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

Chapter 116: Echoes of a Former Home

I feel the warmth of his presence-reassuring, grounding.

But his silence speaks, too. Like he's processing, feeling his way through the newness of it all.

Joon gives me a thoughtful smile, but there's a shadow behind his eyes-a flicker of something unspoken. "We're okay, Noona," he says slowly.

"We're happy for you. Always will be."

Yoongi leans back against the counter, arms folded, watching me with that unreadable expression he wears when his thoughts run deeper than his words.

"Just don't be surprised if he ends up falling in love with Bam instead of us," he finally says, dry and flat-his classic deflection.

But I catch the flicker in his gaze.

They're teasing me-playfully, lovingly-but beneath it, there's something real.

A softness laced with caution.

Curiosity. Anticipation. And maybe a hint of something else-something quieter, more tangled.

Because no matter how confident they are in our bond, a stranger walking into it-even one from my past-means something.

And I see it in the shared glances.

In the way Jimin tilts his head, like he's reading the room. In how Tae's fingers linger a little longer on mine. In how Jungkook hasn't let go.

Across the room, Tannie hops into Bam's bed and curls into a cinnamon roll of fluff.

Bam adjusts slightly, making room like always, warm and protective.

Wacha watches them from her usual perch by the window, tail flicking, eyes narrowing-not in disdain, but... assessment.

The house hums around us-full of familiar laughter, clinking mugs, a little bit of glitter from Hobi's latest project, and the warmth of bodies that belong.

It's messy. Chaotic.
Unfiltered and golden.
But it's ours.

And soon, someone new will walk into it.

Someone who once knew a version of me I've long outgrown.

Someone who doesn't yet know who I've become with them.

_________________________

It had been a week since I told them.

A week of playful group chat polls about dinner menus, dramatic outfit trials from Tae and Hobi, and Joonie pretending he wasn't making a full guest profile spreadsheet under the guise of "event planning logistics."

Wacha and Tannie had become an unlikely nap duo, Bam was the reigning champion of hearts (and garden patrol), and life had taken on this golden, rhythmic hum-the kind that comes from familiarity wrapped in love.