65
Third Person Pov
The afternoon sky hung heavy, smothered in thick grey clouds that threatened to burst at any second. The air smelled like wet dust like something was waiting to break.
Jungkook stood outside the school gates, far from the noisy parents and excited children swarming the exit. His posture was rigid, arms folded tightly against his chest, eyes trained forward as if nothing else existed in his world but the moment that gate opened.
He told himself he was only here because schedule allowed it. Not because he wanted to see the kid.
The bell chimed, sharp and cheerful, a sound that didn’t match the heaviness coiled inside his chest. Kids spilled out like a flood of bright colors and backpacks… and then
There he was.
Gyubin’s eyes scanned the crowd automatically, searching for the familiar bodyguard but instead, his gaze landed on Jungkook.
A small gasp of surprise left his lips.
His little hands gripped the hem of his sweater as if to check whether this was real. When Jungkook started moving toward him, Gyubin’s entire face softened brightened lit up like a star finally noticing its sun.
“Mr. Jeon…” he mumbled, voice shy and small, but trembling with excitement he couldn’t hide.
Some of his classmates halted mid-step, turning wide-eyed toward the tall man in the tailored black suit... sharp jawline, storm-colored eyes, presence so powerful it demanded attention even in silence.
Hell's favorite Gentleman.
“Gyubin, is he your daddy?” one kid whispered, loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Jungkook stilled.
Gyubin’s cheeks flushed pink. He didn’t dare look up at Jungkook instead, he gave a tiny nod to his friend, like he was revealing the world’s most precious secret.
He didn’t want Jungkook to notice but Jungkook saw everything. And for a moment, something in Jungkook’s heartbeat stuttered.
Him being called a father?
The thought was absurd. Impossible. Wrong.
A tiny hand slipped into his fingers. Jungkook stared down.
Gyubin was looking up at him with those impossibly big eyes that made him want to protect the boy from every ugly thing.
“Let’s go, Mr. Jeon,” Gyubin said softly, almost as if asking permission to exist beside him.
Jungkook didn’t move at first.
But his hand tightened anyway, just the slightest bit... an instinct far older than fear.
The kids continued watching, whispering in awe as Gyubin puffed his chest, proud... proud that the tallest, most handsome man out here had come just for him.
Jungkook swallowed hard, gaze focused forward as they began walking together.
Gyubin’s little steps skipped every few seconds just to keep up.
Gyubin climbed into the passenger seat with his small backpack bouncing against him, settling into the leather chair that seemed far too big for a child his size. His little fingers fumbled with the seatbelt until it clicked.
Silence settled... soft but thick.
Gyubin peeked sideways.
Jungkook wasn’t looking at him, eyes locked on the road ahead, adjusting the steering wheel, expression sharp. His jaw was tense, that familiar tightness he always carried when emotions came too close.
Gyubin bit his lip… then whispered it.
Almost like practicing a forbidden spell.
“Dad…”
He tested the sound, barely a breath, barely alive but the moment it passed his lips, his heart did a strange jump.
He liked it so he tried again... a little louder.
“Dada…”
Jungkook froze.
His knuckles whitened around the wheel. Each soft repetition of that word felt like a stone thrown exactly at the cracks he spent years cementing shut.
He inhaled slowly grounding himself before he spoke.
“How was… school today?”
His voice was flat but strained, as if this simple question cost him something.
Gyubin blinked. “It was good.”
He nodded hard, wanting it to sound perfect. Like he was perfect.
Jungkook humme... a low, rough sound and turned the steering wheel with one hand. His tattoos flexing in the movement.
Gyubin continued glancing at him, the corners of his lips slowly rising.
Jungkook Jeon... the man everyone feared, the name adults whispered was driving him home. Because he came to pick him up. Because he cared… right?
Gyubin turned his gaze to the window, but a small smile refused to leave his face.
Jungkook tried to focus on traffic, the city lights, the rain beginning to sprinkle against the windshield... anything but the echo of that word bouncing around his skull: Dada.
He didn’t correct him. He didn’t deny it.
But he couldn’t accept it either.
The sound of Gyubin’s tiny breathing filled the ca, steady and trusting. Too trusting.
