Taehyung had gone home exhausted, but now he was wide awake. Hands were scribbling madly over paper, desperate to capture every thought that was flying through his mind. Lyrics poured out, messy and half-made, but they were there, remembered, and they would form into songs further down the road.

He finally let go of the pen and it clattered onto the surface, like a rubber band pinging free. That creative burst might have been the most tiring part of the day, he thought. Taehyung rubbed his eyes and switched the desk light off. He stood and stumbled through the now dimly lit room, finally feeling the pounding in his head which had been there the whole time, insistent. He fell onto his bead, fully clothed, and the Dreamscape took him.

He'd been asleep for barely a minute when his eyes opened again, and he grinned. All exhaustion had fled from him, remaining with his body back in his room. Now he stood on a near-deserted street. It was lined with restaurants packing up for the night, a long strip of grass dotted with trees ran between the buildings. People often met here in the evening, watching the sun set as they chatted and laughed, blankets strewn on the soft ground. But now only a few were left, and there, all alone, sat Kookie. He was swaying to some song he was humming, gazing up at the stars the city lights failed to snuff out completely.

Taehyung smiled softly as the boy on the ground shifted, turned his head towards him. Their eyes met and Jungkook's face broke out into a grin.

It took no time for Taehyung to stride forwards, plopping down next to the boy and leaning over to kiss his cheek. His reward was a string of giggles, and it was the best sound he'd ever been gifted.

"Hey you," he whispered.

"Hey you," Jungkook giggled back.

Taehyung smiled wider, peering at the slightly reddened cheeks.

"Have you been drinking, doll?"

"Mhm!" he nodded eagerly, child-like, and Taehyung's heart soared. "But I'm okay now, was a while ago. Now I'm just really content, especially now that you're here."

The boy leant in, or maybe he wobbled, but his head landed onto Taehyung's shoulder and he snuggled into the crook of it, breathing in the soft feel of skin. Then he pouted.

"What's wrong, bub?"

"You don't smell of anything in the Dreamscape... I wonder what you smell like."

Taehyung just grinned down at the boy in his arms, contentedly running his hands up and down the other's arms, listening as he mumbled cute nonsense about what Tae probably smelled like.

"I told my hyungs from work about you, you know?" Jungkook said, voice muffled as he burrowed his way into Tae's chest.

"Really?" he smiled. "What did they say?"

"They said they would believe me... if I introduced you to them. I hope I can do that one day."

Tae sighed, but it wasn't a sad sound. Leaning over, he deposited a kiss on the top of the tipsy boy's head.

"I'm going to find you soon, I promise."

Jungkook giggled and sat up again, bringing his hand up with his pinkie raised.

"You promise?"

Taehyung could just not stop smiling whenever he was with this man, this complex person with the cutest of smiles and brightest eyes. He joined their hands and pressed their thumbs together.

"Promise."

And he kissed him, softly, gently, under the streetlamps. Jungkook leant in, pecks replacing lingering kisses as their smiles got in the way, until they were grinning too wide to kiss, their hearts soaring, and they simply pressed their foreheads together. They breathed each other in, at peace, before Taehyung wiggled away, pulling a whine from the other.

"Come on," he said, booping his nose. "Let's get you home, yeah? You'll look weird, talking to yourself and kissing thin air."

***

Today was a strange day for Jungkook. Namjoon and the rest of the editing department were back at BigHit, working double time to get the trailers completed. Yet he was here instead, watching as people rushed to get the stage ready on time.

It was set up in a hotel with a special press conference room, the kind he'd only seen on TV before, chairs lined up in front of the stage for the journalists. They were starting to get settled, cameras littering the room and computers at the ready. Nerves filled him, but once he raised his camera to his face, they seemed to ebb away. Behind his lens, he wasn't under-pressure-Jungkook anymore, he was just a guy who loved filming.

He filmed the set up as a way of warming up, continually adjusting the settings, getting acquainted with how far onto the stage he was allowed to go before he blocked other cameras. Although he was the only one allowed up here, he had no intention of making those ruthless media people angry at him and his company.

They had about an hour left until the conference started when Kim Taehyung showed up with his manager. Hustled in through the back door, he went straight to a small changing room, where a set of clothes were waiting for him.

Outside the closed door, Jungkook was gawking at the sight of his best friend.

"What?! I'm one of the main makeup artists and costume coordinator for this project, dumbass," Jimin laughed at him. "Why wouldn't I be here?"

"Okay okay, don't twist your underwear, damn."

"The sentence is 'don't get your panties in a twist', idiot."

"'Panties' is clearly a feminine term," Jungkook bickered back, not noticing peoples' amused looks on them. "I'm being gender neutral, you uneducated mochi."

"Just call them panties, coward. That's what I'm wearing so might as well call them what they are."

"So..." someone suddenly interrupted, and they turned to look up at Kim Seokjin, who was leaning against the doorframe with an amused look on his face. "You going to come help Tae get ready or....?"

Jimin easily brushed off the sarcasm, pushing past him to cheerfully greet Taehyung.

