Jungkook walked into the dining room. The night before, Lavender had slept in Yoongi's empty room (because he slept with Hoseok) and Jungkook hated it.

Hated how they just let some random girl into their ship. When Jungkook did it, everyone was livid. But when Taehyung does it, it's somehow fine?????

Jungkook felt his breathing get heavier, eyebrow twitch. Lavender was pouring tea into cups. "What're you doing?" Jungkook asked, and Lavender turned to look at him.

"Oh! Good morning Jungkook. Your hospitality has been more than kind, so I woke up earlier to make some breakfast for everyone." Lavender smiled sweetly.

Jungkook bit the inside of his cheek. He saw plates of bread and sausages and bacon and baked beans- and nodded.

Jungkook felt like he was feverish all night until Taehyung walked through the doors of the dining room. Jungkook felt that icky feeling in his chest go away.

"Taehyung-" Jungkook let out, and saw Lavender pick her head up to look at Taehyung as well. "H-hi- um- how'd you sleep?" Jungkook asked softly, seeing Taehyung's darker grey hair and light eyes.

"Good." He said curtly and then looked at the dinner table. "Woah- Lav, did you make all of this?" Taehyung asked, and Lavender nodded. "Aw, you didn't have to go through all that trouble."

"That's okay! You've been so kind to me, I'm just doing whatever I can to repay you somehow."

"Don't worry about it," Taehyung said softly and then smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

Jungkook felt the feverish feeling coming back and played with his fingers. He was probably just talking to her to be nice, that's all; Jungkook waited until they finished their conversation, and then Taehyung turned around to look at Jungkook.

"Hey Jungkook, could you help set up the table a bit?" Taehyung asked, and Jungkook's heart bloomed.

"Y-yeah- sure thing, Tae," Jungkook squeaked, rushing to the table to help out. Jungkook felt his cheeks reddening as he placed the plates down, but when he did, he looked up and saw Lavender and Taehyung walk out of the room. Oh.

"I just wanted to show her the control room stuff. Thanks." Taehyung gave him an awkward friendly smile and then left before Jungkook could even think.

Jungkook sat down on the chair, confused and irritated. Jin walked into the dining room. "Are those some BEANS on the table-"

"Jin," Jungkook started, sounding powerless. "W-why's Taehyung acting weird?"

"What do you mean?" Jin asked, sitting down beside him.

"H-he's avoiding me and only paying attention to that big-eyed bitch," Jungkook mumbled.

"He's only paying attention to Jimin?"

"What? No- Jimin's not a big-eyed- no, I mean Lav." Jungkook said, grimacing in the end. Jin smacked his thigh.

"What did I tell you about respecting women and not using derogatory terms to address them?" Jin snapped, and Jungkook cowered his head.

"S-sorry," Jungkook said softly, and then sighed. "H-he's just... not acting like he used to. And I-I don't know what to do," Jungkook breathed, and Jin hummed, chewing on his bottom lip.

"He cares, Jungkook. You know he cares. Just- do something to make him realize how much he does care about you. He'll come to talk to you on his own." Jin said, and Jungkook's eyes grew bigger, gleaming.

"Good idea, Jin," Jungkook said, and then heard the commotion, and saw everyone else walk into the dining room.

Jimin, Yoongi, and Hoseok walked in, all discussing something about bread TRULY is man's greatest invention.

Taehyung and Lavender walked in, talking about something in whispers, which aggravated Jungkook further. And then Namjoon walked in, looking a little sleepy.

Jungkook grinned. Yes. He had an idea.

Jungkook got up from his seat and saw Taehyung and Lavender sit together on one side of the table. Namjoon walked over to sit next to Jin. Jungkook cleared his throat.

"Oh my gosh, Namjoon~" Jungkook flared airily, and Namjoon looked at him with confusion. "You're literally the best captain ever." He said sultrily, which caused Namjoon to look a little taken aback but smile nonetheless.

"Oh- um, thanks, Kook," Namjoon said quickly, and then Jungkook saw Taehyung talking to Jin, so he rushed up to Namjoon and then sat down on his lap, practically draping himself over him.

"And you're soooo handsome," Jungkook continued, turning to check if Taehyung was looking. Jungkook placed one hand on Namjoon's cheek, the other raking through his purple hair. "Mm- so- so smart, Namjoon-"

"What the fuck is going on," Namjoon whispered in fear to Jin, who's eyes were widened.

"Oh my god," Jimin said, and Yoongi and Hoseok looked confused as fuck too.