Jungkook swallowed hard. That one word... that tiny, innocent word had the power to destroy him.
Because it meant belonging. It meant responsibility. It meant love.
And he has no experience in that.
But there he was, driving a child who called him Daddy as if he had every right to.
.
.
.
By the time Jungkook’s car rolled through the iron gates, the mansion felt colder than the storm gathering above.
Taehyung stood pressed to the window upstairs, arms locked around himself like he was trying to keep his heart from spilling out.
His breath left patches of fog on the glass, blurring the world outside for a moment before the rain smeared it away again.
His fingertips trembled where they touched the pane, cold seeping into his skin.
Then he saw Jungkook.
His pulse tripped violentl, once, twice enough to steal his breath.
Jungkook approached the entrance with an umbrella angled over Gyubin, his hand firm and gentle atop the boy’s head, adjusting his cap.
The sight of those two together was so painfully perfect it gnawed at Taehyung’s ribs.
It shouldn’t have hurt. It did. It hurt like swallowing broken glass.
And suddenly, every word from the night before slammed into him like a cruel reminder.
Jungkook’s voice... strained, too honest for someone who usually wielded silence like a weapon:
“I’d die without you…”
“You’re mine… and I’m yours.”
“Why are you so beautiful?”
"I have seen people shattered by loving someone and... I can understand why. Because now it's happening to me."
Taehyung’s own voice, jagged, poisoned, born of terror and exhaustion:
“I’d choose anyone over you.”
“I’d cheat every chance I get.”
“Why are you even alive?”
“Die.”
The memory stung like a fresh bruise raw, throbbing, impossible to escape. Roles had flipped in the most merciless way. The sharp cruelty that once belonged to Jungkook now sat on Taehyung’s tongue, and he despised that version of himself more than anything Jungkook ever did to him.
His hand flattened against the window, nails faintly scraping the glass as if trying to hold himself upright. Hurting Jungkook was supposed to protect his heart not tear it apart further. But every ugly word he threw last night seemed to have come straight back into him.
Morning had only made it worse.
When Taehyung woke, the first thing he felt was Jungkook’s arm fastened tightly around his waist. Not possessive, not forceful but clinging.
As if Jungkook feared he’d vanish into thin air if he let go.
The CEO’s face, usually carved from arrogance and tension, looked heartbreakingly young in sleep.
Taehyung stared… then everything inside him cracked.
His throat burned as he tried to hold the sobs in, but tears spilled anyway, silent and relentless. He reached up with shaking fingers, lightly tracing the fading red mark he’d scratched onto Jungkook’s neck. A reminder of panic, fear, desire, and loss all tangled up.
He had left wounds. Physical and emotional. And somehow the CEO still held him like something precious.
Taehyung slipped away from that warmth with the type of care you give to something cherished… or something you fear breaking further. His feet touched the cold floor, and he left before Jungkook’s eyes could open and expose how ruined he was inside.
Now, watching them from behind the safety of the glass, Taehyung felt his breath stutter again.
Taehyung’s fingers curled against his chest as if to calm the ache beneath.
Jungkook was here.
Even after everything Taehyung said to push him away.
His voice came out small, barely more than a ghost against the window.
“Why does hurting you, hurts me more…?”
Outside, thunder rumbled a slow warning. Inside, his heart answered with the same storm.
.
.
.
Seokjin noticed them before they even crossed the threshold.
Jungkook drenched from the storm, dark hair clinging to his forehead, shoulders squared like he was holding the whole night up by force.
And Gyubin... tiny fingers wrapped tight around Jungkook’s much larger hand, clinging like he was afraid to let go.
The foyer lights softened the boy’s features as he stepped in. When his eyes landed on Seokjin, he dipped into a shy bow.
Seokjin’s heart squeezed.
He crouched, brushing a gentle palm over Gyubin's cheek.
“Go on,” he murmured.
Gyubin looked up at Jungkook first, a silent question in those big eyes.
Jungkook gave a single stiff nod.
And then Gyubin ran... small footsteps echoing down the hallway toward Taehyung’s room.
