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

Chapter 127: Uninvited and Unwelcome

"What, can't a man hope!? And I'm excellent at both," Gabriel quips.

Just then, Wacha pads across the floor toward the freshly painted wall. Gabriel gently intercepts her with one hand, scooping her up before she can tail-flick through a paint tray.

"Careful, little gremlin," he says, giving her a gentle scratch behind the ears. "If you get matte finish on your butt again, I'm not helping clean it this time."

Wacha chirps at him like she approves. Or claims dominance. Honestly, it's hard to tell.

Gabriel tucks her safely into a fleece-lined laundry basket nearby and tosses a casual glance over his shoulder.

"You guys really built something here, huh?" he says lightly.

"It's like walking into a cozy hurricane. Messy, chaotic... but it makes sense."

The room quiets, just for a second.

Jin hyung grumbles in that low, warning tone only hyung's mastered "needing a new brand of bug spray."

"Be nice," Hobi hyung scolds gently, but he's grinning as he peels an orange.

Joon hyung wanders in with his tablet, holding it like it's a sacred relic, and promptly sits on Yoongi hyung's other side without looking up.

"Still having my team track press metrics," he murmurs, "but according to them, someone flagged the LoveMap profiles again. Weird fluctuations. Could be a syncing issue."

Yoongi hyung mutters, "Or not."

Gabriel raises an eyebrow. "Trouble in paradise?"

Yoongi hyung looks up at him with that slow, assessing gaze that always makes me think he's calculating a threat.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he says flatly.

Gabriel shrugs. "If you say so."

Noona breaks the tension with a sigh and throws herself down on the rug beside Tae.

"Can someone just kiss me or feed me snacks so I don't spiral into existential dread?"

Tae raises a brow. "Why choose? Come here."

She crawls over and collapses into his lap, and Tae doesn't even pause-just pulls her against his chest and rests his chin on her head like he's done it every day of his life.

"You're all I ever wanted," she murmurs dramatically into his shirt.

"You say that now," Tae says, petting her hair, "but you haven't seen the pastry Jin hyung's been baking."

"That's my girl," Jin hyung calls out. "Priorities."

Yeontan hops onto the couch beside me, nuzzles into my thigh, then promptly rolls over and farts.

"Wtf!? Tannie!! What have you been eating??" I wrinkle my forehead and fan my hand as the smell assaults my nose.

Hobi hyung laughs so hard he snorts and accidentally drops his orange slice down the front of his shirt.

"Help," he wheezes.

"Not a chance," I grin, grabbing a blanket to pummel him.

Kookie smirks. "The amount of feral energy in this room should be illegal."

Joon hyung finally sets his tablet down and says, deadpan, "And yet it's where I do my best work."

Gabriel's phone buzzes. He glances at it, then pockets it and stands.

"Duty calls," he says. "One of the vendors is stuck in traffic and apparently doesn't know how to use GPS."

He pauses by the door and glances back at Y/N noona.