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"Tae," you huffed, batting Kim Taehyung in the side of the head as you tried to shove him awake without placing your palms anywhere near the smooth, bare skin of his entire torso, "Taehyung, get up!"
"Mmmfff," Taehyung groaned, completely ignoring you, rolling over, and shoving his face into one of the three cushions he'd managed to wrap himself around while he slept, incoherent and mumbling, "sleepy."
You placed your hands on your hips and shot the man-child in front of you a very exasperated look.
Technically, all of this was his fault. If he hadn't fought you for so long in trying to tease you so much to let him shower with you, or sleep in your goddamn bed, for the sake of 'protecting' you, making your banter and his stories of all sorts of monsters that did their job in freaking you out... but not enough to let him follow up on any of the playful promises he'd made.
So when you'd gotten to sleep, it had been around 1 AM in the morning, and waking Taehyung up early before you went to your classes...
Oh boy.
You were convinced. You were convinced that no matter HOW flirty he was, how many dirty jokes he made, how many times he'd made you flush simply with his dark stare and mischievous smirks, no matter how deep his groans were as you coaxed him awake (the type that made you want to throw something at his face because whO gave him the right to sound like sex on legs), no matter how otherworldly his body looked, as if carved from marble into lean muscle covered only by a low-hanging pair of gray sweats, Kim Taehyung was secretly a child hiding within that godly body of his.
Bam. You definitely HAD to be a child of Athena, considering how you'd just solved the conspiracy of the millennium.
You couldn't recall the last time you'd had to deal with so much whining when waking someone up in the morning, and you'd dealt with Kim Namjoon.
You still got war flashbacks from the last time you'd tried to get him out of his precious bed.
With a glance at the clock in your kitchen, you cursed under your breath for getting distracted, took a long swig of coffee for strength, and vigorously rubbed your temples.
"Tae, come on, you need to get up!" you protested, shaking your head to clear your thoughts as you tried yanking on the vermillion strands of his hair, making a raspy yelp tear from his throat and his long legs instinctively kicked back into yours in protest.
"Pretty one by all the GODS, let go of my hair—" Taehyung's voice bordered on a growl when he finally lifted his head from his pillow and batted your arm away from his precious silky locks, face still smushed and puffy with sleep and eyes bleary, little flashes of bronze and red more evident in them as he blinked his incoherence away.
He looked adorable, god—
Wait, no, you were getting distracted again.
"Get mad at me later," you snapped at Taehyungs vaguely irritated expression, your patience thinning as you looked at the clock again, "if you're going to come with me, you need to get up now, or else you can't be whining when I leave you behind, alright?"
The two of you stared at each other for a long moment before Taehyung narrowed his eyes at you, head tilting to the side as he shifted, placing a hand behind his head as he continued to lay sprawled languidly on the couch, and you scoffed.
Shrugging you turned away. "Alright then, I guess I'll just go," you said confidently, already beginning to back away from the decidedly infuriating demigod, "you'd be sitting around all day, alone, because I'll be in class, so it's not like you'd enjoy it anyway—"
Taehyung's small, dark scoff behind you should have warned you.
And yet you weren't prepared whatsoever when he snatched your wrist in a quick, smooth motion and yanked, making you yelp when he pulled you onto the couch and wrapped his arms around you, trapping you against his chest as he fell back into a lying position.
To be honest, you wished you could say you were surprised.
Like, at this point, you kind of expected this, because when did Kim Taehyung ever actually listen to you?
Never.
That was when.
"TAEHYUNG!" you yelled indignantly nevertheless as you recovered from your initial shock, straining against his arms as you felt him sigh contentedly and bury his face in your hair, his eyes closing once again, "Oh my god, you idiot, what are you DOING?"
"You can't leave me behind if you can't leave, can you?" Taehyung hummed deeply, voice thick and husky with sleep as he dragged his nose down and mumbled into the shell of your ear, "Now stop moving, baby, it's ridiculous that you have to get up this early every day. You need some sleep."