The moment the kid vanished, silence crept in, slow and suffocating, louder than the rain pounding the roof.
Seokjin straightened. His gaze lingered on Jungkook.
“So,” he began, voice deceptively calm, “you really see him as your son? I assumed it was just… formality. Paperwork.”
Jungkook didn’t look away.
“I’m fulfilling my responsibility.”
Seokjin tilted his head, studying the man who once seemed so untouchable.
“Responsibility?” he echoed. His voice thinned, sharpened. “Of being a father?”
That hit. Hard.
Jungkook’s eyes flickered... not denial, but a truth he hadn’t allowed to breathe yet. His throat bobbed as he swallowed the answer he refused to give voice to.
He moved toward the tall windows watching the storm instead of the war inside him. Seokjin walked up beside him.
“I hated you for a long time,” Seokjin confessed quietly.
Jungkook’s fingers curled against the windowsill, eyes narrowed. Being hated was nothing new to him.
Seokjin continued, softer now
“I wanted everything you had.
Taehyung. A home that wasn’t built by fear. A heart that chose me.”
His voice thinned, raw emotion fraying every syllable.
“I wanted to be his husband. His security. His morning and his night. Everything he clung to.”
Jungkook's hands fisted, his eyes darkening like those words scraped somewhere tender.
“But when I look at you now,” Seokjin whispered with a humorless laugh, “I finally understand. My love… was always too bland. Too careful. Too easy.”
Jungkook exhaled.. his tense muscles fianlly losening.
“I don’t—”
“Love him?” Seokjin cut him off with a scoff. “Yeah, you’ve rehearsed that line well.”
The lie suffocated the air.
Jungkook kept staring at the storm like if he faced Seokjin directly, every denial he’d ever spoken would crumble.
“You used to fight for him,” Jungkook muttered. “You always got in the way. Why stop now?”
Seokjin’s smile died on his lips.
“I realized something,” he said slowly.
“If I kept fighting… I’d lose you.”
Jungkook took a deep breathe hearing that.
“You’re the only family I have left,” Seokjin breathed. “Taehyung… he was a dream. You’re… what’s left of reality.”
Lightning flashed. Rain hammered harder, like the sky itself was listening.
Jungkook’s voice dropped, unexpectedly soft: “You miss Eomma.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a knowing.
Seokjin’s composure broke, just a little.
He looked away, blinking rapidly.
“I’m forty-four,” he whispered, a trembling laugh escaping, “and I… I miss my mother like a child. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
Jungkook didn’t reply, just listened.
“It makes you realize,” Seokjin continued, voice quivering, “you spend your whole life building empires, but not relationships. And when you finally want someone to stay…”
He paused, breath catching.
“There’s no one left to hold onto.”
The truth tasted like blood.
“I can’t lose you, Jungkook,” he admitted, barely audible. “I don’t have enough left in me to survive that.”
Jungkook stared at Seokjin, really stared.
At the man who had stood beside him through every rise and every ruin.
The man who never once asked for anything back.
His brother not by blood, but by every scar they survived together.
The one who shielded him when the world turned cruel… and taught him how to stand when he no longer could.
A constant presence in a life built on uncertainty. A guardian who sacrificed quietly, willingly… and still continued to do so without complaint.
Jungkook saw the exhaustion in his eyes, the love tucked beneath it and it hit him.
Seokjin had always been the anchor.
And he was still anchoring him now.
Seokjin didn't say anything, he just turned to leave... shoulders lifted in a composed breath, footsteps steady down the hall. Jungkook watched him go, the silence thickening in the space he left behind.
A long exhale slipped past Jungkook’s lips. Words rose, heavy and unsteady, but he forced them out before they could dissolve.
“I could give you my life… hyung.”
The last word sounded awkward unfamiliar on his tongue. He almost never used it. It felt like a rare currency between them… too fragile.
“But not him.”
His voice dropped, low and unyielding, an unspoken truth finally spoken. No matter the loyalty. No matter the years of sacrifice Seokjin poured into him.
Taehyung was the one line Jungkook couldn’t let anyone cross.
.
.
.
Taehyung fastened the last button of Gyubin’s shirt, smoothing the small wrinkle before leaning back to admire him.
