The room is just as Yoongi's left it. Nothing has moved from its place, matter of fact, the place looked even more tidier than before.
Taehyung approached Yoongi slowly from behind and leaned closer to him. "What do you think?"
Yoongi startled for a second, but was quick to furrow his brows at the taller. "About what?"
"Why, your place, of course!"Taehyung replied as Yoongi stepped further inside the room.
"It's the same old No.303,"Yoongi rolled his eyes,"I've lived here for eight years. Staying away from it for one day won't suddenly change it."
Taehyung smiled at Yoongi, following behind him.
Yoongi stared at the bedroom door. "Having said that...",He trailed off, it's a bad habit of his, starting a sentence loudly and finishing it in his head. As if to keep the conversation to himself only.
But now that he's observed the place a bit closely, something does kind of feel off about this place...
Taehyung flicked his fingers in front of Yoongi, snapping the smaller out of his thoughts. Yoongi looked up at the taller. "You were saying?"
Yoongi stepped back a little, the proximity being too much for him to bear. "..I've j-just got a bad feeling, is all."
"I know why that is,"Taehyung smiled at Yoongi,"Things have changed here, Yoongi. Because this apartment belongs to you and I, Hyung. We're renting it together."
"WHAT?!",Yoongi shrieked,"You never said a word about that!"
Taehyung leaned closer to Yoongi,"What's in it for me? Why'd I pay 30 months worth of rent for you without getting any benefit out of you?"
Yoongi stepped back and gulped down a lump on his throat. "Benefit? I'm telling you beforehand, I'm not interested to be housemates with you, neither do I have any intentions of being your housekeeper."
"Hm?",Taehyung smiled, and Yoongi swears he can see the smugness in it as he steps closer and places a hand on the wall, beside Yoongi's head, trapping him in. "You say you don't want to be a housekeeper..."His hands travels down to the coat's button and he ripped the buttons away, revealing the maid outfit Yoongi was wearing. "...yet you're dressed up as one."
Yoongi blinked repeatedly and as his eyes slowly dropped down, he could see the maid outfit.
Yoongi's ears and cheeks turns crimson red from embarassment, and truth be told, he's never felt this small under someone's gaze.
Taehyung smirked and with that, got off of the smaller. "I apologise. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Are you okay?"
Yoongi looks away, clutching his dress and unable of forming any coherent sentence.
"Anyhow, I don't intend to keep you as my housemate or housemaid either, so you can rest assured." Taehyung chuckled. "I prefer to keep a certain distance myself."
Yoongi flinched as Taehyung started taking steps towards him again, but to his surprise, the man halts midway. He tilted his head to a side. "Are you scared I'd do something dirty to you?"
Yoongi didn't reply. He doesn't know why he's being so jumpy either.
"I won't do anything to you,"Taehyung said as he strided to Yoongi. He grabbed Yoongi's wrist and placed a shiny metal in his palm. Yoongi opens his mouth to speak, but as he sees a key, he shuts his mouth close. "This might seem surprising given how charming I appear to be, but I don't sleep around, neither do I intend to sexually harass someone just because they're financially unstable."
Yoongi glanced up at the man, then glances at the key.
"I like things to be official before I take things to bed. That makes me feel more excited." Taehyung said, then pointed at the key. "Keep it. Consider it a gift."
"The spare key?"
"Precisely."Taehyung commented.
"What am I to do with this?",Yoongi asked.
"Feel free to give that back to me whenever you want, Yoongi."Taehyung answered,"until you do, I'll only entre when you invite me, but after you do, I'll come and go as I please."
Yoongi stared at Taehyung suspiciously for a moment before he grabbed the key in his palm. "...Fine."
Yoongi doesn't know what this man is up to, but if he's thinking Yoongi's gonna invite him over for dinner, he's mistaken. He'd never do that, not willingly, that is. He just has to go along with this, since he has nowhere else to go to begin with...
"Right then! Good job today!",Taehyung said and waved at Yoongi, but looks back once more. "Ah, you can keep the coat. Also, you may want to change now. Although I don't mind you walking around wit-"
"Get! out!"
-
Yoongi threw the spare key inside a locker and shut it close before placing the safe under the bed.
He has changed into pyjamas now and was ready to succumb to the comfort of his soft mattress and pillows; however, as he flopped down on the bed, his mind traveled back to the key and root of his anxiety - Kim Taehyung.
