Lifetime

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Back at his apartment I noticed that some of his furniture had been delivered, a couch arranged in the living room and boxes filled with parts scattered around the floor so that it was messier than it'd been just a week ago. I took off my boots by the door as he set his guitar in the corner, running a hand through his messy hair.

"I'm going to have a quick shower then you can jump in while I find us something to eat. Is that okay?" He reached into a small closet, pulling out a couple of towels and rags.

"Sounds good." I smiled, taking a spot on the couch we'd picked out together. Once I heard the shower running I texted Faye, my fingers moving in a hurry across my phone screen.

Does me coming back to his place after the show make me another one of his groupies? I asked, impatiently watching the three dots that appeared as she replied.

You're not a groupie. My mind wouldn't quite let me believe her response, especially after the message that followed. But maybe don't sleep with him....just in case.

I tucked my phone away, standing and moving over to the keyboard that was set up in front of the window, tapping mindlessly at a few of the keys. I stopped at the sound of the bathroom door opening, Yoongi drying off his hair with a towel and tossing it into a basket as he rejoined me in the living room.

"Do you play?" He asked, skimming his fingers across the keys.

I laughed, the complete opposite of him when it came to anything related to music, an avid consumer but ridiculously untalented. "Not at all."

"Maybe I'll teach you." His attitude was so laid back that it never felt like he was trying to flirt with me, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was his smooth and unassuming way of pulling in women.

It was incredibly late, already past one in the morning by the time I showered, changing into the plain t-shirt and shorts he left out for me, fitting snug on my chest and hips. We sat on the floor by the coffee table again, devouring the cups of noodles he heated, my lips tingling and red from spiciness when we finished.

He didn't seem to have much to say tonight and I would soon learn that he was often exhausted from the amount of people he knew and interacted with, needing to recharge with a comfortable silence.

"So, how do you know Joseph?" I asked after drinking most of my water to soothe my burning tongue. The question, and others, had been on my mind since the previous afternoon.

"I used to be him." He leaned back, grunting in response to his full stomach. "I lived out of my car for about six months before I left Chicago last year. He was the first person to ever really help me. He showed me all the safest places to park for sleep and gave me every free food connection in the city. We went through some pretty rough times together but we had some fun too." He smiled as if he were remembering.

"Where'd you go when you left?" There was so much I wanted to know about him, trying to be curious without being too intrusive.

"Out to LA for a year. I built up some connections out there so I could produce more, but I wanted to come back here to help other artists make music and grow." He answered.

I nodded. "And how do you know Erica?" I got to the question that'd been pressing on me the most. "I thought of making a game out of it, take a shot every time Yoongi knows someone, but I'm afraid I'd be drunk all the time." I added with a laugh.

"She's an old friend." He chuckled, shrugging.

My response slipped past my lips before I could think twice about it. "Seems like you like that word, friend." I rolled my eyes.

There was a smirk on his lips that was incredibly cute and annoying. "You're not like my other friends, Seline."

Something about the way he said my name made the hair on my arms stand to attention. "Then what kind of friend am I?" I was surprised by my boldness since I'd been feeling a little powerless to the intense connection I had to him.

"Come to bed with me and I'll tell you." He was so confident and forward, the fuel that made him irresistible. Still, I thought back to Faye's message. She definitely meant don't have sex with him and I wouldn't, so maybe it couldn't hurt to sleep together. He didn't wait for my reply, standing and reaching out for my hand.

When he took it every piece of furniture and unopened assembly kit dissipated, my heart hammering as he led me down the hallway to his bedroom. I closed my eyes for a second, always shocked by the feeling, and opened them when he released me, crawling under the small blanket on his mattress. He held it up until I climbed in next to him, wrapping his arm around me. With my head against his chest I noticed that his heart was beating quickly too, and with so much contact, we were practically floating midair in the middle of Chicago.

"You feel that right?" He questioned and when I tilted my head to look up at him, I noticed the deep pull of his brow.

"Yeah." I said, sure it was the same for him.

He sighed with his confession. "That's the kind of friend you are. You give me this feeling I can't describe, like nothing in the universe matters but you. It's consuming and I've never had anything close to that with anyone, so–"

"So what?" I asked, his chest rising and falling with a heavy breath as he cut himself off.

"So I need to be close to you."
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Author's Note: Apologies for the pretty short chapter tonight, but I needed to get it out. I'll be sure to have another update for you all tomorrow. If you're reading this story I hope you can appreciate the slower build between the characters right now and promise the slow burn will be worth it. Thanks for reading!