TAEKOOK / TIGER LILY

o6.

Taehyung truly can't fathom what it would be that makes Seokjin so scared of the idea of Jeon Jungkook. After he returned home that night, as Jungkook watched him climb up the lattices with some form of pride glazing his features, his body felt nothing but warmth. It fell from him in droves, as he curled into his blankets and melted into the candle wax of baptism candles. He feels like new-birth. Or, he feels like he's back to how he used to be, to his old self. Jungkook smiles like childhood.

"We have to get these crates ready today." Namjoon tells him on Saturday. It's been a week of his stay already, and he can't help but feel like the time is slipping through his trembling fingers. It feels like it's been no time at all — a day at most.

Still, he agrees easily to help the men in filling their crates with fruits, ready to take to the market. Seokjin finds him as he stands in the shed, sorting his way through rows of jars: jams, jellies, pickles, juices, all sorts of beautifully quaint creations. He rifles through them all, as Namjoon had instructed, and he almost drops the box he's holding as he turns and sees Seokjin leant against the doorway.

The older man smiles, chuckles. In the dark of the shed, his skin glows as the sun hits him from behind; it's as if there's a layer of phosphorescent light bursting from him and it makes his smile even more beautiful. "Tired?" He guesses, and the way his face leers toward the boy, makes Taehyung feel a little uneasy.

"A little." He agrees, shrugs as nonchalantly as he can manage.

"Trouble sleeping?" He continues.

Taehyung supposes Jungkook's habit of roaming around at night wasn't just apparent to him — he knows Jin is smart enough to realise that could be how they seemed to know each other. He doesn't want to lie to the man, but he doesn't feel good about spilling his secret. For some reason, he feels like that would be betraying Jungkook. "Mm, sometimes."

Seokjin shakes his head. He seems to know the boy is lying, or, at least, is skirting around the truth. He doesn't pry in this moment, just moves to grab another of the boxes, and Taehyung waits for him to do so, before they leave, walking beside one another.

"Ah, my hard-workers." Namjoon grins, as they come to him, and place the boxes into the pick-up truck. It's rusty and worn, and it doesn't at all fit their aesthetic, Taehyung can't help but think. No hint of worry slides across Namjoon's face, and he seems as joyful as ever. "I'll go get some more oranges, yes?" He looks at his partner for approval.

As soon as Jin has nodded, the man is off.

"He doesn't know." Seokjin says, and his tone wavers, crisp and soft, almost malleable, like the intention of it can be moulded to Taehyung's will, like it can anything the boy wants for it to be.

Eyelashes flutter, and he doesn't doubt his expression is falsely innocent. He knows what the man's talking about, but he doesn't quite know how he's supposed to react.

"Jungkook came to your room, didn't he?" It's a question, but it doesn't warrant an answer, and Seokjin is way more astute than Taehyung had first believed him to be; that's not to say he ever thought he was foolish, but the man seems to have a somewhat preternatural ability to understand the younger's every waking thought. "You didn't listen to me." He sighs, and it's a great deal more fond than his words had been when he'd warned the brunette to stay away.

"Why do you want me to stay away from him?"

"He's..." The man seems to ponder for the right word, like he doesn't want to be too blunt or offensive, but like there's no other possible way to describe him. "He's not the type of person you can depend on."