"I do not," you fired back, face contorting into a scowl at the self-assured tone of Taehyung's voice, "I have my coffee, and that's more than enough now would you LET GO—"
"I am simply doing this for your own wellbeing," Taehyung said coolly, arms tightening around you and pulling you into him even more so one leg of his could lift and drape over yours, effectively trapping you in a human cage, "nothing that tastes as bad as your damned bean drink could possibly be good for you, my love."
You gasped, completely affronted. "You leave my coffee out of this, you heathen! What did it ever do to you?"
You felt Taehyung's lips pull back into a smug little grin as they ghosted the back of your neck.
"You're impossible," you grumbled after a moment, making Taehyung laugh.
"You wouldn't have it any other way."
Sighing, you rolled your eyes and Taehyung took your moment of silence as relent, as time to do as he pleased, not caring at all that he was shirtless and you could frankly just reach back and touch him and FORCE him to come along with you in sword form... which you probably should have done, considering the time...
But you didn't.
Taehyung's soft, blazing warmth permeated through you as he nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, your flannel overshirt that had half the buttons undone from the top bunching up and revealing even more the tight black t-shirt you'd tucked into your wide-leg, faded jeans. Maybe you shouldn't have even bothered to get ready, considering how you were already melting into Taehyung's embrace, the sleepy little kisses he mouthed over your hair, neck, jaw after every breath making your heart stutter again and again.
"Tae," you finally found the willpower to speak again, your voice a firm sigh when you twisted in his grasp, ignoring the small disgruntled huff of his when you did so. You met his dark eyes when you turned around, flickering with red and bronze more so than usual in his sleepy state, lips folded into a pout, and you couldn't help but soften a little bit, reaching up with an arm to rake a stray strand of hair out of his eyes. "Tae, honey, I have to go to school. I can't miss any more classes, you know that."
You didn't notice the way Taehyung's eyes instantly went a little more alert, lighting up with wonder and gleeful disbelief as his grip on you slackened. "Honey?"
You felt your life flashing before your eyes as you regretted all your life decisions.
"No, no, that was a slip of the tongue—" you spluttered, making Taehyung laugh happily, until— "Taehyung. NO. Just let me go, alright?"
Taehyung looked at you for a long moment, dark eyes burning into yours with light as he ghosted a hand up to cradle your face. And then he let his eyes slip shut.
He let out a sigh, clearly not happy about it, but he lifted his arms and legs enough to let you free from his cuddling, slumping back on the couch with a sad pout. "Hmph," he muttered crossly under his breath as you stood, the morning deepness that infected his voice still not having worn off just yet, "Well, I still fail to understand why you have to go to your school. You're the smartest woman I've ever met, what more could you possibly need to learn?"
At this, you actually couldn't help the smile that broke out over your face, wide and genuine. Hey, if you had a weakness... praising your intelligence? Damn, that would definitely be it. You wondered who'd told him that.
Yet you still rolled your eyes at his dramatic actions, trying to act annoyed, and once again gently tugged at his hair, the only way you could actually pull him up without sending him to the sword, but he still whined a little, eyes slipping closed again once you were out of his reach.
"Tae," you warned, voice stern as you crossed your arms over your chest, the tone making Taehyung shift with his head still stuffed in the pillow, "let's go. I'm in no mood to get my soul sucked from me today, therefore you need to get up, and you need to get up now."
There was a pause.
And then a long sigh.
"Do I really have to put on a shirt?" Taehyung asked petulantly, voice still muffled by his pillow.
"Yes," you said with conviction, and Taehyung finally turned his head to look at you with a single bleary eye, drinking in the sight of your slightly impatient face, "you man-whore, good god. What in the world do you have against clothing?"
Taehyung finally flipped over and let out a laugh, eyes crinkling up when he got to his feet, shaking his head at you.
"Fiiiiine," he dragged out after a moment, smiling at the floor and wholly unable to deny you, "but I want strawberries. And cake. And you totally did call me honey."
You snorted.
I mean, did I expect anything besides age 4 bargaining from this man child? I think not.
Stretching, Taehyung padded over to you and peered over your shoulder. Humming happily, the demigod let his arms settle over your waist as he draped himself over you when you turned away, chuckling at the way you groaned when he did so, and hummed, sleepily burying his face in the crook over your neck and mouthing kisses to your collarbone over your flannel shirt. You thought you heard him mumble an unintelligible "too early" against you, but you weren't sure.
