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

Chapter 119: Unspoken, Unfolding, Ours 🔥

Early morning light filtered through the foyer windows in warm golden streaks, cutting across the floor like sleepy brushstrokes.

It made the hardwood glow.
It made the moment feel gentle.

Gabriel adjusted the strap of his bag, looking too fresh for someone catching a train to Busan at 7AM.

His ever-effortless hair was tucked beneath a black cap. Shoes unlaced like he had all the time in the world.

Y/N noona stood across from him, arms crossed in the hoodie she slept in, her weight balanced slightly back on one foot.

She didn't reach out.
She didn't touch him.

And when their eyes met, something unspoken flickered between them-years of friendship meeting the fragile perimeter of boundaries drawn in quiet respect.

Gab noticed.
His smile softened, not wounded, just... understanding.

"High five?" he offered, holding up his hand like it was a peace treaty.

Noona blinked, then nodded.
Their hands met with a gentle clap.
No hug. No lingering.

"I'll text you when I land, Tabby."

"Crush your keynote, Tisoy."

She said it with a smile. It was a soft one, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

He turned to wave at the rest of us, lined up in a sleepy, oversized pajama parade across the living room.

The nods we returned were polite-but the shift in the room was seismic.

Yoongi hyung, who'd been perched on the armrest, let out a sigh like someone had finally removed a boot from his chest.

Joon hyung, coffee in hand, rubbed at his temple like a tension knot just dissolved.

Taehyung hyung leaned his whole weight into Jimin hyung, melting like a pancake in relief.

Even Wacha, who had been watching from the bookshelf with the disdain of a queen observing a suitor she didn't approve of, hopped down and padded straight to Joon hyung's lap-like she was reclaiming territory.

Tannie barked once-cheerfully-and then trotted in a triumphant circle around the living room.

Bam stretched out at the front door, tail flicking lazily, and flopped onto his side with a thump like finally.

And me?
I didn't know what I felt.

I mean-I wasn't mad at Gab. Not really.

He hadn't done anything wrong.
He hadn't even flirted, technically, not really. I know that.

But he'd been close.
To her. Too often. Too easily.

And the way she'd laughed around him... the way her voice had lifted like the past was just another room she still lived in...
It had gotten under my skin.

I hadn't meant it to. But it had.

Still, I was relieved.
Not that he was gone-but that he was gone for now.

Later that morning, Hobi hyung and I stood in our completed studios-each of them finally unpacked.

Ten years of dreaming.
Ten years of growing side by side.

Ten years of quiet "someday"s murmured into late-night ramen bowls and whispered into each other's hair on long flights home from tournaments.

And now here we were.

I stood in the center of my home studio first-my kingdom.

The blackout panels were perfectly in place, absorbing sound like a protective cocoon.