"TOUCH ME WITH YOUR COLD FEET ONE MORE TIME, I SWEAR I WILL THROW YOU TO THE DOGS!"
"Babe, it's literally 2am," Jungkook groans, turning over at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. Taehyung sits up slightly to glare at him.
"Just because you sleep with your feet out of the covers like some sort of child of Satan doesn't mean I want them anywhere near my legs when I'm trying to sleep!"
The younger male raises an eyebrow. "Tae, it was literally an accident. I've got to get up again in about four hours, and you're shouting at me about my feet? Really?" His boyfriend avoids his gaze, now feeling a little guilty. "Oh, baby, it's okay. I know what you're like," he murmurs, kissing the other on the forehead and then rolling back onto his side. "Let's try and get back to sleep."
Just as he's beginning to relax again, the dog registers that they're awake, and starts up a barking fit, demanding attention. Jungkook groans again, this time an unintelligible sound that tells Tae that he is NOT going downstairs to tell the Pomeranian that he needs to just shut up. So Taehyung gets up, shuffles down the stairs. sends the dog back to sleep, and then sneaks back into bed as quickly as he can.
"Thanks."
"Anytime. Try and get some sleep now, Kook."
"You know, I was trying to."
Taehyung doesn't reply, knowing better than to continue the argument and prolong the amount of time that they're awake for. Jungkook has a long day ahead of him tomorrow, and there's no point restricting the amount of energy he has to face the whole thing. They've been together long enough for him to be aware of his boyfriend's limits. This is one of them.
The older male wakes up to an empty bed, something he's familiar with when his boyfriend has an early start, though it doesn't worry him about the other's loyalty to their relationship. There's a small note on the pillow beside him, one that simply tells him that breakfast is served downstairs, that Jungkook loves him, that he should be able to text him at some point today.
For Tae, that's good enough.
Jungkook's long days aren't that often, so it's bearable. He works in a office in the middle of the city, with a team of workers. The company he works for sells items of clothing that support people dealing with gender dysphoria, and he's in the creative department, helping to figure out new designs of better, safer clothes for those who need them.
A long day means a meeting, means a new idea. It means that something new has been created, a new design of a dress perhaps designed for a trans woman to make it look like she has the chest she desires. Or an oversized hoodie designed for those who don't like to present any gender, created to be shapeless in all ways.
It could even be hair dye. Could be a meeting to discuss the charity of the year, which they'll support for the whole year. Could be anything. Meetings are a part and parcel of the work that Jungkook does, and his boyfriend is majorly proud of him for doing it.
This can literally change lives, these sorts of things, and the two of them are no stranger to that.
Taehyung eats his breakfast slowly, gets dressed, walks the dog. And then he opens up his laptop, checks his emails, and gets started.
His line of business is a little more freelance than Jungkook's office role, but he's a self-employed web designer, offering discounted rates to charities and giving advice to smaller businesses trying to get their feet in the door. To supplement that, he also writes an article for a magazine, every week.
When it gets to Jungkook's lunch break, he gets himself food from the canteen, sits down, and then takes out his phone and calls the older male.
Taehyung picks up in seconds, as he always does. "Good afternoon, my dearest. How's the graft?" he jokes. The younger chuckles to himself.
"Babe, please. If I laugh to myself here, people will think I've gone mad."
"You're literally on the phone, though?"
Jungkook tilts his head. "You're not wrong. Work's been interesting today. Couple of interns in the meeting came up with some interesting ideas. I don't really know what to make of them, but superiors seemed fascinated, which is always ideal. I guess these things take time, though. I'm on social media maintenance this afternoon, to give myself a break from all the meetings we've had lately."
"You didn't tell me that."
"I didn't know about that until I walked in the door, so..."
"Telepathy hasn't ever been your strong point, has it, darling?" Jungkook snorts, before he can stop himself, and one of the girls in the office gives him an odd look.
"Stop, people are staring at me," he chides the older, and Taehyung laughs, his full, hearty laugh.
"Sorry. I couldn't resist."
"You okay, Jungkook?" one of his colleagues asks him, and he nods.
"Sorry, my partner said something funny, is all," Jungkook replies without even thinking about it, and the young girl frowns at him for a moment.
"I didn't know you had a girl-"
"Boyfriend. I don't talk much about stuff that's not relevant to work here."
Taehyung's gone silent, seemingly wondering what's going on, but Jungkook doesn't think about that for a second. He knows the company he works in, knows the people he works with, but he never actually came out to them. He's been here for three years so far, and with Tae for five. He didn't think about it.
"I didn't know you were-"
"Yeah, never came up, I guess."
