Marks of the Soul | Vmin

4- Taehyung

Jungkook's slouched body opened the door, over-sized shirt falling off his shoulder as he rubbed his squinted eyes. "Tae?"

"Mornin', bunny!" I smiled, shaking the cup holder in my hand. "I brought hot chocolate!"

"Wha—"

I scurried past him, tip-toeing around the disarray of pictures and storyboards on his studio floor. "I know I'm a few minutes early"— I set the drinks on his desk next to his camera, propping my coat on the chair as I peeked at the video editing software opened on his laptop— "but you should have been up by now."

He dragged his feet towards his unkempt bed, body outline still printed on the sheets and pillows, running his hand through his messy hair as he sat on the edge. "What?" He asked again, elbow against the corner of the desk.

"You asked me to come over today at 9, remember?" I shifted the chair in his direction, showing him the chat.

He scrunched his eyes to read our texts from last night, then sighed. "I meant P.M, Tae... 9 P.M."

"Oh..." I scratched the back of my head. "See, now that's something you should have specified."

"Why would I ask you to hang out at 9 in the morning on a school day?" He flung his arms.

"I don't know! You tell me!"

He groaned, massaging his temples before taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "I am not awake enough for this."

"Neither am I! Sky and Earth know I don't even wake up this early for my classes but we can still find something to do. It's not like we can only hang out at night."

Jungkook choked on his drink, coughing and beating his chest as he tried, and failed, to regain his composure. "R-right..."

I raised an eyebrow, leaning forward with my folded arms on the desk. "Jungkook..." I smiled knowingly. "What exactly did you have in mind for tonight?"

He closed his eyes and hid his reddened ears under his hands, vigorously shaking his head.

"No! Come on, tell me!" I removed his hands. "You have to be able to talk to me!"

"Yeah, I am so not awake enough for this." He dumped his forehead on the desk.

I chuckled, squeezing his hands. "It's ok, you can tell me."

He breathed out. "It's just- I wanted to- I thought we could- I mean- You've been really patient with me!" He looked up at me. "You haven't even mentioned having sex after it almost happened that night at the drive-in—"

"Would we have really gone that far?"

"Not the point." He lifted a finger. "You've been really kind to me and I wanted to be spontaneous like in the movies and invite you over to surprise you and..." He exhaled, staring at the floor. "I sound so lame."

"You don't sound lame, Jungkook." I raised his chin. "But I don't need you to surprise me or be spontaneous. I'd much rather we just talk about the things we want and like so that when we do take the next step we feel at ease and know what to look forward to."

He nodded shyly, avoiding eye contact.

"And did you really think I was only being nice to you because I wanted to sleep with you?"

He ducked his head.

"Hey, look at me." I stroke my thumb against his cheek. "Sex isn't something you owe anyone 'cause they were nice to you. It's something we'll choose to do together only when we both feel safe, and comfortable, and ready. Ok?"