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

Chapter 99: Of Roots and Rooms 🔥

"Seojun hyung just called. It's done. All of it. My uncle's officially bankrupt and in jail. It's been more than a month but I still can't believe it. The accounts are unfrozen. The properties, the inheritance... it's all mine. Everything they took from me-it's mine again."

I put the book aside, heart kicking up a little as I moved to sit beside him, one knee folded on the bed.

"...And how do you feel, cub?"

"I don't know," he said, voice soft.

"To be honest, I thought I'd be angrier. Or... I don't know. But I just feel... light. Like I'm floating."

"You should feel light," I said, brushing his damp hair back.

"You've been carrying a mountain on your back for years. And you never let it crush you."

He looked at me then, really looked-eyes glossy with something heavy and raw.

"I wouldn't have made it without you. Without all of you."

I smiled, bending down to press my forehead against his.

"You know that I would do it all over again, baby bear. Every fight, every sleepless night. I'd fight for you a thousand times if I had to."

"And I would too," a voice said softly from the doorway.

We both turned.

Joon stood there, casual in joggers and an oversized hoodie, hair mussed from drying, eyes serious and so full of affection it physically hit me.

"In a heartbeat," he said, walking into the room.

He sat on Tae's other side, their fingers immediately tangling without even needing to ask.

Tae laughed breathily, shaking his head. "You guys are ridiculous."

"Ridiculously in love with you," I quipped, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

Tae grinned, that crooked, devastating smile of his.

"I'm serious, though. I love you. All of you. So fucking much."

Joon's hand tightened in his. "We love you too, baby bear."

"All of us," I added, thinking of the way Yoongi and Hobi curled into each other on the couch, the way Jungkook looked at Y/N like she was a verse he'd been trying to write his whole life.

"I think... we all found each other for a reason. Like fate said, hey, these chaotic idiots need each other."

Tae laughed again, tearfully this time.

"I'm so lucky. I feel like the luckiest bastard on the planet. To have all of you. Not just you and Joon hyung, but Y/N noona, Yoongi hyung, Hobi hyung, and Kookie. You guys aren't just my soulmates now or my partners, each and everyone of you is a part of me now."

Joon nodded. "Family. Lovers. Home."

I leaned in again, this time cupping Tae's jaw.

"Exactly. You're not alone anymore, bear cub. You never will be again."

And then... I kissed him.
It wasn't soft. It wasn't gentle.

It was months of love and laughter and pain, of late-night gazes and stolen kisses. It was for every night he cried in our arms and told us he didn't believe in happiness. It was for every moment since then where he started to believe again.

Our lips met like we'd both been drowning.

I tasted salt from his tears and heat from his skin, the slick press of his mouth against mine, the little sound he made when I deepened the kiss and my hand slid into his hair.