Chapter Text
Knock knock knock.
Yeontan lifts his head, disturbed from his nap, and Taehyung looks up from the book in his hands. He furrows his eyebrows, and they both look at the front door. He looks at Yeontan, who always looks like he has his eyebrows furrowed, and Yeontan looks at him as if he’s confused too.
Yoongi is out of town visiting friends somewhere (hearing Taehyung’s joking whining of, “You don’t need other friends. You have me,” before he left, and flustering Taehyung with, “You’re still my best friend,” because Yoongi rarely gets sentimental like that). Namjoon is working at the bookshop today, where he’s also most likely sitting and reading just like Taehyung was. Seokjin and Hoseok are hanging out, and Taehyung knows it isn’t them because they invited him to join them, but he said he wanted to spend the cozy autumn day in, at home finishing his book.
He sets his book face down on the coffee table and gets up off his new and very comfortable couch – part of why he wanted to stay home, to break in the comfy dark red velvet couch that makes his living room even cozier and matches the season too. He shuffles to the door with fluffy little Yeontan trailing beside him like he’s his guard dog. They both stand there confused when Taehyung opens the door.
“Hi!”
Taehyung blinks. “Hello.”
“I’m your neighbor Jungkook.”
Taehyung chuckles. “I know. We met a week ago when you were moving in.”
“What are you up to?”
“I’m… reading my book. W-Why? Is everything okay?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to hangout.”
Taehyung blinks at him again. “Hangout?”
“Yeah, you know, we’re neighbors, so might be nice to get to know each other.”
“U-Um, okay…” Taehyung says. “You can… come in.”
He steps aside, and Jungkook walks into his home. Taehyung notices he smells like apples when he gets close. Jungkook takes off his shoes, chunky black boots that match the rest of his black edgy outfit – very different from Taehyung in his brown plaid pants and cable knit sweater almost the color of his new couch. Taehyung has caramel blonde hair leftover from the summer season, in the same fluffy, wavy style of Jungkook’s black hair, with gold glasses on his face to help him read in place of Jungkook’s many piercings.
When Jungkook straightens back up and Taehyung realizes he was standing here observing him in silence and was in a bit of a confused trance since opening the door, he finally snaps out of it.
“Oh my goodness, sorry, I’m sorry, Jungkook-ssi. I–I probably sounded so rude. I’m sorry; I was just confused and not expecting you. Hi, sorry, I’m Taehyung.”
Jungkook smiles at him. Taehyung didn’t notice last time, when they met in Jungkook’s front yard when he was moving in, that something about his smile resembles a bunny. His teeth, and his nose scrunch. He spots a little freckle below his lips too, just off center, which isn’t bunny-like, but Taehyung still finds it cute. “I know,” he says. “We met a week ago.”
Taehyung chuckles. “Can I get you something? I was thinking of making tea before you got here. Would you like some?”
“Yeah! That’d be nice,” Jungkook says. Taehyung walks to the kitchen, and he sees Jungkook looking around him, taking in his house. Taehyung can’t remember the last time he had someone new in his house. “You can just call me Jungkook, by the way. You don’t need the -ssi.”
“Jungkook,” Taehyung nods, and Jungkook happily nods too. Taehyung fills up his tea kettle, watching Jungkook unabashedly inspect his home. He leans in to look at the pictures he has hanging on his wall, a mix of photos of him and his friends and art (so the same thing, in his opinion). He looks at the vase on his small, round table in his dining area that only seats two, where chrysanthemums from his garden have tea with him every day. He looks out the windows to his backyard, even though he can see it from his own house. Taehyung is very amused watching him, especially because he’d definitely do the same at Jungkook’s house. He turns away and sets the kettle on the stove and lights the fire, smiling to himself when he hears Jungkook’s little gasp, followed by a coo, when Yeontan must approach this stranger that has appeared.
Taehyung is a social butterfly. He loves talking to people, no matter who they are or where he’s at. He never feels awkward or shy, and he loves getting to know strangers – it’s a reason why this town is his home, because sooner or later, everyone who lives here will stop being strangers whether the person is shy or not.
