Work Text:
He’s needed something to cuddle for as long as he can remember—pillows, pets, people; When he’d gotten Yeontan, the tiny ball of fluff had been much too small for such things. Taehyung hadn’t even let the pup sleep in the bed, too afraid he’d roll over and smush him by accident. But Yeontan is bigger now and a bit more well behaved—though not by much, to be quite honest.
Yeontan still manages to sprint around the home shared by the members, running at quick speeds, his tiny nails clicking lightly on the hardwood floors, signalling he needs a clip soon. He gets the zoomies, entertaining the other members as his body zips from one room to the next in a blur of black and brown floof.
Taehyung loves that the members love and dote on the animal as if he were their own. He feels a sense of owner’s pride watching how they coo and love on him. Admittedly, he’s even more proud when Yeontan makes it clear he’s still the favorite—obviously. But there’s one member that the small dog has taken a specific liking to; one member who pretends to be exasperated every time the animal wanders into his room, or scratches at his door, whining for attention and affection.
Taehyung can’t help but snicker at the look Yoongi gives Yeontan any time he eventually opens his door for the pup, face placid but lips itching to curve in a whipped smile. ‘I don’t like dogs’ he’d once said in an interview. My ass, Taehyung thinks as he watches the older man bend down to pick the animal up and carry inside before closing the door.
There are times, however, that Taehyung really doesn’t let Tan wander around. Such as when he knows the other members can’t be distracted, or need rest after gruesome practices and rehearsals. Those are the days he feels a bit guilty as a pet owner, keeping the small dog in the gated off part of the room. In these days, despite his own exhaustion, Taehyung will do what he can to keep his little pup happy, playing with him, holding him, even some days taking him along to the studio. But every night, he’ll hold him close, cuddle him to his chest and breathe in the scent of his clean fur and scratch at his ears, lulling the spoiled pup into a sleep before he follows after.
It’s habit by now that Yeontan wakes him up in the morning at the ass crack of dawn, growling and yipping playfully until he stirs into consciousness to be taken outside for potty. That’s why, when Taehyung wakes up this particular morning, he’s confused at first by the light drifting in through his blinds, bright and unforgiving. It’s silent, save for the Ludovico Einaudi playlist playing in a low volume through his speaker. He squints, adjusting to the morning light before stretching his arm out and frowning at the lack of small body next to him.
He sits up, messy hair flopping over his eyes before he’s pushing chestnut strands back. He swipes his hands across the sheets, searching for something before he pulls out his discarded TATA sleep mask and quickly tugs it on, using it as a makeshift headband. Looking around the room, he frowns at the lack of pet and groans when he sees his bedroom door cracked open.
Shit, he thinks, already dreading the task of having to clean up an accident somewhere in the dorm.
When he pads quietly into the hallway, a sigh rushes out of him when noticing the little gift Yeontan left for him. He cleans it quickly, grumbling under his breath all the while before cursing quietly to himself when seeing Yoongi’s door ajar.
He disposes of Yeontan’s morning gift, and washes his hands before creeping quietly into his hyung’s room. “Tan-ah,” he whispers, hoping he’s loud enough that Yeontan will hear him, but quiet enough that he won’t wake the elder. “Tan-ah.” he repeats, eyes alert for a dark ball of fur. He steps over the piles of clothes and various stacks of books and miscellaneous items Yoongi has yet to clean and put away and is automatically grateful for the burst of light that peeks through dark curtains.
There you are, he thinks, seeing Yeontan staring out the window—his poofy tail wagging slowly and so cutely to something he sees out past their building. Quickly reaching for the phone in his breast pocket, Taehyung snaps a quick picture, thinking it will be one ARMY can coo over with him later. He nearly drops his phone when he hears a groan coming from underneath a messy pile of black blankets and grey pillows. He rushes to grab Yeontan and split before Yoongi can wake up entirely and spot him, but when the little dog sees Taehyung rush toward him, he wags his tail in playful excitement and yips loudly before sprinting to the elder’s bed and jumping up on it.
A mumbled ‘oof!’ pricks at Taehyung’s ears guiltily, knowing the older must be incredibly exhausted from all their comeback rehearsals and preparations. He knows he sure is. Taehyung feels dead on his feet, body and muscles aching, and the promise of a few more hours of sleep calling him like a siren’s song.
But he needs Yeontan to cuddle with.
He leans over the bed as carefully as he can before Yeontan is barking again, thinking it’s playtime and effectively causing Yoongi’s head to peek out from the comforter. His face is scrunched cutely in drowsy confusion, eyes and lips puffy, and red indentation marks from his pillow lining his left cheek. His ebony hair is still partly crimped from the day before and pointing wildly in all directions.
Taehyung holds back a giggle and lifts his phone up to snap a picture. He’s already this deep in, he’ll go down with something cute to remember it by.
