Chapter Text
He walked up to the house's shared office where he knew Namjoon and Jin were going to be at. He already had a semblance of what they were going to say to him, he really didn’t feel like talking about it. The crowd wasn’t necessarily a mistake, he was just having a little fun. He didn’t mean to hurt anyone or break whatever illusion of normalcy they were trying to build. He didn’t know how they were meant to live normally either, their faces were plastered everywhere and people knew them by name. He didn’t see the harm in walking around and flaunting it a little, maybe even getting a couple new fans to watch his videos and check out his modeling stuff. He let out a sigh as he knocked on the door and opened it when there was a soft ‘come in’ from the other side.
Time to get this over with.
When he walked in he was greeted with Namjoon’s disappointed eyes and Jin’s annoyance. Ah yes, the parents of the group. He expects no less. “Take a seat.” Namjoon says motioning to a chair that was positioned in front of them. Jimin couldn’t help but feel nervous now, he knew they weren’t going to hurt him but it felt like he was being interrogated for a crime. When he sat down is when the silence completely dissipated.
“You know what you did was stupid right?” Jin spoke up brashly while Namjoon put his hand up and looked at Jin.
“What Seokjin means is that, we wished you would have ran over what you were planning with us before you did it. It could have been dangerous.” Jimin’s tense posture from before eased up a little and he frowned looking down a little guilty. They were just worried.
“What if you got kidnapped! Or some person came and hurt you! What would we have done then?” Jin continued his anger from before melting down to worried eyes and a soft sigh. “We’re just worried about you.” He added on after a bit of silence. Jimin nodded and looked down, he didn’t want to apologize because he should be able to do what he wanted. He was a grown man after all. On the other hand though he felt bad, he didn’t mean to worry his boyfriends like that and mulling it over was a bit dangerous. It wasn’t a controlled environment and anyone could have been there. He didn’t regret it though, he managed to meet Chul. How could he regret that?
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking and I didn’t mean to worry you guys. It won’t happen again, I’ll fill you in next time I plan something like this.” It was a half truth and a sincere apology, he definitely was sorry but…he might forget to fill them in if he had another crazy stunt to pull. And his two boyfriends were aware of that, hence the looks they gave each other basically saying with their eyes ‘He’s not going to’. Jin shook his head but smiled a little, he loved him no matter how convoluted or stupid he could get. Namjoon also smiled, laughing a little and motioning Jimin over so they could hug it out. The tense and upsetting atmosphere simmering down now full of laughs and kisses.
“Please be more careful.” Namjoon said when Jimin pulled away and he nodded agreeing to at least be a little more careful with his next plan. They spoke for a little longer about plans for the rest of the day and what everyone will be up to. With one last kiss to both their cheeks Jimin walked out the room. He peeked around noticing Yoongi wasn’t there assuming he went to his room to nap or to his studio. He hummed and walked to Jungkook’s room knocking on the door to see if it was okay for him to walk in. He’s had too many instances of walking in when Jungkook was streaming and didn’t need for that to happen again. Jungkook had stood up to open the door and gave his boyfriend a big bunny smile.
“How did it go?”
“Better than expected. They were just worried, you know how they are.”
“Do you still want to cuddle?”
“Damn right I do.” Jungkook laughed while Jimin smiled big, they linked hands and went to find Taehyung to add to their cuddle pile. Said man was painting something, neither one of the other two knew what but it seemed so important that it took Jimin and Jungkook to pull out the puppy eyes. The man sighed, falling victim to their cute gazes and grumbled.
“Fine. Let me clean up.” Both cheered and decided to help, more like Jungkook helped and Jimin sat watching as they moved around. Subtly checking out his boyfriends because hey, how couldn’t he when they looked so good. When they were done Jimin took both their hands and dragged them to his room also known as Taehyung and Jimin’s room since they tended to spend the most time together. They also piled in, Tae changing into a pair of more comfortable clothes than his smock and paint littered pants. Getting comfortable, Jimin in the middle and Jungkook and Taehyung on either side, they started having light conversation.
