teacher's pet | taekook

ElEVEN { kiss me }

"I'm sorry you're still having such a hard time."

Taehyung startled. He hadn't heard Jungkook come in, too immersed in his new book. 

Jungkook had been upstairs, showering — because he's a heathen that showers in the morning — and he had trusted Taehyung to stay in the living room on his own as long as he got some food for himself. Taehyung ate a banana and laid on the couch with his new reading book. He had managed to barely move in the time Jungkook took to get ready for the day — another day of sitting around, what's new.

"Huh?" Taehyung stuck a finger in the pages as he closed the book to save his place, looking up at Jungkook who loomed above him, his hair still damp and his skin dewy.

"I just said, uh, I'm sorry you're still having a hard time."

"Oh." He went back to his book. "S'okay."

"I'm sorry you're so incredibly bored, too." He cracked a smile this time. Taehyung did not. "It's unfortunate that there's not much I can do about that, though." Taehyung hummed along, coming off as almost disinterested. He didn't feel like investing himself in this conversation; he already knew where it was going. "You... you understand why I can't let you outside, right?"

"'Cause you don't trust me."

"No! That's not it at all—"

"It's okay, Jungkook. I get it."

He frowned and crouched beside the couch, tangling his fingers in Taehyung's fluffy hair. He said nothing for the longest time, and Taehyung absorbed the silence easily. He flipped the page in his book, though he had no idea what he just read. His eyes were skimming over the words, but he wasn't paying enough attention to it to remember what the characters were doing.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Jungkook finally said. "I do trust you. I love you. I just... I don't want to take you outside because I don't want you to get hurt."

Taehyung nodded along and murmured, "I know."

He could've retorted. How would I get hurt standing on the porch? Or walking around the outside of the house? Or opening a window? And it was ridiculous; Jungkook's reasoning. He acted like taking Taehyung outside would be instantly exposing their truth, like Taehyung pulling out a megaphone to broadcast "My professor kidnapped me!"

"Just wondering how you're gonna keep me bored and locked up in here forever," Taehyung said.

Jungkook stared at him for a while longer, again saying nothing. Taehyung turned another page, despite still not having read anything of the page before. Jungkook pushed the hair away from Taehyung's forehead and pressed a kiss to his temple. Taehyung didn't flinch this time.

"Maybe I should let you outside."

"What?"

"I mean, you said it yourself, and you're right: I can't keep you bored and locked up forever. That's just... cruel." I know; Taehyung nearly said it. "I can't bear to see you so miserable any longer and I know that's the reason why you're so miserable. I should take you on a walk every once in a while anyways, I mean, I don't want you to suffer from muscle atrophy or something." He chuckled.

"Wait... but are you being for real?" Taehyung set his book aside and sat up, leaning in further than necessary as if that would affect anything Jungkook was saying.

"Yeah." Jungkook crossed his arms and laid them on Taehyung's knees, straightening his spine to get just a few inches closer to Taehyung's face. "I think... you deserve something good, and I know you've been wanting to go out for... a while."