sound of his mesmerising voice, who doesn't know how he ever went so long without knowing the most beautiful soul ever created in the history of the universe, whose heart physically reaches out for the other whenever he's near, and V–

V is the actual angel who constantly cuddles and coddles him (sometimes on command), who reminds him to eat and stay hydrated and take breaks when he's working himself too hard during training, who won't hesitate to fight anyone who talks shit about Jeongguk (even if that person happens to be Jeongguk himself), who's been an ear to listen and a shoulder to lean on since the very first day that they met, who's– who's truthfully, wholly been his light.

... And therein lies the problem.

Vantae sees him as his literal brother, and that would be all well and good if Jeongguk didn't see him as the literal light of his life.