Taehyung had been preparing a cup of tea, ready to spend the night rereading How To Train Your Dragon and convincing himself that he wasn't sad.

And he wasn't! He just wasn't particularly happy. And he had his plushies on his bed, all positioned to cuddle around him for comfort and snuggles.

He had just taken out the teabag when the door burst open and three figures all but fell into his living room.

"Yoongi? Jimin? Namjoon? What're you all doing—" The question budding on the tip of his tongue fell silent as the two smaller figures stepped into the dim yellow lights of the kitchen, bringing the third with them.

"Oh my. Oh my God. Oh Namjoon, what happened?" Taehyung's voice softened, all the initial shock and fear fading, replaced by concern.

He looked awful, to put it simply. There were bruises dotting the visible skin and a cut across his cheek and his lips was split and "Oh, what happened to you?" He clicked his tongue. "I thought we agreed. You promised. No more fights, yeah?"

"We'll, um. We'll leave you two to it," Jimin said awkwardly, allowing Yoongi to steer him out by the shoulders as Namjoon's eyes turned glassy.

"What could have possibly been so important for you to get into a fight over?"

Namjoon didn't reply.

Once the door had slammed shut and locked behind them, Taehyung snapped into action, racing to the bathroom to get the first aid kit and washcloths.

When he got back in the kitchen, Namjoon hadn't moved a bit, and he looked like he was about to break down.

"Hey, hey," Taehyung said, quiet and calm, catching the tear that rolled down his best friend's cheek with his thumb. "Everything is alright now Joonie. You're okay."

Namjoon couldn't tell you what exactly about those words that broke him, but all of a sudden something in his chest collapsed and the only comprehensible thing that came out of his mouth was "Sorry," over and over again.

There was a finger pressed softly against his lips. "Shh, Joonie. You don't have to say anything."

Then he got to work, making the washcloths damp with warm water and soap and pressing Namjoon against the counter.

There was a cut on his cheek. It didn't look too deep, luckily, as Taehyung inspected it. He cupped Namjoon's jaw gently. Namjoon leaned into the touch. He had missed it. "This is probably going to hurt, Joonie, but I need you to just relax, okay? Can you trust me?"

Namjoon didn't look away from Taehyung's eyes once when he nodded, and that in itself may have been the healing he needed.

And it was silent except for Tae's murmured encouragements. When he finally finished cleaning out the cuts, Namjoon had slightly calmed down.

"I'm gonna need some bandages," Taehyung muttered, maybe to Namjoon, maybe to himself. "And you need to take your shirt off so I can see your bruises, I know they're there Joonie."

"Tae." It came out cracked and broken, and Namjoon didn't feel the need to say it better. "I owe you an explanation."

"Oh, Joon. You don't owe me anything." Taehyung cupped his face again, and there was that look. Namjoon didn't deserve that look, he couldn't receive this fondness and forgiveness when all he deserved was a cold shoulder and more.

"No. I do. Please." And he caught Taehyung's hand and pressed it to his chest. Something about the warmth, the weight, was comforting.

"I'll hear whatever you say. I always have."

"Um, well. I started getting these messages online that told me that you were gonna get tired of me and eventually take off and realize I wasn't good enough for you and I didn't believe at first 'cause, y'know, we're best friends, we're in this life thing together for the long run, and then my mind was making things up, or maybe it wasn't, but I started noticing every single thing you did and I twisted it into a clue that you didn't actually like me anymore and eventually they all added up and I figured you were too nice to just drop me like that and that I was just hurting you by holding on so tight so I started to distance myself from you so it'd be easier when you decided to leave and I never meant to get it into this mess but then Yoongi came into my room and basically told me what an ass I was being and so then somehow he and Jimin figured out who the person messaging me was and I went to go meet them to like ask what the fuck they were doing and then he and I started fighting and I'm so sorry, I'm so goddamn sorry TaeTae, I never meant to hurt you, I just love you so, so, much and I wanted to make sure you were happy but I didn't realize that maybe what I was doing wasn't making you happy and—" He dissolved into sobs by the end, and Taehyung wanted so badly to just tug him into his arms but he could see all the damage inflicted on his bare torso and even the softest touch in the wrong place could wound.

Instead, he took Namjoon's hand and placed it on his own chest, breathing in deeply. "Hey, Joonie. Breathe. Breathe with me, please. Come on. Four in, hold seven, eight out. That's it, you're doing so well. Four in, hold seven, eight out." Namjoon's hand formed a fist, clutching Taehyung's shirt like it was a lifeline. Taehyung uncurled his fingers, one by one. Four of his knuckles were split just like his lip.

"Oh, look at what we've done."

And when Namjoon's heart rate had slowed to match Taehyung's, they began again.

Taehyung leaned down and placed a kiss on the purple bruise right under his ribcage. His hands rested, fluttering, gentle on Namjoon's waist. He worked his way up, planting kisses against each bruise. He could hear Namjoon's small sighs that accompanied each one and moved to his back, kissing each mark on each shoulder blade. He felt inexplicably warm, because despite the circumstances, this was good. This was familiar.

Now Taehyung held the bandages, and took Namjoon's large hand in his own, bringing the damaged knuckles to his mouth individually.

He started with Namjoon's pinky. "I hope you know that all of the galaxies in all of the universes could not count how much love I have for you." The bandage went on.

Ring finger. "I would never, ever leave your side, and I know you feel the exact same way about me."

Middle finger. "You're my world, you know that? You're wonder, and you're beauty. Ethereal, Joonie. Fucking ethereal."

Index finger. "You're made of stars, and I'm in love with space."

Taehyung kissed and bandaged the cut on Namjoon's cheek, holding him ever so carefully, like Namjoon would break again with a single wrong step.

Maybe he would.

But maybe, just maybe, he was too strong now to break.

And then Taehyung got up on his tiptoes and planted a kiss right on the corner of Namjoon's mouth, where his lip was split.

It was sleepy and mellow and over in a second, but it was the final step to make things click into place.

"Is that what eomma does?" Namjoon asked teasingly when their faces had separated, merely a centimeter apart. Taehyung shook his head.

"No, Joon. That's what we do."

Namjoon smiled (finally, Taehyung thought, his body relaxing at the sight; it had been far too long since he had seen that smile: pictures really were no substitute) and wrapped Taehyung up in his arms. Taehyung just about melted completely into the embrace and sighed against Namjoon's warm chest.

"God, I missed your spaghetti arms."

"Mmhmm." Namjoon's nose was buried in Taehyung's hair.

"I missed your smile."

"Mmm."

"I missed you," Taehyung said, and the tears finally slipped out, except this time they weren't sad. Nostalgia and relief and overwhelming love were pouring out of his eyes and down his face and he sank further into Namjoon's comforting presence.

"Is that my hoodie?"

"Nope." Taehyung popped the 'p' and shook his head. "All mine now, Joonie."

The rest of the night was spent completely tangled up in the covers of Taehyung's bed and in each other, catching up on weeks of missing this intimacy. Namjoon kept his head on Taehyung's chest, listening to his heartbeat through his ex-sweater. Of all things, that had always been one of the quickest ways to calm him down. Taehyung's hands kept combing through his hair; Namjoon's hands found their way to Taehyung's soft stomach, rubbing circles and tracing secret messages into the tan skin.

Affection bloomed in Taehyung's heart like a flower, giving way to vines that snaked their way around his body and eventually Namjoon's too, allowing adoration to blossom between and around the two of them.

Just being around Namjoon was enough to make Taehyung feel light enough to fly. There was a bubble of happiness that just swelled up in his chest, and he found himself smiling for no reason.