Still, he doesn’t know that he would go next door and ask a stranger if he can hangout and enter his house as their first real introduction; he’d at least wait until they had a few more run-ins together downtown, or chatted a little bit if they were both outside. When he turns to look at Jungkook, he thinks he can tell that Jungkook doesn’t normally do this either, nor is he as confident as the façade he came over with. Whenever he pauses to look at something more closely, the magnets on his fridge this time, he shifts his weight from side to side, like an uncomfortable fidget. He also fidgets with his hands the whole time, like he feels awkward, and when Taehyung speaks again, the tips of his ears get red, but only there.
“So where did you move here from?” Taehyung asks. He busies himself with pulling out two mugs and dropping teabags into them so hopefully Jungkook will settle in a little more if Taehyung acts more casual instead of watching him.
“The city,” Jungkook says.
“Oh?” Taehyung turns around and leans against the counter, waiting for the water to boil. “What brings you here then? It’s kind of as opposite of the city you can get without going to the countryside.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of the point,” Jungkook chuckles. He’s standing in the space between the kitchen and the small little dining area, just standing there like he doesn’t know what to do. It’s silly watching him try to be casual and comfortable when he is clearly feeling a little awkward. He’s just standing there with his arms hanging down at his sides, and he won’t look directly at Taehyung. Taehyung was so confused by his appearance earlier that he didn’t notice how Jungkook wasn’t as confident as he seemed. “Just… got to be a lot. Needed to get out.”
The tea kettle starts to sing, so Taehyung turns around to pour the water into their mugs. “Well,” he says, “I hope you’ll like it here. I think it’s a nice little place to escape to. It’s a much slower lifestyle than the city,” he turns to hand Jungkook his cup of tea, “but I think it’s nice. There’s milk in the fridge and sugar on the counter there, if you want either.”
“Thanks…” Jungkook says quietly.
Taehyung goes to sit at the little dining room table in the corner. There are windows on each wall that it’s tucked between, so it’s always sunny on sunny days and always cozy on rainy or snowy ones. It gives them a nice view of the pretty autumn trees lining the street and in Taehyung’s backyard too. Jungkook sits across from him, and he’s even more fidgety now that they’re sitting together. He plays with the paper at the end of his tea bag, folding it several ways as if he’s doing origami. Taehyung didn’t read his before he dropped it in, but when Jungkook unfolds it to refold it again, he sees that it says, “It’s never too late for a new beginning.”
Taehyung looks down at his own. Something beautiful awaits you; let it take its time.
“So Jungkook-ah,” Taehyung says. Jungkook looks up at him. His eyes are so round. They’re so wide, with an expression like he’s a deer caught in the headlights. He barely lasted five minutes before this shyness came about. “Tell me about yourself.”
Jungkook’s eyes go wider. “W-What do you want to know?” he asks. He taps his leg with his foot underneath the table, then he realizes that he’s doing that to Taehyung and not the base of the table, and he immediately stops as his face flushes the color of autumn leaves.
“Why are you so shy?” Taehyung chuckles. He doesn’t want to make him even shyer, but maybe acknowledging it will help. “You don’t have to be shy. I’m outgoing enough for the both of us. I won’t let it get awkward.”
Jungkook weakly laughs. He looks down at the steam over his tea, the way it wisps and curls and listens in on their conversation. His ears are red again. “S-Sorry, yeah,” he says. “I just… I’m not used to people letting me in their house and making me tea.”
“Well I will let you into my house and make you tea whenever you want,” Taehyung says. He wants to ask what he is used to, because that’s just… basic hospitality and kindness, but he doesn’t ask yet. “What kinds of things do you like?”
“I like… um, photography,” he says. “I’m a photographer.”
“Oh!” Taehyung says. “What kind of photography?”
Jungkook relaxes in the way people normally do when they get to talk about something they love. His shoulders drop, and he starts steeping his teabag up and down rather than fidgeting with the tag on it. He still won’t look at him, but that’s okay. “Well, for work in the city I did photoshoots for magazines. And… I didn’t like it anymore. I want to do something more personal and artistic, so it was a reason why I moved away too. To, I dunno, learn how to be an artist, I guess, because I wouldn’t call what I was doing before art.”
“I see,” Taehyung says, slowly nodding. He can see that; it must have felt more like being a marketer and trying to sell whatever will go in the magazine, rather than doing it for the art of photography. “Well, I think a very nice life awaits you: living in a nice little town and focusing on your art. I feel like only good things can come of that.”
