-', ❝(019: 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻) ꒱ ↷👽🛸❞

"열아홉"

TAEHYUNG MANAGED TO LOOSEN UP A BIT, sitting down rather close to Aspen as she was like a shield, his protection. Despite his confusion, she was the only thing of familiarity that he knew. She made him feel safe, though he didn't feel very secure in his standing with her.

Why did she say friends. Did she not want anyone to know what they were? Was she ashamed of him?

Taehyung tried not to think about it too much. Aspen knew better than him, she probably had her reasons. Good reasons.

He got along well with Hoseok and Jungkook, both bringing out the more playful and excited side of him. Yoongi stayed quiet most of the time, but he cracked a few of his own jokes from time to time.

Jimin...Jimin scared him. The man joked with his friends as normal, laughing a little harder than everyone else when Aspen piped in. His dark eyes stared at her, trailing down her body before looked over at Taehyung with a skeptical look of distrust.

So Taehyung grabbed his glass of wine and downed it, ignoring the disgusting taste that stained his tongue. He just wanted to focus on something else besides Jimin. Even the interesting taste of ripened grapes in his tongue.

"So, Aspen," Jimin started as their laughter dies down. He grabbed his glass of wine and filled it once more before leaning back on the couch across from her, crossing one leg over another. "You and Taehyung a thing?"

Taehyung immediately looked to Aspen for her answer. She called him her friend earlier. He didn't know what a "thing" was but he thought it meant a relationship.

Aspen cleared her throat, shifting under the burning gazes of everyone in the room. "Not...really." She murmured, causing Jimin to smirk. He leaned forward, looking straight into Taehyung's eyes. "So that means I could ask Aspen out right now and you'd have no problem with it?" He asked rather daringly.

Yoongi punched his arm. "Stop being an asshole, Chim." He muttered. Jimin sighed and rolled his eyes, drinking more of his wine. "I'm not, I'm just asking. Some dude just showed up with Aspen and none of you guys have any questions?"

Jealousy filled Taehyung. His hands balled into fist as his jaw clenched hard, wanting nothing more than to claim Aspen his his and only his. Jimin didn't have the right to step onto her so brazenly while he was right here.

Aspen wasn't his. She had made that clear. She didn't belong to him.

Taehyung was pulled out of his anger, out of is own thoughts when she put her hand over his balled fist. "It's okay." She whispered. "Calm down." Taehyung took his bottom lip between his teeth, chewing slightly with anxiety as he glared at Jimin. "He needs to stop."

Aspen placed her hand on his leg. "I know. He doesn't mean it." She was sure he didn't mean it. Jimin only acted like this because of past history. They both knew what had happened between them would never happen again.

That didn't ease Tae's worries even in the slightest, if anything, it made it worse. Always been this way?

So Taehyung slouched, sulking back and out of the conversation. He watched Jimin with sharp, keen eyes. He watched his every movement, every, shift of the eyes, every smile directed towards Aspen.

It was an unspoken rivalry. Taehyung felt threatened by him. He didn't like feeling threatened.

Taehyung started to wonder if Aspen has ever kissed Jimin the way she kissed him. With passion and care. They way they held each other close and slept together in bed at night. Was Taehyung just a passing fling for her, a chance to be the first human to ever kiss and have a relationship with an alien without the consequences as he would be leaving anyways.

These thoughts ate away at Taehyung's mind bit by bit, sending him into as state of disparity.

"Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?" Taehyung whispered to Aspen, tapping her bicep. She turned to him, catching the look of hopelessness and sadness on his face. Aspen nodded and grabbed ahold of his hand.

"We'll be back." Aspen announced before pulling Taehyung back all the way into the kitchen where they wouldn't be heard or seen.

Everyone gave knowing, mischievous glances to each other with smirks on their faces, all except Jimin, whose eyes followed them into the kitchen and whose pink lips twisted to a scowl.

"What's wrong, T-" Aspen was cut off when she was pushed up against the cold stainless steel of Jin's double door refrigerator. His body trapped her and soon his lips found hers. He kissed her hard, his hands pulling her body to his. He was being possessive, the way he held her kissed her. He was jealous.

