Work Text:
“You don’t think he’s totally strange?” Jimin asks glancing over to where Min Yoongi was seated.
“Nah, I think people like to exaggerate. He keeps to himself and he’s a rapper so he’s got to be bad. It’s simple judgment,” Taehyung replies not glancing away from the older boy who was sitting in his standard leather jacket and black jeans ensemble but he had dyed his hair mint green which was very distracting.
“I agree with hyung,” Jungkook says sliding into the bench next to Jimin and kissing him before continuing. “Joon hyung and Hobi hyung wouldn’t be friends with him if he was bad. He’s just introverted like me and didn’t start dating a social butterfly at 15,” he tells his boyfriend pointedly.
“Are you seriously saying you'd be Min Yoongi-ssi if you weren’t in love with me?” Jimin asks incredulously, “There was just no way you would be like him, bunny!”
“How about we settle this debate and get Taehyungie hyung a boyfriend?” Jungkook asks his boyfriend over Tae’s protests that he doesn’t need a boyfriend and that Min Yoongi would never like him like that.
“How do you propose we do that, bun?” Jimin asks because he knows this is too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“Well, Joon hyung has been inviting us over for dinner at his boyfriend's house for weeks but we’ve been too busy to attend. So, I say we make time this week,” Jungkook states. “Yoongi-ssi will be there since he’s Joon hyung's boyfriend’s roommate.
“That’s actually perfect,” Jimin replies kissing Jungkook’s cheek. “What a smart bun! We get free food, get to hang out with hyungs and get Tae a boyfriend.”
“Do I not get a say in this?” Tae asks even though he already knew the answer. His best friends had set their mind so it was happening whether he liked it or not.
“Nope!” Jimin replies, “You’re outvoted and this is a democracy.”
“How is my life a democracy?” Tae sighs. “But there is one slight problem with the plan. How does this plan get me a boyfriend?” He asks not entirely sure where this was going.
“We’re going to vet Yoongi-ssi, duh.” His best friends state at the same time and high five.
“You guys are one person now?” Tae asks, “No, wait, don’t answer that. Fine, let's see if they can have us over this weekend. Text them and let me know I need to head to class.”
Tae stands up to go to class and when he notices that the boys are wrapped up in each other, he chance’s one last glance at Yoongi. Yoongi glances up at Tae and their eyes meet. The older boy flashes his gummy smile before looking back down to his sheet music.
~~~~~~~~~
“Namjoon hyung,” Tae says rushing into the studio excited to see his hyung after being too busy for the past couple of weeks. “I finally submitted all of my pictures so can we please go get dinner?”
“You just missed him,” A voice says from behind Taehyung causing him to startle and spin on his heel.
“Holy shit, you scared me,” Tae exclaims, looking down at the man. His breath catches when he realizes exactly who he’s looking at. It was the Min Yoongi he has had a crush on since he’d seen him the first day at SNU.
“Sorry. I just wanted to see who was so excited to see Joonie since it was clear you weren’t Jin hyung,” Yoongi apologizes smiling. “Can I buy you that dinner to make up for it?”
“You want to get dinner with me? You don’t have too Yoongi-ssi. I was just going to force Namjoon because he’s my hyung.” Tae tells him bashfully.
“Nonsense. I’ve been wanting to get to know Namjoon-ah’s dongsaengs for a while now and you submitted your photos?” Tae nods at the elder's words.
“I’m a photography student. It’s my end of the year portfolio.” Tae clarifies, “I can invite Jungkook and Jimin so you can meet all of us at once,”
“I’d rather get to know you one on one if that’s okay with you?” Yoongi asks. “Also, please call me hyung.”
“Of course, hyung. There’s a really nice ramen place right down the street if you're interested in that?” Tae suggests, flashing his box smile and silently gushing that he got a chance to go on a date with the boy he’s been crushing on for three years.
“Sounds good to me. Let me just save the song I was working on and we can head out,” Yoongi answers moving back towards his studio across the hall.
“Oh! Are you working on Agust D’s newest release hyung?” Tae asks excited at the prospect that his favorite rapper might be dropping new music.
“You listen to my music?” Yoongi replies surprised. He knew he had a large online following but it was always a surprise to see that he had actual real-life fans.
“Yeah, when hyung told me he was dating your roommate and working with you on some music, I was super excited,” Tae tells him eager to make a good impression for his sake and Namjoon’s sake.
“Wow. That’s amazing. I’m so glad you like it. Jin hyung and Joon-ah tell me they love my music all the time. They’re my friends though so they’re obligated to like it. Hearing it from someone who doesn’t know me is super validating to hear.” Yoongi says, flashing his gummy smile as he holds the door open for Tae to exit the building and lead the way to the restaurant.
“I get that totally. My best friends compliment my pictures all the time but I honestly don’t feel valid until the compliments are coming from other people.” Tae admits to Yoongi, happy to know that he’s not alone in his feelings.
“Well, I really want to see your photographs once we sit down because you seemed really excited and anyone who pours their heart and soul into their art the way you seem to has to be a true artist,” Yoongi tells him earnestly.