“No bandage anymore, Appa,” Gyubin declared proudly, tiny fingers brushing Taehyung’s forehead as if checking himself.
Taehyung hummed, offering a soft smile.
“How was school today?” he asked desperate to bury the chaos in his chest beneath Gyubin’s chatter.
Gyubin’s face lit up instantly.
“It was so nice! Mr. Jeon came to pick me up and—” He covered his mouth shyly, eyes sparkling. “Everyone thought he was my Daddy.”
Taehyung froze.
Just for a second… just long enough for his heart to crack. He swallowed everything that tried to rise up pain, hope, fear and instead handed Gyubin his medicine.
Gyubin gulped it down without complaint.
A sudden streak of fur jumped onto the bed... Daisy. Gyubin squealed and scooped her into his arms, though the cat wriggled as if deeply offended by affection.
Thunder grumbled outside, and rain blurred the garden beyond the window the peonies glistening like gemstones.
Gyubin’s mouth fell open in awe.
“Appa…” he breathed reaching for Taehyung’s hand, fingers small and warm.
He tugged him gently toward the balcony door, Daisy trapped against his chest like a hostage.
“Appa, please? Can I go play in the rain? Just for fifteen minutes?”
The plea was innocent… but those wide, pleading eyes always broke every defense Taehyung tried to build.
“Binnie, you just took your medicine… it’s not good—”
“Please,” he whispered again.
Taehyung sighed already defeate, a soft smile tugging at his lips as he nodded.
Gyubin beamed. “Daisy, let’s go!”
The cat had other plans, she scratched and escaped straight into Taehyung’s arms, hiding behind him like a traitor. He laughed, kneeling to stroke her damp fur.
“She’s gotten so naughty lately,” Taehyung said, amused.
“Cut down her food, Appa,” Gyubin suggested with utmost seriousness.
Daisy glared at him like she understood every word.
Gyubin simply shrugged, then dashed barefoot into the rain, his giggles echoing.
Taehyung stood under the safety of the roof, Daisy curled in his hold
watching his son dance through the storm, bright and alive.
And for a moment, despite the ache inside him... there was nothing more beautiful.
☆☆☆☆
From the dim corridor, Jungkook stood half-hidden by the doorframe... tall, unmoving, as though the house itself was holding him in place. One hand braced against the cool wall, the other buried tight in his pocket, knuckles whitening with restraint.
He hadn’t planned to look for them.
He told himself he was just passing by.
But the moment he heard laughter light, echoing, careless, his steps halted like they had a will of their own.
Gyubin’s laughter.
Little splashes followed, water hitting stone as tiny feet jumped into puddles with innocent delight. Sounds he was hearing now for the first time from someone who called him Dad.
His gaze found the boy outside... cheeks flushed with joy. He twirled wildly under the silver rain, mouth open in a breathless smile, radiating a kind of happiness Jungkook didn’t know how to hold.
A strange warmth tugged beneath his ribs.
Gyubin disappeared from his line of sight for a moment and Jungkook’s eyes narrowed in confusion. But then the boy returned into view, small fingers wrapped around a wrist Jungkook recognized instantly.
Soft skin. Honey toned skin. Delicate like porcelain.
Then Taehyung stepped into the rain.
Jungkook went utterly still.
Taehyung tried resisting at first shaking his head, tugging back but Gyubin’s insistence and affection dissolved his reluctance. A laugh slipped from Taehyung’s lips, gentler and freer than anything Jungkook had ever heard and it struck him right in the center of his chest.
He didn’t realize how starved he’d been for that sound until now.
The rain caught Taehyung completely soaking through his white shirt in seconds. The fabric clung to him like a second skin, outlining the soft dip of his waist, the shape of his shoulders, the warmth of flesh peeking beneath translucent cotton.
Jungkook swallowed hard seeing that... a tremor working down his throat, he couldn’t look away.
Taehyung tipped his head back, lashes lowered as he breathed into the storm, arms lifting slightly as if welcoming the sky’s touch. Water traced down his neck, gliding past his collarbones, disappearing into places Jungkook’s hands once held too tightly.