They talked about classes, professors and other random things. Such as games, food, and works in progress. They continued this light conversation with gentle actions, some tracing of patterns on exposed skin, soft cheek kisses. Everything was gentle and soft in that moment until at one point they started talking about Chul. “She seems so sweet. I’m glad we managed to make a friend.” Jungkook mused and Jimin nodded along.
“She also seems to not know who we are. And if she does she hides it really well.” This was a run over of their conversation in the car, they were speaking more about it to try and get Taehyung to agree to meet her. They thought if they fluffed her up and made it known she wasn’t a crazed fan he would be open to meeting her. Taehyung sat there not knowing how to feel exactly. He was glad his boyfriends had found someone new to talk to but he was always overprotective of them. He tended to be more closed off than the rest, not as much as Yoongi but definitely to an extent. When it was just Jimin and him he didn’t know how to feel when Jimin brought up the fact that he was starting to have feelings for Jungkook. For a while he had blocked Jimin out. It wasn’t his boyfriend’s fault he just had some trust issues he had to get over and when he managed to finally accept Jimin and Jungkook being a thing he somehow got pulled in as well and now here he was with 6 other boyfriends and he couldn’t be anymore happier.
But what if she’s different?
What if she actually ends up using them? Or hurt them?
‘You’re getting ahead of yourself Taehyung. They’re talking about a friend, nothing more.’ He frowned to himself but tried to press a smile onto his lips.
“She’s also really pretty. Come on Tae! You would like her.~” Jimin said trying to convince his boyfriend while Jungkook nodded his head.
“She’s also a Photographer! You guys could bond over that.” Jungkook added in with a big smile and Jimin nodded quickly at that. Tae felt emotions stirring in his stomach as he looked at the two.
“I don’t know…”
“Oh please! Please!”
“If you don’t get along you don’t have to talk to her ever again. But at least meet her first before judging her.” They both gave him puppy eyes and he sighed. He was really a fool in love, huh?
“Fine. But if I don’t get good vibes from her, I’m not spending time with her and you guys have to lessen your time around her.” They both cheered knowing that wasn’t going to happen and they had a good feeling.
A feeling that Tae would trust her straight away. They could be wrong but it never hurts to be a little optimistic. After talking about ways they could meet, they changed the subject and talked for a little longer before they each had to go their own ways. Each saying goodbye with a hug and soft kiss.
Taehyung tried to focus on his day knowing Jimin and Jungkook were blissfully unaware of his thoughts but his mind kept swirling. Wondering about what this girl could do to them and it was making him slightly sick. He tried to shake off the feeling and focus on setting up and getting ready for a Live he had planned for.
She couldn’t be that bad. Right?
It had been a couple days since the incident, Jungkook and Jimin trying everything they could to get Taehyung and Chul to meet. They asked her on days that Tae wasn’t busy and asked him on days he wasn’t bust. It always seemed that the other had something to do when the other was free and it was starting to frustrate the younger men. Jimin had gone pouting at Yoongi about it going to lay on his chest while the older scrolled through his phone.
“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.” Jimin scoffed at that and disagreed right away. Yoongi rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through Jimin’s hair. “Then let it happen naturally. If you guys keep forcing it, it’ll never happen.” And Jimin actually mulled that over. Maybe he was right, forcing them to meet like this wouldn’t get them anywhere, letting them meet by coincidence or when everything falls into place would be better and definitely reap better outcomes. So that’s what they did, they let things go with the flow and see what happens.
Chul was in her kitchen running around with flour on her face and apron. Her phone was propped up with San, Wooyoung and Hongjoong on the screen watching her run around. “I still don’t understand why you’re doing this. It’s literally been, what, a month since they moved in. I bet your neighbors don’t even care.”
“Don’t listen to him, I think it’s sweet that you’re doing this for them.” San said, giving his boyfriend a disapproving look. Wooyoung just rolled his eyes and ate from the bag of chips in his hand as he let them chat.
“Plus, you didn’t have to do this for them so I bet they’ll appreciate the effort you put in.”
“I really hope they do like them. I tried to make sure they were allergy friendly, gluten free, you know so they don’t hurt anyone.” She pouted a little worryingly at her bottom lip while San chuckled at her and Hongjoong calmed her down, letting her know that it would all be fine.