Aspen didn't even think when she raised her hands and cupped his faces, kissing him back feverishly though she was confused as to why they were doing it now.

Taehyung wanted to feel her skin against his, the feel of her lips moving against his as their tongues danced and fought. He craved her simple touch now more than ever.

"Taehyung, what's going on?" Aspen asked breathlessly when they pulled away for air. Taehyung's lips pulled downward into a frown.

"I don't like that Jimin guy." He grumbled in that deep voice of his. "The way he looks at you..." It unsettles him. It makes him want to leap across the living room and attack him. He doesn't like it, this feeling or Jimin.

Aspen smiled, chuckling at his cuteness. "You're jealous." She acknowledged. Taehyung looked away only for Aspen to grab his chin and force him to look back to her. "It's alright to be jealous, but there's no reason to be. Jimin's just...like that. Nothing will ever come from it."

Taehyung wanted to trust her, her words, and he did, but he couldn't find himself trusting Jimin. He needed to see proof of this flirting directed towards someone other than her and then he'd let it go.

So he kissed her again, reassurance that she was there and that she wouldn't leave him. That she was his. Maybe she simply wasn't ready to tell everyone of them yet. But Taehyung still didn't fully understand what they were.

His eyes were closed shut and his hands gripped her hips tightly, never wanting to let go of her.

And there was the sound of someone clearing their throat.

The two of them quickly pulled away from each other, their bodies no longer pressed as Taehyung took a huge step back away from Aspen. She cleared her throat, hands scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

There stood Jimin, leaning against the counter with raised brow and a smirk pulling at his pink lips. "So I was right."

Aspen rolled her eyes. "Stop it, Chim. It's none of your business anyways." She nudged him with her elbow slightly before quickly leaving out of the kitchen and back into the living room with the others.

That only left Taehyung and Jimin.

Jimin let a sigh escape from his lip as he looked at Taehyung with a dark look. "So how long have you known each other?" He inquired, tilting his head with curiosity.

Taehyung swallowed thickly. "A few months." He answered simply. Jimin chuckled his eyes growing even darker. "A few months and she's already kissing you like that? Took me at least a year to get her to even kiss my cheek, not to mention my lips."

Taehyung stilled. He was right, she had kissed him once before, but that didn't necessarily mean anything of importance.

Jimin noticed Taehyung's sudden stiffness and continued. "Yeah, we were getting drunk one night. She was trying to forget one of her exes and I offered to help her. We kissed, one thing led to another, and then we were rolling around in the sheets."

Why were they rolling around in sheets? Was that customary among humans? Was that a part of their mating rituals?

Taehyung's jaw clenched and his hands balled up into fist as he stared Jimin down at the thought. His eyes burning with blazing flames while Jimin's shown mischief and discord.

"Of course, we broke it off after a few time, agreed to stay friends, but I will always remember how good she was in bed. The faces she made when I made love to her. The way she'd call out my name."

Jimin leaned forward to whisper to him, "You know, she has these cute little dimples on her lower back that she loved when I kissed them."

Taehyung knew he was trying to provoke him and Jimin was succeeding in his task. To imagine Aspen like that with someone like him made Taehyung angry and sick.

"Shut up." Taehyung told him, refusing the burning urge to hit the smaller man in front of him. "That's none of my business what you did in the past. I don't care for it."

Taehyung went to leave back out into the living room and pretend as though nothing happened, only for Jimin to put his arm out, stopping him. "Be careful. Aspen isn't use to affection and she often pushes it away. She might push you away too when she gets bored."

Taehyung scowled at him, pushing past him and out into the living room, taking a seat beside Aspen as she spoke to Hoseok.

"Everything okay?" She whispered to him and Taehyung nodded.

"Just fine."

€

Yeah, so Jimin's a bit of a passive aggressive asshole, but we all know that's not what our Chimmy's really like.

Thank you to all those who read. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you have an exceptional day/night

사랑해

~Kay (ʘᴗʘ✿)