License to Cuddle

6

Very subtly and not suspiciously at all, Jungkook placed a hand on his stomach. Nice, great, that felt fine. He then ran his hand up his chest and settled it over his heart, exactly where Taehyung's ear would be. A strong beat slammed against his palm over and over and over again, too frantic and wild for what was supposed to be an innocent cuddling session. Shit, if Taehyung heard that, he'd absolutely get the wrong idea.

Or maybe the right one.

"Is this like a test or something?" Jungkook asked out of nowhere, unable to sit in silence any longer. His voice came out too high and too pitchy, so he cleared his throat before adding, "Because if it is, I'm totally failing."

Taehyung's brows furrowed. "I don't understand. Failing at what?"

"At this whole cuddling thing. We've been sitting here for like, ten minutes, and I haven't been able to—" A gentle laugh coming from Taehyung distracted Jungkook from his imminent meltdown, making him stop mid-sentence. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No," Taehyung was quick to say, "I'm not."

"Then why—?"

"It's barely been two minutes since our session started," Taehyung said, reaching for his phone and glancing at the screen. He showed it to Jungkook, revealing that they still had fifty-eight minutes and twelve—eleven, ten—seconds left on the clock.

Jungkook blinked. "Oh. It felt a lot longer than that."

Taehyung abandoned his phone and leaned closer, some of his floppy hair falling in front of his eyes. "Yeah? You were feeling uncomfortable, weren't you?"

"What? No. I never said that."

"You didn't have to say anything. I could read your body language."

"And what was my body telling you?" Jungkook asked, teeth sinking into his lower lip. Wait. Did that sound flirty? God, it definitely sounded flirty. "I mean—"

"I know what you meant," Taehyung replied, the edges of his voice dipped in amusement and something . . . fond, perhaps? "And I got the sense that one wrong word or move from me would've sent you running out the door. So I was waiting. I was going to follow—"

"Follow my lead, yeah. I remembered that part." Jungkook had agonized over that part as well.

Taehyung hummed, the sound of it gentle. Warm. He pushed his hair out of his face, revealing his equally gentle and warm eyes, and murmured, "Can you tell me what was going on in your head just now?"

"You can't guess?"

"I only read body language. Not minds."

"Right. Um, well . . ."

Jungkook sighed, looking down at his hands as he struggled to find the right words. Maybe it was silly, but he didn't want to admit that none of this came easily to him. He didn't want to acknowledge how quick he was to fall apart if things slipped out of his control. Because if he revealed those truths about himself, if he said them out loud, it would be too real. It would leave Jungkook vulnerable in a way he wasn't prepared to be.

So nope, there would be no admitting to anything. Not today. Not ever. Not—

A featherlight touch grazed over his arm, brushing his bare skin in a long, soft stroke. Taehyung. Taehyung's fingers were delicate as they moved, careful, almost as if they didn't want to do too much, too soon. And even though the contact was barely there, it brought Jungkook back to the present moment.

"Is this okay?" Taehyung quietly asked, stilling his hand as he waited for an answer.

And since the touch was more than okay, was the exact thing that made Jungkook want these sessions with Taehyung in the first place, he nodded his head. "Yes. I'm definitely very much a fan."