Stigma Love's Algorithm [ A BTS x Reader Poly ]

Chapter 77: Everything and Nothing

"Hypothetically-"

"Jesus Christ."

I grinned. "-if an NGO were to be stonewalled by a government official who suspiciously started accepting corporate donations from a company with known human rights violations-"

Jin groaned, but I could hear it-the subtle shift in his breathing, the way he was already processing the information, already slipping into lawyer mode.

"You're exhausting."

I leaned back in my chair. "And yet?"

Another sigh.
"...Tell me everything."

Jin never agreed to help me.

Not outright. Not officially.

But one night, after weeks of calling him for "hypotheticals" and him pretending to be so fucking annoyed every time-

I found an envelope on my desk.
No name. No message.

Just a thick stack of legal documents.

A loophole I hadn't seen. A case precedent I could use. A perfectly drafted argument for the issue I'd been ranting about to him just two nights before.

Jin never mentioned it.
Neither did I.

But I knew.

The fucking tension was unbearable.

Every meeting? A game. A battle of wills.

Jin, sitting behind his sleek desk, arms crossed, unimpressed.

Me, leaning back in his guest chair, smirking just to piss him off.

We needed to be near each other.
To hear each other's voices.

But we didn't know why.
So, we fought it.

Jin drowned himself in cases. I pushed Speak Yourself harder than ever.

Weeks passed.
No calls. No meetings.
Nothing.

But the distance didn't help.
If anything-
It made it so much worse.

________________________

Eventually, our dynamic changes before I even realize it.

Jin flirts. A lot.

It's subtle at first.

A teasing smirk here. A lingering glance there.

The occasional "You really should wear suits more often, Joon" in that too smooth, too dangerous voice of his.

I ignore it. Pretend not to notice.

Because if I let myself notice, I'll have to deal with it.

And I'm not ready to deal with it.

But then the air around us shifts even further.

Jin stops just humoring me.

He listens.
He challenges me. Pushes me.

Picks apart my ideas, forces me to sharpen my vision, makes me fight for every word.

And I?
I push back.

I make him think beyond the courtroom, beyond his cases, beyond the bullshit rules he's convinced he has to follow.

You could do more, Jin.
You could be more.

He rolls his eyes. Scoffs. Makes some flippant remark about my "righteousness."

But then-he does more.