TO RUIN YOU SOFTLY🥀 (TAEKOOK)

(PART THREE)

{ALL THE THINGS WE DON’T SAY}

Seoul – BTS Dorms – Midnight

They weren’t supposed to be in the same room.

Taehyung sat curled on the edge of Jungkook’s bed, fingers tugging at the hem of his oversized shirt. The walls were thin. The others were home. Every movement felt like a secret.

Behind him, Jungkook locked the door quietly.

Neither of them spoke. Not yet.

The only light came from the city outside, bleeding blue through the blinds. Jungkook crossed the room slowly, barefoot, in sweatpants and a loose black tee, hair damp from a quick shower.

He stopped in front of Taehyung.

"Say it," he whispered.

Taehyung looked up.

"Say what?"

Jungkook knelt, hands resting on Taehyung’s knees. "That you missed me."

Taehyung’s lips parted. He didn’t say it. But he leaned forward, pressing his mouth to Jungkook’s like a man who hadn’t had water in days.

The kiss was slow at first—achingly slow. Teeth barely touching, lips sliding over lips like breath. Jungkook’s hands slipped beneath Taehyung’s shirt, fingertips tracing skin he already knew too well.

It wasn’t about lust. Not just.

It was about need.

Need to be seen. To be touched. To remember where the act ended and they began.

---

{REHEARSAL ROOM: EARLIER THAT DAY}

The room was thick with tension, sweat, and the sharp scent of effort.

"Again," Namjoon said, pacing behind the mirrors. "That last pass lacked energy. Kook—less possession, more seduction. You’re a predator, not a villain."

"Got it," Jungkook muttered, rolling his neck.

Taehyung took position across from him. The music reset.

They hit their marks, and when the cue came—Jungkook pushed Taehyung against the mirrored wall like fire.

Taehyung gasped, part of the choreography.

But the grip on his wrist?

That wasn’t in the script.

Neither was the whisper: “You drive me fucking crazy.”

The room went quiet after the cut.

Yoongi sat up from the bench, eyes narrowing.

“You two,” Jin said from the corner, voice low. “Cool it.”

Jimin pulled Taehyung aside during water break.

"Do you want this to get out?" he hissed.

Taehyung didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

Because when Jungkook looked at him like that… like he was the only real thing left in a world built on stage lights and lies… he forgot everything.

Even the rules.

---

{STOLEN TIME – SAME NIGHT}

They made love like it hurt.

Every sigh muffled, every gasp swallowed by the other's skin.

Taehyung pressed kisses to the slope of Jungkook’s shoulder, the dip of his spine, the hollow just below his ear. Jungkook bit his lip to stay quiet when Taehyung’s hands wandered, mouth trailing heat down his chest.

Jungkook’s fingers slid up Taehyung’s thighs, tracing circles into his skin. Slow. Teasing. Mean.

“You’re loud tonight,” he whispered, a smirk playing on his lips.

Taehyung arched, breath catching.

“Shut up.”

Jungkook kissed him, all teeth and tongue.

They moved together like waves, like prayers. The bedsheets twisted between them like ropes. Every touch was a promise they couldn’t keep.

---

{THE PRICE OF FIRE}

Yoongi was the first to say it out loud.

“This isn’t just method acting anymore.”

He stood in the kitchen, staring at the espresso machine like it held answers. Hoseok nodded silently beside him, sipping his tea.

“They’re not careful,” Yoongi said. “The company’s going to crush them.”

“Or worse,” Hoseok said, “they’ll crush each other.”

---

{THE COMPANY LINE}

Two days later, all seven were summoned.

Boardroom. No cameras. Just managers, PR, and cold coffee.

Namjoon sat at the head. Not as leader—just as the one brave enough to translate between the two worlds they lived in.

“We’ve received concerns,” he said. “From staff. From external creatives. Even from a couple sponsors.”

Taehyung sat motionless beside Jin. Jungkook’s jaw was locked tight.

“This project was about immersion. Storytelling. But the line is blurry now.”

A beat.

“Too blurry.”

“Are we being asked to quit?” Jungkook said, voice flat.

“No,” their PR manager said. “We’re asking you to redirect. Channel it. But off-stage? You go back to being brothers.”

Taehyung laughed then—low, bitter.

“We were never brothers.”

The silence after that was devastating.

---

{THE BREAK}

That night, Jungkook didn’t sneak in.

He didn’t text.

He didn’t even look at Taehyung during dinner.

The silence was heavier than any scream.

Jimin reached for Taehyung’s hand under the table.

“Don’t let this be the end.”

Taehyung blinked, vision swimming.

“It already is.”

---

{FLASHBACK – A MEMORY}

Three months ago.

Their first kiss had happened off-camera. Off-schedule.

In the practice room. The lights were off. The music had stopped.

Jungkook had been wearing that stupid mesh shirt, sweat glistening at his neck.

Taehyung had said something dumb. A tease. A dare.

Jungkook had responded by grabbing his jaw and kissing him. Hard.

And Taehyung hadn’t pulled away.

He’d pulled closer.

---

{NOW}

Rain pattered softly against the windows.

Taehyung stood on the balcony, wrapped in a hoodie that didn’t belong to him.

Jungkook stepped outside, barefoot, mug in hand.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“But you are.”

They stood there, shoulder to shoulder, not touching.

“I miss you,” Jungkook said finally, voice cracked.

Taehyung closed his eyes.

“I miss who we were when no one was watching.”

He turned.

Jungkook looked broken—eyes rimmed with red, lips chapped, like he hadn’t slept in days.

Taehyung kissed him.

Once.

Soft.

Barely there.

And then he pulled away.

“Go,” he said.

Jungkook hesitated.

Then nodded.

And left.

The door closed behind him with a sound like thunder.

~~~~~~

By 𝕸𝖎𝖉𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝕽𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖘🥀