➵ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓: 𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 [𝐊.𝐓𝐇]

"Then leave it! Leave her be, Tae!"

You'd threatened to throw your shoes at him more than once, and honestly, Namjoon was tempted to let you.

Taehyung, on the other hand, had laughed and smirked and asked you if you really thought it was that bad, to which you decided to threaten him as well.

But see, the entire calamity in this situation fell onto just that.

Kim Taehyung.

The son of Ares had turned into a whole other variable.

Thanks so much for ruining the equation, Tae.

It couldn't have been obvious to anyone else, but it was the little things that sent the gears in Namjoon's head spinning. Even if you threatened him and scowled and rolled your eyes at his antics, there was still the fact that you had even decided to sit near him. That you'd let him touch you, even in the smallest of ways. That you'd smile and laugh at what he said.

They were all little things, but they were pure and solid proof that Taehyung was managing to slip through the cracks.

Namjoons wasn't sure if you'd totally fallen for him yet, but he sure as hell could not let that happen.

He didn't want to see you broken when Taehyung decided, like he always did, that enough was enough, that commitment wasn't for him and that you'd gotten dull anyways.

And so, after he'd let the rest of the boys bicker over who was going to pay the bill, he'd stolen you away for talk to you about it.

But before he could, he'd realized that Taehyung had gotten there first— playing with your hair and tugging you close to him and tipping his head to whisper something in your ear that made you stifle a laugh, both of you full and warm and slightly buzzed on the alcohol Jimin had managed to conjure and— oh no. That smile. You'd paused in your back-and-forth and now you were just staring at each other and you were smiling and Taehyung looked like he was about to combust when you grabbed his gloved (damn those gloves; he wasn't supposed to be able to touch you anD YET) hand and—

Sh*t. 

Namjoon couldn't watch this anymore. YAH. No. STOP IT THIS INSTANT.

But before he could storm over to steal you away from the demigod who was inevitably going to break you if you weren't careful, Taehyung had caught his eye, and Namjoon had seen how his irises seemed to harden with a sort of steel, resolve— a flint that rivaled Namjoon's own.

And Taehyung had promptly yanked the son of Athena outside to talk before Namjoon himself could storm in eight hat dramatic overprotective brother look he'd been trying to perfect.

So yes. Lest to say, Kim Namjoon was slightly annoyed. And it was cold outside, and that just made everything worse.

"So?" Namjoon prompted again, stormy eyes cool and voice cool and posture cool (at this point everything was cool haHA), "Tae, I'm really half a popsicle right now, so I'd appreciate it if you'd finish what you had to say, um, say, now?"

Taehyung, even though he was probably trying to be intimidating or some crap, furrowed his eyebrows at the statement, expression lightening for a minute. "Pop-sickle?" he repeated, pouting thoughtfully, "What is that?"

"It's—" bleh, gods damn Taehyung for being so easy to distract, "Nothing, Tae, just— get to the point. Why are you here?"

"Ah. Right," Taehyung cleared his throat, once again straightening to his full height. Even though Namjoon was taller, the inch or so between their heights did little in the face of Taehyung's corded, lean form, every muscle coiled lazily and packed tightly against his taut, honey-bronze skin. Namjoon couldn't help but want to step back in the face of his intense eyes, shining with flint and steel and something more. "Hyung, it's about Y/N."