“Wh..a-?”
“Sorry to wake you, hyung.” Taehyung apologizes sincerely, keeping his voice lowered just above a whisper as he moves to grab his dog. Yeontan, however, has different plans as he burrows himself under the covers, his tail peeking out and brushing against Yoongi’s nose with every wag. “I was just trying to get Tan-ah back. I didn’t know you’d left your door open last night. I’m sorry.”
Yoongi rubs a hand over his face, eyes still blinking into consciousness. “Why ‘ren’t you ‘sleep?” he mumbles tiredly, ignoring the apology altogether before glaring at the light still peeking through the curtains. His other hand moves beneath the blanket where Yeontan’s lump is, and Taehyung melts at the knowledge that the elder is loving on his precious fur baby with gentle pets.
“I can’t sleep without cuddling something, you know this.” Taehyung explains in a near whine, lifting the blankets ever so slowly to grab his dog. “I’ll leave you alone after I grab Tan.”
Yoongi flops his head back down to the pillow and brushes Taehyung’s outstretched hand away from Yeontan, gesturing to the curtains. “Just close those and get in.”
It’s not like Taehyung’s never slept in the same bed as Yoongi before, but he’s always been the one to ask or initiate it—not the other way around. He bites his tongue from asking ‘are you sure?’ and hurriedly obeys the elder’s command before slipping under the covers. A hearty sigh rushes out of him in contentment as the warmth of the sheets and cushion of Yoongi’s mattress envelope him like a warm hug. He scoots closer to the two warm bodies and nearly jolts out of his skin when Yeontan walks across his stomach to curl at his side near the edge of the bed.
Yoongi’s arm slings itself around his waist and Taehyung smiles to himself, cheeks warming in elated satisfaction as he curls his body inward and scoops the other closer to him, wide hands spreading across his back and rubbing gentles circles there along Yoongi’s spine. When Yoongi sighs prettily to the ministrations, Taehyung’s heart stutters and he is reminded how completely smitten he is with his hyung. He’s completely smitten with the way the elder becomes a clingy, adorable cuddler in the midst of drowsiness.
His smile widens when noticing the elder is not completely unaffected to the position they’re in either—bodies pressed snuggly together and Taehyung’s chin resting just above the other’s crown, dark curls tickling his skin. Yoongi’s ears are bright red, and he must notice Taehyung’s gaze because he’s groaning lightly and burying his head further in the younger’s chest.
“G’to sleep.” he commands.
Body melded to the comfort of his hyung and the perfectly soft mattress beneath him, Taehyung can do nothing but comply with a dopey smile.
… …
The following night, Taehyung finds himself tossing and turning in his cold sheets, Yeontan staring judgmentally at him every time he’s moved around or awakened. Huffing, annoyed with himself, Taehyung thinks of Yoongi’s bed—of Yoongi’s body and how nice it would feel against him right now, of how perfect his hyung fits in his embrace. They’d done another gruelling practice today for their new album, spending hours perfecting their choreos for comeback, and even after a shower and half-assed massage from Jimin, his muscles still cry out for the sweet comfort of Yoongi’s mattress—and admittedly, his arms.
But he hadn’t been sure how to broach the subject after that morning, when Seokjin came to wake the second eldest up and spotted the younger in bed with him. He just remembers how hot his face felt at the oldest hyung’s exaggerated teasing, feeling Yoongi tense in his arms before he ordered the other man out of his room.
Yoongi, too, had looked as flustered as Taehyung felt.
Taehyung is so used to cuddling the others in sleep, but with Yoongi, it’s different. It’s different, because he hasn’t harbored six years worth of a crush on any of the other members. But with Yoongi—well…
Though he’s matured over the years, Taehyung’s admiration for the rapper has not dwindled in the slightest. Every time he’s thought he’d been on the brink of getting over his hopeless crush, there Min Yoongi went with his soft words of encouragement, or his small gestures of kindness, or his hesitant explanations to his newest writings to reel Taehyung right back in.
There Min Yoongi had went telling Taehyung that he loved him through text, and he’d spent an entire night questioning whether it had been sent platonically, familially, or…something else. He’d read the text Jeongguk had received and bit his lip in confusion to the short but sweet message there. It had been a fraction of the length his own message had been—and far less blanketed in sad tones. Yoongi had opened up to him in his message, line after line showing vulnerability that the other’s sometimes didn’t see. He’d told him how proud he was of him, of how much he’d improved and how he’s proud to be his hyung. So what did it mean? Was Taehyung reading too much into it?
He’s unsure.
But seeing Yoongi’s blush this morning while continuing to stay in his arms, cuddling a few minutes more while awake, hands rubbing over each other’s bodies in gentle caresses, even after Seokjin left—well, that had sparked the dimmed embers of hope in Taehyung’s heart for more.
