natural figure | taegi

chapter six

•) Wednesday

Taehyung hadn't slept much last night, he'd stayed over at Jimin's place to watch movies after shopping and ended up crashing on the couch. Namjoon left them at the mall, his hand squeezing Taehyung's shoulder as he asked him again to do the right thing. Taehyung had nodded at the time but he'd had the whole night to talk to Jimin and yet he was too cowardly to face him. He didn't know how to begin. So he didn't begin at all.

Managing to turn himself around he noticed his body was draped in Jimin's bed cover. His heart squeezed, Jimin was always an angel - when he wasn't drunk - and here Taehyung was with a secret on his tongue that he wouldn't let leave. He sighed and reached for his phone on the coffee table. As he turned it upright his screen came to life, a few notifications lay waiting for him but it was the one at the top that caught his breath.

Today

9:50am
Yoongi
Sorry to pop up out of the blue but I have a favour to ask.

9:51am
I have a project due for my creative arts class at school and I was wondering if you could be my model? Clothed of course.

Taehyung read and re-read his messages over and over a few times. His groggy and half-awake brain making sense of it. What was he supposed to say? He promised himself he wasn't going to talk to Yoongi anymore, but he felt bad to ignore him when he had an assignment coming up. He was thinking on it when Jimin appeared from his bedroom. Pillow in his arms and yawn on his face. "Morning Tae..."

"You don't even look awake Chim. Go back to bed." Taehyung told him, setting his phone back down with the screen hidden. Jimin moved over his way and fell down on the free space at the end of the couch. He stared at the floor and smacked his lips a few times before switching the television on.

"No, I'd feel bad leaving you out here while I slept." Jimin told him and that seemed to be final so they both went quiet. Jimin's hand clasped Taehyung's foot over the covers and he held it. He always liked being able to touch some part of Taehyung when he was nearby, whether it was his hand, arm, neck, foot or whatever. Taehyung grew more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by. He should say something now, it was the perfect opportunity. But the longer he watched the side of Jimin's face, the longer he pulled himself further and further away from making the conversation. When he did speak, it wasn't about what Namjoon had told him to say.

"A classmate from my art lessons just asked me to be a model for their uni project." He said out of the blue. Jimin looked to him, ever slightly more awake. He seemed surprised.

"Really? That's wonderful! What did you say?" Jimin's other hand reached across his lap to also hold his foot as well. His eyes looked wondrous and Taehyung shrugged. "You should do it Tae, that'd be great for you - wait, is it nude modelling?"

"No. Just regular modelling."

"Would you... would you do it... you know- that way? If they'd asked you to?" Jimin carefully queried, eyes on Taehyung's and Taehyung fiddled with his blanket. With Jimin's blanket. Taehyung's voice was soft when he spoke next, he seemed unsure.

"Do you think I should?" He asked, not meeting gazes. Jimin was quiet for a moment, then a gentle smile graced his lips. He massaged Taehyung's foot to ease him.

"I think it'd be good for you no doubt, but it's not up to me." He said, shifting himself so he could crawl stomach down onto Taehyung. Taehyung grunted from the weight on his lungs and gut, hands resting on Jimin's shoulders. "You should never do what you're uncomfortable with, but you should sometimes push yourself to meet new limits. Who knows what you'll find? Maybe you'll discover an abundance of confidence tucked away under all that anxiety."