#starrycheeks

Of course, that deep blush across pretty guy’s cheeks wasall to do with that whole Park Jimin, too. Jimin was leaning in close with hiseyelashes low, hand raking through his hair in that one way every 3.5 secondsas if he was actually flirting.Taehyung rolled his eyes watching them, wondering if pretty guy had noticed yethow Jimin’s gaze kept flicking into the kitchen to where Hoseok was hanging outwith Seokjin, trying to look like he was having a good time even though anyonewho knows them would place a solid bet that he was almost certainly whiningabout his and Jimin’s latest spat.

A waste, Taehyungthought to himself, pouting into his own cup as he took another sip of hisbeer, watching pretty guy’s face light up in a laugh. It made his neck arch ashe tipped his head back, a fucking glorious sight to behold, but Jimin took theopportunity to chance another glance into the kitchen. It was painful to watch,if Taehyung was being quite honest with himself, so he stopped, reluctantly,turning as much of his attention as he could spare back to Yoongi.

Leaning heavily into Taehyung’s side at that tender point inthe night, head practically on his shoulder, Yoongi was still blabbering halfnonsense, the alcohol bringing out the very worst in his usually subtle lisp.His free hand was flying about animatedly, brows pulled tight together, eyesnarrowed at the immense concentration required to make words at that moment.

“And one day they’re jus’ gonna—gonna fuckin’ crack a codeor run some fuckin’ numbers, I don’t fuckin’ know, whatever the fuck they do inthose fuckin’ labs – it’s just gonna be a normal Monday morning and—well… Iguess it could be Tuesday or Wednesday or… or like any day of the week… maybenot even Monday because who the fuck makes history on a Monday, but like—couldjust be a normal day that’s not Monday and they’re just gonna discover thething – the fuckin’ one tiny thing –that makes the robots like ten thousand million zillion times more inter—interall—inteller—” Yoongi paused,squinting even harder down into his cup. “No… No, intellect—intellegant… in-intelligent?Intelligent,” he repeated it, veryslowly, as if he was making quite sure it did, indeed, sound like a real word. Hepaused a moment afterwards, still thinking about it, before a triumphant sortof smile washed all woozy over his face. “Yeah. That’s the one. Intelligent.” He nodded to himself for acouple seconds, looking very satisfied with his achievements, taking anothersip from his cup before he turned to Taehyung.

“What was I saying, Tae?” he asked, blinking hard, eyes wideand bleary.

Even with half an eye on Jimin reaching up to touch prettyguy’s purple hair, Taehyung couldn’t help but smirk at his roommate. “You weretalking about how you’re finally drunk enough to hit on Jin-hyung,” he toldhim, but Yoongi wasn’t far enough gone yet for that to work, no quite.

“That doesn’t sound like me,” he muttered, eyes narrowingagain, shaking his head. “There’s no such thingas drunk enough to hit on Kim Seokjin. To get drunk enough to hit on KimSeokjin, I’d have to, like, fuckin’ tequilamyself to death and… and just hope my ghost is then drunk enough to find him and hit on him, maybe.” Yoongi sniffed,lifting his cup halfway to his mouth before he stopped, making some pointedgesture with it instead. “But thenI’m a ghost, so I’d be, like… like, Idunno the word. Y’know, not solid?I’d be unfuckable. If I still can’teven get fucked by Kim Seokjin I’d have… I’d have died in vain…” Yoongi trailedoff, blinking, brow furrowing as he seemed to think about that for a bit, butTaehyung’s eyes were across the room again, wholly distracted. “That’s fuckin’ tragic, Tae.”

And Taehyung wholeheartedly agreed, watching pretty guysmile again as Jimin said something no doubt charming and hollow, making prettyguy’s pretty teeth glint under the coloured lights. His smile was so big evenTaehyung was impressed, the kind of smile that made his cheeks puff up huge andhis eyes disappear.

“So tragic,” Taehyung murmured, reaching to catch Yoongi’swrist. “C’mon, hyung.”

“Where we goin’?” Yoongi asked, dropping his half full cuponto the floor and stumbling up onto very wobbly legs, though Taehyung wasquick to get an arm around his waist.

