✔ || Distract Me

Chapter 27

{A/N: Prepare for angst galore, my friends}

Taehyung toyed with the headphones in his lap. Jeongguk was standing against the opposite wall, watching him carefully. The boy mumbled, "I really wish you didn't say anything, jagi."

"An archangel is right on our asses hell-bent on ruining our lives, and you're afraid of Yoongi-hyung?" Jeongguk retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Taehyung offered a humorless laugh. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Have you done anything else besides the little bit you showed me?"

"I have some lyrics written and their basic place in the music," Taehyung sighed. "But I don't have anything concrete, and nothing is finished."

"I thought you were mixing."

"I'm a bit disorganized," Taehyung admitted. "I've been doing a little bit of everything, honestly."

"Have you actually sang anything?"

Taehyung chucked the nearest object at the maknae, which ended up being a plushie that a fan had given Jeongguk back when they still accepted gifts. He caught it, raising his eyebrows, and Taehyung raked his hands through his hair. Finally, he said, "Of course I've sang stuff. There's even some of it in here. It's just - I don't know, Kook."

"Tae," Jeongguk approached him carefully. The next object he threw would probably be a bit more solid than the stuffed animal. "Are you done having a tantrum?"

"Jeongguk," he growled, and then he registered the plushie in the maknae's hand. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"No problem," Jeongguk shrugged and plopped down in the elder's lap. "Can I kiss you without getting hit with a book?"

Taehyung chuckled tiredly, "I'm sorry. I'm not sure why I did that."

Jeongguk leaned forward and Taehyung shut his eyes, struggling to breathe. It was cute to see the normally confident boy so self-conscious. Jeongguk kissed his trembling lips gently. "Hyung, I love you. I wouldn't insist on showing this to Yoongi if it wasn't good." He squinted at the screen. Measures and notes were scattered all over the board and he almost laughed at how haphazard it all was. Taehyung had been in here teaching himself, never asking for help from any of them, never having any proper professional training in producing, and it showed in ways that were inexplicably and adorably him. "Have you come up with a title for it yet?"

Taehyung hesitated, stiffening under the maknae, before saying, "Stigma."

Jeongguk turned his head to look at him quizzically. "Yeah?"

"Not good?" Taehyung winced.

"No! It's great! I'm just - I haven't heard the lyrics, so I don't know what it's about. So you've made me curious, that's all."

Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door and Jeongguk stood. Taehyung captured his hand and held it until the maknae was too far away, and Jeongguk admitted Yoongi into the room with a grin. Taehyung stared at the newcomer, his eyes wide and terrified. Without so much as a greeting, Yoongi set to work in the most Yoongi way possible - by silently nudging Taehyung out of the chair and putting on the headphones. Indignant, Taehyung reached towards him, but Yoongi batted his hands away, squinting at the chaos on the screen, and pressed Play.

Taehyung looked at Jeongguk helplessly. The maknae shrugged and Taehyung turned back to the computer, biting his nail. Jeongguk watched him, entranced. He didn't think Taehyung had any bad habits, so it was refreshing to see him do something so incredibly human. It made him a little more tangible, as if he didn't have two scars on his back where wings once were and he didn't literally come from heaven itself. But it was also sad - it meant that his angelhood was slipping from him, and that he was becoming more human than not. The person in front of Jeongguk was not the ethereal creature straight out of divinity from his first dream with him, which now felt like an eternity ago. Though he was an immigrant (more like a refugee) from heaven, he was slowly adapting to the culture of Earth.