"Wow- isn't it so cool that you have the biggest dick on this ship?" Jungkook said sultrily, lips tracing over Namjoon's cheek, all while Jungkook was looking at Taehyung to see if he was looking. God fucking damnit, he wasn't-

"Jungkook-" Jin started, and then Jungkook turned a bit so Taehyung would have a clearer view, and pressed his and Namjoon's lips together.

Namjoon hesitated through the kiss, grabbing Jungook's waist. Jungkook opened his eyes while kissing him, and then grinned when he saw Taehyung looking at them.

"What?" Taehyung let out, a little confused.

Lavender leaned in. "Did Jungkook have one of those brownies you told me about?"

Jungkook pulled away from Namjoon and looked at Taehyung, eyebrow's lifted. "You told her about the fucking brownies but not about me?!" Jungkook shouted, and Taehyung's eyes widened.

"There is so much happening right now," Hoseok whispered, and Namjoon just looked dazed and confused.

"I-I'm going to get more tea," Lavender said, getting up. Jimin snickered. "Girl, the tea is right here!"

Taehyung stood up, looking at Jungkook expressionlessly. "I'm gonna go help her out." He said, and Jungkook's shoulders dropped. He watched Taehyung walk out with nothing more to add, nothing to say, nothing to object.

But suddenly, Jungkook was pulled up by his ear and off Namjoon's lap. "Ow ow ow ow-"

"What is wrong with you?!" Jin snapped, and Jungkook tried pulling his hand off, whimpering in pain. "When I said do something to get his attention- I meant to give him fucking strawberries or some shit! Not kiss Namjoon!"

"Sorry- sorry-" Jungkook stammered quickly, and then Jin let him o. "I-I just thought he'd get m-mad and jealous a-and all possessive over me."

The boys looked at Namjoon, who looked a little dazed. "W-what just happened-"

"Sorry," Jungkook said. "I-I shouldn't have got you involved..."

"Yeah, you really shouldn't have. Give Tae time, he'll come around," Jin said, and then grabbed Namjoon and pulled him up from the chair. "Tell me, I'll talk to him for you if you need it," Jin said, and then grabbed Namjoon close. "Your bedroom. 5 minutes." Jin snapped in his ear, and then spun Namjoon around and gave him a little push.

"Yes sir." Namjoon said, and then walked out.

"Literally 47 events conspired in the span of 3 minutes. Jungkook, you really thought kissing Namjoon would get his attention?" Yoongi asked.

"Yeah! Taehyung knows I find him attractive, we've had a whole conversation about it. I said I'd let him fuck me, and Taehyung got pissed when I told him." Jungkook explained casually.

"You what?!" Jin asked, and Yoongi sighed.

"Me too, to be honest," Yoongi said.

"Same," Hoseok said.

"Yeah, me too," Jimin said, and all of the boys looked at him in confusion. "What- I'm allowed to have thoughts too. Plus, it's not like it'd ever happened,"

"Fair enough," Jungkook said, and then Jin sighed and walked out of the room, mumbling something about never giving that little bitch advice again as he walked out.

"Jungkook, you might be overthinking this. I mean, he was gone for a month. Just give him some time, he'll come around." Jimin smiled, and Jungkook hummed. "Yeah. Thanks, Jimin." Jungkook smiled and then walked out of the room.

He definitely wasn't overthinking this. His feelings were correct, and his anger was justified. Why the fuck was Taehyung ignoring him?

Jungkook walked into the control room and saw Taehyung standing by the window, looking outside in silence. Jungkook walked up to him, hesitant and frankly, a little scared. Jungkook tapped on his shoulder.

Taehyung turned to look at him. "Hey."

"Hi." Jungkook said softly and then giggled a little, trying to ease the tension between them. "Um- didn't you think that was weird? What- what happened in the dining room?"

There was a small pause where Jungkook was looking down, and then Taehyung snickered. "Yeah. That was weird."

Jungkook's eyes gleamed as he looked up, and then Taehyung continued. "I thought Namjoon and Jin were together?"

Jungkook smiled a little, trying to get the emotions he'd been missing out of Taehyung. "Well- y-yeah- but-but I kissed Namjoon, wasn't that weird to you-"

"Sure," Taehyung said, and then turned to look outside again.

Jungkook paused. "T-Tae," Jungkook let out, feeling weak, miserable. "W-what's going on?"

Taehyung continued looking outside. "D-did something bad happen on that other ship?"

"No," Taehyung said. "Everything's fine. I'm really happy to be back."

Jungkook grabbed Taehyung's hand. "Why're you- why are you ignoring me? Just- t-talk to me, Tae. You're being weird-"

"Jungkook-" Taehyung pulled his arm back. "-stop touching me," Taehyung snapped in a low voice.

Jungkook froze, and then looked up at him with his big eyes. Taehyung took a step back. "I- um- I need to go."

