✔ || Distract Me

Chapter 8

Taehyung dropped his last bag and stretched his arms skyward. Jeongguk chewed the inside of his cheek, trying not to stare at the flash of tummy the stretch offered him. Taehyung groaned happily and lifted himself onto his toes, squeezing his eyes shut. Jeongguk's disrespectful brain suggested that it would be incredible to invoke that noise from the boy himself, and he blushed and dropped his gaze. Taehyung, finished with his stretch, rested his hands on his hips, "Want to help me, Kookie?"

Jeongguk snorted, flopping on his bed, "No."

Taehyung pleaded, "Please, Kookie? It's the last one and I'm so tired."

And fuck, Taehyung's voice was especially sexy when it was begging. Jeongguk pushed his tired body up and crossed to his hyung. "What do you want me to do?"

Taehyung enveloped his arms around Jeongguk's neck, nuzzling his cheek. "Thanks, Kookie!"

"Yeah," Jeongguk said, his voice trembling. He brushed off his hyung's arms, worried that he'd feel his hammering heart. "Sure thing, hyung."

Taehyung frowned when Jeongguk pushed him away, but the frown quickly melted into grin as he picked up the bag and dropped it on the bed. "I don't even know what's in here."

Jeongguk laughed, "You're so unorganized, hyung."

Taehyung stuck his tongue out at the maknae and unzipped the bag. "Oh yeah!"

Inside were things Taehyung had needed until the last day at his old home, things like his toothbrush and toothpaste, his soap, and his hairbrush. Jeongguk let him take his toiletries to the bathroom, shaking his head at the thought of yet another toothbrush in the container to sort through in the morning, and rummaged through the rest of the contents. Taehyung also had socks, a couple of t-shirts and shorts, and (are you actually serious) underwear in the bag. Jeongguk groaned at his immaturity (everyone wears underwear, Jeongguk, get it together) and folded the t-shirts the way he had seen Taehyung do it before stuffing them in his drawer. The shorts followed, and then Taehyung had returned. "Ah, Jeonggukie," he scolded playfully, "you haven't hardly done anything!"

"It's not like you were gone forever," Jeongguk reminded him.

Taehyung grabbed the underwear (thank god) and put them and his socks in their respective drawers. Finally done unpacking, Taehyung stuck out an arm and, before Jeongguk could react, clotheslined the maknae onto his bed. Jeongguk squirmed beneath Taehyung's nonexistent weight, but forced himself to relax when Taehyung only held onto him tighter. He begged his blood to stop singing in his ears, but that wasn't going to happen as Taehyung leaned closer and murmured, his breath tickling Jeongguk's ear, "Thank you, Kookie."

And then his lips were on Jeongguk's earlobe and the maknae couldn't hide the hitch in his breath. Taehyung pushed himself up, hovering over Jeongguk with his eyebrows furrowed. "Are you alright, Kookie?" He asked, worry laced in his voice.

Jeongguk forced himself to nod, managing a high pitched "mm-hmm" in response. Taehyung's eyebrows rose and for a moment - just a moment - Jeongguk imagined that the older boy was about to kiss his lips. But Taehyung only lay back down, his breath coming out in small puffs against Jeongguk's cheek. They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. Jeongguk's eyes stayed fixed to the ceiling, wide and terrified, while Taehyung's slipped shut. After a few minutes, Taehyung said sleepily, "Kookie? Can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course, hyung," Jeongguk responded. "Anything."

"Um," Taehyung pushed himself up and Jeongguk felt a stab of disappointment. "Could I maybe - ah, it's silly."

Jeongguk sat up with him, resting his hand on the older boy's wrist. "What is it, hyung?"

Taehyung shrugged, "Could I maybe - heh," he let out an uncomfortable laugh, "could I maybe sleep with you?"

