TAEKOOK / TIGER LILY

o3.

The next time Taehyung comes into contact with Jungkook is a lot sooner than expected.

Taehyung had woken up later than he usually would, as he'd found it rather difficult to fall asleep. It was hard, what with the titivating thrum of excitement coursing through him since Jeon Jungkook had leapt from his window. The purple sheets he'd curled into suddenly felt alive with prismatic hypertension; shocking reds, resplendent greens, unwinding blues, a beautiful mirage of fantasy unfurling before him, as his mind was overtaken with thoughts of the boy who'd climbed through his window.

Namjoon had taken him fishing during the day, and Taehyung wasn't very good at it, truth be told. His hands weren't exactly adapted to perform physical tasks; he'd spent his life only using his hands to turn pages of books or to grip at bedsheets and curtains.

The lake had been so still as they'd sat beside it, the glimmer of life refracting from it. They'd sat beneath the sun, as it bled through the trees, slipping against their skin and their smiles. They talked for a while about fish and the ocean and the earth and how the ocean filled the Earth and how Taehyung had never been swimming in the ocean. They talked a lot about memories and futures, but they kept avoiding certain topics, and they both had to pretend they didn't notice how they'd skirt around them tactically.

Namjoon had caught exactly one fish, and Taehyung hadn't got any. He didn't mind, he knew he had a while to perfect his craft.

Near the end, Seokjin had padded down to them with freshly squeezed fruit juice and sandwiches with homemade jam. "Here you are, Tae, dear." He'd said, and the brunette laughed as he realised he hadn't brought any for Namjoon.

He listened quietly as they bickered, and Seokjin began whining at Namjoon because apparently he was the best at fishing, and had wanted to be the one to take Taehyung.

"Don't get so upset, love."

Taehyung thinks that's what his uncle had said to calm him down, but he'd been trying not to interrupt their intimate moment. It was quite hard because the rest of the world was so still around them, like they'd created their own little chasm within it, only for them.

When he goes to bed that night, he'd watched them walk to their house tangled in one another's embrace and he'd almost longed for it. He wanted to slap himself in the face as he immediately thought of Jungkook as he watched them. He blames it on the pull of the night that starts to envelope him, and forces himself to recall what had happened the night before. He blames it on his own loneliness.

He's not exactly expecting for Jungkook to make another appearance, as the boy had seemed to get what he wanted from the room and, now that he knew there was someone in there, it was unlikely he'd come back. Alas, he's not surprised when he does hear his window starting the creek open just as he's about to drift to sleep.

Pushing his body up with a start, he needs to verify it is in fact Jungkook, not some other thief. He's glad to see the familiar form of the boy, as he wiggles through the small gap he makes for himself. As soon as they lock eyes, immediately the brunette becomes embarrassed by that splendour, and forces himself to be annoyed.

"Heya, sleepy." Jungkook grins at him, and he's still got feathers in his ears, but, this time they're green, dark green, like moss. He gives him the nickname as if it was a strange thing to do — to be asleep in his bed at night.

Taehyung's frown is soft but the boy notices it nonetheless. "You can't just crawl through my window whenever you feel like it." He announces, and he tries to make his voice clear, coherent, something like an order.

Jungkook just laughs — a silvery little sound, that tinkers across the dark room like bells, or like musical glasses, all echoey and light. "Ah, come on, lighten up. You're not angry about it really, are you?" And his head cocks to the side, his eyes white in the shadows of the moon, and they flick over Taehyung's face, his shoulders, his chest, his legs, his arms, his mouth. His grin broadens. "You're happy to see me, I can tell." His words are dripping with arrogance, but the way he says them makes them sound more childish, innocent.