The key... Yoongi knows it better than anyone else that if he hands Taehyung the spare key back, it won't only stop at just sharing the apartment...
Yoongi slid the sheets up to his neck and stared at the celling.
"...Does he want to sleep with me?", Yoongi thought to himself.
If he had to think rationally, isn't that one of the possibilities? Actually, doesn't his actions speak for themselves? He's always so... overprotective, touchy with him. Or is he just deluding himself?
Maybe returning the key would be a signal that Yoongi, too, wants to have sex with him.
Taehyung's a guy. Yoongi's a guy. Given the fact that Taehyung immediately knew that that jerk Junhyuk was his boyfriend at once the first time they met, he must know Yoongi's gay.
He can't be oblivious to that, right?
Yoongi turns around and makes himself smaller inside the blanket.
... But he'd rather not be involved with a murderer.
-
The next day Yoongi wakes up to the tangy smell of tangerines. Taehyung was obviously the one doing the deed, but this time, instead of the staircase, he was in front of his doorstep.
"...What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Taehyung smiled up at Yoongi. "As you can see, I'm peeling tangerines."
"Do you think I'm blind?! I'm asking why you're here instead of your usual place!",Yoongi faltered. Whoops, they're co-tenants, it's probably rude of him to yell at him for trivial matters.
"Because here is the closest to you, Hyung." Taehyung smiled innocently at Yoongi. "By the way, don't apologise for the outburst just now. I feed off your sense of guilt, you see."
Yoongi narrowed his eyes at him. "The more you talk, the less I feel like apologizing."
Yoongi glanced at the tangerines. The tip of his fingers have turned pale, no doubt he had been peeling them for a while now.
The question strikes Yoongi again, Why is he so obsessed with tangerines?
Yoongi plops down in front of the man and frowns,"Why are you so fond of tangerines?"
"Why?", Taehyung chuckles,"can't bad people like tangerines?"
There he goes...
"That's—", Yoongi falters,"T-that's— Hey, you're twisting my words! That's not what I meant!"
Perhaps, he's acting like this because of that time when he'd asked him if he'd done bad things. That's pretty childish, to be honest. But oh well— nothing surprises him about this guy anymore.
Yoongi taps on one of the unpeeled tangerines to examine it. They seem too real to be not be tangerines...
"If I help you peel them, are you gonna pay me in tangerines as well?"
"It's up to you whether you help me," Taehyung blinks at the ravenette,"...but why would you want to?"
Yoongi pushes himself up from the ground with a soft grunt and slumps down beside Taehyung, whose eyes follow his every single moves. He's looking at Yoongi as if a lost dog, very confused as to what Yoongi had meant.
"Isn't it obvious?", Yoongi shrugs, grabbing a tangerine to peel. "Even bad people deserve help sometimes."
Now that Yoongi's peeled more than a dozen of tangerines, he can't deny the fact that these are real tangerines. It has him worried for some reason. Doesn't his fingernails hurt? The way his fingers are turning red just from peeling so little amount, he wonders what has this man so hung up on peeling tangerines like a madman. He's a like a pro at this, too.
"Do you like it?"
"Huh...?", Yoongi answers vaguely, still unaware of the fact that he was staring at him. When he does, he looks away, face red. "W-what?"
"My face, I mean." He lets out a deep chuckle.
Yoongi doesn't reply. Doesn't want to feed into his fantasy anymore. He glances back again, just to click his tongue and look away.
Well, he certainly can't deny the fact that he's quite handsome— but that's for another time.
"I don't mean to be rude, but—"
"It's hardly unusual for you to be rude, Hyung." Taehyung says in his usual honey voice. "Be as rude as you like."
Yoongi sighs. He talks so much crap, it's insane sometimes. "Uh, could it be that peeling tangerines is your job?"
Taehyung pauses, then turns at the older. "What would you prefer?"
"Sorry?"
"Depending on your preference, I can be an aristocrat," Taehyung smiles,"Or a lucky heir who lives a life full of luxury thanks to a distant relative's fortune."
Yoongi rolls his eyes and looks away, sighing. Of course. Of course. Who was he kidding? He's a possible murderer, for the love of God. Why would he risk his life telling him his occupation?
"Why not a prince?", Yoongi jokes, a bit annoyed. "You even have the same name as the real one."
