The Explanation (Part 4 Coming Soon)

The Explanation Part 2

When they first started dating, a million years ago, they tried to keep it a secret - and they were successful for a while. Taehyung knew immediately, of course, before Moon even told him, and Jimin knew, of course. The first time he walked in on them kissing in the kitchen in the middle of the night, he gave them one of his patented glowing smiles, dramatically put a hand over his eyes and stumbled out the door, shutting it behind him. Both him and Tae covered for them hundreds of times but eventually, the company figured it out. Thankfully Jungkook's inability to keep his emotions off his face every time he looked at Moon, meant that ARMY had figured it out too and were shipping them hard.

The moment that publicly outed them as a couple, confirming ARMY's suspicions, ended up being their highest viewed episode of Bon Voyage. In the episode, all the members were sprawled out around a hotel room. Jungkook and Moon were laying on the bed together, which wasn't unusual, there were tons of videos of all the members curled up with one another - but ARMY knew there was something deeper when Jungkook and Moon cuddled together, especially in that Bon Voyage episode.

All eight of them were in the room. Jimin was on the other side of Moon, reading a book, Yoongi was asleep across the bottom of the bed and Tae was on the other side of Jimin, not quite asleep, but watching the cameraman through half-closed eyes. Joon and Hope each lay in big armchairs and Jin lay on the couch. It was just a simple closing shot to bookend a long day.

The thing that made it different was the intimacy between Moon and Jungkook. It looked like they'd melted into one another; they were too comfortable, too used to sleeping together. With bodies curled around each other, legs and hands and hips entwined, their stomachs touching, they held onto each other too tightly. Moon's lips lay against the warmth of JK's neck. She was already asleep and his eyes were closed, on the edge of sleep, his fingers trailing along her lower back and hip. His fingertips danced across her skin, disappearing under the bottom of her shirt and then down farther, and rested under the waistband of her jeans. It was a small gesture but a telling one, and ARMY noticed it. It was too intimate, too instinctual; it was habit.

Shortly after that, in the background of a RUN episode, you could see Jungkook pulling away from Moon after a kiss. You couldn't see the kiss itself, but ARMY went crazy. From then on, Jungkook and Moon could touch or kiss in public without censoring themselves. In fact, ARMY asked them to kiss all the time. Every fansign event, every concert, every time they were together on a stage, fans wanted them to kiss. The relationship that had been taboo, ended up being "the ship to end all ships". Every photo shoot now included not only the group shots and individual shots, the twin shots of Ji-Moon and Taehyung, but also now, shots of "The Golden Couple".

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The final concerts of the last tour was when things started to fall apart. Ji-Moon was so sick, more sick than she'd ever been. Whether it was the food or the weather combined with being exhausted from touring for too long, she could barely pretend that she was okay.

"You need to see a doctor." Taehyung held her hair as she leaned over a toilet. The public restroom backstage at the arena had been cordoned off for their use and a guard stood outside the door so no one else, even staff, could enter.

"It's probably a touch of food poisoning."

"You haven't eaten anything for 2 days..."

The door to the hallway opened as she heaved again. Apparently security wasn't going to stop Suga from going where he wanted.

"That doesn't sound good." His deep voice sounded concerned. "They want an update out there." He leaned against the cement block wall across from the cubicle. "Are you going to be able to perform or should we cancel?"