You begged yourself not to think too much of it— this was just sleep-induced Taehyung, that was all. Affection personified.
Sadly, that didn't stop him from feeling like fire pressed to your body.
"Tae, if get ready quick, I'll pack strawberries for you," you coaxed as he made no effort to move from you, making Taehyung instantly brighten up.
You glanced down in your bag and tried to hide the fact that they were already in there.
The red berries gleamed at you in shades of red among your books, the breakfast you'd packed for Tae, the sweets from last night so he'd be tided over.
Worst of all, you could hardly tell yourself why. Why you'd done that. Why the strawberries were mockingly glinting as scarlet as his hair at you when you glanced into the gaping pocket once more.
The very irritating voice in the back of your head snorted, sounding ineffably smug. Don't lie to yourself, you smitten idiot, you know why.
Oh god, was there a way to get rid of the mini-Hana in your head, or were you just going nuts? It was official, Taehyung had officially driven you over the edge.
At yet, you couldn't picture life the same without him.
A sour taste filled your mouth as you once again looked down at the strawberries, bitter wonder weaving through your head. Once he was gone, you'd have too many of these sweet red berries stocked in your fridge to eat on your own. Once he was gone, you'd stop buying them on a regular basis, stop obsessively having to buy every strawberry-flavor drink, lip balm, or candy.
You'd settled things with Tae last night, yes. But that didn't mean the part of you that was aching, that was begging for you to pay attention to it at this point, would stop stinging.
Sighing, you didn't notice the sly way Taehyung glanced at you, taking advantage of your thoughts as he smirked and abruptly pulled you away from packing your bag, fingers wrapping around your wrists.
"Are you that desperate to make my hide myself from you?" he drawled, making you blink, slightly disoriented, as he playfully tilted his head, eyes sparkling as he dragged his gaze down his own body, "Do I truly distract you that much, my love?"
You blinked quickly, fingers unconsciously drifting to your hair as you felt yourself getting uncomfortably warm, and Taehyung smirked when he caught you trying very hard not to let your gaze wander along the smooth expanses of his skin, built like a Greek god and yet so much prettier than any of them could ever be.
Except maybe Aphrodite. You'd met her and that b*tch was hot.
"As if," you scoffed, pushing away and tilting your head up so it was as far away from him as possible, making him smirk, "I just don't want to attract more stares than you usually do, dumba*s."
Taehyung paused, looked at you leaning against the counter and fixing him with a stern look, and threw his head back and laughed.
Clicking his tongue as you, Taehyung sauntered cockily in your direction before playfully hooking his fingers through your belt loops and pulling you towards him with a flippant wink. "I wouldn't worry about it, baby, this body is for your eyes only," he drawled, making your heart nearly goddamn beat out of your chest when he leaned towards your ear and gently bit down on the multiple chains dangling from your piercings today, tugging enough to make you gasp before letting go.
Did he just— I know this motherf*cker did not just BITE—
"I— TAEHYUNG," you spluttered, eyes widening as he pulled back, licking his lips and grinning when your hand flew to your ear, "you cannot just— you know what, I'm seriously going to leave you this time, a*shole—"
You whirled around, marching to the door and blushing so brightly you were pretty sure you resembled some sort of genetically modified poppy by now, and Taehyung laughed behind you.
Slipping his arms through a button-up shirt you'd left for him on the counter and using your turned back to quickly hop into some thin, loose slacks, and finally hastily sliding on his gloves and stumbling into his shoes, Taehyung quickly hurried to your side and slammed his palm against the door before you could flick the knob to open it, his warm, sweet breath batting the back of your neck as his warmth permeated through you, keeping you trapped in a cage of his making.
"No, no, come on, baby, don't be mad," he pleaded, voice resonating richly in your ear, but you could hear the laughter threaded within it, which was pretty much doing doing nothing but incensing your temper, "okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll be good for the rest of the day, I swear!"
You turned around, still trapped by his arm over the door as he leaned over you, and crossed your arms over your chest, shooting him a skeptical look.
