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

Chapter 87: Plants, Pinkies & Paper Cranes

Somewhere along the way, we stopped keeping score.

It wasn't about winning. It was just us.

Talking like old friends who were still figuring out how far this string between them could stretch.

Outside, the light faded completely.

And in its place, little specks of glow began to blink through the glass.

"Fireflies," Jungkook whispered, tilting his head up.

I followed his gaze.

The garden beyond the greenhouse flickered with them, soft and slow.

Like tiny lanterns drifting in the dusk.

"They always remind me of beginnings,"

I murmured.

"Like... they only show up when something's about to change."

Jungkook turned to me, eyes catching the glow.

"Do you think this is a beginning?"

he asked quietly.

I felt the air shift between us.
Not heavy. Not tense. Just-full.

"I hope so," I said honestly.

"Feels like one."

He looked down at his hands.

Then slowly, almost shyly, he reached into his hoodie pocket.

"Here," he said, holding something out.

I blinked.

It was a small, delicate paper crane-folded with practiced care.

The edges were a little uneven, but that just made it better somehow. More real.

"For luck," he said. "Or... something."

My chest tightened in the best kind of way.

I took it gently, turning it over in my hands.

"Does this mean I'm winning the game?"

He chuckled.

"No. It just means I trust you."

I looked up at him, throat suddenly tight.

"Thank you," I said softly.

"I'll take good care of it."

A beat passed.
Then another.

"I should go,"

Jungkook said, voice low, reluctant.

I didn't answer right away, just nodded slowly, though every part of me wanted to ask him to stay.

"Yeah," I said at last, stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets.

"I should go too. Jin-hyung's probably having a meltdown thinking I got abducted by bees or something."

That earned a quiet laugh from Jungkook-soft, but real.

We both stood, a little too slowly.

Like our legs weren't ready to leave.

This place.
Each other.

He looked down at his shoes, maybe thinking the same thing I was.

That this didn't feel finished.
That maybe it wasn't supposed to be.

"Hey..." I started, voice gentler now, testing the weight of what I wanted to say.

"Can we... meet again? Soon?"

He didn't answer right away.

His eyes flicked up to mine, and I saw the hesitation there, thick and tangled.

But I also saw something else-curiosity. Hope. Maybe even a little longing.

Then, slowly, he nodded.

"Yeah. Let's do that."

I smiled-wide, unguarded, stupidly bright.

"Promise?" I asked, lifting my pinky like a kid, like it mattered more than anything else in the world.

Jungkook hesitated, but his gaze never left mine.

Then, with quiet determination, he hooked his pinky with mine.

"Promise," he said, almost a whisper.

His hand lingered for a moment longer than it needed to.

And as we pulled apart, he brushed his shoulder against mine-barely there.

Intentional.

I didn't look back when I walked away.

But I didn't stop smiling, either.

Because I knew.
This wasn't the end.