[ it's a long one this time, an apology for the late update <3 ]

[ CHAPTER 21 ]
moonlight whispers

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

SOMEHOW the two males come to a collective decision to share the bed after blatant refusal to act as the sacrificial goat and spend the night kissing the carpet. of course, a good half an hour had been dedicated to barricading their respective sides of the bed - after a hot argument about who got the left -, a mountain of pillows now stacked across the middle of the bed.

"ugh!" taehyung groans, slamming a fist to the door of the toilet, "hurry up, what do you do in there for God's sake!"

"for that i'm staying in longer!" jeongguk bellows back, snickering at the enraged sigh he hears from the other side, "but feel free to join!"

"just hurry up perv."

a sudden knock interrupts their banter before a giggling jimin enters the room, cheeks flushed and eyes bright as he straightens himself.

"what's got you so peppy?" taehyung says slowly, suspiciously eyeing his smitten friend, catching sight of a smirking yoongi behind him, "oh, forget i asked."

smiling sweetly, jimin prances into the room as he eyes their shared room, "joon's calling everyone back down to the pool because mister worldwide's whining for a night swim."

"i just showered." yoongi scoffs, shaking his head as he plants himself on the bed, "he can go drown for all i care."

the statement sparks a bulb in taehyung's mind, lips quirking in a cheshire smirk as he springs to his feet, hands tugging his sodden swimwear from the washing line jeongguk had discovered tucked in a cupboard.

"jin's right, it'd be cool!" taehyung grins, "the lights and all, c'mon yoongles, don't be a party pooper."

"don't care." he shrugs, "i'm not taking another bath."

"but you'll come down with us, right?" jimin pouts.

smiling softly, he nods, ruffling the boy's hair, "of course baby."

grimacing, taehyung parts his lips to spit about the couple's repulsive behaviour when the door to the bathroom slides upon and a half-nude jeongguk emerges from a room of steam, hair slicked to his forehead.

"dang." jimin hums approvingly as he allows his gaze to sweep the younger's well-worked torso, "nice six-pack."

"go put on a shirt jeon." yoongi snarls, clamping a hand across his boyfriend's eyes.

"actually," taehyung pipes up, smirking, "don't. we're going back down to the pool."

"huh?"

"namjin's orders."

"but i just showered!" he splutters earning an approving stare from the eldest.

"that's what i said!"

"just don't swim," taehyung smirks, containing his laughter, "watch from the sidelines."

"that's boring!"

tilting his head slightly, he hums, biting back a snort, "you could always just take another shower."

"you knew didn't you?" jeongguk snarls, pointing an accusing finger in the man's direction, "you could've told me!"

grinning lazily, he shrugs, "but what's the fun in that?"

lips quirking in an amused smile, jimin curls his finger's around his friend's wrist, tugging gently, "just get dressed guk, it won't kill you to take another shower. and you tae, be nice."

"what?" taehyung exclaims, smiling innocently, "i am!"

sneering mockingly, the rose-haired man clasps his wrists firmly, tugging him to the entrance of their room, "you're changing in my room before you two kill each other."

"thank God." jeongguk mutters, shoulder visibly dropping as he shuffles towards his suitcase.

scowling, he whips around, torso twisted in an attempt to glare heavily at the man while being forced to stride the other direction, "i heard that!"

"that's the point."

─── ·𖥸· ───

by the time the visibly aggravated, the raven-haired man makes his way to the pool, the rest of the group excluding yoongi who's stretched across a pastel blue sun lounge, is already deep into a game of drown-hoseok-with-chlorine-and-run-away.

"jeon!" hoseok manages to gurgle through a mouthful of water, "be on my team!"

"team?" he grimaces, eyes sweeping across the pitiful game before him, "no way that would be suicide."

"ha!" taehyung grins gleefully, involuntarily waving the man forward, "join the winning team gukkie!"

cheeks flushing crimson at the snickers the group elicits at his poorly concealed expression of adoration at the title, jeongguk bites down a timid smile, smirking as he raises an eyebrow.

"should i?" he taunts.

taehyung remains unfazed, poking his tongue out daringly, "you're choice, you don't make a difference to the game anyway."

jin snorts, snickering as he turns his head and clamps a hand across his mouth. at this, jeongguk scowls, expression darkening as his lips twist.

