Tied Like Puppets [ TaeJinKook ]

Chapter 6

"Something's going on." Yoongi said three weeks after the night Seokjin slept in the living room without a blanket. (He nearly froze to death, he swore, but someone had gone and gotten him a very heavy blanket and a warm, fluffy pillow to tuck him into, so he was alright.) Yoongi didn't look too happy. "What the fuck is going on with you and Taehyung and Jungkook again? Huh? It's not even sexual tension this time. Everything's just fucking awkward and I want to know what you did."

"I just-" Seokjin glanced out into the living room where Taehyung and Jungkook were sitting. They were cuddled up together, appearing as they had weeks ago, but neither of them looked very happy. Seokjin, granted, did not know what they were watching- if it was a sad or boring movie- but he still felt guilty, because they looked so upset, and Seokjin thought it might be his fault.

"I didn't do anything. I think they're just... angry with me." Seokjin said. He really didn't feel like explaining their sort-of love triangle. It was so simple in that every in the triangle loved each other, but complicated because someone in the triangle was going to eventually leave and then nothing would be the same again. It would all be depressing and nothing would feel okay and Seokjin wasn't ready for that kind of depression between him and his youngest dongsaengs.

"Fix it. I'm sick of you guys fucking around like this. It's retarded." Yoongi said. He picked up his coffee and walked out of the room. Seokjin realized, as he was leaving, that Yoongi had put three sugars and four creams into his coffee. Yoongi didn't make his coffee like that.

-

It had been two months since that night, and Seokjin hadn't said a word to either Taehyung or Jungkook. But now- now- he was standing in front of the door to his own room. He'd missed it there, sleeping across from Taehyung (and sometimes Jungkook) every night. He could watch them through the dark, watch them interact, watch them fall asleep slowly. They were so beautiful like that.

"Taehyung? Jungkook?" Seokjin whispered, knocking as soft as he could. There was no reason to be so quiet, as it was just falling dark and no one was asleep yet. But Seokjin was kind of hoping that they wouldn't hear him, and he could make himself an excuse- convince himself that they were sleeping and he could put it off until tomorrow or the next day or the next day or the next-

But, no. Taehyung opened the door, with Jungkook just a step behind him. The room was so silent- no music, no background television, no water running, almost as if Jungkook and Taehyung had been waiting for him, waiting for the familiar knock on the door. Seokjin noticed, from the corner of his eye, that his bed wasn't made and his favorite pillow was gone.

"Hyung." Taehyung spoke first. Seokjin didn't know what to say. His mouth had gone so dry that he didn't think he could say anything, so he just smiled instead. Taehyung smiled back, just a soft little smile with his lips still pressed together. Jungkook didn't smile at all, but his eyes softened, became a little less dull than they had been the past months.

"I'm, uh... I'm sorry." Seokjin said. He brought his hand up to scratch the back of his neck. Taehyung's hand came up, too, but he dropped it a second later, let it fall back to the doorknob. Seokjin wondered what he'd been planning to do. "I know it's kind of late for apologies, but, uh, better late than never, huh? So... yeah, I'm sorry for..." avoiding your for four months, Seokjin's mind finished.

"Hyung..." Jungkook said. Seokjin could see his eyes flicker with something, something, and Seokjin wished he were better at reading people's expressions, because he was dying, dying to know what Jungkook was feeling so he could fix it somehow, with words or a hug or a favor or something, just something. "Hyung, will you come back? W-We miss having you... you're so distant."

"Of course. This is, uh, my room, after all." Seokjin laughed awkwardly. Taehyung dropped his arm, and Seokjin stepped into the room. He could feel both Jungkook's and Taehyung's eyes on his back as he walked towards his bed. He started to straighten out the sheets just to get himself busy with something. There was no way he could sleep, not this early, and especially not with Jungkook and Taehyung watching him.

"Hyung." Jungkook said quietly. Seokjin didn't answer, thought he might have been talking to Taehyung, but then Taehyung was calling his attention with a much louder "Hyung," and Seokjin turned around. Jungkook was closer than he'd been expecting. "You still love us, right? I mean... as dongsaengs. You still love us as dongsaengs, right?"

More than that, Seokjin wished he could say, but he turned around and said "Of course" instead.