"No, it's not a problem-"
"We literally work in a company that makes clothes for people in the community. If you had a problem, you wouldn't be here."
"Everything okay, Kook?" Tae asks quietly, and Jungkook jolts slightly at the sound of the familiar voice, relaxing again.
"Yeah, sorry, love, got distracted there," he returns automatically, smiling as the other male chuckles a little.
"You like to do that. It was nice to hear from you. What time will you be home?"
Jungkook thinks for a moment, checking his schedule quickly. "I'll be home about five," he reports, and the older male hums, pleased.
"That's early."
"Boss is happy with me, for whatever reason."
"Might be the dress you designed the other week."
Jungkook snaps his fingers, nodding in agreement. "You're right, I think. Good point. I'll text you when I'm on the bus?"
"Good plan. We're eating veggie tonight."
"Ooh, what recipe?" Jungkook asks curiously.
"I was thinking we could have that cheese bake from the cookbook Jimin bought us for our anniversary?"
"We haven't tried that yet, have we?" the younger points out, and Tae laughs a little, in agreement.
"No time like the present to start, right?"
"Jungkook?" he looks up and realises the time as one of his colleagues calls for him, and his eyes go wide.
"Babe, I gotta go, but I'm looking forward to that cheese bake. We'll walk Tannie when I get home, if you want?" he offers quickly, not missing the excited squeal this gets him from his boyfriend. They've not been able to romantically walk the dog together for a while, so this comes as a welcome moment for the two of them. "See you later."
Taehyung says a similar phrase, and then Kook hangs up and brings his empty plate back over to the counter so that it can be washed for the next day. The canteen staff smile at him gratefully, as he walks back over to his desk to check his emails before he gets himself into another project.
Meanwhile, at home, Taehyung glances down at the dog on his lap (something that often happens when he's working from home) before deciding to grab himself his own little lunch break. He comes back about twenty minutes later, having let Yeontan out so that the tiny Pomeranian can do his business and sort himself out. Do the good ole snoof.
Be a dog, basically.
When he gets the text from Jungkook, Taehyung closes his laptop and hurries into the kitchen, following the new recipe to the letter and getting the meal into the oven just before Jungkook himself lets himself into the house. Yeontan perks up from his spot sleeping on a cushion in their downstairs office, rushing to the door as quickly as his little legs will let him.
Jungkook just laughs at the wild thing, stepping over the fluffy beast to embrace his boyfriend, who greets him with a gentle kiss. "How was work, babe?"
"You literally called me at lunch. And texted me whilst I was in the car on the way home. I think you know how work was." Jungkook's tone betrays his amusement, and his eyes flash with a familiar adoration reserved solely for his little family. Taehyung and Yeontan.
Speaking of....
"Hello, Tannie," Jungkook greets the Pomeranian, kneeling down to give the excited doggo a few pats. Yeontan lets out a few hyper barks, his funny eyebrows particularly prominent as he settles into a playful posture, trying to pull at Jungkook's coat as his human hangs it on the stairs. "Have you been a good boy?"
"Define good boy," Taehyung responds dryly, rolling his eyes. "Wouldn't settle for a good hour when I started working. I think he missed you, to be honest-" Jungkook smiles at that "-but he never misses me, I promise you that! This dog has favourites. And I am not one of them."
"That's because you're the one that gives him baths and brushes," the younger points out simply. "He doesn't like those much."
"Well he should get used to them!"
They kiss again, just because they've not seen each other for a whole day now and they've missed each other more than they let on. "How was designing today, love?" Kook questions, walking into the kitchen and sniffing in dramatically, causing the other to giggle lightly at his antics. "Something smells glorious already!"
"It's gonna be about half an hour. Did you want to....promenade the dog?" At the confused look on his boyfriend's face, Taehyung expands.
"W..A..L..K," he spells out, and the younger laughs.
"Tannie can't understand human speech, babe. He doesn't know what a walk is."
Contrary to Jungkook's statement, Yeontan perks up at the word, hurrying over to the two of them with his lead in his mouth, tail wagging like mad.
Taehyung just raises an eyebrow. "He doesn't know, huh?"
"Shut up, we don't really have a choice now, do we?" The older male just chuckles at his exasperated boyfriend, attaching the lead in question to the Pomeranian's collar, grabbing his keys, a few treats and some poop bags (you never know). They pull on their coats and head out of the front door, dog racing in front of them excitedly, already beginning his mission to snoof everything in sight.
Whilst on the walk, Jungkook sticks a hand on his coat pocket, feeling the familiar shape and texture of a velvet-covered box, one that's been there for about a month now. The moment never feels right, and he knows that he's just putting off something that will happen in the end, but he also knows that he can only propose once. It's got to be the right moment. For the both of them.