"kay then." jeongguk shrugs, rolling a shoulder as he inches closer to the rim of the pool.

ignoring the perplexed expressions of his friends, he throws a final glance at a frowning taehyung, winking flirtatiously as he presses two fingers to his lips and flicks them in his direction, "you asked for this silver."

taehyung isn't given long to mull over the double-meaning behind the man's words, his eyes burning with the agonising splash of chlorine as a tanned figure blunders toward him, raven-haired slick at his temple as he grins wickedly.

"go away!" he shrieks once jeongguk stands mere metres from him, eyes glinting as he twists around and lumbers in the other direction, "go piss off jimin!"

"nah!" he hears jeongguk briefly call over the desperate splashes of his escape and howls of his friend's, "i don't do shorties!"

"excuse me?!"

taehyung giggles, whipping his head back to survey the distance between him and his substitute for a great white to he only met with a smirking jeongguk,
rough hands snaking around his waist as he's pulled flush against the man's bare chest.

he squeals, kicking his legs as he's lifted from the water, lips stretched out in a great grin, "lemme goo!"

"no can do tiger." jeongguk teases, swinging the boy around as he shrieks, "kinda like you so close."

cheeks dusting a light hue of rose, he bites back a smile, pressing his fists against the man's shoulders and squirms. at this jeongguk smirks, quick to pick up on the little resistance the elder gifts him with. progress, he supposes.

"who said i couldn't go solo, hm?" jeongguk murmurs, lips curled in a jeering smirk as his gaze flickers to catch the other's timid stare.

"no one," taehyung huffs begrudgingly, murmuring sarcastically, "never took you for an idiot."

"idiot who proved you wrong." jeongguk corrects, raising an eyebrow.

he merely rolls his eyes, lips curving as he teases lightly, "so you admit you are?"

"technically you're the idiot since you were wrong."

"can you two stop arguing like an old, married couple and come socialise like the rest of us?" hoseok intervenes, clearly amused as he flits his gaze from the two scowling males.

"yeah." taehyung taunts, narrowing his eyes up at his captor, "now let me go you oversized bunny."

"bunny?" jeongguk says bewildered, seemingly offended as he scoffs, "i'm bloody terrifying."

"your two front teeth beg to differ." he snorts.

"oh my God," a voice snaps, this time seokjin who pinches the column of his nose, eyes screwed shut, "do i have to repeat myself?"

namjoon, who stands beside him frowns, rubbing a consoling hand to his shoulder as he shoots the two men a glare.

"we're playing a game," he tells them, "to see who can hold their breath for the longest."

"ah." jeongguk nods and taehyung is curious as to why the man smirks devilishly, "that's something useful to know."

at this yoongi, who had dragged his lounge closer to the pool, grimaces, toe dipping into the pool and striking the raven-haired man's shoulder, "don't think of tae like that."

namjoon rolls his eyes despite the quirk of his lips, fingers fisting as he raises a single finger.

"on the count of three." he calls, "one, two, three!"

at once there's a wracking plunge of bodies sinking into chlorine, cheeks puffed as they sink to the floor of the mildly shallow pool, bodies curling to lever their backs to the sky.

taehyung grins internally, smug as he foresees his obvious crown, he was after all the king in holding his breath underwater. his record had been a minute and seventeen seconds, one that had awed and mildly freaked out his friends when he had proudly announced his achievement over a game of water polo.

it had been almost half a minute, the dull thump of distant movement thrumming against his ears as he pries his eyes open, grateful for the lack of chlorine and the almost non-existent burn at his irises.

there's a muffled gurgle before taehyung spots hoseok's foot shuffling to the floor and the screech of the water as it's torn from the hems, feeble fingers clinging at the strands of his hair and curl of his lashes.

by the one minute mark, or at least the rough time taehyung sings off-tune in his mind, jimin and namjoon had surrendered, tan feet bustling across the white streamers of the pool, careful to stay far from the remaining players.

seokjin too, eventually curses and suffices to the burning of his lungs, begrudgingly rising to the surface, gasping as he makes his way toward the rest of the sulking competitors.

smirking, he smothers the prickling sensation of oil dipped fingers splaying across his chest, fisting his hands as he digs his nails into his palms to distract himself from the fire that begins to crackle.