Jungkook finally looks at him, the first time they’ve made eye contact since he opened the door. Something in Taehyung slows down, maybe his heartbeat. Something in him pauses, maybe his thoughts so that the memory of this moment will nuzzle itself in and settle down: Jungkook’s dark eyes with little sparkles in them, the scent of sweetened black tea and the warmth of the mug against his hands, the sound of crunchy leaves rustling through the window cracked open in the living room, the way it feels like their lives were intricately folded origami shapes, but a little mistake was made and the folds are undone and the paper can stretch out to be folded in a different way so a few of the lines can move and converge and align. It’s like he could feel everything aligning. The old folds were still there and fingers gently glided over could still feel their shape, but everything became as it should be. He didn’t know that last part at the time, but he does later. All he feels now is that he’s making a new friend on an autumn day.
Jungkook’s gaze lingers longer before he looks away again, down at his tea. “Yeah, I think so too,” he says. He looks back up at him, and he seems like he’s finally settled down and settled in. “What do you like to do, hyung? Wait, are you older than me?”
Taehyung makes his expression blank. “Do I look so old that you just assume I’m older than you?”
Jungkook’s eyes widen more than Taehyung knew someone’s eyes could. “Wh–no! No, hyung–wait, fuck, no, Tae–wait, Tae? Fuck, no, no.” Jungkook blinks at him when Taehyung widely smiles. Then he deflates and whines when he realizes Taehyung was just messing with him. The sound of his whines makes Taehyung giggle.
“When were you born?”
“Ninety-seven,” Jungkook says, his face bright red from being teased.
“I’m ninety-five, so you can call me hyung. And Tae if you want too,” he says. He tells himself that he won’t tease Jungkook anymore and will let him breathe, but it’s very tempting. “Anyway, hm, I like to read a lot. I own the bookstore in town.”
Jungkook’s eyes go wide again. He is very expressive, Taehyung is learning, and his eyes–they’re very… Taehyung likes them. “Really?” Taehyung nods. “Wow, that’s so cool!”
Taehyung blushes this time, and he is not one to blush, so he is very confused about the warmth he feels on his cheeks. “Thanks…” he says. “I like it a lot. Um, other than that I really like gardening. I have a garden in my backyard.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you out there before.” Taehyung can’t help it, the teasing; he raises an eyebrow. Jungkook’s eyes do that thing again and he stammers, “I-I mean, I wasn’t, like, watching you! I just noticed when I was looking out my window!” When Taehyung giggles, Jungkook whines again.
“I would offer to bring you a basket of the things I grow, but the garden’s pretty much over for the season. I can next summer though, if you don’t get too bored and move away by then.”
Jungkook looks at him. It’s quiet for a few seconds, then he says, “I don’t think I’ll get bored,” and looks down at his tea again.
– ♡ –
“Have a good night, Jungkook-ah,” Taehyung says. He’s standing in the doorway of his home as he watches Jungkook gallop down the porch steps. The light outside of his house outlines him in a warm yellow, glinting off his gold glasses and bringing out the warmth of his skin tone even in the night. Jungkook can still smell vanilla and caramel as he walks away, even as the scents of autumn and grass try to take its place.
“U-Um, yeah, you too, hyung. This was–it was nice. Thank you for letting me come over. Have a nice night.”
Jungkook hears a giggle as he crosses their front yards, the same giggle he heard every time he made a fool of himself – which was pretty much the whole night.
What is wrong with you, he curses himself in his head as he unlocks his front door. He looks over and sees Taehyung leaning against his doorframe still, watching to make sure he makes it home safely even though he’s right next door. Jungkook raises a hand and awkwardly waves, then he wonders if he should have done that or if it’s weird, then he feels his face heat up again but at least it’s covered by the night this time, even though Taehyung saw it very clearly the whole day. Taehyung giggles and does the same wave back before they both go inside.
Jungkook leans back against the closed front door and feels a whine build in his throat – something else he’d never done before today just like the blushing, because the whole day was unexpectedly filled with embarrassing things like that.
What is wrong with you, he says to himself again. Only a month ago, if that Jungkook saw this Jungkook, he would be speechless. He’s been near-speechless the whole day, because Taehyung? Jungkook was never like that in front of girls, never once with the many girls he’s interacted with, let alone a guy. What the hell was that?
Before he even realizes what he’s doing, he pulls out his phone. It rings a few times before a sleepy voice answers. “H–”
“Jimin, how did you know you were gay?”