For a second, impossibly... Taehyung looked free.
One whole year of marriage...
Taehyung never laughed like that.
Not once. Not with him.
Gyubin tugged Taehyung into a clumsy spin, their fingers locked, shoes splashing, rain scattering all around them like diamonds hitting stone. Their laughter echoed across the courtyard bright enough to stain the clouds.
They didn’t notice the man drenched in silence.
They didn’t see the ache tightening his grip against the wall or the storm behind his eyes that made the rain look gentle.
Jungkook was used to pain... physical, emotional, all of it.
But this…
Watching Taehyung smile where Jungkook had only ever seen tears…
It burned. So he stood there, the rain outside pouring like a confession,
while inside, Jeon Jungkook‐-so feared, so cold... quietly unraveled.
Because Taehyung was laughing in the rain and Jungkook was falling apart in the shadows.
“Binnie, enough now,” Taehyung called gently, brushing his cheeks.
“Go back inside, okay?”
Gyubin pouted but nodded like a good boy. He scooped Daisy into his arms the cat meowing in loud protest and hurried toward the door, splashing water everywhere.
Taehyung laughed softly at the sight… until they disappeared.
Silence wrapped around him.
Just rain and the steady thrum of his heartbeat.
He looked down, suddenly aware that one foot was bare.
“Huh? Where did that go?” he murmured, turning in a slow circle.
The missing slipper wasn’t by the peonies or the garden stones.
Rain continued drenching him as he bent to look again, searching behind flowers, fingers brushing wet leaves. Finally, he spotted it tucked slightly under the bush, half-buried in mud.
“oh... there you are,” he sighed, reaching down.
Taehyung stood back up slipper in hand and turned.
His breath vanished.
Jungkook.
The CEO stood beneath the veranda roof, the storm painting his figure in sharp shadows. His hands were deep in his pockets, broad shoulders rising and falling with slow breaths. Strands of dark hair stuck to his forehead, a faint sheen of rain clinging to his skin.
But it was his eyes…
Not cold. Not angry.
Something far more dangerous.
They were fixed solely on Taehyung intense, burning, devouring every inch of him.
Taehyung’s heart lurched violently against his ribs.
Why is he here?
Why is he looking at me like that?
The slipper slipped from his fingers hitting the wet ground with a soft splash but Taehyung didn’t even flinch. He couldn’t. He was rooted, air locked somewhere in his chest as Jungkook’s stare pinned him in place.
The rain poured harder.
Lightning flickered pale light across the yard.
Taehyung swallowed, throat dry despite the storm as his eyes fluttered down then back up.
Jungkook didn’t move. Just watched him
like the rain had revealed too much…
like Taehyung was something he couldn’t turn away from…
like one more step would make them collide again.
Taehyung’s heart trembled painfully.
Because last night’s kiss…
last night’s words…
last night’s confessions…
were suddenly, terrifyingly, undeniable.
Taehyung’s fingers curled into the fabric of his soaked shirt as he stumbled a step back.
Jungkook finally stepped off the shelter careless letting the rain swallow him whole. His grey shirt darkened instantly, clinging to his sculpted frame.
Taehyung’s breath faltered.
He kept backing away on instinct, but Jungkook kept coming slowly, eyes locked on him like he was the only thing worth seeing.
And then
Taehyung’s back hit the tree with a soft thud.
A gasp slipped out of him, eyes darting behind for escape, only to return to Jungkook… now standing dangerously close.
“I–I should…” Taehyung tried to move sideways, tried to be rational
but Jungkook’s hand shot out, fingers wrapping his wrist, pinning him in place.
The CEO stepped closer, chest nearly brushing Taehyung’s.
His other hand slid to Taehyung’s waist mapping every curve like it belonged to him.
Raindrops gathered at the strands of Jungkook’s wet hair, falling across his sharp eyes and then to his lips
and Taehyung followed every drop with a thundering heartbeat.
“It’s not good to be soaked like this,” Jungkook murmured, voice dropping low... intimately low.
Taehyung could only hum.
Speaking felt dangerous.
Jungkook’s thumb traced a slow path at his waist, a reminder, a claim.
