Work Text:
Jimin pulled a still sniffling Tae by the wrist down the hotel hallway.
“You are staying with me tonight.” Jimin said firmly.
“No really, I’m okay. We talked things out. I’ll be okay.” Tae answered quietly while focusing on the carpet pattern moving under his feet. Jimin stopped abruptly and turned back.
“Did I stutter?”
Tae managed a small smile when he looked up and answered.
“Okay, thanks Chim Chim.”
Jimin nodded and continued pulling him down the hall and into his room.
“Okay strip. I’m going to get a bath going for you.” Jimin stated as he walked towards the bathroom. Tae figured he didn’t have much of a say in this matter. If Jimin wanted to take care of someone, then he took care of someone! Tae had literally seen Jimin force feed Jungkook cookies once while shouting “Tell hyung how happy these goddamn cookies make you!” Not that Tae was complaining. He had grown quite fond of Jimin’s committed, if not aggressive, caring techniques.
Tae shucked all of his clothes on an armchair and wandered into the bathroom where Jimin was filling up the tub.
“Okay, there’s enough water for you to get in now. I’ll be right back.” Jimin said as he left the room.
Taehying checked the temperature then slowly got in. The water was slightly too hot but Tae didn’t mind after such a long performance. He let out a loud sigh into the empty room. He felt so overwhelmed from everything that had happened tonight. Things had escalated in a way that he wasn’t really expecting or emotionally prepared for. He felt completely drained. He knew that things would be okay with Jin hyung. He knew they had a productive conversation and things would feel okay again soon. But he still felt uneasy. And mostly just sad. He just felt unbelievably sad. He felt the sadness settled all over his body. He hated fighting with his friends and he felt an ache in his chest that he didn’t expect to disappear anytime soon.
He heard the door close and soon Jimin was wandering back into the bathroom holding folded purple silk pajamas.
“I thought you would be more comfortable sleeping in your own things tonight. I wouldn’t want you to have to suffer through sleeping in non-designer sleep wear.” Jimin said as he set the clothes down on the toilet and turned the faucet off. He made himself comfortable on the floor near Tae’s head.
“Do you want me to put on some music for you?” Jimin asked quietly.
“No. This is, just this is good.” Tae responded and finally closed his eyes. The weight of having to perform both musically and emotionally all night was finally starting to lessen. He knew he didn’t have to act a certain way for Jimin.
“Tae, I’m so proud of you today. I know how hard it was to do the concert after your fight. You put on such a brave face for ARMY and still did your best.”
“Jimin, don’t.” Tae said pulling his hands over his face in embarrassment. Jimin immediately pulled them back down and got a firm hold on Tae’s much, much larger hands.
“I’m not done.” Jimin started again softly. “I know that you probably just wanted to cry, or go hide in a blanket burrito, or talk things out with Jin hyung. But you were so strong instead. I’m really proud of you baby and ARMY was so happy to see you out there tonight.” He stopped talking only long enough to let go of one hand and tilt Tae’s chin towards himself. “But you can stop being brave now. It’s just me Tae Tae. You can let it out now.”
Tae let out a hoarse wet sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. He knew Jimin was right. He had really been holding in his tears for hours now. He put his hands back over his eyes and curled towards his knees as he started to cry. Jimin wordlessly rubbed small circles onto Tae’s back as his body shook and he let out the occasional hiccup sound.
“I hate that I cry so easily all the time.” Tae muffled into his hands.
“What do you mean? You aren’t crying. It’s just raining in the bathtub. The clouds were really full today and they needed to let out all the extra water. Now the rain will help flowers and other plants start to grow.” Jimin said matter of factly.
“You’re an idiot.” Tae said fondly through his tears.
“Yes, but I’m your idiot.” Jimin responded while reaching for a bottle of shampoo. “Now I’m going to wash your hair while it finishes raining in here.”
“Jimin, thank you. You are so good to me.” Tae said and looked up at Jimin with his bright shining eyes. And there isn’t really much a person can say to the sight of a lightly crying Taehyung. His wet eyes were looking intensely at Jimin trying to express his gratitude. Jimin looked from his puffy eyes to his wet cheeks and found himself thinking that he would be good to Taehyung for as long as he’d let him. Jimin found himself unable to express any of this with Tae’s full attention on him so he just brought their foreheads together for a moment hoping that would convey enough.
Jimin brought his attention back to the shampoo and started to lightly massage Tae’s scalp. He could still hear Tae sniffling occasionally but it sounded like he was mostly finished crying. He made sure to touch his neck lightly and run his fingers over his ears. Jimin knew Tae would appreciate the soft and attentive touches.
“Okay time to rinse it out then let’s get you in as many blankets as we can find.”
Jimin actually decided to liberate the blankets from Tae’s room as well so they were under a literal mound of blankets. It was slightly too hot since they were also pressed up against each other but neither one of them mentioned being uncomfortable.
“How are you feeling now? Did crying help at all?” Jimin asked while slowly running his fingers down Tae’s arms.
“Yes it did. I still feel really sad Jiminie but this is helping. I think I really needed this. I hope Jin has someone tonight too or he is okay by himself.”
“The others will look after him if he needs it. Don’t worry about that. Just take care of yourself tonight so the two of you can have a good day together tomorrow.”
“It just got so out of control, I don’t know why it happened like that. One minute we were talking and the next I just felt awful.”
“It’s a high pressure night. If you guys had that conversation back at the dorm it might have gone differently but we all want everything to be perfect when we perform. It’s a lot, and we are all tired.” Jimin reasoned.
“I know.” Tae sighed, “I love what we do so, so much and I wouldn’t want to be doing something else, but it all feels like too much sometimes. I feel stretched too thin.” Tae said as he nuzzled his head further into Jimin’s neck.
