“Ah, fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” You asked, hands holding his face. 

He managed his weight on top of you with one arm, working his left arm in order to gauge the pain. “My shoulder, it’s been bothering me all day.”

“Did you take any medicine?”

“I took painkillers for my headache. Don’t think it did anything for my shoulder.” He informed as he winced moving the muscles, clearly in pain.

You pushed him up into an upright position, letting him sit in front of you with mussed hair and swollen lips, massaging the joint. You blushed at the fact his disheveled state was the result of kissing you, though you trashed the idea once he exclaimed in pain again.

“Ah, stop moving it, turn around.” You pushed at his chest to get him to turn. He listened and positioned himself with his back to you, your hand over his shoulder as you settled behind him. “Take your shirt off, I can look at the muscle.”

“Oh? You’re not shy about seeing me shirtless anymore?” Taehyung remarked, obviously relating back to your first night sleeping together and you smacked at his shoulder.

“Hey, not the time.” Taehyung reeled at your hit, his exclamation melding into a laugh as you spoke. “You gotta strip for me, Kim. Take it off so I can see.”

“Since when are you a doctor?” He quirked his eyebrows.

“Since I took kinesiology in university. I know muscles, take off your shirt already. Or are you shy about showing me some skin, cuddler boy?” You quipped at his ego.

“I mean, I saw some of your skin in the shower yesterday, it’s only fair I show you mine.” He snickered evilly as you recalled the shower incident, mouthing falling agape.

“What? You said you didn’t look!” You hit him again as punishment and Taehyung cried out, laughing through pain.

“Ow, I was kidding! I only saw your shoulders.”

“Good, now take this shirt off before I make your shoulder worse.” You scolded him, on your knees as you yanked at his shirt.

Taehyung quickly admitted defeat. “Okay, okay, if my princess wants me to strip, I’ll strip.” You almost hit him again until he worked the buttons of his shirt, peeling off the fabric from his shoulders and you were reminded again of just how large Taehyung really is.

Your eyes ogled at the size of his shoulder blades, impressed by how masculine his features were; his lean muscle, broad back, your hands having a mind of their own as they began travelling over his skin. You were moving quite aimlessly until Taehyung’s teasing voice lifted you from your trance.

“See something you like?”

Your cheeks heated up, scandalized. “I-I’m just looking at your muscles.”

“Mmm, sure. Wanna add em’ to the list of things you like about me?” Taehyung was clearly having too much fun with this as a pretty laugh escaped him, you having enough of his teasing.

“That’s it, I’m leaving you alone.” You propped off the bed and walked away, Taehyung protesting after you.

“Ari, come back. I’ll stop.” He whined as he stood to his feet, gesturing his open arms for you to come to, though you teased him back instead.

“Nope, you’ve lost your opportunity for my massages and my lips you like oh so much, bread crust boy.”

You could’ve sworn a blush crept onto Taehyung’s cheeks, clearly remembering his candid confession of what he liked about you. “Yah, come here.”

“I think I remember some about my eyes too, right?” You pulled at his leg, Taehyung’s bottom lip jutting out in a near pout.

“Hey, this is unfair, come back to me.”

“You’ll have to catch me if you want me back, Mr. Kim.” You eyed him playfully as you bolted off, sprinting across your bedroom to work the lock of the balcony doors. 

“You’re going outside? It’s cold!” Taehyung proclaimed in complaint, dragging his feet for you as you swung the balcony doors open. You ran out into the cold winter air, chilling your bones though you didn’t really care when you had a near shirtless Kim Taehyung hot on your trail.

“Then I guess you’ll have to catch me to keep warm!” You teased comically, amused as you watched him scramble outside for you. Giggles came from you as you dodged his arms, both of you pacing around each other as Taehyung’s endearing chuckles filled the night air. 

You started slowing down once the running caught up to your lungs, coming to a momentary halt as Taehyung finally snatched you up. His arms wrapped entirely around your torso, practically lifting you off the ground as you exclaimed through defeated laughs.

“Okay, Taehyung, you got me, you got me! Let me go!” You struggled in his hold, squirming for him to loosen his grasp though he didn’t let up.

“Nope, you’re my only warmth now, not letting go.” Taehyung announced while biting back a wide smile. He rested his chin atop your head and his iron lock brought you to a settled state, accepting his hold around you.

You became slightly shy thinking Taehyung’s bare front was pressed against your back, your hands resting over his as you both shivered together, only each other’s body heat for warmth. 

“I’m practically anemic, Tae. I’m always cold.” You giggled as you dissed yourself.

Taehyung breathed through his nose in a small laugh, speaking with the baritone of his voice that resonated in your back.

“You’ve always been warm to me.”

Your lips curved into a gleeful smile, basking in the feeling of his safe arms wrapped around you without the judgmental stare of others like at the amusement park. It was just you and him, and you simply enjoyed the moment, eyes finding stars above your entangled bodies.

“Oh my God, the stars.” You pointed upwards, peering at the pretty constellations above your heads and Taehyung looked up as well.

“Wow, this is my first time seeing stars in ages.” Taehyung commented, eyes soaking in the shine of their light.

You could only snicker, quipping at him as he admired the sky. “All because I came into your life, right?”

Taehyung could tell it was meaningless joke on your end, his teasing always matched with your own, but what you didn’t know was how much the stars had always meant to Taehyung.

And that your playful statement beckoned him to reminisce.

The sky was the only solace he found as a child, often peering up to be set free from his pre-determined, controlling life. Even in his young teenaged years he tried to believe in galaxies as much as he could, using it as some make-shift escape from his restrictive world.

Though as the years progressed, and Taehyung become completely sucked into the world of business, he’d lost all touch with such a concept, and lost the significance it once harbored. He’d stopped believing in any galaxy whatsoever, stopped taking a moment to look up at the sky and solely lived for the purpose of achieving greatness in his name.