Jungkook felt moisture building beneath his brown eyes and nodded quickly, turning back to look outside. He dug his fingernails into his palm, trying to steady his breathing. He felt tears pricking his eyes and then hung his head low, letting a tear fall from his eye.

It hurt so fucking much.

-

Hours had passed since then. The ship was moving again towards Lav's planet to drop her off, and then on route to the closest place where they could get help.

Jungkook walked into the kitchen to get some coffee for himself, for he'd been cooped up in his bedroom all day.

He felt like he was bothering Taehyung. Stop touching me. Doesn't Taehyung feel that flicker of joy when Jungkook touches him? Doesn't Taehyung feel his heart racing faster every time Jungkook's near? Doesn't Taehyung feel like half a part of himself when Jungkook's away?

Why does Jungkook feel like that, but Taehyung doesn't seem to?

And why was all of this happening? So suddenly- so fast?

Jungkook walked into the kitchen, and then stopped when he saw Lavender there. She seemed to be putting strawberries on a plate. She tuned and smiled when she saw Jungkook there.

"Hello, Jungkook! Nice to see you!" She said. "I was making a snack, as you humans call it, for Taehyung. And- and Park Jimin told me that Taehyung likes hot chocolate, which is heated chocolate milk- not melted chocolate! And strawberries. So I am making that for him." Lav smiled.

"Why?" Jungkook asked, getting a little annoyed. She was everywhere and constantly doing things for Taehyung and he was giving her attention. Ugh.

"Because he is a really nice friend. And I want to pay him back by being sweet,"

"Got it." Jungkook mumbled, and then saw her with her hot chocolate mix in her hand, and then smiled. "You know, Jimin's a bad guy."

"What?" Lav asked, turning to face him.

"No no- Jimin is so nice! Taehyung told me lots about him, and turns out it's all true! He has been very kind to me." Lav said.

"No, I mean, he lied to you. I don't know why... but he did. Taehyung doesn't like hot chocolate." Jungkook said, sighing dramatically.

"Oh... w-why would Jimin lie?" Lav asked in a small voice.

"I dunno. But I'll tell you what Taehyung loves. He loves alcohol and coffee.

Maybe you should, like, mix it together or something. He'd love that." Jungkook said with a smile, eyes gleaming.

Lav smiled. "Oh! Really? Great! I'll make a concoction of that!" Lav chirped.

Jungkook nodded. "And, you know what you could do. Strawberries by itself is a little boring." Jungkook said, walking into the kitchen properly. Jungkook opened a cabinet and took out paprika. "Sprinkle this onto the strawberries. He'll love it."

"O-oh- wow! Thank you so much, Jungkook. You are so very kind. I don't understand why Taehyung didn't tell me about you. Your hair is very bright too." Lav said with a kind smile.

Jungkook hummed. "Well. He- um- he probably meant to say it, but forgot. 'Cause we had a little fight before he left. But we- we're dating. So. Yeah." Jungkook said, and Lav looked at him with big eyes.

"What?" She asked softly.

Jungkook nodded. "Yeah. We've been together for a really long time." Jungkook said, and then looked at her reaction to see if she reacted weirdly.

"Oh... I-I didn't know that..." Lav trailed, looking confused.

"Anyways. Get that meal ready and give it to him. He'll love it." Jungkook smiled, and then turned around and walked away.

Jungkook walked till Taehyung's room and then knocked on the door. The door swung open, and Taehyung stood on the other side, grey hair falling on his forehead, wearing a big black t-shirt and sweats. "Oh, hey."

"Hi." Jungkook said. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"I'm busy," He said quickly, and Jungkook bit the inside of his cheek.

"Well- I-I just wanted to talk about Lavender," Jungkook said, and then Taehyung frowned.

"Lav? Why? Everything's okay, right?"

Jungkook frowned at that but then smiled quickly. "Yeah. Everything's okay. I just... I don't know. She seems a little weird to me."

Taehyung snickered. "She can come off as a little weird at times, but she's really sweet," Taehyung said.

"I dunno. I guess you do know her better." Jungkook sighed. "She just seems really fake. Like she's being really sweet, but beneath that, she's not, y'know, and-"

"You don't even know her, Jungkook. She's genuinely kind. You wouldn't know about that," Taehyung said, and Jungkook frowned. Before Jungkook could speak up, Taehyung scuffed the bridge of his nose in irritation, it seemed. "Why are you here? Is there something you need?" Taehyung asked, and Jungkook looked at him.

"N-no..." Jungkook trailed, scrunching his hand into a fist. "I-I just wanted to talk to you. I thought we were soulmates." Jungkook mumbled and Taehyung paused.

