taehyung sat in starbucks, calmly waiting for his order. he tried to hide his nails under the long sleeves of his oversized sweater. he had nibbled them down past the point where the nail meets skin.

"i need a manicure," he quietly spoke to himself.

for some weird reason, taehyung's phone kept going off. the only person who usually texted him this consistently was jimin, but he was currently at work.

the do not disturb option refused to work for taehyung's phone, so the repeated noise coming from his phone disrupted the whole store. a bad taste filled his mouth as other customers began staring at him.

"s-sorry," taehyung quietly apologized to those giving him the side eye.

who the hell is blowing up my phone?

—

unknown:
heyyyy
unknown:
wait i hope this is the right number
unknown:
if so hey taehjung :3
unknown:
taehtyng*
unknown:
shit taehyung**
unknown:
FUCK SORRY
unknown:
yeah anyways hiiiiii
unknown:
are u there

taehyung:
who is this

seokjin:
it's jin duhhh
seokjin:
your bestie remember :,)

taehyung:
that block button lookin so good rn
taehyung:
how did you even get my number

seokjin:
we have more important things to worry about than that

taehyung:
than you randomly finding my number ??

seokjin:
anyways we have plans
seokjin:
come over my house tonight !! we're having a sleepover

taehyung:
what
taehyung:
who is "we"

seokjin:
just me & a few other friends of mine
seokjin:
we haven't hung out since graduation ,,, wouldn't this be nice ?

taehyung:
i'll think about it

seokjin:
come onnnn
seokjin:
come on tae
seokjin:
pls :(

taehyung:
if i go
taehyung:
will you stfu?

seokjin:
maybe

taehyung:
fine. i'll be over tonight.
taehyung:
just send the address.

seokjin:
OMG I LOBE U I LOVE YOH I LOVE U
seokjin:
i'll send it to u soon
seokjin:
just make sure to bring some snacks :D

taehyung:
wait what
read 5:32 p.m.

—

taehyung glanced back down at his ragged nails, groaning. guess it was time to say goodbye to that manicure he was planning on receiving later that day.

he thanked the barista serving him and left the shop in a rush. taehyung hated to admit it, but he quickly became anxious over this supposed sleepover. his lip twitched at the thought. he hadn't been invited to a sleepover in years because he barely had friends.

and what did seokjin mean by, "bring snacks?" brownies? pizza rolls? maybe mini cupcakes?

yeah, mini cupcakes have to be good enough. i hope so.

as taehyung progressively sorted out how the sleepover would go from his perspective, he grew excited. he forgot how entertaining they were. he planned to pack multiple board games because he assumed seokjin and his friends would really enjoy them.

he was so involved in these thoughts, he completely disregarded the fact that he was about five minutes away from his apartment. taehyung had not felt these type of emotions in years, so the thought of them made him lose track of time.

sprinting into his apartment, taehyung brought out a medium-sized duffel bag in the depths of his closet. "this is about right."

he neatly placed twister and monopoly, along with other board games, into the bag so he wouldn't come off as unorganized to the others. no matter what happened, he had to set a good impression. he had to be the life of the party.

taehyung studied the clock. he still had much time to spare until the sleepover, but better safe than sorry.

the phone on his bed started going off, causing taehyung to loudly gasp. "you finally fucking answered!"

you could visibly hear jimin's irritation through the phone. "i mean, yeah. i came on my lunch break just to see thirty missed calls from you." he sighed. "what happened? it better not be any dumb shit."

"i got invited to a sleepover!" taehyung squealed. he fell back on his bed, absorbing the happiness in the air. "it's tonight and i'm super, super excited."

"ooh, that sounds cool. you plan on getting fucked?" jimin questioned.

huh—

taehyung's mind stuttered. what was with jimin and this whole "fucking" business? taehyung had always made it very clear that he insisted on waiting till marriage, so he just wished jimin would just respect his decisions. what was so special about sex, anyway?

"nobody's having sex, dumbass. it'll just be a fun gathering with seokjin and his friends."

jimin's loud laugh almost vibrated taehyung's room. "i almost choked on my chicken salad, i'm sorry," jimin laughed. "but do you mean, your seokjin? the one who you always wanted to beat up in high school?"

taehyung contemplated on ending the call. "anyways, a sleepover is a sleepover. i'll be the first one at the door, regardless."

jimin shrugged in agreement. whether or not sex was involved, taehyung's introverted behavior barely included in things. witnessing him obsess over minor events like this brought a satisfying feeling to jimin's mood. he adored seeing his best friend happy.

"well, my break is over so i'll call you later. tell me if you find any cute boys," jimin ordered.

the two did their signature "smooch" through the phone before taehyung ended the call.

after the call, taehyung thought it'd be a good idea to take a small nap.

surprisingly, he slept for nearly three hours and his neck muscles were soon fit to spasm. the adrenaline rush he felt earlier was followed by exhaustion.

taehyung woke up suddenly, every thought in high definition. his mouth slackened, "fuck, how long was i out?!"

it was thirty minutes past ten. "shit!" he scrambled out of bed, already dressed before he took the nap.

taehyung fed into a fraction of the time it usually took for him to get ready and left without the thought of locking his door.

luckily seokjin's mansion was less than ten minutes away from his apartment complex, so he ran as quickly as his fragile legs could carry him. he felt slightly weary being outside alone late at night, but he didn't have any time to order an uber so there was no other choice.

taehyung finally stood in front of the huge house with admiration, gasping for air. "wow."

his knock on the door came quietly. taehyung subconsciously played with his fingers as he waited for seokjin to answer.

after a minute or so, seokjin showed up on the other side of the door. "tae tae!" he exclaimed. the loud squeal brought a ringing to taehyung's ears. oh god.

"hi, jin. i brought board games and cupcakes."

seokjin giggled, ruffling his hair. "oh, taehyung. you're so innocent."

taehyung tilted his head in confusion. what'd he mean?

taehyung entered the house, sort of scared. he was looking forward to being around seokjin's friends, to connect with them, but he didn't know how. discomfort clung in his stomach.

he saw them all either seated on a couch or sprawled on the ground. seokjin grabbed their attention by snapping loudly. "hey! everyone, this is taehyung."

"fuck," taehyung heard someone whisper beside him.

no...

he gazed into the eyes of jungkook in disbelief. jungkook was shirtless with fluffed-up hair, as a beer occupied his right hand.

taehyung's wide eyes slowly traveled down to jungkook's light grey basketball shorts. his bottom lip trembled.

the whole room was focused on the two. jungkook looked back at seokjin. "so, was this fucking planned?"

seokjin nervously laughed. everyone's eyes fell back to a pink-faced taehyung.

"i-i got mini cupcakes."