“Well, whenever you feel overwhelmed why don’t you just think about our future farm?”
“Umm, we are getting a farm?” Tae responded confused.
“Obviously.” Jimin said as if he was utterly shocked to be hearing this. “Are you telling me you don’t envision your future by starting each day feeding chickens in Gucci rain boots?”
“Chickens! Can I name them all?” Tae immediately lifted his head up in excitement.
“Of course. We will also have lots of cats and dogs that will be ‘outside’ only animals but you will always sneak them into bed when you think I’m not looking.”
“Why would we ever keep animals outside Jimin? The idea alone!”
“Sorry, how silly of me.”
“What would we do on the farm?” Tae said finally settling back down on Jimin’s chest.
“Anything we want really. I thought you could have an art room with lots of windows. I can see you really getting into painting. You can paint portraits of all your chickens. I could have a writing room where I could write short stories or something like that.”
“Sexy! Thick rimmed glasses Jimin is making a comeback! Can I buy you a typewriter that you will never use? Do it for the aesthetic Jimin.”
“Sure, as long as you always get paint stains on those big flowing shirts I like on you.”
“I think if there is paint involved getting stains isn’t really in my control but yes I’m liking this idea! I can finally get Instagram and post really artsy and obnoxious pictures of us and our house.”
“You can hashtag everything as ‘gay culture’ like I know you have to resist doing now on twitter.”
“But everything we do IS gay culture!”
“I know, I know.” Jimin said trying to quickly agree, knowing this particular subject could get Tae on a tangent. “But I think ARMY will really like seeing pictures of you enjoying farm life.”
“What about the others? Will they come visit us or should I already prepare to name a chicken after each of them to cope with the loss?”
“Well I think you should still name a chicken Suga just to piss hyung off, but of course they will come visit.”
“Tell me about it.” Tae said winding his arm around Jimin's waist.
“Okay well first Jungkook will basically live with us. He will forever be the nation’s baby and therefore OUR baby. I plan on just keeping him busy with physical tasks that don’t really need to be done. But I’ll tell him they are of the upmost importance and will surely be done more efficiently without his shirt.”
“Oh let’s get him to chop some lumber! I wouldn’t mind spending an afternoon drinking lemonade and watching those biceps work.”
“Exactly. Now Namjoon hyung and Suga hyung will of course still be writing lyrics for themselves and others until they die basically. They will probably still live together too and Yoongi will continue to remind us how many years it’s been for them living together. But they will still come out to the farm often enough. Namjoon hyung will take long walks and muse about life. We might have to make a section for him in our library for all his philosophy and linguistic books.”
“Yes, I can see that.” Taehyung agreed quickly. “He will always be wearing those over sized knitted sweaters. What will Yoongi hyung do? I don’t think he will become more physically inclined as he ages.”
“Sun naps.” Jimin said indicating there was no room for argument on this one.
“Okay" Tae giggled, "And what about Hobi hyung?”
“If you think he won’t show up in the middle of the night to make sure we still remember choreography from all our routines, then you are delusional. The slightly ominous sound of ‘Ba ba ba!’ will haunt us forever. But I can see Hobi hyung teaching dance classes for kids when he gets older. I think he would like to bring the kids out to the farm so they can dance with the wind or some shit like that.”
“Children! Can I-“
“No you cannot name the children Tae. They come pre-named.”
“Fine!” Tae huffed. Tae started to play with Jimin’s shirt as he asked about their last member. “And what about Jin hyung? Will he come?”
“All the time. He will basically own our kitchen. Even when he isn’t there he still won’t let us use most of the appliances. I think he will really get into baking when he gets older. It will be his hobby once he finally debuts as an actor. The two of you will spend most Sundays baking and experimenting with different flavors. Jin will complain that none of our dishes match each other and we only have two spoons in the whole house. You will complain that Jin only plays early 2000’s pop music while baking.”
“There are other genres!” Tae defended.
“But regardless of your complaints, the two of you will give cute names to all your creations and will make the rest of us eat it no matter how sugary it is or how terrible the pun Jin made about the dish is.”
“That all sounds perfect Jimin.” Taehyung said as he hid his boxy smile in Jimin’s shoulder.
“I know, I always have the best ideas.” Jimin said as scooted down to be eye level with Tae.
“You really do.” Tae said as he pressed a kiss to Jimin’s forehead. He pressed another to his cheek. And another one to the corner of his mouth. He didn’t say anything but he knew Jimin would understand the kisses. Would understand that they spoke of gratitude and dedication.
“Go to sleep baby.” Jimin finally whispered against Tae’s neck as he pressed his own kiss firmly against Tae’s warm skin.
They both wiggled around a bit until they become comfortable enough to sleep in each other’s arms.
Taehyung slept soundly that night. He dreamed of chickens and the voice of his teammates.
“Hyung, you need more wood? I just chopped a bunch yesterday but I guess I can do more since it’s so easy.”
“Taehyung ah, do you think plants have any level of consciousness? Do they get sad if we don’t stop to appreciate them when they are in full bloom? I mean they do have a rudimentary nervous system…”
“Tae! You are blocking my sun. You need to move. Why don’t you come lay down with hyung, that way you won’t be in my way anymore. And maybe we should hold hands just so I know you won’t run off and bother me again.”
“Okay everyone! Cue music start Tae! 5, 6, 7, 8! And where is my sprite?”
“Yah! Taehyung ah! That is not how you knead bread at all. You are making it really hard to loaf you right now.”
Taehyung also dreamed of more soft kisses.
Soft kisses from the boy who was always there when he laughed and always there when he cried.