23| special

"the house is so pretty." taehyung gawked at the inside of the huge house in busan. "you said it would be small though." he turned to jackson and jinyoung who shrugged.

"well, in comparison to the house you lived in with your family and the building bts stays, this is small." jackson said.

taehyung looked around, this is nothing that can be compared to the house taehyung's family lived in— this is a million times better. everything was wooden, with pretty carved in patterns, flowers and little symbols. it had small chandeliers here and there, that gave off a pretty, yellowish light. it's the you would've described a castle's inside in 1690.

jackson is right, this house is big and the kims residence was bigger, though taehyung didn't care about the size of a house at all. as long as it feels like home.

"i never wanted to be one of the rich people." he said, remembering that he had three rooms for himself and maids who did everything for him.

he never felt comfortable seeing other people do his things, always wanting to help, if his mother let him, since she would have scolded him.

"the house i lived in was the worst. i love living with jeon and the other guys, their house... already feels more like home than the house where my family lives in." he smiled lightly.

jinyoung and jackson looked at the male with fond smiles. "you really are an angel, taehyung."

the blond gulped. "n-no, don't say something like that." he laughed awkwardly. "i just... i don't know. i wanna do what makes me feel happy." he smiled.

"seokjin hyung had told me you are one kind of a sassy queen though." jinyoung chuckled, taehyung looked down. jeongguk has his facade, but sometimes, taehyung needs to have his own too.

"actually... i was just sassy towards jeon, because i disliked him. and he kidnapped me, so what was i supposed to do, i didn't want him to think i was an easy target." he shrugged.

he doesn't know how he was able to trust these two males so quickly, but he felt really comfortable and since they are going to be his company for a few days, this shouldn't be bad.

"thank you guys, this means a lot to me. you are here to keep me safe and i'm also sorry for that. you have a life too and—"

"i dare you to finish that sentence." jackson butted in. "don't say something like that, you are cute, it makes fun to talk with you. besides that, it was a long time ago since we got a mission assigned."

"yeah i loved using my gun again." jinyoung smiled.

taehyung would normally look at him bewilderedly, but he understood this is their job, maybe their passion. and they were doing good things... even for a mafia.

"we are gonna stay for the night and leave tomorrow morning." jackson said and taehyung nodded.

jinyoung then walked next to taehyung, wrapping his arms around the smaller's shoulders. "i'll show you a room."

taehyung came out of the bathroom, freshly washed and bed-ready, when he looked at a dresser he didn't notice in the room before.

he slowly advanced the furniture, eyeing the small pictures inside the beautiful bronze frames on top of it.

he slowly picked one up and his lips curled up to a fond smile in an instant. the small boy on the photo was smiling, eyes glistening, bunny teeth showing. taehyung could always recognize that this was jeongguk.

he picked another up, looking at two boys, probably in the age of 14 and 10, looking to the camera, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders.

taehyung recognized the smaller and younger looking boy as jeongguk again, and the plumb lips of the other boy were evidence enough for him to be assured of this being seokjin. he cooed internally— kids have always been his weakness.

his smile turned sadder though when he sees the next photo, a picture of a girl and jeongguk. they look around the same age, probably in their freshman years. he recognized the girl as jaehee. he knows how she looks like since seokjin has shown him photos of her before.

his heart suddenly felt heavy. jeongguk loved jaehee, how can taehyung then be able to make him feel 'a way no one ever did' , when there once was someone that made him feel even more?

taehyung doesn't think jeongguk loves him— no way— he isn't even sure if the male is actually liking him or just playing around.

his thoughts got interrupted when he heard a phone ring. he let the photo go and turned to the bed where he left his black jacket on the soft sheets, his phone ringing inside its pocket. it was still strange, getting used to hear a phone ringing when you lived months without one.

he slowly pulled the phone jeongguk had given him out and looks at the caller id. he wasn't surprised that it was jeongguk, but his heart still skipped a beat and he needed to take a deep breath before he picked up the call.

"hello?"

"princess... hey." taehyung closed his eyes. he knows jeongguk's voice is affecting him in a way no one else's does.

