COMFORT OF STRANGERS|| VKOOK ✓

5. Sorry

Jeongguk was aware, when Taehyung mentioned that he'd be performing a "routine checkup" on Pepper that this entailed Taehyung coming back to his apartment at some point to make sure everything was going smoothly and Jeongguk wasn't completely fucking up.

He wasn't, however, aware that when Taehyung had said "routine checkup", what he meant was really something more along the lines of "unannounced arrival every other day for some increasingly random reason".

The day after Jeongguk picked up Pepper, Taehyung was knocking on his door at 9 am (thankfully Jeongguk was prepared and now covered his wall every time he was done painting), because "this is her favourite toy and I forgot to bring it yesterday". Pepper had retreated back under the couch when Jeongguk had gone to bed the night before, but Jeongguk didn't miss the way Taehyung's eyes slowly combed over his apartment in search of his previous baby.

He'd come back 2 days later for the "checkup", which had taken roughly an hour and a half, seeing as Pepper had been a bit more open to walking around and therefore had dashed to Taehyung when she saw him at the door, prompting the man to spend a majority of his time in Jeongguk's apartment visibly dawdling.

(Seriously, Jeongguk's apartment wasn't that big. There was no way Taehyung needed an hour and a half to comb it, especially since he'd gone over pretty much everything in his initial checkup.)

Jeongguk had thought he was done after that.

(He wasn't.)

Jeongguk decides to put his foot down after the 5th "checkup" in the span of two weeks, walking to the club and marching up to the bar the second he sees Taehyung sitting there. To say he's annoyed is probably putting it too lightly.

Taehyung looks mildly surprised to see Jeongguk at the club, seeing as he hasn't been there in approximately... well, 2 weeks. He didn't really need to go looking for Taehyung when Taehyung kept coming to him, so he never really ran out of the inspiration he needed.

"Jeongguk." It brings Jeongguk back to the first time he saw Taehyung, the way he smirked seductively under his dark makeup, glitter and gems lining the front of his loose dark blue blouse, the long back of which drapes over the barstool like a cape. "Fancy seeing you here. It's been a while, I thought you'd lost interest."

Jeongguk huffs. "Can't really say it's been a while when you keep showing up at my apartment every other day."

Taehyung shrugs. "I told you, it's—"

"Routine, yeah sure. I called that receptionist of yours, and she had no clue what I was talking about. Said there's no such thing as a "mandatory checkup" other than the initial scan of the living space."

Jeongguk doesn't need to see Taehyung's face to know that he knows he's been caught. It's all in the way he immediately looks down at his drink like it's some new undiscovered species of hamster. Reveling in his newfound power, he keeps going.

"Seriously, what's so interesting about me that you need to lie so you can show up at my home every other day? Cause that's a serious breach of personal freedom."

Jeongguk puts a hand on his hip. "Seriously, dude. You've got to stop."

Taehyung seems way smaller than Jeongguk's ever seen him look. Certainly not characteristic for a man who enjoys parading around in heels and jewelry, blowing past every bigoted idiot and the disgusting things they choose to spit at him. And there's a lot of those. Taehyung's a man made of self-confidence, and Jeongguk has made him small.

Now, he doesn't know how to feel about that.

Taehyung mumbles something, but Jeongguk can't understand it. "Come on, speak up."