It’s silent. It all happened before Jungkook was conscious of it, and he presses his lips together as his cheeks heat up again. It’s dark in his living room, none of the lights turned on, just the weak light on his porch shining through the window. The silence is even louder like this; he could swear he can hear his pounding heart.
Jimin finally clears his throat. “Well,” he starts, his tone overly patient and slow like he’s talking to a crazy person, “it was when I got my first crush on a boy back when I was a teenager.”
“And… a-and what was that like? How did you know it was a crush?”
“Haven’t you ever had a crush before?”
“No,” Jungkook answers immediately. He’s done many things with many girls, but a crush has never been a part of those things. It was always just… convenience, ‘fun.’
“Oh,” Jimin says softly, sadly. It’s the way he’s sounded and looked at Jungkook for this whole past year. It’s part of why Jungkook knew he had to leave. “Well, I guess it started with noticing him at first. I mean, well, it started with noticing that I had no interest in girls at all, which hasn’t been the case for you. Although, you can have done things but realize in retrospect that you didn’t enjoy it.” That’s definitely the case for Jungkook, but not in the way Jimin means. He didn’t like it, but not because they were girls. “But it started with noticing him. I noticed things that I don’t think were very normal for a guy to notice about another guy. It’s okay and normal for straight guys to acknowledge that another man is good-looking, but this was different from that. I noticed his hands.”
Oh god, Jungkook thinks.
He immediately conjures Taehyung’s hands in his head, just from a single day they spent together. He thinks he could paint them if he needed to. He can see the way his long fingers looked wrapped around his mug of tea. His nicely shaped nailbeds – he doesn’t think he should be thinking about another man’s nailbeds, let alone notice them at all. He remembers the way the palms of his hands and how they were sometimes pink when he reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes because they were kept warm with his hold on his warm drink.
“I noticed his beauty marks, his scars.”
Jungkook’s head thunks back against the door. Below Taehyung’s eye, on the tip of his nose, his lip. Even the one on his pinky. Because he was noticing his hands and his beauty marks enough to spot the tiny little one there.
“His voice and his laugh.”
Jungkook scrubs his hand down his face and closes his eyes. That’s normal though, right? Taehyung's voice was so deep that it would be impossible not to notice. Jungkook had never heard someone sound like that before, like his voice is all of the noises and feelings of autumn put into a sound, into words, into a special intonation and cadence that Jungkook was pulled along with.
“And I think most of all,” Jimin continues, “I realized that if I’m wondering if the way I’m feeling for a boy is gay, then it probably is. That isn’t always the case, but I don’t think straight people often wonder if the way they’re noticing and feeling about someone is gay. I think it almost always is.”
Jungkook is silent. He supposes that’s really it.
But–but he doesn't know if he wants to kiss him, or date him. He just knows that… that there’s been an unfamiliar kind of warmth curled up in his chest since the moment he stepped into Taehyung’s house. Maybe from the moment he saw him when he was driving down the road and found the house he would move into. He’d never felt that before. He’s never noticed the freckle on someone’s pinky before. He’s never had someone make him tea.
“Is there something you want to talk about?” Jimin asks softly after prolonged silence. He hears the rustling of blankets, and he thinks of Jimin lying in bed, answering a panicked call from him late at night.
“I don’t know,” Jungkook says quietly. “It–it’s only been one day.”
“That’s okay,” Jimin says. “It’s a lot. You just settled in. It’s a brand new life for you, and if you’re having thoughts like this, or feelings in general most of all, then there’s no rush to get it all figured out, because it’s all brand new. Do you want to tell me about him?”
“There’s nothing to really tell,” Jungkook says quietly. It’s still so new. “It’s–he’s my neighbor. I spent almost the whole day at his house, sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea and talking. And–god–I was so fucking awkward, he probably thinks I’m a freak who can’t hold a conversation. But it’s because I was so nervous, and so… so distracted by him, and I’ve never been like that with anyone before. Let alone a–a guy… I just feel… I f-feel like I wish there were more hours in the day, or that time stopped so that I didn’t have to go home so soon, even though I was there for the whole day.”