Jungkook just looked on, confused, as two people filed in after his best friend. Jin stayed standing until he finally took pity on him, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and pulling him in so he could close the door behind them. Inside, two hair dressers were getting their stuff ready, and the other duo were chatting animatedly as Jimin riffled through his huge makeup bag.

"They bonded real quick," Jin said from besides him. "They've only just started working together but I think they're going to be friends for a while, you know?"

Jungkook felt the tiniest prick of jealousy within him be washed away by a sudden wave of self-consciousness as the world-famous singer suddenly turned his piercing gaze on him. He ducked behind the camera and desperately busied himself to hide his burning face.

From the chair, Tae tilted his head, amused.

"Ah, that's my best friend," Jimin said, not without a small chuckle. "Don't worry about him, he works for the company so he'll be the only photographer allowed back here."

Taehyung nodded with a hum; tore his eyes away from the boy whose blushing cheeks were just peaking out from behind the camera, so he could let Jimin work his magic.

But try as he may, he couldn't help letting his gaze wonder back to the man, tracing his steps through the mirror as he moved around to capture the backstage activities.

"Taehyung?"

He turned towards Jimin, wide eyes claiming his innocence despite the fact that he /knew/ he'd been caught staring.

"Huh?"

Jimin was smirking at him knowingly.

"Come on dreamy-head," Jimin said, shuffling him out of the chair. "You're all done, in case you hadn't noticed. It's time to wow the crowd."

***

The walk was short, but as they reached the edge of the stage and waited for Taehyung to be announced by Seokjin, he stopped and grabbed Jimin's arm.

"Be honest, do I look good enough?"

Jimin scoffed.

"Yah! That's my work of art you're disregarding." It made Tae smile. "And besides, you look breath-taking. I mean... did you see Jungkook's reaction?"

Tae's eyes flew wide open, staring at the small makeup artist.

"Wait... 'Jungkook'?!"

"Yeah, my best friend..." Jimin glanced back with an odd look in his eye. "You know... the photographer from earlier?"

Taehyung opened his mouth to fire another question, but then Seokjin was announcing his name and he pushed all thoughts not pertaining to the movie out of his mind. He squared his shoulders and stepped out in the spotlights.

Immediately, flashes peppered the air, and he did his best not to squint as he stepped behind the podium on which rested the microphone. He introduced himself politely, bowing deep to the reporters.

They followed the script for the better half of an hour, before the floor was given to reporters to ask questions. They'd braced themselves for this, prepared for the onslaught. But nothing could have readied them for the amount of questions which would be centred around his newly revealed sexuality. After all, this was his first interview since the album had dropped, and people were curious. But when question after question revolved around if he had a boyfriend, if he thought he would ever 'go back' to women, if he regretted his choice in partners, it got to be a little too much.

He was starting to feel dizzy from the pressure building in his head. Throat constricting under the veiled accusations of some reporters. Most of them were just asking things which were insensitive, but as they piled up Taehyung felt his grip on his emotions slip. Until one person spoke up.

He'd been hovering around the edges of his vision, the only person allowed onto the stage with him. And suddenly he was raising his hand, shyly but with determination swimming through his doe eyes.

Taehyung raised an eyebrow, but motioned towards him. Jungkook waited for a microphone to be handed to him, then raised it to his lips, trying to quell his anger towards the careless press crews looking up at him.

"Thank you for your patience today, Kim Taehyung-shi," he started, and it made the singer on stage smile for the first time since he'd stepped in front of the cameras.

The smile was small, but he nodded at Jungkook to continue. So he did.

"First, I'd like to thank you for your recent music. I found the album to be a revelation, especially 'Free to be Me' which I think may be my favourite song to come out this year."

Taehyung was positively beaming at him now, but they were here to talk about the movie, so Jungkook did his best to bring the conversation away from his newly-found fanboy ways.

"Now, in your album, one of your songs mentions a fear of heights, how did you deal with that when filming the CGI scenes seen in the trailer?"

Taehyung picked up his mic, and Jungkook went back to his camera, capturing photo after photo of the actor as he gazed directly into the lens. Eyes meeting eyes and refusing to let go.

And just like that, the questions went back to what they had all come for: news about what could possibly become the biggest movie of the year. By the time the conference was over, the actor looked exhausted, and he was shuffled back stage by Seokjin.

Jungkook on the other hand, had a photographer instinct kick in, and Jimin found him crouched on the edge of the stage, looking through the photos already.

"You did good out there," the pink-haired man said to him, and Jungkook grunted without looking away from the camera.

"Jin offered to take us back to BigHit, if you want. They're heading back there anyways, and taking the car would be nicer than the subway. What do you think?"

Jungkook grunted again, lost in deleting shots he was unhappy with. Jimin ruffled his hair affectionately, then went off to pack his stuff which had ended up scattered around the dressing room.

A few minutes later, they all piled into Seokjin's car, Taehyung sitting in the passenger seat so the two new arrivals could sit with the big makeup bag between them in the back. They drove off, Jimin chatting animatedly with the two men, Jungkook still immersed in his camera, missing the repetitive glances the singer was sneaking at him.