“Since you refused to wear the ring…” Jungkook said, lips tilting into a smirk,
“and the deal was about physical touch…”
His hand squeezed lightly... just enough to make Taehyung choke on air.
“I have every right to touch you whenever I want.” His voice dipped into something darker. “And you can’t deny me. Not unless you take back the ring.”
Taehyung’s mouth parted in shock.
How did Jungkook always twist the rules? How did he always make Taehyung feel like he was the one asking for more, begging for more?
Rain dripped down Jungkook’s jaw as he leaned in, close enough that Taehyung felt the warm breath ghosting over his trembling lips…
Jungkook didn’t say a word.
He just stared, eyes fixed on Taehyung as he leaned in… closer… dangerously close.
Taehyung’s hands had somehow found Jungkook’s biceps, fingers clutching tight. He could feel the solid muscle beneath his palms--- strength that could either protect him or break him.
His heart hammered so loud he swore Jungkook could hear it.
Jungkook swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing like he was fighting the urge to ruin him right there, against that tree, under the rain.
His grip on Taehyung’s waist tightened
too tight, fingers digging into soft skin.
“Ah—” Taehyung winced, eyes stinging with sudden tears he couldn’t hide.
The reaction made Jungkook still.
His fingers loosened immediately.
“…Does it hurt?”
Jungkook’s voice wasn’t mocking.
It wasn’t teasing. It sounded almost afraid of the answer.
Taehyung gulped and nodded, barely.
Rain poured harder. Their breaths mixed. Nothing existed outside this moment.
Jungkook closed his eyes for a beat…
then leaned forward, lips brushing just beneath Taehyung’s ear, a shiver of heat on cold skin.
“But you don’t understand…”
His whisper was low, broken, and terrifyingly honest.
“I want to hurt you.”
The words burned against Taehyung’s skin like fire in the rain.
Taehyung’s knees nearly gave out.
Because the worst part?
A tiny, helpless part of him
wanted Jungkook to ruin him too.
Taehyung exhaled, breath shaky, fatigue coating every syllable.
“What do you gain from this…?”
His voice wasn’t angry, just worn out.
Like he had no fight left to waste on Jungkook.
The tear finally escaped his lash
and Jungkook caught it with his lips before it could fall further.
His answer came quie, but disturbingly honest: “Everything... that makes me want to keep going.”
Taehyung pushed against his chest desperate but Jungkook’s hands only clamped tighter on his waist, pulling him back where he didn’t want to be.
Taehyung whispered, breath trembling,
“you-you're a controlling freak...”
Jungkook’s gaze darkened not with guilt but with something dangerously close to agreement.
His thumb brushed Taehyung’s jaw, slow and possessive. “Control is the only thing you’ve ever let me have.”
Taehyung’s breath hitched, confusion swirling. “What… what do you mean?” he whispered.
Jungkook didn’t give the satisfaction of an answer. Instead, his fingers slid up, gripping Taehyung’s jaw, guiding his face up as if he owned every angle of it.
He leaned in... their lips almost touching when...
“Appa?”
Taehyung froze.
Gyubin’s little voice echoed across the rain-slick yard. Daisy dangled in his arms, unimpressed.
Taehyung’s heart lurched, he opened his mouth but Jungkook’s palm clamped over it, swift and silent.
He dragged Taehyung back behind the tree, pinning him more harshly now one arm locked behind Taehyung’s back, the other sealing his lips. Taehyung's stomach pressed against the tree as Jungkook stood behind him.
Gyubin stood only a few steps away, turning in small circles, searching.
“Where did Appa go, Daisy?” he asked softly, like the cat had secret answers.
Daisy... traitor that she was clearly saw them, ears twitching in their direction.
Taehyung trembled, wide-eyed.. staring at his son, praying he wouldn't wander farther into the rain.
Jungkook shifted closer, too close... his chest flush against Taehyung’s back…
And that’s when Taehyung felt it.. the unsteady thump beneath Jungkook’s ribs.
Jungkook’s heartbeat.
It was fast. Almost frantic.
And pressed right against him.