“To get you some water,” he told him, half dragging him acouple steps to get him started on the whole walking process, prompting musclememory to kick in. “And kick Park Jimin’s ass.”

“Okay,” Yoongi mumbled, letting his head loll over ontoTaehyung’s shoulder.

“Okay,” Taehyung echoed, using his free hand to give Yoongi’scheek a gentle, encouraging pat.

The walking thing didn’t turn out so good for Yoongi, but itwas fine, they were fine, they made it through the crowds, the obstacle courseof furniture hidden amongst bodies, and they made it with all four shinsintact, a fact of which Taehyung is very proud. They were only a little wayfrom the kitchen when Taehyung spied Seokjin on his way out, Yoongi too busywith his head tipped back staring up at the patterns a cheap old-school discoball was painting on the ceiling to notice anything.

“Hey, hyung,” Taehyung called out, hobbling the last couplesteps to catch up to Seokjin and tipping Yoongi forward to prop against him,holding onto his waist till Seokjin got an arm around his shoulders. “Takethis.”

‘Is he okay?’ Seokjin asked, ducking his head a little totry see Yoongi’s face. Yoongi chose that moment to look up, blinking inconfusion and probably also to clear a little of the blur. Taehyung couldalmost pinpoint the moment that he did, bleary eyes going wide, cheeks flushingpuce.

“He needs water,” Taehyung said, then winked at Seokjin whowas looking pretty flustered himself, as he tends to get every damn time hemakes eye contact with Yoongi. “Maybe some light making out, but be a gentlemanabout it. I’m gonna get another drink.”

“Tae, no—” Yoongi began, half reaching out in some dramaticattempt to catch at Taehyung’s shirt as he backed away, but then Seokjin spoke,said something perfectly inane, and Yoongi went right back to gazing up at himlike he was seeing god.

“Talk to him about robots,” Taehyung suggested, beforeleaving them to it, passing right by the kitchen doorway with a deep sense ofpurpose that he knew for a fact was coming 100% from all that liquid courage.Kim Taehyung is scared of the dark and bees and at least 47 other things; he isno knight in shining armour, but he saw a situation in which he could mayberescue many hearts and dicks just by tapping a beautiful man on the arm, and hewent for it.

“Hey, is this guy bothering you,” he asked, plastering onhis best concerned frown, but pretty guy barely got a chance to open his mouthbefore Jimin was growling.

“Tae, fuck off.”

Taehyung turned to him instead, leaving pretty guy to lookconfused – very prettily confused. “Go talkto him,” he ordered, pointing into the kitchen. They could all see Hoseokclearly through the open doorway, still standing by the fridge, slumped againstthe counter, alone and plucking miserably at the label of his beer bottle.

Jimin refused to look, though, jaw set solid, veryimpressive, very scary, but he had on the same sad eyes as Hoseok. It wasridiculous. They’re ridiculous. “Stay outta this, Taehyung.”

“Jiminnie, I fixed your eyeliner three times tonight becauseyou kept blubbering about how much you miss him, don’t tell me to stay outtathis.” Taehyung glanced into the kitchen where he caught Hoseok looking theirway before abruptly dropping his gaze to his sad, half-peeled bottle again. “He’salone now and miserable looking, go talkto him.”

Jimin looked like he wanted to argue, looked very much likehe was going to argue, squaring upthose shoulders of his, but he finally chanced a side look at Hoseok. The wayhe deflated was almost comical, hissing a curse under his breath and castingpretty guy a guilty sort of glance before he (none too gently) pushed pastTaehyung into the kitchen.

This left them both standing there, Taehyung himself andpretty guy, watching Jimin go with a strange, mixed sort of silence hangingheavy over them both underneath the din of music and party noise.

“Sorry ’bout that,” Taehyung murmured.

Still frowning, pretty guy shook his head. “No, it’s… it’sokay,” he said, though he seemed a touch uncertain, turning to look atTaehyung. “Thanks, I think? I don’t know.”

Taehyung shrugged, moving to lean against the wall next tohim. He really was tall; Taehyung considered himself pretty tall, but he wasspoiled living so long with a literal hobbit. This guy was a whole elf bycomparison. “He was flirting with you to get at someone else,” he explained. “It’smessy. They’re messy. It’s, like, their thing.”

