Ice-heart

Ch- 26 Together

Taehyung's pov

Jungkook and I wake up late the next morning, and this time, he doesn't get up before me. His body is warm against mine, his hair a beautiful mess.

Sleepy eyes meet mine. "Hey," he whispers.

"Hey." I curl my hand around his waist.

A smile is playing on his lips, and I smile back, until both of us are grinning for no apparent reason.

"Wow," he says.

"Wow, indeed."

He buries his face against my chest, his lips pressed to my skin. "I can't believe we did that."

I pull him closer, fitting him against my body. His skin is like satin. "No regrets?"

"No, none. Just surprise."

"And satisfaction, I hope."

His smile turns crooked. "Yes, there's that."

I tip his head back and run a finger over his full lips. Just woken up, with his hair messy and his eyes dazed, he's almost too beautiful to handle.

"I'm going to tell you something," I say.

"What is it?"

"It's serious. Are you ready?"

His eyes narrow. "Taehyung..."

"You already know I think you're stunning, but it's worse than that. You're quite literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

He laughs. "Asshole! You made me think it was actually serious."

I smile at his laughter and bend to break it off with a kiss. Heat travels through me at the soft touch. "You've told me how your looks mean people don't take you seriously, though," I say. "I've resisted commenting on them."

His smile deepens, his eyes glittering. "You take me seriously, so you're allowed to compliment me."

"I might abuse that privilege."

He chuckles. "Flatterer."

I flip over on my back and pull him atop me, his head resting on my chest. It makes it easy to reach out and run a hand over his hair and the soft skin of his neck. "Will you tell me about it?"

Jungkook takes a deep breath and nods, settling in. When he finally speaks, I listen, as he tells me all about the little insulting compliments given at Eun Ilsung's office. About the colleague at his internship who refused to accept that he didn't want to go out with him. About an architecture professor who regularly made pointed jokes in class after he spoke, saying things like apparently everyone can become an architect these days, even the pretty faces. When investors took a coworker's portion of the pitch more seriously than his.

Practically every anecdote makes me angry, and Jungkook can tell, because he laughingly runs a finger over the furrow in my brow. "This isn't supposed to bring us down."

"It's not bringing me down. It's infuriating."

"Yes, well, it's in the past." He rises up on his elbows, cocking his head. "How about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. You're very hot."

I blink in surprise. "Hot?"

He bursts into laughter, and it rains down around me. "Your expression is priceless. Yes, you're hot. Handsome. You look good, you know."

"I get by," I say.

"If you merely get by, I'd hate to imagine how other men feel."

I sit up in bed, pulling him up with me. "All right, time to change the subject."