The CEO bent slightly, lowering his mouth near Taehyung’s ear, breath warm despite the cold rain.
“Stay still,” he whispered, tone sharp… yet trembling in a way Taehyung had never heard before.
"Mhmm.." Taehyung tried to twist away, tried to pull his hands free but Jungkook only tightened his grip. The tree bark dug into Taehyung’s stomach, grounding him in panic, in helplessness.
Gyubin took a few more steps, squinting through the rain.
“Appaaa…” His voice was soft, searching... it broke Taehyung instantly.
Taehyung’s body lurched forward, instinct overriding everything else but Jungkook felt it. He felt that desperation before Taehyung even moved.
His grip turned iron.
Jungkook bent closer, breath brushing Taehyung’s ear, voice low and possessive:
“shh.. I need you more than him right now.”
Those words sliced through Taehyung’s chest, horror blooming cold.
Gyubin huffed, turning away.
“I think Appa’s in the kitchen…”
His small voice faded as he trudged back inside... Daisy glancing back at them one last time before disappearing in the boy’s arms.
Only when the door shut did Jungkook finally loosen his hand from Taehyung’s mouth.
Taehyung spun around, shoving him back, eyes blazing and wet.
The moment the door clicked shut, Jungkook finally let go… and Taehyung spun around instantly. Rain streamed from his lashes, eyes burning with a fury that wavered dangerously into fear.
“How—how dare you?”
The accusation trembled out, thin and wounded.
Jungkook didn’t flinch. He exhaled slowly... running a hand through his wet hair, as though nothing about this situation warranted regret.
Then his gaze dropped not to Taehyung’s eyes, not to his trembling hands but to the line of his waist. The drenched fabric clung to his skin, revealing every shape Jungkook remembered too vividly.
He stepped closer.
Taehyung’s breath stuttered, betraying him before he could force stillness into his body.
And then.. Jungkook sank to his knees.
Right there in the mud and slick grass, rain cascading down his hair and jaw. Taehyung froze, heart locking in his throat, unable to process the shift in power-- from forced restraint to worship.
Jungkook looked up... eyes dark, unwavering... then reached for the hem of Taehyung’s soaked shirt. His fingers, chilled but sure, brushed Taehyung’s skin as he pushed the fabric up.
The tattoo emerged beneath the stormlight.
His name.
A mark of their cruel history, of obsession, of punishment, permanently etched into Taehyung’s flesh. Rainwater traced each line of the ink, like the sky itself was remembering the moment it was carved there.
Jungkook’s breath caught, but there was no guilt in the stutter of his inhale.
Only hunger. Recognition. A cruel, familiar pride.
He lowered his head and pressed his lips to the skin above the ink.
Taehyung’s body reacted before his mind could... a sharp breath, fingers curling helplessly against the tree behind him as sensation jolted through him. Too intimate. Too disarming. Too much.
Jungkook’s voice ghosted against his skin, low and rough, every word a vow wrapped in a threat. “You branded yourself with me…”
Another kiss, slower.. lower sealing ownership. “…and you think I’ll ever let you forget that?”
A tear burned hot, lost instantly to the rain tracking down Taehyung’s cheeks. He squeezed his eyes shut, jaw trembling, the battle inside him turning viscous and cruel.
“Stop…”
Taehyung’s breath trembled as Jungkook’s lips lingered against the damp skin of his tummy, too gentle for someone this cruel, too reverent for someone who had once ruined him.
The rain fell harder, turning the world around them into a blur of sound and sensation but Jungkook… Jungkook remained painfully clear.
His palms spread against Taehyung’s hips, thumbs tracing slow circles over bones that ached beneath the touch. It felt like a silent reminder:
“Why… why do you keep doing this to me?”
His chest heaved, soaked shirt plastered against his heart, the same heart Jungkook had spent months shredding apart.
Jungkook lifted his head, rain streaking down his face as if the sky itself was weeping for him but his eyes held no softness. Only a dangerous calm.
“Because every time you pretend you don’t want me,” he whispered, voice low enough to drown in, “you shake like you do.”
Taehyung’s lips parted but no denial came, only a wet gasp.