he spots jeongguk grinning, raising the peace sign before him, almost tauntingly, and taehyung desperately attempts to ignore how attractive the man appeared, ebony locks splayed delicately around his temple alike to a halo, no, like the horns of satan himself.

one minute and roughly fifteen seconds and taehyung swears he sees stars, nails digging into the column of his trachea and clenching across his heart. it was about time he was to raise and inhale the oxygen that would eventually appease the storm within his chest, but his ego denied him such pleasure as he screws his eyes close, flipping a smirking jeongguk off.

just a few more seconds. he grits, lungs swelling with the piercing pain of a thousand nails digging across fragile tissue. i have to beat him.

his head throbs too much for him to take note of a hand sweeping across the water, snaking across the curve of his hips as his eyes flash open. there, a smug jeongguk grins toothily at him and before taehyung can scowl and shove the man far from his personal bubble, his frame is lifted from the water, the cold of the night air pressing at his skin.

gasping, taehyung stumbled forward, unconsciously pressing his shivering body against the younger's bare chest as he blinks.

"c-cheater." he stammers, fingers splaying across jeongguk's bicep as he pants, "i was gunna beat you."

"sure." jeongguk drawls and taehyung almost melts at the deep vibrations that run up his chest and press at his cheek, "you looked like you were going to die."

"was not."

"uh-hu." he tuts disbelieving before winking and pressing the pads of his finger beneath the elder's chin, "can't have you dying on my watch silver, you'll miss me too much in your next life."

taehyung snorts, eyes fluttering closed as relaxes in the other's hold, faintly noting the ghost of pressure beneath his chin and the palms that drape across his hips, "you wish."

there's a brief pause, one in which taehyung melts in the man's hold, the faint yells of their friend's littering the night as he succumbs into the consoling circles that jeongguk rubs into the skin beneath the band of his board shorts.

"pretty." jeongguk murmurs, snaking an arm around the male's waist, pulling him flush against his chest as he raises a gentle hand to cradle the elder's face, "so fucking pretty."

eyes fluttering open as his cheeks dust a faint rose, he stammers, flustered, "h-huh?"

and jeongguk smiles, that rare quirk of his lips revealing his familiar bunny-toothed grin that had the insides of taehyung's belly melting into a puddle of incomprehensible fuchsia goo.

"you're really darn beautiful, silver."

his breath hitches, heart thumping in his ears as he struggles to grasp a decent reply that doesn't spill the flustered mess his chest struggles to contain.

jeongguk looks as dashing as ever before him, bathed in the milk of the moon, ebony looks splayed across his ivory skin as his thin lips, donned a pretty pink that strings him closer, nearer to the point he feels the man's breath fanning across his cheeks, a pathetic whine falls from his parted lips.

"boo! disgus-tang!" a voice suddenly intervenes, followed by faux retching before a loud twhack resounds across the night and a furious voice bellows, "way to ruin the moment you dumbass!"

~

[a/n]

bit rushed since i wanted to get it out as soon possible since i haven't updated in forever, i'm sorry. :(

the album blew me away though, visuals and vocals both. i'm so proud of all them and i love that everyone is getting equal attention and love.  what's your favourite song from the album, though? personally, mine is 'make it right' love the vibe to it. ♡

i was streaming like a fool that day and i happened to stumble across the comment that went along the lines of 'western army go to sleep, the asian army will stream now' or smth like that but idk but that statement really warmed my heart.

army is often shunned off for being some intense, wacky fan base that needs to back the hell off sometimes which is true but hey can you blame us when we're in love with men who look and act like that?

but to be fair there's a few of us who take it too far and it's just not right that these hitches label the entire fandom as a 'please-stay-away-for-your-own-safety' group because in the end, we all come together to support the people who we've grown to love and respect. it's so nice to see people who don't know each other but love the same group support and welcome each other so freely. i guess the main lesson is to not judge a book by its cover. don't take everyone's word for something, you never know it could be wrong?

but yeah, i'm so thankful to be an army and connect and meet with all you beautiful people and i can't wait to meet more. that just turned into a whole ass essay, this is what english topics should be on.

anyways, i love you all and please remember that you're gorgeous and loved, don't let anyone tell you otherwise! <3 ♡