Jin suddenly snapped his fingers, excited as he exclaimed the photoshoot had gone through. Jimin was lost, so the manager went on a tale of delayed advertising campaigns as he changed lanes, no longer heading for BigHit.

"It'll just be a quick detour!" Jin said as they pulled up near a large square covered in a sprawling market, overlooked by a tall building.

It made his charge groan; he was used to adverts of him popping up in bits of the city, didn't particularly think it was exciting enough to go see it in person, but decided to humour his caring manager.

They climbed out, Jimin having to quite literally push his best friend through the door, and following him out. The car which had been following them unloaded with a group of bodyguards, who came to stand around the group, eyes sweeping over the crowd. Jungkook immediately stepped out of the ring, frowning at the attention.

They stayed close to the vehicles, wary of safety, as Jin pointed at the towering facade above them, and the huge banner which hung across it. Jungkook watched them through the lens of his camera. Didn't realise what had captured his attention. His memory card slowly filled with pictures of one man, as he looked up at the advert and froze. Wonder and confusion spread over his features, and Jungkook captured them all, lips parting with surprise at how beautiful Kim Taehyung was.

The actor wasn't looking his way, too lost in his own mind, right there in a crowd, surrounded by bodyguards and looking up at something impossible.

Up there, splayed across the billboard, was his photo from Seoul fairyland. He knew exactly when they'd taken that picture, realised it hadn't even been part of the photoshoot, but he must have looked so ethereal, lost in his own day dream, that they'd chosen it as the key picture for the campaign.

Oh they had no idea, no clue what his eyes could see in that moment, and his heart started beating so hard in his chest he could feel it in his finger tips. For there he was, his profile sharp against the soft light, fountain splayed behind him in a cascade of colours, eyes peering up at the night sky with a look of pure wonder on his face. And a hand, stretched out towards him. Feathers catching the corner of the image, covering their prisoner like brilliant white wings. Flying, but reaching towards Taehyung as he was dragged heavenwards, was his Kookie.

Taehyung's hands flew to his mouth as he took in the cute features, the doe eyes looking into his own, a cute button nose, lips formed into a small pout.

He remembered that night.

"Damn it, I don't want to leave yet!"

Taehyung had looked up, swearing he could hear a voice, wondering if he was imagining things. It had been one of the first times he had heard his ghost-like visitor. And then a promise, the first of so many:

"I'll be back!"

And he had kept it, over and over he had come back to him, Kookie, his Kookie. Right there, up on that billboard, gazing down at him, looking heavenly yet his arms rippled with sinewy muscle and it did something to him. Heart still pumping wildly, he swallowed.

"Hyung, what do you see?"

"Huh?" Jin said. "I see you, looking at the sky all dreamy like. Why?"

"Nothing," he whispered back, distracted.

Because that's when it clicked. That face, with the adorable nose, the galaxy filled eyes and strong eyebrows, he'd seen it before.

Seen it as he'd rushed out of the bathroom back at BigHit, and he wanted to kick himself because at the time he'd only just figured out Kookie worked in the building, then he'd immediately run into him and still, they hadn't recognised one another. How had he not recognised that voice? That tone which constantly flowed from serious and passionate to giggly and soft had haunted his dreams, given him whiplash during their evenings together and yet he hadn't recognised it.

All this time, if he'd just checked those photoshoots, he would have seen him. Oh how much time they had wasted, but now Taehyung was grinning furiously, because he'd found him. Truly. And he knew exactly where he was, couldn't believe how close he was.

He turned slowly, oh so slowly until he was gazing into the camera trained so clearly on him, just outside the ring of security guards. The grin which spread across Taehyung's face was uncontrollable, and it caused the boy behind it to lower his hands, a blush spreading across his face at having been caught.

He hadn't seen the banner yet, Taehyung could tell, so he waited for those soft brown eyes to meet his shyly again, before he lifted one finger. Pointed at the picture above them. And the doe eyes followed it.

He saw the very second realisation hit him, gaze flitting back and forth between the image and the real-life thing, who was still observing him, beaming, heart galloping. He saw confusion, understanding, disbelief, and then something else... something which made his beautiful eyes fill with emotion and the soft sheen of unshed tears.

"Hyung, let's go," he said to Seokjin, refusing to take his attention away from the boy clutching a camera to his chest. "Jimin-ah, would you mind sitting in front?"

The men agreed, making their way back into the car. Taehyung waited for Jungkook to get in first, then followed and closed the door behind them. The vehicle set off, the men in front easily lapsing into conversation, and he stared at the boy whose attention was fully on his own hands, which he'd clasped together in his lap nervously.

He waited a few minutes, waited for his Kookie to talk to him, waited for him to get through the nerves, until it was too much to bear. This was his Kookie, he knew him inside out, there was nothing to fear. It was just them, as it had been for a while now.

Taehyung unclasped his seatbelt, earning himself a loud telling-off from Jin, but not listening. He shuffled into the middle seat, then clicked its seatbelt in around himself, his whole being focussed on the man who was now staring at him with wide eyes.

And he whispered.

"Hey you."