TESSELLATE [TAEGI] 🔞

CHAPTER 3

Taehyung spends the next two weeks tossing and turning in his bed.

No matter how hard he tries to get a good night's sleep, his mind is running a thousand miles a minute, buzzing with energy—with curiosity—about the boy who's probably asleep in the room next to his.

The first few nights, his ears strain to hear something, anything really, from Yoongi's room but there's nothing but silence. He wonders if Yoongi has been filming, if the walls are really that thick enough to block out the sounds that Taehyung is all too familiar with, and he mentally slaps himself every single time.

Trying to listen in on your roommate probably constitutes as an invasion of privacy, right?

Taehyung hasn't even dared to open his laptop since Yoongi moved in, and it now sits on the edge of his bed, completely untouched and taunting him. He actually throws a pillow over it, in the hopes that if he doesn't see his laptop, it'll somehow quell the temptation to switch it on and check.

It doesn't help that Yoongi is unbearably hot in a way that makes Taehyung's pants suddenly feel tighter than usual.

Taehyung has watched enough of his videos to know that Yoongi likes to switch up his hair color every now and then. Lately, he's been favoring a natural black shade, and Taehyung thinks it looks best on him. Aside from his unfairly handsome face, Yoongi has this intense sort of charisma that's even more magnetic in person, and he carries himself with a quiet yet self-assured confidence that would have immediately drawn Taehyung in, even if he had no idea of what Yoongi likes to do in his spare time.

It's ridiculous, because outside of this whole awkward situation that Taehyung has going for him right now, Yoongi is actually a pretty good roommate.

He mostly keeps to himself, sleeping in until noon if his classes could help it, and cooping himself up in there unless he really has somewhere to be. Besides being some sort of a tiny hermit, Yoongi goes out of his way to do the little things, like replacing the toilet paper or washing the dishes without being asked, or even making an entire pot of coffee for the two of them. Taehyung doesn't drink coffee, but he appreciates the gesture all the same.

They haven't spoken more than a few sentences between each other, partly because Yoongi's class schedule seems to clash terribly with his, but mostly because Taehyung finds himself speeding out of the dorm early in the morning to avoid unceremoniously popping a boner the moment he lays an eye on Yoongi's hands. Taehyung doesn't want to be a creep that ogles at his roommate, but he doesn't quite know how to control his hormones, either.

So he just runs off at a moment's notice, trying his best to physically put distance between them while he figures things out.

All Taehyung has to do is compartmentalize, make sure that the Yoongi he knows now doesn't bleed into the Gloss that he gets off to on a regular basis.

It can't be that hard, right?

Taehyung is in the middle of what seems to be his fiftieth internal breakdown in two weeks when he hears the door unlock. He's just about to run off into his room in a mild state of panic when Yoongi walks in, fresh from his classes, and oh god, there's no way to escape now without looking like a complete idiot.

Compartmentalize, he repeats to himself. It's fine. Everything is fine.

Yoongi is taking off his oversized jacket now and he's wearing what seems to be the tightest pair of pants Taehyung has ever seen, and the fabric stretches deliciously over his thighs, curving around all the right places and fuck. Fuck .

Everything is decidedly not fine.

"Hey, you're home early!" Taehyung squeaks, and he already hates himself.

If Yoongi notices how embarrassingly tiny Taehyung's voice has gotten, he doesn't say anything. He just toes off his shoes at the doorway, and pads into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. "We're almost out of milk," he says. "I'll drop by the store tomorrow after class."

There's that quiet thoughtfulness from him again, and Taehyung doesn't know whether he should swoon or cry at the state of his life. He's honestly leaning towards the latter at this point.

Focus. He just needs to focus, so he steers the conversation into something neutral. "What classes are you taking?"

"Music production. I'm in my fourth year, so all my classes are majors now," Yoongi says. "Kind of explains the odd hours."

God, so he's hot and talented. In spite of Taehyung's internal turmoil, he can't help but be impressed. He's always had an interest in music—though perhaps not in the technical way Yoongi is—and he's toyed with the idea of singing after being told repeatedly that he has the chops for it, but he's never actually had the courage to pursue it.

It's admirable to see someone completely embrace music the way Yoongi has, and this new fun fact adds to his hotness scale by at least a thousand points.

Which doesn't help Taehyung's case at all.

"That's so cool!" Taehyung blurts out in spite of himself. "So do you...write songs?"

"Yeah, most of the time. I rap, too," he replies with a shrug and Taehyung lets out a delighted little sound before he could stop himself. Yoongi's ears redden slightly at this, and Taehyung is momentarily reminded of just how familiar he is with where else that blush extends.

"What about you? What do you major in?" Yoongi asks, and that perfectly normal question shakes Taehyung out of his lewd thoughts.

"Photography," he answers, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Wait, so did you take these?" Yoongi asks curiously, his gaze on the framed black-and-white photos that hang on the living room wall. Some are portraits of important people in Taehyung's life, but most are sprawling landscapes from Daegu. When Taehyung nods, Yoongi looks impressed. "They're beautiful. I've been meaning to ask where you got them, I had no idea you took them yourself."

Taehyung flushes with pride when he hears the admiring tone in Yoongi's voice. "Thank you," he says quietly, and he really does mean it.

He's only barely recovered from the compliment when Yoongi suddenly asks, "Have you eaten lunch? I know a really good noodle place a few blocks from here."

Taehyung is just about to come up with some stupid excuse to decline because he's still way too internally stressed out and Yoongi has the kind of intimidating presence that makes him feel he's constantly on the verge of a heart attack.

But then again, it's admittedly hard to say no when Yoongi looks at him with such a shy yet expectant expression on his face.

So he caves.

And he caves again, hours later, when Yoongi offers to cook him dinner.

Taehyung is weak like that.