The rain slowed to a thin mist when they left the restaurant. The group spread out along the narrow street, umbrellas bumping, shoulders brushing, laughter rolling ahead of them like loose change. It was late, the kind of hour when the city felt soft around the edges.
Taehyung walked beside Jimin, both of them a step behind Jungkook. Their breath clouded in the air. Jimin kept rubbing his hands together, muttering that the weather had shifted too fast. Taehyung nudged him with an elbow.
"You always complain about the cold," Taehyung said. "Even when it is not cold."
Jimin scoffed, but it was the fond kind. "My bones feel things before the weather reports do."
Jungkook glanced back at them, jacket hood half fallen over his hair. "Your bones are dramatic."
They reached the crossing light. Namjoon and Jin were ahead, half arguing about the best route back to the dorm, Yoongi drifting near them with his hands tucked deep in his pockets.
Something shifted in the air, subtle as a pulse.
Jimin looked toward Yoongi. Yoongi said nothing, only lifted his chin in greeting. It felt small to anyone watching, but Jimin paused, eyes lingering longer than necessary. Taehyung noticed.
He filed it away.
---
The group split at the main road. Some went toward home. Others stayed behind for street snacks, pulled in by glowing carts and the smell of roasted corn. Jimin stayed. Yoongi stayed too.
Taehyung and Jungkook stayed because they always stayed.
Yoongi stood in front of the corn cart, pretending to study the options even though there were only two. Jimin hovered beside him, rocking on his heels. Jungkook paid the vendor before anyone decided, then handed the first corn to Taehyung, the second to Jimin.
The third he held out to Yoongi.
Yoongi stared at it. "I didn't say I wanted one."
"You didn't have to," Jungkook said. "You were staring at it like it insulted your family."
Yoongi's mouth twitched. He took it.
They stood in a loose circle as they ate. Traffic hummed below the bridge. Neon signs flickered across damp pavement. Jimin brushed hair from his face, and Yoongi glanced at him, the look quick but noticeable if someone knew how to look.
Taehyung knew how to look.
He nudged Jimin lightly. "You alright?"
Jimin blinked. "Yeah. Why?"
"No reason," Taehyung said, but his grin betrayed him.
Jimin rolled his eyes. "You are a problem."
"True."
Jungkook leaned into Taehyung's shoulder, warm even through layers of clothing. "He is always a problem."
The four of them laughed at the same time, the sound rising and blending in the chilly air. For a moment they looked less like idols and more like young men who had grown up together, stuck with each other, pulled forward by shared history.
---
On the walk back, the group split again. Jungkook and Taehyung moved ahead, hands brushing now and then like a quiet code. Yoongi and Jimin lingered behind.
Taehyung didn't look back, but he listened.
The footsteps behind them were close. Slower. Softer.
Jimin's voice floated through the air. "You didn't have to stay with me."
Yoongi replied, low and almost lost to the street noise. "I know."
A pause.
Taehyung felt Jungkook glance back, then look at him.
Taehyung murmured, "Later," and Jungkook nodded.
Behind them, the conversation continued in small pieces.
Jimin said something Taehyung couldn't hear. Yoongi laughed, a rare, unguarded one. The kind that pushed air out of his lungs in a short burst.
Taehyung smiled to himself.
Something was forming there, small and quiet, like a shy animal stepping out of the dark.
---
They reached the dorm gate. The group pooled at the entrance before peeling off to their separate rooms.
Jimin said goodnight. Yoongi echoed it, lingering half a second longer before turning away.
Jungkook grabbed Taehyung's sleeve as they entered the hallway. "You saw that."
Taehyung smirked. "Everyone saw that."
Jungkook laughed softly. "This is going to get interesting."
Taehyung nodded, eyes warm. "It already is."
The night settled around them, but something new had begun to stir. Jimin and Yoongi. A thread. A spark. A path that would intersect with everything else they already carried.
And Taehyung knew the story was widening. New feelings. New bonds. New storms.
The kind that changed everything without raising their voice.