“Yeah, I figured there was a catch,” pretty guy murmured,and he really didn’t seem so surprised, considering how flustered he’d lookedwith Jimin showering him in all the niceties. Maybe he just really likes being complimented, Taehyung’s brainsupplied helpfully, making him bite his lip against as grin as pretty guyturned to look at him. “He kept mentioning some Hoseok guy? He wasn’t subtle.”

“Yeah.” Taehyung nodded, grimacing a touch. “They’re havingsome problems.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he murmured, and he seemed to meanit so sincerely, soft eyebrows pulled in close together, eyes very warm. What the fuck, Taehyung’s heart demandedin that moment, sputtering strangely in his chest. What the flying fuck?

“Oh, don’t worry, they’ll be on each other’s dicks again bythe end of the night,” he assured him quickly, overtaken with a sudden urge tomake certain this boy next to him never felt a negative emotion ever again.“They’re totally soulmates, just… messy ones.”

Pretty guy’s frown took a suddenly different tone, rightback to confusion with a touch of mild concern. “Oh,” he mumbled, lips formingan O so round and precious that Taehyung couldn’t help the giggle – the literalgiggle – that bubbled up from his chest.

“What?” pretty guy asked him, starting to smile slowlyhimself. “What’re you laughing at?”

Still grinning, Taehyung shook his head, shrugging gently. “You’recute,” he said simply.

“And who’re youtrying to get at?” he asked, with a dry edge of humour Taehyung would neverhave expected from such a sweet face – a very welcome surprise.

He shrugged again, a touch more on the demure side this time.“Well, you, hopefully,” he admitted, handsdown the smoothest thing he’s ever said, then leaned over a little closer tostage whisper, “This is sincere flirting, I promise – why d’you think I savedyou from the marauding Park Jimin?”

Pretty guy did this thing where he looked surprised for amoment, eyes widening, before he ducked his head a little as he smiled, dimples– dimples – popping in his cheeks, both of them. “Ah,” he murmured, andwhen he blushed that time, it was entirely Kim Taehyung’s doing and he wasfairly certain he’d never felt more proud in his life.

Namjoon. His name was Namjoon – is Namjoon because the sweet boy he met an hour ago with theblushing and the soft cheeks is the same boy currently tugging on Taehyung’shair and cursing through his teeth as Taehyung sucks on his aforementioned glorious neck. The bathroom is the coffin kind, tiny, boxy,about three centimetres of space to move around in, but with Namjoon – it’s apretty name, too, Taehyung thought – pressed up tight against the closed door,it’s fine. It’s too hot, too stuffy, almost impossible to breathe with themirror already fogged up, but it’s great. Namjoon’s neck tastes like salt andpeaches and actually, that’s pretty fucking intriguing.

“Why—why d’you taste like peaches?” Taehyung pants out, resurfacingfor just a moment to frown at him and peck at his lips again. He can alreadyfeel sweat slipping down his back, but the raw heat he can feelbleeding through Namjoon’s thin shirt makes up for any unpleasantness.

“Roommate,” he mumbles, word muffled by Taehyung’s ownmouth, because it’s kind of hard to keep it off Namjoon’s, even when he’s meant tobe talking. See, he’s got these squishy lips, thick and soft in a way thatshould not be allowed; Taehyung feels as if he’s stealing something preciousand decadent every time he nibbles on one.

“Your roommate, he’s peach-flavoured?” he asks, dipping downagain to brush kisses along Namjoon’s jaw. “Lucky. Mine’s more like the spicepackets in the shin ramyeon.”

Namjoon laughs, but Taehyung feels him shake his head. “Hemakes me moisturise,” he explains, low voice all breathy as Taehyung nipsgently at the red mark he’s left underneath his ear. “He bought the productsand everything, I didn’t choose this life.”

Taehyung hums against his skin. “Thank him for me,” he says,reaching down to start tugging Namjoon’s shirt out from his jeans, lickingagain over the mark before giving it a curious sort of look. “Hey, you think Ican get this thing the same colour as your hair?”

Namjoon snorts. “Are you kidding?” He sounds as if he trulydoes not know what to expect – he learns fast.

Taehyung nods decisively. “You’re right, I’ll come back toit.”