Yeontan glances behind him from his position in front of the couple, directly into Jungkook's eyes, and for a moment it seems like the tiny dog is telling him something. He looks around, at the park they've found themselves in.
It's autumn, and the gravel path they walk on is strewn with leaves of various shades, from russet to deep crimson. The grass is beginning to die down for the winter, but the recent rain has left transparent beads of water on each startling green blade, like tiny crystals. Maple and oak trees stand tall on either side of them, dotted with various evergreens, the dark green of needled leaves providing the perfect foreground for the mist which is rolling in for the night.
There's something almost fairy tale about it, the circled path around a small flowerbed, peonies and pansies wilting slightly in a million colours, the bench in front, the deep golden oak panelling of it looks almost caramelised due to the damp. Every breath creates a cloud, in the bracing cold of the evening, and the sun is beginning to set. So the lights are turning on.
Jungkook nods at his dog, knowing better than to waste the moment. Yeontan pauses just beyond that bench, sniffing at the side.
Kook looks around one last time, catches his boyfriend watching the dog with a fond look in his eyes, and smiles a little. This is what he wants to live like, for the whole of his life. He doesn't want to let go of his own version of forever, doesn't want anything to change. Equally, he knows what the box in his pocket means. It's that forever.
Sure, people don't need marriage to find that. People don't need some legal status to control them. People don't necessarily need to be tied together under law in order to stay together. And yet we focus on it, dream of the perfect wedding, yearn for someone to hold at night as if marriage will give that. As if a ring is the only thing that matters.
It's not. But Jungkook wants to give Taehyung the perfect wedding that he knows that the older male dreams of for the two of them, and he knows that Tae doesn't think that he'd be up for it. This is his way of showing his boyfriend that he's willing to do whatever that beautiful human wants.
"Hey, baby?" he says, a little nervously. Taehyung turns to glance at him, raise an eyebrow at him.
"You good, Kook?"
"Yeah, I just-"
He finds himself looking over at the dog again, as he watches on with his head tilted. There's a moment of silence, and then Kook swears that Yeontan nods at him. It's time.
"I just wanted to ask you something, if that's okay?"
"You just did, but go ahead," Taehyung chuckles, a fond smile appearing when Jungkook shakes his head at the older, used to the teases by now. "What's up?"
Jungkook bites his lip, heart rising in his chest, and then he's pulling the box out of his pocket, hiding it in his hand, getting on one knee and then wincing at the gravel digging into his leg. "Kook, what, get up, you'll hurt yourself, what even is this, what are you-"
"I'll get up in a second. I'm not going to screw this up for us, I've been waiting for the right moment for a bloody month and I'm not letting some shitty stones get in the way of this," Jungkook says, his voice determined, and his boyfriend shrugs, nodding in agreement. "So, I wanted to say- I've rehearsed this a million times since the moment it came into my mind, why is it going blank, goddammit?" He lowers his head, his eyes warm with frustration.
"Hey, it's okay, we've got time," Taehyung tells him. Jungkook just looks at him for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "Oh, right the bake," the older realises a second later. "We don't have all night, I lied. But don't rush you. It won't explode."
"I think you know how much I love you by now," Jungkook starts quietly, his eyes fixed on the gravel path in front of him. "We have a dog together, we live together, I don't get mad when you yell in the middle of the night-" Tae laughs at that "-and we've become a team, a partnership,. You're the one I'd trust with my life, with my heart, with my dog-"
"It's our dog!"
"This is true. I was listing random things." Jungkook looks down at his hands. "Oh. I'm shaking. This is not ideal. Oh well, let's carry on, I'm already on the edge of tears, might as well just continue this way. Tae, I just want you to know how much I want you to be here for life, how much I look forward to seeing your face at the end of every day, how proud I am of us as a team, as a couple-"
He flips open the lid of the box, revealing a small, understated silver ring, studded with one medium sized amethyst and four tiny diamonds, two on each side of the familiar purple gem. "Kim Taehyung, will you marry me?"
Before the other male can reply, Yeontan bounds over, his tail wagging intensely, and he jumps up on Jungkook's knee, tiny paws carefully missing the box in his hands. He then proceeds to lick the tears off of Jungkook's cheeks, causing him to start laughing, and nearly drop the ring box for a second before his eyes scrunch up and he pushes the dog away.
Taehyung, still laughing and crying at the same time, grabs Jungkook's free hand and tugging him to his feet, pressing their lips together in a messy, overemotional kiss. It's not the best they've ever had, technically, but that doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts.
Or something like that.
Besides, they're engaged now. Priorities, am I right?