“Jungkook-ah,” Jimin says softly. “That’s–that’s great, Jungkookie. Even if it’s not a crush, it’s so great that someone made you feel that way. You went so long not feeling anything, then feeling like you needed to escape when you noticed who you were spending time with. If anything, it sounds like you made a very wonderful friend. I think it means a lot that you can just sit at the table together, talking the whole day. Maybe it’s not a whole sexuality crisis. Maybe it’s just the feeling of meeting a friend, someone genuine that makes you feel good.”
“Y-Yeah, but I never felt like that around you. I m-mean! Wait, no, don’t take that the wrong way. I feel like that around you, I do, but I just mean… I don’t r-really, um, like, notice which finger you use to push up your glasses, or the way you fix your bangs with the back of your fingers, o-or the way your lips have a natural downcurve to them like his, like a natural frown that goes away so easily, or, l-like, the way, whenever he talked with his hands, I could smell a little bit of vanilla, like that’s his scent and I could smell it when he moved. I don’t notice things like that with you that closely… I don’t think of them the way I am right now…”
“I see,” Jimin says, still soft, still patient. “What if you do have a crush on him? Would that scare you?”
“I think… I think that I spent so long, all of those years in the city, not being anyone. Not feeling anything, not being a person, not being Jungkook because I didn’t know who Jungkook was. I think… I think there’s a lot of things that I’ll learn about myself, about who I am, now that I’m here. A-And, I don’t think any of it will scare me. I think all of it will… will make me happy that I’m finally learning who I am. That I’m finally becoming the person I’m supposed to be. And if this is one of those things, then… th-then okay…”
Jungkook hears a sniffle through the phone. “Jungkookie,” Jimin says softly, “that’s–that’s great. Even just that is something new. Even that is you coming into yourself. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks…” Jungkook mutters shyly, shuffling on his feet in his dark living room, still in front of the closed front door.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” Jimin says hesitantly. “Is this an okay time? It’s late and you’re going through a lot of change, so I don’t want to put something else on you…”
“N-No, that’s okay, this is a good time,” Jungkook says, holding his breath.
“S-So, I didn’t want to bring it up when you were making the change yourself. Making the decision that you would move out of the city, and settling in somewhere new was a lot, and I wanted to let you do what you needed to do and do it freely, on your own, because it’s what you needed. B-But… I miss you, Jungkook-ah. I miss being just a few minutes away from you, and I–you know that I haven’t wanted to be in the city for a while. And it–it sounds like this has already been so good for you, and I don’t want to miss out on all of this. I don’t want to stop knowing you and let our relationship fade–”
“That would never happen, Jimin,” Jungkook interrupts. “You’ve been my best friend since we were kids. You’re the person I called right now, the first person I wanted to talk about this with. That would never happen.”
“You say that, but what if everything changes so much that this does too? What if you get wrapped up in your new life, and our friendship just fades off. A-And, that’s not even why I’m bringing it up. I just miss you, and I don’t want to be in the city at all, but I definitely don’t want to be here without you here. So what would you think if I… m-moved there too?”
Jungkook only realizes a smile is on his face because it’s so wide that it almost hurts. “Really?” he asks, a whoosh of breath coming out.
“Y-Yeah…”
“Jimin, please, oh my god, yes, please move here, please.”
“Really?” Jimin asks this time, the single word so bright and hopeful.
“Yes!” Jungkook says. “B-But are you sure? I mean, you didn’t even see the town. You just drove through it when you helped me move in.”
“That’s how you moved there too,” Jimin reminds him. He never had a formal tour, never explored. He just came here and knew. “And you like it there, and you’re there at all. That’s enough for me. I just–I really miss you, Kookie.”
“I miss you too, Jimin-ah,” Jungkook sniffles.
“Jimin-hyung,” Jimin reminds him, but it’s watery with tears, and so is their laughter.
“I want you to move here,” Jungkook says. “Yes, please, that would be so–that would be perfect, and you’d love it. I can help you find a place to live, and you can stay with me for a while if you want to too, if you want to get out before you find a good place. W-Whatever you want, whatever it takes to get you to live here, please.”
“O-Okay, yeah, I’ll start looking. And keep an eye out for me too, will you?”
“Yeah, yes, of course.”
“Okay,” Jimin says.
Jungkook remembers the hour because Jimin sounds sleepy, and he probably woke him up with his sexuality crisis.