“I have copies of the pictures on my phone! For now, we’re playing 20 questions since you want to get to know me!” Tae tells his hyung, “So just know there’s a wrong answer to this but do you like dogs?”
“Of course,” Yoongi replies laughing and Tae nods, knowing that he just made a new friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Good evening! Taehyung-ssi and Yeontan.” Tae turns towards his boyfriend's voice smiling widely.
“Hyung! I missed you!” Tae launches himself at Yoongi who catches him easily wrapping his arms around him and leaning up to kiss him. “You changed your hair,” Tae says once he breaks away leaning down to pet Holly and kiss his head.
“Yeah, Jin hyung wanted to go pink and he wanted to have company in the change. So he asked Joon and then they bullied me into it so here we are,” Yoongi explains tossing the ball to the pups so they can get all of their energy out.
“I really like it. It adds to the bad boy allure you’re trying to pull off,” Tae smiles ruffling Yoongi’s hair.
“I am a bad boy,” Yoongi pouts “I rap and I wear leather.”
“You also cried while watching Goblin the other night, hyung. Don’t try to kid me I know you too well,” Tae says with pride and a hint of wonder in his voice that he was able to know Yoongi.
“What’s up, babe?” Yoongi asks noticing something is up with Tae
“Nothing, hyung. I’m just so happy that Joon hyung wasn’t there when I went to visit him that night. The past three months have been the best three months of my life even if I didn’t realize we were dating for one of them,” Tae smiles reaching over to grab Yoongi’s hand in his.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Jimin asks.
“We don’t mind the company, hyung!” Jungkook adds coming out of the couples’ bedroom handing over the train tickets to Jimin.
“I’m not going to third wheel you guys in Busan and my family is going on vacation for the break so I’m staying here,” Tae tells his friends, “Don’t worry. You guys know me. I’ll just hang out with the friends I never get to because I’m third wheeling you.”
“Okay, fine but if you feel lonely we’re a call away,” Jimin says hugging Tae.
“If you feel lonely at any point next week, feel free to get on a train to Busan,” Jungkook adds also hugging Tae.
Tae smiles brightly at his best friends, “I love you guys! Now get out so that I can begin to enjoy a week without Jikook!”
Tae corrales them out of the house as they protest loudly but he just laughs.
The first two hours by himself are great. He gets to play with his dog and paint half naked without any protest from his roommates but he has to admit that he misses the company after a while.
Ring-Ring! Tae glances at his phone and smiles at Softie Hyung as it flashes on the screen.
“Yoongi hyung!” Tae exclaims as he answers the phone happily
“Tae-bae! Your roomies went home for break today right?” Yoongi asks equally happy that Tae had picked up the phone
“Yes, sir! They left a few hours ago! Want to come over and watch a movie?” He asks hoping the answer will be yes.
“I was actually about to ask if you wanted to hang out. I’ll go pick up some fried chicken and I’ll be at yours in an hour?” Yoongi asks and Tae replies affirmatively since that would give him enough time to clean up the apartment and take Tannie on a quick walk.
“Bring Holly! It’s been too long since I’ve seen him!” Tae tells him smiling brightly
“You only love me for my dog but I’ll bring him,” Yoongi jokes but Tae’s heart speeds up aware the other boy didn’t know how close to the truth Yoongi was. What had started as a puppy crush on the attractive upperclassman had grown into love but it was hopeless because there was no way his hyung would ever see him that way.
“Tae. Taehyung!” Yoongi exclaims.
“What? Sorry! Got distracted. A day without Holly is too long!” Tae says jumping over the love statement.
Yoongi knocks on the door exactly an hour later and when Tae opens the door, he smiles at the man who holds the leash in one hand and the chicken in the other, “Come in! You can let Holly loose and bring the chicken to the kitchen. What do you want to drink?”
“Thanks! Hi Tannie. Water is fine, Tae.” Yoongi says as he releases Holly, pets Tannie and comes into the kitchen to wrap his arms around Tae, “Missed you,” he murmurs once his arms are around Tae.
Tae smiles and murmurs, “I miss you too. Your turn to pick what we watch.”
They settle on watching Coffee Prince for the millionth time eating in silence and then curling up on the couch like it had become common for them to do at least three times a week.
“So any big plans for the week?” Yoongi asks when they pause to make popcorn.
“Well not really… other than my friend Bogum has been bugging me about going on a date with a friend of his for a while so I guess I’ll finally have to do that.” Tae says sighing.
“Oh. You’re going on a date.” Yoongi replies and Tae’s ears must be playing tricks on him because he sounds like he’s crushed. Tae turns and Yoongi’s face confirms what he heard in his voice.
“What’s wrong, hyung?” Tae wonders, not understanding where the reaction came from.
“I just thought we were dating Tae,” Yoongi replies as soft as ever, a sad smile gracing his face.
“Hyung… I would know if we were dating. I would know if you felt the same.” Tae replies emphatically walking over to Yoongi.
“What do you mean? The second time we ever hung out I asked you out!” Yoongi exclaims, “I asked you to dinner and I paid. I even walked you home and told you that I had a great time.”