“Since you’re making them cookies did you make us stuff too?” Wooyoung butted in everyone going silent. Hongjoong and San looked at Woo while he just shrugged.
“What?!”
“Don’t ask things like that! It’s rude!” Chul laughed at her friends pulling the cookies out of the oven and putting them to cool.
“It’s okay guys. I did make enough for you all too.” She smiled softly and laughed when Woo cheered, San shaking his head and Hongjoong just smiled with a small laugh at all of them. They kept talking like that until Chul’s cookies cooled.
“Let me know how it goes, if they’re rude I’ll go over there and give them a piece of my mind.” Hongjoong said playfully which made Chul laugh and Woo scoffed.
“As if your scrawny ass could do anything.” Hongjoong looked at him incredulously about to start an argument.
“Okay, it’s time to say goodbye before the girls start to fight.” San interjected, causing Chul to laugh louder and the other two started to throw offended comments at him.
“Bye guys!~” They each said their own goodbyes before she hung up. She moved the cookies into a pretty container with a cloth napkin at the bottom of it. When she was sure it was well packed she grabbed a heavier jacket and scarf. Slipping on some boots and heading to the house next to hers. She took a deep breath at the door before raising her fist and knocked.
She waited a second before groaning and realizing she could have rung the bell instead and did that hoping no one heard her knock the first time. She waited for some time hoping she wasn’t intruding on anyone's time. She stood there a bit longer before deciding to go, chalking it up to no one being home until she heard the lock of the door open. She quickly turned back and smiled big at the person being greeted with brown eyes and wavy dark brown hair. “Oh! Hello, um I’m sorry for bothering you but I live next door. I know it’s been a little while since you’ve moved in but I thought I should introduce myself!” She bowed to him. “My name is Lee Chul, it’s nice to meet you.” She smiled as she stood upright again and held up the cookies. “I made you all some cookies. I hope there’s enough, I wasn’t sure how many people lived here so I made a few just in case.”
Taehyung was annoyed when he heard the doorbell ring, having been in the middle of streaming. When he didn’t hear another ring he let it go until Namjoon came down with crossed arms and asked him politely to check the door that he and Yoongi were bust and if he could do them this favor. He sighed irritated but nodded telling his viewers to give him one second and he muted walking to the door. He opened the door and looked unamused at the girl at the door. About to tell her that they weren’t interested until she started talking before he could. She was extremely cheerful for someone standing in the cold. It kind of irritated him but he couldn’t be mad when she looked kind of cute. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe with a bored expression on his face until she mentioned her name. ‘Lee Chul, huh? Is this the girl Jungkook and Jimin wanted him to meet?’ He tried to hide his smile at the massive coincidence and irony here. He bowed back and gently took the container.
“Thank you, sweetheart. It was kind of you, I’m Taehyung. Kim Taehyung. It’s nice to finally meet who lives next to us, we started to think it was haunted.” He teased, causing Chul to blush in embarrassment and Tae held back his laugh. “I’m sorry to cut this short but I’m a bit busy right now, maybe we’ll meet again.” Chul nodded her head still smiling, which intrigued him. They said their goodbyes and he closed the door walking to the kitchen to put the container on a counter.
He could see why they wanted him to meet her, she was cute, cheerful and seemed to be full of life. But that didn’t stop her from being able to hurt them. Jungkook and Jimin were too trusting and he wasn’t going to let some girl hurt them. He would need to just ring her out and see what she could handle. He opened the container expecting the cookies before taking a bite out of one.
They were good.
He grumbled as he finished the cookie. He heard footsteps and noticed Jungkook. He explained that someone came to the door to introduce themselves as their neighbor and brought them cookies. He left out the fact that it was Chul, he wanted to have a little fun with this.
“Cookies?! Awe, that’s sweet of them, I wish I went down. Would have loved to say hello to them.”
‘Oh you would have.’ Tae thought, as a small smirk was playing on his lips.
“So, when do I get to meet this friend of yours, um, Chul was it?” Jungkook brightened up at his question, too excited to see Tae’s face.