Drabbles

Jungkook opens the car's door and leans down to help Taehyung out, extending a chivalrous and professional hand. Taehyung is frozen. There are photographers camped out behind the barricade across the street, and if a flashbulb goes off in Taehyung's eyes, he will not survive it.

He knows, in his head, that it's okay, that they can't hurt him, that this is the ache of an old wound that's all healed on the surface. But he doesn't feel it, and one flash will send him back to the deepest hurt in himself and he can't take it, he can't— 

"One second," Jungkook says, and closes Taehyung back into his dim, safe cavern. He walks around to open the trunk, and Taehyung gets out of his anxiety some, twisting to watch.

Jungkook returns with a blanket and a toothy smile. "For emergencies."

"What kind of emergency?" Taehyung asks. "When you need to freeze to death slightly slower?"

Jungkook spreads the blanket over the crack in the door, blocking out the light. "This kind. Come on up. I'll keep you safe."

Taehyung looks up at him and, well… believes it. He stands, and Jungkook executes an elegant little sweeping maneuver around him to keep them both covered by the blanket. He peeks out of one corner, careful to block Taehyung from the light.

"All right, step," Jungkook says softly, and they shuffle forward together. "Are you scared?"

Taehyung nods. He looks down at his hands, which seem distant and strange. They're shaking.

"Oh," Jungkook says. He twitches, like he wants to take Taehyung's hands, but he's holding the blanket up. "You can… put your arms around me."

"Okay." Taehyung slides his arm around Jungkook's waist. He's warm and solid and he smells good, like something crisp and fresh, this close. Whatever he wears, it's subtle—it would be terribly unprofessional for a bodyguard to project cologne all over a room, and Jungkook cares about being professional. It's why he always keeps that careful inch between them when they sit together on the roof.

There's no inch between them now, and Jungkook is going pink. Taehyung has seen him roundhouse-kick armed men in the head, and he's blushing under Taehyung's touch. It makes Taehyung feel powerful, which is not a way he gets to feel very often.

"Up," Jungkook says, and they start climbing the stairs one slow step at a time to keep in sync. "That was a pretty intense day," he says, in an act of remarkable understatement. "But you did great."

"You did," Taehyung says. "Maybe tomorrow we can just go get spicy rice cakes."

Jungkook laughs, so close the heat of it falls across Taehyung's mouth. Taehyung smiles. They've stopped on the steps, staring at each other.

Jungkook swallows and looks down. "Step."

They take the last few steps a little faster, now that they have one another's rhythm. All the air inside the blanket is warm and clean-smelling with Jungkook's heat. He unlocks the door without disturbing the blanket, and closes them safely inside.

He doesn't pull the blanket away, though, and Taehyung doesn't let go of his waist. 

"Are you still scared?" Jungkook asks.

Taehyung shakes his head. He feels light-headed as it falls away, and almost dizzy with closeness, and his heart is beating very fast, but he's not afraid.

He turns his head closer, and Jungkook does too, and Taehyung tilts his face. He's not afraid. Jungkook's lips fit lightly against his, and he's not afraid.