Chapter 12

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"Could I see them again?"

Taehyung tensed. "But you don't like them."

Jimin shook his head. "I used to be scared of them. But they are yours... as if I'd actually be scared of something that is part of you."

Taehyung seemed to be rather indecisive. "Are you sure? I don't know if my heart could take you running away again."

Jimin quickly shook his head. "I swear I won't run. And I'm sorry that I did before..."

For a couple of seconds nothing happened until a thin tentacle appeared behind Taehyung. Its movements slow and hesitant. Jimin watched it for a couple of seconds silently in awe. This was a part of Taehyung he had never gotten to see.

And he knew everything else by heart. He could name every single mole Taehyung had with its location, he knew about the small scar on Taehyung's elbow where they had played in the woods and Taehyung had tripped. He knew exactly how Taehyung's hair felt under his hands. He knew about how Taehyung's tummy was the most adorable thing to ever exist. But his tentacles were something he had never properly gotten a look at, so he really focused watching the way it moved, slowly wrapping around Taehyung's arm and snuggling against the fabric of his t-shirt. Unlike the video he had seen back then, it wasn't slimy. Its purple skin looked soft and Jimin had the urge to reach out his hand.

He did, slowly holding his hand out in front of his body, his index finger pointing into the tentacle's direction. Very slowly, cautious in every moment, the thing disconnected from Taehyung again, moving towards Jimin, hovering in the air right in front of his finger a couple of seconds before wrapping around it.

The sensation was unique. It rubbed against Jimin's finger like a cat trying to get his attention. Jimin brushed his thumb over it and a shiver went through it and it wrapped a bit tighter around Jimin's hand, just loose enough not to cut off his blood circulation. Jimin turned his hand around in a way that his palm was facing upwards. The tentacle nestled into the area between his thumb and palm, rolling up before straightening out again and enthusiastically gliding over other parts of his hand.

Even though it was holding Jimin's hand tightly to the point where he might not have been able to pull it back, he didn't feel threatened. Watching how curious it seemed to be was pretty cute.

He could feel Taehyung's eyes on him. "Do you control those movements?" He remembered having heard something about the tentacles having a mind of their own.

Taehyung shook his head. "I'm not. But I think he likes you. Whenever Seokjin asks whether he can touch them they act like it's a chore. They wouldn't make more contact than needed."

For some reason that made Jimin really fucking happy. Just days ago the thought of tentacles had been so scary, even Taehyung's, but now hearing that they liked him just... washed all the remainders of that fear away. The thought of something so foreign scared him, but they weren't foreign. They were part of Taehyung. A part of Taehyung, Jimin was sure he'd grow to love too.

Jimin brought the tentacle up to his mouth and pecked it, like he would usually with Taehyung's hand or cheek. The thing pulled back like Jimin had electrocuted it and quickly disappeared behind Taehyung again. Jimin's cheeks tinted red. He'd just been rejected... by a tentacle.

Taehyung laughed at the disappointed face Jimin was making. "They are shy. They're not used to attention."

Jimin frowned. "I'll make sure to give them tons of attention from now on."

Taehyung glanced down, the tips of his ears red. "Are we... like, we both said we have feelings for each other... are we gonna... date?"

Jimin instantly nodded. "Of course. I've waited for this forever... I mean, if you want to..."

Taehyung was at a loss for words. He hadn't even really had the time to work through the fact that Jimin had admitted to having feelings for him earlier. Everything else had come in the way of it.

"I... of course I want to... just... are you sure?" Taehyung asked. "Being with me would also mean... what I mentioned earlier. They might want to take part in sex too... it's... I've never tried, but I know they've really fought for it at times."

"I'm okay with it... it will take some time to get used to and I'd rather take my time with it... but I'm okay with it." Jimin declared getting up from where he was sitting on the bed and sitting down behind Taehyung.

He put his hands on Taehyung's back. "Can I?"

Taking a deep breath, Taehyung nodded. "Yeah."

Jimin slowly let his hands wander down to the edge of the shirt, carefully pushing it, up searching for the spot his tentacles came from. Going by what he had read they were located somewhere in the lower back, but Taehyung's skin was entirely smooth.

Slowly Jimin brushed his fingers over the skin on his back, until suddenly a slit formed that had been entirely invisible before and a couple of tentacles slowly came out, wrapping around Jimin's hands and tugging on them almost playfully like they were trying to get him to continue brushing over Taehyung's skin. He did and heard Taehyung sigh contently.

Jimin wondered how that felt to Taehyung. Especially finally being able to let go around Jimin instead of keeping them in. Taehyung must have been in a constant state of worry and stress, especially considering that he and Jimin shared one room.

"How many are there?" Jimin asked, watching the way they wrapped around his arms, never going further than up to his elbows like they were trying not to make him uncomfortable.

"Ten."

"That's so cool." Jimin muttered in awe, watching as they slithered over his arms, rubbing against him and tugging on his fingers in a playful way.

"It's nice hearing that from you for once." Taehyung whispered and Jimin knew he didn't mean to hurt Jimin, but the boy felt the words tug on his conscience. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. This is nice. I wish we could have gotten there sooner." He admitted, turning around and Jimin could feel the tentacles reluctantly untangle from him, like they didn't quite want to.

"Me too. We'll make sure to catch up." Taehyung reached forward, tracing Jimin's jaw with one of his fingers before looking the boy in the eyes. "Can I?"

For a second Jimin looked at him confused, before realizing Taehyung was asking whether he could kiss him. Very slowly he nodded, blood rushing to his face. "Yeah." His voice was breathy.

A warm smile spread over Taehyung's face as he inched closer, before placing both of his hands on Jimin's cheeks and leaning in to kiss him softly. It wasn't a rushed kiss. More of a peck than anything else but Jimin felt like finally everything made sense. All the puzzle pieces that had been missing fell in place at that moment.

Taehyung moved back a long comfortable silence hanging between them before he smiled softly. "I've been wanting to do this for years."

Jimin felt a bit breathless. "Then do it again."

Their lips connected again and Jimin's hands went up to cup Taehyung's jaw to stop him from moving away. Taehyung's hands moved over his neck and shoulders, the skin of his hands feeling rough in a good way. They made Jimin feel small with how big they were. When Taehyung disconnected them again, Jimin's cheeks were burning.

Taehyung cooed at how cute Jimin looked with his round eyes wide, blushing.

"Shut up. That was my first kiss." Jimin admitted, looking down.

Taehyung's eyes widened at that. He forced Jimin to look at him again. "Seriously?"

The boy nodded, embarrassed at his lack of experience. "I... I don't know. I was always sure that I'd manage to seduce you at some point and I didn't want anyone else. I would have just compared them to you anyways."

Taehyung chuckled warmly, pulling Jimin into a tight hug and letting himself fall back onto the bed. Jimin noted that either his tentacles didn't mind being fallen onto or had already pulled back into Taehyung. Judging by the lack of visible ones he assumed it was the latter.

"Sorry for making you wait this long."

"Don't apologize. You know those dance performances... I always kind of hoped that through them I could maybe make you aware of the fact that I wasn't a child anymore but you always seemed immune to my charm."

"Immune my ass. I swear I've had so many existential crises with you on stage I've lost count." Taehyung muttered against his ear and Jimin giggled warmly. This was where he belonged. Into Taehyung's arms where he snuggled up to his warm body and finally got to enjoy what he'd always dreamt of growing up.

A/N

I'm so soft for this<3 how did I make tentacles fluffy?