A/N

Totally not updating just because I want to even though I should keep the chapters for myself in case I end up not writing anything for a while... nope that's totally not it :T

Chapter 38

●●●

Jungkook barely realized when he fell asleep. He just slowly dozed off with Tuna on his chest, watching The little mermaid and when he woke up again it was to Taehyung's hand on his shoulder.

"Jungkook?" He blinked tiredly to find Taehyung staring down at him, so close that Jungkook wished he would have had anywhere to pull back too. He could practically count Taehyung's long eyelashes from where he was.

"Yeah?" He yawned tiredly stretching out his arms, partly to make Taehyung back off a little. Jungkook was pretty chill with people coming close usually, but with Taehyung he'd just learned that a certain distance was better than closeness.

"I'm hungry." Right. Jungkook usually made sure that Taehyung got something to eat by 12.

"How late is it?" Jungkook glanced around the room in hope of finding a clock or something along those lines to tell him. But he didn't have a clock in the living room and his phone was out of reach.

"It's two."

He had slept a few hours. Wow... seemed like he was actually sick. He shook his head sitting up, lifting the cat onto his lap instead of chest. His head hurt and his nose felt clogged up. And of course he was still so fucking dizzy... he really doubted he was going to be able to make some proper food like this.

"Sorry, I'll order some food. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders, picking up the cat from Jungkook's lap and holding it in his arms. Jungkook watched him a little in awe. Honestly it felt like he was better at this already than Jungkook was. At least he held the cat better than most people Jungkook knew had spent their whole life lifting cats.

"I could... try to make food." Taehyung didn't even look Jungkook in the eyes as he patted Tuna's head. Jungkook gave himself just a second to marvel at how pretty Taehyung looked like this. Expression soft and warm as he watched tuna, his gray eyes and long lashes on perfect display with the way his eyes were directed downwards.

"I don't know... it's not that easy to cook, especially alone. This would be your second time even touching anything in the kitchen." Jungkook hesitated. Should he let Taehyung cook on his own? He was a little worried both for his kitchen and stomach, but then again if Taehyung wanted to try it was a good thing. And it was nice of him to offer, when Jungkook clearly didn't have the energy to cook.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to cook alone yet, but I could tell you what to do and just keep an eye on you from the bar. I think that could work."

To his relief Taehyung didn't seem to have any objections to that... not that Jungkook really expected it. Taehyung couldn't even read recipes himself, so how could he have cooked something when he didn't even know the ingredients of the stuff he usually ate.

He ended up in a comfortable blanket cocoon, tiredly watching Taehyung as he pulled all the ingredients that Jungkook had told him to get from the fridge and cupboards. Some pork, green onion, onion, ginger and the red chilli paste Jungkook had decided to use, since Taehyung seemed to like spicy too. Before he had been somewhat careful with cooking spicy food with Taehyung around.

"You need to chop the pork into thin stripes. Maybe cut it in half along the longer side and then cut small stripes." Jungkook pulled the blanket a little tighter. He really needed to make himself some tea. His nose was constantly clogged and he felt a little too cold, considering he was doing everything to keep his body warm.

Tuna meowed on the floor and Jungkook picked her up and placed her on his lap. This was more interaction with the cat that he had gotten han all the days since they got her combined. It made him realize just how much he had needed this. Jungkook missed the direct body contact that he usually got out of hugging friends, occasional hook ups and though that wasn't an option anymore, cuddles with Minji. Now the small animal gave him some of the closeness that he had been craving for weeks now.

Jungkook smiled when Tuna started purring the second Jungkook started scratching her neck.

"Next you can chop onions... and careful not to touch your eyes after cutting them. You need to wash your hands first or it will make you cry." Jungkook watched with a smile as Taehyung started cutting the onions. Jungkook had shown him how to last time already, so he did pretty damn well. Especially given that this was just his second time using a knife.

Admittedly he did almost cut himself a few times, but how did it matter when the knife just slipped off Taehyung's skin not leaving any marks behind. Taehyung was simply working with what he had. Maybe it was cheating, but it wasn't like he could do anything against that scarily tough skin of his. Either way Taehyung was surprisingly quick as he worked through the onion and then the green onion.

"Okay now you need to make the marinade... could you hand me the small knife and the ginger? I will mince it in the meantime." Jungkook carefully placed the cat back down on the floor, which mewled in protest, but Jungkook muttered a quick sorry before focusing back on the food. Taehyung handed him the knife and ginger and Jungkook started cutting the skin off while instructing Taehyung which bottle to get from the cupboards. They had gotten to the part that probably could ruin their lunch the easiest, but it really didn't matter that much.

