trashcancath (ao3)
Taehyung is curious about Jeongguk's ring
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Taehyung knows it's none of his business. Jeongguk can wear whatever accessories he wants. They're not even really friends, to be honest. Just two classmates who chat in the back of the lecture hall when the professor continues to drone on and on about things they should be paying attention to or risk failing. And, like, if you asked Taehyung if he had a crush on the younger, he'd definitely deny it. Nope, no crushes here, no sirree. Jeongguk's just a good friend who shares a lot of his interests, and despite his emo-looking unapproachable-looking shy-looking ass, is really nice.
Okay, so maybe Taehyung has a crush on Jeongguk but it doesn't really matter.
And sure, he's never been good at minding his own business.
"What's your ring?" he asks impulsively, reaching over and grabbing Jeongguk's left hand to inspect the gold band on his, well, ring finger. Jeongguk doesn't pull his hand away, allows Taehyung to fiddle with his fingers and spin the ring around his finger. "It looks kind of... marriagey."
The observation makes Jeongguk laugh quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to them. After all, they're supposed to be diligently learning about amino acids or something. Maybe just acids. It's chemistry... what kind of acid do you learn about in chem? Taehyung's not sure, but he doesknow he'll probably fail.
But back to Jeongguk and his laughter. It's a beautiful sound, but that might just be Taehyung's crush showing. The soft giggle came as a surprise the first time he heard it, expecting a much lower, maybe breathier sound to come from someone as dark and ripped as Jeongguk. The younger does finally pull his hand away from Taehyung's hold and twists the ring, a habit Taehyung's observed multiple times.
It wouldn't be weird for Jeongguk to be married, right? Lots of people marry their high school sweethearts right after they graduate high school, right? Or do they usually wait until after college? Taehyung doesn't know, he's never been in a relationship long enough to even consider marriage. But at the same time, Jeongguk is, like, really young. Like, he's a couple years younger than Taehyung. He's still getting his gen-eds complete as a sophomore (don't as Taehyung why he's taking a gen-ed's chem class... it's a long story). Like, not to judge or anything, but twenty is really young to get married. Especially in this economy... can any twenty year old even afford a wedding? Could they even afford wedding rings?
Not to mention, who would even want to be tied down so early? Maybe that's just Taehyung's opinion, but he can't imagine falling in love with someone early enough to get married at twenty... there are so many people to meet that the people he made out with in high school don't even have a place in his memories anymore. Perhaps it says something about Jeongguk that he's already married. Which is unfortunate, because there's definitely something deceptively hot about being a man of commitment... if only that commitment was towards someone like Taehyung.
"It's my class ring," Jeongguk's answer pulls Taehyung out of his mildly confused and disappointed thoughts into a much brighter mindset.
"Oh. So it's not, like, a wedding ring?" Taehyung asks stupidly and Jeongguk sweetly laughs again. "Hey, don't laugh, it looks like a wedding ring!"
"Yeah, I suppose it does," Jeongguk agrees gratefully. He pulls the ring off and hands it to Taehyung to admire. "Doesn't help that I wear it on my ring finger, but whatever. It's a ring finger, that's a ring. I'd say it belongs there."
"You're right about that," Taehyung nods. He pinches the band between his first finger and thumb and looks hard at the shining metal. Sure enough, engraved on the inside of the ring are Jeongguk's initials and the year he graduated high school. "Why'd you get something that looks so marriagey?"
"I didn't want something that looked stupid," Jeongguk snorts, answering the question immediately. "You know those class rings that look like you've just won a soccer championship? I didn't want one of those."
"Makes sense," is all Taehyung says. He hands the ring back to Jeongguk and they lapse into silence, looking up at their professor but not really paying attention.
Taehyung establishes that they're talking about regular acids, not amino acids, but other than that he's still completely lost. He sighs. Why'd I put off my science requirement for so long? He feels Jeongguk nudge him with his elbow and looks at the younger with a raised eyebrow. Jeongguk looks... almost shy. Almost.
"Why'd you care if my ring looks marriagey?" he asks quietly.
Oh man. How is Taehyung supposed to answer this question without exposing his big fat stupid crush? Or should he expose himself? What's the best option for this situation? He could tell Jeongguk he was just curious, which is true... for the most part. Or he could just laugh it off... OR he could turn the question back to Jeongguk.
Yeah, that sounds good.
"Why d'you care if I care?" he asks coyly. Jeongguk smirks and Taehyung dies just a little bit.
"It'd be a shame if you thought I was married," the younger says open-endedly, turning back to his notes. Taehyung frowns.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he whisper yells and pokes Jeongguk in the side repeatedly until the younger giggles and slaps his hand away. "Are you worried I've thought you were taken the entire semester?"
"Maybe," Jeongguk admits shyly, small smirk still in place. "Also, I'm way too young to be married, let's be real."
Taehyung stifles a obvious scoff and nods in agreement. Their professor has moved on from acids to bases and Taehyung still doesn't understand anything. Everything blurs together: the haziness of the heat trying to compensate for the temperature outside, the monotonous drone of their professor, the sounds of pens scratching on paper and keys clicking on laptops. He swears he can even hear the ticks from the second hand on the analog clock hanging over the door. Next to him, Jeongguk shifts in his seat, leaning in towards Taehyung. He tilts his head, a nonverbal to tell Jeongguk he's listening even if Jeongguk hasn't even opened his mouth yet.
"Wanna get coffee after class?" Jeongguk asks, voice so low it's almost a whisper. When Taehyung glances out of the corner of his eye, he can see the redness working its way up to Jeongguk's cheeks from his neck.
"Does it have to be coffee? I'm more of a hot chocolate kinda guy," he teases. Jeongguk, used to his antics, just rolls his eyes and scoffs.
"No, it doesn't have to be coffee, hyung ," he says. Their faces are close, just inches apart. "Doesn't even have to be a hot beverage. Or any beverage. I just wanna take you out."
"Will your spouse mind?" Taehyung asks, fake concern writ across his face, the facade only cracking when Jeongguk reaches over and smacks his arm.
"I don't know, will they ?" Jeongguk jokingly turns the question around on him so smoothly Taehyung chokes on his spit. The younger pats his back while Taehyung does his best to muffle the sound of his coughing in his elbow.