“We’ll talk more about it in the morning and make a plan,” Jungkook says. “Thank you for… thank you for always answering when I call and being there when I need you.” They both know he means more than just tonight. Jimin has been there through everything, even when Jungkook didn’t deserve him. He wants to deserve him. He wants to deserve this life that’s unfolding for himself. “I’ll let you sleep now, and we’ll talk in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” Jimin says. “Love you, Jungkookie.”
“Love you too, hyung,” he says with the honorific, just because Jimin is so nice to him. “Night.”
“G’night.”
Jungkook hangs up. His head thunks back against the door again with a sigh.
Even if things are weird and everything is changing, he knows it’s changing in good ways. It’s scary right now, when it’s all so new and all so unfamiliar and he doesn’t know what each day will bring, but in the month he’s been here, it’s only been good things, and he thinks it’ll continue that way even a year from now.
He finally pushes away from the door to get ready for bed. He takes his time with it, because everything has felt more intentional since being here. When he lived in the city, every single part of his life was going through the motions in a half-aware haze. Everything blended and blurred together. Now he’s present, he feels the bristles of his toothbrush when he brushes his teeth and tastes the minty flavor on his tongue. Now he takes care to find the right water temperature when he turns on the sink to wash his face. Now he picks out which pajamas he wants to wear, where they’re folded neatly in his dresser.
Once he’s ready for bed, he goes back out to the living room to make sure he’s locked up for the night. He checks the lock on the door, then walks to his front window to check there too. He doesn’t think it’s very necessary, but he likes the ritual of it. Another way of being intentional about his life.
When he looks out the window, he sees who’s been on his thoughts the whole night – as he squeezed toothpaste on his toothbrush, as he rubbed in moisturizer on his face, when he opened and closed his dresser drawer. He’s been on his mind many of the nights before he gathered the courage to impulsively march over to his house and knock on the door.
Just as impulsive (or maybe not impulsively, either time, but thoughtlessly, because he acts before he realizes what he’s doing), he opens his front door.
Taehyung looks over and freezes, and Jungkook freezes too.
“I–uh, hi,” Jungkook says. He quickly scurries out of his house in his pajamas and his slippers to walk to his mailbox at the end of the sidewalk to his house, as if he was going to check his mail so late at night all along. It’s so quiet out on their sleepy street that Jungkook can hear the quiet rusted squeak that the door to his mailbox makes when it opens, which he hadn’t noticed before. He wouldn’t have ever noticed things like this before. He wouldn’t have noticed the way the streetlight brings out the warmth in another man’s eyes, nor the way the sunlight made the brown of them have flecks of gold in his irises.
“Hello,” Taehyung says. He smiles at him like he knows. Maybe not that Jungkook is noticing, again, the beauty mark on his nose or the shape of his shadow on the sidewalk, but that he did not actually intend to check his mailbox at this very coincidental late hour. Jungkook doesn’t even care; what he cares about is that that strange, rectangular smile is on his face because of him again. “What’re you up to?” His voice sounds even more like autumn right now, on the warm-lit street beneath the fall trees.
“J-Just, you know, checking my mail,” Jungkook says casually.
“Ah,” Taehyung nods as Yeontan sniffs the pole of Jungkook’s mailbox.
“What are you up to?” he asks.
“I like to go on night walks with Tannie,” Taehyung says. “Before it gets too cold.”
Jungkook looks down the street, in each direction. It’s well-lit and quiet, cozy in the yellow and orange light. But, “Is it safe to do that so late at night?” It’s so quiet too, just the sounds of the few insects that haven’t left for the season yet.
Taehyung chuckles. “It is,” he says. “It isn’t like the city here.” Jungkook bites the inside of his cheek, unsure about this. It might not be like the city, but he doesn’t know if that means it’s safe. He knows he’s only been here for a month compared to however long Taehyung has been here, but still…
“Would you like to join me?”
Jungkook tells himself that ensuring Taehyung’s safety is why he answers, “Yes,” so quickly. That’s part of it, but not all of it.
Taehyung laughs to himself and moves over on the sidewalk for Jungkook to fit next to him. He smiles at him, something sweet and soft, and Jungkook hasn’t thought those words before, let alone felt them.
“So,” Taehyung says. “How are you?”
“In the half hour since we saw each other?” Jungkook laughs. Taehyung nods with a smile. Jungkook realizes his eyes have been on him the whole time they’ve been walking side by side, so he quickly looks forward. “I’ve been… good.” When’s the last time someone has asked how he is, other than Jimin? Have they ever? If they’d asked, would he have ever said ‘good’? “How are you?”