Actually it was kinda nice to see Taehyung work like this. Jungkook wondered just how good he could get at acting human if he really tried. Could he learn to read, cook and navigate the internet? Just how much could Jungkook actually share with him of the human culture. And how much was Taehyung actually going to like. Jungkook really wanted to find out.

"First you need the light soy sauce. Open that cupboard over there..." He waited for Taehyung to open it before pointing in the vague direction where he spotted the bottle. "The red bottle... no the one above that. Right this one." He smiled when Taehyung pulled it out of the cupboard and placed it down on the workspace.

"Okay get one of the glasses I have and first pick up a spoon and fill around one fourth of it with the red chilli paste." Jungkook got up to properly show Taehyung. Taehyung probably didn't know what one forth was.

"Here... up to here you need to just drop chunks of this in here." He showed Taehyung how to dig out a big spoon full and drop it in the glass and flatten it. "You try. As I said it should go up to here." He pointed again and Taehyung nodded before taking the spoon and repeating what Jungkook had done. Jungkook watched him, feeling a little dizzy but he didn't want to go back to his seat just yet.

"Once you've filled it up you can take the soy sauce and add about the same amount." Jungkook continued explaining as he watched Taehyung add the last bit of chilli paste. Taehyung was surprisingly quick at everything he did. He didn't get too lost in perfecting it and instead simply moved onto the soy sauce right away which was exactly what Jungkook had done wrong when he first started cooking. He got too hung up on the amounts that measuring each item took double the time, when it really wasn't that important.

Since Taehyung seemed to be managing just fine Jungkook moved back to take care of the ginger.

He continued instructing Taehyung the different measurements of the sauce, growing more and more tired. He could tell that sitting the way he was, was anything but good for him right now, so he eventually ended up trying to sum up all the instructions that were left, even the ones for searing the meat and vegetables before moving back to the sofa. He really didn't feel too good at all. At least Taehyung seemed to be doing well with managing everything. Jungkook just hoped he wouldn't end up burning the apartment down.

Jungkook was pretty sure he must have fallen right back to sleep the second his head hit the sofa pillow and when he woke back up again the apartment smelled pretty damn good. Just a tiny underlying burnt scent, but that usually happened with Jungkook too. Aside from that it smelled way too good.

He couldn't have napped longer than 10 minutes though because when he got up Taehyung was still standing in front of the wok, moving the vegetables and meat around. It still looked a little clumsy and unsure, but overall Taehyung had done an amazing job. Not that Jungkook was surprised. So far Taehyung seemed to be amazing at most things he did.

"How is it going?" Jungkook asked, moving next to Taehyung to look into the wok. Damn it really did look good.

Taehyung just shrugged his shoulders completely focused on the task at hand.

"Thank you for cooking for me... you're really helping me. And you're doing really amazing." Taehyung was. Jungkook was not. He realized that he had forgotten something that was quite important. Actually probably the most important part of the whole lunch.

"Shit I need to make some rice!"

"Fuck this shit, this tastes just the same as when I make it. What did I work so hard on learning how to cook at my parents place when you come in and just do it right?" Jungkook whined, poking his food with a frown on his face. It was good. It was really good. This really just wasn't fair.

Taehyung on the other hand looked pretty damn content with himself on the other side of the table where he tried some for himself.

"Stop looking so goddamn smug. You're just enjoying the fact that you're better than me in everything."

Taehyung chuckled but didn't even bother to say anything to Jungkook. Instead, he patted Tuna who had rolled up next to him before bringing some more rice and pork to his lips. Jungkook sighed but continued eating. As dramatic as he was acting, he was grateful to Taehyung for making him some proper food.

"Seriously thank you though... I needed this."

When Taehyung looked back up at him and smiled, Jungkook couldn't help but smile too. He really liked Taehyung. There was no denying that. Because just like Yoongi had said. Taehyung was a siren and his mind worked differently than Jungkook's but he also was this. Sweet and caring in his own way. Especially when Jungkook needed it.

Even when their relationship had still been rocky in the beginning Taehyung hadn't left Jungkook alone when he had been sick. Maybe Jungkook just had to learn how to read and understand Taehyung.

A/N

I recently reread one of my stories called blackout that's also Taekook and its sooooo good skxhsndns

I know I shouldn't be praising myself but honestly it just turned out rlly amazing 🥺💜

The moodboard is cute too skxbsnds

Honestly if you haven't yet its worth checking out I promise🥺💜 It's probably one of my least read stories so any readers would make me real real happy👉👈