Jungkook rose slowly to his feet, closing the inches between them with the confidence of someone who had never been denied anything in his life. He hovered close without touching, letting heat and storm do the damage instead.
His fingers slid to the back of Taehyung’s neck possessive, steady coaxing his gaze upward.
Taehyung finally opened his eyes, and the sight waiting for him was terrifying:
Jungkook wasn’t angry.
He was determined.
“I don’t care how much you hate me,” Jungkook whispered, foreheads almost touching. “I won’t let go. Not now. Not ever. So either you get used to me or... used to this.”
Taehyung felt his body fold inward fear, resentment, longing, each emotion tripping over the other until he couldn’t tell them apart.
And Jungkook saw it... saw the confusion, the conflict, the crack in the walls Taehyung had built.
Taehyung’s spine finally jerked back into motion, a desperate surge of clarity slicing through the haze Jungkook always wrapped him in. He wrenched his chin away from Jungkook’s grasp, breath ragged, and staggered back a step.
“You’re insane,” he hissed though the tremor beneath the words betrayed the war still raging inside him.
Jungkook didn’t reply. If anything, the corner of his mouth twitched in something far too close to satisfaction as if Taehyung’s resistance was exactly the proof he needed.
Taehyung shook his head, rain-soaked curls sticking to his cheeks, fury sparking through his veins in place of fear.
“I will never accept you. Never accept this.” Each syllable was a blade he tried to drive between them. His chest rose sharply like saying it had cost oxygen.
For a long heartbeat, Jungkook just stared at him. No anger. No surprise. Just that quiet, unmovable conviction the kind that terrifies more than rage ever could.
“It doesn’t matter.” he replied. Voice steady.
Taehyung’s pulse lurched because he knew Jungkook wasn’t lying. That was the worst part.
The rain intensified, pouring down like a storm trying to drown the moment before it could root deeper than it already had. Taehyung swallowed hard, turning away, needing to breathe air untouched by Jungkook’s presence.
His steps squelched through the wet grass as he pushed himself toward the house, shoulders rigid, refusing to look back. The storm followed him inside dripping from his hair, clinging to his clothes but nothing felt as suffocating as the weight of Jungkook’s gaze burning into his spine.
Jungkook remained rooted under the downpour, suit plastered to his frame, chest rising slowly with the patience of a man convinced he would win eventually.
The door shut.
Taehyung disappeared.
But Jungkook didn’t leave.
He just stood there, alone in the rain looking at the door like it was only a matter of time before it opened again.
And Taehyung’s heart even behind walls and locked rooms... wouldn’t stop pounding for him.
Jungkook tilted his head back, letting the rain strike his face like punishment he refused to dodge. His hands curled into fists at his sides, tension carved into his knuckles.
“What have I become…”
The words escaped him like a confession torn from somewhere ugly and buried.
Water streamed down his jaw, but none of it washed away the truth forming sharp and undeniable inside his chest:
“I’m turning into everything I once despised.”
The storm around him felt quieter than the one inside.
☆☆☆☆
Inside the house, Taehyung’s knees pressed tight to his chest as he slid down against the room's wall, soaked clothes clinging to him, breath stumbling through parted lips. The warmth of the mansion didn’t reach him.
His fingers shook against the fabric of his sleeves, fists scrunched against his ribs as if he needed to hold himself together before he fell apart.
“What does he even want from me…” he whispered to no one. His voice cracked mid-sentence... too raw, too fragile to control. “...Love?”
A broken laugh slipped out, hollow, humorless.
“I don’t have any to give.”
His eyelids squeezed shut, throat tightening. “Not for him.”
He tried to steady his breathing, but every inhale dragged Jungkook’s touch back onto his skin, his breath against his ear, his lips against the tattooed reminder of their history.
Taehyung wiped at his cheeks though the tears were impossible to separate from the rain already drying against his skin.
He didn’t know if he was trembling from anger… or from the fear that a part of him still reacted to Jungkook at all.
And outside in the storm he refused to walk away from Jungkook stood unmoving, eyes locked on the door as if his sheer will could pull Taehyung back to him.
Both broken. Both stubborn.
Both still wanting something they refused to name.