Another soft huff of laughter ruffles Taehyung’s hair as hestarts kissing lower down the front of Namjoon’s throat, fingers fumbling withhis nasty, awkward little shirt buttons. It’s homophobic, really, how theystand so firmly in the way of Taehyung’s mouth getting on the rest of Namjoon’sinexplicably glowy skin, but when he does finally get them undone, it’s worthit. For the sight of all Namjoon’s chest, because there does seem to be a lotof it for such a narrow guy, for the sharp lines of his collarbones and the wayhe sucks in that harsh breath through his teeth when Taehyung runs his tongueover his nipple – yeah, it’s worth it alright. He stores that particular pieceof information away for later as he drops down onto his knees on the cooltiles, tilting his head back to meet Namjoon’s eye.

He looks woozy, several beers more drunk than he looked whenthey stumbled in here, lips a swollen mess, skin flushed and shining under theharsh bathroom light. His purple hair – “grape hair”, he called it, he was veryspecific – is all mussed up out of that cute gently quaffed style he sportedearlier and Taehyung swears he’s never seen a thing more gorgeous, certainlynot one that’s mattered enough to stick. He’s a sensitive creature, too,Taehyung’s noticed, kinda sappy, like just now when he brushes Taehyung’s toolong bangs off his face then lets those endless fingers trail down his cheek,all tender. He brings his thumb around to brush over Taehyung’s lips andeverything in the world wouldn’t be worth the look on Namjoon’s face whenTaehyung opens his mouth, letting his thumb slip right inside.

“Shit,” hewhispers, hoarse, as Taehyung rolls his tongue around it, sucking gently,smiling slightly when Namjoon brushes the pad of his thumb over his tonguepiercing. He was pretty intrigued by it during all that hallway making out andTaehyung thinks he’s about to be even more intrigued in just a moment.

“You got real pretty hips, hyung,” he murmurs, glancing upat him through his lashes as he starts to undo Namjoon’s jeans. “I can call youhyung, right?”

Namjoon’s still flushed deep, but Taehyung can see now it’sspread all down his neck and chest, too, the sweetest rosy flush. (He wondershow far it’ll have spread by the end of the night.) “Yeah, I think we’re pastformalities,” Namjoon sighs.

Taehyung hums in quiet agreement as he leans in to press akiss to one of Namjoon’s hipbones. They really are pretty, jut out just alittle too far because he’s a skinny thing, a beanpole, but that only makes iteasier for Taehyung to nip with his teeth, make him jump and whine, handscoming back to weave in through Taehyung’s hair. He continues, right down thepretty slope of Namjoon’s right hip, sucking wet, teasing kisses above thewaistband of his boxers, and running his tongue up the dip of his left hipbonepulling the most incredible moan from him. He seems sensitive there, more thanmost, all but squirming only for the firm grip Taehyung has on his thighs.

“C’mon, Tae—Taehyung,” Namjoon groans, knocking his headback against the wood of the door.

“You can call me Tae, y’know,” Taehyung tells him, lipsstill pressing kisses onto the bony jut as he tugs Namjoon’s jeans down aroundhis upper thighs. “S’okay, all my friends call me Tae.”

“We’re friends?” Namjoon asks, laughing softly, and Taehyungmight be offended only for the fact the he sounds genuinely curious.

He pulls his lips away without warning, leaning back to pinhim with a very serious look. “Hey, I only get on my knees for my best bros, KimNamjoon,” he informs him, under no uncertain terms. “You know what they say, nobro, no blow.”

“No one says that,” he mutters, but this Namjoon sure is asmart guy, holding up his palms in a quick surrender the moment Taehyungnarrows his eyes at him. “Okay then, we’re friends,” he agrees, hands loweringslowly to push his fingers into Taehyung’s hair again, this pretty, cheeky sparklein his eye. “Best friends, definitely, yes.”

Taehyung hums dubiously, eyes still narrowed, consideringthis for a brief moment, Namjoon looking amused despite his gentle squirming. “Bestfriends,” he finally says, nodding once to himself as he curls his fingers intothe elastic of Namjoon’s boxers, breaking the act to give him another grin. “Yeah,I guess I can work with that.”