But with you, he often earned small instances of reprieve just like this. A moment where it felt like his ever-progressive world had stopped, like he could finally see those same stars he used to look up at.

Except now, as he glanced down at your doe-eyes reflecting the luminescent lights, pretty stars scattered within them, he couldn’t help but admire their reflections in your eyes more. He wanted to look into them for longer, wondering if he’d always be able to see the same gleam of starlight in your eyes like this. 

And that maybe his solace isn’t the sky anymore.

“Yeah, it is.” His arms coiled around you tighter, clutching onto you like you so desperately clutched onto him earlier. His face dipped into your shoulder, feeling every ounce of worry and stress from today float up into a cloud of nothing, soaking in your warm presence without thought of the cold.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Taehyung asked by your ear, calm and quiet.

“Me? Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering.” He hummed.

“Mm, well, I was actually taking the day off. Hana wants me to look for her wedding gift in our gigantic hoard.”

Taehyung snorted. “I shouldn’t even tell you the amount of money people gave us.”

“Please don’t, it’ll make me hunt down each person by fingerprint analysis and give it back.” You feigned disgust, leaning yourself back into his warmth.

“And that’s exactly why I didn’t tell my stubborn wife.”

You grinned sheepishly at Taehyung so casually referring to you as his wife. “You’re stubborn too, don’t think I’m the only one.”

“You’re way more stubborn,” Taehyung argued. “I could give you the world and you’d probably only take a blade of grass.”

“If you gave me the world I’d just give it back to you.”

“Exactly, because you’re more stubborn.” He retorted, proud of his remark as your mind rather went into thought, your next words reflecting your meditative mind.

“No, because you deserve the world more than I do.”

You said it so softly, his warm hold around you the epitome of comfort as you forgot the winter chill, the seeming care radiating off his body sinking into your bones that have been so conditioned to feel unloved. You could only puff air through your nose in a laugh to yourself, thinking Taehyung felt like a remedy to nearly every dark part of yourself, like he eased you in ways nobody else ever could.

And it made you think Taehyung really is such a misunderstood person, because despite his hard stares and guarded walls, there was a man who simply had a kind soul.

There was a poignant pause as Taehyung became shocked, never having been told something so.. sentimental. His heart strings were practically being tugged at, feeling your grip on his hands tighten. Taehyung nestled you closer to him, mumbling calmly by your ear as his face found the crook of your neck.

“Only because you deserve a universe.”

You both basked in the sweet moment together, hearts utterly filled to the brim with something indistinguishable, something you both had no way of identifying. The pair of you ignored the feeling and let the unspeakable sensation permeate the air instead, tranquility seeping into the pair of you in the quietness of the moment.

Until Taehyung suddenly perked up.

“Hey, is the reason why you didn’t go near the railing on your first day here because you’re afraid of heights?”

“W-what? No, totally not afraid of some balcony.” You brushed him off with a fake laugh way too casually, and Taehyung caught on.

“You know it’s only two stories up, right? You could survive a fall that high.”

“Taehyung, don’t say that!” You whined out in fear, and Taehyung could only chuckle heartily at your cute protest.
_____________________________________________

“Hana, shut up before I end this call.” You threatened your best friend on the other line, rested on your shins in your walk-in closet. “I literally took the day off just so I could look through these wedding gifts for yours, cut to the chase.”

“Hey, not my fault you two looked all lovey-dovey at an amusement park after you tell me you guys are fake, who even asked out who? Captain hard stare or you?”

“Look, at our first event a lot of people made snarky comments about our marriage seeming fake, so we agreed on looking more couply.”

“No fucking kidding, you think I didn’t spit my drink out when I saw that photo of Taehyung on his knees fixing your dress?” Hana snorted on the other end. “Ma’am, I salute you for getting the Kim Taehyung on his knees for you, tell us the secret babe.”

“Hana, he wasn’t even on his knees.”

“Whatever you say.” Hana drawled into the phone. “But seriously though, has he gotten on his knees for you yet.. you know.. in that way?”

“Hana, shut the fuck up.”

“I’m curious! Word on the street is Taehyung’s packing, the kind that fucks up your insides.”

“Why are you talking so casually about my husband’s fucking?” You deadpanned, crossing your arms.  “You really wanna tell me that after I fought with him yesterday about his past with women?”

“Look, just remember what Taehyung said to you about them. It seriously seems like none of those girls mean to him what you mean to him.”

“… why do you say that?”

“I saw all the photos of you guys on your date and to be honest, the shit he did didn’t seem fake.”

“It was for the cameras, Hana.”

She scoffed on the other side of the line. “Sure, if that helps you sleep at night. Fuck, both of you just looked really real, and that’s coming from someone who knows about your marriage.”

You pondered over her statement for a moment until you finally found the stupid red box Hana kept preaching. “Oh, hey! I think I found your gift.”

“Really? Finally, I spent way too much on this fucker.” Hana complained.

“What the hell is it? The box feels too light.” You shook it around for good measure.

“You’ll see when you open it, Casanova.”

“Hana, I’m literally the furthest thing from a Casanova, shut up?”

“Says the one who got Kim Taehyung on his knees to fix your dress like your servant.” She accused you, imagining her drinking a petty sip of something in a glass.

“He wasn’t on his knees, Hana. He just fixed it to be nice”

“Well, quick fucking reminder he bought you that dress too. Let’s see how fast you can get him on his knees with something I bought you.”

“What do you..” Your words faded once you lifted the lid of the box and lost all function.
__________________________________________________________

Hmm.. so how are you all doing.?
Hope you are fine. I heard Kim Taehyung is recovered and doing fine now. I know all of us were worried. But it's fine.
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Love you 😘