"Alright, what gives?" Jimin pokes at Jeongguk's side from where the man is staring  across the street.

"what—what do you mean?"

"you've been staring over that way for fifteen minutes? what's over there a puppy?" he shakes his head laughing but Jeongguk doesn't laugh, just looks down at his cup and pastry.

"the love of my life is over there, that's who"

"WHAT"

"met him when I went to buy Hyung's book for you—gorgeous, perfect, sweet, angelic, amazing—he's everything" Jeongguk sighed dreamily, before groaning "—and ridiculously out of my league"

He scowls at Jimin who flicked his forehead "there's no such thing as league, you as a person are great and capable of winning over anyone—c'mon!"

"no, Jimin, no not.. not with you there" he looks away, he already makes a fool of himself as it is, let alone with Jimin there to make him even more nervous.

"Fine, I'll just go meet Mr. Perfect all by myself"

.•*

"Oh, yep, totally understand" Jimin whispers to Jeongguk as they enter the shop. 

Taehyung is standing on a tiny step ladder, putting books in place. His hair is held back today by a thin black head band. Soft brown sweater adorning his body in addition to black jeans. Perfect. 

Jeongguk takes in a deep breath to go say hello but the man beats him to it "Welcome back! Did your hyung like his gift?" Taehyung chirps happily. Maybe Jeongguk's heart fluttered a little at the fact that he remembered him. 

"yea—"

"Yes! My boyfriend loved it, I figured someone must've helped this one pick such a great book! I'm Jimin" 

Taehyung steps down then after aligning the last out of place binding. "I'm glad, what brings you guys in today?" 

shit. shit. 

"I've been looking for a new piece of literature... you know, broaden my horizons and all that jazz.. ha um, yeah, so I'll be um exploring, yeah great. thanks bye" 

Jimin is doing his best not to laugh hysterically but the moment Taehyung meets his eyes with a raised brow he can't help it "you have to forgive him, he doesn't know how to respond around beautiful men" 

Taehyung's cheeks flush pink as he makes a soft sound of whining, Jeongguk's eyes immediately flit over to where he sees Taehyung shoving Jimin's shoulder while the other smiles cheekily. 

Damn Jimin, he has his own boyfriend does he need to steal Jeongguk's too?

Okay, not yet.. but eventu—"fuck" he hisses, banged his knee on an end table that he didn't see. 

"You alright?" Taehyung hurries over "sorry, I could've moved it further out of the way" he frowns slightly

"No, I didn't see it, I'm bad at that..noticing my surroundings I mean, I run into things a lot. Like all the time, just yesterday I bumped into my own desk at work—ha, so please you're perfect..I mean your shop is perfect, furniture placement, aesthetic...feng shui all that greatness yeah—" 

"You're doing it again, Jeongguk-ssi" his smile is brilliant as he moves to the shelf right behind Jeongguk, picking up something that was knocked over when he fell. 

"it's a sign, I'll buy that one!" he blurts out, taking the book from Taehyung's hand without even looking at the title, he holds it to his chest while Taehyung just giggles, guiding him over to the checkout desk. 

After the man pays, Taehyung walks him and Jimin out of the store "it was nice seeing you again and it was nice meeting you Jimin-ssi. have a good day" 

"Bye, Taehyung..um..Taehyung-ssi" Jeongguk nods watching in disbelief as Jimin smirks at Taehyung "I'm sure we'll be back"

.•*

"Seokie?" he whispers quietly, once he finally makes it home. 

"Tae! Hey, did you close later today?" 

"No, I stayed behind to do some extra cleaning. There's more work to be done but I can't afford another staff member right now..so I have to pick up the slack." He sighs then, curling into the couch where Hoseok is sitting

"Eujin fell asleep with Yoongi again, I'm sorry I know you're trying to sleep train him but he just wouldn't stop making grabby hands at Uncle Yoon and you know how much of a sucker he is for that baby" 

Taehyung smiles then, it's a soft one, he's so grateful for these two and their willingness to help him in so many ways. "That's alright, Eujin needs all of the love he can get from you both" 

Hoseok knows what Taehyung is hinting at when he pulls him in for a hug "you give him plenty of love, Tae. Don't worry about that and you need love too, any luck with the cutie guy from last week?" he wiggles his brows when he sees the way Taehyung's lips curl into a smile. 

"Actually, yeah, he came back today.. it's so..yah hyung, he makes me feel all giddy inside. And he always rambles like a fool and it makes me laugh so much." he gnaws on his lip then "buuut, I didn't say anything.. well not anything out of the ordinary. I don't think, I have a lot of baggage and he's so young. He seems well off too. I don't really think I'd be his type." 

"please tell me you're joking? you're literally a dreamboat. besides, he doesn't need to know about any baggage right now. All he needs to know is that you're hot and interested."

Taehyung sighs as he slumps into the sofa "if he comes back again, which he won't, I'll ask him out..maybe..unless I chicken out" 

Hoseok seems happy with that but before he can say more, Eujin's cries can be heard throughout the small house. "M'gonna go get my baby" he says softly. 

Hoseok only hopes that Taehyung gets what he deserves, soon. 

||| hi, here we go on another journey. I'd love to know what you think so far and what you're looking forward too? I also hope you're staying safe wherever you are in the midst of all the COVID-19 crisis. I purple you all.