Tae shakes his head, “I thought you wanted to be my friend. I’ve had a crush on you forever. Hyung are we dating?”
“No, we’re not dating.” Yoongi shakes his head and Tae’s spirit falls, “But I’d like to be. Cancel that date and be my boyfriend?” Yoongi finishes reaching for Tae’s hand.
“Yes, please,” Tae replies leaning down to kiss Yoongi finally. When they pull away, the smiles on their faces are blinding.
“I love you,” Tae smiles brightly, “I’ve had the biggest crush on you since I saw you for the first time but knowing you Yoongi hyung… You’re amazing.”
“You’re the amazing one Tae. I love you too,” He replies smiling, “I’m so glad that you decided to come to visit Joon that day.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Penny for your thoughts?” Yoongi asks when he notices that Tae is distracted.
“Just wondering why we decided to keep this secret. My stupid best friends want to finally meet you so they want to ambush you at Jin hyung’s weekly dinner,” Tae tells Yoongi.
“We kept this a secret because all of our friends, while brilliant, are nosy as fuck and would never leave us alone,” Yoongi reminds him. “Why are they suddenly wanting to meet me? That’s where you lost me.”
“Well see it’s your fault…,” Tae begins and shushes Yoongi when he protests. “You showed up looking like a whole snack with mint green hair and I couldn’t keep my eyes off you.” Tae finishes as if that explains anything.
Yoongi’s about to reply when the puppies bound up to the boys. He sweeps down and attaches both leashes to the dogs handing Holly over to Tae and grabbing Tannie, “Thanks, babe. Let’s go get boba and I’ll finish the story?”
“You just want me to pay for boba… but because I love you, I will,” Yoongi smiles indulgently taking Tae’s hand as they stand.
“Okay, so I couldn’t keep my eyes off you so now they want to check you out see if you live up to their standards and not to your reputation,” Tae explains.”Because if you do then they want us to be together because of my crush on you.”
They walk into the shop in silence as Yoongi thought about what he was going to reply, “Honestly, I still think it’s totally your fault that you got caught staring. Joon-ah still hasn’t caught us and we literally work next to each other for almost 10 hours a day,” Yoongi says over Tae’s protests. “No babe. You know it’s true you’ve been spending a bunch of time in the studio and no one has caught on.”
“Fine. Fine. I guess that’s true,” Tae tells him sheepishly. “Anyways, the actual problem is how are we going to tell our friends in three days that we’ve been together for three months?”
“We beat them to the punch?” Yoongi asks but pauses to order their tea paying for his boyfriend and leading him into one of the booths. “How about we ask if they want to meet up for dinner tomorrow? Invite them separately and when they get there be like ‘Surprise! We’ve been dating this whole time!’?”
“That might actually work. They’ll be so shocked they’ll skip over the fact that we’ve been keeping secrets for three months,” Tae smiles.
“Whose been keeping secrets for three months?” Tae freezes at the familiar voice of his best friend’s voice.
“Hyung. Is Jimin behind me?” Tae asks his boyfriend.
“Jimin, Jungkook, Jin hyung, Joon-ah, and Hoseokie” Yoongi clarifies, “It appears they got the jump on us.”
“It seems more like you guys got the jump on us,” Joon states looking at both of them surprised.
“Okay, move over you have a lot of explaining to do,” Jin states sliding into the booth next to Yoongi who moves easily. Once everyone has slid into the booth comfortably and the puppies have migrated to the laps of Jimin and Hoseok.
Jungkook breaks the ice, “So when you said that Yoongi-ssi was nothing like his reputation you were talking from experience, not a blind crush?”
“Call me hyung, kid. You’re defending me to your friends?” Yoongi asks.
“How can that surprise you?” Tae asks softly but gets drowned out by Jungkook’s excited “Holy Shit! Agust D said I can call him hyung!”
Everyone chuckles at that but soon Jimin steers the conversation back, “So explain?”
Yoongi and Tae share a look before Tae explains, “We wanted to tell you I swear. We just know how close we all are and we needed a chance to fall in love without everyone overwhelming us.”
“What Tae wants to say is that you guys can be overbearing and we wanted to make sure there was something here before we told everyone,” Yoongi clarifies.
“I understand that I just don’t understand how you guys met. Tae, the last time we spoke about hyung you had a crush on him and you were intimidated by him and now you go on dates with your dogs...” Hobi trails off trying to understand.
“Last semester after I finished my final project most of you were busy and so I went to go drag Joon hyung out of the studio but I ran into Yoongi hyung instead who told me that he was gone and asked me if I still wanted to celebrate with him,” Tae explains, “I said yes, obviously and the rest is history.”
The boys nod collectively and Jin speaks, “I think I speak for all of us when I say you guys aren’t off the hook yet but if you love each other we can only be happy for you. The only caveat is that you need to come to all Sunday dinners for all of eternity and that goes for all of you.”
The table erupts into conversation over that and Tae risks a glance at Yoongi whose smiling silently and reaching his hand over to join them together. Tae knows they’ll be okay. The boys might interfere but they’ll always be there for them whatever the future holds.