serpents and sons | taekook

The Desire

"Oh, he's awake?" An unfamiliar voice calls and Jeongguk freezes. A tall man appears at the end of the hall, lips pulled back in a bright smile as he adjusts the sleeves of his jacket. A stranger. "Perfect timing! Jeonggukie, why don't you come have a seat, hm?" Yoongi only sighs and Jeongguk is given no time to respond, yanked to his feet. The bodyguard keeps a tight hold on Jeongguk's arm - as if he has anywhere to go in his own apartment.

There's the click of a light switch and Jeongguk blinks as light floods the room, revealing just who is behind the break in. Hoseok, Namjoon, and Jimin all sit around his tiny living room, stretched out with all the comfort in the world. The stranger drops down beside Hoseok on his couch, leaving no room for Jeongguk to anything but stand and stare. Yoongi doesn't let go of him.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Jeon Jeongguk," the unfamiliar man says and Jeongguk's eyes dart to the others, unsure what he's supposed to say in a situation like this. Hoseok only smiles, giving him a ridiculously unhelpful thumbs up. "My name is Seokjin - I know I'm the last one to meet you, but that's okay."

Oh. Jeongguk blinks. He distantly recognizes the name, eyes darting between everyone making themselves at home in his living room. "Tae's brother?"

Seokjin's smile widens. "One in the same," he says with a bow of his head. "That's why we're all here."

Suddenly he is intimately aware of how everyone's eyes are trained on him, and Jeongguk's stomach drops, his chest tightening. "O-oh, um-,"

"Relax, Jeongguk," Namjoon says softly and Jeongguk's attention snaps over to him. The man just gives him a smile, and Jeongguk is reminded of just how out of his league he really is here.

"Did Taehyung send you?" He asks quietly, and Hoseok throws his head back.

"Ha! As if, that man has never learned how to ask for help," Hoseok says, and despite the sinking feeling in Jeongguk's gut he can't help but crack a smile. That certainly sounds about right, Jeongguk thinks. "Luckily for him, we aren't as emotionally stunted. Well, some of us anyway." Jimin immediately leans over from where he's perched on Jeongguk's table and slams his fist into Hoseok's arm. "Hey-!"

"Ignore them," Yoongi drawls, pulling Jeongguk's attention. He can see Namjoon shake his head out of the corner of his eye. "The point is, is that we know he told you." The room falls silent as Jeongguk's eyes widen.

"Oh."

Yoongi gives a wry grin. "Don't worry about it, we knew he would."

"Yeah, he's totally gone for you," Seokjin laughs and Jeongguk's cheeks burn. He feels like his emotions are giving him whiplash, but he takes comfort in how they don't seem to be upset with him. If anything they just look amused, staring at him with smiles of their own. "It was only a matter of time."

Yoongi's hand finally releases Jeongguk's arm and the thief crosses them over his chest, feeling a bit of a draft through one of his windows. "So..." Jeongguk shifts on his feet, "You're not here to like, get rid of me or anything, are you?"

Jimin snorts. "If we wanted to get rid of you, we would have," he grins, and Jeongguk doesn't doubt it. The moment he posed any sort of threat to Taehyung in any sort of way he was a hundred percent confident they would have taken matters into their own hands. "I can tell you love him," Jimin continues and Jeongguk chokes. "Taehyung is oblivious, of course, but I know." There's a glint in Jimin's eyes that Jeongguk can't place, something like how he gets loose lips around Taehyung, or how Namjoon feels so trustworthy, but Seokjin picks up where he left off without missing a beat.

"When we chose to stay by Taehyung's side we had to take a step past humanity," he says, and Jeongguk frowns. "He has held that guilt with him for a... very long time, longer than I'll ever understand, anyway, but," Seokjin's smile is helpless as he shrugs, "he talks about you as if he's never had a care in the world. Like he's the happiest man in this world or the next."