Sky Full of Stars | Taekook

3. Twisted Logic

"You said you had a buyer," Yoongi grunted, terse and gruff. His eyes roamed the gallery, traveling the walls as though they were foreign lands.

Namjoon twirled his pen in his hand, "I think so," he nodded, "Is he ready to sell?"

Yoongi tossed himself into a funky mod armchair, "Yep," was all he said, face calm.

"It wouldn't be the first time you said that, though," Namjoon countered, doodling on a pad of paper, "It's been at least once a year for quite a few years now."

He took a minute to count, "Basically since he left town, maybe even before. That seems like a lifetime," he exclaimed, flicking a few fingers.

Yoongi turned one palm to the ceiling, shaking his head, a silent what am I supposed to do about it?

"I'm just the messenger, Joon," he groaned, eyes closing for a moment, "You work with artists all the time, you know how intense it can be."

He flipped the palm to the sky again, "It's a huge commitment. A huge part of his life."

Namjoon rolled his eyes, "No one is forcing him to do this! You two keep playing art chicken with me. It's so annoying," he fought back, half bitter, half amused.

"Pretty sure he's for real this time," Yoongi quickly retorted, voice low, "No guarantees but I'm pretty sure."

He shrugged an apology, meeting Namjoon's eyes.

"It's hard to justify all this time, though, Yoongi. For you and for me," Namjoon replied, a warning, an apology, a half-smile.

Yoongi's lip twitched into a tiny smirk, "How's Kim doing?"

He waited, smirk growing into a brief smile, until Namjoon nodded.

"She's good. But she wants some balance instead of the world revolving around our friends from high school," Namjoon delivered, face heating up, the level of internal conflict evident.

Yoongi nodded towards his right shoulder, "Friends is a loose term," he muttered the weak retort, "It's family for some of us."

Namjoon laughed, "And enemies for others."

"Dude, Jungkook is out of control," Yoongi rolled his eyes, "He needs to fucking get over it. It's ancient history."

They stared at each other for a moment before Yoongi started reading through some of the paperwork Namjoon had handed him earlier.

"It is. But at this point, I'm pretty sure he literally cannot get over it. It's like a permanent handicap."

Namjoon shrugged it off, landing somewhere between disdain and disquiet. He waited politely for Yoongi's rebuttal, which was glacial.

"It would make life easier for Tae if he could just ease up a little bit."

It came with a sense of smarm.Yoongi was unapologetic, square.

"I'm not the boss anymore," Namjoon scoffed, "Or ever. That's historically been Jin, Jimin, or in less recent history, Tae. But we all know how that ends up."

He gave an exaggerated sigh, "Which is why he's pathologically incapable of easing up, Yoongi."

Namjoon stood, "I jeed to go now. Kim wants to do some stuff. We have a busy few weeks coming up," he recounted, waving his hand towards the door, "Let me know if Tae is serious this time. And if he is, have him name a price."

Yoongi flashed a peace sign, turning to the door, "He's serious. It's different this time," he repeated himself, "Give my best to the one and only Kim Kim."