They hadn’t spoken at all today, and though he’d showered with Hoseok and Yoongi after coming home, and ate dinner with all the rest of the members, there’d been little to no conversation due to their fatigue and attention to other things like their phones and television.
Yoongi, Yoongi, Yoongi
Taehyung tosses again in his bed, throwing a pillow over his face, hugging it close as he groans into the fabric. “Why is this so complicated, Tan?” he mumbles through the pillow, feeling Yeontan shift near his waist. Hours after he’s laid restlessly in bed, thinking about Yoongi and scrolling through social media on his phone, Taehyung sits up and ruffles his hair, frowning slightly into the dark.
Is it so farfetched to think Yoongi would enjoy cuddling again for a second night? He hadn’t been kicked out last time, and there had certainly been no evident complaints from either party this morning. Prone to act before he can second guess himself, Taehyung scoops Yeontan in his arms and swipes a clean pee-pad off the floor before walking down the hall to the elder’s room.
There’s no light on, but Taehyung can hear low sounds of music coming from within. He knocks once, twice, three times, but softly. The music pauses and there’s a shuffle before the door’s being cracked open—one of Yoongi’s eye peeping through the crack before the brow above it furrows and the door is swinging open.
“Taehyung-ah,” Yoongi frowns in concern, eyes flickering to Yeontan before the muscles in his face ease and he slopes against the door. “Everything okay?”
Taehyung bites his lip, shuffling from one foot to the other when he asks before he can psych himself out; “Can I sleep with you tonight?”
Wordlessly, Yoongi steps back and allows him inside. The warm blankets greet Taehyung like an old friend as he cocoons himself in them, and he beams his boxy smile when Yoongi rolls his eyes in affection before pushing him slightly to squeeze himself under the covers as well.
“You could have gone to anyone else in the house, Taehyung.” the elder whispers after a few minutes of silence when the lights are off and the music from Yoongi’s speakers are lowered to nearly muted volumes.
“I could have.” He agrees, feeling his heart quicken as his palm rests flat against Yoongi’s stomach, subconsciously drawing him closer until they’re flush against one another, chest to back.
Yoongi shifts, and the sound of his mouth opening few times before he speaks makes Taehyung’s stomach swoop.
“You’re just so cute and cuddly, hyung.” Taehyung breathes, fighting off his nerves as he runs his palm in slow circles, disarming the elder with his movements. “Plus, you’re....I could’ve gone to anyone, but—”
Yoongi’s breath holds. “But what?”
Even in the dark, Taehyung can make out the pretty blush in his mind’s eye. He can see it with perfect clarity, and his grip over his hyung’s body tightens. “But they’re not you.”
He’s met with silence before Yoongi slaps the arm around his waist before rubbing the skin there tenderly. “Yah, don’t be a cheesy bastard, Kim Taehyung.”
They laugh quietly together before Yeontan hops on Taehyung’s side and tries to burrow himself between their bodies. “You love me anyway,” he says without thinking before the words settle like a stone in his gut.
“Hn,” Yoongi hums, adjusting his head on the pillow while running his hand up and down the arm around his waist. “I suppose I do.”
It’s quiet for a few minutes and Taehyung is sure the elder must feel the rapid beating of his heart against his back—though he politely doesn’t mention it. “You—,” he swallows thickly, feeling just the smallest of movements from the elder to know he’s still awake. “You know I love you too, right hyung?”
Yoongi doesn’t answer right away, but his hand slides down from his arm and threads itself into Taehyung’s before he speaks. “I’ve known for a long time, Tae-ah.”
Taehyung’s grip tightens as his mind races. Does he mean he knows knows? He licks his lips, eyes shifting in the dark, and he knows the elder can feel his heartbeat.
“Oh.” He says simply, a bit croaked.
Yoongi turns his head, and the next thing Taehyung feels are soft lips pressing against the corner of his mouth—effectively short circuiting his brain and the panic there. When the elder pulls away, Taehyung exhales roughly, eyes wide.
“W-Wha—“
“Tomorrow, we’ll talk.” Yoongi says with lidded eyes, his entire body just moments away from passing out. “Now, sleep.”
Taehyung nods, at a loss for words, before the other turns back around and promptly succumbs to sleep. Taehyung, however, lies there in disbelieving shock— his heart somersaulting in his chest and his lips tingling with the ghost of Yoongi’s touch. He fights off a giggle and buries his face in the elder’s hair, inhaling his scent deeply to calm his racing nerves.
Yeontan waddles up toward his face and gives him kisses, perhaps sensing his wired emotions. Taehyung feels a rush of warmth through his body when the small dog curls himself snuggly against the back of his neck, effectively sandwiching him between his hyung and the pooch.
Good dog, he thinks to himself, smiling fondly to the last day’s events. Very good dog.