"why are you calling?" taehyung asked, since jeongguk wasn't answering for a while.

"i... just wanted to hear your voice, to know you're okay. jackson told me everything is fine, but i want to hear it from you."

taehyung gulped, feeling his cheeks heat up. he sat down on the bed, pulling his knees up to his body.

"i'm fine, don't worry."

"i worry about you though." taehyung nibbled on his lip.

"it has always been 'i don't care about you', what happened?" taehyung thought asking that was maybe going to give him an answer. but he felt a little disappointed by jeongguk's response.

"i told you... you make me feel a way no one ever did."

taehyung only hummed at that. he was on the verge of asking him; what about jaehee?— but he let it be, not wanting to make jeongguk mad.

"is everything really alright?"

taehyung sighed and laid down on the bed, phone held against his ear. "i just..."
he can't tell him that he has been thinking about him the whole day over. he can't ask him what his intentions are— what he wants.

he wanted to ask jeongguk that, but he couldn't move himself to do that.
"i just miss you."

he used the same rescue a second time, but he wasn't lying. he indeed misses jeongguk. a lot in fact. even if he can't trust jeongguk yet, he knows he miss him, he wants to see him so badly.

yeah, his world is a chaos.

"i miss you too, princess."

taehyung felt tears forming in his eyes. he doesn't know why— why he is feeling this way. he's so lost, lost in thoughts, emotions, feelings.. it all is too much for him. he really never felt this way, never had he think that something will trouble him so much.

he clutched the phone in his hand, holding onto it with his shaking hand. "i miss you s-so much."

jeongguk on the other line felt his heart doing a flip, he moved the phone away and looked at it, not knowing how to react for a moment.

he noticed the sound in taehyung's voice, he sounded so unsure, so sad, yet sincere. jeongguk didn't know what to think about it, he can ask, but he knows the younger will only say that he is fine.

"baby... don't worry, i'll take care of these assholes and then you can come back to me." jeongguk took a deep breath before continuing as he remembers hoseok's words.

"if you want to come back i mean.. you can stay wherever you want—"

"n-no. i love your home, i really love staying with the team, you all became very special to me." taehyung realized jeongguk was giving him the freedom to decide what is going to happen after choi's men are caught.

he smiled lightly. "if you let me, i would continue living.. with you."
jeongguk smiled to himself. "i let you decide."

the heaviness and guilt all vanished from jeongguk's shoulders the moment his brain registered taehyung's words. so what hoseok said wasn't true and taehyung likes to stay in bts' mansion, likes to live with the team there.

"then i'll stay. that place already feels like
home to me."

"now it is your home." jeongguk smiled lightly.

"jeon... am i really the only one who ever made you feel... this way? and if i do— what do you feel?" taehyung bit his bottom lip right after asking and he just wanted to hang up and bury himself underneath the thick softness of the comforter.

"princess, it would be better to talk about something like that when we aren't in two complete different towns." jeongguk answered, chewing on his piercing. yeah this was a slight rescue from explaining what he feels. he knows his feelings, he is sure, seokjin has opened his eyes for him. jeongguk has fallen in love... with kim taehyung.

but the ravenette is scared of admitting his feelings.

taehyung pouted. "at least give me a hint or something, or i'll decline your next calls, until you are ready to take me back to seoul."

jeongguk raised an eyebrow at that. "ordering me around.." he tsked "no, i won't give you a hint."

"so you don't want me to pick up your calls anymore? i'm fine with that." taehyung hung up, waited a few seconds, until jeongguk called again and picked up.

"hello? who's there?

"did you have to hang up?" the ravenette asked and taehyung laughed.

"i warned you."

"tae?" something inside taehyung chirped hearing that nickname come from jeongguk. he had never called him that way. "yeah, what is?"

"am i... making you feel special?" the genuineness in jeongguk's voice was scaring the younger. on one side he was still not believing that the ruthless mafia boss without feelings has gotten so soft for him. but the other side, a bigger part of him wants to give jeongguk everything, wants to trust him and believe him.

and yes jeongguk was making taehyung feel special. no one ever did it the way jeongguk did, no one ever made taehyung felt so secured and safe.

"yeah... you are."