"Somehow I doubt that," you snorted dryly, "but if you could at least try, I'd appreciate it. It's not as if I'm at a lack of things to think about."
Taehyung paused, not fighting as you pushed his hand off the door and reached for your keys, letting him open the door for you as he always did. You didn't even notice his dark eyes boring curiously into your face, heated and yet soft, as you pushed past him and out the door, shaking your head. Taehyung's soft, padding footsteps followed you, and you half-expected his arm to wrap around your waist when his long legs allowed him to catch up to your side, but he didn't.
The problem was that you were EXPECTING it.
You were LOOKING FORWARD to it.
You felt that faint rush of disappointment when he DIDN'T.
You shook your head, blinking, trying to rid your head of those very traitorous thoughts. A glance at the demigod beside you effectively ruined that, though— not looking at you, Taehyung's hair gleamed beautifully in tones of blood and cherry in the morning light streaming in from the windows in the hall, and you shook your head, trying to rid yourself of the little stirrings of your heart deep in your chest. Red was just a damn color.
Wrong, that voice in your head trilled cheerfully, much to your irritation, red is HIS color. Red is the color that will instantly make you think of him, his beautiful smiles, his gorgeous eyes. Red is the color that will have you missing him with every breath once he's gone. Red is a color you won't be able to look at the same ever again.
You swallowed, quite harshly, and Taehyung looked at you again, concern coloring his expression.
"Is everything alright?" you almost fell face-first into the floor as Taehyung's deep voice resonated richly in the shell of your ear, tearing you very abruptly from your thoughts. You involuntarily flinched and looked back to see Taehyung retreating slightly from leaning in your direction, eyebrows furrowed. At your startling, he looked down to hide a smile, pressing his lips together. "Sorry, baby," he hummed apologetically, "you just seem... distracted right now. You are alright? Surely I didn't annoy you that much, did I?"
You couldn't help the way you softened up considerably even as you simply looked at him, looking at you with puppy-like, slightly guilty eyes.
"I'm fine, Tae," you rubbed your temples and sighed, shooting him a faintly defeated look. "Don't worry about me, Tae, I've just got stuff on my mind, okay?"
Read: I'm thinking about you more than I should, so PLEASE stop trying to rip my soul from my body multiple times before you've even had breakfast.
Not that you didn't appreciate the sweetness, because you did, it was cute and it did make you feel a little better, so mission accomplished you supposed, but could this man REALLY not stick to ONE way to make you blush instead of effectively attacking you with ALL OF THEM??
Among the dangers of interacting with the rare Kim Taehyung, your head decided to unhelpfully drone as if you were in a damn nature documentary, is the whiplash you will inevitably get when he shifts from cute, sleepy soft boy to the devil reincarnated and then back again.
Realizing you'd been quiet a moment too long, Taehyung's fingers lingering at your wrist and undoubtedly feeling your pulse fluttering like it was infused with butterfly wings, you coughed and tried to salvage your dignity best you could.
You sighed. "I told you, I'm fine, Tae," you glanced at him and let the corner of your lips tip up, making him flush, ducking his head shyly.
"Okay," he nodded, smiling sweetly at you and making his cheeks scrunch up, making your heart flutter in your chest like a trapped sparrow, desperately beating at the walls of your ribcage, "okay, darling, whatever you say. Just... don't worry about the curse too much, alright? I'm here. I'll be here for you. There is no way you're getting hurt with me around."
You looked at him for a long moment and tried to nod through the increasing shallowness of your breath, the realizations that were beginning to creep in your mind and settle there with uncomfortable certainty, Taehyung's hand on your shoulder suddenly seeming so comfortable, so right.
Sunset skin, cherry hair, chocolate eyes.
He's ruined you.
Oh f*ck.
A/N: So I disappear for a month only to deliver the filler chapter of all filler chapters, I genuinely apologize but the only way to beat writer's block is to forcibly attack is with fluff and more fluff, so here you go
I'm risking my life to publish this on a family road trip so I REALLY hope you enjoyed lmao, better content coming soon inshallah. Love y'all <3
—MARE