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

Chapter 121: Like Stars, We Remember

Then the screen goes dark.

Silence.
No one breathes.

And then-Jungkook sniffles.
Softly.

Followed by a wet inhale from Jin oppa.

Joon blinks rapidly, jaw slack, eyes shining.

Hobi lets out a quiet, reverent "Wow."

I laugh-but it comes out like a sob.

And we move.
Everyone at once.

We pile toward Tae where he's still sitting frozen, wide-eyed, vulnerable.

Like he wasn't just the artist, but the whole canvas too.

Hobi gets to him first-drops to his knees and pulls him into a hug so tight it lifts Tae a little off the couch.

"Are you kidding me?" Hobi whispers. "You genius. You absolute star."

Kook's already on the other side of him, eyes still glassy, wiping at his cheeks with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"I hate you," he says, voice cracking.

"You didn't warn us. You didn't warn us-I cried!"

Tae laughs, body trembling from all the emotion, and I lean in and kiss his cheek. So does Jimin. At the same time.

"THAT, bear cub" I say, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes,

"was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It felt like-like remembering a dream you didn't know you had."

"You made space feel like home," Jimin adds softly, eyes shining.

Yoongi leans down and pulls Taehyung up into a slow, quiet kiss.

It's soft. Unhurried. Hands framing his face like Yoongi's afraid he'll drift away.

"You're a fucking artist," he murmurs against his lips.

Tae smiles into the kiss.

Jin oppa's on the verge of another tear.

"My god," he whispers. "You made every person in that room feel like they were the one being reached for."

Joon just walks over, wraps an arm around him, and presses his forehead to Tae's temple.

"That's not a VR piece," he says quietly. "That's not a dance film. That's you. That's your soul. That's art."

Wacha, of course, chooses this exact moment to hop into Tae's lap like it's her way of saying "okay but enough emotions, my turn."

Tannie shuffles closer too, tail wagging and licking Tae's hand, while Bam gently rests his head on Tae's knee, grounding him in reality.

Tae breaks.

Lets out a trembling laugh that turns into a sob and clutches at us all like we're the oxygen he's been holding his breath for.

And we let him.
Because this?
This is what he gave us.

A story written across galaxies.
A truth so loud it echoes in silence.
A love that remembers.

__________________________

We don't move for a while after Tae's video ends.

The silence isn't empty.

It's full-of breath caught in chests, of glances exchanged across pillows and blankets, of hearts too full to speak.

Like we've all just stepped out of a dream we're not quite ready to wake from.