Before Taehyung could speak, both boys heard a loud giggle and turned their heads. It was Lavender, walking over to Taehyung with a mug in one hand and a plate of strawberries in the other.

"Tae!" Lavender called. "Look! I got you your favorite foods~"

"Oh- wow- thank you, Lav. Aww, this is so sweet," Taehyung smiled, and Jungkook just watched silently. Jimin walked out of his room and grinned.

"Oh, Lav- you gave him the stuff. That's nice." Jimin said, and Lav turned to face him and frowned adorably.

"Yeah, but you were a little meanie about it and decided to play with me! Jungkook helped me out, thank god." Lavender giggled, and Jimin frowned.

"What?"

Jungkook watched as Taehyung grabbed one of the strawberries and took a bite of it. He began chewing on it, but then his face slowly turned to a frown. "Why- why is it spicy?"

"Huh?" Lavender asked, and Jungkook stayed silent, and Jimin looked confused too. Taehyung took the green part out and then coughed. "Did- did you put spice on this or something?"

Lavender blinked in confusion. "I-I thought you put the r-red spice on the strawberries-"

Taehyung coughed a little more. "Oh jeez- I hate spicy food. It's fine, you didn't know. Um-" Taehyung said, but then grabbed the mug and smiled. "Hot chocolate- this should be fine," He grinned, and then took a sip. The moment he did, he spat it back into the mug.

"Oh, my- Jesus- what is that?" Taehyung let out, and Jungkook looked at Lavender, who's eyes widened in confusion. "Did you mix coffee with vodka? Lav, I hate both of those things. I thought I told you-"

"N-no- but-" Lavender started, and then looked like she was lost for words, her eyes growing bigger in confusion. "I-I'm s-sorry- J-Jungkook told me that y-you liked i-it-" Lavender stammered quickly.

"What're you talking about?" Jungkook said, and Lavender looked at him. "No, I didn't."

Lavender looked frazzled for a few seconds, but then her eyes grew with tears, and she turned around and rushed away, letting out a cry.

Jungkook stilled, and Jimin frowned at Jungkook- and turned to follow her and make sure she was alright. Jungkook looked at Taehyung, letting out a weak snicker.

"Told you she was weird. I mean, putting spice on strawberries? That's just-" Jungkook started.

Taehyung dropped the mug to the floor, it crashing into pieces, making Jungkook flinch from the sudden sound. He turned and saw Taehyung looked at him with darkened eyes.

"Do you think I'm fucking dumb, Jungkook?" Taehyung said lowly, and Jungkook's eyes grew big. "She was trying to do a nice thing for me, and you fucked that up just because you dislike her or something??"

Jungkook looked for the right words to say, but then just choked out- "I-I d-didn't-"

"Yes, you did!" Taehyung snapped, and Jungkook flinched, moving back. Taehyung grabbed his arm. "Did you think it was funny? To fuck with her like that? She's been nothing but kind to all of us since the morning, and you've done nothing but treat her like shit!"

Jungkook looked down. "S-sorry- I-I didn't m-mean to-"

"God, would you just grow up, Jungkook. This isn't funny, this isn't a game. People get hurt. People have feelings. You can't just fuck with that and then expect them to be okay," Taehyung said sharply, and Jungkook felt his eyes cloud with tears.

"I-I'm sorry." Jungkook squeaked.

"Clean this up, and then apologize to her. Got it?" Taehyung said, and then rushed over to go find Lavender.

Jungkook felt like he couldn't move, felt tears filling his eyes. Felt guilt creeping up his chest and confining him. He felt a black shadow surrounding his vision. Jungkook knelt down to the ground, scrambling his shaking hands to pick the broken pieces of the mug. Until he couldn't.

Until he realized he'd been sobbing this whole time. Until he realized he couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't move an inch. He had fallen to the floor, hands placed against the ground to help him up.

This was happening for the second time, this kind of panic, this anxiety filling him up and situating him to a state of unrest, nausea. This wasn't good. But he didn't want Taehyung to get mad at him. To get annoyed by him constantly having problems. Jungkook felt guilty. Didn't want Taehyung to think he was doing this for attention.

"Jungkook? O-oh my god, are you okay?" Hoseok said, and Jungkook heard it. He felt himself get picked up and held like a baby. A stupid baby who couldn't take care of himself and fucked everything up.

"Call Taehyung," He heard Yoongi's voice say.

"No!" Jungkook screamed, shaking his head rapidly, felt Hoseok, who was holding him tightly, carry him somewhere. "N-no- p-p-please d-don't-"

"Okay, okay Kookie, we won't call him. Jin, you help him please," Yoongi said, and Jungkook was placed on the floor.