“I’m good too,” Taehyung says.
His new neighborhood, it’s so pretty. It’s the beginning of fall, so all of the leaves are freshly turned, and there’s still a warmth to the air to match the leaves. Red and orange and yellow and brown are quilted across people’s lawns, porches decorated with bales of hay or scarecrows, flowers changed from ones that blossom in summer to ones that thrive in autumn.
All of this is new to him. He feels like he lived in one single season the whole time he was in the city even though the weather changed just the same, and he doesn’t even know which one he’d call it. Maybe it was a new type, something grey and empty. That’s what he used to associate with winter, but something tells him it won’t feel that way here. He would feel like maybe he’s romanticizing everything too much, but he’s finally living in a life he can romanticize, and he thinks that means it’s as romantic as it seems, and he’s simply noticing it.
“It’s so quiet here,” he says. He’s thought it every day and night since moving in. There are sounds that the day makes – birds chirping from their perch in the trees, people walking outside past his home, children riding their bikes in the middle of the street because everyone does seem to know they’re safe here. There are sounds just as lovely at night too, but none of it is anything like the sounds the city makes. Right now, he can hear their footsteps, light against the sidewalk, sometimes syncing up before falling out of rhythm and back again. He can hear the sound of Yeontan prancing in front of them, leading them on their stroll. Occasionally the warm leaves rustle, or an insect chirps, and that’s it. That’s all there is, just these little sounds with silence woven between them.
“It is,” Taehyung says. His voice is its own kind of quiet too, like even making a sound can’t disrupt the peacefulness. Jungkook watches their shadows stretched out in front of them. Occasionally the two will collide together, turn into one until their individual shapes take form again.
“Sorry for inviting myself on your walk,” Jungkook says sheepishly. He realizes Taehyung probably likes the quiet, probably why he takes night walks.
“I invited you,” Taehyung says. “Consider me your tour guide for your new home.”
Jungkook smiles down at the sidewalk. “Alright,” he chuckles.
“This house here,” Taehyung says, pointing to the brown house on the corner. Cobblestones make up the path to the front door, which has a heart-shaped window for people to peer out of. Honeysuckle climbs up the side of the house, making it almost look like it was all plucked from a fairytale. He and Taehyung take a right turn on the sidewalk and follow along their picket fence. “The Chois live here. If he hasn’t already, Choi Manshik will be knocking on your door sometime soon, asking if you need help with anything. It might sound like he’s a busybody, wanting to take a look around your house or get gossip from you, but he’s not. He’s very kind, and genuinely wants to help. He comes by my house every month or so to check in. He’s older, retired, and always wants something to do, and his wife almost always makes him bring along something she baked. Sometimes I give him tasks that don’t even really need doing, because I know he likes it. He’s fixed the creaky step on my front porch, the leaky faucet in my bathroom, the cracked post of my fence in my backyard when there was a bad storm over the summer. They were all things that I could’ve done myself, but sometimes I leave some things as they are so I’ll have something for him to do.
“And here,” he continues when they turn the next corner to a new street, motioning toward a green house, “is where Kim Namjoon and Kim Seokjin live.” So many of the homes in their neighborhood are colorful, but even if they’re in earth-toned shades like the Chois’ brown house or the dark green Kims’, color is added through flowers or more greenery. “They’re married, and two of my best friends. Namjoon-hyung works at the bookshop too, and I’m sure you’ll meet them very soon. I’m certain you and Seokjin-hyung will really get along.”
As they walk through the neighborhood with Taehyung’s quiet, wandering commentary, Jungkook thinks that he’s never had such a nice night before.
He’s been to lavish, sparkling parties, riddled with celebrities and models in upscale bars with the best food, drinks, and views that the city had to offer.
He’s been on-site for photography photoshoots at beautiful locations around the country and outside of it, with assistants at his beck and call and nights spent out on the town with the best amenities and experiences that each place could give.
He’s had nights with people in his expensive penthouse filled with expensive furniture and modern art, and has never had to want for anything.
And still, walking through the quiet, sleepy neighborhood in his pajamas, beneath the twinkling night sky with an autumn-voiced boy beside him telling him little details he’s gathered about things and people along the way, Jungkook doesn’t think he’s ever had such a nice night.