Fake || a kth and jjk ff

|| eighteen ||

Jungkook had pulled on his pants and raised his arms to pull his shirt over his head when Taehyung froze.

"Uh, Jungkook...how frightened are you of bugs?"

"You mean like ants and mosquitos?"

"No...more like ticks."

"What?" he screeched, jumping around and dancing in place. "Get it off! Get it off!"

Tae ran over to him and pulled Jungkook into his arms to settle him down. "So you're afraid of your mother and blood-sucking parasites. I can see a common thread."

"It's not funny, Tae!" he shouted, trying to pull free. "Get it off!"

"Calm down. It's just a seed tick. I'll pull it out."

Jungkook took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Where is it?"

"Close to your armpit."

The younger released a shriek of panic, his feet running in place, and Tae had to laugh despite Jungkook's obvious terror.

"Stop laughing at me!"

"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you."

Jungkook swung his face around to glare at him. "I'm not laughing, Tae!"

"I know. I'm sorry. You're just so cute."

"There's nothing cute about ticks!"

"Okay, hold still so I can get it off." He lifted Jungkook's arm over his head and examined his skin, surprised it was gone. "I don't see it."

"What do you mean you don't see it?"

"It's gone."

Jungkook looked up at Tae, his gaze fierce. "Ticks just don't leave, Tae. They wait until they're engorged and drop off. Did it look engorged?"

Tae pinched his lips—he couldn't laugh or Jungkook would kill him. "I admit to seeing more than my fair share of engorged objects in the last ten hours or so, but that tick wasn't one of them."

"Then where is it?" the younger shrieked, panicked again.

"Relax, Jungkook. It's just a tiny tick."

"Just a tiny tick? It's a creature that embeds its head deep inside—" Jungkook glared up at Taehyung again when he began to snicker. "If you're going to continue to act like a twelve-year-old boy, I'm going to leave you out here with the raccoons."

Though he managed not to release the peals of laughter bubbling up inside him, Tae couldn't hold back a chuckle. "I'm sorry. I'm trying."

Without responding, Jungkook tried to look over his shoulder. "I can't see back there."

Taehyung grabbed his shoulders and bent at the knees so his face was level with Jungkook's. "I'll look and make sure you don't have any ticks, okay? I promise."

Jungkook dragged in a breath and let it out. "Okay."

The elder gave him a soft kiss and released his shoulders, then moved behind him to examine his back. After examining Jungkook's back, he moved to his sides and front, then declared him tick-free. "Nothing. You're good."

"Then where did it go?"

"I don't know." Tae picked Jungkook's shirt off the ground. "I suspect it wasn't attached yet and fell off when you were trying to put your shirt on." He moved several feet away from the younger and shook it out before handing it back to him.

Jungkook started to pull it over his head, when he began to scream, jerking the shirt off. The clothing got tangled around his head as he stumbled around, and Taehyung lunged for the younger as he started to trip, keeping him from falling to the ground.