Yoongi expected him to agree and talk about how his looks were the perfect match to be that of a prince's— However, much to his surprise, he lets out a rather forceful chuckle.
"That wasn't one of the options, Hyung."
...Huh?
—
It's stuck in his head now. What did he mean by that? Why did he look so offended to be called a prince?
Yoongi stops in tracks, still clutching the bag of breads close to his chest.
He blinks.
Is he related to—
"Jesus Christ," Yoongi gaps,"No way..."
Come to think of it... the man at the convenience store today asked him today if he wore a tangy smelled cologne. They peeled all the tangerines together today...
...But did Taehyung smell of tangerines at all?
"Could be one of the people with no body odor."
It's Jim (Probably not his real name though), one of the beggars Yoongi had known from back then. He's a good advisor, but can be a stingy little hag sometimes.
"And his eyes?", Yoongi continues,"sure, some people do have golden eyes, but not THAT bright a colour." Yoongi grimaces. "Folktales say that the devil has golden eyes..."
"Ya don't know about that." Jim shrugs. "Some people are born with golden eyes. Some even 'ave purple!"
"How do you explain his cold skin then?", Yoongi insists,"Every human body gives off heat. But him? He's as cold as a metal! Folklores also say that the devil has cold skin—"
"Maybe he's got bad circulation." Jim sighs tiredly. "Can ya quite with the devil thing? Folks might mistake ya fer a Devil worshiper, young man!"
Yoongi clenches his jaw. He doesn't get it. No one does. It's too complicated to comprehend, even for Yoongi, the victim.
What is he?
Sometimes, he seems the most innocent person to ever exist, sometimes wicked. Sometimes like a neighbour, sometimes like a serial killer. Sometimes like an idiot, sometimes a con artist.
But it takes him back to the same question—
Just who is he?
—
Everyday, living under the same roof as a possible serial killer is a new experience.
Just like right now— at the earliest hours of the day Yoongi is woken up by loud banging outside his neighbour's door, over someone's voice almost threatening Taehyung to open his door.
Yoongi opens the door of his apartment while rubbing his eyes, still sleepy. He sees a man standing in front of Taehyung's door, banging it as if he'd intended to break it down.
Just as Yoongi starts wondering who it might be, the door of room no.302 opens with a clack, and a very drowsy Taehyung appears.
"Nice to meet you. Here's a little quiz;" Taehyung yawns, eyes almost closed as he looks down at the man, so short that he wouldn't even reach his chest properly. "Is 6 AM a good time or bad time for a stranger to come banging on my door?"
"You can sleep all you want after we're done having sex. I won't be more than 30 minutes."
Yoongi blinks.
W-what...?
Taehyung's as surprised as Yoongi, though— or rather, offended, if he read his expression correctly. Angry furrow of brows and eyes looking down with disrespect.
"Sex?"
The short nan nods.
"You?", Taehyung points at the man, then at himself. "And me?"
The man nods without hesitation or shame.
Taehyung scoffs. "No way."
"Grea... Wait, what?!"
"You heard me. You and I are not sleeping together."
Yoongi holds his breath in. Is he about to witness a live murder?
"You..!", The man screeches,"everyone knows you're a fucking prostitute! Who the hell are you trying to fool, fucker?!"
Eh?
Eh?????????????¿???¿???¿¿
Taehyung points at himself,"Me? Prostitute?"
"Yes! Y—"
Taehyung bursts out laughing, clutching his stomach with his arms as if it was the funniest thing ever.
"Fine. I suppose you won't believe it even if I denied it." Taehyung wipes his eyes, still chuckling. "Let's just say that I am a prostitute, that's a new one, though."
Yoongi stares in disbelief.
"I still wouldn't do it with you, though." Taehyung looks at the man smugly. "I'm on a retainer, see. I don't sleep with anyone but my exclusive client."
"And who's that?"
Taehyung's head turns to Yoongi's direction, and Yoongi has to flinch for a moment.
"Someone who has no money." Taehyung winks at his way, and Yoongi blinks. "Nevermind a prostitute, he can't even afford a month's rent for his apartment."
Yoongi blinks repeatedly, standing at the door like a sims character.
???????
What the?
—
[hellooo ! here's an update for this au ❤️ received a few requests to update this so here it is ^^ I've been in a slump for a few weeks now but guess I'm back !! ]