Sunshine Someday // A BTS Soulmate AU [UPDATES SLOW]

Twelve

"Jin-hyung, can I talk to you about something?" Taehyung is frowning as he asks, bottom lip pushed out in a distracted pout.

"... Something you can't talk about with your Soulmates?" Seokjin frowns right back at him.

"Well... one of them already knows, but, uh... it's not who you'd think." Taehyung glances down the hall nervously, so Seokjin opens the door to his shared room, inviting Taehyung inside. When he sees that it's empty, Taehyung enters and drops onto Seokjin's bed.

"So what's this about?" Seokjin asks as he closes the door behind him. He grabs the chair from his desk and sits as Taehyung struggles to start.

"I... We--no. Um." He sighs heavily and decides to simply blurt it out. "Zanna and I Soulbonded last night and she asked me not to tell our Soulmates for ten days but I don't think I can keep this a secret for that long--I mean they know me, and we're Bonded, it's not like they won't figure out something's up by then--and I don't know what to do."

Seokjin blinks, processing Taehyung's word-vomit. He blinks again. He swallows once, licks his lips to wet them. Blinks again.

"I knew it."

"You what?" Taehyung sits up, gaping at his hyung.

"I knew Zanna was Holly! I mean, I didn't know-know. I guessed. I had a theory. But I didn't expect... you Soulbonded?! Did you even know who she was before yesterday?!"

"It was an accident! I didn't know until it happened! She was crying and I wanted to comfort her and before I knew it we were Bonded." Taehyung groans, falling back on the bed again and covering his face with his hands. "It isn't like with the others," he says after a moment, his voice quiet now. "She's... she has so many walls up, hyung. I can barely feel her. Like, I can tell she's in the house, and I can probably figure out exactly where and what she's doing if I really concentrate, but... I can't feel her. I have no idea if she's happy or sad or anything. Except--except she's in pain, like, consistently. I don't know what kind and I don't know how to help or if I even can help."

Seokjin's face softens as he listens. He'd known Zanna isn't exactly happy, but to hear Taehyung describe how closed-off she is... it makes his chest tighten painfully.

"What do I do, hyung?" Taehyung whispers, staring up at the ceiling with wet eyes. "Tell me what to do."

For a long moment, the room is silent.

"Don't push her," Seokjin says finally. "Don't make her talk about or do things she doesn't want to, but don't ignore her. Treat her like you would either of your Soulmates when they're sad. Just be there for her. If you said you wouldn't tell for ten days, keep your word to the best of your ability, and when the ten days are up, the four of you can talk about everything together."

"What if... what if she doesn't want all three of us?" Taehyung's voice cracks, and he covers his eyes with his hands again.

"I don't know, Tae, but I can't imagine she wouldn't. Just be her friend, yeah? Like you have been, but--"

"I don't want to just be her friend, hyung, I want..." his throat closes up and he swallows thickly as that image of Zanna cuddling with his Soulmates, asleep in their bed, flashes through his mind again. "I want more. I want her and I want them and I want everything. How can I wait now that I know, now that I have her?"

"You're going to have to do your best, Tae. Remember when Jeongguk first came of age, how he wasn't ready right away? Look how well that turned out! You waited for him then; you can wait for Zanna now."