TAEKOOK | HOPE

•7 glad to be here with you

-oOkay

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☣

When he wakes up the next morning, Jeongguk feels, above all, completely fucking disgusting. His skin and hair are stiff and tacky from the chlorine of the pool, there's dried cum on his chest from the halfhearted clean-up job he did last night, and he knows he was sweaty when he passed out. The very bright upside of all of this is that it's directly due to the fact that he had sex with Taehyung, who as a bonus is still asleep in Jeongguk's bed.

But still, Jeongguk really needs a shower.

Not wanting to wake Taehyung, he slips out of his room quietly, shooting a thank you skyward when he finds the hallway and bathroom next to his room empty. It's not necessarily that he doesn't want the others to know what happened, but Jeongguk himself isn't even really sure what's happening, and he doesn't feel like trying to explain it to the rest of them before he and Taehyung have a chance to talk.

The prospect of that conversation sits heavily in his stomach while he showers, rinsing away all the grime from last night. Jeongguk knows that he personally is incandescently happy about what happened, but he also knows he could have just dug himself into an even deeper hole. He doesn't know where Taehyung stands, whether this is just a fun vacation fling for him. It hadn't felt that way, but still - Jeongguk doesn't want to assume anything when it comes to this.

He doesn't even realize he'd been nervous about Taehyung sneaking out while he was in the shower until he returns to his room and feels a flood of relief at the sight of him still sprawled out in his bed. He doesn't seem to have moved, but he's awake now, and his features soften a little when he sees Jeongguk.

"Thought you ditched me," he says lightly, and he'd probably get away with sounding nonchalant if Jeongguk didn't know him so well.

Jeongguk shakes his head. He feels suddenly exposed with just a towel knotted low on his waist, which is kind of ridiculous given that he'd been very much naked with Taehyung for a good portion of last night.

"Just needed a shower."

"God, same." Taehyung scrunches up his nose in disgust. "Told you we should have showered last night."

Jeongguk shrugs. "There was no way that was happening."

"You've always been useless after sex," Taehyung says, laughing when Jeongguk huffs indignantly.

"Yeah, and you've always been clingy as hell," Jeongguk retorts.

Taehyung smiles cheekily at him. "Didn't hear you complaining."

It feels so natural, this banter back and forth, but Jeongguk's nagging doubts are making it difficult for him to fully slip into it. "Tae - "

"I know you're freaking out," Taehyung cuts him off. Jeongguk doesn't even bother trying to deny it - Taehyung can read him too well. "So am I, kind of. But can we just - can we just try to enjoy this week together? Real life will still be there for us to figure out when it's over."

And even though Jeongguk knows this is irresponsible and could very easily end with him getting hurt again, Taehyung's proposition sounds a lot more appealing than having a complicated and likely painful conversation. He's wanted this for too long to not let himself enjoy it, at least for a little while. So he pushes his better judgment aside and says: