before i could even remember

VI

"Hyungs! Are you home?"

"Here, Taetae!"

Taehyung enters his hyungs' apartment with a spare key and takes off his Gucci slides, the gift from his brother after he finished his first big gig for one of the biggest music labels in the country. It is a nice life to have such a talented hyung, who is quickly becoming rich and showers him with gifts.

He moves to the living room to find Jeongguk hyung with chunky glasses perched on his slightly too big nose, Yeontan in his lap and "Sherlock", the one with Benedict Cumberbatch, playing on TV. He looks so cuddly in his oversized jumper, feet covered with fluffy blanket and freshly dried hair, which lately got quite long, Taehyung thinks he can actually feel a physical pain caused by the urge to wrap himself all around him.

"There is my love, my sweetest baby, I missed you so so so much!" he coos and runs to the sofa, dropping on his knees in front of it.

"I'm glad you're so happy to see me, Taehyungie." Jeongguk hyung smiles at him, observing how Taehyung showers Yeontan with pets.

The dog stays with hyungs since Taehyung and Yoongi's parents went on a short trip during one of the spring weekends and the boys liked having the pet around so much, they decided to keep him a bit longer. Few months later, Yeontan is still in Seoul, happy and absolutely spoiled. But Taehyung doesn't complain because this way he can visit his baby whenever he wants.

When Taehyung lets the dog kiss him all over his face, Jeongguk hyung finally speaks again.

"This is disgusting, both you and Yoongi let him do that and I always feel like throwing up." he fake gags and Taehyung giggles.

"So you don't like it with much spit, hyung?" he looks at him wiggling his brows and laughs out loud when hyung starts to stutter.

"That-that is t-totally different... w-what? Taetae!" he groans and throws his head at the armrest, making Taehyung laugh even louder. "When did you become such a tease, hmm? I miss my baby dongsaeng who was afraid of his own shadow, shy from simple greetings from strangers and not understanding the concept of sarcasm."

At that Taehyung actually starts to cry and falls on the ground, Yeontan barking at them happily.

"Come here, you dork. Wanna watch with me?" Jeongguk hyung tickles his bare foot and tuts disapprovingly. "Taetae it's too cold already for you to wear these slides. You'll get sick, your feet are freezing cold. Get up here and under the blanket, chop-chop."

Then he basically drags Taehyung from the floor, first placing disgruntled Yeontan down, wraps the blanket around both of them and after cuddling Taehyung to himself, he grabs the dog back to settle him on his lap.

"Is 'Sherlock' fine or you wanna watch something else? I'm fine with anything, honestly, just wanna relax. Actually, I'm so comfortable right now, I may fall asleep any minute, so it's your call, Taehyungie." he sighs contentedly and buries himself more into the couch, pulling Taehyung closer to his side, making the younger's heart go into overdrive.

Taehyung needs a good few moments to gather his thoughts because holy shit, he is cuddling with Jeongguk hyung and he couldn't give a shit about some stupid movie. He finally clears his throat and quietly confirms that "Sherlock" is perfectly fine. Jeongguk hyung hums and resumes the episode. With one arm draped around Taehyung, he goes back to petting Yeontan, who is already dozing off. He sighs happily once again.

"This is nice."

"Yeah." Taehyung murmurs. "Nice."

He needs half of the episode to calm his excited heart down. Just when he thought it's okay, Jeongguk hyung started to stroke his arm, which prolonged the whole process. Hyung's new tattoo of a little galaxy on his left hand, right in the line of his vision, does not help with concentration. Taehyung feels so warm and happy and the whole situation is domestic as hell, he doesn't know how he's going to live further after that, now that he knows how it feels like.

Before the second episode, Jeongguk hyung prepares two bowls of popcorn, one with buttery one for Taehyung, another with a simple salty one for himself. Then he brings fuzzy socks, which he throws in Taehyung's face. "Clearly my feet are not enough to warm up yours." he says and Taehyung can feel himself blushing.

Hyung lies down again and after making sure Taehyung's feet are properly shielded from the cold, he brings him down, so now he's halfway on top of him. Before clicking play, he scoops Yeontan up and places him on his stomach, checking first if the dog isn't in the way of Taehyung's vision. Popcorns placed in their arm rage and the series resumes.

This is how Yoongi hyung finds them, when he arrives home an hour later. Taehyung squirms a bit, but Jeongguk hyung caresses his back so he stops any attempt to get away. Not that he really wanted that in the first place.

He expects Yoongi to be weirded out or throw one of his tantrums but except one raised eyebrow, there is no reaction whatsoever. Taehyung isn't sure if he should be happy or concerned. Hyung watches them for a few seconds and then looks quickly at the TV.

"Which episode?"

"An hour into the second one." Jeongguk hyung doesn't even spare him a glance.

"Sweet. I'll take a quick shower and join you."

Taehyung followed him with his eyes until he disappeared behind the corner.

"Taetae?" he looks at Jeongguk hyung (and tries not to look at the tiny mole under his lips. The mole. Not lips. Why would Taehyung look at hyung's lips.), who smiles at him slightly. "You okay?"

He blinks once. Twice.

"Yeah." he nods slowly. "Everything's perfect."