#taemaknae

“Do you need me to Venmo you for the champagne?” You pop your head out of your bedroom door, watch him pull two bottles of champagne from his backpack and place them on the kitchen table with a clink.

“Nah, it’s all good. I was just in time, these were the last two bottles they had,” Jungkook says with a shrug. 

You laugh. “Well, it’s eleven-thirty on New Year’s Eve, I’m surprised they had any left in stock.”

“You know I would have gotten champagne for us no matter what it cost me.” Jungkook grins. He begins to peel off the wrapper on one of the bottles, scraping at the foil until it unwinds in ragged strips. 

“Jeon Jungkook, the man who never gives up.” You grab two of your little stemless wine glasses from a cabinet in your kitchen, the one where the hinges are a little loose and the door hangs low. One of these days it’s going to break off entirely, and the world will see your haphazard collection of Starbucks and Disney mugs. “Maybe your New Year’s Resolution should be to have a little more shame.”

“Never,” he says with a wicked smile. “You ready?”

“Hold it over the sink, I don’t feel like cleaning up champagne tonight,” you instruct. 

Jungkook obediently does as he’s told, holding the top of the bottle over the basin as he pushes the cork off with his thumbs. It pops as he does, falling into the sink as the bottle foams over, smoke wisping off of the top. 

“Here’s to a new year,” he proposes as he pours the champagne into your glass, bubbles jumping off of the drink, sticking to the cup. 

“To a new us,” you amend. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

Your glasses clink as you press them against each other before downing the champagne in one smooth gulp, hardly even blinking as the alcohol passes through your body. You’ve had so much nasty stuff to drink in your life that champagne just tastes like juice at this point. Ooh, you’ve got some orange juice, maybe you could make some mimosas—

“Wanna watch the ball drop on TV?” Jungkook suggests. And who are you to say no to him?

You both make your way to the couch, crashing on it easily in your respective dips, the cushions bending at the presses of your bodies. You and Jungkook spend so much time sitting here, watching movies, doing work, talking at three in the morning when your bodies are tired but your minds are wide awake, that the couch cushions have molded to the shapes of your backs, the cushions have formed little creases where you sit. 

Time goes by so quickly when you drink. The seconds blur into minutes, performances on the television going fuzzy, becoming one. You always stay up for New Year’s, but you feel drowsy already. Several times you catch yourself almost falling asleep on Jungkook’s shoulder. 

“What are your new year’s resolutions?” Jungkook asks randomly, breaking your reverie. 

You furrow your eyebrows. “I… actually haven’t really thought of any. I don’t know.”

“Seriously? You always have a plan. You have a Google Calendar for your bullet journal.” Jungkook looks puzzled. 

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just happy with where my life is right now.”

“You don’t think there’s anything missing?” 

“I… I’m not sure. It’d need to hit me out of left field if there is,” you admit, a little helpless. 

“You wanna know what my resolution is?” Jungkook asks. “It’s to be honest. With myself. With you.” You watch as his lips form every letter, every word, watch as they fall off his tongue, his cherry pink mouth. “Is there really nothing missing from your life?”

“No,” you say without even thinking, because it was the first word to come to mind and it’s the word that you know is right. 

“Because there’s something missing from mine,” Jungkook says. His eyelashes are fluttering as they narrow in on your own, the curves of his face, the glow of his cheeks, getting closer and closer. 

“Fuck, Jungkook,” you breathe out. “Please, just kiss me already.”

He does. And it warms you in a way no alcohol ever could. Fills you up like a three-course meal, sets off fireworks bigger and brighter than the ones on your TV. He tastes like peppermint and lavender and champagne, tastes like fire and lightning, like happiness and home. 

When you part, Jungkook is beaming. He looks lovestruck, like he’s been waiting his whole life for this single moment, been building up to it ever since he could remember.