When Jeongguk hesitated, Taehyung quickly rambled, "Because it makes me feel better to have someone close by, and I get nervous in new places, and I really trust you and feel safe around you, and I know that I wouldn't be nervous if I was close to you, and I promise it wouldn't be a permanent thing, maybe a few nights, maybe like a week or less at the most, maybe just until I'm not nervous anymore, but I don't want to make you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry if this is asking too much or going to far, I just thought -"

"Hyung," Jeongguk said softly, stopping the older boy. Taehyung swallowed whatever he was about to say and met Jeongguk's eyes. The maknae ran a hand through Taehyung's hair, elated because he was real and here and trusted Jeongguk enough to sleep beside him, and said earnestly, "Of course you can."

Taehyung's eyes fluttered shut, so Jeongguk kept petting his hair. "Are you sure?" Asked the older boy after a long moment that could have lasted for seconds or hours. "Because -"

With willpower that Jeongguk didn't know he possessed, he pressed a hand to Taehyung's mouth. "I'm sure, hyung."

Taehyung nodded slowly, eyes wide and innocent, and Jeongguk lowered his hand. "Okay," murmured the boy.

Jeongguk nodded back, "Okay."

By the time everyone had showered and eaten, it was late into the night. The members sat in the living room for about an hour, trying to stay awake and watch a movie together, but they were all too exhausted to finish it. Yoongi moved first, mumbling an incoherent "goodnight" and going to his room. Namjoon turned off the TV and helped a dozing Jimin to his feet, leading him back to their room. Seokjin and Hoseok sat up with the maknaes for a few minutes more, trying to form a conversation, but they were beyond tired and eventually Seokjin just reminded them that tomorrow was their day off and if they wanted to make the most of it, they needed to go to sleep. Jeongguk grunted in response, and Taehyung just nodded. Not quite satisfied, the eldest hyung left for the night. Hoseok ruffled the two boys' hair and followed him.

Jeongguk tried to calm down. Taehyung's arm was pressed against the maknae's as they curled up on the sofa, and even though he now had room to scoot away, he didn't. Instead, he dropped his head on Jeongguk's shoulder and threw an arm over his torso. "Should we go to bed too, Kookie?" He asked.

"Only if you want to," Jeongguk breathed.

"Hmm," Taehyung buried himself deeper into Jeongguk's side. "I want to play, but I'm too tired."

"Then let's go to bed," Jeongguk said. "You can do whatever you want tomorrow."

Taehyung nodded, his hair brushing Jeongguk's jaw, "Yeah, I guess so. I'll play with Kookie tomorrow."

The older boy definitely felt Jeongguk's stomach flex against the butterflies that suddenly materialized inside it, but he thankfully ignored it. Jeongguk forced himself to say, "Yeah, if you want."

Taehyung hummed and lifted himself up. Jeongguk couldn't ignore the stab of disappointment, but it quickly dissipated when Taehyung pulled him to his feet and tugged him down the hall, fingers laced with his.

Once in the bedroom, Jeongguk perched on the foot of his bed, suddenly very aware of how close they were and how small the bed was and how small he was. Taehyung glanced at him, "What side do you want?"

Jeongguk shrugged, avoiding his hyung's eyes. "Whatever side you don't want, I guess."

Taehyung laughed and hopped on the bed. "Come here then, Kookie."

Jeongguk obeyed, letting Taehyung pull him under the blanket with him. He rolled onto his side, his back facing Taehyung. The older boy whispered, "Is it alright to touch you?"

Jeongguk swallowed and nodded. A shiver ran down his spine as Taehyung carded his long fingers through his brown hair, grabbing a handful and holding it tightly in his fist. Every nerve in Jeongguk's body was on edge, curious as to how the older boy would ruin him next. Taehyung let go of Jeongguk's hair and instead pressed his forehead into the maknae's shoulder blade, sighing, and grabbed onto his t-shirt. Jeongguk's heart was hammering so loud that he feared his hyung could hear it. Taehyung murmured into his back, "Goodnight, Kookie."

"Goodnight, hyung," Jeongguk breathed.

It took at least twenty minutes for Jeongguk to force his eyes shut after Taehyung fell asleep, and probably another thirty for him to calm down enough to actually sleep.