Seoul City

Ch. 7 - The Fantastic Four

9:08 am. Taehyung glanced at his rolex for the hundredth time that morning. Chaeyoung was supposed to finish work at 7:00 am, but still hadn't come home, which was strange considering the hospital was only a 15-minute drive from the Parks' mansion. Normally, he wouldn't be too concerned about this, but after last night's events, his protective instincts were heightened. He blamed himself for exposing her to the dark world of the Phoenixes. Their discovery of her name and identity put her at a huge risk, especially given the predatorial way Jungkook was staring at her. After last night, he promised himself to do a better job protecting Chaeyoung.

Taehyung moved in with the Parks 12 years ago after the fire which killed his parents and scarred him – both physically and emotionally. The Parks have always treated him as a part of their family, paying for his food, clothing, education and generously providing him with anything else he's ever wanted. He was treated like a son by Mr. Park, and like a brother by Jimin but, a secret part of him hoped Chaeyoung didn't think of him as a brother too. Growing up together, Taehyung and Chaeyoung had developed a deep friendship that, at times, seemed like it was much more than that. Although, he respected the Park family way too much to ever pursue his romantic feelings for Chaeyoung, it would be a lie to say he'd never fantasized about it. Fighting his feelings for her was a daily internal battle.

To take his mind off Chaeoyoung's whereabouts, he decided to play video games in the Parks' oversized living room. Mr. Park had left for work early that morning and Jimin and Jennie were still asleep, so he was left to entertain himself. The game successfully distracted him for a few minutes until the doorbell rang.

"Finally," Taehyung grinned when he opened the door and saw a very tired Chaeyoung standing on the other side, "I was considering filing a missing person report."

"Sorry," She said sheepishly, with a large yawn, "my car got towed with my house keys still in there."

She brushed past him into the house, taking her shoes off and placing her shopping bag down on the floor.

"What's this?" Taehyung asked picking up the pink shopping bag and looking inside.

"No peeking!" Chaeyoung exclaimed, snatching the bag out of his hands, "it's my dress for the charity ball."

Taehyung laughed, "I'm going to be seeing it in a couple days anyway."

"Exactly, so just wait a couple more days," Chaeyoung smiled at him triumphantly, "you're going to be enchanted by this dress. You won't even know what hit you."

She said it as a joke but Taehyung smiled, knowing he would be mesmerized by her no matter what she was wearing. He even found the current state she was in – wrinkled scrubs, messy bun, no makeup and all – painfully beautiful.

Chaeyoung walked towards the couch Taehyung was sitting on before her arrival and plopped down in relief, her long body taking up the entire couch. She closed her eyes and stretched her body as Taehyung watching in amusement. Night shifts always tired her out, depleting her of her normally vivacious energy.

"Excuse me, but I was sitting there," Taehyung said in a playful tone, approaching the couch.

"Then take a seat," Chaeyoung replied indifferently, moving her legs to the side to make room. When he sat down, she casually stretched her legs over his lap. Taehyung picked up the game console and rested his forearms lightly against her legs as he started a new round. Years of living together made physical contact between the two a natural and comfortable occurrence, but Taehyung wondered if she felt the same warm, spark he did every time it happened.

"Tae, I'm so tired," she said softly, her eyes still closed.

Taehyung glanced down at her from his game and smirked, "ya, you look like it."

That earned him a couple smacks on his stomach, but was worth it because it also made her laugh.

"Good morning," Jimin called cheerfully as he walked down the stairwell and into the living room.

Chaeyoung opened her eyes for a second and grinned at him, "well, aren't you just a ball of cheer this morning?"

"Must've been a really good night," Taehyung joined in on the teasing, causing Jimin to roll his eyes and smack him on the head.

"Where's Jen?" Chaeyoung asked just as Jennie hopped down the stairs, wearing one of Jimin's long t-shirts and shorts.

"Right here," Jennie announced just as cheerfully as Jimin, "aren't you going to get up and greet me?"

Chaeyoung didn't even open her eyes. Jennie had been on vacation in Japan with her mother for a week – something she did very often, so Chaeyoung wasn't too affected by it anymore. They had known each other since they were babies so there was no need for any formalities between the two.

"I would but, I actually think I'm dying of exhaustion," Chaeyoung said with another yawn.

"Well, too bad, because we're going out for brunch," Jennie said, unapologetically.

Chaeyoung groaned but eventually got up to the bathroom to freshen up. While she was gone, Jimin, Taehyung and Jennie seized the opportunity to talk business. Since Chaeyoung and Taehyung arrived home late last night, the Griffins didn't have a chance to look at the surveillance footage they'd stolen.

Jimin and Jennie sat on either side of Taehyung as he inserted the microchip into his laptop and clicked on the video. The footage of the bank robbery was blurry at times and didn't provide access to the entire bank, but it was more than what they had a yesterday. Although the robbers were wearing masks, they could at least see how many there were as well as determine their body builds.

"It looks like they're all male," Jennie observed, watching the video intently.

"And there's 5 of them," Jimin added.

"But, we can't tell much more than that just by looking at it," Taehyung frowned.

"Let's send it to Chanyeol for closer analysis. Maybe he can pick up on some of the details," Jimin said authoritatively and then patted Taehyung on the back, "good work, Tae."

After the four of them got dressed, they headed for the café, riding in Jimin's silver Lamborghini with Jimin and Jennie in the front and Chaeyoung and Taehyung in the back. They enjoyed a fun brunch filled with laughter and conversation. Jennie told them all about her trip to Japan while Jimin talked about preparations for the charity ball. When the four of them were together, everything felt... right. Taehyung had a slightly different relationship with each of them, but treasured all of them the same. In grade 8, they had named themselves as the "Fantastic Four", but the use of that name now would make them all cringe in discomfort.

As Taehyung looked around at his 3, happy best-friends, he couldn't be more content.

A/N: omg, this video gives me all the feels. Imagine it as Taehyung singing to Chaeyoung :')